Some of My Favourite Quotes...and Photography (Part 1 of ?)

.nature.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou 

 

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

"Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are you sonnets." ~ Oscar Wilde 

  

Sunset

  "I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music." ~ Billy Joel 

“A life without love in it is like a heap of ashes upon a deserted hearth, with the fire dead, the laughter stilled and the light extinguished” ~ Frank Jebbets

Painted in My Dreams

“From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents, from 18 to 35 she needs good looks, from 35 to 55 she needs a good personality, and from 55 on she needs cash” ~ Sophie Tucker

Seven Spot Ladybug 1

“Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue” ~ Plato

"There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or vagina. All other jobs should be open to everybody." ~ Florynce R. Kennedy

 

Autumn wears sparkles

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." ~ Oscar Wilde

"Use your precious moments to live life fully every single second of every single day." ~ Wieder Marcia

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~ Dr. Suess

Purple Soprano

"Live life so completely that when death comes to you like a thief in the night, there will be nothing left for him to steal."

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." ~ Dr. Suess

 

For Nature

 my life quote

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

 Dance as though no one is watching you,

Love as though you have never been hurt before,

Sing as though no one can hear you,

Live as though heaven is on earth.

~ Father Alfred D'Souza


***Please check out the links below the pictures to find more of their work!!***

The Formula of a Musician & Composition of a Scientist (an excerpt...)

I have a assignment to start my autobiography....so here we go...

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to lead the double life of being a musician and having what my Grandma called a “real job.”  But feeling that way was inevitable—my mother did it, happily, for a decent part of my childhood.  She was working as a registered nurse on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Rochester Methodist Hospital (RMH) and playing in the Rochester Orchestra Chorale, as it was known as then; she had been working in the ICU and playing in the orchestra since she graduated college and moved to Rochester, MN.

Mommy played piano, organ, and violin, and I grew up watching.  When she would leave for orchestra rehearsals on Sunday and Wednesday nights—and the Friday night dress rehearsals—I would help her put all of her stuff—the violin, the music, the collapsible stand—into her van and ask, sometimes beg, to go along: “Mommy, I want to see how the music is made…” 

And shouldn’t I be allowed to go along?  I went to every rehearsal when I was in the womb.  Mommy was going to go to the rehearsal less than three hours after I was born and play the concert four day later, but Grandma wouldn’t let her.  I wanted to go so badly that when I was about six, I made a violin and bow out of cardboard, said I could be her new stand partner, but I still didn’t get to go.

I went to every concert Mommy played in after I was born—and I was well behaved, even as an infant.  Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Brahms, Handel, and more along with numerous virtuosic guests, all under the direction of Maestro Jere Lantz.

Jere Lantz was amazing.  He wrote most of his own program notes; gave great, informative speeches at his concerts; and composed.  His conducting would make the music come alive even if you couldn’t hear it.  As I got older, Jere Lantz became my favourite part of the concerts—most people go to concerts for the music, I was disappointed if Jere didn’t talk enough.  I suppose Jere is one of the main reasons I decided to study music in college, one of the many reasons I began composing.

My mom being a nurse and my growing up in “Med City USA”, I was always around medicine.  People helping the people that came from all around the world to visit the Mayo Clinic; medical lingo; doctors; technicians; research.  It became fused into my being.  My uncle giving me a toy doctor’s kit—with a kinda functional stethoscope, a thermometer, a syringe minus the needle, plastic bandaids, and a medical bag—probably didn’t help the matter.  Then I really had an excuse to start playing doctor, and I decided I was going to medical school.
Everyone I cared about knew I wanted to be a doctor, but hardly any knew of my dream to go into music.  Dreams live longer when there’s nobody to shoot them down for you.  I worked so diligently through elementary school, middle school, and high school.  I was in the advanced science, math, English, and history courses and took all the AP classes I could in high school.  I was in many extracurricular music activities: church choir, church orchestra, two handbell groups, assistant director and conductor of the youth handbell group, musicals and theatre.  I went to conferences for careers in medicine and music and performing arts in attempt to find the best way to break into my dream fields.

 to be continued…and maybe started?

Why Are They Writing Music? (or not writing any...)

"Do you ever wonder why there aren't any songs about what's going on?" John Richards asked us.  "There aren't any songs about it, because people are not proud of what's going on." He claimed.

Pride is a good reason to express one's self - but is it really a major reason people do or don't write music these days?  Music is a type of expression - so why would you not express the shame in things that are happening?


