Today’s Gospel

Draft 3

Today’s Gospel¹ reading features one of the two lines that I find most striking in the Gospels.² Jesus exhorts Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”³

Peter, the man who⁴ Jesus loved and trusted so much so that he entrusted the Church to him, is called Satan.⁵ To me, this truly shows two of the important pieces of my Catholic faith: we are to act and speak as we see true, not always meekly or gently, and that we are to love the sinner and hate the sin. Jesus doesn’t reproach Peter in soft words, or calmly. In fact, he doesn’t even do it kindly. In no uncertain words, he tells Peter that he is sinning.

Nonetheless, 6 days later, he takes Peter to the mountain where he meets with Elijah and Moses.⁶ Even though the Gospels don’t mention it, clearly Jesus forgave Peter for his actions, and Peter tried to accept this change.

This reading particularly speaks to me in today’s climate. We tend to take neither of the two messages we are told to take. We don’t tell the people we love to their faces that what they are doing is wrong.⁷ We also don’t do the other side of the message, and forgive those who do wrong. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I judge quickly and quietly, then discount anything that someone who has spoken out of ignorance has to say. Today’s reading was a good reminder to me that I need to try harder to love, even when it’s hard.

Draft 2

Today’s Gospel⁸ reading features one of the two lines that I find most striking in the Gospels.⁹ Jesus exhorts Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”¹⁰

Peter, the man who¹¹ Jesus loved and trusted so much so that he entrusted the Church to him, is called Satan, the great betrayer. To me, this truly shows two of the important pieces of my Catholic faith: we are to act and speak as we see true, not as we see convenient, and that we are to love the sinner and hate the sin. Jesus doesn’t reproach Peter in soft words, or calmly. Nonetheless, 6 days later, he takes Peter to the mountain where he meets with Elijah and Moses.¹² Even though the Gospels don’t mention it, clearly Jesus forgave Peter for his actions.

Overall, this reading speaks to me, especially in today’s climate. We tend to take neither of the two messages we are told to take. We don’t tell the people we love to their faces that what they are doing is wrong.¹³ We also don’t do the other side of the message, and forgive those who do wrong. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I judge quickly and quietly, then discount anything that someone has to say.

Draft 1

Today’s Gospel reading features one of the two lines that I find most striking in the Gospels. Jesus exhorts Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”¹⁴

Peter, the man who¹⁵ loved and trusted so much so that he entrusted the Church to him, is called Satan. This is truly the best example of Jesus saying that we are to love the sinner, even if we abhor the sin. Moreso, it points out to me that we have the responsibility to help those around us who make mistakes. 6 days later, he takes Peter to the mountain where he meets with Elijah and Moses.¹⁶ Even though the Gospels don’t mention it, clearly there was some conversation during those 6 days where the misunderstanding was resolved.

Sleep Days

Some days you go to sleep, anxiously awaiting the coming morning and day. Other days you wake up, counting down the moments until you can go back to sleep.

There are many factors that can influence both of those, from what’s happening in your life at a macro scale,¹ at a micro scale,², and how much sleep you’ve gotten the night³ before.

Today I remembered that sleep you miss is at least as important as the other two. I didn’t sleep enough, and so today wasn’t as fully experienced as it could be. I’m hoping tomorrow will be better.

Playing the Ukulele

Draft 1

As you many have gathered from my prior post, I play the ukulele.¹ There are two reasons I thought it important to bring with me on my trip to London. First, it’s the smallest instrument I know² that can play chords and harmony, which is nice when I want to sing along with a backing.

The other reason is that I have minimal difficulty playing melodies on it. Whether I’m plucking out an old familiar melody to decide how to accompany it, playing along to my singing new melodies, or picking out new melodies, I can do them all with relative ease. Part of this is that the instrument is tuned to four of five pentatonic notes³ as its four strings. This also means when I want to play something with the dominant as the low note, it’s fairly easy to do, as the pentatonic scale a fourth below C still uses 4 of the 5 notes. The only difference is F instead of E.

All in all, the ukulele is a fun and easy instrument. I would highly recommend anyone to learn it.

Arranging for Bagpipes Part 2

As you may remember from my last mention of this topic, some songs are very difficult to arrange for bagpipe. Today, I was lucky enough to find a song that was easy.

