“…they roared their terrible roars, and gnashed their terrible teeth, and rolled their terrible eyes, and showed their terrible claws!” Maurice Sendak
Traveling for the holidays is just around the corner for many of us, and we all know what a joy that can be, but sometimes just getting there is the easy part. The fun starts when you decide to fill that holiday time away with as many “special” experiences as you can to make sure that this is the trip to top all trips - the one we’ll talk about for years to come…
Let’s face it, that’s a lot of pressure. Are you really going to outdo that first view of the Grand Canyon? Or the ride on the San Francisco cable car? Or even the visit to the world’s largest ball of twine? The chances are that you’re in for a disappointment, because in truth, the best memories are the ones that happen on the spur-of-the-moment, unplanned and unscripted. If you’re really lucky, you might be able to combine the search for the perfect moment with serendipity, which is what happened to my family this Thanksgiving.
First, a quantifier: I believe the search for the perfect moment differs exponentially depending on whether you’re traveling with kids or without. I suffer from the malady that strikes many people when they have kids - the need to overlay educational moments within any trip that is farther than, say, 20 blocks from your home. In the past I have been known to detour an otherwise straightforward zip down I-77 with a side venture to something like the final resting place of the dirigible “Shenandoah” or the “Big Musky Bucket” (whatever that is), even if it means driving two hours out of the way down the kind of unpaved and unmarked roads that send GPS into mute acquiescence. Is there a Civil War battlefield within 120 miles of our planned route? I’m there, baby, dragging catatonic kids to walk the rolling fields of Chickamauga, or climb the airless peaks of Kennesaw Mountain. On the other hand, if I’m traveling with just my wife, I can be perfectly happy to find a quiet retreat or expansive beach and just plop down and pull out my latest book. Bliss is often associated with inactivity in this case, and restfulness trumps revelation.
The challenge really comes when these two aspirations collide, hence Thanksgiving 2010. My little family decided to travel to the home of my sister and her husband outside of Lexington, Virginia, this November. They have a beautiful farm nestled between mountain ranges a good half an hour out into the wilderness from downtown Lexington. When I go there, I always think of one thing: relaxation. Sure, Lexington is a very historic town, the home of Stonewall Jackson, the final resting place of Robert E. Lee, home to two noted colleges (Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute). It also has a thriving music and arts subculture; with something for everyone, it’s an ideal family vacation. But my sister has lived there a long time, and eventually visiting the grave of Lee’s horse, “Traveler,” starts to lose its luster, and sitting by the wood stove, dreamily reading back issues of The New Yorker appears to be as close to paradise as one can hope for. But no sooner had I put my feet up and started to snore lightly than I was disturbed by my sister regaling the 9-year old with tales of the wild animal safari park a few miles down the road. Immediately alarm bells began to ring in my drooping head. Little girls and big fuzzy animals! Ix-nay on the ark-pay! We already have a full schedule planned for the week! This was not on the radar screen.
Too late… before I knew it, our trip was being extended an extra day and a “safari adventure” was being planned. I knew resistance was futile, but I demanded one concession - that my thoughtful sister must accompany us as penance for bringing the whole thing up in the first place. Soon we found ourselves packed in my new Rav4 and heading to the “other” Lexington, a land of fiberglass dinosaurs, wax museums, an art installation named “Foam-Henge” (don’t ask), and restaurants painted electric pink. We entered the animal park through its faux-tribal arch, where a nice young attendant collected buckets of cash from us in exchange for four buckets of animal feed and our admission fees. A tiny voice inside my head said, “Huh, so this place actually allows you to feed the animals; I wonder how that works….” Then before I knew it, a stronger voice inside my head said, “Wait, we’re not allowed out of the car, we will have to feed them through open windows…” Then a LOUD voice (apparently it was mine) hollered, “Hold the buckets OUTSIDE the windows! Oh my [bleep], where did all these llamas come from!?”
There are few moments in life that can compare to having a full grown bison stick its head inside your car from one side, while a naughty zebra goes for the feedbag from another. As I watched in abject horror, food pellets, clumps of fur, saliva, and other unidentifiable secretions were sprayed around, inside, and on top of my new car! Everyone else in our car laughed uproariously throughout the assault until they were gasping for breath and, if truth be told, being that up close and personal with a gnu was pretty fun. But my mind could only focus on one thought - escape! My initial reaction was to hit the gas and leave the llamas and other large mammals in the dust, but hitting a wildebeest full-on with my little car was an even less pleasant prospect than getting slimed, so I soldiered on. As we moved further into the park I tried to hide my glee as the feed buckets were snatched away or dumped one-by-one (all over my seats, of course) by the wily critters until there was no more reason for them to hang around.
If you ask my family members, the hour or so we spent on safari that day was one of the most memorable ever. The photos and movies seem to back this up, as we created our own version of Where the Wild Things Are. And as for me, well, I’ll have the memories for a good, long, time; food pellets fermenting in my window wells, unaccounted-for stains and stickiness throughout my leather interior, and a nice little scratch in my car’s roof line from one very aggressive elk! Who was the one getting educated by this “special” travel experience anyway???
May you and yours have a warm and wonderful holiday season!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
We make a living by what we get.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill
When an organization is more than 98 years old as ours is, conventional wisdom calls it a treasure of the community that should be held in the highest esteem. But in truth, the real measure of The Music Settlement’s worth after so many years is not the organization itself, but rather the people who have worked here day after day to manifest its mission. I would like to tell you about two such people who made a difference in the lives of so many others that their impact is really pretty hard to quantify in concrete terms. Let’s just say they affected generations of people in our community for the better, in very meaningful ways. We are all deeply saddened to have lost both of these people within the last 10 days, but the stories of Richard Kauffman and Jocelyn Chang are about so much more than their passing; they are about lives lived heroically and selflessly.
