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Magical Musical Moments
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Helen Date: 03 Nov 01 - 10:37 PM I know I have posted this once before at Mudcat, within the last few years, but here it is again. I had been driving for about half an hour, after conducting two very frustrating meetings at a local council where I had been working intermittently on a project. My hands were gripping the wheel, no matter how many times I told myself to relax. All I wanted was to be at home, not to be driving for the next two hours just to get there. I had left home at 6am to drive up for these two meetings, and now it was 1.30pm. As I drove I listened half consciously to the tape that was playing in the car. It was Sileas, a Scottish duo, two women harpers who play, and sometimes sing, some very good pieces of Scottish music. It all sounds deceptively simple, but I can hear the complexity of their arrangements, I imagine the care that they have put into making it sound so easy. But today I am only half listening as they sing a song. Roadworks up ahead. A few cars and trucks pull up in front and wait for the road worker to tell them when they can move off again. Frustration - all I want to do is just be at home, not to have to get there, but just to BE there. It's another 100 miles to go. I can't make it go any faster, but stopping in the middle of nowhere isn't getting me there any quicker. Then, the next track starts on the tape. "The Little Cascade". A rippling, fluttering cascade of a solo harp, and from the right, in my field of vision, a little white buttterfly flit-flit, flutter-flutter, moves from right to left, and as my eyes follow its path I see beyond it the yellowed autumn-tall grasses in the fields, stretching way over to blue mountains in the hazy distance. Another cascade of harp music as the second harp comes in, and a second little white butterfly, flit-flit, flutter flutter, from stage left, moving sweetly in time with the music. The two harps play around each other joyfully, and look, right there in centre stage, there are the two butterflies, flitting, fluttering around each other in a miniature white cascade, in time to the beautiful music. A pas-de-deux. I look around at the glorious autumn sunshine, at the silence of the countryside, and realise that time has stopped for a magical instant, and I am very happy to be here, out in the country, in the fresh golden air, with no sounds around me but the falling cascades of gentle harp music. ************ Note: when I read this out to my Mother over the phone she said ..[why do mothers always cut to the heart of things?].. "They were probably cabbage moths. Cabbage moths always go around in threes. There must have been three of them." I said that yes, there were three but it sounds better with a pas-de-deux. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story! Helen |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 03 Nov 01 - 10:45 PM Helen ... It's postings like yours that make me soooo happy that I started this thread. Thank you very much. You have related an image I'll remember well. CHEERS and HUGS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Sourdough Date: 04 Nov 01 - 05:28 AM The stories on this thread remonded me of another from a while back, "When you first made music". I've refreshed it. I think those who are enjoying this thread would enjoy this one, too, if they haven't seen it already. Perhaps some kind sould will provide a blickie for it. Sourdough |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Giac Date: 04 Nov 01 - 07:53 AM Here ya 'dough, hope it works: When you first made music |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Matthew Edwards Date: 04 Nov 01 - 08:50 AM Its lovely to share so many happy memories of those times when the music and the company and the occasion all conspire to produce the magic. I loved Trevor's account of making music in Dysenni at midnight. I was privileged to hear Lady P and LTS sing Harp Song of the Dane Women at Llanstock, and can vouch for the sheer pleasure that moment gave to us all. I can also endorse Snuffy's claim for the wonderfulness of the late night singing at the end of Saturday night at Llanstock. However for me the greatest magic belongs to a day when as a teenager in 1969 I went to an all day event at the University of Essex and heard Shirley and Dolly Collins, the Young Tradition with Peter Bellamy, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and ending the day listening to Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny. I was smitten then, and have remained so (with occasional interludes) ever since. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: kendall Date: 04 Nov 01 - 09:25 AM When I was 16, I went to a live performance of one of my heros, Wilf Carter, and he let me play his special Martin guitar.I was very impressed with him and his guitar. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Don Firth Date: 04 Nov 01 - 02:18 PM Still thinking about music on the road. . . . Back in the First Dark Age (1966-70) when I was working at Boeing (day job), I met some really great people working at Billy Boeing's kite factory: Carlos and Ida Van Wald and their daughter Tedi (Boeing was also Carlos' and Ida's day job and — well, these folks are a great story all by themselves, but that's for another time and another place). Carlos had just bought a Cadillac, a used older model, but it was in good condition and he got it cheap. It was a heavy, bloody-great land yacht, complete with tail-fins — and a very smooth-riding road car. On the first Sunday Carlos had the beast, he wanted to take it out for a drive, and he invited me to come with them. As the four of us drove along a country road through the forest primeval, a local classical music station was playing on the car radio. At one point, the station played an orchestral arrangement of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. Near the end, it flurries around a bit (presumably depicting the Valkyries circling), then it all comes together once more, powerfully restating the main theme — a huge Wagnerian orchestra, lots of brass, going flat-out, at full volume! As we hurtled down that road with the wind ruffling our hair and that music pouring out of the radio's four big speakers, we all felt the distinct sensation that we were flying! I've heard that in his personal life, Richard Wagner was nasty little twerp, but, MAN, could that sucker write music! Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Susan from California Date: 04 Nov 01 - 02:51 PM When I was in my twenties, I worked at a chain bookstore in a mall in Sonoma County , California. It was Christmas time, and the line of customers waiting stetched all the way through the store. People were cranky and in a hurry, and the four of us working the two registers were working as fast as we couild, but couldn't keep up. I started humming "O Holy Night" and my theatre major co-worker started singing. So I joined him, and so did some people in line. We ended up singing carols until the line was gone (hopefully not from customers :-) running in terror)As I remember, people were much less grouchy after we started singing than they had been before. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: GUEST Date: 05 Nov 01 - 02:11 PM WHen I was in second or third grade at the Mt. Pleasant School in Nashua, NH, Miss King, the itinerant music teacher who traveled from school to school teaching singing, introduced us to harmony. Decades later, I still can bring back the excitement of hearing and being a part of harmony for the first time. I could actually feel the vibrations of the harmony as though it were somehow cuddling my eight year old soul as we all sang,
See my kite is sailing, The song was nothing more than a musical exercise but for me it opened up a glorius world. Music seemed to go from monochome to technicolor. I have never learned how to improvise harmony but even so, when I sing with someone who can sing a harmony part, I still feel as though my soul is being caressed by a loving Universal spirit. Sourdough |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: GUEST,katlaughing Date: 05 Nov 01 - 03:10 PM Deckman, sorry it has taken me so long to get in here. Wonderful, wonderful stories, everyone! I have several, too, but I think for now I will tell of the concert we put on in Providence, RI of my brother's classical piano works and songs. Rog and I had supported him, financially, for about 6 years by then, and he had lived with us for 3. We'd heard every note of each piano concerto, symphony, etc. as he wrote it and he is magical when it comes to improvising an entire orchestral sound on a piano, so we had some idea of what it would all sound like, some day. We had moved before the first premiere of an orchestral piece of his, Ode to the Rockies, so Rog and I had never heard his stuff in concert. Anyway, I had worked my arse off, promoting him and setting up gigs, etc. for several years, NOT because he was my brother, but because I LOVED the music. This concert, in the Music Mansion at Brown Univeristy, a beautiful, intimate setting, with a magnificent grand piano, was a culmination of the efforts of many, but I was esp. anxious about it and had really worked hard. This was the first time some of his works would be heard; we had no idea, really, if a two-hour concert of just his works, brand-new stuff most had never heard, would even go across. The evening came, the singer was ready, my brother was in his rented tux, I had on a brand-new red dress and was ready as page-turner. Rog had a broadcast camera set up and recorded the whole thing. It was Christmas-time, so the place was decoratd with greens and the chandeliers gleamed, twinkling reflections throughout the hall. We had a good crowd, just under 100, some friends, most people we'd never met. The minute he struck the first chord on the piano, I knew it was going to go well. Each piece was met with vigourous and/gracious applause, depending on the mood of the piece. Some were met with that magical complete silence others of you have mentioned, followed by an awakening of applause. I turned pages, switched sheet music, none of it published, just written in his hand and stapled to cardboard to make it stand up; he played magnificently, all the hard years of practising and his old German teacher's discipline paying off in Mozartian precision and grace; the singer did a fantastic job and my heart was full. If I hadn't been on stage, I probably would have been crying the whole time, it was so fulfilling and gratifying to share and have the reception be so completely positive. His music came from a sacred place which he connected with and I know we all felt a Oneness that evening with the Source. They gave him an encore and the reception after was wonderful. The entire evening was magical and I will always be grateful for it. We've had one other close to that, but now that we don't work together, no one hears his music and it is painful to think of it not being heard. Thanks for allowing me to write of this good memory for those are the ones I wish to keep the most. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: GUEST,Norton1 Date: 05 Nov 01 - 03:32 PM Wow - this brought some memories back! I think my first would be in the late summer of 1975. Me and a guy named Dick Polley had a little country duo going and often were invited to play at outside street dances. The little town we were living in only had a population of about 6-700. On the weekends it brought lots of tourists from Boise up to get away and see the sights of this historic old town. This night we were playing a benefit for one of the old timers who was having some medical problems. One of the loggers had borrowed a flat bed trailer and pulled his semi and this trailer up by the service station - we added a few straw bales for atmosphere and then got up and began singing our regular repetoire of songs. We received a request from the audience to let a young lady, we didn't know her, sing "Summer Time" with us as back up. I can't say as I'd ever played the song before but as the lead guitarist it was my job to do so. It was around midnight, a full moon was our only lighting, and it must have been around 80 degrees with a light breeze - one of those perfect summer nights. Summertime was written on such a night I believe. Well this little gal comes up on stage - she was quite attractive and when Dick asked her what key she said in "C" - OK - Man could she sing! Made my heart melt on the spot - then she looked at me for the lead. I can't say as I have ever played better (I'd never played the song before). It was magic pure and simple. I couldn't have hit a wrong note if I'd tried - all the time this lovely young lady is looking at me and smiling - then I relinquished the song back to her and as she sang the song I played the lead quietly in the background - Dick (who wouldn't normally stay out of any vocal) played the most sensual rythym backup I'd ever heard. At the close the audience didn't move or say a word - last song of the evening. Then someone in the back started clapping - kind of bowled us all over. Never saw the young lady again and had never seen here before. To this day I still play Summer Time by myself and in private - with my wife once - but mostly just me to me. I was also somewhat of a rowdy and was hired to be Merle Haggard's bodyguard when he played in Boise in 1976. After he was on stage I got to stand right in front of him while the concert went on. There was a pause and he looked at me so I asked him if he would play "All Around the Water Tank" from his "Same Train - Different Time" album. He looked at the audience and asked them if they knew who Jimmie Rogers was - to thunderous applause he played a couple of those old hobo tunes. I was the envy of my peers that night! In 1979 I went to a Sons of the Pioneers night club show in Lewiston, Idaho. It wasn't much of a club and there weren't a lot of folks there to hear them. They have been idols of mine from when Roy Rogers was their lead vocalist and I was thrilled - although some of the originals had been replaced by family members. I did get to go on stage during the break and visit with the lead guitarist who told me about growing up in folk/bluegrass music. We had a common thread. He handed me his guitar and I played Arkansas Traveler for him - I guess you could say I'd been on stage and played with these guys - stretch of the truth - but I've never been around lots of professional musicians. We're all back porch musicians and any close encounter with "real" musicians is a note worthy of mention to us!! I think the two very best moments of music were when I learned "Waltz Across Texas" and sang it to my Mom on the telephone when she was feeling blue one night. That and singing "Whispering Pines" to my dear sweet wife and partner Jan - it is her favorite song - makes her melt when I sing it to her. Puts a lump in my throat to even think abut it. Then there are all of the songs I sang to my kids, my horse once, my dog always enjoyed anything I did, and - geez - where does one stop? I think here - Steve |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 05 Nov 01 - 07:51 PM WOW! You folks are blowing me away! I thought that this subject might get some interest, but I never dreamed it would stike such a harmonious note ... GET IT? ... "harmonious note" ... (Bob with a big grin on his whiskered face) ...it's a little play on words! Oh well, never mind. CHEERS and THANKS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Big Mick Date: 05 Nov 01 - 11:59 PM Funny, but there have been a number of really neat times, one of which occurred during the week of St. Pat's last year. The lads and I are usually booked very heavily that week, but be always make sure to do 2 to 4 "free" gigs. One of these was at The Welcome Home for the Blind. You want to talk about unnerving? When people are watching you with there eyes and listening with their ears, one can do any number of things visually to enhance the performance. But when your audience is 60 or so folks that watch and hear you with only their ears, ....... well, you know that you had better be on the mark. There were so many little things that were wonderful, like the little gal that sat in front and clapped and sang (even when she didn't know the words which was most of the time....