Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 12:02 AM

No, but I'll keep an eye out!

(but will refrain from putting an eye out) ;-)

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 10:09 PM

I've just put that book on my wish list at paperbackswap dot com, Ann. Thanks for the recommendation. Have you a copy of Barbara G. Walker's "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets?" It's got some good stuff in it and I highly recommend it.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 09:19 PM

Haruo --

I would be honored!

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: Haruo
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 08:40 PM

That's great, Ann. I hope you will allow me to include it in this year's supplement to my "Cousins' Christmas Carol Collection", our extended family's Christmas-Chanukah-Cuanzaa Cribsheet, which this year won't be published till January 3rd. ("Raise up your voices" was in the initial 2005 edition.)

Haruo

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:39 PM

Thank you, Kat.

I actually got that image of the Goddess weaving flesh on her loom from O Mother Sun: A New View of the Cosmic Feminine by Patricia Monaghan (The Crossing Press, Freedom, CA. 1994). The book does not have an index, so I can't find the specific paragraph where she talks about Frigg herself at her loom, at the moment. But it's in the chapter on Scandinavia.

I highly recommend this book, by the way. I think it's currently out of print, but I bought a used volume from Amazon relatively cheaply.

She makes a strong case that the solar deity was originally a Spinning and Weaving Goddess before it was a hunting and warring God, by tracing myths from all over the world (including Asia, Northern Europe, the Baltics, Ancient Egypt and the Americas). Where formal myths are fragmentary or lost, she turns to folksongs, proverbs, and idiom for her evidence.

Since reading it, I'm a lot more accepting that so many princesses (*ahem* queens) in fairy tales are specifically described as having long, golden, hair. ;-)

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 02:50 PM

The Queen of Heaven, at her loom,
With weft of light and warp of time,
She fashions both our flesh and bone,
To clothe each soul in Earthly life

LOVE THAT!!!

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 02:30 PM

Thanks, Jack! I'll add that ABC to my .txt of the song, along with the 4/4 and 3/4 versions.

Here's the 3/4 version:

X:1
T:To the Queen of Heaven
C:Ann Magill
M:3/4
Q:1/4=94
K:C Dorian
CC2EE2|FE2DC2|zCEGG2|A2B2B2|
G4z2|GB2BA2|BA2GF2|FE2FE2|
D2C2B,2|C6|z2CCF2|FE2DC2|
D2C3E|E3GG2|AB2BG2|GB2Bc2|
BA2GF2|FE2FE2|DC3B,C2-|C4z2|]

And, prompted by your comments on the lyrics, I wrote an new verse to go after the first, and did some rewriting of the (now) third verse:

The Queen of Heaven, at her loom,
With weft of light and warp of time,
She fashions both our flesh and bone,
To clothe each soul in Earthly life

The Goddess spins another year.
'Tis gathered 'round her spindle bright
Our pleasures' songs and sorrows' tears,
Each form a stitch in her design.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 04:35 AM

Bryan Creer (TheSnail on Mudcat) wrote a Noteworthy/ABC converter a few years ago. Might be worth asking him if it's still available and what it can currently do.

Here's the 6/8 version of your corrected tune:

X:2
T:Queen of Heaven
C:Ann Magill
M:6/8
Q:1/4=94
K:C Dorian
zC|C2EE2F|E2DC2
w:How deep and clear, these win-ter skies!
w:The God-dess spins an-oth-er year
w:My won-der's deep-er than my speech,
C|E2G G2A|B2B G2
w:How in-fin-ite these shin-ing stars
w:An-oth-er thread in her de-sign
w:My won-der's great-er than my heart,
G|B2B c2B|A2G F2
w:The earth in dream-ing slum-ber lies
w:Our plea-sure's song and sor-row's tears,
w:I pray that in Her Tap-est-ry
F|E2F E2D|C2B, C2||
w:And won-der cracks my awe-struck heart.
w:The weave of flesh and warp of time.
w:I'll know the joy of my small part.
%
P:Chorus
C/C/|F2F E2D|C2D C2
w:To the Queen of Hea-ven is my prayer
E|E2G G2A|B2B c2
w:'tis She who spins the Thread of Time
B|A2G F2F|E2F E2
w:'tis She who twines the sun-light clear
D|C2B, E2D|C2B,C2|]
w:And weaves the Tap-est-ry of Life.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 10:51 PM

Thank you, Kat.