Dick and Jocelyn represent two different eras at The Music Settlement. Jocelyn began teaching harp with us in 1991 and continued right up until her untimely passing on November 19th, while Dick was the legendary founder and director of the Extensions Division of The Music Settlement from 1953 to 1986. We learned this week of Dick’s passing on November 27th at the age of 94. Even though Jocelyn and Dick’s eras at The Music Settlement were five years apart, they clearly were contemporaries in their spirited and generous approach to music and music education.
I’m not exaggerating when I refer to Dick as “legendary,” for he was a highly respected, admired, and honored member of the arts community in Cleveland for many years. He had the foresight to develop and lead a department that provided outreach efforts in many of the communities that defined The Music Settlement for 30 years and beyond. These efforts included the organization’s first forays into Music Therapy, and Dick is credited with being one of the strongest advocates for the establishment of this prestigious department. But the one thing I hear consistently from his colleagues about Dick is his truly joyful approach to his job and his life. Dick brought people together and inspired them to go beyond themselves and their limitations, from which great things resulted. I understand he particularly enjoyed hosting gatherings for the staff and faculty that still evoke warm memories and big smiles from those who attended them. Sometimes it’s rare that individuals with great vision also possess great compassion and understand that motivation is much more effective when it’s delivered by someone who so obviously cares about others. Dick was a perfect fit for The Music Settlement for that reason, where caring and responsiveness to our community is our reason for being.
“Caring” and “compassion” are two words that defined Jocelyn Chang as well. Her important legacy as a musician and a teacher is a reflection of that, and she was instrumental in the renaissance of the harp in our community in the last twenty five years. As a high profile performer of both traditional and nontraditional music and instruments, Jocelyn’s efforts inspired countless young people who might not otherwise have discovered the harp’s lyrical allure to consider it in a new light and turn to it as an instrument of choice. She took teaching very seriously and expected her students to do so as well, and as a result there is a generation of musicians out there who honed their talents under her watchful eye.
Jocelyn also championed the performance of works by new composers at the regional and international level, and helped to keep original composition vital in the eyes and ears of our community. This dedication led her to be a founding member of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, a resident partner program of The Music Settlement and an award-winning professional ensemble dedicated to music by 20th century and living composers. Efforts like hers have helped keep classical music alive and thriving in a time of great competition and concern, which is of true benefit to all us. I had the great fortune to work with Jocelyn during my time at The Music Settlement, and I can personally attest to her impact as an artist and as a person. She was fearless artistically, stretching herself and her instrument beyond the boundaries of what is considered safe and traditional. She even redefined our perceptions of the harp when she fell in love with the sound of the Dilling Harp, an instrument on which she performed in numerous concerts and original works. She had great emotional strength and a depth of feeling that was evident in everything she did, and teamed with her husband and a fellow Department of Music instructor, Michael Leese, to be one of the most sought after performing duos in the region.
It is a frustrating exercise to try to distill a life of artistry, generosity, and humanity into a paragraph or two. I understand that I cannot begin to do justice to Dick and Jocelyn’s respective legacies, but I can tell you this: they courageously shared their gifts with others without a concern for any personal gain. They directly influenced thousands of others for the better during their lives and into the foreseeable future. They made this world a better place, and it is a bit less bright now because they have left us. Whether you knew them or not, celebrate their lives by living yours with the same attitude and you will light their way on the path to their next adventures.
Thank you, Dick and Jocelyn.
Have a great week!
When an organization is more than 98 years old as ours is, conventional wisdom calls it a treasure of the community that should be held in the highest esteem. But in truth, the real measure of The Music Settlement’s worth after so many years is not the organization itself, but rather the people who have worked here day after day to manifest its mission. I would like to tell you about two such people who made a difference in the lives of so many others that their impact is really pretty hard to quantify in concrete terms. Let’s just say they affected generations of people in our community for the better, in very meaningful ways. We are all deeply saddened to have lost both of these people within the last 10 days, but the stories of Richard Kauffman and Jocelyn Chang are about so much more than their passing; they are about lives lived heroically and selflessly.
Dick and Jocelyn represent two different eras at The Music Settlement. Jocelyn began teaching harp with us in 1991 and continued right up until her untimely passing on November 19th, while Dick was the legendary founder and director of the Extensions Division of The Music Settlement from 1953 to 1986. We learned this week of Dick’s passing on November 27th at the age of 94. Even though Jocelyn and Dick’s eras at The Music Settlement were five years apart, they clearly were contemporaries in their spirited and generous approach to music and music education.
I’m not exaggerating when I refer to Dick as “legendary,” for he was a highly respected, admired, and honored member of the arts community in Cleveland for many years. He had the foresight to develop and lead a department that provided outreach efforts in many of the communities that defined The Music Settlement for 30 years and beyond. These efforts included the organization’s first forays into Music Therapy, and Dick is credited with being one of the strongest advocates for the establishment of this prestigious department. But the one thing I hear consistently from his colleagues about Dick is his truly joyful approach to his job and his life. Dick brought people together and inspired them to go beyond themselves and their limitations, from which great things resulted. I understand he particularly enjoyed hosting gatherings for the staff and faculty that still evoke warm memories and big smiles from those who attended them. Sometimes it’s rare that individuals with great vision also possess great compassion and understand that motivation is much more effective when it’s delivered by someone who so obviously cares about others. Dick was a perfect fit for The Music Settlement for that reason, where caring and responsiveness to our community is our reason for being.
“Caring” and “compassion” are two words that defined Jocelyn Chang as well. Her important legacy as a musician and a teacher is a reflection of that, and she was instrumental in the renaissance of the harp in our community in the last twenty five years. As a high profile performer of both traditional and nontraditional music and instruments, Jocelyn’s efforts inspired countless young people who might not otherwise have discovered the harp’s lyrical allure to consider it in a new light and turn to it as an instrument of choice. She took teaching very seriously and expected her students to do so as well, and as a result there is a generation of musicians out there who honed their talents under her watchful eye.
