Kids Making Music
Back in the day, I was an elementary general music teacher. It gives me great pleasure to see kids having fun making beautiful music.
I’ve been bummed out by our long pandemic season. It’s affected my blogging in that I just don’t feel excited about writing. But then I thought, What could be better or more life-affirming than kids making music? So I headed to YouTube. (Oh, yeah, like you haven’t been watching cat videos while stuck at home.)
A six year old at Carnegie Hall:
Three year old drummer:
Kids making music with found objects:
A six-year-old accompanies herself on ukulele:
Kids from all over the world cooperated to make this video. My students used to do this cup thing.
Seven year old guitarist:
You’ll recognize the three pieces in this medley played by nine- and ten-year-olds:
Hey, don’t you have an accordion stored under your bed? This would be a good time to pull it out and practice. . .
Review of Crazy Brave: A Memoir, by Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo is the current poet laureate of the United States, the first Native American to hold that position. I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about her.
Harjo is almost the same age as me, which made me like her immediately. However, our life experiences couldn’t be more different.
Harjo starts her memoir with the story of her parents and ends with her young adulthood. Her writing style is musical—even her prose is poetic. The poems included in the book reflect her native culture, which is woven throughout.
As a child, Joy was a good student, an artist who loved poetry, photography, and music.
Harjo’s parents divorced, and her mother married an older white man who physically and emotionally abused her and Joy and Joy’s sister and brothers.
Her stepfather wanted Joy gone, so he suggested sending her to a fundamentalist Christian school. Joy asked instead to be sent to an Indian boarding school, so she would have classmates who looked like her. The family applied through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and she was sent to the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. She studied art and theater in addition to her academic subjects. When she graduated from the high school program, she was pregnant. The baby’s father promised to send her money to join him, but he didn’t.
Joy borrowed bus money from her brother to travel to her baby daddy’s home. They married, but the marriage didn’t last.
With tribal assistance, Harjo entered the University of New Mexico in a premed program. After one semester, she changed her major to studio art. She met a student who wrote poetry. Joy had always loved poetry; she had loved to recite it as a child. She thought poetry had to be in English. This young man wrote poetry about his tribe and his pueblo and his people and their ideals. He changed the way Harjo thought about poetry. She fell in love with the student, and he beat her. She bore him a daughter and named her Rainy Dawn. He was an alcoholic, and she eventually left him. The book ends shortly thereafter, with Harjo pursuing poetry.
This is an excellent book for a white person to read, especially one whose experience with Native Americans is as non-existent as mine. It’s eye-opening.
Fra Angelico, the Angelic Friar
Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro circa 1395—died February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. His nickname in English-speaking countries, Fra Angelico, means the “Angelic friar,” referring to his devout and humble demeanor. He earned his reputation primarily for with the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence.
The earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from October 17, 1417, when he joined a religious confraternity at the Carmine Church, still under the name of Guido di Pietro. This record reveals that he was already a painter. The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, when he is first referred to as Fra Giovanni (Friar John), following the custom of taking a new name upon entering a religious order.
According to Vasari (a sixteenth century artist and art historian), Fra Angelico initially received training as an illuminator, possibly working with his older brother Benedetto, who was also a Dominican and an illuminator. The former Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, now a state museum, holds several illuminated manuscripts that are thought to be entirely or partly by his hand. According to Vasari, the first paintings of this artist were an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) of Florence; neither still exist.
From 1408 to 1418, Fra Angelico lived at the Dominican friary of Cortona, where he painted frescoes, now mostly destroyed, in the Dominican Church. Between 1418 and 1436 he was at the convent of Fiesole, where he also painted a number of frescoes and the Altarpiece for the church.
In 1436, Fra Angelico was one of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built friary of San Marco in Florence. This was an important move which put him in the center of artistic activity of the region and won him the patronage of Cosimo de’ Medici, one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the city’s governing authority and founder of the dynasty that would dominate Florentine politics for much of the Renaissance. Cosimo had a cell reserved for himself at the friary in order that he might retreat from the world. At Cosimo’s urging, Fra Angelico set about decorating the friary, including the magnificent fresco of the Chapter House, the often-reproduced Annunciation, the Coronation of the Madonna with Saints, and the many other devotional frescoes depicting aspects of the Life of Christ that adorn the walls of each cell.