I found myself today with the best problem an artist can have: a hyper focused muse. I could not focus on anything else until I had set the hymn “How Can I Keep From Singing” to bagpipes. Unlike the anthem that I previously discussed, this son was far easier. It’s pentatonic,¹ and only occupies an octave, from the dominant to the dominant. As you may remember, the bagpipe has a range of an octave and a second starting from the subdominant. So, I put the song in the key of d, added a few grace notes, and was done. It’s nice when things go well.

Small Changes

Draft 2

By now, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m currently studying in London.¹ As a result, much of the typing I’m doing here is being done on keyboards with the UK’s key layout.²

Some of these changes make complete sense to me, like the fact that the pound symbol³ is much easier to type.⁴ Unfortunately, it’s Shift-3, not Shift-4.⁵

Other changes are slightly harder for me to deal with unconsciously. Next to the single quote key ’, they added in a key for pound and tilde. Instead of shift-single giving you double, it instead returns the @ sign. Thankfully, shift-2 therefore gives us ".⁶ Additionally, backslash is next to the left shift key, and the vertical line⁷ is shift backslash.⁸ Where the backslash should⁹ be, there is nothing. Those changes have messed me up more than once when typing a password.¹⁰

I’m also switching to using more Windows machines.¹¹ Commands, especially in the browser I use, are sometimes very different, which is an adjustment. Overall though, those are the main changes I’ve really noticed.

The moral of the story is that I apparently don’t notice the big differences,¹² but I do notice the small ones.¹³

Am I missing the forest for the trees? I prefer to think that I’m missing the branches for the leaves. I still see that I’m in society,¹⁴ and even the mutually intelligible¹⁵ part of the world,¹⁶ but not the differences between here and home,¹⁷ except where they’re a little different,¹⁸ as many are beginning to be in this lovely start of fall.¹⁹ Also, as much as I wish I could claim this whole article was a set up for that autumn²⁰ metaphor, it was completely unplanned.

Draft 1

I’m currently studying in London. As a result, much of the typing I’m doing here is being done on keyboards with the UK’s key layout.²¹ Some of these changes make complete sense to me, like the fact that instead of a dollar symbol²² being Shift-number, it’s the pound symbol.^23,24 Unfortunately, it’s Shift-3, not Shift-4.

Others are slightly harder for me to deal with. Next to the single quote key ’, they added in a key for pound and tilde. Instead of shift-single giving you double, it instead returns the @ sign. Thankfully, shift-2 therefore gives us ". Additionally, backslash is next to the left shift key. That’s messed me up more than once when typing a password.²⁵

I’m also switching to using more Windows machines.²⁶ Commands, especially in the browser I use, are sometimes very different, which is an adjustment. The moral of the story is that I apparently don’t notice the big differences,²⁷ but I do notice the small ones. Am I missing the forest for the trees? I like to think I’m missing the branches for the leaves. I can still see that I’m in society,²⁸ and even the mutually intelligible²⁹ part of the world,³⁰ but not the difference between here and home,³¹ except where they’re a little different.³² Also, as much as I wish I could claim this whole article was a set up for that autumn³³ metaphor, it was completely unplanned.

Why I Dive

Draft 2

When people find out that I dive, a frequent question is why. There are a variety of reasons for that. The most common¹ reason for this is that I don’t look like a diver. That is, many people seem to think² that I am much larger than the average diver. The other reason people seem disbelieving is that I’m not too terribly flexible. I don’t disagree with either assessment, but they don’t affect my choice for one key reason: I dive because I enjoy it, not because I dream of being the best. If my size becomes a limit for how fast I can spin, that’s fine because I don’t need to be throwing 407B.³ Another reason I enjoy diving is that people really seem to appreciate watching the dives where I fail.⁴ If I’m being honest, I’m one of them.

Draft 1

When people find out that I dive, a frequent question is why. There are a variety of reasons for that. The most common⁵ reason for this is that I don’t look like a diver. That is, many people seem to think⁶ that I am much larger than the average diver. The other reason people seem disbelieving is that I’m not too terribly flexible. Both of these are valid reasons for me to not dive, but they don’t stop me. Instead, I dive because I enjoy it, and I never expect to be great at it. If my size becomes a limit for how fast I can spin, that’s fine because I don’t need to be throwing 407B.⁷ I dive because I enjoy it.

Dance Nation Review

Today, I had the wonderful opportunity to watch Clare Barron’s Dance Nation at the Almeida Theatre. The show follows a U13 dance squad as it prepares for national qualifying tournaments. What follows is a review.

