Holst's Planets Suite Beneath the Stars

I believe I'm mentioned before that one of our favorite summer traditions is the Summerfest concert series.  Summerfest is an annual concert series by the North Carolina Symphony held at Koko Booth Amphitheater, which is a mostly outdoors/uncovered performance space.  We go with another family that we've been friends with since our boys were in a playgroup together over 10 years ago.  We bring lawn chairs and a picnic (including wine, which is allowed for this series), and usually hang out for a couple of hours before the concert starts at 7:30.  It is a perfect place for children to begin their classical music education, because it is affordable (kids under 12 are free!) and they can eat and run around and such in addition to listening to the music.  Plus, the concert themes are often geared to family interests--for example, a couple of years ago they did a whole concert on pirates music!

This past Saturday, the keystone of the concert was The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst.  However, in addition to hearing the entire suite played live by the Symphony (with some unusual additions, like the celestra, the instrument most famous for the opening tones of the Harry Potter theme song, but which means "heavenly" in French and thus is perfect for this music), they were projecting high-resolution images from NASA of the planets in the music.  And, of course, we were under the open heavens ourselves, on a beautiful warm North Carolina night (that part of the concert didn't start until 9:00 PM).

I have to say, it was one of the most powerful concerts I have ever attended.  The transporting music, the compelling images, and the wonderful atmosphere all came together to make it really a magical experience.

So while I can't reproduce the sensations for you, below I have included some videos of the London Symphony, who apparently recorded the Planets Suite using the same images we saw.  Even without being in the night sky, they are still pretty powerful.  Enjoy!

To All You Heroes Out There

Today is Mother's Day, our annual observation for all those people who are mothers or who act in a mothering capacity for the young people in our lives (including, I'm assuming, most of the people who read this blog).  Being a mother is a joy and a privilege, a challenge and a constant calling up of all of our wisdom and patience and all of other other best qualities.  For most of us, it is the toughest job we will ever do--but there is nothing more important, and ultimately, more satisfying (at least, on the good days) in our lives.

It is the job of love.  It is the work of heroes.

So for all you heroes out there, I share this song by Jamie O'Neal to remind you how important you truly are:



I honor your contributions, and hope you have a wonderful day!

Art Exhibit and Poetry Reading: ForWord

The art studio where my son takes art classes, Egg in Nest Studio, always celebrates National Poetry Month with an art exhibition and live poetry reading/performance event that celebrates the intersection between words and arts.  The students write poems, create art pieces based on those poems, exhibit their art in the Halle Cultural Arts Center in downtown Apex, then read their poems to an audience, appearing onstage with professionals in various art forms who also discuss and display their talents.  It is always a creative and inspiring event, and brings greater depth and understanding to the students' art studies.

This year, my son had two pieces in the show.

I really liked both of the them, especially because they were a departure from his typical techniques and demonstrated some of the ways that his wonderful teacher, Miss Jenny, is encouraging him to grow and stretch as an artist.  On the other hand, they also contain elements of his inimitable style.

This was his first piece, which was based on the poem he wrote that was entitled, "The Saga of the Sproing-Boing," where he was experimenting with the sounds of invented vocabulary:

The second one had a two word poem written into the picture.  The poem is "Extinction Distinction"... or maybe "Distinction Extinction"--he never would tell me.

Of course, my photos don't do the artwork justice.  If you are in the vecinity of downtown Apex before the exhibit closes on May 5, go check them out in person at the Halle Cultural Arts Center (at the intersection of 10-10/Center Street and Salem Street).

Here is the artist showing the pictures to his father:

This past Sunday was the live event called ForWord.  There, each participating got to read his or her poem with comments and encouragement from Miss Jenny:

But the student readings were interspersed with live performances and commentary on the connection between words and other art forms by a local music group, Jack the Radio:

a local grafitti artist, Blake Burnette:

poet and NC State writing professor, Chris Tonell:

and dancer Marie Garlock:

All in all, it's quite a big event, which Miss Jenny and her hard-working assistant, Miss Amanda, put on AT NO CHARGE for the benefit of the students--just one of the perks of taking class at  Egg in Nest Studio:

Of course, the greatest perk of taking classes there is that each week the kids get to work with Miss Jenny, who is not only a wonderful and creative artist in her own right, but an intuitive and inspiring teacher who loves all her students--just like they love her (although some demonstrate it more than others):

What more could you want from the person teaching your children?

Black History Month Curriculum Resource: Jazz with Nneena Freelon

As I stated in an earlier post, we are studying the Harlem Renaissance right now, which happens to coincide with Black History Month.  As part of our studies, this past weekend we went to hear Nneenna Freelon, a world-renowned comtemporary jazz singer.

