Category Archives: Music

2024, Fantasy, Kids, Music, Mysteries, Songs, Theatre, Uncategorized

Prince Among Men

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My little friend next door, Minnie, loves to sing and dance.  For the past two summers she had done a summer camp at the Lundstrum Performing Arts Center; this year they presented Annie Jr (just a shorter version of Annie).  Considering that it is all untrained kids and that they get the whole thing together in two weeks, they did a great job.

This was all that Minnie talked about for two weeks.  In addition to previewing the song/dance that she was in, she regaled me with stories of how things were progressing and who was playing what part.  There were several kids who had been in Little Mermaid with her last year and although I did see the show last year, I couldn’t have told you any of the players except Minnie. 

Of course there was also the post-production discussion the day after the last performance.  I commented that the young man who played Rooster Hannigan did a nice job.  He also had a great dance solo dressed as a street Santa in the N.Y.C. song.  Minnie quickly pointed out that he had played Prince Eric in Little Mermaid.  When I said I hadn’t remembered that, she commented that he hadn’t had to do very much to be the prince.  Then she added, almost as an afterthought, that princes don’t usually have much to do. 

In her world, all her princesses and princes are represented by Disney.  As I thought about it the next few days, I realized that Disney has, for the most part, not spent too much energy on princes.  Snow White’s prince doesn’t have a name, Sleeping  Beauty’s prince does have a name (and a bit of backstory) but doesn’t have much personality.  Cinderella’s prince is also pretty non-descript.  Ariel’s prince is a little bland and definitely clueless.  Belle’s prince spends most of the movie as a beast and Tiana’s prince spends most of the movie as a frog.  Merida has three princes, all of whom are a bit… lacking.  A few princes fare a bit better in their Disney representation but clearly it’s all about the princesses. 

I’m not too worried about this unfair portrayal – I doubt that young girls and boys are too damaged by this uneven treatment.  But I also don’t believe that Barbie dolls are inherently evil either. 

If you were to be a Disney princess or prince (or villain if you prefer) for a week, who would you choose?

2024, Family, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Bugle Boy

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Yesterday morning I received the following text from our son:

Your grandson just woke me up with a bugle. I hope you are proud.

I told him I was very proud! Son said he was in the middle of a pleasant dream in which he was eating gelato when the bugle went off .

In March of 2023 our then 4 year old grandson was stranded at our house for three weeks due to weather. While he was here we let him play my father’s bugle. He got a pretty good buzz on the horn. My dad was a bugler in the Army Air Corps. Of course, the bugle went back to South Dakota with him. I hadn’t heard that he was doing much with it until yesterday. I am delighted he woke up his dad with the bugle. That just made my day!

My first instrument was the clarinet. I quickly switched to the bass clarinet and played it all through high school and college. Piano lessons started at age 8. Son was a trombonist. Daughter played piano, French Horn, and violin. Husband has his cello and also had piano lessons as a child. I don’t know what grandson will play, but at least he has a bugle to make great noises with for now.

What were some mischievous things you did as a child? Did you learn to play an instrument?

2024, Family, home, Music, Songs, Uncategorized

33-1/3

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Today marks the anniversary of the introduction of the 33-1/3 LP album in 1948 by Columbia Records. It was so popular that 78 rpm records soon were out of production.

My parents had scads of 33’s, many of which I still have. We have loads of CD’s, but as you can see there are some 33’s that Husband and I will never want to part with. It means that we will need an actual turn table for the rest of our lives. At this point, we have three of them.

As I contemplate moving in the next year or so, I groan at the thought of moving those record albums. They will have to be moved in our minivan since it will be too hot in a moving van and we don’t want them to warp in the heat. Many of these albums have moved with me from Moorhead to Winnipeg to Columbus, Indiana to western North Dakota. We have reduced the number of LP’s by about three quarters, so we will have far fewer to pack and move. The photo shows the bulk of them. There are a few more, plus some really old 78’s, in the basement.

I don’t remember what LP album I bought first, but I imagine it was one by the Monkees or some other late 1960’s music group. I remember reading the MPR Building a Classical Record Library and getting lots of the suggested recordings. Husband has lots of classic jazz recordings that are still wonderful to listen to.

I believe there are Baboons with hundreds of albums, far more than we have. We are a musical bunch, even if our musical medium is pretty old.

What were some of your favorite 33’s growing up? How many albums do you still have and what are your plans for them? Any favorite cover art?

