Thomas Dressler: Journal

The Round Lake CD is now available on ITunes! Check it out!
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=258276645

Trying out different looks for awhile, so it might change occasionally.

I'm spending an awful lot of time writing psalm settings. Sorry for the sometimes funky sound on my soundclips. I'm really not that knowledgeable in non-traditional ways of making music (ie. ELECTRONIC and COMPUTER stuff.) This is the output I get from my notation software. While it doesn't always sound real, it does give you an idea, which beats the days even 10 years ago having to write orchestrations with a pencil and paper, imagining them in your head and hoping they came out the way you wanted!

Since I'm so immersed in church work this week (Holy Week) I thought I'd choose a different design for the website for now. (Haha, that is if I can get it working. If you still see the old design, I guess I didn't get it working yet. . .) Besides, I'm getting tired of seeing my mug on the front page. I gotta work on some new publicity photos--that one with all the hair that is not gray yet is getting me depressed! :)

I've thought about using this feature on this website as a kind of blog or freeform journal, and I think I'm going to give it a try. There are lots of thoughts that I don't get a chance to voice, so here's my opportunity to let them go out into the cyberuniverse vacuum.

As a first entry, I thought I'd make an observation that has been with me for many years.

One thing I have noticed about humans (myself included) is that we seem to have an overwhelming need to somehow be "better" than other humans. You can see people trying to prove this all the time as they annoy others by overtly or subtly making statements that their family is somehow better or more distinguished, their children are better than others' children, their religion is better, their (fill in the blank) is somehow better. On a more personal level, there are those who feel that their intellect elevates them above others who just don't have the same "brain power" or their accumulated "factoids" or whatever somehow make them "smarter." Or (heaven help us) that their skin color somehow makes them better than those of another skin color. Or because they have managed to earn and accumulate more money, they are better. In my profession, as in all of the arts, it is rampant that artists feel they belong on some kind of elevated ivory tower because they are somehow better or more worthy than others.

If you take a look around at what's going on, you'll see this happening almost all the time. I think perhaps one of, if not THE, greatest lesson we all have to learn in our earthly journey is that "all men--and women--are created equal. . ." This concept is something so many of us pay lip service to and then go about our business of looking down on street people or those who have jobs we consider beneath us, or who just come from the "wrong" circumstances. And boy oh boy, does one see a LOT of musicians with delusions of grandeur!

I believe that ultimately, first of all, we need to learn that we are all the same. Some of us may distinguish ourselves through using and developing certain skills--mental, emotional, physical, whatever--but everyone has something special they can do. The singer/diva with a false sense of ego as big as the Empire State Building is no more of a human being than the poor starving street person or the garbage collector who does his/her job with skill and care.

In my opinion, artists and musicians are really "out there" and visible, and ultimately it is our job to realize this and use our art to somehow DO something for OTHERS, -NOT- to use our abilities to TAKE from others, which is what happens when the performer goes onstage with the attitude of proving he/she is somehow more "divine" than others. Oh yes, we may be better than many at counting sixteenth notes, or singing on pitch or at using whatever skill it takes to do our particular thing; and I think it's wonderful to use and enjoy our particular tools and abilities in a joyful way. But ultimately, I believe we need to ask ourselves if we are aiming to somehow uplift others or are we there simply for applause and standing ovations. These things, again, simply build up our illusion that we are somehow "set apart" from others.

I would say that one of the biggest abuses of the musician's abilities that I see in day to day life comes in the area of church music. To have such a short sighted view of what we are there for is even more offensive in a church setting, where one tends to have hopeful thoughts that others around them are aspiring to "love their neighbor as they love themself." Unfortunately, many of our church leaders, and I include musicians in this category, at least give the outward appearance that this is not their first motivation for being in a position of leadership.