In 1439 Fra Angelico completed one of his most famous works, the San Marco Altarpiece at Florence, which was unusual for its time. Images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints were common, but they usually depicted a setting that was clearly heaven-like, in which saints and angels hovered about as divine presences rather than people. But in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory.
In 1445 Pope Eugene IV summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter’s, later demolished by Pope Paul III. Fra Angelico was offered the Archbishopric of Florence, but he refused it, recommending another friar for the position. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in Orvieto, creating works for the Cathedral there.
From 1447 to 1449 Fra Angelico was back at the Vatican, designing the frescoes for the Niccoline Chapel for Pope Nicholas V. The scenes from the lives of the two martyrs, St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, may have been executed wholly or in part by assistants. The small chapel, with its brightly frescoed walls and gold leaf decorations gives the impression of a jewel box. From 1449 until 1452, Fra Angelico returned to his old convent of Fiesole, where he was the Prior.
In 1455, Fra Angelico died while staying at a Dominican convent in Rome, perhaps while working on Pope Nicholas’ chapel. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
When singing my praise, don’t liken my talents to those of Apelles.
Say, rather, that, in the name of Christ, I gave all I had to the poor.The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven.
I, Giovanni, am the flower of Tuscany.
~ Translation of epitaph
Information for this article came from Wikipedia.
Posted in Art, Uncategorized
Tagged Fra Angelico, Frescos, Painting, Religious art, Renaissance
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The 30-Day Song Challenge
Thanks to Donna of MyOBT for this idea. She once published a post by the same name which caught my fancy. I chose to do the 30 daily challenges all in one post.
- A song you like with a color in the title—Nights in White Satin. When I was a freshman in college, someone I dated introduced me to the Moody Blues.
- A song you like with a number in the title—50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon. This song was getting a lot of air time in 1972 when I met my husband, Greg.
- A song that reminds you of summertime—I grew up near the Jersey shore. Summer meant the beach, and the beach meant surfing. Wipeout:
- A song that reminds you of someone you’d rather forget—Yeah.
- A song that needs to be played loudly—Life in the Fast Lane, Joe Walsh/ Eagles.
- A song that makes you want to dance—Jump.
- A song to drive to—For five years I commuted to Phoenix. That’s when I discovered KBAQ, the local classical music station. My car radio is always set to it, because listening to beautiful music is my preventative and antidote to road rage. Die Moldau, by Bedrich Smetena.
- A song about drugs or alcohol—The first Amy Winehouse song I ever heard was Rehab, and I hated it. It wasn’t until after she died that I listened to some of her earlier work and realized what a talent she was. It breaks my heart that she was taken from us by drugs.
- A song that makes you happy—Oh, come on. It’s got to be Pharrell Williams’ Happy:
- A song that makes you sad—In 1978, I miscarried my first baby. Wildfire was popular at the time, and all I need to hear is the opening piano line, and I’m back in that time and mourning my baby all over again.
- A song you never get tired of—Free Falling by John Mayer.
- A song from your pre-teen years—In sixth grade a classmate asked me what radio station I listened to. I said, “I watch television.” Then I discovered the Beatles—I Saw Her Standing There.
- A song you like from the 70s—I absolutely loved disco, especially the Bee Gees. You Should Be Dancing:
- A song you’d love to be played at your wedding—I don’t even think I was aware of this song when Greg and I got married 47 years ago: Paul Stookey’s The Wedding Song.
- A song you like that’s a cover by another artist—Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal played by 2Cellos. I was obsessed with this when it came out. I watched the video over and over for months.
- A song that’s a classic favorite—Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel.
- A song you’d sing as a duet in karaoke—I’ve never sung karaoke, but if I were forced to sing a duet, I’d want to do Baby, It’s Cold Outside, and hope it would be as wonderful as this performance by Zooey Deschanel and Will Farrell:
- A song from the year you were born—This tune was #1 on the hit parade a month after I was born in 1952: Glow Worm.
- A song that makes you think about life—I don’t actually like this song, because to me faith is the most important ingredient of life; but it does make me think about what life could be like without any conflict. Imagine:
- A song that has many meanings to you—Annie’s Song is perhaps among the most beautiful love songs ever written, but John Denver divorced his first wife, and was physically abusive toward her. (His second marriage also ended in divorce.) Lovely words do not make you a decent person.
