From time to time I become cquainted with a different meaning of the word "antique". It used to be that antique stood for an object that was some one hundred years old. That concept was enlarged (many years ago) to include fluids and/or ideas.
As the P.B.S. Antique Roadshow tells it the American families have a never ending stash of antique objects in their homes that came down from parents and grandparents and further back still. We have no problem here even if that object has a monetary value many times the expectation of the present owner.
Our problem has to do with the fact that we, meaning parents and other middle aged adults, have difficulties with the new ideas that are cropping up regularly. I am far from an ace mathematistian and I can still vividly remember the day my children came home with a new concept called simply "the new math". I asked them what was new in this math. They tried to explain it but either I was "too old" to grasp this new idea, or the children were too newly acquainted with this new idea I never quite understood what the fuzz was all about.
In my days of teaching college level music courses and worked with church choirs there were always new ideas coming down the pike issued by well-meaning officials sitting ensconced in the higher echelons of governance over those situated on lower levels. There came a plethora of suggestions (read: directives) to use certain text books, more suggestions (read: directives) to use approved choral music and (and this I found even more galling) how to interpret that piece of music. What did these higher-ups think? That we who had received many years of training and practical work in various fields of music did not have what it takes to look at, say our choirmembers, and realize what they were capable of in the areas of musical understanding and of technical performances. Many of us were and are willing to take a look at new ideas. Many of us were and are still willing to give the new idea a try if it would fit in with our present ideas and techniques that work so well for us and for our choirs and classes.
I have said my say for now. As to the new math I work much better with the old, having not understood any of the benefits of the new math. But for those of you who understand the principles of the new math may it serve you well and may you find ways to teach it to my great-grandchildren in such a way that they will understand.
ah
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Family Matters
For those of you who enjoy peeking into the hidden meanings or messages this will be a posting about my family.
I have a great family. Very supportive in telling me oftem with emphasis that I am of a former generation and do not know much about what is going on in the present real world.
So I ask what is going on in the real presence and I get the standard answer that parents have received through the ages, the three word answer of "I don't know" which is really a four word answer but shortened even before Twitter. A variant of this answer is often "Well you know" with a voice level trailing off into a distant nothingness.
Now it is true that I am of a slightly earlier generation where we had some values slightly different. Yes, I do hear you groaning "there he goes again" but I do not intend to stay on this highway. Instead let me switch off to a branch of family life that this whole family does truly enjoy. We enjoy getting together and we enjoy eating. We also have a great dose of humor and when we are together at a meal or not at a meal but together we laugh and carry on. There are stories being told that are mostly true but dressed up a little bit as it has resided in the mind of the raconteur and has become infused with his/her background.
But that does not matter. The story is still funny and, maybe, we have heard a version of it at an earlier get-together, it is still funny when told by someone else who tackles it from a different viewpoint.
Yes we may be a different type of family. Many families I am acquainted with do not often get together and when they do it is to settle a dispute or some such foolish thing that in the end does not amount to a mountain of beans, no, not even to a hill of beans but has been left to fester instead of being taken care of in its infancy.
How did I get from starting out to talk about me and here I am saying things that tells you how proud I am of my family. Yes I am. We have come through some hard times individually and as a family. We stuck together, we supported each other, and it looks like that we now have arrived at a plateau where we can relax and take time once in a while to smell the roses. We can do this smelling in the small family circles of each individual family member and we certainly do it in the many times we join each other for no other reason than to have the feeling that we want to be where the laughter is. Family of mine I love you very much.
Alex H.
I have a great family. Very supportive in telling me oftem with emphasis that I am of a former generation and do not know much about what is going on in the present real world.
So I ask what is going on in the real presence and I get the standard answer that parents have received through the ages, the three word answer of "I don't know" which is really a four word answer but shortened even before Twitter. A variant of this answer is often "Well you know" with a voice level trailing off into a distant nothingness.
Now it is true that I am of a slightly earlier generation where we had some values slightly different. Yes, I do hear you groaning "there he goes again" but I do not intend to stay on this highway. Instead let me switch off to a branch of family life that this whole family does truly enjoy. We enjoy getting together and we enjoy eating. We also have a great dose of humor and when we are together at a meal or not at a meal but together we laugh and carry on. There are stories being told that are mostly true but dressed up a little bit as it has resided in the mind of the raconteur and has become infused with his/her background.
But that does not matter. The story is still funny and, maybe, we have heard a version of it at an earlier get-together, it is still funny when told by someone else who tackles it from a different viewpoint.