It was a great experience, because while I think all music sounds better performed live, it may be particularly important for jazz performances.  We can talk about jazz and study jazz and even watch videos and listen to CDs about jazz, but that is still not the same as watching someone perform jazz.

And Ms. Freelon is, indeed, wonderful, as might be expected from someone who has been nominated for a Grammy award six separate times.

You can hear some samples of her songs on her website at:  http://nnenna.com/music/.

However, one of the issues of teaching our children about jazz is the fact that the songs are unfamiliar to them, and they all just sound like "old music."  But at the conference, I found a great way to deal with that issue.

Nneena Freelon has an album entitled "Tales of Wonder," which is based on Stevie Wonder songs.   It includes jazz takes on such familiar Stevie Wonder songs as "Superstition" and "My Cheri Amour."  While these aren't timely hits, students are much more likely to have heard them than traditional jazz classics (we've been working on his mastery of Classic Rock artists while driving in the car).  But because he does know the original versions of these songs, it gives him a better feeling for jazz interpreations of songs.

So I recommend her songs in general for a modern singer with classic jazz roots.  But I have really found Tales of Wonder to be useful in helping my middle schooler understand jazz.

Black History Month Curriculum Resource: The Harlem Renaissance

Black History Month is coming up, and it happens to coincide with the time we are studying the history of the 1920's and 1930's.  So what better topic to combine the two than the Harlem Renaissance?

We have already been working on it some, but I recently found what I think is a fantastic resource.  John Carroll University has created the Harlem Renaissance Multimedia Resource, which pulls so much information about this fascinating period of modern American history into a central site.

What I love about this website--beside the fact that it is FREE--is that it includes not only the aspects of the Harlem Renaissance that most of us tend to think about, such as the music and the literature, but also the politics, the philosophy, the education, and even the international connections.  There is a whole section on religion as well; in fact, throughout the entire site I saw the predecessors of Martin Luther King Jr's thoughts, philosophies, actions, and words.  It not only has multimedia resources--pictures, audio, and a little video (all that I found was Billie Holiday)--but also lots of links to other websites with even more comprehensive information on that particular topic.

Particularly helpful to me were the timelines included and the map of Harlem itself.  It has a general timeline of the political and artistic events during that period, which helps me put things in order.  Even more interesting to us right now, however, was the timeline of the music.  My son has been getting more interested in jazz, about which I am not that knowledgable (confessional--even though two of my brothers were performers, students, and aficionados of that musical genre, and my father is at least a long-time fan).  The timeline helped me understand how ragtime gradually morphed into swing, with dates, different jazz styles, artist bios, and short audios of outstanding pieces along the way.

So if you are looking for resources about black musicians, writers, thinkers, educators, or politicians, this  website is a great place to look.

Free Music From Moby for Non-profit Film Makers

Personally, I believe that by the time students are in middle school, they should be making some of their presentations in a multi-media format, in addition to developing skills in writing the traditional essays and term papers.  However, in my classes, I insist that they use music that is public domain or Creative Commons license (that is, available for non-profit use without payment), although they usually originally envision their projects with one of their favorite current hits as the background track.

But if your students are Moby fans, they may be able to do both.

Moby has just begun to offer some of his music at no charge to non-commercial video projects.  Just create an account at MobyGratis.com to check it out.

Curriculum Resource: Cary Diwali Festival

For those of us who live in communities large enough to host such things, a great supplement to the formal curriculum is ethnic festivals or celebrations that are open to the public.  In many cases, being in a large gathering and celebration of different subpopulations of people unlike our own is the next best thing to foreign travel.

We took advantage of such a learning experience this weekend when we went to the Cary Diwali Festival. Diwali, the festival of lights in Hinduism, is probably the largest religious celebration in India.  For many years now, the Town of Cary and an Indian civic organization, Hum Sub, have organized a free public festival around the time of Diwali, the exact dates of which change from year to year (it is based on a lunar calendar), but always takes place in the fall.  The Research Triangle area has a large population of people whose ancestry came from India, and this festival has grown to be the largest gathering of Indians in the Southeast (or, at least, that's what the announcer on stage said).

It takes place in the Koka Booth Amphitheater (the same site as our summer Symphony trips, which I have discussed before).  The outskirts of the Amphitheater are lined with booths, some offering generic services such as health care, banking, or cell phone service, but others offering tempting morsels of food or gorgeous displays of colorful saris and other Indian clothing and their highly bling-y gold jewelry.   There are also some educational booths, and some raising money for Indian-based charities, many based around improving schools in poor areas of that highly-crowded nation.