That's the thing about Noteworthy Composer: it can convert tunes to and from Midi format, but to make an ABC file, you have to write it out yourself, and I think I had spent too much time in front of the monitor last night, and I lost my place as I was scrolling down the score...

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 10:34 PM

THAT works much better!:-) Thanks!

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 08:00 PM

Okay, I fixed the ABC code; for some reason, my Windows media player has had a nervous breakdown, and won't play sounds anymore (but still insists on highjacking my computer whenever I want to play a midi). So I never caught my typo last night -- turns out, I'd skipped the 12th measure when I was transcribing the ABC from Noteworthy.

This is the tune as I originally composed it:

X:1
T:Queen of Heaven
C:Ann Magill
M:4/4
Q:1/4=94
K:C Dorian
zCC2EE2F|E2DC2zCE|GG2AB2B2|
G4GB2B|c2B2A2G2|F4F2E2|
FE2DC2B,2|C6z2|CCF3FE2|
DC2D2C3|EE3GG2A|B3BG3G|
B3Bc3B|A2G2F3F|E2FE2DC2|
B,C4z3|]

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 05:10 PM

Thank you, Kat.

I'm glad now, with the Internet, self-publishing has become more feasible and culturally acceptible.

Having heard the 6/8 version, it still doesn't match the sound in my own head, but it gives me a direction for future tweaking.

Merry, merry Christmas, if you celebrate that, and Chappy Channukah, if you celebrate that, and Sol Invictus Salutations, etc. etc. etc.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 04:33 PM

It is beautiful and meaningful, Ann.

Jack, thanks for what you posted, too, as I was having a time finding notes at the last bit, too.

Ann, you keep turning out beautiful work, so consistently. I hope sometime you will publish a book of your stories and songs.

kat

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 03:54 PM

Thanks, Jack! I'll bookmark that tutorial (and this time I'll print out the pages, for backup)

As for the words and notes, they match up exactly as I composed them in Noteworthy Composer, so syllable-for-syllable, they match. But changing the time signature might make the accents fall out of sync, and that's what the ear and mind really care about.

The last two lines of the second verse refers to the Goddess Frigg's work as a weaver: according to Norse myth, she spun the sun and clouds, and also wove the fleshy bodies for human souls to live in. ...But you'd have to know that myth, I guess, in order to get that. I may have to write another verse to fill in the blanks.

Thanks again for your help, and effort in writing up that new ABC code.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 03:24 PM

If you were to put it into a uniform 6/8 metre it would go like this:

X:2
T:Queen of Heaven
C:Ann Magill
M:6/8
Q:1/4=94
K:C Dorian
zC|C2EE2F|E2DC2
w:How deep and clear, these win-ter skies!
w:The God-dess spins an-oth-er year
w:My won-der's deep-er than my speech,
C|E2G G2A|B2B G2
w:How in-fin-ite these shin-ing stars
w:An-oth-er thread in her de-sign
w:My won-der's great-er than my heart,
G|B2B c2B|A2G F2
w:The earth in dream-ing slum-ber lies
w:Our plea-sure's song and sor-row's tears,
w:I pray that in Her Tap-est-ry
F|E2F E2D|C2B, C2||
w:And won-der cracks my awe-struck heart.
w:The weave of flesh and warp of time.
w:I'll know the joy of my small part.
%
P:Chorus
C/C/|F2F E2D|C2D C2
w:To the Queen of Hea-ven is my prayer
E|E2G G2A|B2B c2
w:'tis She who spins the Thread of Time
B|A2G F2F|E2F E2
w:'tis She who twines the sun-light clear
D|C2B, E2D|C2B, C2|]
w:And weaves the Tap-est-ry of Life.

