This might be called the monthly music blog. Turn away if you have little no interest in music. At your peril. The Haydn listening project is up to Symphony #28. Unlike the early Mozart symphonies, the works by Haydn are all unique and very artistic. These are not the writings of a guided child, but of a mature musician using his imagination to the fullest. Each work is filled with eye-opening surprises, and artistry beyond the extraordinary. Very few people get excited by Haydn's music. That says more about most people than about Haydn. The Britten and Brahms projects have seen Op 51 completed. The Brahms Op 51 set consists of two major string quartets. We know that most people listening to music have an attention span of about 45 seconds, before they begin wandering off in other directions unrelated to their listening. The best composers were quite aware of this, and their music incorporates composition techniques with the short attention span of their listeners in mind. Being a practicing pianist, my attention span may be slightly longer, but I still need variety and constantly changing harmony and rhythm to keep up my interest. These quartets are splendid places to begin your work, if interested. The first quartet in C Minor is especially good for this--it is awash in fabulous music, ever-changing! Listen to one movement at a time, and preferably more than once. Your brain will thank you.
As to my own piano pieces, I have begun memorizing the 1st half to the program, which consists of two short preludes by Bach and two short sonatas by Haydn. The 2nd half will consist of a major work by Schumann, his Op. 2 "Papillons." The butterflies Schumann had in mind were more of the social variety, as we attend a masked ball in 12 movements. I will conclude the program with the final three astronomy pieces by Alexina Louie, entitled Shooting stars, Blue Sky II, and Into Forever. That final piece is the only one I have not yet started to work on. Hopefully once the first half is memorized, it will save me enough time in my two hours of practice to include that final, and necessary, piece of music. This will also mark my 3rd or 4th concert in a row featuring a female composer. I think I will try and continue with this idea in all future concert planning.
Wednesday, June 27th/18
My summer holiday is well underway! No teaching at all this week, and then only on Wednesdays. Sunday evening's recital went well; I am still awaiting someone to send me a group photo. When the concert ended, Deb and I headed to a local brew pub. Sandwich Brewing Company does a mean vegan cheese board!
Yesterday we went to Detroit for a fun visit. It took us 48' to get through the tunnel and through customs, but once clear we had a very fun day. I doubt any other city in the world is seeing the kind of explosive growth and renovation of old buildings that Detroit is seeing. With Ford Motor Company's recent announcement of their purchase of the long-abandoned train station, and their intention to fully restore it and move 5,000 employees there, it just doesn't get any better. There are still no streets downtown to walk where construction can be avoided. this has been going full blast for about three years now, with building after building restored, open for business, and doing well. Downtown yesterday was as busy as central Croydon, and that is saying a lot.
The Book Building, background, is one of the largest renovation projects ever undertaken in the US. The exterior has been completely cleaned. Once restored inside, it will house offices, retail, and condos and apartment. The foreground building is one of dozens of lesser old buildings currently undergoing restoration.
Not only this fabulous old building is being renovated into a hotel, but the project also includes the three buildings to the left of it, as well as new construction in the rear.
3 new high rise buildings are underway downtown Detroit, including this one, which will be Detroit's tallest building when completed in 2 years.
New construction and renovation is everywhere in central Detroit.
The two buildings in the background, both once long-abandoned, are being converted into very unique and fancy hotels. The one on the right is open now. It is called The Siren. Their website is filled with great photos, but it takes a while to load. The lobby is like standing in an Edward Hopper painting.
Entrance to The Siren Hotel, Detroit. This place is beyond words!!
A loafer in the lobby. The lobby also serves as cafe seating.
Part of the lobby of The Siren Hotel, Detroit. 7 restored buildings downtown have been or are being turned into boutique hotels.
View south along Woodward Ave. (looking towards Canada). The foreground buildings on left and right were once abandoned skyscrapers. The left one is now apartments, and the right one is a hotel. Nearly every building looking along Woodward has undergone, or is undergoing, a complete refit.
One of Detroit's trams, which connects the downtown area to Midtown, the Medical Center, the Cultural Center, Wayne State University, and the New Centre, where the Amtrak station is. $1.50 lets you ride for three hours, any direction.
Detroit's downtown parks have never looked so welcoming!