All day long, however, the stage is filled with performers in flashing Indian garb who are dancing, singing, and playing instruments.  Most are a myriad of local dance groups of all ages and both sexes (although I only saw one gender perform at a time; however, perhaps there are some mixed gender groups that appeared after we left).  By the evening, however, they bring in a professional singer or dance group that seems to be well known among the native population, although I have never heard of them (nor do we ever stay that late to see them).

While we don't go every year, I wanted to make sure we did drop by this year since we are studying Hinduism right now in World Religions.  And I think it did give my son a better visceral understanding of the vibrant and diverse culture of that fascinating country, India, as well as how Indians in this country are adapting and merging their cultures.  For example, many of the performances seemed like they were introducing more Western musical influences, such as hip hop, into their traditional Indian music and dance.  My favorite trans-cultural show, however, was Bollywood meets Saturday Night Fever, in which a number of pint-sized Travoltas sang in Hindi (or some language I didn't understand), until it came to the chorus, in which the word "Disco" was exclaimed multiple times, all the while with the young boys doing the classic "finger touches hip, then swings and points above the opposite shoulder" that was the rage during Disco-mania in the US.

The following are a few photos to capture the color and action of this annual festival.  If you live in the area and have never been, you should definitely check it out some year.

Curriculum Resource: Studying Marine Invertebrates Through Song

We are studying Oceanography this year through our Oceans Coop.  However, we aren't just looking at the math and science of the subject; we are approaching it sociologically, artistically, historically, and through literature (and maybe some other ways if we can think of them).

Here is one unusual way that I just found.

There is an scientist named Kevin Zelnio who works with Duke University and the Discovery Channel on ocean issues.  He is the editor of Deep Sea News (among other blogs), and is particularly focused on marine invertebrates.   But Kevin has another side; his is also a folk song writer and performer.  He has written a bunch of song about the sea, with a particular focus on marine invertebrates.  Plus, he shares them with the world, free of charge.

Check them out below.  I think they are a fun way to bring another dimension to your studies about marine biology and ecology!

The Songs of 9/11

I'm sorry if I seem too stuck on this theme, which is not directly related to education.  But as I said in my first blog post on this topic,  I'm not sure that any content we can teach our children can compare with the context we teach them about how to deal with this issue and other tragedies that will occur in their lives.  Plus, I consider Washington DC to be my home town, and I know how it feels to live in one of our enemies' Number One targets.

I'm someone who has always been highly effected by music, and we've spent a lot of the summer on music education, so it seems like one way to sum up the responses to 9/11 (and the 10th anniversary thereof) is the music we associate with it.  So here is my take on things.

One of the great things about music is that there is such a variety of musical responses to 9/11 that there is something for everyone.  So let's start with the biggies:  rock and country.  I think those are probably the most popular genres among the entire American population.

Rock
There have been many rock songs about 9/11, but probably the most popular and influential has been Bruce Springstein and his The Rising album.  And that makes sense.  Not only is Springstein a wonderful musician and songwriter, but he came from the area (New Jersey) middle class (his father was a bus driver) population that developed so many of the police and fire fighter heroes of the 9/11 attack.   At our spiritual center, they played Springstein's The Rising as the song after our meditation on healing and peace, and it's hard to think of a better song for that purpose:





Country
There are numerous country songs on this theme, but I think the most famous is Alan Jackson's Where Were You When The World Stop Turning?   Once again, it is hard to beat that one.  What I really like about that song is that is poses some of our choices:

Did you open your eyes, hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep?
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Or speak to some stranger on the street?
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Or go out and buy you a gun?
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns?
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers
Did you stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love?

But it always returns to the gifts of spirit, which he says are "faith, hope, and love," and reminds us the greatest of these is love:





Folk Rock
Of the folk rock contenders, my favorite is Melissa Etheridge's Tuesday Morning.  This song is a tribute to a different hero than Springstein's first responders, who died while doing the job they had chosen.  Instead, this song deals with the passengers on Flight 93, the ones who overthrew the terrorists in the belief that it was better to die in a field in Pennsylvania that to be the vehicle of death for others in some unknown destination, but probably a major Washington DC landmark.  Actually, it is dedicated to one in particular--Mark Bingham, a gay man who apparently was one of the leaders of the resistance to the terrorists in the plane.  Etheridge highlights the fact that he died to saved others, even though his native land was denying him some basic privileges.  As she says,

And the things you might take for granted
Your inalienable rights
Some might choose to deny him
Even though he gave his life

It pains me to admit that the day after 9/11/11, the North Carolina legislature voted to put on our ballot a constitutional amendment to deny gay couples the right to marry.   At a time when we should be pulling together, some legislators are insisting that we enact provisions that drive us apart.  So I hope the people of North Carolina will embrace the unifying spirit of 9/11 and reject this legislative mandate.

