CUT © Lera Auerbach 2015
- Music: dreaming aloud.
- Music notation: captured magic.
- Music commissioner: investor in an intangible slice of immortality with his name on a score.
- Chamber music: telepathy.
- Composer: architect of silences.
- Composer’s work: lonely labor, indistinguishable from alchemy.
- Compositional process: distilling passion into sounds.
- Composer-in-residence: a living ghost.
- Sounds: material of creation.
- Premiere: critic’s alert to sharpen preconceptions.
- Program notes: gravely misleading listening maps.
- Microtonal notation: signal to play out of tune.
- Phrasing: the search for gravity.
- Intonation: tracing the holy ghost.
- How to practice intonation? Mentally outline the ideal future and then make it reality.
- Practicing: doesn’t make anything perfect, but can create favorable conditions for accidental perfection.
- Inspiration: The Muse doesn’t forgive those who doubt her.
- Technique: that which requires constant work to be unnoticeable.
- Virtuosity: If you are complimented for it, you don’t have it.
- Tempo: (mostly) controlled flow of energy.
- Meter: wagons in the train of Time.
- Form: a map.
- Unison: All is one.
- Overtone series: proof of divine origins.
- Fundamental tone: origins of the universe.
- Accents: poking.
- Expressions: desperate attempts of composer to communicate from beyond the grave, usually dismissed by performers.
- Articulations: musicians’ blind spots.
- Pedal: misty and mysterious soul of the piano – routinely sterilized and castrated by pianists.
- Repeat: that which never happens.
- Repeat sign: déjà vu.
- Last tremolo: preparation for standing ovation.
- Rests: never restful.
- Harmonic: sound’s afterlife.
- Fermata: the eye of time.
- Vibrato: can cause nervous laughter.
- Dolce: Tuck me in gently.
- Espressivo: caffeinated emotions.
- Molto espressivo: Make it double espresso.
- Morendo: Did you hear anything?
- Pianissimo: solo for the unwrapping of a candy.
- Pianississimo: time for a hearing-aid’s buzz.
- Caesura: Breathe while you can.
- Glissando: stretching space.
- Flautando: memory of a sound.
- Sul ponticello: the beast within, which you have repressed all your life.
- Con sordino: taking the diva out of the violinist.
- Frullato: growling in public.
- Staccato: touching burning music with fingertips.
- Legato: spilled slurs.
- Sforzando: a musical ouch.
- Pizzicato: pecking the grains of notes.
- Subito: wife poking her husband when he starts to snore during a concert.
- Diminuendo: magic mushroom in wonderland. You become smaller and smaller – as long as you are nibbling on it. Unfortunately, you never get small enough.
- Adagio: Think of your mortality.
- Adagio molto: Think of your immortality.
- Adagio religioso: Pray for salvation.
- Allegro: the original definition (‘happily’) no longer applies. Think general level of anxiety.
- Allegro molto: think increased level of anxiety.
- Allegro con brio: playing with fire.
- Andante: The original definition (‘leisurely walking’) is extinct. Think depression.
- Moderato: Comme ci, comme ça.
- Lento: works better than Ambien for male audience members above the age of 50.
- Presto: No thinking allowed.
- Vivace: Act first. Regret later.
- Vivacissimo: Jump off a cliff. You may or may not have time to open your wings.
- Stretto: condensing time.
- Con moto: You’re running out of time.
- Accelerando: seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
- Ritenuto: realizing what that light is.
- Ritardando: Make every note count; you have very few of them left.
- Rubato: loosening the reins.
- Ad libitum: Create the illusion of freedom.
© Lera Auerbach – Excess of Being
this is really great! I am sending it to my musician friends. thank you.
Posted by: Stefanie Green | October 24, 2015 at 12:31 PM
Terrific! Wit and erudition blended perfectly. DL
Posted by: The Best American Poetry | October 24, 2015 at 01:41 PM