If you know the Gounod

I'm currently working on set painting for Tacoma Opera's production of Roméo et Juliette. Progress has been a bit choppy--largely because people keep getting sick--but it's coming along! Theater load-in is next weekend.

There's a Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet that's pretty well known, but that's a ballet. Anne Marie asked me who the composer of this one was, and I said, "I don't remember--not someone I'm familiar with. I think it starts with a G. Or maybe a C." She looked it up on her phone and said, "Oh, Charles Gounod! I know him."

Later I was checking out the Wikipedia article and realized that I know him too.  Or at least one of his works.   He wrote the Ave Maria that's superimposed over Bach's Prelude No. 1.  The Barra MacNeils have an especially lovely version on their second Christmas album.  It's the first song on Kate's bedtime playlist, and we've been hearing it every night for years. 

Years ago I ran across this video of Bobby McFerrin and was absolutely enchanted.  I had to go look it up again after I made the connection.



I can't help but think what a transcendent experience it must have been to be in that audience. I've always loved the bit at a concert where the performer will stop singing and let the audience carry the song for a while. It creates a brief feeling of connection that always gets me a bit emotional. (I remember being at a concert in Bannerman Park in St. John's Newfoundland, sitting on the grass in the twilight, softly singing "Sonny's Dream" along with all the other concert-goers, and getting positively teary-eyed. And I don't even like that song.)

Bobby McFerrin does some amazing stuff.  This video is fabulous as well. Both entertaining and astonishing.



My mind is blown.

Saturday Night Fiddler

A beautiful spring evening hanging out with the neighbors:



Doug fiddles, Andy endures getting passed around, Glory listens, Sky dances (and gets her pronouns mixed up), Kate appears right at the end to mug for the camera.

Re-connecting

I've been having fun looking for people I know on Facebook. Yesterday I tracked down a bunch of people that we knew in Newfoundland, including some that I'd been looking for for ages. That's so cool. Got to chat with an old friend. (Hi Patricia!)

This morning Kate was sitting on the couch playing and singing to herself. I wasn't really paying attention till I suddenly realized that she was singing the Barra MacNeils' "By the banks of the roses, my love and I sat down, and I took out my fiddle to play my love a tune..." I pointed it out to Doug ("Did you hear what she's singing?") and he was much astonished. We didn't even know she knew that song. I don't think we'd been listening to it recently. So then, of course, we had to put it on and sing along together. Good times.

A little Christmas music

I wanted to share this sample of the Barra MacNeils singing "O Come Divine Messiah." It's not the whole song, but long enough to enjoy. The Barra MacNeils are a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and their Christmas album is one of our favorites. (The first Christmas album, that is--they just came out with another one that we didn't like quite as much.) When we were in Newfoundland, Doug went to see the Barra MacNeils at one of the pubs downtown, and sat right next to Great Big Sea's Allan Doyle. Oooh.

Last night we went over to the Tracys' for their annual dinner, and I took along my musical pipes. "Carol of the Bells" proved to be too difficult (possible, with practice, I'm sure), but "Silent Night" with harmony was lovely.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Christmas and a tangent

Yesterday I ran up to Tacoma Boys to get a few things for dinner, and while I was there I heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Come With Me to Bethlehem." (On the radio, that is--the Tabernacle Choir was not actually at Tacoma Boys.) I had an instant flashback to three years ago--I was very pregnant, I was at Ross and Cathryn's place painting, the house was all warm and decorated for Christmas, and a CD with that song was playing. Even though the painting I was copying was of Jerusalem and had absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, the song and the setting just seemed to go together--the Holy Land, and the buildings glowing pink in the sunset. Apparently I was not the only one who thought so, as one of the girls asked me if the people with the camel were Mary and Joseph.

I had never heard "Come With Me to Bethlehem" anywhere else before last night. The timing seemed especially significant, since I had just been talking to Cathryn that morning. Their daughter Brittany got married this summer and they wanted some books to give to the grandparents for Christmas, so I'd been working on that. (I just happened to check Shared Ink and noticed that their deadline for Christmas orders was Dec. 4, so it was a bit of a scramble there, getting it all put together over a couple of days.) It was fun to be able to work with these lovely photos. Here are a few of the pages:






That picture of all the kids is going on a Christmas card, too. Isn't it great?

We made bacon lentil soup again tonight (Doug made it--I helped a bit). I'm starving! Time to go eat!

Music Time with Daddy

Doug and Kate playing with the cittern (it's like a big mandolin with ten strings), in the back yard.

"Looking for Livingstone"

We love this song by James Gordon--the jungle as a metaphor for communication. (And it's great for dancing around the living room.)