2024, Gatherings, Kids, Music

The Recital

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My neighborhood has kids in it.  This may not seem remarkable to you but for several years, there were no kids, YA being the youngest of the previous bunch.  But now there are four girls and two boys spread among four households.  It’s fabulous.

Just next door are Minnie and Marie (names changed to protect the innocent) who are 9 and 5.  Both a bit on the dramatic side (compared to YA at that age anyway) but very entertaining.   As with most kids these days, they have lots of activities; both their parents are music teachers, so music and dance are pretty high up on the list.

Last summer Minnie did a drama camp for a couple of weeks and at the end they put on the musical “The Little Mermaid”.  At one point Minnie invited me to see the show although I’m not sure she really expected my attendance.  YA and I both went and had a fun evening.  Lots of little kids playing undersea critters, including Minnie who was a crab.  She sang and danced in three numbers.  Both her folks were extremely grateful that YA and I attended.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Saturday afternoon, as I was heading to pick up an order at Target, Minnie called me over to the fence and asked me if I wanted to go to her piano recital.  I said “Sure, when is it?” to which she replied “2:30”.  As in 2:30 that same day, in fact, just 45 minutes from right then.  Yikes.  I told her I’d try my best.  Luckily not too much traffic to Target and back however I did need to change as I was wearing the dirty shorts and t-shirt that I had been gardening in earlier in the day.  I never changed so fast in my life.  If you’d been my other neighbor looking out the window at 2:20, you would have seen me pulling a shirt over my tank top as I was heading across my backyard to the car!  But I made it with a couple of minutes to spare (music school is just 5 minutes from the house – phew)!

It was a typical recital.  A couple of kids for whom this was their first public performance.  Mostly pianists but there was one guitarist and two violinists.  I would say most of the kids were between 5 and 10, although the last girl to play the violin was probably 13 or 14 (she was very good).  Several of the students had the teachers doing a complimentary part with them so no one seemed too nervous and nobody flubbed anything noticeable.  Minnie played a piece called “My Dream” and did a nice job.  I really enjoyed clapping and whooping it up for her and all the other little reciters. 

Minnie’s musical this summer is “Annie”.  I can’t wait.

Any memorable recitals for you?

2024, Family, gardening, Music

70s Sing Along

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The last two days have been gardening days chez nous.  When you have massive numbers of flowers (instead of grass), spring clean-up is a bear.  Monday we did a few hours in the front and yesterday we spent in the backyard so Guinevere could be outside with us. (Still LOTS to do… but that’s for another day). 

As we were getting going yesterday, YA brought out what I thought was a sunglasses case.  I’ve seen this around, usually when she’s getting packed up for a trip.  Turns out it’s actually a little bluetooth speaker that she got on a client trip.  I wasn’t too excited about this as our choices of music don’t usually sync up but the first song was something I recognized and then the second and the third.   I asked her if it was a specific station or if she had asked it “to play old stuff my mom would like”.  She responded that she had asked for music from the 70s. 

I graduated from high school in 1974 so I guess you could say I came of age musically in the 70s.  Abba, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, Moody Blues, Heart, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Diamond.  I was fond of many folk singers in the late 60s as well but I got my first radio of my own when I was in 10th grade.  (I never did have a record player of my own until I got married!)  I suppose a lot of nostalgia is wrapped up in that music for me. 

As the gardening went on, more and more songs that I recognize played on.  I don’t know the name of many of those tunes or even the artists, but I know a lot of the lyrics.  YA did suggest at one point that I didn’t have to sing along quite so loudly.

I did eventually thank her for playing “old mom music”.

If you can stand the 70s rock stuff, do you have a particular tune you like?

2024, Gatherings, Health, Music, Uncategorized

In Poor Taste

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Last weekend our local Opera group held a gala evening of a lovely meal and selections from various operas.

We have a surprisingly active opera group here, and they host a summer youth musical camp, as well as operas and recitals during the rest of the year. Our church choir director and her husband are very active in the group.

We didn’t attend the Gala, but heard plenty of comments about it the next day. An acquaintance of ours and her husband attended the Gala. She is a former piano instructor at the college. She and her husband also attend our church. Just before the end of the evening, our acquaintance’s husband collapsed and had to be resuscitated with CPR. He was taken to the hospital. There were several medical professionals in the audience who saved his life.