Jocelyn also championed the performance of works by new composers at the regional and international level, and helped to keep original composition vital in the eyes and ears of our community. This dedication led her to be a founding member of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, a resident partner program of The Music Settlement and an award-winning professional ensemble dedicated to music by 20th century and living composers. Efforts like hers have helped keep classical music alive and thriving in a time of great competition and concern, which is of true benefit to all us. I had the great fortune to work with Jocelyn during my time at The Music Settlement, and I can personally attest to her impact as an artist and as a person. She was fearless artistically, stretching herself and her instrument beyond the boundaries of what is considered safe and traditional. She even redefined our perceptions of the harp when she fell in love with the sound of the Dilling Harp, an instrument on which she performed in numerous concerts and original works. She had great emotional strength and a depth of feeling that was evident in everything she did, and teamed with her husband and a fellow Department of Music instructor, Michael Leese, to be one of the most sought after performing duos in the region.
It is a frustrating exercise to try to distill a life of artistry, generosity, and humanity into a paragraph or two. I understand that I cannot begin to do justice to Dick and Jocelyn’s respective legacies, but I can tell you this: they courageously shared their gifts with others without a concern for any personal gain. They directly influenced thousands of others for the better during their lives and into the foreseeable future. They made this world a better place, and it is a bit less bright now because they have left us. Whether you knew them or not, celebrate their lives by living yours with the same attitude and you will light their way on the path to their next adventures.
Thank you, Dick and Jocelyn.
Have a great week!
Monday, November 8, 2010
I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world
There are a lot of reasons why it’s cool to work at The Music Settlement, and one of them is our health maintenance program. You might be surprised to learn that a community center for the arts even has a health maintenance program; it probably seems a better fit for some large for-profit corporation, where you’d find an on-site gym and maybe even exercise classes, but we do our part. We provide incentives and encouragement throughout the year to our employees to help them adopt better habits and make better choices for their health and the health of their families. Not surprisingly, this practice also helps our business operation, as it has been a proven link to keeping our overall healthcare costs down while they are spiraling up elsewhere. But what’s even more appealing about these efforts is that they can be fun - well, maybe not the Holiday Weight Maintenance Challenge - but in general, they help build a sense of community and camaraderie.
A perfect example is last month’s program, Walktober. All employees were encouraged to create a routine of regular daily walking for significant lengths of time as a form of overall exercise with a variety of benefits. This program was a perfect match for me, as I have always been a big fan of just throwing on a coat and letting my feet carry me away on a voyage of discovery. It was also fun because I am fortunate enough to work and live in two communities that seem designed for the walker: University Circle and Cleveland Heights. It’s odd to think that, conversely, there are communities that are not friendly to walking, but increasingly that is the case in our country. One of my favorite authors, the witty and acerbic Bill Bryson, has written of this same phenomenon in several of his books (most notably, his classic A Walk in the Woods) - American communities built for the automobile and not for the foot. I remember a particular passage in which he tries to take a walk from a hotel where he is staying and he quickly finds himself in a “Wal-Mart World”, where there are no sidewalks, no pedestrian amenities, and in which trying to walk from point A to point B is tantamount to suicide. This is by no means the only example, but one that is becoming more and more frequent as the sprawl of the suburbs continues unchecked. But really, when did we decide that sidewalks and crosswalks were unnecessary? When did it become acceptable that driving a quarter mile to the Get-Go for a slushy was the preferred way to go?
I know, I know, I’m slipping into curmudgeon mode again, mea culpa, but last month’s Walktober experience has only cemented this issue in my mind. There are few areas in our region that can be as stimulating to the eye and the mind as a mile or so trekked around University Circle! I’ve been taking a half-hour at midday every day to stride around our neighborhood, varying my course each day but always including a circuit of Wade Oval and the lagoon. These areas were designed for strolling, with unexpected sights, both natural and man-made, that catch the imagination and blend together seamlessly, even though they represent more than a 100-year span of development. How cool is it that you can walk by the John Hay house, now home to the Western Reserve Historical Society, and come across the brand new Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Community Plaza? Or that you can let your vision drift from the historic to the modern to the contemporary in just one building, The Cleveland Museum of Art? While you’re at it, shift your gaze 180 degrees from CMA and looming over the more traditional structures that line East Boulevard you’ll see the striking shapes of the Peter B. Lewis Building on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. And there’s so much more.
Similarly, I live in the Fairmount/Coventry section of Cleveland Heights, where a short walk affords me views of three of the most beautiful churches in the area, a nature area of surprising variety and drama, and the unique commercial districts of Coventry, Cedar Hill, and Lee Road. Every walk brings a new adventure and reminds me of the immeasurable value of a community that is planned on a human scale, regardless of the character of residence or business that is represented around me. One might argue that such neighborhoods and business districts are a hassle to negotiate and challenging to navigate, but that’s the beauty of the thing. They are not designed to help you pass through quickly while staring straight ahead and talking on your cell phone, they demand that you pay attention, take your time, and that you gain more than just speed by the experience. I think it’s critical that we all take time to walk the neighborhoods of our lives, literally and metaphorically. I don’t want to measure my life from the window of an automobile and the clock on the wall. How healthy can it be for any of us to sit in our workspace, car, and TV room all day? Let’s celebrate “Walktober” every month of the year, and wear out a few pairs of shoes in the process.
Have a great week!