When Detroit was in the doldrums (80s, 90s, 00s), the only shops etc that managed to remain open were on the main drag. All of the side streets that had once hustled and bustled with commercial action, had died. The side streets are not only back, but better than ever with their unique shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants. There is an overwhelming demand for residential space downtown, and all of the office space for the next five years has been spoken for, including space not yet fully renovated.
Anyway, a good day was had by all! I should be blogging a bit more regularly now that I am teaching less. No excuses. See you tomorrow. And have a very happy full moon!!
Anyway, a good day was had by all! I should be blogging a bit more regularly now that I am teaching less. No excuses. See you tomorrow. And have a very happy full moon!!
Downtown Detroit, showing part of a row of refurbished buildings, including the skycraper taking up the right side of the photo.
Open street furniture is everywhere downtown, including really comfy and shaded chairs for napping (not shown)!
Tuesday, June 19th/18
We set heat records for both Sunday and Monday, not surprising if you lived through those days. Last night at bedtime we were deluged by rain, thunder, and lightning. I awoke to find 2" in the backyard rain gauge. However, it was so dry that by this morning, other than a muddy and fast-flowing creek, there was little evidence of the heavy rain. In fact, I was able to cut the grass by 11 am!
I have managed to publish the first part of our recent voyage to Columbus, Ohio. I hope to work on the rest later in the week, mostly concerning some very fine brew pubs we visited. I also just finished a very odd book by Piers Anthony and Robert E. Margroff called The Ring. The short review can be found on the Avon/Equinox page, under Piers Anthony. I really like Anthony's SF work, and this is a very early story he wrote with another author. Glad I read it, though.
I have now completed my teaching for Monday and Tuesday, and won't have to do that again until September. I will finish up tomorrow, but in two weeks I will resume Wednesday teaching for July and August. That money should pay for the gasoline for our upcoming road trip to NM in mid-September.
I am looking forward to a summer of reading, practicing, riding my bike, writing, playing games, both computer, card, and board variety, as well as generally taking things easy. In the old days when teaching school I was able to completely get away from kids for two months. That won't happen again this summer because of teaching, though very few kids take lessons for the entire vacation. After tomorrow's lessons it will be time to prepare for the Summer Solstice partay!!
I am looking forward to a summer of reading, practicing, riding my bike, writing, playing games, both computer, card, and board variety, as well as generally taking things easy. In the old days when teaching school I was able to completely get away from kids for two months. That won't happen again this summer because of teaching, though very few kids take lessons for the entire vacation. After tomorrow's lessons it will be time to prepare for the Summer Solstice partay!!
Sunday, June 17th/18
We are just back from Columbus, Ohio, and our 2nd annual visit to Origins Game and Film Festival. Once again it was very hot. On our return home today the temps were in the mid-90s, plus loads of humidity. Later this week, possibly tomorrow, I will be blogging about the trip (see the Midwest blog) and posting photos. Two of Deb's short films were screened, and we ended up buying three board games. On Friday I visited the Columbus Museum of Art, and I also managed to drink some delicious samples at 4 different brew pubs. We found some new cafes and veg friendly restaurants, too. All in all it was a fun trip, though tiring.
We left for Columbus on Thursday, and of course the night before was clear with spectacular skies. I stayed at the observatory until 1 am, enjoying the best night to view galaxies in a long time. I finished my work in Bootes, a constellation I have been studying for several years now. I also began work on a new one, Draco.
I have one week left of teaching regular music lessons, plus the final student concert next Sunday evening. I am, as ever, looking forward to summer break. At this point I do not think I will return to Iaido, but that may change once things settle down a bit here. I have been away since December, and would like to return, but I also enjoy not having to drive to Windsor 2x per week. I should know more after next week. If I could have one less night of teaching, I would probably return full time.
I have one week left of teaching regular music lessons, plus the final student concert next Sunday evening. I am, as ever, looking forward to summer break. At this point I do not think I will return to Iaido, but that may change once things settle down a bit here. I have been away since December, and would like to return, but I also enjoy not having to drive to Windsor 2x per week. I should know more after next week. If I could have one less night of teaching, I would probably return full time.
