Category Archives: music

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ajudicator

My experience with adjudicators has been musical.

Did you play an instrument in school? Did you go to the yearly contest where you played in front of a judge? That judge is an adjudicator. I still have my little box of medals, mostly blue ribbbons, from playing my flute at the yearly contest.

When I search on ajudicator, I find a field manual. It’s not about music: https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1.html. I am having a really hard time with the children separated from parents. Death separates enough parents and children. I feel deeply ashamed of my country.

Centrum’s Voiceworks is a musical and healing week for me. Singing for a week and jamming on my flute and now I have a list of local people who love to sing….

Dawn Pemberton is one of our instructors and wonderful. She is a choral adjudicator, judging choruses across Canada. And one of my choral directors here, Rebecca Rottsolk, is also an adjudicator. For Mirinesse and for Rainshadow Chorale.

My son plays a violin piece as a senior for ajudication in Port Angeles. He is accompanied by Dr. Beatus Meier. The adjudicator is shy and nearly stands up when Beatus enters the room. Dr. Meier, it turns out, was the adjudicator’s professor at Washington State University. Dr. Meier is frail at that point and is now gone.

Blessings on the adjudicators and may we all be judged with love.
Mirinesse: http://www.mirinessewomenschoir.org/
Rainshadow Chorale: http://rainshadowchorale.org/
Dawn Pemberton: http://dawnpemberton.ca/
Dr. Martin Beattus Meier: http://www.ptleader.com/communityrecord/dr-martin-beatus-meier/article_eca9a1ea-69c0-11e8-889a-67013a9fdf88.html

The photograph is from the 2011 Solo and Ensemble in Port Angeles, the chamber orchestra that my son was in.

There will be a memorial tomorrow for Dr. Meier at QUUF from 11-12:30.

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appropriation

From the Centrum Voiceworks conference, Reverend Robert B Jones, Sr’s hands and guitar. Previous post about him here.

He was teaching blues history class in the morning and gospel in the afternoon, linked. One person asks about cultural appropriation. The Reverend says that he thinks songs and history are important. He asked if there are songs that he should not sing because they are “white” songs. He says there ARE songs that he WON’T sing because they are racist or sexist. But that if a white person does not sing a song because it’s “black”, he doesn’t think that makes any sense. And he traces history in his classes of how musicians of many races and genders influenced each other and continue to influence each other.

He and other instructors talk about musical skills and guitar and acoustic instrument skills and singing styles that are being forgotten and lost. We are blessed with recordings and he gave us a four page list of people to listen to…. I knew some, Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson, and others I’ve heard of and others I don’t know at all. Homework for the next year!

Blessings on this day for you and everyone, all the world.

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harmony

Another fabulous Voiceworks class, this with Anna and Elizabeth. As the week progressed and we ate lunch and dinner with the instructors at the tables as well as each other, I felt more and more blessed and impressed. These teachers said, “Come talk to us. We have time. We are here and you can talk to us between classes.” What generosity and blessing.

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music

Blogging from A to Z, happy things. M for music, music, music!

oxparty 018.jpg

My father and sister and I had a chance to record some of the family songs. This one is called Down by the Sally Gardens. My parents used to sing the duet.

May you have a joyous Monday!

 

M

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jump, jive, joy

Blogging from A to Z, my theme is happy things. The letter J for jump, jive, joy!

And jitterbug! I am a jitterbug dancer, east coast swing or 6 count swing, and lindyhop, and west coast swing. Salsa, merengue, cajun dance, two step, oh and a few clogging steps, about 6 total. I love to dance and I love the Jump Blues!

I took the photograph this morning: of an old t-shirt. We went to as many dance camps of The Savoy Swings Again as we could. There were two bands and lessons all day and I would have to increase my salt intake to keep my muscles from cramping. Deanna Bogart is still playing. And the Washington Swing Dance Committee still has a page devoted to dance!

On my last trip to the Washington DC area, my daughter said, “Let’s go dancing.” We found the DCdancenet site. We found a contra dance at the Spanish Ballroom, at Glen Echo Park. My son, his girlfriend, my daughter and I all went to the dance. The Spanish Ballroom is where I met their father and living on the west coast, I had not been back for years!

Jump, jive, joy and jitterbug! I am glad that dance is still going on, teaching, live bands and all the joy it brings!

J

And check this out: the same t-shirt shows up in this video of the Jiving Lindy Hoppers!