She's all grown up

Just had to share some photos of Heather with her friends at her senior prom this last Saturday night. She looked so beautiful...

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The World's most beautiful music: Bachiana no. 5

Steph and I were discussing the beauty of the Portuguese language when I remembered this beautiful aria from Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras. I first discovered this incredible piece of music when I was a young college music major, and I fell in love with its haunting beauty. Sung here by the famous Brazilian soprano, Bidu Sayão, (Rio de Janeiro, May 11, 1902 - March 12, 1999), this is probably one of the most passionate recordings of this piece, ever.

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In the company of greatness

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can be great.

~ Mark Twain

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We've got tickets to see "The Magic Flute"!

I did it! I ordered our tickets today, and next Friday night Steph and I are taking Heather to see the Tulsa Opera production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, (yes, it will be sung in German with English subtitles scrolling above the stage)! I've seen two different productions of "Flute"--one in Tampa, Florida with the New York City Opera touring company and the second, years later, a student production at Oklahoma Baptist University, which was quite good. And I have sung the role of the Third Lady in the OSU Opera production of Flute, when I was in graduate school. I'm looking forward to this particular production for several reasons: 1) It's the first time I will see "Flute" with Steph, 2) It's the first time that Heather will have ever seen it, 3) It's the Tulsa Opera, and the last Mozart opera we saw there, ("Figaro"), we absolutely loved. The Tulsa opera is rated one of the top regional operas and is kind of a "farm team" for new, up-and-coming opera stars. They get the most talented young people right out of school, when they're just starting their careers. It's really exciting and always high quality. I took Heather to see Madama Butterfly three years ago and she loved it. I know she'll love this production as well!

I'm SO excited!!

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The World's most beautiful music: Trio "Soave sia il vento"

The last of the three Mozart/Da Ponte collaborations is Cosi fan Tutte, ("Thus do they all"), commissioned in 1789 by Emperor Joseph II, who died shortly before it's premiere in the Emperor's theater, (the Burgtheater), in Vienna on 26 January 1790. Mozart had only a little under two years to live after its premiere.

Mozart and Da Ponte took as a theme "fiancée swapping" which dates back to the 13th century, with notable earlier versions being those of Boccaccio's Decameron and Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. Elements from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew are also present. Furthermore, it incorporates elements of the myth of Procris as found in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

This trio is from the first Act and features Don Alfonso, (bass), Fiordiligi, (mezzo soprano), and Dorabella, (soprano). In a coffee shop, Ferrando and Guglielmo (two officers) claim that their fiancées (Dorabella and Fiordiligi, respectively) will be eternally faithful. Don Alfonso joins the discussion and lays a wager with the two officers, claiming he can prove in a day's time that these two women (like all women) are fickle. The wager is accepted: the two officers will pretend to have been called off to war; soon thereafter they shall return in disguise and attempt to seduce each other's lover. The scene shifts to the two women (they are sisters) who are praising their men. Alfonso arrives to announce the bad news: the officers have been called off to war. Ferrando and Guglielmo arrive, brokenhearted, and bid farewell (quintet: Sento, o Dio, che questo piedo è restio—"I feel, oh God, that my foot is reluctant"). As the boat with the men sails off to sea, Alfonso and the sisters wish them safe travel (trio: Soave sia il vento—"May the wind be gentle").

This particular trio is one of the finest examples of Mozart's incredible vocal ensemble work and is one of my very favorites.

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Taking a vacation day for music

I'm not going to work today because I took a vacation day to go and hear my daughter, Heather, sing her solo at state solo and ensemble music contest in Shawnee. This is her senior year and her last year to get to sing at state contest and so I wanted to be there. As an added plus, I'll get to hear her sing Voi che sapete from my very favorite opera of all, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and one that she sings so well!

UPDATE: Heather sang beautifully and received a Superior rating (I) on her solo, Friday! Way to go, Heather!

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It's the little things that count

There is nothing that does not matter. The faintest breeze changes the course of the world. The softest cry is heard by all. The greatest love is you and it is me.

~ Carson's commentary

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Abundance!

Every time you praise something, every time you appreciate something, every time you feel good about something, you are telling the Universe, More of this, please! More of this, please!

~Abraham

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Reversal of fortune!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about how everything seemed to be going to hell in a hand basket, how life had just taken a proverbial dump on us, all at one time and left us reeling. Well, now we've experienced a complete reversal of fortune! It's totally amazing!

1. I got the first of several IRS refund installments on Monday, (it's too complicated to explain here), which has given us the financial boost we needed to get us out of the pit and put us on solid financial ground.

2. My ex called and said that he had just bought a new car and said that he had been planning on giving the car he was driving to Lauren. Since Lauren doesn't return from France until June, he said that if I would continue to pay the insurance on it that I could drive it until I can get my van fixed and Lauren gets back! (Thank-you Dan!!)

3. We found out today that Steph got the job as a web developer that she applied for and she starts tomorrow! Not only that, they offered her the position at 50 cents higher an hour than what they had originally quoted. In addition to that, she contracted with another huge client to create two new web sites for him!

