Christmas crackers with whistles!
Music and Mayhem
Christmas crackers with whistles!
Category Archives: Music
And even though it all went wrong…
I’ll stand before the Lord of song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah…
I could make you happy…
This weekend was all about making other people’s dreams come true…
On Saturday bright and early, I went to the worst place in the world:
…the DMV.
And even though I was quivering with fear and anxiety, later that night I took that boy and his hot-off-the-printer learner’s permit to the elementary school parking lot just down the street from where we live to practice driving:
After our trip to Hell the DMV, we went to the Verizon store to replace my second son’s phone. A couple of years ago when I bought him his first phone, I had to interrupt the enthusiastic salesman’s pitch about the amazing features of the latest, greatest phone.
“Actually, I’d like your most basic phone,” I said, “It doesn’t have to do anything other than receive and make phone calls. What I’m looking for is the kind of phone that my kid might get made fun of at school for having.”
The salesman escorted me over to a dingy corner in the back of the store and placed one in my hand.
“Here you go. They don’t even make these any more. Your kid will definitely get made fun of for using this one.”
I’m not really sure what possessed me to replace this phone, which my son lost towards the end of the school year, with a much nicer phone, but I have to admit – the reaction was pretty gratifying:
The boys call each other on the phone.
And then there was this:
But the really nice, self-sacrificing thing I did for my daughter was to accede to her heartfelt plea to take her and her brothers to the Albemarle County Fair.
It started out so well, with this picturesque drive up to Ashlawn Highland, James Monroe’s estate, in our air-conditioned car:
But the moment we stepped out of the car, a heatwave hit us like a wool blanket heavy with sweat.
We tried to distract ourselves by looking at the cute animals on display…
But even they looked miserable:
This smart cow had the right idea:
We had a greasy lunch of deep fried macaroni and cheese that looked like little triangle chicken nuggets, fries dripping with some Velveeta-esque product, deep fried pickles:
and some red velvet funnel cake:
To commemorate the occasion, I recorded a little song:
Musical Saturday
My son opened and closed his recital with Bach’s Prelude in C Major and Kern’s All the Things You Are…
A couple hours later we headed to another special concert. It was the 25th Anniversary Concert for a group from Charlottesville…
But unlike the rest of Charlottesville, who were at John Paul Jones Arena for the Dave Matthews Band’s 25th Anniversary Concert, we were at St. Paul’s Memorial to hear my husband sing in Zephyrus‘ 25th Anniversary Concert!
I’ve got a song crush
I’ve been a little obsessed with this song and have been torturing my poor family with it. I’m hereby getting it out of my system:
Surprise Symphony
For the past couple weeks, my son has been playing his own arrangement of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony (Symphony No. 94) on the piano. He was amused to read an account that said Haydn added the dynamic of a startling thunderous chord in an otherwise quiet, flowing movement to wake up a snoring concert goer. The anecdote appealed to his inner pranskter, and it’s been entertaining for me to listen to him work out how to play the piece. I can hear him snickering every time he gets to the surprise chord. One evening he burst out laughing when the antic chord had its intended effect on our dogs, who had hitherto been peacefully snoozing in the library. My weekend ended with this scene…I found him teaching his sister how to play it on her violin:
Amadeus and my own preternaturally precocious offspring.
One of the things we did during our cozy, snowbound weekend was to watch Milos Forman’s film Amadeus. It cracked me up to see my children wince every time Tom Hulce broke out his maniacal giggle. I remember doing the exact same thing the first time I watched it.
After three blissfully lazy days at home, I was sad to have to report to work on Monday. My children had known since the day before that they wouldn’t have to go to school. They didn’t have to go today either, and we’ve already gotten the call announcing that there’s no school tomorrow. It’s quite possible that they may never have to go back ever again.
Yesterday morning, as I put on my winter gear to battle the elements, I began delivering my marching orders to the children, “So, since you’re going to be home all day long with nothing else to do…”
“NO, Mom!,” my impertinent little daughter interrupted me, “We’re not going to be able to find a cure for cancer, or broker a peace treaty, or solve the problem of world hunger by the time you get home!”
“Ummm, no. That’s actually not what I was going to say at all!”
“Oh!” my daughter said sheepishly and with understandable surprise, since that is the speech I usually give on these occasions.
“As you now know, Mozart composed his first symphony at the age of four and…what was it? His first full length opera by the age of 12? How old are you now? Ten? Waaaay older than Mozart when he wrote that first symphony. So surely, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that with a whole day free to work on it, you and your brothers together could come up with some sort of composition. It doesn’t even have to be as taxing as a symphony. How about you come up with, say… a concerto for a string quartet, by the time I get back from work?”
I called later that afternoon to have my husband tell the children how much I was looking forward to hearing their composition that evening.
They rushed to meet me at the door when I arrived home.
“We wrote the concerto, but not for strings! We’d love to play it for you, but unfortunately, we wrote it for an instrument we don’t have…It’s for the didgeridoo.”
For Carla
For my friend Carla with love and admiration.
May you build a ladder to the stars.
Canticle of the Turning
My kids and I sang Rory Cooney’s Canticle of the Turning with our choir this Sunday. The lyrics are based on the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise when she learns that she will give birth to Jesus, the baby who will usher in a time of peace when the wolf lies down with the lamb, when swords are beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks:
My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight, and my weakness you did not spurn,
So from east to west shall my name be blessed.
Could the world be about to turn?
Though I am small, my God, my all, you work great things in me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame, and those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight, for the world is about to turn.
From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears every tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, every mouth be fed, for the world is about to turn.
Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast:
God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise which holds us bound,
‘Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God, who is turning the world around.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn.
In the hour before, I had been with the 4th and 5th graders at our church in Sunday School, trying to make sense of the lectionary text from the Book of Mark on which the lesson was based. Jesus describes the apocalypse and signs of the end times to his disciples: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines…” And what will happen to the magnificent edifices built by man? As Mary sings: “Not a stone will be left on stone.”
A terrifying vision. A terrifying reality.
The background information provided to teachers of this week’s lesson entitled “Future Hope” read: “Earthquakes, terror, economic crisis – the times in which we live bring challenge and doubt; our faith can become battered by fear, rather than buoyed by trust…” Indeed. Given recent events, the lesson seemed weirdly prescient and disturbingly apt; the exhortation to hope – absurd.
Over the weekend my fellow teachers and I had had a brief email exchange to decide whether or not to discuss the acts of terror that had just occurred around the world during class on Sunday. We decided that we would not bring them up ourselves, but would be prepared for a discussion if the children wanted to talk about the attacks. They didn’t.
We tried to strike a hopeful tone. We talked about the ways in which life has improved over the years with advances in medicine and the end of the Cold War as examples. We sang How Firm a Foundation, in which we are reassured that:
When through the deep waters I call you to go,
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,
for I will be with you in trouble to bless,
and sanctify to you your deepest distress.
Honestly, I was finding little comfort in these words.
At the end of the hour, the children were asked to draw a picture of or to write about their hopes for the future. I wish I had thought to take some photos of their work! Here are a few of the radical and simple ideas they came up with:
- Food, water, and books for everyone.
- World peace.
- No war. No hunger. No illness.
My faith may be battered by fear, but I am buoyed by the innate goodness of children and their dreams for a secure future for everyone. May we all find a way to live as they do: not in fear, but with hope for a world about to turn.
4/4 Violin
My daughter has been growing like a weed and is ready to move up to a full size violin. I caught her as she was opening up the first of the two violins and three bows she has on trial this week. She’s having a ball trying to decide which combination she likes best!
o wonderful, wonderful 