January6, 2021 is the day the great American Democratic experiment almost came to an end. My composition and video is a reaction to that horrible possibility.
The title of my composition is “When Someone Shows You Who They Are –Believe Them The First Time” This is a quote from Maya Angelou. In this case, it refers to the people who have been in the news before, during and after January 6th2021. They have shown us who they are.
The January 6 experience – an attempted coup d'état.
I watched the whole thing live on TV. Within the first 5 minutes, I tuned to FOX. On FOX they were saying that AntiFa was involved. Of course, this is preposterous. AntiFa was not involved in any way. FOX was just doing what they do best; they were lying. This notion has been debunked by several sources.
I watched the whole attack that day. I am retired and have the time to sit in front of the TV. It was a devastating experience for me – as it was for many people.
The January 7 response began with me seated at the piano.
I was deeply moved by the experience of the attempted insurrection and overthrow of the constitutional democratic republic. When I sat down and started to play, music flowed and the ideas for orchestration for concert band was almost immediate. I could hear what instruments should play melodies and harmonies.
The “A” section reflects the sadness of the insurrection and the months leading up to it: Black Lives Matter, mass shootings and theCovid19 pandemic.
The “B” section depicts the insurrection with thematic material from patriotic songs such as “Yankee Doodle” and “My Country Tis Of Thee” set in whole tone scales. Other melodic material set in whole tone scales includes “Dixie” and “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”.The choice of whole tone scale is to give the melodies a demented characteristic. The insurrectionists thought that they were patriotic. The reality is that they were demented.
The return to the “A” section ends with sadness because nothing had changed in people's actions. The cops still killed unarmed people. The TRUMPers still thought that they were patriotic. The school shootings and church shootings and store shootings (etc.) continued unabated. People continue to die from Covid19.
This music composition and video was created using a Windows 10 desktop.
The composition/notation software is Finale 27.
The audio generation used is NotePerformer.
The video application is IceCream Video Maker.
Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JBJ6nnPmQQ
THEBIG LIE
Trump’s Big Lie that he won the 2020 election was terrible in and of itself. Like Hitler’s “Stabbed in the Back” Big Lie that Germany was on the verge of winning World War I until the Jews and socialists sold them out, Trump’s Lie formed the basis for the attack on the Capitol and multiple ongoing attacks on our democracy.
But a second Big Lie that is emerging now, that the attack of January 6th was either not an “actual” or “serious” attack, or that, if it was, it was done by Antifa and Black Lives Matter members, is just as destructive. Perhaps more so, because it discourages further investigation.
These two Big Lies have already spread widely across social media and the Internet. Multimillionaire commentators on Fox News are doing their best to establish these lies as part of the documentary record, as are other right-wing media outlets.
During 2020 and into 2021 the USA suffered the worst pandemic that we have had in a century. It is with deep sadness that I point out our country was one of the worst at dealing with the virus. We have 4% of the world population and have suffered 20% of the deaths in the world. During the summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement shone a spotlight on the injustices that have plagued people of color. The USA has suffered from gun violence on a scale no other industrialized nation does. These sources of sadness – the pandemic, shootings and the BLM movement combine to create a deep empathy for those who suffered. My reaction was to invoke the “Blues” melody and rhythms to pay homage to those struggles. The first “A” section of the song has “Blues” elements although it is not a “Blues” form. It does have call-&-response elements which predate the “Blues”.
From the New York Times Magazine February 7, 2021 page 45 article titled TheIconoclast, Den-el Padilla Peralta's War for the Future of Classics byRachel Poser.
“On January 6, Padilla turned on the television minutes after the windows of the Capitol were broken. In the crowd, he saw a man in a Greek helmet with TRUMP 2020 painted in white. He saw a man in a T-shirt bearing a golden eagle on a fasces – symbols of Roman law and governance – below the logo 6MWE, which stands for “Six Million Wasn't Enough,” a reference to the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. He saw flags embroidered with the phrase that Leonidas is said to have uttered when the Persian King ordered him to lay down his arms: Molonlabe, classical Greek for “Come and take them.” which has become a slogan of American gun rights activists.”
The Confederate, White Supremacist, and Nazi iconography gave rise to many of the melodic quotes in the “B” section.
The “B” section is drawing from the insurrection of January 6, 2021. It starts out with the “Viking Bellow” inspired by the savage yells of the crowd. One of the things that the crowd yelled was “1776”. I have included “Yankee Doodle” in a whole tone version which captures the warped emotions. The confederate iconography worn and carried by individuals is the reason why there are whole tone renditions of “Dixie”. The early models for our democracy were Greece and Rome. These classical foundations are the reason why there are musical quotes reminiscent of Respighi's “The Pines of Rome”. Recent scholars have pointed out that both the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were built with slave labor. If you would picture a southern (confederate) plantation house in your mind, undoubtedly it would include classic white columns on the front of the house. That is no coincidence.
There were many in the crowd calling themselves patriots. That is the reason why I included “My Country 'Tis of Thee”. It appears in whole tone forms. The iconography of Fascism especially the Nazis were in the crowd: on their clothes, on their flags, and slogans that they yelled. That is why I included the anthem “Deutschland,Deutschland Uber Alles” (Germany over all) in a whole tone version. At [85] begins the “Dies irae” in the low brass in D Dorian. This is a theme that has been used by many composers to signify death and destruction. This pays homage to the people who were killed and wounded on that horrible day. It also pays homage to the people who have suffered from COVID19. It pays homage to the people of color who have been victimized by white supremacy. January 6, 2021 was almost the death of our constitutional democratic republic.
The percussion solos at [107] through [116] symbolize the violence that was visited on our nation's capital on January 6, 2021. There were assaults which resulted in deaths and many injuries to the law enforcement members. There was vandalism which defaced the capital both inside and outside. The last percussion solo is called “Kristallnacht” because vandals were breaking the glass in an attempt to gain entrance to the capital building. The broken glass at Washington DC is reminiscent of Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938 in Germany. That night Jewish homes and businesses were vandalized and burned. Many Jews were beaten and killed. There is no official number of the casualties because the German authorities turned their back on the violence.
The ”A” section melodies return in an abbreviated form as a coda to the piece at [117]. The deep sadness returns as the realization that:
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The USA has lost too many to COVID19.
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The injustices to people of color continue.
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Gun shootings continue
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The constitutional democratic republic form of governance was close to being lost on January 6, 2021.
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There are those that continue to deny the significance of the insurrection or the “big lie” that led to it