I can speak only from the point of view of a musician. My opinion is that we should strive to do our job with all the skill of the best performer, but our attitude when we work in churches should be to PRESENT music as skillfully as possible, and NOT to PERFORM in a way that calls attention to us, the performers. The music and the message should be all important, and we are simply the skilled messengers who have the ability to present truths and meanings that not everyone is able to do.

(HOWEVER, speaking on a more practical level, I would add that I am not in sympathy with those who feel that being "pastoral" somehow supercedes musical skills. Or that the church musician should be content with the meager salaries we are often forced to accept. We are no better than others BUT we are just as good and deserve to be paid for our education, time, and hard work in a way that is equitable to others. Unfortunately. . .)

It is my opinion that our society has become out of balance with so many people trying to "be better" than everyone else, to wield power over others, to bully others around (in its lowest form.) We artists are out there. Someone needs to stem the present tide by actually trying to live out and display the spiritual principles we say with our lips. To do just this one thing, accept our equality with those around us and start to love them like we love ourselves, would be to start on the path of actually living our spiritual principles. Every time we appear in front of others, we should ask ourselves whether we are there to win their applause, or whether we are there to figuratively open our arms and hug them and uplift them, to GIVE.

I think few of us start out with this goal in mind, but it is to be hoped that some (and hopefully many) of us will reach this view as we move through life and experience its disappointments as well as its high points. Perhaps Beethoven was a great example of this sojourn. A basic knowledge of his personality and life history, joined with a careful hearning of his 9th Symphony ALONG WITH READING AND THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE WORDS OF THE LAST MOVEMENT ARE SAYING will point out a beautiful example of someone who reached this point through a lifetime of fame, and hardship and excruciating personal disappointment. It is, in my opinion, when someone reaches this point that they have become truly great.

Since several people have asked me, I want to point out that I tune my harpsichord completely by ear. I get my first pitch using a tuning fork, and the tempering of intervals is done the "old way." Those who know about temperaments know that a given temperament, like Werckmeister for example, can sound different depending on how an individual does the tempering. So the examples on my soundclip page all have a very slight stamp of individuality one would not get using a machine.

The annual Bach Marathon in Allentown is a truly fun experience. I was happy to participate this year, and I have posted a clip of one of my pieces, the Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (BWV 671) from the Clavieruebung III. This is not a professionally engineered recording (there is a buzz in it) and I have not altered or edited it. I did, however, upload it differently from my other soundclips, thinking this might give better sound quality than my other clips. My sound connections are not working right at the moment, so I can listen to computer stuff only on my little bitty speakers. If anyone cares to share with me how the overall clarity compares to the other clips, I'd be grateful. (click the email link for email address.)

I've recently taken to composing my own psalm settings for my church jobs. Many of them are for the Episcopal church where I work, so they are often in Anglican Chant format, but in different styles. It's fun to practice writing in Bach counterpoint, or working on developing your own harmonic style! I'm using Sibelius, which allows you to synthesize sounds and record them, so I'll put up the computer generated soundclips from time to time. Look for them on the soundclip page.

I just became the Moderator of the Pipe Organ forum on Magle International Music Forums. Check it out (http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/pipe-organ-forum/)

It's still a fledgling forum, but it has much promise as a place where people from all over can discuss organs, organ music, and related topics in a FRIENDLY atmosphere. Let's see what kinds of discussions we can get going on there!

The most recent soundclip on here is an excerpt of Brahms' "Es ist ein Ros" played on the 1776 Tannenberg at the Whitefield House in Nazareth, PA. It shows what an amazing instrument this little 4 rank organ truly is!

Many weeks of hard work, negotiation, and planning resulted in the Roman Catholic and Episcopal choirs in Lambertville, NJ combining to sing a Mass at both churches, with Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine as the anthem. This was a truly unique experience, with music making on a very high level (in English, Latin, and French) and goodwill all around! This is the payoff for the sometime craziness of directing two music programs--two choirs that are both trained the same way, lending one another their individual strengths to produce a "super choir!"