If you need a reminder why, listen to Etheridge's song:




Classic Rock

Finally, I have to mention a song not typically mentioned in terms of 9/11, at least until recently.  Paul Simon sang at the 10th anniversary commemoration/Ground Zero dedication, and apparently was supposed to sing the more positive-looking Bridge Over Troubled Waters.  But instead, he chose to sing The Sound of Silence, which I have always thought is one of his most beautiful and poetic songs.

Until I wrote this post, however, I never knew that he wrote the song in response to the John K. Kennedy assassination.  But when I learned that, it seemed even more appropriate.  I think the JKF assassination threw an entire generation into shock and upset and re-alignment and questioning, just as the 9/11 killings did for the generation about 40 years later.  And once again, it seems to me that the song is about not just the event, but our choice to use it to either connect, or to avoid each other with the sound of silence.  My favorite lyrics, delivered by the author who has grown gravelly and grey since the time he first shared them with us, are:

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"

But why not listen for yourself?




To me, all of these songs say that certain events happened, and they weren't very happy events.  They weren't events than most of us could control.  But our interpretations and reactions to those event--that is our responsibility.   We can choose to use these events to move us towards love and connection, or towards hate and separation.  It is our choice.

But, as always, I hope we choose love.  If we can't choose that for ourselves, then let's choose that for our children.  We can leave them a much better world that way.

Cary Arts Center Is Dedicated!

What a great day today was!  It was the official opening ceremonies for the new Cary Arts Center, about which I've raved in previous posts.  There were art activities going on all day, from 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM, including free concerts, dance performance, theater improv, historical lectures, art exhibits, craft projects for kids, lesson demonstrations, artists working on  and talking about their pieces under development.  The dedication ceremonies themselves were at 2:00 PM, attended not only by hundreds of Cary residents, but by many Cary politicians old (such as long-time former Mayor Koka Booth) and new (present Mayor Harold Weinberg and most of the current Cary Council).

We walked up there about 1:00, despite a fairly heavy rain--but we weren't about to let that deter us!

Once we got there (admittedly, a little soggy), I caught up with my good friend Eileen, who was there with her two boys who are my son's age, and we watched some lovely performances by the Cary Ballet:

Then a dashing Town Cryer called us all to attendance to the dedication ceremony:

Many politicians and Town of Cary staff thanked the many people who had worked on the entire project, which began about 10 years ago, although the groundbreaking was about a year and a half ago:

Many people were acknowledged, and many expressed their delight about how well this vision for an integrated facility for the arts has been manifested.  It made me really proud to live in a community that recognizes the importance of supporting the arts, especially for children, in a time of financial hard times and an educational focus on standardized testing.  And it is wonderful that a site that had been a school for almost 150 years, and one of the first public education buildings in the area, has been saved to continue its mission of educating and uplifting the citizens for a long time into the future.

My favorite part of the ceremony, however, was related to the cornerstone, which was supposed to be placed in the theater flybridge that day, but had to be postponed due to the rain.  But in that cornerstone was placed a time capsule with items contributed by 37 Cary-based arts and cultural organizations.  Some were parts of the Town government or local educational institutions, some were discipline-specific arts organization, and some were related to ethnic minorities.  But it was so wonderful to see representatives from groups seeking to share the culture of African, Turkish, Hispanic, Indian, Nepalese, Sister Cities in France, Belgium, Ireland, and China, Philippine, and I've probably forgotten a few more.  It was wonderful to see such diversity in a Southern community that 50 years ago was basically a rural train stop outside Raleigh with 5,000 residents, pretty exclusively white and black.

The plans are for the time capsule to be opened up in 70 years.  So I may not be around then, but I certainly hope my son is.  I took a picture of him next to the cornerstone/time capsule that maybe he can put into the time capsule when they seal it for the NEXT 70 years!

We also ran into our friends Angie and Todd, who came from a beading party for their daughter's birthday, and later into my friend Bridget, whose all-too-old son was supposed to be playing as part of the Cary High School Marching Band (another old tradition in Cary) for the dedication, but which unfortunately for us got rained out (although I'm not sure the kids, who have been practicing for up to 12 hours a day for a couple of weeks now, minded the break).

All together, it was just a lovely, lovely day, full of great art, great friends, and a great accomplishment on the part of the Town of Cary.

