In Praise of Google Search

In early February I went to a recital at the brand new Notre Dame O'Neill Music building.  Jamie Jordan, Daniel Drucker, and John Liberatore presented several very contemporary pieces for soprano and percussion and glass harmonica.  The pieces were so unusual that sometimes it was only by body language that I knew that the piece was over and it was time for applause.  Jordan and Drucker are NYC performers; Liberatore teaches composition at Notre Dame.  Maybe there were 35 of us at this free recital.  There should have been many more to hear artists of this caliber.

Every Monday Jim forwards a list of ND events to me.  John Liberatore was giving a lecture entitled "You've Got to Have the Right Notes. " I thought it would be interesting to see how he put together his compositions.  Again, there were not many of us in the audience.  At first I thought I was going to be the only woman there but two others showed up.   Craig Cramer, a professor of organ and a concert organist, took a seat next to me and we shared a score to follow.  The pressure was on!  Could I follow the score and turn the page at the right spot?  For the most part, the answer was yes!  And what fun it was to see how the pieces we were hearing were notated.

Liberatore's enthusiasm was great.  His lecture was interesting but at times I felt as if it was another meta-cognitive experience at Notre Dame, when I am an outsider looking in.   At least I am getting a glimpse of someone else's work and life even if I cannot understand all that I am hearing.

So why is this in praise of Google search?  I heard a term that I don't remember ever hearing before--"hocket."  I was not embarrassed to ask Craig  who quickly explained it to me in an aside.  Today I looked it up.  Hocket is one voice taking the melody while the other rests.   I understand the concept.  It's not complicated but I did not know the term.  I accessed two You-tube videos that explained it well along with musical examples from medieval monks singing plainsong and Duke Ellington's jazz with trombones alternating single notes very rapidly. In contemporary music like Liberatore's, there is usually a variety of timbre in the alternating voices.

I had to share it with my 14 year old grandson who plays trombone in a couple of jazz ensembles.  I hope he enjoys it too!