Off to Copenhagen!

I have been planning on taking a cruise for a very long time. And the time has come! On Wednesday, Aug. 5th, I will fly to Copenhagen to take the HAL Eurodam cruise up the Baltic Sea, stopping in Tallihn, Estonia, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Weir, Germany and Waremunde, Germany. It is a 12 day knitting cruise, and will include classes and yarn shop trips along the way!

Just a couple of random thoughts --

This is a quiz for all my former students who are at college and have lots of time on their hands and are getting quite adept at taking tests, I hope!

1. Drum Majors - don't play drums and usually not a Major - explain.

2. Drum cadence - has nothing to do with a musical cadence - explain.

3. Heterophony - come on, music majors!

4. Why can't 6/8 time be reduced to 3/4, but 4/4 can be reduced to 2/2?

5. Why is there always an eternal freshman?

6. Who is always right, and why isn't that sign at the Newington Stew's?

7. Why haven't you brought me coffee?

(Perhaps these tests would be more interesting if I had some outside participation!)

Musical question

Okay, for all you former student musicians that I have coached on the way to musical greatness - What is the meaning of cwrubatolife? Now don't go looking into your online musical dictionaries and no fair googling it either. Just pure knowledge, that is what we are looking for!

I am sure you have all seen this picture before - a stamp, or poster, etc. But the original statue is in Philadelphia. In fact, there are several there - this one is in Love Plaza on 15th Street, right by William Penn standing on top of Town Hall. Another one is on the campus of UPenn, where lovers pose for the mom!

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene hit our backyard around 8:15 am as a major tree in our backyard split in half, felling a huge branch all across our backyard. The tree fell across our "dancing" deck and split a little wooden table in half. I don't know if it is bad or good news that we can't get into the shed to retrieve the chain saw or the lawn mower!

my favorites!

Just a thought

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I've been thinking lately that maybe retirement is not for me, maybe it's not my bag, maybe I wasn't cut out for it, all that stuff. Then I realized, while I am sitting out on my deck, having a leisurely breakfast, cup of coffee, listening to an album composed by a former student (which is great, by the way - you should all go to his website and download his first album - zachheyde.bandcamp.com)that teachers meetings are this week. BANDCAMP is this week. And no offense, Rick, but this beats that anyway you shake it!

And then I realized that I wouldn't have been able to spend the day yesterday at Elizabeth Park, surveying the flowers, stitching with friends, and having a lovely lunch by the Rose Garden. I wouldn't be able to to to DC next week to visit my daughter. I wouldn't be able to go to my condo in Myrtle Beach in November to enjoy the lovely fall weather there. So I guess retirement is a pretty good place to be!

Party pictures

Purpose of this blog

When I first set out to write this blog, I had planned on it being funny stories about my teaching and being a high school band director. So let's see if I can dreg up a few ---

1. High school band trip - student gets caught with nipper bottles in his backpack during the xray inspection into the capitol building.

2. Same trip - another student gets caught "lowering" nipper bottles on a string outside his hotel room to the girl's room below his after curfew.

3. Another high school band trip - Arrival in Los Angeles to play several concerts only to find our entire battery of percussion equipment never made it out of NYC!

4. Entered gr. 9 general music classroom (back in the day when 9th graders took general music!) to find all the desks and chairs piled high in one corner with student "tarzan" pounding his chest on top.

5. Student losing his shoe in the mud on football field during half time show.

6. Student losing the bottom half of his clarinet on the football field during half time show (Do you think you could have bent over and picked it up???)

7. Yes, student forgetting his instrument on the band trip.

More to come ---

Back again!

I know I have been very bad about keeping up this blog. And I don't know if I'll get any better, but I have been thinking about posting over the last month, and unbeknownst to her, my daughter has inspired me to continue. So we'll see what happens.

Most of the spring and early summer was spent getting ready for our East Coast Celebration of Rachel and Zach's marriage. We had a wonderful time, it was a gorgeous day. My friend Lissa helped tremendously getting everything ready and helped serve, etc. It was especially great to have my family here - brother, sister, nieces, nephews, step-kids and wives, daughters and their mates. And I got a picture of my five kids! And their spouses/significant other. Very happy! I will work on figuring out how to post that picture, as of right now it is on my phone!

You were all right!

Yes, it is true, I am a bad blogger! I was told I would forget about the blogging, and it is true. I tried not to admit that I would forget, but alas, I was wrong. I don't really know what has kept me away, I am retired, after all! I do have some other stuff in my life now, but really, I am retired! So I am not going to say that I will be really attentive to the blog now, but I will TRY to at least make an entry now and again!

Entry today - 3/10/11 -

Really excited to go to Portland in April to see daughter and son-in-law's new house! Yes, they bought a house this past month, and I get to visit and paint! Oh, joy! I think it is going to be painting over the pink dining room - they get to choose the color, of course, but I know it won't be pink!

Also excited about a needlepoint workshop I will be attending in New Jersey in a couple of weeks - three days of immersion into this new project I am excited about. I will post a picture if I ever get it done!

For you music geeks, I am playing in the Capitol Winds, an adult group based at Hartt School of Music. Our concert is May 4th, and we are playing some really neat and difficult stuff - Festive Overture by Shostakovich at a really ridiculously fast tempo, the Haydn Trumpet Concerto played on the baritone horn, by a really ridiculously talented player, and Illyrian Dances by Guy Woolfenden, just a really ridiculously great piece! We are also playing other stuff, including a new piece by John Mackey entitled Hymn to a Blue Hour - you should check it out - it is beautiful.