A perfect example is last month’s program, Walktober. All employees were encouraged to create a routine of regular daily walking for significant lengths of time as a form of overall exercise with a variety of benefits. This program was a perfect match for me, as I have always been a big fan of just throwing on a coat and letting my feet carry me away on a voyage of discovery. It was also fun because I am fortunate enough to work and live in two communities that seem designed for the walker: University Circle and Cleveland Heights. It’s odd to think that, conversely, there are communities that are not friendly to walking, but increasingly that is the case in our country. One of my favorite authors, the witty and acerbic Bill Bryson, has written of this same phenomenon in several of his books (most notably, his classic A Walk in the Woods) - American communities built for the automobile and not for the foot. I remember a particular passage in which he tries to take a walk from a hotel where he is staying and he quickly finds himself in a “Wal-Mart World”, where there are no sidewalks, no pedestrian amenities, and in which trying to walk from point A to point B is tantamount to suicide. This is by no means the only example, but one that is becoming more and more frequent as the sprawl of the suburbs continues unchecked. But really, when did we decide that sidewalks and crosswalks were unnecessary? When did it become acceptable that driving a quarter mile to the Get-Go for a slushy was the preferred way to go?
I know, I know, I’m slipping into curmudgeon mode again, mea culpa, but last month’s Walktober experience has only cemented this issue in my mind. There are few areas in our region that can be as stimulating to the eye and the mind as a mile or so trekked around University Circle! I’ve been taking a half-hour at midday every day to stride around our neighborhood, varying my course each day but always including a circuit of Wade Oval and the lagoon. These areas were designed for strolling, with unexpected sights, both natural and man-made, that catch the imagination and blend together seamlessly, even though they represent more than a 100-year span of development. How cool is it that you can walk by the John Hay house, now home to the Western Reserve Historical Society, and come across the brand new Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Community Plaza? Or that you can let your vision drift from the historic to the modern to the contemporary in just one building, The Cleveland Museum of Art? While you’re at it, shift your gaze 180 degrees from CMA and looming over the more traditional structures that line East Boulevard you’ll see the striking shapes of the Peter B. Lewis Building on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. And there’s so much more.
Similarly, I live in the Fairmount/Coventry section of Cleveland Heights, where a short walk affords me views of three of the most beautiful churches in the area, a nature area of surprising variety and drama, and the unique commercial districts of Coventry, Cedar Hill, and Lee Road. Every walk brings a new adventure and reminds me of the immeasurable value of a community that is planned on a human scale, regardless of the character of residence or business that is represented around me. One might argue that such neighborhoods and business districts are a hassle to negotiate and challenging to navigate, but that’s the beauty of the thing. They are not designed to help you pass through quickly while staring straight ahead and talking on your cell phone, they demand that you pay attention, take your time, and that you gain more than just speed by the experience. I think it’s critical that we all take time to walk the neighborhoods of our lives, literally and metaphorically. I don’t want to measure my life from the window of an automobile and the clock on the wall. How healthy can it be for any of us to sit in our workspace, car, and TV room all day? Let’s celebrate “Walktober” every month of the year, and wear out a few pairs of shoes in the process.
Have a great week!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
“None of us really understands what is going on with all these numbers…” David Stockman on the US budget, 1981
All of us are into numbers in one way or another; it’s unavoidable in our high tech world. We define ourselves by numbers: social security numbers, cell or home phone numbers (if anyone still has land lines these days), credit card numbers, lottery numbers….even the calendar seems to emphasize the issue, as we just passed October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) on Sunday. We are surrounded by analog reminders of our daily life, and too many of us seem to think this is the only way we can effectively measure our impact and worth on this planet. What a sad commentary that is.
But don’t give up hope. There are ways to make numbers work for you and maybe even be your friends! You can start by finding real and redeeming value in numbers. Instead of starting each day with a roster of the challenges and expectations you’ll face in the race to 5:00 PM (another number!), take the time to count your blessings that make the whole thing worthwhile. When you calculate your relative success in a day or a year, don’t make the mistake of basing it only on dollars earned or items checked off your to-do list. Consider the people you’ve met and/or helped, and those who have helped you. I find it a telling sign of our times that people my age seem to be more and more obsessed with the count on their “bucket list”- the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. It seems to me that very few of those lists include items that focus on being of service to others, like “help a young person find their way in life”, or “build a home for someone who doesn’t have one.” Really, how many of us truly need to climb Kilimanjaro to feel fulfilled? Can we really”go gentle into that good night” only if we first visit every major league ballpark in America? I’m not knocking those things, I’m just saying that we should all be able to balance the need for racking up numbers of “thrills” with personal checklists of more altruistic goals. Maybe I’m just lucky because I work at The Music Settlement, where we strive every day to bring richness and impact to the lives of those we serve.
Let me cite some numbers for you that are really special: one instructor for every six children in our arts-enriched early childhood day school classrooms; four years of full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music for Jazz @ The Settlement student Jevaughn Bogard; 13 full-time Music Therapists on staff, making The Music Settlement the largest community-based music therapy program of its kind in the country; more than 40 years of bringing our community programs targeting the very young and people with special needs; 48 weeks of the year filled with activities on our Magnolia Drive campus for you to enjoy; more than 120 instructors and therapists ready and willing to bring you a life-changing experience in a one-on-one or group class format; more than 3,200 individuals directly served by The Music Settlement each year; over 50,000 square feet of building space on our campus to serve the needs of our students and clients in music therapy, early childhood education, and music instruction; more than $190,000 awarded by The Music Settlement in 2009-2010 in scholarships and financial aid to students and clients in all of its departments; and perhaps the most impressive number of them all: 98 consecutive years of bringing quality personal experiences in the musical arts to our region and beyond.