Draft 3

The show speaks about the sexualization and sexuality of young women. As I share no part of that experience, my review will focus on other aspects of the show.

As many of you know, I was a techie¹ in high school. Perhaps because of that, or perhaps because something about the medium of live theatre really allows the technical aspects to shine forth, I tend to focus a lot more on the technical theatre aspect than the acting. My reviews² will also likely focus on these.

When we are first allowed on stage, we see a curtain in the murky realm between translucence and transparancy. We can barely make out a mirrored wall behind us, and lights running up the seams. When the show opens, the curtain drops. I was struck by the paneling of the stage. Mirrors made up the entire back wall, with lights strung between each. Throughout the show, the use of the lights as a way to demarcate different areas of the stage and different characters was masterful. However, the panels do not remain mirrors. The first piece of the show that struck me was the paneling of the stage.

Throughout the show, the panels turn and twist about, becoming anything from doors, to black glitter decoration, to a wolf’s head, to a bathroom stall. The use of the panels as entries and exits, as a way to bridge and break scenes, and, at the end, as a way to recognize the disjointed nature of both the show and life is fantastic.

The lighting of the show is also incredibly helpful for setting and moving the scenes along, as well as making the minimal set feel larger. When Luke is on the car ride home with his mother, the moon in the upper right of the stage tells us of the long day he’s had, and connects us to the other dancers, who each have their own memories of the night. As the drive continues, orange lights flow by their faces, reminding the audience of their movement. When Zuzu has a breakdown, the lights become harsher and harsher until her realization comes through.

Continuing to mess with the set, the show did a wonderful job of playing with set as prop and prop as set. Actors tended to carry in the set pieces, or pieces that they worked with remained a part of the show. Always in the wings of the stage were the detritus of a dance studio, reminding that it’s never far away, especially in the minds of the dancers. As the show progresses, the stage becomes more and more cluttered, just as the depth of the characters’ experiences do.

A final note about the set, as means to transition into the acting, all along what is meant to be the ceiling of the room are trophies from dance competitions past. In my experience as an athlete, leaving mementos of victory where they are always visible is meant one of two ways. Either the coach wants to say “you’re a part of a program with past success, and with hard work you can be a part of that too,” or “winning is all that matters. The teams that aren’t up here don’t belong in our memories because they were a failure as a team and as people.”³ This show chose to take the second approach, and took it to the comical extreme that some coaches take it. Not only does the coach point out the one year with no trophy by saying no one remembers them, he then mentions the next year, where a dancer was recruited to become a professional. One of the panels turns and shows us a shrine dedicated to the dancer and all of the dancers chant her name. This is the first of many times throughout the show that the coach and dancers talk about how winning⁴ is the only important aspect of dance. To quote a common sports saying, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” What the show quietly points out, however, is that there is a constant culling of winners. No one the rest of the star’s team. Slowly but surely, in memory and in action, the weak are culled. Only the strong remain.

In the first scene, a dancer gets injured and is never heard from again. Near the end of the show, another dancer makes a mistake and quits as a result. These actions, along with monologues, showcase a dangerous aspect of not only children’s athletics, but also of society. Weakness and failure are not opportunities to grow, but rather signs of being inherently inability. And, since the weak get culled, any mistake means you no longer belong.

All in all though, it was a very enjoyable show.

Draft 2

The show speaks about the sexualization and sexuality of young women. As I never went through that, my review will focus on other aspects of the show.

As many of you know, I was a techie⁵ in high school. Perhaps because of that, or perhaps because something about the medium of live theatre really allows the technical aspects to shine forth, I tend to focus a lot more on the technical theatre aspect than the acting. My reviews⁶ will also likely focus on these.

When we are first allowed on stage, we see a curtain in the murky realm between translucence and transparancy. We can barely make out a mirrored wall behind us, and lights running up the seams. When the show opens with the curtain dropping, I was struck by the panels of the stage. There was a string of lights between each mirror. Throughout the show, the use of the lights as a way to demarcate different areas of the stage and different characters was masterful. However, the panels do not remain mirrors. The first piece of the show that struck me was the paneling of the stage.

Throughout the show, they turn and twist about, becoming anything from doors, to black glitter decoration, to a wolf’s head, to a bathroom stall. The use of the panels as entries and exits, as a way to bridge and break scenes, and, at the end, as a way to recognize the disjointed nature of both the show and life is fantastic.