And lastly, if I did this correctly, there should be a picture of the beach from our condo in Myrtle Beach. I took this in January when I had some R&R for a week there.

Fall is here!

And then there was the time that I had Saturday high school football games to attend. Sorry, guys, but not really missing that yet! I am playing in an adult band at Hartt School of Music - challenging music, lots of great players/fellow music teacher friends. Lots of fun sitting on the other side of the conducting baton! A little odd, but can definitely get used to it! You'll be glad to know that I am trying very hard to be a good band member - no talking to my stand partner, no doing homework, no texting (well, maybe during break), and definitely marking and working on my part while other sections rehearse. Lots of fun!

Some things I like about fall -

-clean air
-picking veggies from the garden
-eating veggies from the garden
-not getting up early on Saturdays to drive to football games!
-walking
-putting on and taking off the sweater, cuz the weather is changing
-the changing weather
-the leaves changing - (the best!)
-visiting the scarecrow contest
-apple and pumpkin pies

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

Retired, revamping, reorganizing

Yeah, it is all I can do but take a bulldozer to most of the rooms in my house. Every day as I wander through, I keep saying, "How did this happen?" There is so much junk to get rid of, so much stuff to reorganize, so many trips to goodwill, the town farm, and the curb to make. Anyone out there interested in about 3,000 cds and video cassettes, books, clothes, computer equipment, just stuff! I am trying to reorganize, one room at a time. So far, the family room and closet look great - new furniture, and actually room for coats in the closet. I came across my high school yearbook and that stalled the organizing - I had to look at my skinny self in the band, at the prom (who did I go with???) and being a cheerleader with the flip hairdo! It was cute, then!

I have found some great stuff in the junk drawers too - 47 AA batteries, 65 votive candles, clarinet reeds, my old mouthpiece and ligature, and enough loose change to pay the mortgage next month (I wish!) But seriously, I recommend cleaning out those junk drawers once in a while. You are bound to find at least a couple of things that you didn't know you had that you had just gone out and bought two more of - before you cleaned the drawer!

I am, in general, being very annoying to those people who either live here (which is Scott) or who happen to come by - "can you help move this, would you like this, how can I get rid of this, etc." Also, I have given Scott fair warning - anything that is not nailed down - watch out! He is scared.

Hello???

How come the only comments I get about this blog are from my friend, Bev? I thought you all wanted to hear the meanderings of a retired band director/crazy person? I bet you all thought that I would write a couple of things and then let it drop. Well, that may very well happen, but not yet. Although I will be going silent probably from Germany in a couple of weeks. Although, you never know, it may be boring in Berlin and Prague and I won't have anything else to do. In any case, I am not feeling enough love about this blog! Forgotten so soon, huh?

More bandtrip goodness

One more band trip story- one of the best places to take your high school band is Washington, DC. It has everything, really. Plenty of history, interest, flowers,beautiful buildings, walking, pools, amusement park (okay, so you have to drive a little), etc. It is wonderful to have students visit our nation's capitol. I always learn something there. And there are hard lessons too - like the time one of my student's backpacks was scanned going into a tour of the capitol, and he was caught with liquor in it! Now, tell me, wasn't he just a little stupid to have that in the backpack? Shouldn't it have been hidden back in the hotel room? The guard alerted me and what could I do but call his parents? I mean, really? At that point it couldn't be ignored, right? And then we had to search his room when we got back to the hotel, right? And he had to be upset the whole rest of the day, because, of course this was the first stop of the day. And of course, he tried to tell me that someone must have planted it in his backpack! I mean, really, he must have thought I was a novice at the whole band trip thing. Tough lesson, indeed. Any of you bandees reading this - don't do this!

Band trip goodness

And then there was the time that I was 7 months pregnant with my first daughter (yeah, I know, a long time ago!), and I was conducting a sit down concert with my Ridgefield High School Band at Sea World in Florida. We were all hot (but not as hot as the band at the Lincoln Memorial in my last post, we were at least in lighter clothing!), but enjoying playing in front of this lovely fountain right on the main drag into the dolphin exhibit - prime real estate! I don't really remember how well the band played, but it must have been really good cuz I do remember the thunderous applause at the end - or was that because my entire trumpet section, took a little leap backwards afterwards into the fountain pool to cool off? That was also the concert where, when I got back to Ridgefield, CT, I received a note addressed to the "Female Band Director". Inside was a picture of me, very pregnant in my blue sun dress, conducting the band at Sea World, with a note that said, "I think a little one might enjoy this someday." The picture still resides on my refrigerator and has survived many moves!

A short reminder about band trips

First of all, let me say up front - I really like band trips. I liked them when I was in school, college, and when I was a teacher. Admittedly, they were much more work when I was a teacher, but the benefits always seemed to outweigh the work in the end. Not to brag, but I always planned a really great band trip!

The reason for this post actually is I was reminded of decisions you have to make when planning a band trip. I was in Washington, DC over the 4th of July and witnessed a really bad band trip decision. I was sweating (I mean, really sweating - remember the heat that weekend?) on a walking tour of the monuments. When we wound our way around to the Lincoln Memorial, I heard the distant familiar sounds of a Disney medley. I have to admit, my first thought was not how good the band was playing. My first thought was - what kind of band director really schedules a sit down concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial on a blisteringly hot day - over 100 degrees -in July in the direct sunlight? I honestly thought I was going to faint a couple of times, I can only imagine how those trumpet players must have felt!

Next posts - band trip happenings - if any of you out there reading this want to contribute a band trip story - let me know!