*G*) to the little old fella that sat there with his head down, and the only part of his body that acknowledge that he heard was his pinky finger that tapped the beat to every single song or tune. But the best moment came at the end when the last little old gal that was in the room came up and thanked us for the music. She had a twinkle in those sightless eyes that told you she was a pip. And she had a thick Dutch accent that told you she was from Rotterdam. She talked, and told us about her husband, God Bless him, that had passed away. And she told us about her kids. I asked her if I could sing her a song just for her. So she sits down, and I sing The Dutchman for her. You should have seen her as I sang the verses. "When Amsterdam was golden..." and she nods her head. "I've been there" she says. "....sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam...". "That's my town" she says as she puffs her chest. And a tear rolls down her cheek. "....she makes his bed up, humming some old love song...", more tears, as she turns her face to me. I guess you know, I had a hard time finishing the song. When I get done, she stands up, wipes her face, straightens herself like a proper Dutch woman, shakes my hand and proudly carries herself down the hall. Pretty neat moment for me. I straightened meself up like the proper Irish American lad that I am, put away the old Guild 12, and carry my big, blubbering Irish arse to the car. A good memory. Thanks, Deckman, for starting this one. And thanks to all for your great memories. Mick |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Helen Date: 06 Nov 01 - 04:05 AM I just remembered another magical moment, or actually, series of moments. In high school we had a very highly strung, very creative music teacher. She should have been performing on stage, IMHO. She was brilliant. She had to work as a single mother to raise her son, otherwise I think she would have been a full-time performer. Anyway, she struggled with teaching because she was so nervy and lots of the girls in the classes bullied her mercilessly. She battled on though trying to turn us into appreciators of music. She had a choir of a small, select group, and the harmonies that she managed to squeeze out of those singers made my spine tingle every time I heard them perform. But the real masterpiece was when she pushed each and every class, willing and unwilling, into learning a song called Alleluia in 3 part harmony. Then she had the whole school, of 1000 girls, singing that song in 3 parts. If I got the spine tingles before it was nothing compared with that. What a rush! Helen |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Don Firth Date: 06 Nov 01 - 02:31 PM Judy Nelson's mention (way above) of the gathering at Judy Flenniken's place reminded me of another magical musical moment. However, this was sort of "magical" in a weird, Houdini / David Copperfield way. The Strange Case of the Vanishing Folksinger. Judy Flenniken was one of the biggies around Seattle in the early Sixties, a young woman with a lot of enthusiasm, a large repertoire of songs, and a big, Ronnie Gilbert-size voice. I had the privilege of working with her for a couple of years. We worked out a bunch of duets and sang many engagements together, including several concerts. She graduated from the U. of W. (in Oceanography or Marine Biology, I forget which) and moved to other climes. I've seen her only once since the mid-Sixties, and that was in the late Seventies on a brief return to visit her mother. She'd got married and moved to Florida, not necessarily in that order. She was singing there somewhere (regular gig), and she and her husband were searching for sunken treasure off the Florida coast. Judy mentioned a particular ship they were looking for. If I remember correctly, it was the wreck of the Nuestro Señora de Atocha, one of a fleet of ships laden with treasure plundered from the New World and headed for Spain. Early in September 1622, the treasure fleet set out, only to run into a powerful hurricane, and several ships foundered. Among them was the Atocha, which struck a reef off the Florida Keys and sank. Judy and her husband were hot on the trail, but they were beaten to it by Mel Fisher, who found it in 1985. Lots of TV specials, including one by National Geographic about that. But that's another story. . . . During the Seattle Worlds Fair in 1962, a whole bunch of Seattle's folksingers sang every Sunday afternoon at the United Nations Pavilion. Some student impresarios at Seattle University arranged a series of concerts at SU's Pigott Auditorium featuring folksingers who were performing at the U. N. Pavilion. The evening after I did my shtick, Judy Flenniken sang. I was in the audience with the rest of the bunch. Now, Judy Flenniken was blonde and fair-skinned. The soundboard of her guitar was sort of cream-colored. And on this particular evening, she was wore a gold lamé cocktail dress. The backdrop curtain was gold. As she sang, the guy in the lighting booth (who was trying to play around with dramatic effects) hit her with a straw-colored spotlight. Judy disappeared! Here was this big voice coming out of nowhere!. The lighting man suddenly realized what he had done, switched spots, and she reappeared again. Weird!! After her concert, we told her what had happened, but at the time, she couldn't figure out why, during one of her songs, the audience had suddenly gasped and started murmuring to each other. That was really bizarre! Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 06 Nov 01 - 05:47 PM Don, I remember those series of concerts ... some very good music happened. Irwin Nash recorded them for us and I've still got the tapes. Bride Judy asked me just last night where Judy Flenniken is now? Maybe we'll be lucky enough to have her read this snd get in touch ... wouldn't that be fun! CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: GUEST,katlaughing Date: 06 Nov 01 - 06:20 PM Another one, my voice hitting it just right, in a quiet, hushed kind of way, when I sang Prairie Lullaby over the phone for a friend just getting ready to go to sleep. It was a perfect way to end the phone call and pleased me to be asked. It's in those moment when I can almost hear my mom's beautiful, sweet voice in mine. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 06 Nov 01 - 07:14 PM Wow! What an image, Kat. "I can almost hear my Mom's beautiful, sweet voice in mine." This is proving to be a magical thread. The many contributions, from so many diverse persons, all around the globe, are quite wonderful. It speaks, again, to the power of music. Have you ever thought about what a 'binding force' music can be. It will cause bonds between people who do not speak the same language, are quite apart in years, or have very different experiences. I remember a time, about 12 years ago when I was privileged to be invited to an outdoor garden wedding between an American girl (lovely) and a Russian emegrie (read that fugitive). About 25 Russian foreign students attended the wedding in support of their friend. Also, were an equal number of non-Russians, mostly American. It happened that this was the same day the the Soviet Union collapsed. The wedding, and celebration, became interuppted requently by Russian guests (students) who had called to their homes in Russia to see how everyone was doing. As the news hit the gathering that Stalingrad (sp?) had been officially changed back to it's real name of St. Petersburg, everyone was very excited. Then the Russian guests broke into song. I speak almost NO Russian, a little Finn, but we did communicate! ...to borrow a line from that great film, "Cat Ballou" ... "Oh, it was SWELL." CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 07 Nov 01 - 05:04 PM I have written about this most magical of all hoots previously in the Walt Robertson thread, but I never felt I did the story justice. If you've read "Tales of Walt Robertson," you will remember that Walt was an incredible person and a very close personal friend. He was the consummate folksinger, an actor on stage, screen and radio. It was in May of 1994 that he told that he had teminal cancer of the pancreas (smokers cancer). Through out all that Summer, I visited with him several times each week. As the end drew near, we started planning his "farewell hoot."He had many friends in town, the Seattle area, and by now everyone knew what was happening. As he started the list of those he wanted to see, he was very involved. I wasn't surprised to see how long the list grew. Walt had touched the souls of many people. In the couple of weeks before the hoot, I made all the phone calls and invited his list ... and it was SWELL! The gathering happened on a beautiful September afternoon. As was his style, Walt arrived later than most. As I mentioned earlier, he was an actor, and as such, he and his caregivers really staged a grand entrance. His sister Liss, and the beautiful Ellen, had driven him over from Kingston (Washington) to my home in Everett. That trip, including the ferry ride, had already taken two hours. Yet, when they got here, in walked Walt Robertson to my backyard. He wore a red bandanna wrapped around his head to hide his absence of hair from radiation treatments. Both ladies proceeded him, flinging rose petals into the air ... honest to gawd rose petals! I could tell that these wonderful ladies had planned this between themselves as a surprise to him (hisself, as he used to say). As he entered my backyard, complete with many picnic tables and chairs ready, everyone broke into cheers and applause. After a couple of hours of eating and drinking, jokes, kids, tussling, etc., we all moved indoors. We could see that Walt was getting tired, so the music started early. He sat on the best couch in the living room, and we all gathered round. The music started and it was grand. From the first song, you KNEW this was going to be a magical night ... there was an electricity in the air. And boy, did the folks sing, one after the other, without hesitation, song after song. I felt that I was witnessing people singing their farewells to Walt. And he just loved. He sat there on the couch, with his sister on one side, and the beautiful Ellen on the other, just beaming. After an hour or so, I could see that he was tiring. I don't know what possessed me, but I asked him, "Hey guy, what about Don't Lie, Buddy Don't Lie?" He looked at me, hesitated a moment. There was a look between us that I still see. Someone handed him a guitar and he started to play and sing. His voice was weak but right on pitch. And his guitar playing was strong and dynamic, as always. You could see that he was energizing himself (hisself) as the song went on. AND IT WAS MAGICALL! Several more songs happened and then it was time for him to leave. His farewells to everyone, the hugs, kisses, the quiet words, were quite wonderful and will remain quite private. As I think back now about that incredible evening, I'm even more amazed, to realize that Walt died less than three weeks after that hoot. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Art Thieme Date: 07 Nov 01 - 09:38 PM A truly magical moment occurred when I was on stage in Winfield, Kansas and I got a frog in my throat. I felt him or her expanding in my larynx and I correctly surmised that the frog was turning itself into the proverbial handsome prince. Luckily, Art Coats, the head honcho of that festival back in the old pre-Bob Redford days, ran up on stage, gave me the good old Heimlich maneuver, and out popped the prince. We finished the set as a trio -- me, Art Coats and the prince. The applause was deafening. (We sang "Some Day My Prince Will Come.) Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 07 Nov 01 - 09:55 PM Art ... you probably know that that song is the theme song of the photo developing industry ... "some day, my prints will come." CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Robin2 Date: 07 Nov 01 - 10:20 PM I've had a lot of magical moments as a performer in the last 15 years...