- A song you like with a person’s name in the title—Layla by Eric Clapton.
- A song that moves you forward—I dare you to stay still when Uptown Funk is playing:
- A song you think everyone should listen to—Here and Heaven. This is part of the “Goat Rodeo Sessions” (look it up; there’s a wonderful video of a small desk concert from NPR) of Chris Thile, Aoife O’Donovan, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan, and Yo-Yo Ma. I love the instrumentation and the harmonies.
- A song by a band you wish was still together—Blackbird by Paul McCartney, back in the Beatles days. How young he was.
- A song you like by a dead artist—I got to hear Rich Mullins in person twice at the church I was attending at the time. He and the Ragamuffin Band knew how to put on a show—three hours of non-stop music, with lots of instruments you rarely get to see, like hammer dulcimers and dixie cups. Musicians would leave the stage one or two at a time for breaks, but the music would continue. In September 1997, when I heard he had been killed in a traffic accident, my first thought was I would never hear him in concert again. One of my favorite songs of his is Boy Like Me/ Man Like You.
- A song that makes you want to fall in love—This is my favorite song from A Star Is Born. I saw this video early on, and it convinced me I had to see the movie. Look What I’ve Found reminds me how blessed I am to have a long marriage to the man I love.
- A song that breaks your heart—Broken Together. When I think of all the unhappy, lonely people who broke off a relationship rather than forgive each other and try again. . .
- A song by an artist whose voice you love—You Belong to Me by Michael McDonald/ Doobie Brothers. I also love this sung by Carly Simon.
- A song you remember from your childhood—When I was a girl, my mother always had the radio set on WOR—it was the soundtrack of my childhood. Whenever Hernando’s Hideaway (from The Pajama Game, which opened on Broadway in 1954) came on, she’d grab me and tango me around the living room.
- A song that reminds you of yourself—The relationships between parents and children are complicated. Teach Your Children Well makes me think of disagreements with my parents and rough times with my five kids. The bottom line is, we’re imperfect, and we love each other anyway.
Common Misconceptions About Creativity
Creativity is such an ethereal property that mere mortals can’t possess it.
I think almost everyone is creative, or has the potential to be. It takes a certain sense of bravery, of not caring what other people think, to come up with a new idea.
If you try something that doesn’t work, you’ve failed.
Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” He also said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
The lesson? Don’t give up. Perseverance is a necessary quality for a creative. So, get back to work.
You have to be in the mood to create. The muse must be present to inspire you.
Sorry. The muse is a myth. However, if you need one, by all means, conjure one up. (It’s called imagination, people.)
The problem with relying on a creative mood is that they’re generally rare. If that weren’t true, people wouldn’t be wasting so much time with meaningless diddling on their phones.
And the muse is a fickle twitch. She moves on way too quickly.
So you’re going to have to work when you’re uninspired, or you’d never work. You can manufacture your own inspiration by examining things others have created, particularly items not part of your own sphere of expertise. Stuck on your novel? Go read a biography. Watch a musical. Visit the folk art museum. Then sit down and do something, even if it’s a sketch of something that could never be built. Exercise those creative muscles, and a viable creation will eventually result.
There are no new ideas. Everything has already been done.
I own a book called 20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias. It’s similar to The 36 Dramatic Situations by Georges Polti. The premise is that there are only so many stories (some other counts are as low as 4 or as high as 1,462), and you can only write a variant of something that’s been written before.
That may be true to a certain extent. How often have you read something and thought, This is just like the XYZ book. When authors submit manuscripts to agents or publishers, they are asked what books currently on the market are like theirs.
So, yeah. It’s nearly impossible to come up with an idea that is completely original. You know that scene in The Hunger Games when Katniss lays flowers all around Rue’s corpse? I wrote a scene like that in The Unicornologist—in the late 90s, ten years before The Hunger Games book came out. My book isn’t published yet—how many people will think I copied that scene? Yep, all of them. So I’ve either got to rewrite that scene, or be criticized for being derivative.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of books and songs and sculptures and plays that are similar, but uniquely different. The creators torqued an original twist on a familiar theme and expanded it into something delightful. That is creativity. Hey, the advertising industry tries to make us believe that a laundry detergent is new and improved. That’s right—laundry soap.
