[powerpress]
I set out to play a Kaddish for Abraham and Sarah and all their dreadful mistakes. What a weird experience.
Sometimes the musician knows what she’s doing. Sometimes the Kaddish does.
I felt sure and passionate on my phrasing, but I kept hitting wrong notes, in all the worst places—even as I felt sure-footed in where I was going. I couldn’t figure out what my problem was. I had clear intentions, I was breathing well, and my chops felt great. Why was I making so many mistakes?
I figured it out when I was bouncing the file to disk and typing its name—which I also got wrong, writing yesterday’s date instead of today’s. I didn’t notice that while I was doing it, though. I noticed that just now, while uploading it to the server.
A Kaddish for Abraham and Sarah.
And their mistakes.
Oh.
2 replies on “daily kaddish: for abraham & sarah”
I like your analysis of what was going on here. Thing is, I don’t hear your mistakes at all. Only my own. As far as Avraham and Sarah — they sound like they’re doing just fine together. And Hagar is nowhere to be found here. So this must be, for Hagar, post-exilic. And the rest of Bireishit is just playing itself out following on their heals.
Maybe the good parts were Hagar and Ishmael getting on with their lives. And trust me, my mistakes were far more obvious than yours.