Of course, there are many more numbers associated with The Music Settlement than I can list within the confines of this blog, but you get the idea. There have been a lot of people doing a lot of things here for a lot of years to make a lot of folks' lives better - more than can be counted, actually. These are the kinds of numbers that really mean something. Numbers that you don’t mind be measured against. Numbers that tell a story that is worth paying attention to. The next time you’re stressing about the latest score of your sports team, or the numbers polled by your favorite contestant on a reality show, or the forecast for that Saturday on which you have plans; remind yourself of numbers that really do add up to something significant for you, in your own life and at places like The Music Settlement. I’m counting on you!
Have a great week!
All of us are into numbers in one way or another; it’s unavoidable in our high tech world. We define ourselves by numbers: social security numbers, cell or home phone numbers (if anyone still has land lines these days), credit card numbers, lottery numbers….even the calendar seems to emphasize the issue, as we just passed October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10) on Sunday. We are surrounded by analog reminders of our daily life, and too many of us seem to think this is the only way we can effectively measure our impact and worth on this planet. What a sad commentary that is.
But don’t give up hope. There are ways to make numbers work for you and maybe even be your friends! You can start by finding real and redeeming value in numbers. Instead of starting each day with a roster of the challenges and expectations you’ll face in the race to 5:00 PM (another number!), take the time to count your blessings that make the whole thing worthwhile. When you calculate your relative success in a day or a year, don’t make the mistake of basing it only on dollars earned or items checked off your to-do list. Consider the people you’ve met and/or helped, and those who have helped you. I find it a telling sign of our times that people my age seem to be more and more obsessed with the count on their “bucket list”- the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. It seems to me that very few of those lists include items that focus on being of service to others, like “help a young person find their way in life”, or “build a home for someone who doesn’t have one.” Really, how many of us truly need to climb Kilimanjaro to feel fulfilled? Can we really”go gentle into that good night” only if we first visit every major league ballpark in America? I’m not knocking those things, I’m just saying that we should all be able to balance the need for racking up numbers of “thrills” with personal checklists of more altruistic goals. Maybe I’m just lucky because I work at The Music Settlement, where we strive every day to bring richness and impact to the lives of those we serve.
Let me cite some numbers for you that are really special: one instructor for every six children in our arts-enriched early childhood day school classrooms; four years of full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music for Jazz @ The Settlement student Jevaughn Bogard; 13 full-time Music Therapists on staff, making The Music Settlement the largest community-based music therapy program of its kind in the country; more than 40 years of bringing our community programs targeting the very young and people with special needs; 48 weeks of the year filled with activities on our Magnolia Drive campus for you to enjoy; more than 120 instructors and therapists ready and willing to bring you a life-changing experience in a one-on-one or group class format; more than 3,200 individuals directly served by The Music Settlement each year; over 50,000 square feet of building space on our campus to serve the needs of our students and clients in music therapy, early childhood education, and music instruction; more than $190,000 awarded by The Music Settlement in 2009-2010 in scholarships and financial aid to students and clients in all of its departments; and perhaps the most impressive number of them all: 98 consecutive years of bringing quality personal experiences in the musical arts to our region and beyond.
Of course, there are many more numbers associated with The Music Settlement than I can list within the confines of this blog, but you get the idea. There have been a lot of people doing a lot of things here for a lot of years to make a lot of folks' lives better - more than can be counted, actually. These are the kinds of numbers that really mean something. Numbers that you don’t mind be measured against. Numbers that tell a story that is worth paying attention to. The next time you’re stressing about the latest score of your sports team, or the numbers polled by your favorite contestant on a reality show, or the forecast for that Saturday on which you have plans; remind yourself of numbers that really do add up to something significant for you, in your own life and at places like The Music Settlement. I’m counting on you!
Have a great week!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
From where do we draw our strength? How do we hold ourselves up and stand tall when life is at its most challenging? A surprising number of people turn to the power of music.
For some, it’s a source of relaxation or stress reduction; for others, it improves focus and concentration. Many others find it to be a very personal pathway to a state of grace. You can find many instances in this world, both formal and informal, where music heightens enlightenment and steels resolve; where it acts as a channel to greater clarity and unlocks answers hidden to us by our everyday tunnel vision. We’ve all experienced it - music conjuring up a memory, or calming a case of late night insomnia, or helping you “rev up” for a sensitive or demanding undertaking. Music provides for many of us the frame in which we place cherished or unforgettable moments. Whose heart doesn’t beat a little faster at the opening notes of a favorite song from years ago, or smile doesn’t broaden when hearing a young person’s first recital? For many of us, it is now impossible to hear Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and not be reminded of the comfort and solemnity it provided following the terrible events of September 11th, 2001. I’m sure that each of you could add hundreds of examples to this list because, in one way or another, music frames the experiences of our lives.
This week, I wanted to share a story from one of our staff members that speaks to this issue in a very personal and moving way. It is a story that can be difficult to tell and difficult to read but, like the strains of Adagio for Strings, there is also great comfort amidst the pain.
The Department of Music Therapy here at The Music Settlement is staffed by an awesome group of individuals doing very important work in our community. We bring our programs to people through two main methods – in one-on-one or small group sessions at our Magnolia Drive campus, or more broadly-oriented outreach programs at a diverse group of partner agencies and locations throughout the region. We currently boast a staff of 13 therapists from a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise who serve client needs ranging from post-stroke rehabilitation to autism spectrum diagnosis. Our therapists are involved in clinical research and publishing, medical, social, educational, and family services, and they develop and lead professional development efforts within the field of music therapy. But most of all, they are “angels” who provide critical help for people at all levels of need. Just such an angel is one of our newer therapists, Sarah Paczak Chappell.
Sarah actually rejoined us this year. She interned with us in 2008-09 during her last year of college, and when a position recently opened up in our department, we welcomed her to our professional staff with open arms. Like all of our therapists, her workload is made up of a combination of in-house clients and offsite agency assignments. Her story today concerns an agency assignment, Malachi House, which is a place that cares for patients with terminal illness and with limited family resources. Her story involves a resident client and the grace that music brought to both of them. But I’ll let her tell the story. The following is reprinted with permission from the Malachi House online newsletter.