You seem to have left some notes off the end of the tune, there weren't enough to fit the words so I added the final phrase. Otherwise the notes are exactly what you wrote, only with different timing.

Nice work, well above the usual for pagan songs.

I'm not too happy with the last two lines of the second verse, they're not as immediately clear as the rest.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 08:06 AM

Dorian mode of C. See the modes tutorial on my website:

http://www.campin.me.uk

It could equally well be minor, it doesn't seem to make much difference of the A is flat or not.

Sounds to me like you really mean it to be in 6/8. It's very like the Gaelic song "I see the deer in the mountain pass", which is in that tutorial among the minor-mode tunes.

Subject: RE: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 24 Dec 08 - 09:52 PM

Ack! I'm not sure why there are stray breaks in the post above. Here's the link to the ABC Convert-o-Matic.

Subject: Queen of Heaven, by CapriUni, & modal ??
From: CapriUni
Date: 24 Dec 08 - 09:29 PM

This is a Winter Solstice/ New Year song. I was inspired to write it after learning that "Orion's Belt" was known, in the Norse cultures, as "Frigg's Distaff" (or "Freya's Distaff," for worshippers of the Vanir, rather than the Aesir)

Some of the imagery came from this paragraph (from an article on astronomy by E.C. Krupp of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles):

Sometimes it was said Frigg was parked next to a golden spindle. But with or without a spinning wheel, as Mother Earth she collected the thread of time on a celestial axis. Frigg's Distaff is on the celestial equator, the blue are that crosses the monthly sky map from east to west and follows the circular spin of the sky around the celestial pole. The pole of the sky is, of course, the top of the axis of the Earth's rotation. This polar axis is the spindle on which Frigg's thread is spun, and the celestial equator is a reasonable candidate for the whorl that helps keep the sky spinning and time's wheel turning.

(That article also goes into some of the Greek myths touching on the "music of the spheres" and sirens' songs, by the way)

---

THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN
By Ann Magill

How deep and clear, these winter skies!
How infinite these shining stars?
The Earth, in dreaming slumber lies,
And wonder cracks my awe-struck heart.

Chorus:
To the Queen of Heaven is my prayer,
'tis She, who spins the Thread of Time,
'tis She who twines the sunlight clear,
And weaves the Tapestry of Life.

The Goddess spins another year.
Another thread in her design
Our pleasure's song and sorrow's tears,
The weave of flesh and warp of time.

(Chorus)

My wonder's deeper than my speech.
My wonder's greater than my heart.
I pray that in Her Tapestry
I'll know the joy of my small part.

(Chorus)

(Repeat first verse and chorus)

---

To get your computer to play the tune for this, copy the emboldened code below, and paste it into the text window at
href="http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html">Concertina.net's ABC Convert-A-Matic (might be easier to

right-click, to open in a new window) and click [submit]. This will lead you to another page with the link "Midi Music

File;" click that, and your computer should play this tune for you automatically. If it doesn't, you might want to

try turning off any pop-up blockers.

X:1
T:Queen of Heaven
C:Ann Magill
M:4/4
Q:1/4=94
K:Bb
zCC2EE2F|E2DC2zCE|GG2AB2B2|
G4GB2B|c2B2A2G2|F4F2E2|
FE2DC2B,2|C6z2|CCF3FE2|
DC2D2C3|EE3GG2A|B3Bc3B|
A2G2F3F|E2FE2DC2|B,C4z3|]

I know the tune is in an unusal mode, but I'm not sure which one it is. Help, please (Also, if some of the rhythm or singability needs smoothing out, help with that would be appreciated, too)?

There's a link in the Modes for Mudcatters thread to a page that had a nifty chart for figuring out keys in different modes (with the number of flats or sharps in the scale going down the side, and the names of the different modes going across the top, and the different keys filling out the grid in the middle). But that page is now defunct, and is no more. Any ideas on where I can find a similar chart for such figuring?