4. I recovered from the bronchitis/pneumonia and am back teaching and back at Chamber Singers rehearsals!

Now I'm doing the GRATITUDE DANCE!

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The World's most beautiful music: The Albinoni Adagio in G minor

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (June 8, 1671, Venice, Republic of Venice – January 17, 1751, Venice, Republic of Venice) was a Venetian Baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera composer, he is mainly remembered today for his instrumental music, some of which is regularly recorded. The "Adagio in G minor" attributed to him (actually a later reconstruction) is one of the most frequently recorded pieces of Baroque music.

(source Wikipedia)


Featured here is the Berlin Philharmonic. This one is lengthy, but oh so worth it!

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Darkness & Light

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby.

~ Ruth Rendell, English writer, born 1930

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Aint she sweet?

My daughter, Heather, just had her senior portraits taken this last weekend by photographer Averi Blackmon. We just got the proofs back yesterday and I couldn't resist showing a couple of them off! Averi did a great job, but I have to admit that her subject didn't stink!

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WTF????

Have you ever had one of those days? months? years? Mind you, I'm not complaining. In fact, I remain amazingly optimistic after the month that we've had. It's just sometimes I have to let off a little steam.

This month, thus far, has presented the following challenges:

1. My most faithful and loyal voice student has been out for the entire month because she had a baby. I had significant income loss as a result.

2. My youngest student, whom I teach in her home, has been out the entire month due to illness, (both hers and mine), and the fact that their living room is being remodeled, (and that's where the piano is). More significant income loss.

3. My newest, (and probably most talented), student has been out the entire month due to illness. Yet more significant income loss.

4. The kids' Dad, thinking he had mailed the child support check, realized that he hadn't because it had slipped between the seats of his car. (Not blaming him, he really thought he had mailed it.) The check was late and my bank account was overdrawn, resulting in a $22 overdraft charge. (Thankfully I have overdraft protection. My bank makes good on it, but charges me for it.)

5. Steph receives a monthly annuity check from an account that her now deceased uncle set up several years ago. Because he is now deceased, the check continues to come to us but we can't deposit it into our bank directly. We have to send it to our attorney who takes his fee out of it, deposits it in Steph's trust account and then drafts a check from that account. This month the check didn't arrive. Finally, after it was about a week overdue, Steph called our lawyer, who in turn, called Morgan Stanley to learn that they had "forgotten" to cut the check. As of last Friday they were going to cut the check and put it in the mail that afternoon. The check still hasn't arrived. I had to pay the bills anyway. My bank account has been overdrawn several times over. I now have about $120 in overdraft charges...and counting. I don't get my paycheck from work until tomorrow, and then I won't be able to deposit it until after I get off work. More charges will probably come through before I can get my check deposited.

6. If you read my earlier entry, you learned that the Bradford Pear trees are prolific this year, causing me much distress resulting in a nasty case of bronchitis that teetered on pneumonia. I was out of work two days. I don't have sick leave. More significant income loss.

7. Early this morning Steph and Joel left for California, where Joel is treating Steph to a nostalgic trip to Disneyland. He has been planning this trip for months and paid for it out of his own money. Micah drove them to the airport in our on-its-last-legs Ford Contour,(against my better instincts), which we have been praying would make it through until we can get into a better financial position to buy another one. The car broke down and died in Guthrie. Steph and Joel had to take a cab to the airport in Oklahoma City, and Joel paid for a cab for Micah to return home. I have a van that is old, but in good shape but won't start due to some electrical issues involving the security system and the starter. It has been sitting in the garage for several months waiting for me to get my tax refunds back so that I can have it towed to the garage and repaired. In the meantime we are going to have to use Micah's truck to get Heather to school and me to work and the car is stuck in a Love's station parking lot in Guthrie until after Steph and Joel return from California.

8. I just learned today, when inquiring with the IRS regarding the status of my tax refund, that they are withholding it because they don't have record of my 2004 returns! I was told by my accountant that I didn't make enough money in 2004 to file a tax return, (I only worked part of the year because I was in graduate school). Apparently he was wrong. That means more delays until I have money in my bank account to purchase the 2004 edition of TaxAct. (It's only $12.95, but remember, I'm in the hole right now.)


Someone shoot me!

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The World's most beautiful music: Mama Cass, Dream a Little Dream of Me

Cass Elliot (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), born Ellen Naomi Cohen, was a noted American singer, best remembered as Mama Cass of the pop quartet The Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, she had a successful solo career, releasing nine albums. Elliot was found dead in her hotel room in London from an apparent heart attack after two sold-out performances at the Palladium.

Her signature song, Dream a Little Dream of Me, has been a favorite of mine since childhood.

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Where is your focus?

The secret of abundance is to stop focusing on what you do not have, and shift your consciousness to an appreciation for all that you are and all that you do have.

