Category The Past
Good King Wenceslas
When I was a child I sang. For a number of years, the children at the church I grew up in put on an annual Christmas musical, and I always participated enthusiastically, often with leading roles. One year, I was the title character in “Good King Wenceslas,” a fictionalization in musical form of the man […]
The Dream Man
My Granny Pat was a twin; she and my Auntie Bob were born around the turn of the 20th century in rural Texas. The twins were so small at birth the family says they were bundled up inside the house’s stove as a sort of early incubator. She was my Papa’s mother, my mother’s grandmother, […]
My New Violin
My new violin arrived yesterday. It’s German, a 1926 Ernst Heinrich Roth Stradivarius 1714 (I think) copy that my father-in-law has had since 1948, though he hasn’t played it since the mid 1950s. He purchased it with the help of his beloved music teacher, Virginia Franks, at a good shop in High Point, North Carolina. […]
The Sound of Music
The Von Trapps were adorable, weren’t they? I’m talking about the fictionalized ones. This morning in the shower I found myself humming “Do, a deer…” and it took me a moment to remember where I first heard it. It actually was not on first viewing the movie version of “The Sound of Music” sometime in […]
The Grand Schema of Things
The first time around, I played the violin for three years – the fourth through sixth grades, though there’s some chance I played in seventh grade. Strangely, I don’t remember it much at all. As I hold the violin and move the bow now, over 25 years later, it comes naturally enough – clearly I […]
Pulling the Voice Box out of Storage
I used to sing. I was never the best vocal talent, but I could carry a tune – in some ways it was what I was supposed to do, so I did. Mostly I loved it. I sang in more church musicals than I can remember, often with a leading role. I sang in church […]
Great Hymns of the Faith
For my undergrad degree, I needed a music class credit to fulfill a general education requirement. I had a couple of options, but ended up in a generic music appreciation class. I learned a lot – the teacher was charismatic and knowledgeable, and we covered some of the formal components of symphonies and concertos and […]
Sledgehammer Symphony
You never know where you’ll encounter a beat-up old piano. Yesterday I snapped this picture at a sports club for kids. The club also does some dance lessons I think, so I assume that’s why this raggedy beauty lives there. Sometimes when they get raggedy, people paint them. This one has been painted, but not […]
Ode to Joy
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is my favorite. I’ve loved it since I was a child – pieces of the fourth movement were printed in our church hymnal under the title “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.” I have loved it on telecasts for the Olympics over the years, where it now helps Visa pay the bills. I […]
Beats and REM
My new phone has integrated Beats Audio. That’s the same Beats Audio that produces the headphones kids and whatever we’re calling hipsters these days wear on their ears – the bulky, often red but sometimes white, green, or orange headphones that cost more than I have ever imagined spending on headphones. Happily, on my new […]
Ryan Libel 