The lighting of the show is also incredibly helpful for setting and moving the scenes along. When Luke is on the car ride home with his mother, the moon in the upper right of the stage tells us of the long day he’s had. As the drive continues, orange lights flow by their faces, showing the audience how they’re moving through time. When Zuzu has a breakdown, the lights become harsher and harsher until her realization comes through.

The show did a wonderful job of playing with set as prop and prop as set. Actors tended to carry in the set pieces, or pieces that they worked with remained a part of the show. Always in the wings of the stage were the detritus of a dance studio, reminding that it’s never far away, especially in the minds of the dancers. As the show progresses, the stage becomes more and more cluttered.

A final note about the set, as means to transition into the acting, all along what is meant to be the ceiling of the room, there are trophies from dance competitions. As an athlete, leaving trophies where they are always visible has in my experience been meant in one of two ways. It either is left to say:“we have a history of hard work and success. Keep that alive,” or “these trophies represent the years we remember and care about. The years without trophies are failures, and the athletes are too.” This show chose to take the second approach, and took it to an almost comical extreme. Not only does the coach point out the one year with no trophy by saying no one remembers them, he then mentions the next year, where a dancer was recruited to become a professional. One of the panels turns and shows us a shrine dedicated to the dancer. This is the first of many times throughout the show that the coach and dancers talk about how winning⁷ is the only important thing. The show quietly points out that there is a constant culling by no one remembering the rest of the team. The show systematically culls the weak from its ranks. Only the strong remain.

In the first scene, a dancer gets injured and is never heard from again. Near the end of the show, a dancer makes a mistake and quits as a result. These actions, along with monologues, showcase a dangerous aspect of children’s athletics, but also of society. Weakness and failure are not growth experiences, but rather signs of being inherently weak. And, since the weak get culled, any mistake means you no longer belong.

All in all though, it was a very enjoyable show.

Draft 1

The first piece of the show that struck me was the paneling of the stage. When the curtain drops to begin the show, the back wall is composed of mirror panels. Throughout the show, the panels are turned and become anything from doors, to black glitter decoration, to a wolf’s head, to a bathroom stall. Throughout the show, the use of the panels as entries and exits, as a way to bridge and break scenes, and, at the end, as a way to recognize the disjointed nature of the show and life is fantastic.

The lighting of the show is also incredibly helpful for setting and moving the scenes along. When Luke is on the car ride home with his mother, the moon in the upper right of the stage tells us of the long day he’s had. As the drive continues, orange lights flow by their faces, showing the audience how they’re moving through time.

In terms of the show itself, the show is set in a dance academy featuring the parts of youth athletics I was so incredibly fortunate to miss out on. These preteens are being told that their future success in life depends wholly on how well they perform at a single show. The coach⁸ reinforce the idea that it really doesn’t matter whether you’re having fun.⁹ All that matters is being the best and winning. Weakness isn’t tolerated, and the weak are culled out.

From the first scene, where a dancer gets injured and is never heard from again, through to the end, where a dancer makes a mistake and, as a result, quits dance forever, the idea of mistakes as being reflective of character flaws, and that character flaws (and by extension, those who hold them) should be hidden.

All along what is meant to be the ceiling of the room, there are trophies from dance competitions. As an athlete, leaving trophies where they are always visible can be meant in one of two ways. It can either be: “we have a history of success, and y’all are going to be a part of it,” or “we only care about you if you win.” As you might guess, this show chose the second approach, and took it to an almost comical extreme. Not only does the coach point out the one year with no trophy by saying no one remembers them, he then mentions the next year, where a dancer was recruited to become a professional. He fully tells both the dancers and the crowd that the only important thing about dance is being the best. Even the rest of the famous dancer’s group is forgotten. Only the strong remain.

Returning to painting the scene, the show did a wonderful job of playing with set as prop and prop as set. Actors tended to carry in the set pieces, or pieces that they worked with remained a part of the show. Always in the wings of the stage were the detritus of a dance studio, reminding that it’s never far away.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable show.

A Pierogi Recipe: Or Why I Pronounce Ukulele the Way I Do

Draft Two

At first glance, today’s title may seem like a non sequitur.¹ What do pierogi² have to do with the ukulele?³ No, this title isn’t⁴ written as an intentional non sequitur to spark my creative energies. Rather, I realized that the same thought processes inform my choice of both making pierogi and pronouncing ukulele.