~ Wayne Dyer

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The curse of the Bradford Pear

Bradford Pear trees...some of the most lovely blooming trees around and Stillwater is literally covered with them. But unfortunately for me, they equal allergies and asthma. Once again, I've been struck down with the curse, after I had been doing so well, too. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon because I literally cannot breathe.

Argh!


UPDATE

I just returned from the doctor who said that I have bronchitis that is teetering on the edge of pneumonia. She gave me some high-powered antibiotics, an Advair inhaler, and and told me to go home and rest.

3/25/08 A.M.

I awakened after a better night's sleep than I have had in a few days. My breathing is better, although still a bit labored and shallow. I didn't go to work this morning, but I'm hoping that after another dose of my antibiotic that I'll be ready to go back tomorrow. Steph has been very sweet and attentive, setting the vaporizer up on my side of the bed and taking Heather to work and picking her up so that I could rest. It's the little things that aren't so little that mean so much!

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The Joy of Life!

Remember the things that gave you joy as a child. Incorporate them into your life now. Find a way to have fun with everything you do. Let yourself express the joy of living. Laugh. Rejoice, and the Universe rejoices with you!

~ Louise Hay

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The World's most beautiful music: Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus

The first time I sang this motet I wept. In typical Mozart fashion, he has taken a simple, yet tender melody and woven it in such a way as to move a person to the very core of the soul.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's setting of Ave verum corpus (K. 618) was written for Anton Stoll (a friend of his and Haydn's) who was musical co-ordinator in the parish of Baden, near Vienna. It was composed to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi and the autograph is dated 17 June 1791. It is only forty-six bars long and is scored for choir, stringed instruments, and organ. Mozart's manuscript itself contains minimal directions, with only a single sotto voce at the beginning.

Mozart composed this motet while in the middle of writing his opera Die Zauberflöte, and while visiting his wife Constanze, who was pregnant with their sixth child and staying in a spa near Baden. The piece was used as a trade to pay the rent for Constanze's apartment at the spa. It was less than six months before Mozart's death.

Sung here by the Vienna Boy's Choir, you'll hear why I regard it as some of the World's most beautiful music.

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Which came first: the bunny or the cross?

Today I was privy to a conversation that took place in the office over the "true meaning of Easter". In this conversation I overheard one woman complaining about how her family celebrates Easter, that all it is to them is the Easter bunny, candy, and colored eggs, and that they needed to get back to the REAL meaning of Easter and about how it's about Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection. It took everything I had not to blurt out with a belligerent, "Are you kidding me?" But I bit my tongue, swallowed down hard, and kept my mouth shut and decided to save my rant for a blog entry.

Easter is a pagan holiday. It is nothing but Pagan through and through, no ifs, ands, or buts, about it. Christians can't even claim exclusive rights to the idea of a god/man born of a virgin who dies and then is resurrected from the dead. That's right, folks! The pagans thought of that one long before the Christians! If Christians want to get a little further away from the pagan origins of Easter, (even the name "Easter" is pagan), they would celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus at Passover, and not during the Spring Equinox, when the pagans celebrate the return of their gods and goddesses.

Read this from Religious Tolerance.org:

Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. "About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection."

Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation."

Many religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. Ancient Christians had an alternative explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition.

Wiccans and other modern-day Neopagans continue to celebrate the Spring Equinox as one of their 8 yearly Sabbats (holy days of celebration). Near the Mediterranean, this is a time of sprouting of the summer's crop; farther north, it is the time for seeding. Their rituals at the Spring Equinox are related primarily to the fertility of the crops and to the balance of the day and night times. Where Wiccans can safely celebrate the Sabbat out of doors without threat of religious persecution, they often incorporate a bonfire into their rituals, jumping over the dying embers is believed to assure fertility of people and crops.

Pagan Origins of the Easter Bunny

From About.com:

The answer lies in the ingenious way that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that people were more reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals than their gods, they simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. As recounted by the Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer, clever clerics copied Pagan practices and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable to pagan folk reluctant to give up their festivals for somber Christian practices.

In second century Europe, the predominate spring festival was a raucous Saxon fertility celebration in honor of the Saxon Goddess Eastre (Ostara), whose sacred animal was a hare.

The colored eggs associated with the bunny are of another, even more ancient origin. The eggs associated with this and other Vernal festivals have been symbols of rebirth and fertility for so long the precise roots of the tradition are unknown, and may date to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance- eggs were solar symbols, and figured in the festivals of numerous resurrected gods.

Pagan fertility festivals at the time of the Spring equinox were common- it was believed that at this time, when day and night were of equal length, male and female energies were also in balance. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg and the hare together represent the god and the goddess, respectively.

Moving forward fifteen hundred years, we find ourselves in Germany, where children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests to the delight of children who discover them Easter morning. It was this German tradition that popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America, when introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.

