Flow

Current Music: I Stop And I Breathe -- Elton John, Peachtree Road

A couple great books I've been reading. Both have weird names, but are wonderful:

• Flow: The psychology of optimal experience (steps toward enhancing the quality of life), by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
• Intimate Connections, by David Burns

Two nights ago I stayed up to finish the first draft of my Lullaby, a piano piece I mostly thought up the summer after my freshman year as an undergrad. Writing it out, though, forces me to make decisions about its structure and also gives an opportunity to make it make more overall consistency. I still need to work out the transitions between separate sections and to make the fast section a bit less mindless.

In other news I'm now taking swing dance lessons. I'm starting with Lindy Hop but I want to learn East Coast next, and maybe later add some ballroom lessons as well.

In music news, Jason Robert Brown has a rockin' new CD out called Wearing Someone Else's Clothes. The title track is very cool, as are most of the songs. It's the composer singing and playing keyboards, backed up by his band. There are even a few live tracks on the CD. "I Could Be In Love With Someone Like You" is a song that (obviously) was going to be part of The Last Five Years, while "Over" is sort of in the style of Songs for a New World. Similarly, "Long Long Road" actually references Songs for a New World in what seems like a pretty personal way. I'd love to know the story behind this one. I love the meta-level feeling when JRB himself sings

"And oh I guess you and I know all about new worlds
and how you're never quite prepared"

and later:
"And oh it just proves what I say about new worlds
and how it ain't worth being scared"

I'm very surprised and happy at how much I like this CD. I also picked up The Light in the Piaza, a new musical about love in Italy, which seems promising, but I haven't quite got into the music enough. It's weird, but pretty. I need to give it more time to have anything concrete to say about it.

Finally, the other night I got to see a performance of Mahler's 2nd in the MAC. It was amazing. And it worked: I was ruminating about death and so on during the performance and the music made me momentarily give some serious thought to the possibility of some form of reincarnation; very surprising and bizarre. My buddies and I sat up towards the front and were following along with the score. The choir rocked, after sitting patiently through the first 4 movements. And I finally managed to spot Talia in the choir about 4 measures before the end.