But my MOST magical musical moment didn't involve me as a performer at all
There are no words to discribe the feelings a mother has when watching her son realize a lifelong dream with his music.
Robin |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 07 Nov 01 - 10:38 PM Robin ... lovely story. I, for one, would like to hear more of the details. Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: katlaughing Date: 07 Nov 01 - 10:47 PM Very punny, Art. You sure it wasn't a Pransome Hince? Lloyd62 doesn't get here much anymore, but for anyone who hasn't read his "Gig to Remember" threads, I highly recommend them. Lots of incredible stories of music touching lives, told in his simple, elegant style. Just put Gig to Remember in the thread search box and set the time back to a couple of years and they will come up. I esp. recommend #2 about "Lisa." Lloyd, darlin', if you read this, sure do miss you. Thanks, Deckman, for this thread. luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Robin2 Date: 07 Nov 01 - 11:07 PM Bob, This has been a great, uplifting thread, thanks for getting it rolling. Made me stop and think a bit about what moments were special.
OK, a little more about my special moment. My son wanted to be a professional singer since he was about seven years old. Lots of lessons, lots of auditions, lots of cringing as I listened to this young voice go through puberty. Through it all, this wonderful guy I call my son said, "Mommy, you're going to see me sing at Carnegie Hall" He said it at 7, said it at 10, said it at 13. I always teased him that I would NOT go to New York, I'm a Kentucky girl born and bred, and NOTHING would make me come to that town. "Not even to hear me sing?" he would say, voice cracking (he was 12 at the time) I told him, "When you sing at Carnegie Hall, I'll come to New York City." To a girl from Kentucky, Carnegie Hall seems like a myth.
(To all of you New Yorkers, I apologize for ever thinking ill of your town. My husband had to drag me kicking and screaming onto the train from Jersey to New York, and once there, I had the greatest time of my life! I found out that I loved New York, and can't wait to go back!)
My son performed with The Westminster Choir and The St. John's Orchestra (sort of a New York musicians all star band) I sat through the concert by my husband, and all I could think about was the little seven year old boy saying "Mommy, someday you're going to hear me sing at Carnegie Hall".
A very special moment. Robin |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 08 Nov 01 - 12:09 AM thank you very much ... Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Art Thieme Date: 08 Nov 01 - 07:49 PM To those who still do not know know "HOW?!" The answer is "PRACTICE"---of course. (You'll get there.) Art |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Robin2 Date: 08 Nov 01 - 07:58 PM Art,
Oh boy, you shoulda heard practice time at my house |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 08 Nov 01 - 09:28 PM Robin2... I hope your home in Kentucky was placed on a large ground, at least five acres! It does sound like it was occasionally like a zoo. Hopefully, your children, in later years, will remember the freedom of expression you allowed and encouraged in them, and that they will have the good sense to carry it on! CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 08 Nov 01 - 09:38 PM Art ... I really hope that I'm NOT STEPPING ON YOUR TOES! Let me explain. You just referred to a classic American Joke. I would like to tell that joke (my version) so that our many friends around the world can understand. The classic version goes something like this, please feel free to correct me ... a guy is walking down a sidewalk in New York City. He encounters a stranger. He asks the stranger, "can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?" The stranger answers, "practice, man, practice!" Again, this good story is full of wonderful Americanisms, and perhaps needs to be made clear to our global friends. CHEERS and BEST WISHES, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Art Thieme Date: 09 Nov 01 - 01:47 AM Bob, I never thought about people NOT knowing that joke ! Thank you for making it clearer. It happens quite often that here in Illinois we can't understand humor from Indiana and Wisconsin and Missouri. In Illinois it takes 2 people to eat possum. One has to watch for cars. Art |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 09 Nov 01 - 09:44 AM Art ... always remember that the duck flies at midnight! CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Helen Date: 09 Nov 01 - 05:04 PM I just refreshed one of my favourite threads called Singing in a dome http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9058&messages=38 because I remembered another magical musical moment which I posted in that thread - angelic choirs re: harp strings & harmonics Helen |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Nov 01 - 03:52 PM refresh |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 27 Nov 01 - 12:43 PM refresh |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Gervase Date: 28 Nov 01 - 08:02 AM I think I just had one. A MMM, I mean. Yesterday I was feeling a little low; domestic uncertainty and a small hiccup on the work front had combined to set loose the old black dog. But, sod it, I thought; I'll pop along to Sharp's regardless and lose myself in a bit of music. So I turned up shortly before eight only to find the place like the Marie Celeste - none of the usual suspects was there, and there were just three strangers, waiting in a desultory fashion for the bar to open. As the start time came and went it became clear that one of those who wasn't turning up was the MC. Would I mind awfully... It was one of those heart-sinking moments - three hours to fill with maybe four performers. And then they started coming; the regulars and some new faces. And somehow something extraordinary happened. Every singer seemed to have moved up a gear - mediocre performers became excellent and the good ones transcended all their usual abilities to become exceptional. The three strangers from the beginning of the night were a revelation. Two had turned up after slipping away from the Barbican, where they had been performing with the Baltimore Symphony orchestra - violinist Wayne Taylor and bass player Jonathan Jensen. On a borrowed fiddle Wayne launched into a heart-stopping rendition of the Ashokan Farewell, while Jonathan sang a remarkably moving song about his father's experience as a B17 crew member inthe skies over Suffolk in the war. The third stranger, Terry (and I wish I'd caught his surname), brought the house down with some of the funniest, most stylish and accomplished Music Hall stuff I've ever seen. Two other couples who turned up as first-timers were the sort that club bookers dream of getting as paid-for performers, and between them were the Sharp's stalwarts - Jim, Mary-Anne, the two Daves, Francis, Paul (who volunteered his fiddle to Wayne), Clive, Stan, Gerry and the others - all of whom went that extra mile. The harmonies were outrageous and brilliant, the accompaniments were perfect and the choice of material hit the spot perfectly. I ended the evening on cloud nine. Clive even asked me if he could have some of what I'd been drinking, as it had clearly had a strange effect on me. It was, thanks to the magic that sometimes happens when a group of musicians gather, one of the best musical evenings of my life, and I felt somehow blessed and privileged to be the MC. In short, last night was pure musical Prozac! |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Don Firth Date: 28 Nov 01 - 02:59 PM Another. . . . For some years, my wife Barbara was a large-caliber gun (!??) in a nationwide peace organization. She was the local director of the Lutheran Peace Fellowship. Although there is no official affiliation between the two organizations, there is a fair amount of cross-fertilization between the LPF and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Every year, the Western Washington FOR holds a retreat over the Fourth of July weekend at Seabeck. Barbara and I have attended the retreat a number of times. Seabeck is a conference center located in a beautiful woodland setting on the shores of Hood Canal (Hood Canal is not a man-made canal, it is actually a fjord, an offshoot of Puget Sound). There are several buildings scattered among the trees. Some of them house meeting rooms of various sizes, others contain rooms for lodging those who attend conferences there, and there are a couple of larger buildings. One is a meeting hall / auditorium and the other, formerly an inn, contains more lodging and a large dining area. The setting is perfect for the purpose. When going from workshop to workshop or when just enjoying leisure time, we followed paths through the trees or across wide, rolling green lawns. The waters of Hood Canal were always in view. For three days we met friends there, attended discussions and workshops (Barbara conducted a couple of workshops), ate simple but hearty meals in the dining room, slept soundly in the way one can only in such sylvan surroundings, and in general, relaxed and regenerated. The setting was — well — peaceful. At various times during the day, but especially in the evenings, there was music. This was provided by singer, songwriter, guitarist, and storyteller, the lovely and inimitable Linda Allen, and singer, storyteller, song-leader, and 5-string banjoist, Tom Rawson. They sang solo, they sang duets, and they led the group in song. At the close of the last full day, the singing went on late into the evening. Finally, as the evening drew a close, Tom Rawson taught us the chorus and got us all singing along on Greg Brown's Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon. Before he led us in the song, though, he said, "It's late, folks, and it's time for us all to go. But as you go, as you leave the building, I want you to keep singing the chorus. And keep singing as you go on your way." Then he led us in song, him singing the verses and the rest of us joining in on the chorus. After singing the last chorus through twice, he stopped playing the banjo and raised his arms while he kept singing. Slowly we all got up and filed out of the building, still singing. Outside, a full moon shone, shimmering on the waters of the nearby fjord and illuminating the night. Several hundred people gradually dispersed through the trees, all singing
