Vacation over!

Yes, it is true, vacation is over - Prague visited, Berlin visited, Maine visited, step son married (great time!). Pictures will be forthcoming. I guess I will work this week on getting a rhythm - a perhaps a new song! I'll keep you posted on things as they happen, but let's just say for now that (sorry to all my former students--)I really did not miss band camp!

Busy times ---

This is usually the time my stomach starts to tell me to get stressed - busy times ahead. Well, this year it is a little different 'busy'. I used to prepare for band camp (remember 'one day, at band camp?) - sending schedules and notes to students, preparing music, cleaning up the band room, figuring out the fall football schedule, getting the instruments in order, etc. Now I am happy to say that I haven't thought about any of that until just now (that's the big part of the job I won't miss). Instead my 'busy' will be preparing for trip to Germany (during band camp, yay!), my stepson's wedding, cleaning house for other stepson's visit, and making plans for daughter's wedding! The internet is my friend!

To those of you thinking about band camp - good luck and have fun! It may be your last! I never really thought about it being my last, but I can now say, that I won't miss it. I always felt cheated that I had to spend part of my summer preparing for it, and go back to school early to set things up. But there are so many things about the actual teaching that I enjoyed, that I always felt it was a balance. Once the students were on the scene, it was all good!

So while many of you are home hunting down the band shoes, t-shirt and valve oil, warming up the old chops, preparing the instrument (who am I kidding!), I will go on the internet and investigate a trip on the autobahn. Sehr gut!

Music and Baseball

Follow me through to the end of this one, fans, especially if you are Red Sox fans - there WILL be a quiz!

All of you know that I am a big Red Sox fan (remember the day we watched the replay of Red Sox beating the Yankees on the overhead screen in the band room during theory class? (oops, don't get me fired!) I come from a huge baseball family - immediate family, in-laws, outlaws, etc. My two brothers both pitched, coached, one was an athletic director/coach, minor league player. I excelled in softball (well, I played).

My brothers used to (and still do) give me grief about my chosen profession ("it doesn't take much to be a music teacher, just put the recording on at the beginning of class, and that's it") My argument always was that music is involved in almost every aspect of your life - even the passing chime at school was pitched to E, right, Zach? And that without music, life would be very boring, etc. I still got grief. This post is my attempt to prove my point within the area that my family can identify with - baseball and music.

There is of course, the playing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during a baseball game - which I could never understand because aren't you already at the game when you hear this??? And then there's the National Anthem, of course, which I won't get into the many terrible renditions I have heard at ball games. Most people don't really notice, but it is a very difficult song to sing and that is why it is sung so poorly many times, and why the melody is changed around by many people - primarily because they can't hit the notes as written!

There are many other music/baseball relationships, but the one I like the most is the singing of "Sweet Caroline" in the middle of the 8th inning at Fenway Park. I'll admit that a big part of it is because the whole crowd is singing to me. But I also like the idea of the whole crowd connecting through music at one of my favorite past times. And especially the part where the music director turns off the music and lets the crowd sing alone (that's called acapella, for you non-musician types). And for you DHS band geeks, this is what I had in mind when I pushed for resting the instruments and having part of "Buttercup" be sung by the band during the football games.

I rest my case - for now!
Good times never seemed so good!


Legend has it that former Red Sox public address announcer Ed Brickley requested the song to be played as a tribute to the appropriately named newborn daughter of Billy Fitzpatrick, who worked in the Fenway Park control room for 20 years.

In reality, the song got its start at Fenway Park thanks to Amy Tobey, who was the ballpark’s music director from 1998 to 2004. She was responsible for choosing the music to be played between innings and picked Sweet Caroline simply because she had heard it played at other sporting events.

At first, Tobey played the song at random games sometime between the seventh and ninth innings, and only if the Red Sox were ahead. Tobey considered the song a good luck charm and it soon became something the fans anticipated.

But it wasn’t until 2002, when John Henry’s group bought the Red Sox, that Sweet Caroline become an official Fenway tradition. That’s when the new ownership requested that Tobey play the song during the eighth inning of every game.

Today Megan Kaiser is the person who chooses the between innings songs at Fenway Park, with the 8th inning exception.

Kaiser did add a slightly new touch to the playback of Diamond’s tune, as she turns off the sound during the most popular parts of the song. Red Sox fans know the words by heart now so they don’t need much help with the lyrics, and the song has become an important part of the ballpark atmosphere.
- Song Lyrics -
Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond

Where it began
I can't begin to knowin'
But then I know it's growin' strong

Was in the spring
And spring became the summer
Who'd have believed you'd come along

Hands, touchin' hands
Reachin' out
Touchin' me
Touchin' you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would

But now I look at the night
And it don't seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two
And when I hurt
Hurtin' runs off my shoulders
How can I hurt when I'm with you

Warm, touchin' warm
Reachin' out
Touchin' me
Touchin' you

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would
Oh, no, no

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
I believed they never could
Sweet Caroline