Sunday, June 10th/18
More about books.... I managed to pick up 22 books relating to my Avon/Equinox project recently. Most of them were by Silverberg, but I also got some by Piers Anthony, Kenneth Bulmer, and Jack Williamson. In addition to those, we picked up three others. I used to have a copy of Three Men In a Boat, and I promised to loan it to Anita G. It is a very funny book, though it also has moments of poetic beauty and dreamy prose. Alas, I no longer had a copy, so we picked up another. There is also a short film about the book, staring Michael Palin and Tim Curry, which occasionally measures up to the writing. It is a Victorian novel, and began its life as a travelogue of rowing up the River Thames. It captures the essence of life in Britain before WWI, and is worth more than one or two readings.
Two other books acquired yesterday were written by August Derleth. Derleth is the man responsible for Arkham House Publishing, including works by H.P. Lovecraft. He also wrote a number of highly regarded Sherlock Holmes stories, in the tradition of Doyle. Derleth's character is called Solar Pons. I had never even heard of these until I came across them in a recent essay by P. J. Farmer, himself an incurable Holmes fanatic. Really looking forward to reading these! They take place in the 1920s.
I recently had my two-year anniversary of the Avon/Equinox Project. To date I have read 21 of the 27 books in that SF series, and continue to delve into other works by those 24 authors. Last year (since June 3rd., 2017) I read and reviewed 120 books related to the series, making a total of 220 altogether. Last year I also read 11 other works, unrelated.
Saturday, June 9th/18
Today was our first Detroit day in ages! Mostly it was a visit to John King Books, where I had a very long shipping list. I stopped after about 20 books, but I could have easily bought 20 more. I was in the SF section the entire time. At one point (I was in the "Bs," checking out Kenneth Bulmer) when a voice came through the book shelf towards me. I bent down and saw a face, a young woman of perhaps 20 years.
"Do you work here?" she asked.
"No, but I know the store pretty well. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"What is your favourite SF book?" Suddenly I felt like Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet, when he is asked to shoot the Captain. My brain short circuited, and I was unable to respond.
"What is your favourite SF book?" Suddenly I felt like Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet, when he is asked to shoot the Captain. My brain short circuited, and I was unable to respond.
"Sorry," came the voice. "I probably shouldn't have asked you that. It wasn't a fair question."
Since I had just finished with the "A's," I told her about my favourite works by Piers Anthony. We located the first two of the three Man and Manta series, and she took those, but we could not find a copy of Macroscope. We chatted briefly, and she seemed very appreciative of me for the recommendations. She was from NYC, visiting Detroit for the first time. She'd already been in the bookstore for two hours, and showed no signs of wanting to leave.
We next went to Eastern Market, but it was just too crowded to hang out. We went to Brew Detroit, then next door to Batch Brewery, then to nearby Anthology Coffee, and then Deb drove me home as I sang songs for her. It's was raining a bit as we got home, and I have a small truckload of books to check off my list and order properly into my reading list. Yay Detroit!
The moat at Arundel Castle. Another previously unpublished photo from our recent trip to London.
Thursday, June 7th/18
We have had a splendidly cool week, as compared to last week. No A/C running, fun to be out on our bikes, comfortable to sleep--if only this was what summers are like in our area. With this week's teaching out of the way, I only have two weeks left to go, plus the final concert. Then I will have one week off before beginning the summer session, when I only teach Wednesdays. I have at least 5 students interested in regular summer lessons. That would be plenty for me.
Today is election day in Ontario. What a sorry choice of characters to choose from. We voted, but it was a matter of choosing the least obnoxious of the candidates. Whoever wins, Ontario is in for a sorry 5 years.
Last Sunday Jennifer G. drove here from Cambridge, ON, bringing food, beer, gifts and books. We spent a fun day sampling beer, snacking, and planning our epic drive to New Mexico in September. She brought us two Steampunk books. We checked on the dates for the upcoming convention in Detroit in July. Sounds interesting! She also brought us a home beer tasting kit, with four small sample glasses, beer tasting notes, and a checklist to fill out for each beer. It will be another fun thing to do, possibly on the trip to NM, which will include several brewery stops and tastings.
On the battlements of Arundel Castle, from the approach to
the Keep. The gaggle of school children that kept us company
aloft can be seen re-entering the castle proper.
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