Singing Along the Journey

General

A room for things that just don’t fit in other categories.

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More

Carmen lives…

I love to visit museums when I travel. The ones that I love most, however, are the quirky little museums that are off the beaten path.  I’ve enjoyed many of them in my travels:  the Musée de Dame aux Camelias, somewhere in the Normandy countryside of France (where I saw the personal items of the woman who created such a stir in 19th century Paris, and who comes to us in the opera La Traviata and the classic movie Camille);  the Musée de la Vie Romantique in the 18th Arrondisment in Paris, the Franz Liszt House in Budapest. And today, I added to the list – I went to the…
Read More

Breakfast

I just had breakfast in a lovely courtyard, next to a running fountain, with a cool breeze blowing, here at my hotel in Seville, the Vincci la Rabida.  Breakfast is my favorite part of vacation, in so many ways. And my favorite meal in general. I don’t know about you, but I can still here my mother’s voice saying “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But things that we accept as nutritional and scientific givens are, like so many other things, also cultural in nature.  For you see, in Spain, as in Italy, they do not eat breakfast as we know it.  Breakfast is coffee and a…
Read More

Restoring the Choir…

My first morning in Seville, I chose to visit churches. Is anyone who knows me surprised about that?  I think not. So, today I started at the Cathedral of Seville.  In case you don’t know, this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world (on St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London are larger), and the largest in Spain and was built on the site of a mosque destroyed during the Reconquista recovery of Seville by the Christian kings.  The famous tower, the Giralda, is the only part of the original mosque that was retained – kept as a souvenir of conquest. Now, I have been in a…
Read More

Vaya a Sevilla…Day 30

I thought that I would take advantage of the fact that I am awake and that this hotel has a great internet connection.  And so I sit on my balcony in Madrid and say, welcome to Day 30 and the end of my committment to contribute to the ever growing stream of bits and bites on the internet with my daily blog entry.  And I want to take a moment to thank Pastor Amy for the idea and for being a good and gentle guide to start me on a road that, well, I wouldn't have taken (like she has never done that before). The only problem is, I don't…
Read More

Buenas tardes…Day 29

[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Museo del Prado"][/caption] Yes, I have arrived.  Greetings from Madrid. My trip itself was, gratefully, uneventful.  Interesting seat mate that made the first part of the journey less than comfortable, but that is flying in the modern world for most of us.  The biggest problem I have at the moment is where to have dinner and, oh yes, the fact that I haven't slept for about 30 hours straight. I don't sleep on planes under the best of conditions.  And my tried and true method for combatting jet lag is, well, don't go to sleep until your normal bed time.  Make yourself walk and be in the…
Read More

Strange Day…Day 28

Okay, today is a strange day.  It is not a strange day because I am leaving on a trip, I do that often enough.  It is not strange because the bed is currently full of clothing that will probably never all fit into the suitcase.  That is way too normal. It is strange first because, well, I am weirdly calm.  I was pretty wound up the past few days and I thought that it was because I was nervous about the trip.  But, once I finished my paper yesterday, this unusual sense of calm settled upon me.  The second, and truly most monumental reason that today is strange is --…
Read More

Perspective and Music, Part 2….Day 27

As promised, today we talk about the perspective from the view of the performer and of the audience... The performer’s job is to combine the work of the librettist and the composer, add to it their own humanity, and bring that work and the character they are assigned to life on the stage. The performer’s perspective is something that I can speak to from my own personal experience.  But it is a difficult thing to describe to someone who is not a performer.  As a performer, we pick up the score of an opera and we begin to study.  And that study requires all of our very being:  you need…
Read More

Perspective and Music., Part 1…Day 26

Sorry, gentle readers, I am somewhat obsessed with finishing my paper for my class today, so we are back to the topic of music and perspective.  I really can think of little else.  Today, I'll write about the librettist and the composer's perspective.  In tomorrow's entry, I'll write about the performer's and the audience's perspective. Music is never a solitary act – except perhaps during practice times. Even in the recording studio, there are the other musicians, the engineers, and the hoped for audience – the listeners.  And each of these participants approaches the musical act from a different perspective.  Perspective is something that is often discussed in the visual…
Read More

Last Night…Day 25

Last night, my beagle Gracie went to her first "yappie hour" with the DC Beagle Meetup Group. For those of you who don't do the doggie ciruit, a "yappie hour" is really a happy hour, just for dogs AND people.  There are biscuits, AND hors d'oeuvres, and bowls of water all around. These events are held all over town, sometimes in pet stores, but last night's gathering took place at the fabulous Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.   Another thing that you probably don't know if you aren't that in to dogs is that Alexandria is a great dog town...many of the merchants allow you to bring your dog into their…
Read More

Organists, organists, everywhere….Day 24

...well, maybe there was a choir director or two there as well. Yesterday, at my beloved Calvary Baptist Church, we played host to a series of sessions that were part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention, which was held here in Washington, D.C., this year.  It was a fine day devoted to worship for children, wrapped up with a workshop by a noted local youth choir director about [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Mueller organ at Calvary Baptist Church, DC"][/caption] skills for working with young singers, particularly in a choral setting. And, we are in middle of the worst heat wave in years here in Washington.  It was…
Read More