Grand Opening Celebration for the Cary Arts Center This Saturday, August 13

I've raved about the new Cary Arts Center in an earlier post or two, but this weekend, area residents will have a chance to check it out for themselves.  The Town of Cary is holding its Grand Opening Celebration
from 9 AM - 5 PM on Saturday, August 13.  In addition to touring the building, the public can view art, dance, theater, and musical performances, try some adult mini-classes, or do some child-friendly crafts.

Town officials will hold a dedication and cornerstone ceremony in front of the building at 2:00 PM.  Then at 5:30, teens will show their videos created under the Cary Youth Video Project.  Later in the evening, there will be a free concert by Larkin Poe, two sisters who perform original folk, country, and pop music.

The following day, Sunday the 14th, artists who were involved with the design and renovation of the now 48,000 square foot building will hold a roundtable discussion to share with the public the process and decisions made in turning the historic Cary school into a state-of-the-art performance and art center.

When looking around, be sure not to miss the new sculptures adorning the lawns, which are part of Cary's Annual Public Art Outdoor Sculpture exhibit.  Ah, but that is the subject of a future post....

Curriculum Resource: Discovering Music with Carol Reynolds

Today my son and I broke out some new curriculum I bought recently for this academic year.  It is a 13-hour DVD course entitled Discovering Music:  300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Arts, History, and Culture.  It is a middle school/high school level course that relates music history to the political, religious, scientific, artistic, technological, and other cultural developments that shaped the composers and musicians of each succeeding era.

This is exactly how I like to study subjects.  I don't believe in examining each discipline in isolation; rather, I think you can understand them best when you cover them in relation to the other developments going on at the same time that effected them.  However, music history is one of my personal weaker points--I can do a much better job explaining literature and art, for example, in terms of what was going on in other realms at that historical period than I can do with music.  So I am glad to have this opportunity to fill in some of my ignorance as I take this course along with my son.

We did the first unit, which I think is a lot more "talky" and theoretical than the bulk of the course, because it is laying the foundations and explaining why we should study history via music and study music via history, etc.  But my son enjoyed it enough that he wanted to move onto the second unit right away.  This one also was setting up the big picture, rather than getting into the music itself too much, but we both learned quite a bit and are looking forward to the next session.

The course was developed by, and features, Dr. Carol Reynolds, an enthusiastic and experienced music history educator from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.  She does a good job as a lively but easy to follow narrator of the course material, as well as playing a grand organ herself to demonstrate a piece of music written by Martin Luther (I never knew he wrote music along with all the other stuff he was up to in revolutionizing European Christianity).

This class is also perfect for us because it begins in the 15th century, but really focuses on Western history from the early 1600s to World War 1.  We have already studied World history up to that date, so I'm hoping we will have at least touched on all the major political, scientific, and large artistic movements covered in the DVDs.  That will allow him to concentrate on the new information about the music and hang that onto what we have already covered, as well as helping him get a better understanding of that history.

The curriculum isn't cheap, but you get a lot for it.  In addition to eight DVDs that contain over 13 hours of instruction, you receive a 236 page workbook and three professional quality CDs that contain the works discussed in the course to listen to on their own.

We've only gotten started, but I'm impressed with the quality of the materials we've looked at so far.  My son is enjoying it, and I'm already learning stuff I never knew....so what else could you ask for from a curriculum?  But I'll give a more informed review of the curriculum in a future blog post once we have completed more of it.

Starlight Concert Series: Craicdown

Last night we went to another of the free Friday night concerts in downtown Cary.   This is probably the last one we can see of this series, but we certainly went out on a high note!

First, it has been a bit cooler (compared to the over 100 degrees weather of the previous week), so the evening weather was very pleasant.  It was probably in the seventies (once the sun went behind the tree line), with a slight breeze and no bugs.  So what a great night to listen to music!

Secondly, we ran into three other families from our homeschooling group who were at the concert.  It always makes it fun to share the experience with other families.

Thirdly, the group--Craicdown--was great!  All the musicians were so talented--everyone played at least two or three distinct instruments.  The music they played traversed the world.  They started with a zydeco piece (influenced by music from New Orleans), then did some accordian songs, then...well, I forget the order now, but it included Celtic, Cajun, US Country, Mediteranean/Greek?, Opera, Folk, Tango, Brazilian, some other South American, and I've probably forgotten a few.  But you get the idea--they were were multi-national and multi-talented.

So I can recommend them both--both the Starlight concert series at the Page Walker in Cary and this wonderful world music band, Craicdown.

Happy Bastille Day!

