This last Friday and Saturday was Manhattanhenge. Ed and I each took some pictures on 42nd Street while it happened around 8:20pm on Friday.
Manhattanhenge is what we call those days when the sunset aligns perfectly with Manhattan’s street grid. As the American Museum of Natural History website explains “had Manhattan’s grid been perfectly aligned with the geographic north-south line, then the days of Manhattanhenge would coincide with the equinoxes. But Manhattan’s street grid is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the days of alignment elsewhere into the calendar.” May 28 and 29, and July 11 and 12, for example, this year.
Manhattan’s straight street canyons lined by tall buildings plus a clear horizon over the Hudson River to New Jersey create a photographic opportunity unique to the world “if not the universe“. The city even temporarily closes off parts of Manhattan’s main West/East throughfares at the crucial time to assist (and protect) the many Manhattanhenge enthusiasts wielding their cameras in the middle of the road. At least I think that’s what happened, because at first – between 8 and 8:15pm or so – everybody was rushing out onto the middle of 42nd Street by 8th Avenue each time the walk/don’t walk light was in their favor, took pictures, and then rushed back to the sidewalk. But at one point right at peak henge time the westbound lanes of 42nd street were completely devoid of all traffic for 5-10 minutes – making our viewing efforts that much safer to prolong uninterrupted.
Anyway, here are some of the pics Ed and I took with our phones. We have different brands, with cameras that function differently, which makes for some nice contrast. You will probably easily sort out which pics belong to which phone.
It is Ed’s birthday today. And for the 32nd time in 32 years I have composed a viola/piano duet for my husband, a tradition that will continue until we reach the morbid part of the generally expressed marriage vow (Although I am reminded by our wedding certificate that Ed and I used the differently worded “as long as they both shall live” when we were betrothed). Ed plays the viola and I the piano, but generally we only perform together only for ourselves or family.
Each one of these duets are called “Evocation”. I shall share the score of “Evocation XXXII” in this post. In previous posts (which may be found here in the archives) I have shared a handful of others, with my music scoring program providing a computer synthesized rendition of viola and piano playing the piece.
This year I can only provide the score, without sound. The company that made the music scoring program I have used for almost 30 years (Finale) has closed shop, and the version on my old desk top computer in our office has suddenly degraded, losing many of its capabilities, including the ability to reproduce the sound of what has been scored. With no company left to give tech support or upgrades or repairs, this will be the last time I can use Finale to write out my music. This old dog has got to learn new tricks.
But as this breakdown of the old trick I knew happened just two weeks before Ed’s birthday, I found it easier for this old dog to write out Evocation XXXII on a handicapped program than test my nerves with learning how to use the new one I will now need to switch over to in the short time I had for this score to be completed.
Not that my nerves weren’t tested anyway. It wasn’t just the sound reproducing capability that was hamstrung. The “Speedy Entry” function would not recognize pitches, only rests, so I had to switch to the far slower and fiddly “Simple Entry” function. The “mass mover” function simply disappeared from the menu option, so there was no way to “copy and paste”, among other functions. All this made what would normally may have taken me an hour at most to write out take a day and a half. (I don’t mean the composition process, simply the writing out of the score itself.)
For example look just at this section in the viola:
In Speedy Entry I would have produced this in 20 seconds. In Simple Entry it took me took several minutes the first time. And note how often this phrase is repeated in the score – 12 times. Copying and pasting it would take a matter of seconds. Instead I had to painstakingly write it out again and again and again … I did get faster with practice though, probably only taking a minute the twelfth time.
Anyway, ultimately it wasn’t too horrible, just an annoyance. And I’m annoyed I have to learn to use a whole new music scoring program after doing just fine thank you very much with the one I had been using all these years.
But mostly I’m sorry I can’t share audio of Evocation XXXII with you today. Those of you who are comfortable sight reading music may note that it is mostly a jaunty, playful piece. There’s a touch a mystery, a smattering of spiky chords, but mostly it’s a playful ditty.
Which may seem unusual, not only because my Evocations tend towards the dark and moody, but also because I came up with the melody during a memorial service. For Ed’s father no less. But Ed says his dad was a jaunty fellow, so maybe this was appropriate. The melody line for the viola just kept developing in my head during the service, and I kept quietly replaying it in my mind until I was sure I had memorized it. Because I would not have a chance to write it down until hours later back in the hotel. I didn’t have music paper with me in Madison, Wisconsin, or any kind of blank paper; so it just made sense to me to write down my notes in the margins of the memorial program:
Here’s what that viola melody segment I excerpted above (plus three more measures) looks like in the margins of the program:
The memorial program and scrap paper with an in-progress version of the piece, pencil markings indicating the working out of the piano parts:
We watched much of the parade at a perch on 5th Avenue, north of 8th Street, then walked up to 27th Street to gather and then march with the Quakers.
Here is a video diary of a lot of all that!
Got a close up of comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander. I love how he and Zohran Mamdani cross-endorsed each other in the ranked voting primary.
The New York Times compiled a list of the 100 greatest movies of the 21st century. More than 500 filmmakers, stars and influential film fans were asked to vote for the 10 best movies (however they chose to define that) released since Jan. 1, 2000. Perusing some of the individual ballots reveals a wide variety of choices and tastes and often precious little overlap. Still, from all that data a ranked list of 100 was compiled.
And I am pleased to note I have seen 95 of the chosen 100 (and am pleased with most of those being singled out this way).
At the bottom of this post you can find all 95 of those films listed in a more legible fashion than in the above screenshot.
The five films below are the ones on the list I have yet to see but now especially feel I should. Four of them are films I am wary or even scared to watch… but I will get to them … sometime.
Readers can also create their own ballot of 10 (in no ranking order). With only 10 slots it was wrenching to leave certain films off, but I will refrain from saying which or go into any further rationalizations and explanations.
For what it’s worth, six of my top ten are also in the NYT top 100.
I think being part of the 100 is more important than what exact ranking a film received. Still this list of the 95 I’ve seen does indicate the ranking order, except for missing the five films I have not seen …
We gathered with the Quakers near Bryant Park. There were so many people joining the march that it took hours before we actually got onto the march proper on 5th avenue.
So the first set of pics and vids are from the gathering, the next set from the march proper.
If you look closely, you’ll notice this is a different moneybags figure from the one pictured above (that one smiles, this one frowns). There are sometimes similar or duplicate statuettes on both uptown and downtown platforms.
Last Thursday the Brooklyn Botanic Garden sponsored Hanami Nights in celebration of cherry blossom season. Hanami translates to “flower viewing”.
I have posted pictures of the cherry blossoms before, but this is the first year the BBG organized their special celebration in the evening, allowing for pictures in dusk and spotlight enhanced night.
There are also pics and videos of traditional Japanese folk dancing.
Notes from a Composer 