Many modern practitioners of Neo-pagan and earth-based religions have embraced these symbols as part of their religious practice, identifying with the life-affirming aspects of the spring holiday. (The Neopagan holiday of Ostara is descended from the Saxon festival.) Ironically, some Christian groups have used the presence of these symbols to denounce the celebration of the Easter holiday, and many churches have recently abandoned the Pagan moniker with more Christian oriented titles like 'Resurrection Sunday.'


So which came first, the bunny or the cross? It would appear that the hare wins this one.

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It's all about perspective

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

~ Wayne Dyer

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The art of loving oneself

When you are at peace with yourself and you love yourself, it is virtually impossible for you to do things to yourself that are destructive.

~ Wayne Dyer

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The World's most beautiful music: Danny Boy

Most often it's in the music of the people, or "Folk music", that the most serene and haunting beauty can be heard. That is most certainly the case in this beloved Celtic tune, Danny Boy. Sung beautifully here by Celtic Woman, (whom I'm not generally fond of), in a very traditional, and gentle rendition, it's no secret why this melody is so popular.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

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A concert weekend

I love concert weekends! For the past several weeks the Stillwater Chamber Singers have been rehearsing for our Lenten concert which we will present this weekend--tonight in Oklahoma City at St. John's Episcopal Church, and then again tomorrow afternoon here in Stillwater at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. We will feature the Pergolesi Stabat Mater which he composed the last year of his life, (he died in 1736 at the young age of 26, of tuberculosis), and the Buxtehude motet, Der Herr ist Mit Mir. Featured with us will be the Stillwater Chamber Players on strings and continuo.

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Living for today

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.

~ Dale Carnegie

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The World's most beautiful music: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23, K 488

The Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488) is a musical composition written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was finished, according to Mozart's own catalog, on March 2, 1786, around the time of the premiere of his opera, The Marriage of Figaro. It was one of three subscription concerts given that spring and was probably played by Mozart himself at one of these. The concerto is scored for strings, one flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns.

It has three movements:

1. Allegro in A major and common time
2. Adagio in F sharp minor and 6/8 time
3. Allegro assai in A and crossed common time.

The first movement is mostly sunny with the occasion melancholic touches typical of other Mozart pieces in A major.

The second movement is impassioned and somewhat operatic in tone. Formally this is a sonata form, the piano entering immediately with a theme that has unusually wide leaps; and also as with many such minor-mode sonata movements with Mozart, we hear and effective device where the major-mode secondary material in minor in the end. It is the only movement by Mozart in F sharp minor.

The third movement is a rondo, shaded by moves into other keys as is the opening movement (to C major from E minor and back during the secondary theme in this case, for instance) and with a central section whose opening in F sharp minor is interrupted by a clarinet tune in D major, an intrusion that reminds us, notes Girdlestone, that instrumental music at the time was informed by opera buffa and its sudden changes of point of view as well as of scene.

(Source: Wikipedia)

The movement I have featured here is the Adagio in F sharp minor--probably my single most favorite movement of any of the Mozart piano Concerti. It has a rather "moody" tone about it, moving from a melancholy, minor A section into a rather vibrant and playful, yet still tender, B section in a major key, and back again to the original theme.

The artist featured here is Hungarian pianist and conductor, Zoltán Kocsis.

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The history of leap year

Leap years are years with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years are necessary because the actual length of a year is 365.242 days, not 365 days, as commonly stated. Basically, leap years occur every 4 years, and years that are evenly divisible by 4 (2004, for example) have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29th.

However, there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century years, like the year 1900. Since the year is slightly less than 365.25 days long, adding an extra day every 4 years results in about 3 extra days being added over a period of 400 years. For this reason, only 1 out of every 4 century years is considered as a leap year. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700, 1800, 1900 were not leap years, and 2100 will not be a leap year.

But 1600 and 2000 were leap years, because those year numbers are evenly divisible by 400.

Julius Caesar was behind the origin of leap year in 45 BC. The early Romans had a 355 day calendar and to keep festivals occurring around the same season each year a 22 or 23 day month was created every second year. Julius Caesar decided to simplify things and added days to different months of the year to create the 365 day calendar, the actual calculation were made by Caesar's astronomer, Sosigenes. Every fourth year following the 28th day of Februarius (February 29th) one day was to be added, making every fourth year a leap year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII further refined the calendar with the rule that leap day would occur in any year divisible by 4 as described above.

(Source: About.com)

It is interesting to note that had we adopted the Lunar calendar, which is based on Moon cycles, (and is feminine), rather than the Solar calendar, (masculine), an invention of the Romans, we wouldn't have a problem of odd days, our months would divide out evenly--each having 28 days--and we wouldn't have a "leap year".

But when has anything having to do with men ever made sense?

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Random drug testing in the public schools

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.



