Spring Music

We've had a busy and musical spring.  The fast-approaching end of school, AP exams, college decisions and practicing for recital has kept all of us busy, not just the teenagers!

Anna's big news is her selection of a college to attend in the fall: the College of Wooster.  We're all very excited by her choice.  She'll attend a registration event in June, then student orientation just before classes start at the end of August.

Warming up for Mother's Day, Sam and Kim had a good time playing at our faculty-parents group picnic at CWRU's farm.

Sam has been out cruising the driveway in his new convertible.  He has to know how to get to his Princeton eating club, after all.

Anna performed in her final piano recital.  She has studied with her teacher Sara Smith since she was 7.  Here are student and teacher before the performance.

And the performance itself!

Maggie had both a concert with the Cleveland Institute of Music Prep Orchestra, and her own solo recital.  Here she is performing her solo piece:

Birthday celebration

Here are a few photos from the last week or two, including from my birthday!  My dad used to say having a birthday beats NOT having a birthday, so I figure best to celebrate.  And why not enjoy time with friends and family at the same time.  Besides:  PRESENTS!

We had some crazy warm weather at the end of March.  Sam usually doesn't care for hats unless they are strictly necessary (why hide that beautiful mane of hair, after all?) but decided that a cap with a brim, like a ball cap, can be useful on a sunny day.

It was so warm, that suddenly snow boots just don't seem to make sense.  Unless you've lost your pants, at which point the footwear choice becomes obvious.

Maggie and Sam enjoy story time.

Maggie rehearsed for seven weeks with the Cleveland Heights-University Heights middle school honor's orchestra, and they had their performance at the end of March.  Another stellar performance!

My birthday landed on a Sunday this year, so we had a great day together celebrating.  French toast and bacon in the morning, and an early dinner out with friends at the Market Garden Brewery.  They even gave us a private dining area in their basement pub room.

 Maggie and Anna deciding what to order for dinner.

Here's Princeton-boy getting ready to help with presents.

Can I help, Mommy?

Sure thing!

Making a wish.  What a great day!  Thanks to the family and friends who helped out, and I'll see you all again next year.

On adding vocabulary

Organology.

That's my new word for today, and it came to me through an internet-typical series of clickety-clicks. Here's how.

One of the blogs that I follow originates from the Colonial Williamsburg's Hay Shop, the period cabinetmakers shop in that wonderful town. Despite being set firmly in the eighteenth century, the workers there recently began a blog, where they write about the work that they do. And they are without doubt men after my own heart. One of the cabinetmakers there specializes in building spinet harpsichords , a trade that was necessary at the time and for that shop. He is working on a piece, but due to nagging tendinitis, is unable to work with tools, so has been reading up on the history of spinets.

In his post, he mentions having read a recent dissertation from the University of Edinburgh, a two volume brute, by Peter Geoffrey Mole which discusses (among other things, no doubt) construction methods of period instruments. Following that link, I kept myself to reading just the abstract of the work, but marveled at the index terms, among them Organology.

Further curiosity and tippity-tapping lead me from the Oxford English Dictionary through the Grove Dictionary of Music (both of these behind Ivory Tower pay walls, sadly) and of course Wikipedia to explain that this is the field of study of the history of musical instruments, and reminds me quite a bit of how the field of bibliography studies the history and "construction" of books, if you will.

Aren't connections super?

Taste

A friend once said, upon our disagreeing about something-or-other, the object of which is long since forgotten, "that is why they make both chocolate and vanilla."

We had a busy weekend, one that brought many pleasant surprises.

On Friday Kim and Maggie and Sam fended for themselves for the evening while I met up with an old friend to spend the night time traveling, via a concert by the rock band Rush. It was great fun, and it had been so long since the last time I was at a rock concert which made it all the more fun- thumping music that you feel as well as hear. And this particular group was one that resonated with my serious, musical teen self some thirty years ago. Back then I loved the stories told in the dense, complicated lyrics, the polyrhythmic music set to time by the magical drumming of Neil Peart. I think I also liked that not everyone else "got" this band, but my friends and I did. Journey or The Cars seemed such simpletons in comparison. I saw them perform twice in the early 80s, but after college my musical tastes changed and I didn't really listen to them much any more. But listening now, I'm still drawn by the power of their "hits" (though top 40 they certainly never have been), perhaps because of the memories associated with that music from so long ago. It was a good night out with an old friend.

