The text shows the inability of leaving Ireland

I went to a talk on Irish writing in the 50s this evening, and one main topic was the problem of emigration. The best, they say, leave Ireland (usually meaning go to London or Dublin, which doesn't qualify as "Irish") while the slackers stay behind and drink away their inheritances on the ruined family farm. Now, Claire Wills (wrote a good book on Paul Muldoon as well) did a fine job deconstructing that monster of a commission--something about population policy--but she also did a fine job of making me want to get out. So, going to Galway next weekend. I feel like that's a start. First Galway, then maybe Vienna. Ich bin aus Österreich.

I've taken to learning German online. It gives me something mechanical to do, anyway. I probably should have learned Italian or something, but I have less of a desire to go to Italy. Too warm, too sunny, too delicious. I almost bought tickets to the Dresden music festival, but I'm not sure when my exams are. We'll work on that.

In other news, I finished four of my nine movements for this desert suite. They are, played by my computer:

1. Presto (score)
2. Allegro Pizzicato (score)
5. Geese (score)
9. Very Slow (score)

The first two movements are meant to be directly conjoined--the first, slowing down from presto to allegro, also becomes pizzicato.

In case you missed it, they get slower as the suite goes on. That haunting chord you hear the cello and viola play (and the two violins outline) at the beginning of Presto is (I know you're sweating with anticipation, sweating everywhere) a perfect fifth, D and A, in the viola, played as a double-stop on strings III and IV, and a very, very flat (49 cents flat, almost halfway to the next lower note) G#. Pretty mad. A vicious 3/4-tone leap there in the violins; you think it's a leading tone but oh you are so wrong. It's so flat it wants to pull you down to the G, not up to the A. It's almost exactly between the F# and the A, even, (the F# being the major third of the elusive triad) so it may as well just suck it up and pretend it's an out-of-tune 4-3 suspension.

I finished applying for the summer grant as well. Something changed a bit, so it's more community-oriented. Probably make things easier to get a grant than some esoteric ethnomusicological project practiced by one or two other people.

And, as a plug, our community blog slaughter and laughter is back, thanks to Alyssa. I'll throw up a new color scheme some time. I'm thinking rot und schwartz.