{"id":1038,"date":"2016-06-21T13:10:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/?p=1038"},"modified":"2025-07-26T15:04:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T19:04:49","slug":"mindful-melodies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/mindful-melodies\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindful Melodies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last semester\u2019s mindfulness theme found Goucher President Jose\u0301 Antonio Bowen in a contemplative mood, so he put together an album of meditative tunes with engineer Daniel Chase. As the college says goodbye to the theme semester, we asked President Bowen what the songs he chose meant to him. Here are the veteran musician and educator\u2019s choices for his \u201cMindfulness\u201d album.<\/em><\/p>\n

Click here for the playlist<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mindful Music<\/strong>
\nPiano Music for a Semester of Mindfulness
\nRecorded at Goucher College on January 15, 2016
\nJos\u00e9 Antonio Bowen \u2013 piano
\nDaniel Chase \u2013 engineer<\/p>\n

I<\/span> recorded these a week after I broke a bone in the pinkie of my right hand, and all of the practicing and recording was done while I was recovering. This limited the reach of my hands and the amount of time I could practice. But given the mindfulness theme, I decided that the acceptance of the limitation might lead to music that would not otherwise have emerged.
\n1. Prelude (Bowen)<\/strong>
\nViolinists and others carry their own instruments from concert to concert, but keyboard players often play a different instrument at every event. While this fell out of fashion in the twentieth century, preludes or toccatas (\u201ctouch pieces\u201d) have been used for centuries as a \u201cwarm-up.\u201d They were sometimes partially notated or simply improvised as a way both to bring the audience to attention and allow the performer to \u201ctouch\u201d the piano a little.
\nThree Romances:
\n2. Clara Wieck-Schumann, Romanze (in Am without opus number) (1853)<\/strong>
\n 3. Claude Debussy, Valse romantique (1890)<\/strong>
\n 4. Manuel Maria Ponce, Romanza de Amore (1917)<\/strong>
\nThree bitter-sweet romances, all in minor keys and all around very simple themes that are repeated and then complicated by the surrounding textures and harmonies: rather like most relation- ships. Clara Wieck was one of the great pianists of her day, but her marriage to composer Robert Schumann has obscured her talents as a composer very different from her husband. Her romance is followed by an early work by Debussy, that is often described as less impressionistic than his later works, but I hear plenty of color and swirls of emotion. Finally, Manuel Maria Ponce is a Mexican classical composer who was also deeply interested in popular and traditional songs. This piece clearly sings and would have been a lovely but sad popular song.
\n5. Prelude \u201cNobody Knows the Trouble I\u2019ve Seen\u201d 2:48 6. Harry T. Burleigh, \u201cOn Bended Knees\u201d Movement 5 of From the Southland: Piano Sketches (1914)<\/strong>
\nBurleigh had an incredible ear for staying true to the original, while creating new and now beloved arrangements. I will first play a simple version of the original spiritual and then Burleigh\u2019s piano piece that incorporates it. The framing material is simple, but beautifully sets the stage for this poignant tune.
\nGeorge Gershwin:
\n7. Someone to Watch over Me 8. A Foggy Day<\/strong>
\n 9. Embraceable You<\/strong>
\n 10. Our Love is Here to Stay<\/strong>
\nCuban pianists tend to play fast and loud\u2014partly because in a Cuban band, the piano is one of the percussion instruments. As a younger player I certainly played \u201ctoo many notes.\u201d We had a bit of extra time in the studio when I finished the other, and given both the theme of the CD and the limitations of my broken finger, I decided I\u2019d try and play a couple of standards in a more relaxed vein.
\n11. Jose\u0301 Antonio Bowen, Elegance in Blue<\/strong>
\nElegance in Blue is a piece I wrote for Kimberly to celebrate her new role as the first lady of Goucher. So, blue dress…the blues…get it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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