As the music therapist for Malachi House, I have the privilege of sharing music with residents who are terminally ill. Music truly brings a sense of comfort, support and peace to those who are nearing the end of life. Nevertheless, I have come to realize that the residents at Malachi House bring the same types of feelings to my life, and Elizabeth was truly one of those residents.
When I first met Elizabeth, I knew she was coming to Malachi House with feelings of fear and anxiety. She was extremely tearful when I first met her but upon seeing my keyboard her tears quickly dried and an instant bond was created. She loved music, especially religious hymns. Elizabeth made an immediate request to hear the song, “Whatsoever You Do.” I knew the song well and was happy to sing it for her. Elizabeth expressed thankfulness for the song, as she felt that the song’s lyrics spoke to her in a special way.
As weeks and months passed, the song “Whatsoever You Do” became our theme song. It was played during every session along with Elizabeth’s other favorite hymns. Then, during one particular session, Elizabeth made a special request after the playing of her song. She reached out, held my hand and said, “When I die and have left his world, will you come back to my room, close the door and play me my song? Although you will not see me, I will be here listening to your music.” I immediately agreed to this request.
I continued seeing Elizabeth for several weeks after her request was made, and during each session we would sing “Whatsoever You Do” and she would remind me of her request. The day before she went to heaven, Elizabeth and I were able to sing her song together one last time. However, the following morning after her passing, I realized that Elizabeth and I still had one more song to sing. So I went into her room, closed the door and sang. As I sang and looked around the room, I felt such a sense of calmness and peace. Elizabeth was there. I kept my promise, and she kept hers.
By: Sarah Paczak Chappell,
Board Certified Music Therapist contracted from The Music Settlement to serve Malachi House through the generous support of the Kulas Foundation
Whatsoever You Do
Willard F. Jabusch
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was hungry, you gave me to eat
When I was thirsty, you gave me to drink
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was homeless, you opened your door
When I was naked, you gave me your coat
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was weary, you helped me find rest
When I was anxious, you calmed all my fears
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When in a prison, you came to my cell
When on a sick-bed, you cared for my needs
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was laughed at, you stood by my side
When I was happy you shared in my joy
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
Amen. Have a great week!
For some, it’s a source of relaxation or stress reduction; for others, it improves focus and concentration. Many others find it to be a very personal pathway to a state of grace. You can find many instances in this world, both formal and informal, where music heightens enlightenment and steels resolve; where it acts as a channel to greater clarity and unlocks answers hidden to us by our everyday tunnel vision. We’ve all experienced it - music conjuring up a memory, or calming a case of late night insomnia, or helping you “rev up” for a sensitive or demanding undertaking. Music provides for many of us the frame in which we place cherished or unforgettable moments. Whose heart doesn’t beat a little faster at the opening notes of a favorite song from years ago, or smile doesn’t broaden when hearing a young person’s first recital? For many of us, it is now impossible to hear Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and not be reminded of the comfort and solemnity it provided following the terrible events of September 11th, 2001. I’m sure that each of you could add hundreds of examples to this list because, in one way or another, music frames the experiences of our lives.
This week, I wanted to share a story from one of our staff members that speaks to this issue in a very personal and moving way. It is a story that can be difficult to tell and difficult to read but, like the strains of Adagio for Strings, there is also great comfort amidst the pain.
The Department of Music Therapy here at The Music Settlement is staffed by an awesome group of individuals doing very important work in our community. We bring our programs to people through two main methods – in one-on-one or small group sessions at our Magnolia Drive campus, or more broadly-oriented outreach programs at a diverse group of partner agencies and locations throughout the region. We currently boast a staff of 13 therapists from a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise who serve client needs ranging from post-stroke rehabilitation to autism spectrum diagnosis. Our therapists are involved in clinical research and publishing, medical, social, educational, and family services, and they develop and lead professional development efforts within the field of music therapy. But most of all, they are “angels” who provide critical help for people at all levels of need. Just such an angel is one of our newer therapists, Sarah Paczak Chappell.
Sarah actually rejoined us this year. She interned with us in 2008-09 during her last year of college, and when a position recently opened up in our department, we welcomed her to our professional staff with open arms. Like all of our therapists, her workload is made up of a combination of in-house clients and offsite agency assignments. Her story today concerns an agency assignment, Malachi House, which is a place that cares for patients with terminal illness and with limited family resources. Her story involves a resident client and the grace that music brought to both of them. But I’ll let her tell the story. The following is reprinted with permission from the Malachi House online newsletter.
As the music therapist for Malachi House, I have the privilege of sharing music with residents who are terminally ill. Music truly brings a sense of comfort, support and peace to those who are nearing the end of life. Nevertheless, I have come to realize that the residents at Malachi House bring the same types of feelings to my life, and Elizabeth was truly one of those residents.
When I first met Elizabeth, I knew she was coming to Malachi House with feelings of fear and anxiety. She was extremely tearful when I first met her but upon seeing my keyboard her tears quickly dried and an instant bond was created. She loved music, especially religious hymns. Elizabeth made an immediate request to hear the song, “Whatsoever You Do.” I knew the song well and was happy to sing it for her. Elizabeth expressed thankfulness for the song, as she felt that the song’s lyrics spoke to her in a special way.
As weeks and months passed, the song “Whatsoever You Do” became our theme song. It was played during every session along with Elizabeth’s other favorite hymns. Then, during one particular session, Elizabeth made a special request after the playing of her song. She reached out, held my hand and said, “When I die and have left his world, will you come back to my room, close the door and play me my song? Although you will not see me, I will be here listening to your music.” I immediately agreed to this request.