Rooty toot toot for the moon, |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: SINSULL Date: 28 Nov 01 - 05:08 PM Arlo Guthrie to Kitty West: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Bid! Bid! Bid!" I have read through this thread twice and gone teary both times. Another treasure, guys. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Lonesome EJ Date: 28 Nov 01 - 05:56 PM Long ago, on the east side of Louisville, there was a little pizza joint owned by a rag-tag group of New York freaks, and it was called Fun City Pizza. It featured great thick-crust pizza and, though the boys didn't have a liquor license, they would pass around paper cups and a jug of dago red most weekend nights. I happened to be there one night in about 1974 with my girl, and in my pocket I had a Hohner D Blues Harp I'd been fooling with. Two guys walk in with guitars, put a hat on the floor for change, and start playing music. After a few minutes, the girl says "this guy has a harmonica!" so they start an A Blues and I caught my breath and jumped in. It started slow, but pretty soon we had a real groove going, and a woman jumps in and starts to sing, and everybody clapping along, and when we ended the clientele gives us a standing ovation. First time I ever played harp in front of people. |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Kaleea Date: 29 Nov 01 - 04:49 AM For those of you who are familiar with the works of J.S. Bach, when I was in music school many moons ago, my lover & I were listening to our favorite Brandenberg Concerto with the Piccolo trumpet solo. He got frisky & I did the figured bass & he did the piccolo trumpet (with much ornamentation & trills a plenty) & it was some kind of magic! |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: JudeL Date: 29 Nov 01 - 05:32 AM The MMM I remember best was just over 20 years ago. I went to a competition concert between 3 male voice choirs at the Park & Dare in Treorchy, South Wales. Each of the choirs sang the set piece, followed by their free choice. The singing on stage was lovely but couldn't hold a candle to what happened afterwards, downstairs in the bar. Most of the 3 choirs and a good part of the audience too were packed in there singing. Multipart harmony that you didn't so much hear as vibrate and be swept along by. Absolutely amazing - I'd never encountered anything to match that before or since - although occassionally the middle bar in Sidmouth comes close. ps Deckman - in your post on 29/nov you mention a song that starts "come a landsman" - do you know what it's title is and do you know if it's in the DT? |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 29 Nov 01 - 05:51 AM I know it as "The Old Maids Lament." I don't know about the DT yet. Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 29 Nov 01 - 05:54 AM I found it listed as "The Old Maids Song." Bob |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: JudeL Date: 29 Nov 01 - 07:18 AM Thanks Jude |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: JudeL Date: 29 Nov 01 - 07:26 AM Thanks for that, although I think it must be a slightly different version because it doesn't have the bit about "don't let me die an old maid, take me out of pity" that you first quoted. Jude
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: KingBrilliant Date: 29 Nov 01 - 08:50 AM I had a magical moment all to myself a few weeks ago. I was singing Ruby Tuesday and giving it my all - I was completely in another universe and having a wonderful time. I did at one point notice that people were looking a bit peculiar, sort of half-laughing and half-apalled. I didn't think I was that bad...... When I stopped singing I found out that I had completely missed a huge drama in the pub whereby the landlord had been accused of over-familiarity with a female punter. She had been arguing loudly and vociferously with him, and at one point was kneeling on the floor being calmed down by a friend. I had been the only person in the pub having a magical musical moment - everyone else was watching the drama unfold... Kris |
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Subject: RE: Magical Musical Moments From: Deckman Date: 30 Nov 01 - 06:17 AM Thanx folks ... it's been great. I started this post on October 28 and I've enjoyed every single posting. What a neat idea (thanks MAX) and resource ... think of an interesting question and ask the world. CHEERS to all, Bob(deckman)Nelson |
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