I just found out yesterday, that my daughter, Heather, was subject to a mandatory random drug test at school the other day. At the beginning of the school year I had to sign permission for Heather to be randomly tested in order for her to be able to participate in the Pioneer Chorale. I did so, but only under protest because I felt it was a violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which governs unwarranted search of person or property without probable cause. When I found out that they tested her on Monday, I was pissed, and even though I had signed the permission slip, (I had to or Heather couldn't be in the Chorale), I decided that I was going to lodge a larger protest than the one I made when I signed the slip. The following is a letter that I typed to Heather's principal and to the director of the Chorale:

Dear Mr. ******,

My name is Lynette ***** and my daughter, Heather ******, is a senior at Stillwater High School. My purpose in writing this letter to you is to register my protest of Heather's recently being subject to a random drug test, which I believe to be in clear violation of Heather's 4th Amendment Constitutional rights. I understand that in order for Heather to participate in the Pioneer Chorale that I had to sign permission authorizing the school to test her, which I did under protest. As a citizen of this nation, state, and community I feel that it is not only my right, but my obligation to protest an action by an agency of those governments that are sworn to honor and uphold my Constitutional rights.

Enclosed you will find two articles which support my protest, and outline in a very clear and concise manner the opinions that I share with the authors on the subject of random drug testing and why it is not only ineffective in deterring drug use among children, but is also a violation of our children's Constitutional rights. I ask and encourage you to read them and take them into consideration.

Respectfully,
K. Lynette *****


Below you will find Links to the articles mentioned in my letter:

School Drug Testing Violates Rights

Blowing Smoke: Why Random Drug Testing Doesn't Reduce Student Drug Use


My daughter is an outstanding student and citizen with absolutely no record as a trouble-maker at school or a police record. She has given no "probable cause" to have her person searched, nor was there a warrant issued. Is this not clearly a violation of her 4th Amendment rights?

This is scary stuff, folks.

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ROTFLMAO!!

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The World's most beautiful music: David Gates & Bread

Most people don't know that David Gates is from Oklahoma. The son of a band director and a piano teacher, he was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1940. He married his high school sweetheart in 1958 while studying at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Gates and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1961 and Gates became a songwriter and became involved in producing. He worked as a music copyist, studio musician, and producer for many artists including Pat Boone. Success soon followed. His composition "Popsicles and Icicles" was recorded by The Murmaids in 1963. Another song, "Saturday's Child", was recorded by The Monkees. By the end of the 1960s, he had worked with many leading artists, including Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Merle Haggard, Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. Gates produced the 1965 Glenn Yarbrough hit, "Baby the Rain Must Fall." In 1966 he also produced 2 singles on A&M Records for Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band which were hits in the Los Angeles area.

"Aubrey" was recorded in 1973, the same year as the break-up of Bread. Having grown up listening to his music on the radio, I have always loved David Gates' songs, but this one is by far my favorite. Full of the tenderness and angst that is always present in Gates' music, this particular song makes full use of his many strengths as a singer/songwriter and leaves the listener yearning to know just who this girl is, and if you're a girl, wishing your name was Aubrey and if you're a guy, wishing you knew a girl like her.

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Dare I even breathe on this?

Barack Obama continues his winning streak across the nation by sweeping Hillary Clinton, once again. He won in Wisconsin by nearly 60%, and in Hawaii by, last I heard, nearly 75%. I'm holding my breath that he keeps up this momentum and takes both Ohio and Texas. If he does, then I predict that we will be looking at the next President of the United States!

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Sixteen years ago...

I was in the early phases of labor and didn't know it. By 8:00 in the evening, I had a 9lb 4 oz boy, with white/blonde hair and blue eyes. Today he's nearing 6 feet, around 170 pounds, and likes to do pretty much what every teen-aged boy likes to do. Of course he's a heart-breaker.

Happy Birthday, Nathan. I love you more than words can express!

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The shocking reality of illiteracy

Yes, I've heard the statistics over and over again. I've heard how we're graduating high school seniors, and even college graduates who can't read beyond a third grade level, but I had never encountered it until today.

This afternoon I attended a baby shower for one of my voice students who is due to deliver in the next couple of weeks, and when it came time for her to read the cards that accompanied the gifts she received, she was so emotional that she asked some of the young women who were present to read them out loud for her. It was then that the reality of illiteracy came rushing in upon me. These young women, most of them in their early twenties, high school graduates, and some attending college, could not read the simplest lines in a greeting card out loud without laboring and stumbling over the most rudimentary of words such as "hugest" and "surrounded". Having been literally sequestered in an environment where literacy and education are utmost, and having a family that carries on a daily love affair with the written and spoken language, I was unprepared for this scene, and I confess that my shock was most likely scribbled all over my facial expressions. I was quite frankly, embarrassed and taken aback, and it only served to bring home to me what a widespread and tragic problem illiteracy has become amongst the youth of this nation. It frightens and disturbs me, and I confess that I am at a loss at what we should or even can do about such an obviously serious and widespread problem.

