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Friday, December 2, 2011

Duet

 Mockingbird


                                                                                
                       The grace notes stress the places
                                Fluttering on staff lines and spaces
                                         Swooping down first on bass, then on treble                 coo-coo

                       I noodle first, then scan the lot
                                Finding familiar quirks of little clocks
                                            A Tyrolian translated bird song                                  coo-coo

                      Outside, the day's a buzzing stir
                                Summer streams an air conditioned whir
                                            And I struggle to reproduce the call                           coo-coo

                      Rhythm and cadences at last deduced
                              I progress; I am amused
                                         To play that old world cry                                             coo-coo

                     Outside where mockingbirds dwell
                            I’m sure I hear an echo swell
                                         Softly while he changes key                                           coo-coo

                    Off tune at first and then more closely pure
                          He waits again for the phrase to recur
                                   He tries again                                                                      coo-coo

                   Oh, that familiar mimic made redress
                          Of common sounds in common dress
                                       In duet with me, he sings                                                  coo-coo

                            © Gay Reiser Cannon * 2011 * All Rights Reserved

This little story is true. I have embedded a youtube video of the song I was playing. Couldn't play for you myself as my piano and I are separated. It's too large to have at the beach house. I miss it though. The piece is Le Coucou by Louis Claude Daquin (July 4, 1694-June 15, 1772) written originally for the harpsichord.

Another version here on harpsichord if you've become enamored with this tune.

36 comments:

  1. hmmm.....like the harpsichord version...feels like riding in a horse and carriage through the French countryside..not that I have ever done this,mind you.

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  2. What a lovely poem. And you did a great job with all your musical references!

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  3. Lots of skillful repetition, rhyme and reflection here, and a staccato sort of cadence that mimics both the musical selection and the birdsong. I don't think even a mockingbird could duplicate this one. ;_)

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  4. Unique and a great theme. Love all the senses you put to it. Beautiful flow. :)

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  5. What a wondrous moment you have captured here, Gay... in poetic song. I lovely mixture of my two favorites- birds and piano!

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  6. Keyed in to a pleasant land, framed by natural beauty... a fleeting, imagined rest bite from the harsh winter scapes of Northern Europe.

    V. nicely done gay - piano piece a fine partner for your piece

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  7. a lovely consequence for the efforts...the determination makes the read...thank you

    Peace

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  8. such a lovely lyrical poem ~ a song from your heart. beautiful, Gay!

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  9. Truly captured a moment and the essence of the land surrounding it. Wonderful verse.

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  10. A charming story, charmingly told, with its little clocks, swooping lines, and close purity.

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  11. There is a site I mentioned in one of my Saturday Sharing posts that allows downloading of recorded bird songs for personal use. I'd love to hear you read this aloud with the cooing coming in at the appropriate points.

    Lovely poem.

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  12. oh, that must have been such a sweet moment...Loved the way you shared it with us

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  13. Beautifully captured. Lively and fun to read. Would love to hear it out loud!

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  14. Thanks Maureen. I'll investigate if I get a chance. What a cool (coo - coo) idea ;-)
    Thanks so much for coming by.

    Thanks everyone for your kind comments. I'm happy you liked it. It was such a strange experience that has stuck with me as it happened three or four years ago.

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  15. read it first unaccompanied and then with the song playing in the background...loved how it sounded together...and you go much deeper here than bird or music... an interlude on life echoing... fine write gay

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  16. lovely gay..the repitition....love the break out of the responses as well...may your duet delight for time to come...smiles.

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  17. Beautiful piece with lovely cadence. Experiences like this make such great poetry. Love the video accompaniment too.

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  18. I love mockingbirds and they tend to invade my poetry. I can see how this song would attract them. It reminds me of them. Sorry you don't have your piano...this seems like a difficult piece. Well-portrayed poem.

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  19. Lovely! I love the repetition here.

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  20. love this, the rhythm and repetition are lovely. i adore mockingbirds.

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  21. A wonderful moment, a moment in time, Gay! A bird's chirping can be so mesmerizing. Repeating it makes it linger on! Excellent verse!

    Hank

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  22. Beautiful ebb and flow, answer repeat here. K.

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  23. Wow! Some nice keyboard stuff there, and the coo-coo coooks away! Of course you know--but some do not--Beethoven Symphony #6 employs a coo-coo in (probably) 3rd movement. Imagery in music, as in prose/poetry.

    Thanks gay...never heard this before, happy I dropped by...
    PEACE!

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  24. Sheer delight! And the piano composition, a perfect company for your piece. Thank you for sharing this!

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  25. This wonderful song (with its coocoo grace note) shows how much music and poetry are intertwined in the brain, a sort of blooming jasmine whose roots go into emotion and memory, summing in the whole brain's rapture with the heart. The oddness of that bird's song "pierces us with a strange relation," as Wally Stevens wrote; every poem is a fresh new realm inside the last fresh new realm carved of meaning and sound, thought of the heart become a thing wrought by the art. And it s something that you write this without a piano at hand, those keys and registers become strings in the composing brain, the physical instrument no longer needed to play the music. A least, a legal pad or laptop is a lot easier to lug around than a Steinway. Fine job, Gay. - Brendan

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  26. Gay - a lovely combination of words and music - the latter from your word choices as much as from the recording... What I also really enjoyed was the melding of abstract and concrete - in meaning and aurally. All very complex but very easy to enjoy.

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  27. I adore the delicacy of your poem: the three staggered lines and the little echo on the right. I am so often uplifted by the repeated call of a bird - our cuckoos of the early summer months (October to December) before they fall silent again. The mockingbird is so iconic, I hope to see one some day.

    Thank you for a delightful piece of poetry, Gay. It's a treasure.

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  28. What an exquisite poem, Gay-- it immediately reminds me of the first sections of Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking... I also have a poem called A Mockingbird Sing Bel Canto-- I think it's on the blog.. xxxj

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  29. uh huh...and which was the mockingbird? LOL
    love your little coo-coos aligned on the side, so tactile that it makes the piece almost a montage.
    wonderful!

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  30. Oh! what a lovely poem and music!!
    It 'fit' perfectly, Gay.

    I love mockingbirds, I watch them divebomb my cats and grab fur...not for their nests, but just to aggravate those cats!

    The musical cadence and poetic cadence fit so well together. ANd I did listen to the harpsicord....the action on this instrument is about 5 times as 'light' as a modern piano...and thank you for posting both of these...and this lovely, vibrant poem.

    Lady Nyo

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  31. To everyone who has come by - Thank You so much!
    I am still in the hospital and can't stay online too long at a time; there are lots of interruptions as you might guess. I promise to try to get by all of your posts whenever I can. Thank heaven I have as long as it takes.

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  32. This is so lovely, the poetry, the music... what a gorgeous duet... you play piano too??? Would love to hear you, please do that sometime! :) So much enjoy you and your talents, Gay; always a pleasure to visit here.

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  33. What a wonderful song.. and so tuneful... beautiful capture of the moment... thanks for sharing..

    Shashi
    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/12/whispers-buddha-song.html
    At Twitter @VerseEveryDay

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  34. I truly enjoyed your playfulness in words and


    perfectly enjoyable rhythms.

    duet, perfect song,
    Smiles.

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  35. Beautiful Gay ~ yes, I think I have become a little enamoured by this piece ~ thank you so much for sharing ~ I so enjoyed ~ hugs Lib
    (You have been in my thoughts Gay)

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  36. Have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. thank you for sharing the song an this cute poem.

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