Sadness is portrayed by minor sounds; anger by big, pounding chords and bangs; happiness by fleeting melodies--so many emotions, so why exclude some?


People write music to convey the emotions they are feeling.  Maybe they don't want anyone else to know they were experiencing shame. Is there a reason for people to guard themselves, save themselves from embarrassment through music?  But music is a safe place.

So, here's a challenge: express yourself through music so that you are completely vulnerable.


"Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets." ~Oscar Wilde
"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music." ~Billy Joel

Digging Into the Person...and Their Psyche

Review of Maynard Solomon's "Taboo and Biographical Innovation: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert"**

An interesting look into the minds of the musical favourites of many, Solomon's article gives unusual insight into the process of biographical writing and its process.  Not actually addressing music at all, Solomon dwells into the person and psyche.
Leopold Mozart is deemed a liar: his father's death, his schooling, his marriage.  The city of Salzburg is none the wiser, but later leaves the Mozart family abandoned.  Leopold's motives are left to psychoanalysis and the multiple symbolical explanations for the reality to fantasy.  Solomon wonders why these have only recently been brought to the biographers' attention.  Beethoven's lineage is in question--not by everyone else, but by the Beethoven family--and his possible lovers are living double lives.  Schubert's friends and colleagues wrote of his disinterest in the the women-folk and his effeminate demeanour; Solomon was one of the first to connect anecdotes to Schubert's potential homosexuality in an article from 1981.
Solomon, invested in the music business and in music history, writes of the hidden sources and the implications of their release.  This article, geared mainly towards psychologists, could easily catch the attention of musicians and gossipers, although not for the same reasons.  The psychology behind the music is not discussed, hardly even mentioned.  Only Schubert's music is mentioned-"an effeminate tenderness [exists] in Schubert's music."  Given the potential for an audience outside the psychological community, Solomon should have included more about the affects of the psyche on the composers, even if it were not discussed in direct relation to the music.  Upon concluding all of the narratives, Solomon arrives at his main point of the article: social taboos have hindered the spreading of personal information for biographers.  Solomon never makes a definite verdict if this is good or bad-or if he as a biographer thinks it is important.  Solomon relied heavily on past publications of his own and primary sources; the primary sources cited support his claims and conclusions.
Understanding the ability of sources to be hidden for extended periods of time and how the inaccessibility of those sources influence the impressions and understandings of people throughout history is applicable to more than Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.  What is the value of the importance of personal sources to the stories behind the people?  Do we even need to know the stories?  The only reason that Solomon mentions is the taboo affect--whatever the poison touches becomes poison itself.
Solomon mentions how some have elected to burn all of their correspondences to avoid subjecting themselves to the personal invasions upon their passing.  Solomon should have started exploring the new technological age.  With the ease to create so much and delete everything created, how are biographers going to dig into the personal, hidden lives of today's celebrities?  Or maybe, we already know everything we want to know with the tabloids and the internet thriving.  With all of the interest in today's celebrities, and having many of those knowledge cravings filled by the wide variety of sources now, where will the digging into the lives of the past celebrities end?

**you will likely need a subscription to the journal, but it is findable online

At the Football Game

Sadly, much of the student population at my college lacks what we like to refer to as "school spirit".  they don't attend games, and when they do, it is like pulling teeth to get the cheers and support going that the team needs.  (And I've tried starting cheers...it works sometimes...)  There seems to be a bit of bribery, frequently, going on to encourage attendance.
We don't even have our own band - a high school band is brought in.

How does the music help cheer on the team?  Why do does the college worry about bringing in a band?
The music gives people reason to move - it is a motivation of sorts for the players.  It encourages the crowd to make noise, cheer on their team.  And when one of those classic game songs comes on,, or one of those old familiar tunes, everyone puts in the game "hey!" or sings along.

There is a group trying to start L&C's own pep band - my question is, will enough people feel like going to every home game and do they have enough school spirit to keep it up?  This time devotion doesn't even include the time that will need to be dedicated to rehearsals and practicing.
I think a pep band of L&C students would be great - students supporting students - but is it too much to ask of the current student musical population?

I want answers:

What is the importance of music at a game?

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Regardless of the outside band and the bribed student attendees, the L&C Pioneers had an extraordinary home opener with a 63-38 win over Ponoma-Pitzer on Sept 18.  GO PIOS!

check out the article here!!!