To understand what I mean by that, at the bottom of today’s essay are two pierogi recipes.⁵ One of them is a recipe I found online,⁶ and the other is the recipe I used last time I made pierogi.⁷ As a bonus, I also include the gluten free pierogi dough recipe I used.⁸

If you’ve read the recipes, you might notice a few differences between the two recipes.⁹ The biggest difference to me is in the dough.¹⁰ They use both sour cream and water in their dough, while I don’t use either. My reason for this comes from my formative years, when I learned to make pasta. According to my teacher,¹¹ Italian pasta dough¹² only contains salt, egg, flour, and oil.

Since that dough has worked for everything I ever needed a dough for,¹³ I never felt the need to use other pasta doughs.¹⁴ So, when I made my pierogi, I just made dough the way I always do.¹⁵

Now, by this point you might be asking what making dumplings has to do with the pronunciation of ukulele.¹⁶ To me, they’re two reflections of the same universal truth: people adapt everything they learn to fit into their prior knowledge and experiences.

In IPA¹⁷ notation, the word ukulele is pronounced¹⁸ /?uku?ll/, which contrasts to the SAE¹⁹ pronunciation of /ju?k?lejli/. This is due to the nature of word movement through languages. When a word is assumed into a new language, it²⁰ change its pronunciation to align to the new tongues phonological rules. In Hawaiian, there is no schwa,²¹ while SAE uses the schwa almost exclusively in unstressed syllables. Additionally, SAE almost never begins words with vowel /u/²². So, when the Hawaiian word entered the SAE lexicon, the /j/²³ was added, to make it align with the rules of the language.

Now, both of these changes to the word are fine and natural, at least to me.²⁴ But, I’ve heard and seen complaints about the both how to pronounce ukulele, and, indirectly about how to make pierogi. To be specific, I’ve been told that the way I pronounce the word “ukulele” is wrong, since the word is pronounced differently in the language of origin. Additionally, there are many people who feel that changing a culture’s recipe²⁵ is wrong.²⁶

To me, both of those erase the idea of positive change, which is makes the world beautiful and exciting. Should I stop calling what I make pierogi because I don’t use an “authentic” recipe?²⁷ Should I try to relearn the phonological system of my native tongue to accommodate a single word?²⁸ I personally don’t think so, and that’s where today’s title comes. Both the way I make pierogi and the way I pronounce ukulele come from the background and mental connections I made before encountering the idea.

Draft One

At first glance, the title may seem like a non sequitur.²⁹ What do pierogi³⁰ have to do with the ukulele?³¹ No, this title isn’t³² written as a non sequitur as a way to spark my creative energies. Instead, while reflecting on my recipe for pierogi, especially in context with “authentic” recipes I’ve read, it occured to me that I feel similarly about pierogi and the pronunciation of the word ukulele.

To understand what I mean by that, below are two pierogi recipes. One of them is the recipe I found online,³³ and the other is the recipe I used last time I made pierogi.³⁴ As a bonus, I’ll also put in the gluten free pierogi dough recipe I came up with.³⁵

So, you might notice a few differences between the two recipes.³⁶ The biggest difference to me is in the dough. They use both sour cream and water in their dough, while I don’t use either. This mostly comes from when I first learned how to make pasta. According to the person teaching me,³⁷ Italian pasta dough³⁸ only has salt, egg, flour, and oil.

Since that dough has worked for everything I ever needed a dough for,³⁹ I never felt the need to change it. So, when I made my pierogi, I just made dough the way I always do.

Now, by this point you might be asking what that has to do with the pronunciation of ukulele. To me, they’re two reflections of the same universal truth: people adapt everything they learn to fit into their prior knowledge and experiences.

In IPA⁴⁰ notation, the word ukulele is pronounced⁴¹ /?uku?ll/, which contrasts to the SAE⁴² pronunciation of /ju?k?lejli/. This is due to the nature of word movement through languages. When a word is assumed into a new language, it⁴³ change its pronunciation to align to the new tongues phonological rules. In Hawaiian, there is no schwa,⁴⁴ while SAE uses the schwa almost exclusively in unstressed syllables. Additionally, SAE almost never begins words with vowel /u/⁴⁵. So, when the Hawaiian word entered the SAE lexicon, the /j/⁴⁶ was added, to make it align with the rules of the language.