Yes we may be a different type of family. Many families I am acquainted with do not often get together and when they do it is to settle a dispute or some such foolish thing that in the end does not amount to a mountain of beans, no, not even to a hill of beans but has been left to fester instead of being taken care of in its infancy.
How did I get from starting out to talk about me and here I am saying things that tells you how proud I am of my family. Yes I am. We have come through some hard times individually and as a family. We stuck together, we supported each other, and it looks like that we now have arrived at a plateau where we can relax and take time once in a while to smell the roses. We can do this smelling in the small family circles of each individual family member and we certainly do it in the many times we join each other for no other reason than to have the feeling that we want to be where the laughter is. Family of mine I love you very much.
Alex H.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
About Pets and Hereafter
In the newspaper was a story about a couple and their dog, a Lab, seven years old. The dog and the couple were devoted to each other. This dog got lung cancer, was successfully operated on but after several months the cancer came back and the dog passed.
I have written about this subject somewhere else but this sad story made me return to a question that I had never fully answered. The question: will we be reunited with our pets in the hereafter?
The answer I give myself is the answer I think to see confirmed when I join pets and loved ones in the hereafter. And that statement implies I believe in life being forever. Not only for people but also for animals. Which brings up another subject for a hefty debate namely do pets go to a hereafter and there continue their lives.
If you expect an authorative answer to these questions from me you will be sorely disappointed. I have no real, true answer. But I would like to hear from any readers who will want to join the quest in a thoughtful manner.
Alex H
I have written about this subject somewhere else but this sad story made me return to a question that I had never fully answered. The question: will we be reunited with our pets in the hereafter?
The answer I give myself is the answer I think to see confirmed when I join pets and loved ones in the hereafter. And that statement implies I believe in life being forever. Not only for people but also for animals. Which brings up another subject for a hefty debate namely do pets go to a hereafter and there continue their lives.
If you expect an authorative answer to these questions from me you will be sorely disappointed. I have no real, true answer. But I would like to hear from any readers who will want to join the quest in a thoughtful manner.
Alex H
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Me And Those September Years
Several years ago I took the step that landed me in what the song says are the September years of my life. I had happily traversed some four score of years without feeling a bit aged, enjoying the work with students, but with the day of departure from my work at the College the number of my years became suddenly an item of great interest to a bunch of people. They looked at me with questioning eyes, a look that found its way to their tongues, "Well I never".
True, I nevered either. Blood pressure a little on the high side. Pop a pill at breakfast and that was that. Never gave it another thought. But then I landed in the hospital. Flat on my back. My colon was the cause. It had grown a polyp that was too large for the doctor to remove in hbis office. Suddenly the blood pressure was of intense interest to doctors and nurses and to young ladies in uniforms learning how to wake a sound sleeper every two hours during the night to take a look at the numbers.
There came the 5 o'clock in the morning visit of the resident doctor in training. "How do you feel?" I felt fine but a good cup of black coffee would have made me feel finer yet. "You sure you're okay?" Yes, I felt fine. Just let me go home in time for lunch so I can cook a three-egg Western omelet.
At home and at work all went well until the news leaked out that my age was in the low eighties. Remarkable was the word of the adults. Cool said the young adults. Good genes said my doctor.
How do you feel, people ask, and I answer "Fine". That is true. I feel fine but yet there is a slowing down. We're getting closer to the October days. The old enthusiasm for the work at the College and at home is slightly diminished which is caused by the muscles. Not by the brain. The brain is still hard at work analyzing pieces of music I had not heard before. The brain is hard at work helping me to learn new skills as a retiree such as cooking a decent three-course meal for supper that goes beyond slapping a hamburger patty on the stove to be eaten topgether with the contents of a bag of chips.
The September of my years is sliding into the October of my years. It is a process that goes softly and much of the time unnoticeably because available amounts of time have a habit of filling up with things that need to be done. Some of those things I know from way back like running a vacuum cleaner. And some other things are of more recent vintage like cooking meals or straightening out the computer that went berserk when I, mistakenly, hit a wrong key.
The October days are a time for slowing down. Smell the roses. What is the hurry? It is amazing the things I see by the side of the road when I am walking, things that I missed entirely when I zipped by in my car. There is that row of crepe myrtles in full bloom. A few houses down from there are this neighbor's colorful patches of flowers that give life to his house. I hear the barking of dogs a few blocks away. The birds have lengthy discussions as they perch on tree branches. And I look at my bush with the snowball-like blooms that I planted some thirtyfive years ago.