The final selection to be performed at the Gala was from one of the last acts of Carmen, in which Carmen is stabbed to death by Jose’. Our church choir director was to sing the part of Carmen. They decided that Carmen being stabbed to death just after Larry, the piano teacher’s husband, was hauled out on a stretcher would be in pretty poor taste, so they quickly ended the show.

I am happy to report that Larry survived and the Carmen selection will be performed at the next recital in the fall. This is just too much drama for our small community!

What are your favorite and least favorite endings to operas and musicals

2024, Family, Gatherings, Music, Uncategorized

Groupies

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Next weekend our hand bell choir is performing at a ND State PEO convention in town. One of our ringers is a PEO member, and felt that they would appreciate our music. Instead of our usual sacred selections we are playing My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music, Ashokan Farewell, the Hawaiian version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and Puff The Magic Dragon, just the sort of selections retired teachers would appreciate.

A couple of years ago our bell choir director volunteered us for a State Eastern Star convention in Jamestown. She is a leading light in the Eastern Star. That was a pretty weird experience. It was also a 400 mile round trip hauling all our bells and equipment. At least the PEO convention is in town.

My father belonged to the Masonic Lodge. My paternal grandfather was an Oddfellow as well as a Shriner. I have little patience with these groups and their rules and secret handshakes. I know the PEO and service organizations have good intentions. The PEO supports women’s education. I was the recipient of a PEO scholarship as an undergraduate. It just amazes me that these groups can continue.

What fraternal or service organizations have you or your relatives belonged to? Propose some new groups that you might find interesting.

2024, History, Music, Uncategorized

Metronome Police

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I read with amusement and disgust the effort by the current president of Chechnya to regulate the speed of music in that country.

The only music that is allowed for singing, instrumental performance, or dance must be between 80-116 beats per minute. The president thinks those tempos correspond to the brains and culture of Chechnyans. Anything else is contrary to Chechnyan values and culture. To give you a sense of what is allowed, Imagine by John Lennon would be too slow, and Here Comes The Sun would be too fast.

Well, good luck enforcing this. I suppose that any orchestra could regulate the speed during performances of classical music. What a loss for the populace, though!

What are your favorite slow and fast music pieces? What laws do you think have been unenforceable?

2024, holidays, Music, Theatre, Uncategorized, work

Glitter And Be Gay

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Last weekend, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, one of our employees came into our building and spread gold glitter all over-in the elevator, in all the hallways on both floors, in our offices, and on our desks along with green paper shamrocks and candy. Whoever it was had a master key to get into all the offices. Administration has been oddly silent, so I think it was one of them who did it..

All I could think was how awful for the cleaning staff to try to vacuum up all the handfuls of glitter that were strewn all over. The glitter has spread everywhere. One of my colleagues took her work laptop to a meeting at a local elementary school, and when she opened it up, glitter spilled out onto the table they were all meeting at. We are even carrying it into the community! After a couple of days for the cleaners to vacuum you can still see it in the carpet. Husband had some on his face at lunch yesterday.

For some reason Leonard Bernstein ‘s Candide came to mind when I saw all the glitter

What are some of your favorite Bernstein works? What is the biggest mess you ever made?

2024, Automotive, Music, Travel

Volare

23 Comments

Yesterday morning I drove my next-door neighbors to the airport for a spring break trip to California.  When we were about half way to the airport, the youngest daughter (she’s five) wailed that she hadn’t downloaded any music to her pad.  The older daughter started to chime in as well.  Dad quickly let them know that he had downloaded good playlists to their pads. 

I wouldn’t even have known what most of the previous paragraph meant when I was the girls’ ages.  Both their Mom and Dad are music teachers, so I suppose it’s not too surprising that everybody has to have a playlist for a 4-hour flight.  When they get back, maybe I’ll ask the girls about what Dad had downloaded for them.

I like music but I can’t call myself an aficionada – I rarely know the names of songs and even if I recognize the music, I’m usually stumped about the composer.  Or the band.   So while I know that my phone could play music if I wanted, I don’t have anything set up and I don’t have any ear buds or headphones.  When I’m on the plane, it’s either sleeping or reading for me.   In fact, I almost always take too much reading material on the plane – except for the one time I had a big hard cover from the library in my carry on bag (All the Light You Cannot See) and I plowed through the entire book in between London and Minneapolis!  Luckily by the time I finished the book, we were just about to land so I wasn’t tortured by too much “non-reading” time.

How do you keep yourself entertained when you fly/drive/train/covered wagon?