Now, both of these changes are fine and natural, at least to me. But, I’ve heard and seen complaints about the second,⁴⁷ and indirectly about the first.⁴⁸ To be specific, I’ve been told that the way I pronounce the word “ukulele” is wrong. Indirectly, there are many people who feel that changing a culture’s recipe⁴⁹ is wrong.⁵⁰ To me, both of those erase the idea of change, which is at the heart of what makes the world beautiful and exciting. Should I stop calling what I make pierogi because I don’t use an “authentic”⁵¹ recipe? Should I try to relearn the phonological system of my native tongue to accommodate a single word? I personally don’t think so, and that’s where today’s title comes.

Recipes

From Internet

For the dough:

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

• 3 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons sour cream

• 3/4 cup water

Filling:

• 2 cups mashed potatoes

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Since pierogi making instructions, like most dumplings, are effectively just “make dough,” “make filling,” “put filling in dough,” I elide them here.

From Memory

For the dough:

• 1 egg

• olive oil in equal amount to the volume of egg

• sprinkle salt

• sprinkle black pepper

• flour to correct consistency

For the Gluten Free Dough:⁵²

• 1 egg

• olive oil in just under amount of egg volume

• sprinkle salt

• sprinkle black pepper

• white rice flour to correct consistency

Filling:

• 5 pounds potato, peeled⁵³

• 1 lb cream cheese

• 1/2 pound butter

• 2 red onions

• 5 cloves garlic

• olive oil as needed

• sharp cheddar to taste

• salt and pepper to taste

To make the filling, boil the potatoes, mince garlic and fry with onion in olive oil until caramalized. Drain potatoes when soft, then add everything together, mixing well.

To make the dough, all ingredients but flour in a bowl, then slowly add flour until solid enough to handle. Move onto a floured workspace and add more flour until the correct consistency.

Arranging for Bagpipe

Prereading note: I definitely have far more footnotes here (59 in total, 34 in the final draft) than normal (between 1 and 17 in total, and between 1 and 10 in the final draft) in my blog thus far. I have no clue why I felt the need for so many notes while writing this post, but they feel pretty needed. Additionally, since nested footnotes are apparently so frowned upon in different style circles that my editor doesn’t support them at all, nested notes will go in (), and if I doubly nest, I’ll use other [], and will continue to add as needed.

Draft 2

This spring, I started learning the Scottish bagpipes.¹ While learning the bagpipe, one of my cross-country running friends² asked me if I would be willing to play the (United States’) National Anthem³ at the Grinnell team’s only home meet, the Les Duke Invite. That meet is today, and (I think) just ended at the time of my writing this post. Obviously, I was unable to be there. But, their mentioning of the idea did spark me to try to find a bagpipe arrangement for The Star-Spangled Banner.^4,5 Initial searches were fairly fruitless, with what versions I could find sounding nothing like the anthem I knew.⁶ I found a forum discussing this, and they concluded that the anthem is unplayable on the bagpipes.

Now, those of you who know me may know that I don’t take being told something is impossible well.⁷ It feels like a challenge. Some of you may also know that I⁸ compose music. The brilliant⁹ part of my mind thought that I would be able to arrange the piece for bagpipes. Obviously,¹⁰that wouldn’t fit the song,¹¹ which requires an octave and a fifth range,¹², and some chromatic notes.¹³ But, you can always drop and raise octaves to fit a piece in. Additionally, my teacher mentioned offhandedly that there are chromatic fingerings for the bagpipe. So, I worked off of a version of the piece in the key of G.¹⁴

There I ran into my first problem: I have no clue how to play a C natural on a bagpipe, which was required in the second half of the piece.¹⁵ But, more importantly than that, it was centered around G,¹⁶ which those of you familiar with harmonics may see is dissonant to A.^17,18

When I asked a friend of mine who plays bagpipes,¹⁹ he told me that, in his experience, people would play the second half of the song,²⁰ because the first half isn’t doable. That’s when I suddenly realized that there’s a modulation in the middle of The Star Spangled Banner.²¹ With that in mind, I transposed the end of the piece to D major, which worked pretty well.²² I then put the initial half back in the song.²³ I expected some cognitive dissonance from the²⁴ modulation in my version of the piece, but it was fairly minor. And, since the piece was centered around D, it fit in nicely with the harmonics of the instrument.

