27-April-99

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Glen brought a new tune, “Der Zayde und der bube” in to klezmer class tonight. There was a little grumbling: how come “grandpa” was capitalized and “grandma” wasn't? Glen said to forget it, in Yiddish there aren't upper and lower case anyway so it was an accident of his typesetting.

The tune is a nice rollicking freilach, with lots of sixteenth note triplets that you can treat as ornaments and simplify with only slight damage to the tune, and it's in a perfect range for me on the trumpet. By about the third time through it I was feeling at one with the trumpet -- as though it was an extension of my singing voice and I was playing it effortlessly and with a clear, strong tone. I wish I could reach that point consistently and maintain it longer when I do.

Tonight we had cello, bary sax, alto sax, two flutes, (choose two: bass trombone, piano, clarinet), and (choose one: trumpet, euphonium). Paula, who had been playing violin, is too busy to come back this session, and the pianist who was with us last week isn't going to come back either.

Last week the first song we played was Glen's composition “Yash the Chimney Sweep.” I was doing a solo on the second strain, but it's really right at the upper limit of my range and I couldn't hit the top notes clearly tonight when it was the second thing we did. Darn. The first song was feeling so good, and “Yash” is a beautiful lyrical slow piece with a two octave arpeggio that cascades exactly down my full range on the trumpet, that is, when I can get the top A. I even practiced a couple of times during the week.

Glen was pleasantly surprised this week to get a check in the mail -- royalties from his piece “Waiting” in Woody Allen's “Deconstructing Harry”.