This is a time of enrichment for the retiree, a time for me to enjoy the smells of summer changing into the smells of fall, followed by the sights and smells of winter. It is also the time for the grandparent to pay attention to and to enjoy his spouse, his children, the grandchildren, and the six great-grandchildren.
I am getting used to living the slower life of the October days.The poet Browning said "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be....". I am beginning to understand more fully what this poet is talking about.
Alex H
True, I nevered either. Blood pressure a little on the high side. Pop a pill at breakfast and that was that. Never gave it another thought. But then I landed in the hospital. Flat on my back. My colon was the cause. It had grown a polyp that was too large for the doctor to remove in hbis office. Suddenly the blood pressure was of intense interest to doctors and nurses and to young ladies in uniforms learning how to wake a sound sleeper every two hours during the night to take a look at the numbers.
There came the 5 o'clock in the morning visit of the resident doctor in training. "How do you feel?" I felt fine but a good cup of black coffee would have made me feel finer yet. "You sure you're okay?" Yes, I felt fine. Just let me go home in time for lunch so I can cook a three-egg Western omelet.
At home and at work all went well until the news leaked out that my age was in the low eighties. Remarkable was the word of the adults. Cool said the young adults. Good genes said my doctor.
How do you feel, people ask, and I answer "Fine". That is true. I feel fine but yet there is a slowing down. We're getting closer to the October days. The old enthusiasm for the work at the College and at home is slightly diminished which is caused by the muscles. Not by the brain. The brain is still hard at work analyzing pieces of music I had not heard before. The brain is hard at work helping me to learn new skills as a retiree such as cooking a decent three-course meal for supper that goes beyond slapping a hamburger patty on the stove to be eaten topgether with the contents of a bag of chips.
The September of my years is sliding into the October of my years. It is a process that goes softly and much of the time unnoticeably because available amounts of time have a habit of filling up with things that need to be done. Some of those things I know from way back like running a vacuum cleaner. And some other things are of more recent vintage like cooking meals or straightening out the computer that went berserk when I, mistakenly, hit a wrong key.
The October days are a time for slowing down. Smell the roses. What is the hurry? It is amazing the things I see by the side of the road when I am walking, things that I missed entirely when I zipped by in my car. There is that row of crepe myrtles in full bloom. A few houses down from there are this neighbor's colorful patches of flowers that give life to his house. I hear the barking of dogs a few blocks away. The birds have lengthy discussions as they perch on tree branches. And I look at my bush with the snowball-like blooms that I planted some thirtyfive years ago.
This is a time of enrichment for the retiree, a time for me to enjoy the smells of summer changing into the smells of fall, followed by the sights and smells of winter. It is also the time for the grandparent to pay attention to and to enjoy his spouse, his children, the grandchildren, and the six great-grandchildren.
I am getting used to living the slower life of the October days.The poet Browning said "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be....". I am beginning to understand more fully what this poet is talking about.
Alex H
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Symphony Ravings
Let us now continue on the road of musical myths encountered in the college classroom setting. The title of this chapter should be just one word: SONG.
For my students every piece of music was a song. I use the past tense here because I am still hopeful and trusting that through my working with some 200 students through a semester of MUS101 they would learn that songs are pieces of music that are sung. That is different from a Beethoven composition titled Symphony which is played by 70 or more instruments that do not include guitars.
Here we get into a confusing situation for many of these students. They have never listened to any pieces of music that were not played on guitars. And there were drums. Usually just a few but they are not called drums. They are in the percussion section. Oh my! They have to learn foreign names.
And it gets more better (as one of them said to me). That group of instruments forms an orchestra and in an orchestra are instruments like they have never before seen.
The few students who are into jazz have seen a clarinet which they call knowingly by the name of "liocorice stick" but there are other "sticks" with names like bass clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon. And that is a whole new kettle of fish especially when later in the course we start talking that some of these woodwinds are played with only one reed and some others have to be played using two reeds. And the players need all the lung power they can muster so that even smoking cigarettes ia a no-no. As one student whispered to a neighbor: "They have no fun in life no more" which should have been grounds for shipping him off to English090.
But after a few sessions listening to selected compositions with commentaries slowly but surely the majority of students became more interested and knwledgeable. Before the end of the semester we all could tell the difference between a flute and a bassoon by the sounds they emanate. And there came a time when a couple of students sold their tickets to a big rock concert for half price and opted for going to a concert in downtown. I like happy endings. Don't you?
