Incoming…we’re just a few weeks away from the start of the fall semester, bring on the Windward Choral Society’s seventh annual holiday concert. Yeah, seventh. Wow. If you’re new to our merry band, welcome! You’ll like it here. We’re all friendly, welcoming, filled with the joy of music and juuuuust a little bit nuts. Don’t […]
Pretty much every one of the Windward Choral Society’s concerts has included at least one piece accompanied by the ukulele. Hey, it’s Hawaii. Isn’t there an ongoing argument in the legislature about proclaiming it as the official state instrument (wait…an argument…in politics…say it ain’t so)? These days many (most) know that it was actually brought […]
One of Singapore’s major attractions is the Night Safari, a “nocturnal zoo”. Unlike other zoos I’ve been to, this one doesn’t open until it’s good and dark and the different habitats are then lit to make them visible. News flash: it’s hot in the jungle during the day, meaning lots of animals are really active […]
“And then…all the noise! All the noise, noise, noise, noise! If there’s one thing I hate…all the noise, noise, noise, noise!” – The Grinch Okay, so this is going to go to some strange places, but stay with me. Have no fear; I’d never lead you astray…well…not terribly far anyway. I’ve written before about the way […]
We’ve all seen the old period piece movies where the burly, sweaty, hairy-chested blacksmith (why are they always so dang shaggy?) is cranking up the coals in the forge by heaving up and down on a huge bellows. Sparks fly and coals glow and metal gets all malleable and he manages to pound it into […]
Maybe you’ve seen the Kaiser Permanente truck roll by with the “Music Is Therapy” poster on the side. Personally, I think that’s pretty cool. I’ve heard the term “music therapy” used to describe…uh…what exactly? Thus began a journey to figure it out. (Thank goodness for the internet, do you remember when we did all our […]
How many times have you heard it during a Windward Choral Society “wacky warm-up” session…after Susie has us do something truly bizarre and/or silly, she smiles and insists there’s a “pedagogical” reason. Given that five-syllable words make my head hurt, I’ve let it slide. But not now. Time to find out what in the name […]
I have a particular fascination with books written around the turn of the 20th century. They’ve climbed out of the soup of “thee” and “thou” and “thine” into a more conversational style but still have an innocence that’s really refreshing. Yeah, the Clive Cusslers and Stephen Kings of the world are fantastic at their craft, […]
In 2009, Chorus America did an “impact study” with the lofty goal of showing the benefits of choral music in the community. You can read the entire thing at https://www.chorusamerica.org/system/files/resources/ImpactStudy09_Report.pdf, but be forewarned…it’s 28 pages of really small type and really large words and bucketloads of charts and graphs and such. Don’t worry, I’m your […]
Nothing to do with singing but perfect for a Friday. Enjoy. The really cool stuff starts right around the 1 minute mark. https://youtu.be/0HzFVGf9Dfg