Doublereed Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 2005/02

From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [DR-L] My Sincere Thanks!
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 03:05:38 -0500

Hello, Everyone.

I've continued to battle "Brittle Diabetes" in the
last few months, but it will never go away. I still
get at least one, if not 3, Diabetic Black-Outs each
week, and recovering from each takes days, and by
then the next one hits. For this reason I have fallen
much further behind in doing E-Mails. I now have
1250 E-Mails on my computer that I still need to
read, store and answer.

A few of you were thoughtful enough to write to
Senator John McCain's State Director, Mr. Paul
Hickman, to encourage him to help me get my
Disability and Social Security, but nothing has
happened yet. Half of the Arizona State Agencies
agree that I'm both Legally Disabled and Terminal,
while the other half of the Arizona State Agencies
deny everything. In the last 5 years, my doctor has
written several letters to them on my behalf, I've
gone to 150 Arizona Resident Attorneys, etc., and
NO ONE will help me until AFTER ALL the
Arizona State Agencies agree that End Stage
Diabetes is a Disability, even though ALL Federal
Laws have long since insisted that it is! The truth
is, they always wait for terminal people like me to
die, so they don't have to spend a penny on anyone
except themselves.

I give my Sincere Thanks to the many thoughtful
people who have already written to Senator John
McCain via Mr. Hickman, on my behalf! I realize
that most of you have never seen any of my scores,
nor heard a note of my music, but if you are facing
a crisis with Health Care, Disability and/or Social
Security, you might also wish to write to Senator
McCain via Mr. Paul Hickman on my behalf. This
has been going on for months, and nothing has
happened yet.

"Mr. Paul Hickman" <paul_hickman@-----.gov>

Meanwhile, I finished a work that was one of the
20, or so, large works that had been in my head for
years. This was the oldest of those works, being a
Set of Theme and Variations based on the Kyrie
from the "Missa Pange Lingua" by Josquin Des
Prez (ca. 1440-1521) that I studied in college in the
Mid-1970's. Originally I had planned it for Solo
Violin with Orchestra, but due to the indifference
of my violinist friends in the 1970's, the work got
put on hold for 30 years. I began putting it in Finale
Print, now re-set for Solo Viola, in September 14,
2004, and finished it on January 25, 2005.

"Fantasy on a Theme used by Josquin Des Prez
for Viola and Orchestra" (Jan. 2005, Theme & 13
Variations, 23 min.) or just the "Josquin Fantasy".
It is scored for Solo Viola, woodwinds in 3's, 2
horns, 2 trumpets, euphonium, tuba, percussion,
harp and strings.

Too many people associate the terms Inversion
(which is what they call a melody that has been
carefully written out "Upside-Down") and Retro-
grade ("Backwards") only with "12-Tone-Formula"
Music. But in truth some composers (like Ockeghem,
Bach, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, etc.) have been using
these methods since the Late Middle Ages in Modal
and Tonal Harmony.

One of these was Johannes Ockeghem (ca.
1410-1497), who was famous for his Canons in
"Cancrizans" ("crab-walking" or backwards). This
meant he'd have one voice in the choir singing a
melody going Forwards while another voice was
singing the same melody written out Backwards,
and they'd harmonize beautifully! Nowadays we'd
call his "Cancrizans Canons" as "Retrograde
Canons". Josquin Des Prez wrote at least 5 works
as hommages to Ockeghem, but we aren't certain if
they ever met in person.

My "Josquin Fantasy" has longer Solo Spots
for the Harp, and most of the Brasses individually
against the Solo Viola, plus some nice, important
shorter solos for the English Horn, First Oboe,
First Bassoon, and most of the other woodwinds.
This is easy to do, since most of the Variations
are different kinds of canons (Inversion Canons,
Retrograde Canons and Retrograde-Inversion
Canons) in the Ockeghem Tradition. This allows
for paired instruments playing such Canons, so
much of the work has an intimate chamber-music
feel to it.

There is a Cadenza, and the Final Variation is
crowned by two more (my 5th and 6th) of my
"Quadruple Directional Stretto Fugues", (which
is one of the Nine Categories of Fugues which I
invented).

To "stretto" means "to straddle" or "overlap
one melody upon another in good harmony". I
have developed fugues where I overlap a melody
with itself in Original, Inversion, Retrograde and
Retrograde-Inversion directions, all at the same
time. Normally I use Modern Chromatic Modal
Harmony (which means it sounds like the har-
monies in Hindemith and Shostakovich), but since
I wanted a Renaissance flavor to the Josquin Fan-
tasy, they actually resolve to only 2 alternating
Tonal Chords in that section. Other parts of the
Josquin Fantasy use Traditional Modal Harmony.

I've already got the Dedicatee Violist and Harpist
editing their parts. Those things are going well. I
may have not been in much touch lately, but I have
been writing some nice Double Reed Parts in the
Josquin Fantasy. I hope that you will like it some-
day, when you all might eventually hear it all.

I've even been getting some response from
several of the Ivy League Schools, in regards to
the Nine Categories of Fugues which I've invented.
They don't know what to make of it.

In the last 34 years I've attended 13 universities
and visited and/or have had contact with Music
Theory Professors and Composers from several
universities in the US and Europe, and the same
pattern always occurs: unless a professor is an
Avant Garde Composer himself or herself, they
have NO idea how Mid and Late 20th Century
Harmony works at all! They only understand
Music Theory that is 100 years old, or older. I'm
sorry but that just doesn't sound too professional
to me. (As if any of us would run out to go to a
medical doctor, or repairman for our cars or
computers, whose newest knowledge was over
100 years old! Hmmmm???)

I gotta go, but I truly thank Ms. Jacqueline
Kovach, Dr. Jennifer Paull and all of you for
your kindness.

Bear Woodson
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA

Home: 520 - 881 - 2558
"Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>

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