Serenaded Back to School

On Wednesday, September 8, the Lewis & Clark College Music Department introduced some of their new faculty, Gregory Ewer and Susan Smith, at the Faculty Recital in Evans Auditorium on the Lewis & Clark College campus. Ewer, violin, and Smith, piano, were joined by Miriam English Ward, viola, Dorien de León, cello, and Jason Schooler, bass. The turnout was very good for a weeknight—at its peak filling at least half of the auditorium. The program was classically orientated featuring Mozart, Rossini, and Schubert, making the program very balanced stylistically, and the pieces selected were composed for slightly peculiar ensembles.

Much of W.A. Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major K. 493 felt like a conversation between friends with the metamorphosing theme that returned throughout the piece. The second movement, “Larghetto”, brought soothing, lulling melodies—like a consoling talk with a friend. The pairing of the strings and playful interactions with the piano made for a pleasant listen. Smith did a brilliant job at balancing beauty with technique and interacting with the violinist’s cues. The cello seemed to act as the metronome throughout bulk of the piece but had its fair share of melodic prominence. The quartet was fluid, but the cellist and violist did not seem as comfortable participating in the theatrical aspect of the performance.

The most atypical instrumentation of the concert resided in Duo for violoncello and contrabass by Gioacchino Rossini. It was refreshing as a Classical music listener to hear the contrabass being focus of a piece. “Allegro” easily showcased the skills and extremes of each instrument—range, bowings, and quick fingers. The second movement had many exchanges of the theme that were completely fluid, as well as the switches from two-part harmonies to three- or four-part harmonies. The technical change to double-stops was likely unnoticed by the non-string players in the audience. The third movement was extremely playful, but the performers demeanour did not reflect such. During this movement, a group behind me kept giggling—never did find out what was so amusing in the back of the auditorium.

During intermission, a number of people blitzed the food for the reception; de Leon entreated the audience members join the performers afterwards to continue the celebration. Unfortunately, for much of the student audience that left during intermission, the group saved the best for last.

Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major D. 667 “The Trout” seemed like it was played to help the students say goodbye to the scintillating summer sun and hello to the cool fall rain—a perfect close to the summer. The piece—composed for violin, viola, cello, bass and piano—rotated through the excitement and nonchalance of summer to the advancing autumn with its playful folk melodies, false endings, varying accompanying and melodic structures. However, the visual aspect at the beginning of the piece was imbalanced; the visible emotion was not coming everyone. By the last movement, the emotion and theatrics seemed to be flowing throughout the group—like a child getting accustom to a cool pool.

Overall, this concert was a great way to break the mundane normal schedule of the week.

Worshiping False Idols...?

 I read an article on Monday discussing music merchandise and memorabilia - and how it has consumed the interest of some the music-crazed.  But are these trinkets enough to hold the value and important that the music has?

The Value of Music

How does a person decide on the value of music?  How do you decide what the value of music is?  How do you decide which songs, artists, genres are important to you?  Do you share this importance with everyone or keep it to yourself?
Music gains it value from the affect it has on it's listeners - feelings, reactions, memories, symbolism.

Can merch hold all that value?

So you bought that poster, hanged it on your wall, and three years later you're taking it down - why did you buy it in the first place?  Was it worth the money you paid for it?
Assuming you will forever like and appreciate the same artists, bands, and kind(s) of music as you do when you buy merchandise, will it forever hold safe the reasons you bought it?
Does a CD or vinyl count as merchandise to you?  I've always thought of a CD as a way to get the music, never because of the booklet with the pictures (although lyrics are sometimes useful).

Digital vs. CDs & Vinyl

I am probably one of the odds ones, but less than 5% of my music library is of a digital origin.  Why is the world going digital with everything?  The computer age is overrated in some areas.
Don't get me wrong, I like my green iPod nano, and I need to upload everything to get the music on it.  But what happens if I loose all those files?  To me, CDs are a form of backup.

Artist Branded...Stuff

Artists creating clothing lines and home decor, endorsing shoes and diet plans.
Does that mean all these things are better?  Are they more unique or "worth it" than other similar products?
How much is artist (or famous-person) endorsement worth to you?  How much does that increase the price you are paying for whatever product you're buying? ('cause you know they don't do those advertisements for free)

...Finally...

What does the hoarding of all this stuff say about you?  How does each thing you own from all of the pop culture represent you?
We have all done those "All About Me" presentations at some point - how many of those things were music merchandise or memorabilia? ...

...So is it worth it?

(The article I read was given to me by my professor.  Writing about music is a very interesting subject - don't you think?  Well, you are reading this blog...)

