This was a great Thanksgiving weekend with all kinds of things to make me smile, but as I’m about to enter the new week, something rather unpleasant is sticking in my craw. This morning as I was going through the McDonald’s drive thru, getting my daily Egg McMuffin, I couldn’t help but notice the bumper
My brother-in-law Mark has been doing something really neat on Facebook for the whole month of November- counting down to the 25th, Thanksgiving Day . . . by each day citing a different blessing for which he is thankful. It’s such a simple yet profoundly powerful idea, and I have made a point of not
I’m wearing half a century of age rather happily and comfortably these days. . . especially this afternoon when I actually managed to beat Dave Krueger 6-4 in what will likely be our last tennis match of the year (unless Mother Nature has a very odd December up her sleeve.) But for every instance that
I may be an insatiable opera fan and own recordings of all nine symphonies by Antonin Dvorak, but I’m not the least bit chagrined to admit that I also love the irreverent musical “Once upon a Mattress,” which tells its own askew version of the familiar fairy tale of the Princess and the Pea. I
It’s interesting how music can teach us some intriguing and enlightening lessons. Here are several of them.... At one point this weekend (I want to keep this fairly vague, because of privacy concerns) I encountered a little boy who is autistic. It was a music rehearsal and although I first noticed this boy because of
They call themselves Anonymous 4. And while the vast majority of Americans haven’t the slightest idea who they are (some people might guess they’re a new mysterious super hero team from Marvel Comics) they have been one of classical music’s most impressive and inspiring groups for nearly a quarter century, with devoted fans who will
I can easily count on one hand the number of times that a book has made me cry- and I don’t mean just case a lump in my throat, but cause actual tears to spill down my cheeks. One was Heart of the Game, which told the poignant true story of a minor league baseball
It’s Day Two of NATS, and part of me is bone tired from yesterday’s gauntlet.... but the other part is exhilarated at what an exciting day it was for me both as a teacher and as a pianist. NATS is a tough competition because it pits singers from every college and university across the state
It’s actually Friday as I type this, and I am catching my breath in the midst of what is always one of the most exciting and exhausting days of the whole year.... Day #1 of NATS, the annual fall competition sponsored by the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. The competition
Today, Election Day 2010, is a day about freedom. . . the freedom to exercise our right to vote. . . our freedom to mark that ballot according to our own beliefs and wishes and no one else’s. . . and it’s the freedom from chaos that our type of government allows, unlike those nations