On my part, I have raised three children who love to read, and who are, all three, excellent writers. One of my three children, at the age of 19, now fluently reads, writes, and speaks both English and French, and has plans to pursue her college degrees in language. One of the greatest thrills I have had as the parent of teens is the joy of watching as they read and discover the world's great classic literature. It takes me back to the days when I first discovered the works of Shakespeare, the Oresteia, Plato, Mark Twain, Hemingway, and Elizabeth Barret Browning. Memories I will always hold dear is of a Saturday morning when Lauren and I sat downstairs over a cup of coffee and discussed Dickens, and of the times when Heather has come to me with her astounding creative writing endeavors and asked me to read them and offer my opinions. And it is always a thrill to know that if I come up short on ideas for birthday presents, I know that I can always buy a gift certificate from our local bookstore and it will be eagerly received. There is nothing more satisfying and exciting than parenting children who are eager to read and learn, and I fear for a generation of parents who, because they cannot read themselves, will never instill in their children the love of reading, and as a result, the love of learning.

I fear that we are on the threshold of yet another dark age if something does not change soon.

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Amazing Grace: You'll want to see this one

I admit it. Steph and I are very difficult to please when it comes to films. We're not indiscriminate movie-goers, preferring art films, period pieces, and the occasional "chick flick". So it was with great anticipation and some intrepidation, that we rented the box-office sleeper, "Amazing Grace", a historically based film about the life and work of British abolitionist, William Wilberforce, friend of the ex-slave-trader-turned-clergyman, John Newton, who penned the hymn after which the film is titled.

Don't let the title of this film put you off, as it almost did us. It isn't about John Newton, his conversion experience, or even the hymn, (which Newton penned after his conversion experience following a violent storm through which he piloted one of his slave ships and lived to tell about it). It's about the people who were dedicated to the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain during the late 18th century and early 19th century, most notably Wilberforce, and the struggles they encountered in trying to wake the British arostocracy out of their complacency regarding the evils, suffering, and immorality of the slave trade. Besides the fact that it's story is based on incredible historical events and people, the film features beautiful, historically accurate costuming, gorgeous cinematography, a compelling screenplay, and impeccable acting.

It's a film well-worth seeing, and in our case, one we have decided to purchase and add to our library of period films.

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Love

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.

~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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The World's most beautiful music: The Phantom of the Opera

In the breath-taking duet, "All I ask of you", from The Phantom of the Opera, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Christine and Raoul pledge their undying love for one another, as the Phantom looks on in despair.

To all the lovers of the world, I wish you a very happy Valentine's Day.

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This says it all!

1 step beyond: I'm Making My Call

RW over on 1 Step Beyond has just expressed my thoughts concerning this crap hole that we call our Federal Government in a way that I if I could write the way I can sing, I would have said it. This is a MUST READ.

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The World's most beautfiul music: Puccini, La Rondine

I first heard this aria on a recording with Beverly Sills, and instantly fell in love with it. Although Puccini operas aren't my favorites as a whole, (I don't really get into the stories he chose), some of the most beautiful arias ever come from them. This particular aria is from his opera, La Rondine, and is entitled "Ch 'il bel sogno di Doretta", and the recording features Soprano Angela Gheorghiu in all her magnificent glory, literally floating on her magical high C's and lulling her audience into Doretta's dreamworld.

You'll be as enchanted as I was.

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My life's purpose

There is not something you are supposed to do. There is not something that you should do. There is only that which you are inspired to do. And how do you get inspired except by the contrast...It is the life experience that gives you the idea of the desire, and then as you focus upon the desire, the Energy flows.


~ Hicks 1998

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The World's most beautiful music.

Today I'm beginning a series of posts that will feature some pieces that I consider some of the world's most beautiful music. I will feature classical pieces, opera, and the like, as well as jazz, pop, and even rock.

Of course I begin with Mozart. The piece I will feature today is the Andantino from his Flute & Harp Concerto, K. 299. Peaceful, pastoral, enchanting...

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The fear of success

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

~ Marianne Williamson

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Of all the waltzes by all the Strausses...

This one is my absolute favorite!

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Nothing says it like a song.

And this song says it all...

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The music that touched my soul

As a child his music comforted me. As a teen his music moved me. As a college music major his music compelled me. As a young adult his music called me. As a woman his music completes me.

Happy birthday, Herr Mozart. Ich liebe dich für immer und ewig und drei Tagen.

Susanna's aria from Act IV of Le Nozze di Figaro.

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An open letter to my children's abuser

I’m not sure why you have decided that after four years of having no contact with my children that it was necessary or even appropriate for you to do so. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I believe that you have a DHS order prohibiting you from any contact with them. But, since Lauren is no longer a minor, I guess you thought that she was once again, fair game.

Pathetic really, that a forty-some-year-old woman would find it necessary and/or amusing to continue to harass and abuse a 19-year-old girl who has done nothing but move on with her life, (after enduring four years of abuse from you), and put herself on the road to success and happiness. It speaks loudly to the kind of person you are and to the fact that after all the experiences of the past and all the abuse that my children endured at your hand, you’ve done nothing to rehabilitate yourself, nor have you learned a thing. It speaks even more loudly of Lauren, who through the strength of her character, has endured, persevered, moved-past, and conquered the abuse you so cruelly wielded in her direction for four years, and has grown into a beautiful, intelligent, courageous, compassionate, loving, and successful young woman. Lauren graduated with a 4.0 GPA, with top honors from her high school, last May, and is now a foreign exchange student with Rotary International in Brittany, France. After she returns home in June she will begin college at the University of Oklahoma where she will double major in French and Spanish with a goal towards a career in the field of International Relations and/or International Business. The fact that you find it necessary to seek her out and attack her on her weblog, when she has done nothing to you only brings to light how pathetic an individual you really are, as well as exposes your jealousy of her, and points directly back at you.