Now it’s your turn.
What misconceptions have you heard about the nature of creativity? What convinced you they were false? Share in the comments below.
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7 Reasons Why It’s Important to have a Sense of Humor
Today is April Fool’s Day, which is only a joyous occasion if you have a sense of humor. I suppose it’s possible to get through life without a sense of humor, but why would you want to?
- Humor diffuses uncomfortable situations. The Bible tells us “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger (Proverbs 15:1 NIV) .” My husband, Greg, takes that principle one step further. I love the guy, but he has no filter—he just blurts out whatever’s on his mind. Whenever he sees me react with pain or fury to something he just said, he’ll turn it around by saying something bizarre, like “I mean, squirrels’ bread sinks.” (He might have originally said “Your breath stinks.”)
- Everyone likes to laugh. Funny people are fun to be around. At a party, people surround the funniest person in the room. Someone once told Greg, “I like to come to church so I can see what your t-shirt says.” I hope that’s not her only reason for coming to church, but that day his shirt read, “I plan on living forever. So far, so good.”
- Humor can help you make friends. This is a corollary of point #2. When people laugh, they connect.
- Humor can lead to marriage. This is a corollary of point #3. When I returned to my home town after a year and a half at an out-of-state university, my friend Patty invited me to join a single young adults club at a local church. She had a male friend she wanted me to meet, but I only had eyes for Greg. When we were dating, by the end of the evening my facial muscles ached from laughing so hard. Within a month we were talking about marriage. We celebrated our 47th anniversary this year. We’re still laughing together.
- Humor makes you memorable. When you’re at a meeting with a lot of strangers, the one you’ll remember is probably the one who made you laugh.
- Humor helps get you out of a funk. Sometimes it’s hard to find a silver lining when you’re enduring a depressing situation. You just have to hang on until it resolves. But you can escape for an hour by indulging in funny business.
- Humor heals. Laughter is the best medicine, because it stimulates the immune system and lowers cortisol levels. Check out what the How Stuff Works people say.
I wanted to end this article with a funny video. I watched lots of contenders, but every video had at least one joke that I found offensive. So, instead, I’m posting an adorable video. It might not make you laugh out loud, but I guarantee it will make you smile.
Be Kind to Old Ears
Today’s article is for all the people whose work involves talking on the telephone.
If any of your customers and clients are senior citizens, please speak slowly and distinctly. Especially if you are leaving a voicemail.
Obvious, isn’t it? Yet so many times I get phone calls that sound like this:
My old ears can’t process that.
I get lots of messages from doctors’ offices, my own and my husband’s. We’re on the medical merry-go-round—we have lots of doctors and specialists. When people leave their names and the names of the doctors they’re calling on behalf of and the call-back numbers, they talk so fast and so softly and so unclearly that I often have to listen to the message multiple times. Even my iPhone transcription can’t handle it. It gives me lots of blank spaces and gibberish. It’s frustrating.
When my husband gets a business call, he often hands the phone to me and says, “See if you can figure out what they’re talking about.” We often have to tell a caller, “I can’t hear you. Could you please talk into the mouthpiece?”
Apparently, people today have never been instructed in the art of talking on the telephone. I blame the proliferation of cell phones. Back in the olden days, there was one phone for the entire family. Children often carried on their conversations in the presence of their parents. This provided opportunities for coaching. “Say, ‘Hi! This is Johnny. May I talk to Peter, please?’ ” Phone etiquette doesn’t come naturally—it’s learned. But someone has to do the teaching.
And don’t get me started on recorded calls. Our home phone has an answering message that instructs telemarketers to hang up. That message causes a 30 second delay before the phone actually rings through. You have no idea how many recorded confirmation calls I get from doctors’ offices that last maybe 32 seconds, but all I get to hear is “Please show up 15 minutes before your scheduled time.” Click. I have no idea who the call is for or which office called.
Please, if you have a business, make communication a priority. Be sure your clients and customers can understand your employees. Older people have enough challenges. Doing business with you shouldn’t be one of them.
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Doing Life Together 