artsyhonker / Kathryn @artsyhonker@sonomu.club

Hey, sometime after I finish my PhD...

...would anyone be interested in being in a Fediverse Virtual Choir to sing some of my work so I can put recordings online?

Eric Whitacre did this (not on the Fediverse) and it worked super well. I... definitely don't have his resources, but I can probably film a conducting track that people can sing to.

I'm a choral composer; I like to release my music under free culture licences, usually CC by-SA.

I'm working on a PhD in contemporary sacred choral composition.

I'm neurodivergent, and I have multiple healthcrap issues. I'm a migrant. I'm Christian.

You can find my work at http://www.artsyhonker.net/ and fund it at http://www.artsyhonker.net/support

I also run Cecilia's List, a project to highlight Christian sacred music composed by people who are not men. That's very much on the back burner for the time being because of PhD stuff, though.

http://www.ceciliaslist.org

New rule:

You don't get to say "oh, you could sell that on Etsy/set up a Patreon/write an e-book and sell it/etc" unless you promise to buy stuff from the person you are saying it to, at a price that pays them a living wage for their time *after* material and admin costs.

I'd say "I don't make the rules" but I totally just made a rule, there, so.

Where does William Tell take his rubbish?

To the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump...

Realised the other day that part of the problem with my PhD work at the moment is that I feel like I'm not really allowed to care about the piece I'm composing. No wonder I keep getting stuck!

I mean, I'm not wrong. I'm writing this to jump through a (rather arbitrary) hoop, to prove that I can.

But I think I'm going to have to balance it with music I do care about, or I'll keep being stuck.

Had a good PhD supervision yesterday. I've done more work than I thought. I need to keep going, though.

Of your charity, pray for the repose of the soul of Don Wright, my stepdad, who died this morning.

Found out yesterday that a friend from church was found dead in her flat. She'd had what she thought was a cold and stayed home, then stopped returning calls. Vicar went round to check on her, had to get police to break in. We don't know of any next of kin but if she has any they'll be in Australia. Church was basically her family. She was incredibly welcoming to me and it made a difference.

Of your charity, pray for the repose of the soul of Ramona Adams.

Fear not to enter his courts in the slenderness
of the poor wealth thou wouldst reckon as thine:
truth in its beauty, and love in its tenderness,
these are the offerings to lay on his shrine.

OK, transcription largely done, just waffling around in MuseScore so it will be readable by humans who aren't me.

I am so tired.

Soup kitchen at church has served 4000 meals (and the food parcels to go with them) since start of March lockdown.

Kyrie eleison.

Nine Lessons and Carols from my church is at 18.00 GMT on YouTube.

This is not Carols from King's, this is what our small community can put together during a very difficult year.

https://youtu.be/wzfSabRFaG4

Next task: record my reading, and supply lyrics for music, for my church's online carol service. I stayed up very late last night messing around with multi-track stuff.

Testing a thing.

Viva Voce today. 16.00 BST.

Currently alternating between worry and calm, which is probably fine.

Save your "I won't vote for an imperfect candidate" ideological preciousness for some time when perfect candidates are available, eh?

Elections are absolutely about choosing the lesser of two evils, and you aren't morally compromised by seeing that practical compromise and engaging with it to try to get the least-bad option.

Purity culture is bullshit.

And yeah, climate change keeps going, and is the most urgent problem.

But probably the most effective thing *anyone* can do about that right now in the US is work to ensure Trump doesn't get re-elected. Those of us not in the US can help support that too.

That does, in fact, make the rest of 2020 pretty important. There is, in fact, a way to make 2021 be probably better, on balance, and it is a very 2020-focused effort.