Category Random Musical Encounters
The Chicago Community Chorus
Chicago has a number of community choirs – I’ve written before about experiences with a couple of them over the years, most of which are organized for and by people who just love to sing; many take up donations for some charity or another. Last night I had the pleasure of attending a performance of […]
Magnificent
My week away was magnificent, but devoid of music of any kind. I was in New York, and occasionally I thought about the palpable lack of music in my environment, mostly Chelsea and the lower west side. “Not even a street musician?” No, not even a street musician. The closest I got to music was […]
Music and Rocket Science
Last night Michael and I were having one of those very important conversations – we spent a few minutes brainstorming about whether music or rocket science is harder. Here’s a list of ideas: Playing the violin is hard; interplanetary travel is also hard. Getting a rocket into the sky is quite tricky and does not […]
Violins of Hope
During the holocaust, prisoners arriving at concentration camps brought along some of their possessions. Musicians, naturally, brought instruments. Last night I happened upon a news segment that detailed some of the experiences of prisoners and music. One survivor arrived at the camp with her mother. She was very young at the time, but she recalls […]
Musical Doodle
I generally ignore Google Doodles, but when presented with a caricature of Beethoven with keyboard first thing this morning as I opened up my laptop I couldn’t help myself – apparently it’s the classical master’s 245th birthday; he was born in December of 1770, but the precise day has been lost. Google’s Beethoven birthday celebration […]
My Groupie
Can you have just one Groupie? I think I might. Last night on my way into the building the lone female on our maintenance staff in the building was stationed at the front door. We’re quite friendly, often chatting in the laundry room and in passing all over the building – the building front door […]
ROAR
“I love violin – electric, death metal violin.” – Becca Cala, whose violin is becoming her ROAR I’m a big proponent of educating a whole person – the more areas of a brain we can activate the more well-rounded and beautiful the brainpower of the learner. Becca’s story includes a horrific dose of childhood trauma – sadly all […]
A Little Bit Bawdy
Dvorak’s Humoresque is a catchy tune – the romantic composer worked in the last half of the 19th and early 20th centuries and was very famous, with many of his works garnering much attention in his lifetime. He was even well-paid. Of course popularity can sometimes mean imitation, but satirical variation isn’t necessarily what was […]
Ryan Libel 