Assignments




	Listening
	is a rare happening among human beings. You can not listen to the word another is speaking if you are preoccupied with your appearance or with impressing the other, or are trying to decide what you are going to say when the other stops talking or are debating about whether what is being said is true or relevant or agreeable. Such matters have their place, but only after listening to the word as the word is being uttered. Listening is a primitive act of love in which a person gives himself to another's word, making himself accessible and vulnerable to that word.





	— William Stringfellow


Here's an Ear Full...

Now we will explore the auditory realm in our ongoing questioning. We're not sure when or where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331 -- most likely in Austria in the early 1780's. The third movement of this sonata is known as "Rondo alla Turca" or the Turkish Round. In the classical Rondo form, short refrains alternate repeatedly with short episodes or distractions. Mozart was inspired by the sound of Turkish military music, particularly the music of the Janissaries (from the Turkish Yeniçeri meaning "new recruit"), which was popular in Europe at that time. Janissary music is the fast, spirited and raucous musical expression of new converts to Islam going off to battle for their beliefs and causes. In 1959 -- about 180 years after Mozart composed his Rondo, about 135 years after the Ottoman Sultan abolished the Janissaries, about 40 years after the end of the Ottoman Empire -- Dave Brubeck was still inspired by both Janissary music and Mozart, and he composed Blue Rondo A La Turk. It is written in 9/8 time, the unusual meter of the Turkish military music. None of this story is really important to the assignment. Listen to the music. The files are MP3. If you are unable to play them, please let us know.

	Rondo alla Turca - Mozart	1780(ish)

	Blue Rondo a la Turk - Dave Brubeck	1959

What comes up for you? What can this experience tell us? If you want a hint, roll over the Moon...

Consider that it may be about our relationship to the past, and what is possible...

     The Great Things in Life are what they seem to be. And for that reason -- strange as it may sound to you --are often very difficult to interpret.

     Great passions are for the great of soul, and great events can only be seen by those who are on a level with them.

     We think we can have our visions for nothing. We cannot. Even the finest, most self-sacrificing visions have to be paid for. Strangely enough, that is what makes them so fine.

Oscar Wilde

(1854-1900)

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