Alex H
For my students every piece of music was a song. I use the past tense here because I am still hopeful and trusting that through my working with some 200 students through a semester of MUS101 they would learn that songs are pieces of music that are sung. That is different from a Beethoven composition titled Symphony which is played by 70 or more instruments that do not include guitars.
Here we get into a confusing situation for many of these students. They have never listened to any pieces of music that were not played on guitars. And there were drums. Usually just a few but they are not called drums. They are in the percussion section. Oh my! They have to learn foreign names.
And it gets more better (as one of them said to me). That group of instruments forms an orchestra and in an orchestra are instruments like they have never before seen.
The few students who are into jazz have seen a clarinet which they call knowingly by the name of "liocorice stick" but there are other "sticks" with names like bass clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon. And that is a whole new kettle of fish especially when later in the course we start talking that some of these woodwinds are played with only one reed and some others have to be played using two reeds. And the players need all the lung power they can muster so that even smoking cigarettes ia a no-no. As one student whispered to a neighbor: "They have no fun in life no more" which should have been grounds for shipping him off to English090.
But after a few sessions listening to selected compositions with commentaries slowly but surely the majority of students became more interested and knwledgeable. Before the end of the semester we all could tell the difference between a flute and a bassoon by the sounds they emanate. And there came a time when a couple of students sold their tickets to a big rock concert for half price and opted for going to a concert in downtown. I like happy endings. Don't you?
Alex H
Monday, April 5, 2010
Symphony Ravings
Chapter One.
The way I understand blogs it seems that many postings are opinion pieces. Here then comes an opinion piece on music at you. Get ready to read and to fire back at me if you want to.
In the years that I was active as a music teacher/instructor one of the first myths I addressed was that music is entertainment. Well, yes. some music is entertainment. Some of that is good music (e.g. some music for Broadway shows) but the bulk of what I hear when I flip through the radios on the FM band is downright awful noise. That also goes for a video I watched recently in its entirety of a U2 concert. The concert was supposed to tell me something of religious thoughts of the lead singer. I think his lyrics reflected that but musically they could not be understood neither by me nor by some of the youngsters in the audience I talked with.
Please understand that for the first one hundred or so postings on music I will be talking about serious music that has a message or is meaningful. It can be about the type of music I hear in my church on Sunday mornings that is regarded by some worshipers as "filler music" when they can ruimmage through their handbags for a lipstick. That music is not filler music at all. It is full of meaning to lead the congregation in meditation. (It seems that some people are afraid to be quiet and meditate....afraid of what may show up in their minds of a distressing nature. But that is for a later posting.
What will good music do for the listener? Stay tuned. When I get on this soapbox....
Alex H
The way I understand blogs it seems that many postings are opinion pieces. Here then comes an opinion piece on music at you. Get ready to read and to fire back at me if you want to.
In the years that I was active as a music teacher/instructor one of the first myths I addressed was that music is entertainment. Well, yes. some music is entertainment. Some of that is good music (e.g. some music for Broadway shows) but the bulk of what I hear when I flip through the radios on the FM band is downright awful noise. That also goes for a video I watched recently in its entirety of a U2 concert. The concert was supposed to tell me something of religious thoughts of the lead singer. I think his lyrics reflected that but musically they could not be understood neither by me nor by some of the youngsters in the audience I talked with.
Please understand that for the first one hundred or so postings on music I will be talking about serious music that has a message or is meaningful. It can be about the type of music I hear in my church on Sunday mornings that is regarded by some worshipers as "filler music" when they can ruimmage through their handbags for a lipstick. That music is not filler music at all. It is full of meaning to lead the congregation in meditation. (It seems that some people are afraid to be quiet and meditate....afraid of what may show up in their minds of a distressing nature. But that is for a later posting.
What will good music do for the listener? Stay tuned. When I get on this soapbox....
Alex H
Symphony Ravings
To my family and some dear friends:
The Ravings number one has been sent. It was sent to only one friend so it could be tested in actual usage and it worked.
So here then welcome to blog number two that I will send to all my family and to friends. I would appreciate hearing from you (or reading from you) that you were able to access this blog.
Pater Famili
The Ravings number one has been sent. It was sent to only one friend so it could be tested in actual usage and it worked.
So here then welcome to blog number two that I will send to all my family and to friends. I would appreciate hearing from you (or reading from you) that you were able to access this blog.
Pater Famili
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