I continued seeing Elizabeth for several weeks after her request was made, and during each session we would sing “Whatsoever You Do” and she would remind me of her request. The day before she went to heaven, Elizabeth and I were able to sing her song together one last time. However, the following morning after her passing, I realized that Elizabeth and I still had one more song to sing. So I went into her room, closed the door and sang. As I sang and looked around the room, I felt such a sense of calmness and peace. Elizabeth was there. I kept my promise, and she kept hers.
By: Sarah Paczak Chappell,
Board Certified Music Therapist contracted from The Music Settlement to serve Malachi House through the generous support of the Kulas Foundation
Whatsoever You Do
Willard F. Jabusch
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was hungry, you gave me to eat
When I was thirsty, you gave me to drink
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was homeless, you opened your door
When I was naked, you gave me your coat
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was weary, you helped me find rest
When I was anxious, you calmed all my fears
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When in a prison, you came to my cell
When on a sick-bed, you cared for my needs
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
When I was laughed at, you stood by my side
When I was happy you shared in my joy
Now enter into the home of my father
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me
Amen. Have a great week!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth
“Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.” Carl Jung
As summer is ending, a new school year is beginning at The Music Settlement, and we are excited about all the great things that come with that. We have added new depth to our list of offerings in each department, including a Chinese language curriculum in the Early Childhood Department’s day school and preschool, World Music studies in the Department of Music, and expanded outreach and group opportunities in the Music Therapy Department, to name a few. We welcome new and returning faculty to upgraded facilities, including a new 10-station computer lab, a renovated room dedicated for Music and Movement classes, as well as a refurbished faculty lounge and expanded multipurpose studio in Music therapy, and brand new signage to help folks find their way around our Magnolia Drive campus. One look will tell returning students that we are dedicated to constant improvement in the on-campus experience, and that new students need not be concerned that their experience will be anything less than exceptional while they are with us.
Our faculty and therapists are returning after some much needed R & R during our brief slow period at the end of the summer, but we never really stop working to make things the very best they can be. Many of our teaching staff spent their time away in educational or performance pursuits, seeking to recharge their batteries and constantly grow in their ability to engage and involve their students and clients. Yes, you read that correctly - many of our music instructors went off to play music during their time away from the campus! In truth, so many of our instructors and therapists find themselves limited in their actual performance time during the year that they head off on vacation to play in a festival orchestra, to have an intensive study with a favorite teacher or take in a seminar or lecture, or just listen to live performances in as many places as possible.
A great example of this is Linda Miller, a Music and Movement specialist in the Early Childhood Department. She spent much of the last part of this summer preparing for a performance of a lifetime. She said to me the other day that, after years of teaching and performing music, “I finally am playing Severance Hall!” You can catch her special performance with the Ensemble du Monde in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance this Friday, September 10th at 8pm. They will be performing instrumental and vocal works by Mozart, Mahler, Dvořák, and Saint-Georges. Tickets are still available as of this writing.
That to me this is one of the things that make working in the arts so unique and special: you don’t necessarily want or need to get away from “the office” when your work is over. I also know that the same can be said for many of our students and clients, who spend significant portions of their summers in intensive education programs, camps, or continuing study. The arts truly feed the soul, to which anyone who has sat on the lawn at Blossom or Cain Park or numerous bandstands around the area can attest. At The Music Settlement we recognize that creative experiences should never be taken for granted and that a child given an opportunity to develop in a creative environment will more often than not carry that experience forward in life to their benefit.
Experts in the field of childhood development agree with this point of view as well. Here’s a brief excerpt from an online newsletter on the website ChildCareExchange.com that addresses the importance of a creative environment for childraising; I think you’ll agree that it presents reinforcement of the value of the environment we work so hard to provide to your family.
The Creativity Crisis
A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency of the future," reveals Po Branson in her Newsweek (July 16, 2010) article, “The Creativity Crisis”. However, she also reported research that revealed that "...creativity scores [for American children] had been steadily rising, just like IQ scores, until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have consistently inched downward." Branson notes that one likely culprit to the declining creativity of our children "...is the number of hours kids now spend in front of TV and playing video games rather than engaging in creative activities. Another is the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect, it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there's no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of children." Other interesting insights in the article:
"Preschool children, on average ask their parents about 100 questions a day. Why, why, why — sometimes parents just wish it'd stop. Tragically it does stop. By middle school they pretty much stopped asking. It's no coincidence that this same time is when student motivation and engagement plummet. They didn't stop asking questions because they lost interest: it's the other way around. They lost interest because they stopped asking questions."
At The Music Settlement, our core mission is to engage all ages through a life enriched by the joy of music and the arts. We focus on helping each individual find their own joy, in whatever method they identify it. As our 98th year of service to this community begins, we know that that the enrichment we offer makes a lifetime of difference to so many. Please join us for the fun of it!
Have a great week!
As summer is ending, a new school year is beginning at The Music Settlement, and we are excited about all the great things that come with that. We have added new depth to our list of offerings in each department, including a Chinese language curriculum in the Early Childhood Department’s day school and preschool, World Music studies in the Department of Music, and expanded outreach and group opportunities in the Music Therapy Department, to name a few. We welcome new and returning faculty to upgraded facilities, including a new 10-station computer lab, a renovated room dedicated for Music and Movement classes, as well as a refurbished faculty lounge and expanded multipurpose studio in Music therapy, and brand new signage to help folks find their way around our Magnolia Drive campus. One look will tell returning students that we are dedicated to constant improvement in the on-campus experience, and that new students need not be concerned that their experience will be anything less than exceptional while they are with us.