Then came to the part of arranging for bagpipe that I struggle with: adding the embellishments. The bagpipe plays a continuous note, so to break up repeated notes,²⁵ small chirpy notes are played to break the sound. There are many kinds of embellishments, including grace notes,²⁶, doublings and half doublings,²⁷ and many others. As you might expect from a musical tradition lasting centuries, there’s a lot of theory behind deciding what embellishments go where²⁸ which I don’t know and can’t easily find only. So, I put in embellishments that I knew²⁹ and looked right where they were, then tried playing through. Nothing looked or sounded horrible to me, but I also don’t know enough to know if anything I do would be horrible. So, now I have a version of the National Anthem of the United States of America that fits entirely on the bagpipe. If anyone wants it, feel free to drop me a message at flyingrebelpipes@gmail.com. My only request if you end up using the piece is that you send me a recording of yourself playing it.

Draft 1

This spring, I started learning the bagpipe.³⁰ While learning the bagpipe, one of my cross-country running friends³¹ asked me if I would be willing to play the (United States’) National Anthem³² at the Grinnell team’s only home meet, the Les Duke Invite. That meet is today, and (I think) just ended at the time of my writing this post. Obviously, I was unable to be there. But, their mentioning of the idea did spark me to try to find a bagpipe arrangement for The Star-Spangled Banner.³³ Initial searches were fairly fruitless, with what versions I could find sounding nothing like the anthem I knew. I found a forum discussing this, and they concluded that the anthem is unplayable on the bagpipes.

Now, those of you who know me may know that I hate being told that something is impossible. It feels like a challenge. Some of you may also know that I³⁴ compose music. I thought I would be able to arrange the piece for bagpipes. Obviously,³⁵ that wouldn’t fit the song,³⁶ which requires an octave and a fifth range,³⁷, and some chromatic notes.³⁸ But, you can always drop and raise octaves. So, I worked off of a version of the piece in the key of G.

There I ran into my first problem: I have no clue how to play a C natural on a bagpipe. But, more importantly than that, it was centered around G,³⁹ which those of you familiar with harmonics may see is dissonant to A.^40,41 When I asked a friend of mine who plays bagpipes,⁴² he told me that, in his experience, people would play the second half of the song,⁴³ because the first half isn’t doable. That’s when I suddenly realized that there’s a modulation in the middle of The Star Spangled Banner.⁴⁴ With that in mind, I transposed the end of the piece to D major, which worked pretty well.⁴⁵ I then put the initial half back in the song.⁴⁶ I expected some cognitive dissonance from the⁴⁷ modulation in my version of the piece, but it was fairly minor. And, since the piece was centered around D, it fit in nicely with the harmonics of the instrument.

Then came to the part of arranging for bagpipe that is scary to me: adding the embellishments. The bagpipe plays a continuous note, so to break up repeated notes,⁴⁸ small chirpy notes are played to break the sound. There’s a lot of theory behind where what embellishments go where⁴⁹ which I have no clue about. So, I put in embellishments that I knew and looked right where they were, then tried playing through. Nothing felt horrible to me, but I also don’t know enough to know if anything I do would be horrible. So, now I have a version of the National Anthem of the United States of America that fits entirely on the bagpipe. If anyone wants it, feel free to drop me a message at flyingrebelpipes@gmail.com. My only request if you end up using the piece is that you send me a recording of yourself playing it.

Riverwalk

Draft 2

Today, I went on a riverwalk. Nominally, it was to fulfill an academic assignment. Since the assignment was vague,¹ I chose to journey between the London Aquatics Centre² and the River Thames.³ I found that ⁴ you can walk the entire distance from the Aquatic Centre to the Thames entirely along different rivers and streams.⁵ I had a great time during the walk! A part of me really wanted to go all the way to the English Chanel, but I knew that was a poor choice. For one, it would have been far longer than a 90 minute walk. Second, it’s really hard to decide where a tributary ends and where the real river⁶ ends. Finally, the footpath that would have let me walk along the Thames was closed. Nonetheless, it was a great time. If you want to see my journey at 60x speed,⁷ you can find it here. If you want to see it at 15x speed,⁸ along with fun information, you can find it here.

Draft 1

Today for a homework assignment, I went on a riverwalk.⁹ I chose to go from the London Aquatics Center¹⁰ to the River Thames.¹¹ I found that you can go the entire distance from the Aquatic Centre to the Thames without ever leaving the river.¹² It was a really fun walk. It was tempting to walk to where the Thames meets the Chanel, but I was unable to for two reasons: that would have put me well over the maximum time of 90 minutes, and the footpath following the Thames was closed.