I want to point out that the "Bach" temperament in the A minor Fantasia soundclip is not exactly the same as Lehman's interpretation. For those who are interested in temperaments, it is based on the same structure, derived from the "squiggle" on the title page of the Well Tempered Clavier, however I distributed the comma slightly differently, so there is no wide 5th. I believe the whole concept needs to be experimented with and interpreted in different ways. What I have arrived at here is, I believe a practical interpretation of the same overall concept.

This one is actually from last year. It's an excerpt from a live performance of JS Bach's Wedge Fugue in E minor at the Bach Marathon in Allentown in spring of 2004. (I don't have control over where these appear on the page--it came up at the bottom, so you have to scroll all the way down on the soundclip page to find it.) I put it up because this performance was the beginning of my rethinking of technique. The fingerings for this performance were derived straight out of CPE Bach's treatise, and they were so comfortable and expressive that I decided to explore further. Bach lived in a time of transition, so the fingerings are not exactly early but not exactly modern either. There are no 3-4-3-4 fingerings in the scales, but there is plenty of 1-1-1 and other "hopping" at various places. It is entirely possible to use old fingerings at modern AGO style consoles.

Finally, here is a new soundclip which demonstrates the new technique I've been working on. It's the same Bach Fantasia in A minor which is already up on the website, so you can compare the two. (Be warned, the new one is louder, as I normalized the sound file.) You can compare how I was playing in December with a completely new approach to early music technique (for me, anyhow) based on a study of accounts of JS Bach's playing, the treatise by his son CPE Bach, and also ideas expressed by Abby Whiteside in her book on piano technique. I need to live with this for awhile, but I'm very excited about it. Another thing you can compare is the usual Kirnberger temperament to my adaptation of Bradley Lehman's wonderful discovery about how Bach probably tempered keyboard instruments. All in all, I think this is a very exciting combination of ideas!

I have not made the promised sound clips yet, as I came across some very interesting new ideas concerning technique. I've wanted to take some time to live with them and put them into practice, as they have made some dramatic changes in the way I approach playing early music. They will be coming! I haven't forgotten!

I just wanted to point out that the sound clips on this site were recorded as an experiment in non-edited recording (except the Tannenberg organ recording.) There are a few slips which were allowed to remain, as they were recorded in a hurry, partly to make a point about different temperaments. But for those who have discussed the value of completely unedited recordings with me: all the harpsichord clips are completely unedited! I am working on more recordings; some, I think, will make interesting points. They should be up in a week or so.

For those of you who came to this site to hear the difference between various temperaments, there was a mistake on the hi-fi clips. The hi-fi links to different clips of Adeste Fideles were all playing the same file, so there was no difference between them. I took the hi-fi links off the page. Check out the lo-fi links--there's MUCH more of a difference there! :)

I was fortunate enough to be present at the Moravian Historical Society in Nazareth, PA when Laurence Libin, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, made the fabulous discovery that the clavichord in Nazareth was signed and dated by David Tannenberg in 1761. This makes it the only known Tannenberg clavichord, and his only signed instrument. (If you don't count his unique capital Ds on his organ pipes.) An unbelievable discovery, and I was fortunate and feel privileged to have witnessed this historic event!

Lecture/Recital on the Latrobe Preludes for the Moravian Music Conference at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. Discussed issues in historically informed performance, as well as three different temperaments (5th comma meantone, Werckmeister, and Equal) on the c.1790 Green organ on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (meantone), a harpsichord by Willard Martin (Werckmeister) and a Steinway piano (Equal.)

I decided in light of my recent research in Moravian music to put off issuing the 1776 Tannenberg recording so I can research and record some of the interesting pieces I have learned about which could have been played in Nazareth around 1800.

Spent time in Winston-Salem, North Carolina doing research on performing practices in 18th century Moravian keyboard music. Found some very interesting things, including some old fingerings and lots of leads.