Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JANUARY 30, 2023 – The other day I attended to some light “work-work” against the backdrop of a recording by Itzhak Perlman performing Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D. I hadn’t heard the piece in a while, and it evoked many memories; nothing specific, just remembrances of how great music has edified my …
DECEMBER 28, 2022 – (Cont.) I think of people as candles, each bearing a flame. Most people illuminate their immediate surroundings, then fade and disappear; some people light up the world before their flames flicker, then die. A few burn most powerfully after the wax and wick are long gone. Mozart is an example of …
DECEMBER 27, 2022 – Going back years, our neighbors and we been quite familiar with rabbit holes. In our case, the openings are at various locations around the base of our back porch. The rabbits are ubiquitous—down the holes and throughout the backyard and gardens. Inexplicably, the twitching-nosed, standing-eared, bug-eyed creatures stay clear of the …
DECEMBER 9, 2022 – By way of background, I don’t mean to cast aspersions on the nation’s high school orchestras. Readers “in the know” already know that that statement relates to “standards.” Readers not “in the know” will have to bear with me for a bit of explanation. Whereas “bands” comprise winds, brass, and percussion …
DECEMBER 8, 2022 – I’m not a religious person, but I like Christmas for all its traditions, religious and secular. My personal Christmas music traditions are: 1. Playing by ear on the piano, four or five traditional carols; and 2. While working on my laptop, listening to various YouTube versions of Handel’s Messiah. I know …
DECEMBER 2, 2022 – It was inevitable: becoming my parents. Though we boomers like to deny it, “becoming our parents” isn’t an isolated phenomenon. If you think otherwise, search YouTube for “Progressive commercials on becoming your parents.” Before you know it, you’ll watch and laugh so hard at half a dozen of the ads, you’ll …
NOVEMBER 20, 2022 – Last night I repeated a Red Cabin routine (when the weather’s clear): I went outside to check the stars. After stepping down from our side porch onto a fresh blanket of snow . . . I gasped. In eerie silence the silhouetted woods touched a celestial vault filled with stars of …
NOVEMBER 5, 2022 – Blogger’s note: Given the subject matter of this (lengthy) post, I found it difficult to split it into installments. I think you’ll understand why, assuming you read the post in its entirety. I hadn’t touched my fiddle in a week, and before that, not in a month; maybe that’s why …
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022 – You’re living a life you never imagined when you look forward to your appointment with the oncologist. Such an appointment was a highlight of my day. My meeting was the good doctor’s last of his day and lasted nearly 90 minutes. I hadn’t seen him since last July—before “boot camp” (my …
JULY 24, 2022 – I’ve noticed that many people can’t bear silence for very long. Whether they’re driving, walking through the park, or sweeping out the garage, they’ve got to have sound or music filling their inner ears. It’s as if music, a phone conversation, a favorite podcast, or some other aural stimulus is the …
MARCH 15, 2022 – In Belgrade I stayed at a youth hostel some distance from the center of town. If the hostel itself was a gray, weary building, the birds around it sang their hearts out. I’d never heard such a beautiful, sustained, high-volume aviary chorus. Among the other hostelers were (1) a recent (American) …
JANUARY 17, 2022 – As a photography hobbyist, I target scenes. As a cancer patient, I’m targeted by new perspectives. On Saturday evening, the film, A Hidden Life, 2019 masterpiece by American filmmaker Terrance Malick (Amazon Prime)—struck the bull’s eye. It probes as deeply as a Mahler symphony and explores the soul as far as …
JANUARY 6, 2022 – In his later years, my father, who loved music as much as any human being could, was fond of quoting Charles Munch, who said, “Music expresses the inexpressible.” Dad’s frequent description of music this way revealed much about his emotional depth, because he was actually supremely gifted at expressing himself in …
DECEMBER 29, 2021 – For three evenings of distraction this week, my wife and I watched The Beatles: Get Back. It’s a recently released film about the lead-up to the Beatles’ 1970 album, Let it Be and their last public performance—a 42-minute show on January 30, 1969 atop their Apple Corps headquarters in central London. …
DECEMBER 21, 2021 – I wish that I’d been more attentive, more “in tune,” as it were, with the humanitarian genius with whom I was breaking bread and sharing stories. I’m not much sure of the details, except that Yo-Yo Ma was in town performing with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and given my sister/brother-in-law’s …
DECEMBER 10 , 2021 – I’m no different from anyone else. Exposed to “nonsense” on my smartphone screen, I react with, “How can that be?!” To recover my equilibrium, I do the smart thing: I put the dumb phone aside and follow more constructive pursuits. For example, I’ll watch a Netfix documentary about Ella Fitzgerald. …
NOVEMBER 6, 2021 – I don’t want to divulge to anyone—me, in particular—even an approximation of how long I’d gone without practicing before yesterday evening. The long passage of silence shattered what the famous Polish pianist (and president), Ignace Paderewski (1860 – 1941) said about practicing: “If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. …
NOVEMBER 2, 2021 – One of the joys of having our six-year-old granddaughter visit is teaching her to pronounce, “Paganini.” This was in answer to her question, “What’s the music in the cat video?” The “cat video” is Fantasia dei Gatti (“Fantasia of the Cats”), a cartoon produced by Augustin Hadelich, the Italian-born/reared son of …
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 – Recently I had a singularly strange experience, one that try as I might, I’ll never be able to replicate. It occurred late one afternoon while I was alone in our living room, surrounded by familiar objects: rug, furniture, decorative items adorning the mantel above the fireplace, and various pictures and wall-hangings …
APRIL 24, 2021 – Yesterday brought another “first-in-a-year”: practicing violin with my pianist collaborator, Sally. Though she and her husband, Don, plus friends Liz and Perry, and my wife and I had visited via Zoom a time ago, I’d not seen Sally—or Don—in person in over a year, let alone inside their old, beautiful St. …
APRIL 22, 2021 – Amidst our rancor and failures, we need to remind ourselves that we’ve also wrought wondrous works. Yesterday evening I stumbled upon an example of such works: a bayan played by Ukrainian super-star, Aleksandr Hrushevich. As an expert at being ignorant, I’d never before heard of the “bayan” (not to be confused …
MARCH 20, 2021 – Friday marked the death of Byron Hanson, musician and teacher extraordinaire at Interlochen Arts Academy. I first heard about Mr. Hanson from my sister Elsa. As I prepared for my first year at Interlochen—immediately following Elsa’s last—she told much about his genius, dedication, and inspiration. A graduate of Edina High School …
FEBRUARY 2, 2021 – When I saw images of the goons invading the Capitol on January 6, I couldn’t imagine having anything in common with them. Ditto the man on whose account and upon whose instigation they’d staged their rage. (I don’t even golf.) My disdain for them is cut and dried. Hold them fully …
DECEMBER 21, 2020 – I’m currently studying a piece (Anton Dvořák’s Romance for Violin) with the marking molto espressivo (Italian for, “very expressive”) at the violin’s initial entrance. I’ve always been amused by such a marking, for it implies that only when you’re told explicitly should you be . . . expressive. But isn’t all …
DECEMBER 6, 2020 – Here in the Northwoods, nature’s beauty of longest duration is mostly visual. Extended periods of silence, however, can be just as edifying as the scenery. When I mention our surrounding quietude, my wife reminds me that these parts aren’t as quiet as they seem. She reminds me of the time on …