Connecting parts

Well, best laid plans…..

 

I have learned the past few months that my physical chores must take precedence. So, other activities fell off the calendar when the number of exercises increased. That’s good news. I’ve also learned that time is the most important facet of this rehabilitation. It takes time for tissue to heal, bone to grow, muscles to strengthen, and swelling to decrease. I don’t live on a Star Trek set. There are no Sonic Screwdrivers to point at my foot. And we all know what happens when you pray for patience…….

 

The good news is that I should be able to make more progress on the Saint Saens. I’ll be shifting my tatting time back to when it is cooler in the morning. So, off to wash my hands, wind some size 80 thread and figure out the circumference needed for the split ring connector pattern.

Section A motif developed

Each of the development sections is repeated. I chose to ignore slight differences in the repeats. I changed my mind about the next section after I finished a trial tat version. It just didn’t represent the repeat section well at all. So, after letting it sit for a bit, I came up with this:

Section A motif

 

Now, a bit about the melody used in this section. It is similar to themes used in previous movements of the symphony. You may even recognize a bit of Dies Irae. This chant used in services after death fascinated Saint-Saens. Like many of his time and place, what came after death was intriguing. Sound familiar? And we wonder where entertainment gets their ideas???

Because the organ is used in these 2 sections for accent, I limited the use of green beads to the center of the motif. It is an organ concerto after all. And that’s what I always focus on when I listen to this. I am an organist through and through!

Why the pink beads on only 2 of the rings? Well, the strings have the theme for only half of the section. Their part sets up the next few sections nicely; more about the end of the movement later. I’ll be working my way through connecting all these separate parts. Again, I let the music structure drive the design. All I’ll say for now is I felt compelled to use a thinner thread and repetition of the same stitch count.

Section F

Remember the turn? The little 3 note ornament that makes up the fugue theme?

Remember the key? After the delicious melody in the major key, we’re back to c minor.

Remember the rhythm? The 3 notes: da, da, dum?

Well, this all returns in the next section I named Section F.

The sense of urgency returns in this section. It propels us into a repeat of the melody from a previous section with a hint of brass reminding us of the Intro. And you thought this was just a bridge section!

So, how to represent this in DS? Well, again, I ignored the role of the brass. I didn’t work in any indication of the change of key center. But, I did try to work in the use of 3 notes. I did try to work in the dialogue Saint-Saens set up. The best way I could think of was to use the pearl tatting in the chains. I did try to work in the Intro melody and the increase in tension. I decided to use sets of split rings.

 This motif actually took the longest to complete. Maybe it was all those ends I had to hide……

Tomorrow, I look at a the final section in the development.

Maestoso Section C

Before I forget, yes, the foot is continuing to get better. The ankle and leg are getting stronger. I am slowly becoming more independent. I hope soon to finish the painful part of rehab.

Now, on to more lovely things.

Round 2 C

As soon as the organist lifts the hands after finishing the third phrase of the B theme, we hear a lovely melody in the woodwinds. It soars. The strings support it nicely, but don’t have much to say; just a murmur of thirds establishing a wash of key center. I struggled for weeks with whether I should represent this melody in beads or with something else. I decided that the simplicity of the melody should be represented in the simplest motif. So, no beads or fancy thread. Just the DS, Ma’am. 

I’ll confess to using the melody while exercising. It soars so nicely. If I complete the movement while singing it to myself, I go slowly….like I should. If I work through the entire section, I do just the right number of reps and even have the bridge section to change legs…..like I should. I still lose track of what number I’m on occasionally. Musicians count best to 4. Anything past 4 and we can get lost quickly.

Tomorrow we return a bit to the fugue….sort of.

Saint Saens Maestoso B section

At this point of the movement, Saint-Saens gets down to business. He gives the melody to the organ. Of course some of the orchestra is playing also, but the theme is all organ. We hear the syncopation hinted at in previous movements. There’s a strong sense of going somewhere harmonically as well as rhythmically. And before you know it, we’ve moved on into the next section. Whoosh!

B section motif without border

I had fun stringing beads to use in the rings. I wanted them to look strong and uneven. The first few samples didn’t work for me until I correlated stitch count to rhythm. Again, the visual fell into place as soon as I let the structure of the music drive the design. That brought a smile to my face.

Tomorrow, I will be looking at the pretty melody coming up in the next section.

Looking at the development

For the next round of the pattern, I decided to create motifs for each section. I found the piece easily fell into 8 sections that drew on 4 different ideas. This is very common in symphonies and the ideas or themes seemed to suggest 4 different motifs. As I mulled over this realization for several days, I came to the conclusion that just like nature exhibits complimentary color schemes, music exhibits complimentary rhythm and melody. Who’d a thunk…….

All this made such great sense, except I didn’t have a clue where to attach them all and how to arrange them and…..

So, I made some arbitrary decisions that are just my way of keeping things flowing visually: the 2 beads in the center ring will sit on the “horizon” of the design; the sections will be joined with tatting in a thinner thread that provide a background of sorts; even though the melodic ideas repeat in the sections, I made two of each of the 4 motifs thus making visual duplicates. I’m pleased with creating this little bit of balance. I pray the indulgence of all those musicians and tatters out there. Forcing this little bit of visual order onto the structure of the music and this little bit of chaos onto the structure of the tatting has led to interesting discoveries. Tomorrow begins our romp through the motifs.

Fugueing

Today, I explain the chains in the First Round. (See picture below for Thursday)

Camille Saint-Saens, being an organist, was well acquainted with the fugue form. For this composition, he chose a simple subject. I chose to focus on how the subject has groups of three notes similar to a turn ornament. That back and forth arrangement of notes suggested a trio of decorative picots and because the strings state the fugue so well, I added a pink bead to the center picot of each group. Simple, but effective and a nice finish to the center motif.

Since this piece is in white thread, I'm only working on it when it's cool and there's little chance of my hands hands sweating. To fill the rest of the time while my foot heals, I've been doing the rehab exercises (30 minutes 3 times a day) and working on a bookmark in Rootbeer thread and the chair canvas. If I can get the camera to behave, I'll share a pic of the canvas soon.