In the picture above, Sam investigates a shelf of leather-bound volumes at his grandmother's house. New to crawling, such explorations are his bread and butter these days. I kept an eye on him but allowed him to select a volume on his own. And what did he choose? Great Expectations. So perhaps taste- literary in any case- is acquired genetically?

Friday also saw the long-delayed delivery (via persistence and tact on the part of Kim with the local postal authorities) of a box sent from Anna and her host family. Her host father listed "French specialties" on the customs form, attempting to mask with words the reality of the foodie contents within, a difficulty masking job considering the odor of the two types of fresh (or rather, formerly fresh) soft cheeses. We sliced into both this afternoon and were saddened by their inability to survive the poor handling and the long duration of their transit. I sampled each of them and found them reasonably tasty but sadly lacking in the texture at which they are best served. I was particularly sad that the cheese produced in Anna's province, six small rounds of goat cheese, had hardened beyond repair. I pulled out my trusty French cheese guide book, the Eyewitness Handbook of French Cheese, and tried to identify what I had before me. I think it is either Le Cornilly or Santranges. Their odor was... well, quite significant, and the flavor nutty and wild. And not necessarily appreciated by the whole of the household. Again, taste is a funny thing. I look forward to sampling some fresh examples sometime soon.

The other delicacies included some biscotti-like snacks, a bottle of walnut oil pressed within walking distance of Anna's village, a bottle of violet flavored (seriously!) syrup that one adds to drinks, and finally, the piece de resistance, a bottle of wine from Menetou-Salon. The latter we've not yet sampled, but I investigated the vineyard. In the AOC, they grow only pinot noir grapes for their red wines and sauvignon for their white. Anna can see the vineyards from her bedroom window.

Maggie and I enjoyed more music on Sunday, a matinee performance by opera students at the Cleveland Institute of Music in which they performed costumed scenes from a wide range of operas during the first half of the show. They were all fantastic, but my favorite was a duet scene from Smetana's The Bartered Bride. In the second half they performed an energetic take on the early Gilbert and Sullivan one act short opera Trial by Jury, which was quite fun.

And finally, a photo of a little guy and his big sister, who always makes him smile.

Anna & Steven Recital Duet

Last week was Anna's recital for her piano camp at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. She has attended this camp every year for many years, probably six, and this will likely be her last since she will be in France next summer.

Each camper performs a solo and a duet, which they've worked on for the duration of the camp. Anna and her friend Steven (also a long time camper) did a great job playing Debussy's En Bateau from the Petit Suite. Be sure to watch through the end, for Anna and Steven's discrete "low-five" after their bows.

Great job, Anna and Steven!

A Day of In(ter)dependence

I thought I'd put up a few photos for the 4th of July holiday. Around here no declarations of independence have been written or said- we all lean on each other to make it through the day. Happy Holiday, one and all!

Bright eyed Sam, awake and alert, and sporting festive red-white-and-blue.

Mama and Sam.

Bath time!

Sometimes a guy just needs a nap.

And an interdependence of a completely different kind- Anna and Steven, feeling happy after performing a wonderful duet at their CMSS Piano Camp recital. Debussy En Bateau sounded wonderful! Video will be along shortly.

The Power of Music

My friend and colleague Timothy Robson lives a bit of a double life- in addition to being a librarian (currently interim University Librarian) at CWRU, he has been the organist and music director of the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church for over 25 years. Tim performed the music for our wedding last summer at Amasa Stone Chapel.

Last week, a horrific fire burned the church to the ground. In addition to losing the building and the organ that Tim played each week, he also lost his complete personal library of organ music. While insurance can rebuild walls and replace carpeting, there are so many things it cannot replace, and Tim's music is a prime example.

Since the church is surely not a building, the congregation has begun to move forward, even in the short week since the fire. One of our local television news channels produced a wonderful piece about Tim and the church, which I've embedded below.