Abstract

The rambling epic that follows is an autobiography. It follows the musical thread of my life, certainly an important element of it, but not the only one, and not the most important one. The time frame is from my birth in 1943 until 1971, with brief references to what has happened since then.

Let the reader beware: I wrote this record in order to codify, order, and preserve in written form a large array of memories from my past life, primarily for my own sake, secondarily for that of my family, and finally for Posterity ... whoever he may be.

Therefore, the tales written herein are almost certainly of little interest to anyone other than my family and perhaps a few close friends. I don't expect that the details of the life history of a musician who never made the big time will be of much concern to anyone else. Nevertheless, the material is made available here for anyone who really wants to read it. You've been warned!

``What I have written I have written.''---Pontius Pilate

About the Title

Se'lah is a transliterated Hebrew expression found frequently in the Bible book of Psalms. Its exact meaning is not known, but is thought to be a technical instruction regarding the performance of the music. Some scholars believe it indicates a pause, suspension, or holding back. Although the word appears as such in most Bible translations (usually in italics), it is not pronounced in the reading, except by readers who don't know they shouldn't.

Because I am a musician who, since 1971, has undeniably paused, suspended, and held back my musical life in order to pursue other quests, the term seems an appropriate metaphor to describe my life since that time.

Coincidentally, on November 28, 1973, I wrote a two-page piece of graphical music, intended to be viewed rather than played, and titled it Selah. An image of it appears beneath the title at the top.

About the Images

Most of the images in this document may be clicked on. These bring up closer views and additional commentary in popup windows.

Some of the music manuscript images are on paper that is wider than my scanner, so I had to crop them a bit, which of course doesn't work very well for music any more than it does for a book. Several of the original manuscripts are old, faded, and not the best quality. Just think of them as being like the Dead Sea scrolls and you'll appreciate them more.

Widths on popups of these are specified at 100% in order to see the most detail. Music, with its fine detail, does not show up well at all in low resolution If you expand these windows to full size, you may be able to see them better.