Happy Bastille Day!  Bastille Day is, of course, French National Day, observed every July 14th as the anniversary of the storming of the infamous French prison, the Bastille.  In line with our general philosophy of celebrating every holiday that we can, we had marked this day previously in years past.  However, since we actually studied the French Revolution this past year, it seemed appropriate to make an even bigger occasion of Bastille Day then usual.

Yesterday we invited some friends over to help prepare a French meal with us.  We started by munching on apples and a French baguette while we chopped up food for our main dish.

We then had meat fondue, cooking our steak, chicken, or sausage (consumed along with some fresh raw vegetables) in boiling broth rather than the more traditional, but less healthy or safe, boiling oil.

We concluded the meal with home made cream puffs--home made puff pastries filled with hand-whipped cream and blackberry curd homemade from berries our friends had picked themselves.

Delicious!  They were consumed almost immediately, of course....

Today I'm trying a less traditional dish.  I'm making what I am calling Lasagna Provencal--kind of a cross between traditional Lasagna and Ratatouille, accompanied by baguette once again.

If nothing else, you should at least mark the occasion by watching this video about the French Revolution from the History Teachers series that I've mentioned before:




Enjoy!

Thar Be Pirates About!

This weekend we went to such a fabulous concert!  It was part of the North Carolina Symphony Summerfest Concert series, which I have blogged about previously.  The title of Saturday night's show was Pirates, and it comprised all sorts of nautical-related music.

At first, I was concerned it might be a bit too commercially-oriented, but that turned out not to be the case at all.  Yes, it did have music from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies--which, I have to admit, I was so wrong about and love although I ridiculed it prior to actually seeing the movies (that is generally true about the movies as well as the music in them).  So, yes, they are ridiculously popular and money-making movies, but that doesn't mean that Hans Zimmer's music wasn't great, because I think that it was.

But the show contained so much more than that.  It did have its show element, with songs from the movie Hook, the musical Peter Pan, and even the classic Captain Blood.  It had light operetta (The Pirates of Penzance) and Wagner's opera, The Flying Dutchman, along with some traditional sea chanties and nautical songs.  The NC Symphony did a wonderful job with all these works.

However, my son and I were particularly enthusiastic about two sets of modern compositions.  I was really struck by some songs done by a composer from Greensboro, NC, who had written a musical about North Carolina's most notorious pirate, Blackbeard.  Laurelyn Dossett got to sing two of her songs from that show, entitled Bloody Blackbeard, accompanied by the state's symphony, which I imagine is pretty much a life's ambition for a local composer.  They were great songs, and I hope they become more well known.

My son's favorite was a piece called The Last Voyage of the Currituck:  A Symphonic Odyssey, which was by Terry Mizesko, who is a member of the NC Symphony.  This six-part piece ran from the hussle-bussle of taking off, to the enthusiastic beginnings, later longing for those at home, and eventual bad end in the Bermuda Triangle, with dramatically different emotions conveyed by the talented musicians.  It was also a well-written work that I hope will gain wider renown.

But I give the NC Symphony a lot of credit for a really well-developed evening of music around this theme.  As I've stated before, I come from Washington DC, so I'm used to a high level of cultural arts in my arts, museums, theater, and musical performances.  And I don't really expect the North Carolina institutions to compete with what it is possible for, say, the Smithsonian Institution or the Kennedy Center for the Arts to do.  But I think North Carolina has been really smart about targeting the resources that it has.  So, for example, the NC Zoo has an African section and a North American section; it has restricted its scope, and does those two areas really well, rather than having a mediocre mish-mash of animals from all over the world.  Similarly, both the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina Aquariums (all three of them) design their major exhibits around North Carolina environments (terrestrial or aquatic); again, this gives a logical focus to their museums, and they cover that narrower focus really well.

And so for the theme of Pirates, the Symphony found a way to focus the show on North Carolina talents and assets, including the always intriguing legends of Blackbeard.  The concert tied into the recent exhibit in the North Carolina Maritime Museum on Treasures from the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's flagship vessel that has recently been been recovered from the seabed along the North Carolina coast.

Plus, it was a lovely night, we were seeing the show with good friends, we had plenty to eat and drink, they had all kinds of pirate exhibits and activities to entertain the children, PLUS they had fireworks afterwards.  So what's not to love?

PS--Here is my son's blog post inspired by the concert.