Play On ~ CD Review

Play On ~ Carrie Underwood ~ 2009 ~ Arista

Carrie Underwood's third album starts with a bang!  The catchy crossover song about a bad boy pulls you into the album.  Although the fun bashing continues later in the album (guys may not appreciate it), the next couple songs vary greatly in character.  The organisation of the album in that respect is superb - everything is mixed up, no song follows another of the same character - something that has also been a given in the previous two.  Carrie manages to fit love ballads, punchy songs about revenge, heartbreak songs, fun and in love, and inspiring songs all on one album - with only thirteen tracks, and all of them are enjoyable.  (Isn't there usually at least one song on every album that you don't like?  I don't have that with Play On).
One new aspect of this album is Carrie's greater personal involvement - she has been helping write her songs.  And you can hear it.  "Mama's Song" and "Look At Me" especially reflect her life recently.  (She got married recently you know!)
Another new addition to Carrie's collection is the crossover duet with the Sons of Sylvia (also a great band to have a listen to).  "What Can I Say?", a song of mutual heartbreak, the character of the song is one not represented by the others on the album, maybe only because it is a duet and Carrie is still the main feature of the track.
The album closes with the title track - an incredible, inspiring piece with its own bang - one of those "never give up" songs, but one of the best I've heard.  The lyrics in some way address any problem you could be having, some more metaphorically than others.  Five stars!

Celtic Rainbow ~ CD Review

Celtic Rainbow ~ Various Artists ~ 1999 ~ Owl Records International Limited

A phrase that came to mind listening to this album was "Tour of Ireland" - via music.  This album visits musical styles from Ireland going back to the traditional Celtic sounds that many people think of coming from that region of the world to the new-age pop-style with small appearances from a Celtic rock sound.
The beginning of the album sounds vaguely Enya-esque with a touch of the Titanic soundtrack suspending the listener in earthy-airy-flowing vocals and instrumental lines.  Even before looking at the titles of the tracks, one can see the images the titles seem to intend.  However, the beginning of the album becomes mundane as there is not enough variety in the styles, rhythms, pulse, and instrumentation.  Many of the first tracks could potentially be used for meditating with the stark similarities between the tracks, the deep soothing qualities letting you relax but not encouraging sleep.
The second half of the album leans back to the traditional Celtic with folk tunes, love songs, and traditional dance tunes.  Be aware of the two Christmas carols stuck in the middle of the album - although the arrangements are intriguing.  "The First Noel" is sung in Gaelic and has a very modern backdrop; "Ave Maria" is completely instrumental - a harp like instrument plays the melody and embellishments.  After the flash to the past, the listener is revisited by modern-sounding music.  Track 18, "White Velvet", sounds like a Celtic-influenced Barry White or Neil Diamond and Track 19, "Spirit of Ages", takes the listener to a night at an Irish disco.
Overall, this is a great way to expose someone to world music - maybe don't listen to the tracks in order though.

The Changing Music Scene

Aspiring artists, composers, musicians.**

what is the best way for them to exhibit themselves to the world?  close friends can easily hound in on a facebook/myspace/twitter page, but that only goes so far.

CD sales plummeting, singles available online are again creating those one-hit-wonders of the vinyl age.  But what does this mean for the classics? Not only Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi - any those old-time pieces that can't be released again because they're everywhere already? 

My grandfather probably has 3000+ CDs of all his "favourite" classical, orchestral pieces ad composers - he has not been caught in the crazy technological advancements that the younger generations have.  How is his perception of the current music scene different than everyone else's?  How does his tiny use of the internet affect his sense of "pop culture"?

What affects how you buy music?  Do you still buy the entire physical CD?  I do - I like having the physical, it's a back up; I have the book that goes with the CD.  Although, I do like being able to load 1000ish songs on my iPod Nano and roam around the planet without all those CDs in tow.

What about music?  How much sheet music or music books have you got lately?  The internet has many many many sites that sell and will transpose pieces and songs for you before purchase.  Does this transposition tool help increase sheet music sales - your favourite song transposed to a range that you can perform it in, transposed to a key that's easier to play in.

**Here's one of the aspiring groups:
 AcMe RehD (a combination of their real & pen name initials) is a sibling duo - one the wordsmith and the other the composer - both musicians.  Influenced by the classical music (which they were exposed to while in the womb from the middle of the orchestra), country, celtic, pop, jazz - bascially everything except rap and heavy metal - they seem to be striving for a best of both worlds scenario.