You know, I really never received the opportunity to tell you exactly what I think of you after you abused my children and verbally assassinated the characters of my partner and her son. The damage you did to my family was extensive and the wounds deep. Fortunately, in the nearly four years since my children have been back with me, much healing has taken place, and the damage you inflicted has been repaired, albeit the scars remain. Your manipulations, lies, emotional & physical abuse, fear tactics, and verbal attacks nearly did them in, and it is beyond me how they held up underneath it all. Again, it is a testimony to their character, and to the raising they had before they were exposed to you. I fully understand that what you did was done out of your own pain and abusive past, but it is beyond me how you could be so self-centered and turned-in not to realize that inflicting abuse on others because you were abused is not an acceptable way of dealing with your own pain. In fact, I know you know it’s not ok. But you did it anyway, and that, quite frankly is inexcusable. So no, I will not let you off the hook here by allowing you to plead innocent because you’re an abuse victim yourself. You’re an adult and have been for a long time now, and it’s time for you to grow up and deal with your past, be accountable for your own actions and quit abusing those around you. Get help, Kathy. You need it badly, and god knows your children need it.

I close this with a warning that if you continue to stalk and harass any of my three children on the web, I will not hesitate to inform DHS, for two of my children are still minors. And I will also remind you that internet stalking is a crime, and I will not hesitate to prosecute you accordingly.

Go now, and get the help you need.

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The music we listened to...

As I've written here before, I grew up in a home that was filled with beautiful music. Although my parents were not professional musicians, they loved and valued good music and our home was constantly filled with it. I believe that the stereo was turned on more than the television, and the music we listened to ranged from religious choral music and light jazz to the classics.

One of the classical composers to whom I was exposed from an early age was the Russian pianist and composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff. My parents owned a set of piano concerti by the Neo-Romantic composer, and after I acquired my own stereo, I sneaked the collection up to my room and listened to it for hours upon end. I would plop myself into my lime green bean bag chair, and put the record on, plug in the headphones, lay back, and allow the music to take me away into my own dream world.

I have featured here, a section of the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini, featuring the 18th variation, which is probably one of the most voluptuous, passionate, lyrical, and romantic passages found in any piece of music. Played here by Russian pianist, Mikhail Pletnev, this is music, that if you've never had the opportunity to hear, you must. You won't be disappointed. Put on your headphones, close your eyes, and just listen...

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The Queen of Rock

Say the name, Freddie Mercury, and most people know immediately who you mean. Out of the closet, when being "out" wasn't cool, Freddie Mercury, and his band, "Queen" were the beginnings of the gay revolution in Rock & Roll. Unapologetically homosexual, Freddie Mercury refused to be held back by the dictates of an industry which said that it was okay to be gay, just don't talk about it. Instead, his music was a celebration of who he was and began the push towards the acceptance of homosexuals in the industry as well as society in general. Tragically, the world lost this great talent in 1991 to AIDS related pneumonia.

When I was a teenager, I heard Queen for the first time at a friend's house. My parents didn't allow "such music" in our home, so I had never really been exposed to them, but once I was exposed, I was hooked. Their Bohemian Rhapsody has always been my favorite, as it is really a mini rock opera and contains many classical elements of music.

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A message for my friends and family for 2008

To all my friends who sent me best wishes in 2007, or promises of good luck if I forwarded something: IT DIDN'T WORK! So instead, in 2008, please send money, chocolate, or gas vouchers.

Thank-you.

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The soundtrack of my life

Everyone has experienced hearing an old song on the radio and having the memories flood in of a time and place in their life when that particular song was the "background music" to their life, so throughout the month of January, I thought it would be fun to delve into the 70's which were my high school years, and bring back some of those songs that comprised the soundtrack of my life.

I have to begin with Barry Manilow. I admit it, I was, (and still am), a big Manilow fan. His music resonated with me as a teenager, and thirty years later, it stirs up many happy memories, and still resonates with me. Simply stated, it is solid, sound, well-composed music, and it is timeless. That was/is his genius. It was difficult for me to choose which one I would post--there were so many--I Write the Songs, Mandy, Copacabana, I Made it Through the Rain--but in the end, it had to come down to, Could it be magic, which is based on the Chopin Prelude in C minor.

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Thank-you for the music

Thirty years ago I was about to begin my last semester of high school. Then, music was my life. It meant everything to me and it was all I wanted to do. About that same time, the wildly popular European pop group, ABBA, came out with a song that I adopted as my own, and to this day it still expresses all that is in my heart concerning music.