Movie Review: Company with the New York Philharmonic

I just got back from a wonderful treat--seeing the digital movie version of one of Stephen Sondheim's earliest musical, Company, performed at the New York Philharmonic.  It was done concert style, with minimal staging and costumes, etc., but with a truly all-star cast, including Neil Patrick Harris in the lead as Bobby, Patti Lapone in the iconic role of Joanne, and other award-winning performers of screen and stage. For a list of other performers, see the trailer:




To see a sample of one of the bigger performance numbers, view this clip of "Side by Side":




Now, truth be told, this not really a show for middle schoolers.  It is basically a fairly profound musical discussion of the pros and cons of relationships, particularly marriage.  The protagonist alternates between wondering why he hasn't gotten married yet, like the five couples that make up his best friends, and examining those marriages with a jaundiced eye and wondering why he would ever want to do that to himself.  It touches on adult themes, including alcoholism, drug usage, and sex, as well as a pretty sophisticated look at marriages.

However, I just love Sondheim, and really enjoyed this performance, even in its minimal state.  And it made it really nice to see on the large screen.  Unfortunately, this was the last night of a limited four-night showing of the film in the theaters.  But I imagine it will come to Netflix soon, and I recommend it if you are a Sondheim fan.

This show was particularly interesting for me because I haven't seen Company for at least 20 years.  And when I saw it before, I was listening to it all with single ears.  It has a whole new level of richness and meaning watching it now that I am married.  It gives you some great musical food for thought about relationships between spouses, as well as reminding you about the good and the bad of your single days.

The one thing that might relate to middle schoolers is the fact that this may be a new trend in the movies:  showing big screen presentations of performances.  The New York Philharmonic only had four nights of Company, so not many people got to see the live performance.  But releasing it digitally on a big screen gives a performance-like experience (my friend and I had to keep stopping ourselves from clapping after a musical number), but makes it accessible to a lot more people.  On the way out of the theater, I also saw ads for a series of operas that were going to be shown, as well as a ballet series.  The movie industry has to keep reinventing itself, just like many others effected by the digital revolution, and this looks like one new way they are trying to survive.  But it's one that I applaud.

Starlight Concert Series: Moment's Notice

As I've said before, I particularly try to take advantage of all the cheap or free art and cultural activities we have in this area during the summer.  Last night we went to a concert of another free outdoors concert series--the Starlight Concerts held in the greens by the herb garden at the Page Walker Building here in Cary.

The Starlight Concerts are a set of eight free concerts that include a diverse set of music.  This year, the concerts will include bluegrass, classical, Middle Eastern, and Latin, among others.  They run from 7:00-9:00 PM, and people are welcome to bring chairs and picnic blankets and food and drink (but not alcohol, unfortunately--it is nice to enjoy some wine as you listen to the music).  And a particularly wonderful feature for us is that it is within walking distance from our house (although I wasn't thinking that was such an asset last night as I was pulling who know how many pounds of chairs and snacks and drinks for about a mile when the weather was still 84 degrees...not all uphill, but there were definitely hills).

But once we got there and settled in within a stone's throw of the performers, that all faded away and we were just glad to be there on a lovely summer's night.

The band was Moment's Notice from Raleigh, which is primarily a jazz band.  They played some jazz classics, like "Autumn Leaves" and "God Bless The Child" and some others that my two brothers who are jazz aficionados would probably recognize, but I didn't.  But they also did at least one blues number, and a latin jazz, and a couple of R&B numbers--Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," which I love, and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?".

Anyway, they were really good.  The crowd had some families, but it was mostly an older audience, and everyone was really appreciating the music.  The evening cooled off, the bugs stayed away, the birds seemed to be dancing in the air as they zipped around above the musicians, and the snacks tasted better accompanied by live music.  Our friend, the Hula Lady (she shows up at these concerts with bunches of huge hula hoops and stands by the side, hula-ing to the music, and eventually drawing over some other concert-goers who give the hulas a try) was gracefully rotating her colorful hulas on the sideline.  And I thought to myself, "This is just so nice.  What could be better than this?"

Almost immediately after I thought that, the band played their version of "It's a Wonderful World."  In that moment in time, I agreed 100%

Everyone was having such a good time that the band kept going past 9:00 (in part because some technical difficulties got they started late).  So the music didn't end until 9:30, which meant that we got to walk home with our tons of junk in the dark.  But it was worth it.  It was almost dark during the final song, but the Hula Lady has hulas that light up, and she created a rainbow to accompany the fireflies flitting across the darkness.

Summerfest: The Pines of Rome

One of the many wonderful things about summer in our town is that the North Carolina Symphony plays a series of outdoors concerts at the outdoors amphitheater in Cary, the Koka Booth Amphitheater.  At these shows, families are invited to bring blankets and chairs, picnics, bottles of wine, etc., and have a lovely evening al fresco wining, dining, reclining, and listening to beautiful and moving music.  There is space for children to run around and play, plenty of food and drink to buy, and just a lovely, accessible way to enjoy classical (and other) music played by a top-notch symphony.

