Thursday, April 29, 2010

A New Love

One thing I love about being an accompanist is I'm introduced to a lot of music I wouldn't otherwise hear or maybe pay much attention to. (When you play something over and over, it tends to start to stick.)


I would advise you listen to this about five times in a row, or at least a short period of time. :) My favorite words are in the second verse. I hear this as a parent singing to a child. Is that what you hear?

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A Little Poetry

I admit, I'm not normally a poetry kind of person. It's usually over my head and boring to me. I've had teachers get all excited about dissecting a poem and I'm just ready to move on. Doesn't speak to me very much generally. But here is one that I love. Maybe because it's so musical to me.

The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd,
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Thoughts anyone?

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Elder Holland

I love listening to Elder Holland bear his testimony. This is one of my favorite moments.


I think my favorite line is "They would not do that." What is yours?

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Distractions

I think I might have mentioned that I think this is a beautiful state.


And this might be my favorite time of day. I love silhouettes.


And lakes.


And sunbeams.


But when this...


...turns to this...


...turns to this...


...it gets awfully distracting.


I have to drive past these colors and pay attention to the road.


Aren't those colors luscious?

I didn't get any pictures of this, but there are whole corridors of this beautiful green color down most of the roads I drive to and from work. [sigh] I sure love spring time!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Just Stuff

I've really enjoyed the discussion from my last post. I hope if you haven't gone back to read the comments, you'll go back and read through them. Very interesting!

Second, a girl I accompany for sings this song:



It has a fantastic piano part and is one of my favorite songs to play. I've never heard it sung as a duet (although that's how it was written). Hope you enjoy.

Third, Morgan and I had a long discussion last night that started with the philosophical question "If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there, does it make a sound?" His answer was originally no and mine was originally yes. We decided it all came down to definition. Morgan's definition of sound was sound waves hitting your eardrum. My definition was sound is anything that could be heard. This got us into that old question I've brought up here before. Do we really see and hear the same things? And after much talking and disagreement, this is what I took away. (I'm not sure if Morgan is actually convinced.) :) Again, it all comes down to definition. To me, hearing is how our brain interprets the information of sound. Therefore, since people's brains are slightly different based on all kinds of things (composition from things like gender, hormones, experience, training) then they would process things differently. Not to mention different amounts of deafness. Wouldn't that then produce a different hearing?

Same thing with seeing. The same information is presented to all of us, but our brain interprets things differently. Take a blind person who has eyes. The same information hits their eyes. Or someone who only has one eye and therefore messed up depth perception. Or that study that says that cats raised in a round room will never be able to see straight lines. The way we see things depends on lots of things.

Could even be extended to feeling. Take a blind person again. How they feel is different from how I feel things.

Am I explaining this in any kind of a clear way? Probably not. Can you see my point? Do I need to explain more? (Morgan and I talked for quite a while.) What do you think?

Monday, April 5, 2010

Famous Books

I hope you were thinking in sonorous tones as you read the title. That's how it rang in my head.

Doing some research for a little idea of mine, I found a few Top 100 books lists. I would like to know if any of you truly like any of these books.

- The Great Gatsby (You'll have to work hard to convince me that it's worth much. I do concede, however, that Fitzgerald is a fantastic writer.)

- The Catcher in the Rye

- The Grapes of Wrath

- The Color Purple

- Ulysses

- Beloved

- The Sound and the Fury

- Lolita

- The Sun Also Rises


Etc... Okay, so do you truly like any of these books? Why are they considered such good books? I know people have different opinions about lots of things. For example, I really do enjoy most vegetables and I know a lot of people gag over them. But my personal opinion is that most people consider themselves smart for reading and "liking" these kind of books. I read a lovely essay by Shannon Hale. So what do you think?

P.S. This is not my opinion of ALL classics and popular books. I find many of them delightful. I honestly did enjoy "Les Miserables." The unabridged version. In addition to being a classic, it was a beautiful book.