I have been down an interesting and often difficult path in life over the last thirty years, but one thing in my life has remained constant--the music. Even in those years when I felt it had left me, it was still there, and now I know that it will always be there and it will always be the reason that I came here. I am the girl with golden hair, and I will always be thankful for the music.

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Happy New Year!

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In praise of laziness

Faulheit, endlich muß ich dir
Auch ein kleines Loblied bringen!
O!. . . Wie. . . sauer. . . wird es mir
Dich nach Würde zu besingen!
Doch ich will mein Bestes tun:
Nach der Arbeit ist gut ruhn.

Höchstes Gut, wer dich nur hat,
Dessen ungestörtes Leben. . .
Ach!. . . ich gähn!. . . ich. . . werde matt.
Nun, so magst du mir's vergeben,
Daß ich dich nicht singen kann:
Du verhinderst mich ja dran.



Laziness - I must finally write for you
also a little paean!
Oh! ...how ... annoying ... it will be for me
[to think of how] to celebrate your worth!
But I will do my best,
for after hard work, rest is good.

Highest good - whoever possesses you
will have an undisturbed life...
alas! I'm yawning... I'm ... growing dull.
Now you must forgive me
if I cannot sing about you:
you are hindering me yourself!

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It's Boxing Day, Guvnuh!

Boxing Day, also known as the Feast of St. Stephen (after the first Christian martyr), originated in England in the middle of the nineteenth century under Queen Victoria. It originated as a holiday for members of the merchant class to give boxes containing food and fruit, clothing, and/or money to trades people and servants. The gifts were an expression of gratitude similar to the bonuses many employers offer their employees today. These gifts, usually given in boxes, gave the holiday it's name, "Boxing Day".

Also related to the origin of Boxing Day is the tradition of opening the alms boxes placed in churches over the Christmas season. The contents of these boxes were distributed amongst the poor, by the clergy, the day after Christmas.

I'm spending Boxing Day in my pajamas! Here's hoping that you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a very happy and prosperous New Year!

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Santa's the dude!

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The John Rutter Gloria

Today I came upon these recordings of the John Rutter Gloria and was transported back to Christmas of 1980, which was the first semester of my junior year in college at Oklahoma Baptist University. I sang with the OBU Chorale, which in those days had the reputation of being one of the finest choral organizations in the region. Under the direction of James D. Woodward, (whom we affectionately referred to as "Dean"), the OBU Chorale was in its glory days in the early 1980's, and performed some exciting, challenging, and inspiring works under his skillful direction. And among the most exciting of these works was the Rutter Gloria, composed for SATB choir, brass choir, and pipe organ. I count the performance of this work as one of the highlights of my undergraduate experience, and one of the fondest memories I have of performing with the OBU Chorale, and with Jim Woodward.

The work is presented here in three parts. You can follow along with the score as you listen. Enjoy!

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The Scrooge of my youth

This 1970 musical adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, entitled simply, Scrooge!, starring the brilliant Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge, and the incomparable Sir Alec Guiness as Jacob Marley, is on my list of very favorites. (In fact, I'm not sure which is my very favorite, this one or the 1999 Patrick Stewart version.)

This adaptation is the Scrooge of my youth, as I was ten years old when it was released, and is the first version of the play that I ever saw. My brother and I grew up watching it on television, as it was played every year during the Christmas season during the 1970's. Both of us were into musicals, and this one had a distinct similarity to the 1968 musical adaptation of Dickens' Oliver Twist, entitled simply, Oliver!. Monte and I loved both films, and to this day, if I can catch this version of A Christmas Carol on television, I watch it.

I am posting two clips from this film because I want you to see not only the amazing performances of both Finney and Sir Alec Guiness, but one of the beautifully coreographed musical production numbers as well. I hope you enjoy them enough that if you've not had the joy of seeing this film, you'll go out and rent the DVD and watch it.

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Scrooge puts on an irreverent face

Leave it to the British to satirize their own, and to do it in a way that only the British can. One of my favorite British television comedy series is Blackadder, starring the internationally popular, Rowan Atkinson, (Mr. Bean & Johnny English), as the title character. The following clip is the Blackadder version of the beloved Dickens tale, and if you're interested, the whole episode is available on YouTube.

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Kermit meets Scrooge

In 1992, the folks at Jim Henson created a delightful version of this Dickens classic using Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and the entire gang of Muppet characters entitled, The Muppet Christmas Carol. Featuring the famed and respected London-born actor, Michael Caine, as Ebenezer Scrooge, this delightful adaptation features original music by Paul Williams and original score by Miles Goodman. Produced two years after Henson's untimely death, in May of 1990, it was directed by his son, Brian, and the voice of Kermit, (Bob Cratchit), originally performed by Henson, was done by Steve Whitmire.

This particular version happens to be a favorite of my three children, as it was released when they were all very small, and is viewed, at least once at our home, every Christmas.

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