The centerpiece of tonight's performance was Respihi's Pines of Rome, which I must admit I have never heard before.  However, the family we usually go with, whose mom's is much better educated about classical music than I am, assured us it was a terrific piece.  There were some other music of well, none of which I knew other than the Flight of the Bumblebee.  But that is great, because I'm trying to expand my classical music horizons.

We got there and ate and drank and talked until the concert started.  However, after the orchestra had played the first two pieces, they announced that thunderstorms were coming, and they were going to stop until the storms had passed.  We all gathered up our things and set up camp underneath the shelters...still eating and drinking and talking.  Time seemed to pass quickly, but after a half hour or so, the Symphony announced that there were going to be storms for the foreseeable future, so they were canceling the concert.  However, we could trade in our tickets for a later concert this summer.

So it was a bummer not to get to hear the main pieces of the concert.  But we had a lovely time with our friends, and got to hear some music, so it was time well spent.  Plus, we get to go back and hear some other wonderful music later this summer!

However, I did go to listen to a YouTube version of the Pines of Rome.  It's nothing like hearing it live, I know, but at least it gives me some idea of what we missed...but will hopefully hear one of these days.



Enjoy!

UPDATE:  Man, my version sounds boring compared to my son's description of the evening.  You can read it here.

An Artsy Weekend

We didn't do a lot of welcoming summer last weekend over Memorial Day, because we were so focused on finishing up our last projects, creating our electronic portfolio, and preparing for our Student Showcase. But by this weekend, we were ready to embrace summer with a passion.  But instead of the typical pool and BBQ celebration, we greeted the new season by taking advantage of some of the many free arts activities offered in the Triangle region over the summer.

Friday night, we visited First Friday among the downtown Raleigh galleries again.

As usual, our focus was my friend Donna Belt's studio, SpiritWorks.  This month, Donna has been inspired to create some wonderful paintings of angels and Mary Magdalene.

Angel painting by Donna Belt

Mary Magdalene painting by Donna Belt

We made several other wonderful discoveries at the Carter Building, home to about 80 different artists.  We were inspired by the uplifting collage cards by Debbie Crawford of Art&Soul.  And we found some beautiful drawings of one of my son's obscure favorites--cephalopods--by a terrific artist named Edward Richards....who we found out was homeschooled as a child!

This time, however, we even got really adventurous and took the FREE R line bus loop in downtown Raleigh to Artspace, another epicenter for Raleigh artists.  It was a beautiful night, and it just great for both the children and the adults to see and discuss contemporary art, not only among ourselves, but with the artists themselves.

Tonight we got to experience a different artistic format, namely music.  There is a local band called Milagro Saints that includes fathers from two of our homeschooling friends.  So tonight we went with the family of the bass player, Steve Samosky, to a FREE outdoor concert at Fletcher Park in Raleigh as part of the Raleigh Parks & Rec's 2011 Sunday in the Park concert series.   The band is FANTASTIC, the venue is lovely and not very crowded, with lots of places for the tweens or teens to hang out or play around in a safe area but away from their not-so-cool parental units.  We (but mostly my friend Sara) brought lots of delicious food to share and the cool front that came in with a threatened 50% chance of thunderstorms brought cooler weather and light breezes, but no rain.  So, really, we couldn't have had a nicer night.

If you live in the Triangle area, there are so many opportunities to see our local artists over the summer, many times for free.  It may be a little warm, and it may take a little effort, but we have so many talented artists that it is really worth your while to take advantage of these sorts of summer showcases.

Second Saturdays in North Carolina

For the FIRST Saturday of the Summer, I hope everyone will be coming to see our Student Showcase of our local homeschool group's year of accomplishments!  But for the second Saturday of each month (June 11, July 9, and August 13), you can take advantage of educational and cultural events across the state of North Carolina, courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources program Second Saturdays.

Here are some of the places in the Triangle that will be hosting special events:

• Alamance Battleground
• Bennett Place
• Bentonville Battlefield
• Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum
• Duke Homestead
• Fort Dobbs
• Historic Stagville
• House in the Horseshoe
• North Carolina Museum of Art
• North Carolina Museum of History
• North Carolina Transportation Museum
• President James K. Polk Historic Site
• Reed Gold Mine
• Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art
• State Capitol
• Town Creek Indian Mound

There are sorts of different activities going on--historical re-enactments, craft demonstrations, art classes, musical performances, games for children, and, of course, FOOD!

This is a fun reason to visit some of the artistic or historical venues around the state that you've never seen before, or brings a new dimension to your favorite places to tour.