Our faculty and therapists are returning after some much needed R & R during our brief slow period at the end of the summer, but we never really stop working to make things the very best they can be. Many of our teaching staff spent their time away in educational or performance pursuits, seeking to recharge their batteries and constantly grow in their ability to engage and involve their students and clients. Yes, you read that correctly - many of our music instructors went off to play music during their time away from the campus! In truth, so many of our instructors and therapists find themselves limited in their actual performance time during the year that they head off on vacation to play in a festival orchestra, to have an intensive study with a favorite teacher or take in a seminar or lecture, or just listen to live performances in as many places as possible.
A great example of this is Linda Miller, a Music and Movement specialist in the Early Childhood Department. She spent much of the last part of this summer preparing for a performance of a lifetime. She said to me the other day that, after years of teaching and performing music, “I finally am playing Severance Hall!” You can catch her special performance with the Ensemble du Monde in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance this Friday, September 10th at 8pm. They will be performing instrumental and vocal works by Mozart, Mahler, Dvořák, and Saint-Georges. Tickets are still available as of this writing.
That to me this is one of the things that make working in the arts so unique and special: you don’t necessarily want or need to get away from “the office” when your work is over. I also know that the same can be said for many of our students and clients, who spend significant portions of their summers in intensive education programs, camps, or continuing study. The arts truly feed the soul, to which anyone who has sat on the lawn at Blossom or Cain Park or numerous bandstands around the area can attest. At The Music Settlement we recognize that creative experiences should never be taken for granted and that a child given an opportunity to develop in a creative environment will more often than not carry that experience forward in life to their benefit.
Experts in the field of childhood development agree with this point of view as well. Here’s a brief excerpt from an online newsletter on the website ChildCareExchange.com that addresses the importance of a creative environment for childraising; I think you’ll agree that it presents reinforcement of the value of the environment we work so hard to provide to your family.
The Creativity Crisis
A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency of the future," reveals Po Branson in her Newsweek (July 16, 2010) article, “The Creativity Crisis”. However, she also reported research that revealed that "...creativity scores [for American children] had been steadily rising, just like IQ scores, until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have consistently inched downward." Branson notes that one likely culprit to the declining creativity of our children "...is the number of hours kids now spend in front of TV and playing video games rather than engaging in creative activities. Another is the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect, it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there's no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of children." Other interesting insights in the article:
"Preschool children, on average ask their parents about 100 questions a day. Why, why, why — sometimes parents just wish it'd stop. Tragically it does stop. By middle school they pretty much stopped asking. It's no coincidence that this same time is when student motivation and engagement plummet. They didn't stop asking questions because they lost interest: it's the other way around. They lost interest because they stopped asking questions."
At The Music Settlement, our core mission is to engage all ages through a life enriched by the joy of music and the arts. We focus on helping each individual find their own joy, in whatever method they identify it. As our 98th year of service to this community begins, we know that that the enrichment we offer makes a lifetime of difference to so many. Please join us for the fun of it!
Have a great week!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
How hard to realize that every camp of men or beast has this starry firmament for a roof
“How hard to realize that every camp of men or beast has this starry firmament for a roof ...And are sailing the celestial spaces without leaving any track.” John Muir
One of the true benefits of growing up in a sleepy town on a lake is that you become quite well acquainted with the stars. Whether you’re lying in a sleeping bag at the lakefront on a quiet summer night, or staring skyward during a break in skating on the frozen expanse in the dead of winter, the stars in their courses were always there to greet you.
It also meant there were plenty of folks to teach you the finer points of the planets, the Milky Way, and the constellations. I became familiar with the fact that the appearance of Orion meant winter was right around the corner, and that his disappearance meant summer was here at last. I learned the story of vain Cassiopeia, forever destined to look towards the heavens for half the year, only to be forced to hang upside down facing the mortal earth during the other half. I joined the legions of children who learned that the “Drinking Gourd” (the Big Dipper) pointed the way to Polaris and freedom for escaped slaves heading north. I knew that the first and brightest star you saw in the evening sky was usually not a star at all, but the planet Venus - though for the life of me, I could never really distinguish a planet by its constant light as compared to the “twinkling” of the stars.
Growing up in the sixties, I also witnessed an early mark made by humankind’s hand on the nightly dance in the sky. I have vivid memories of a cold winter night when adults as well as children took a break from skating and cocoa to watch a shocking new phenomenon pass overhead. It was Echo, an early, very primitive weather satellite resembling a giant beach ball that caught our imagination that night. If you strained your eyes very hard and focused on the spot where it was expected to appear to the north, a very dim but constant light would emerge every 20 to 30 minutes or so and trace a stately arc across the sky. To those assembled, it was astonishing: we had added a star to the sky and put our thumbprint on the ageless heavens for the first time in history. Of course, by now we have added countless orbiting objects to our very crowded sky, but I still find it fun to point out the unblinking light of an artificial satellite to those around me.
But there are streaking lights in the night sky that were even more breathtaking to my young eyes, and they are at their peak this very week - the Perseid Meteor Showers! My mother claimed she once witnessed the night’s greatest light show, the Aurora Borealis, from our backyard, but that was years before I was born and I have yet to experience it personally. So for me, shooting stars are the greatest show off earth. The Perseid show hits its highest density in mid-August each year, with up to 90 to 100 visible meteors per hour during prime viewing hours. Whether or not you have seen the meteor showers, experts are predicting that this will be one of the best displays in the northeast in years, so try not to miss it!
Several factors contribute to this year’s forecast, not the least of which is that the moon will not be in evidence to work against the meteors with its reflected light. It is also expected to be relatively clear during the peak days, which begin this Wednesday the 11th and continue through the weekend. Observing shooting stars can take your breath away with their dramatic and unpredictable nature and can be a great family activity, if you don’t mind staying up a bit late. Here are some tips for the best approach to maximize your chance of seeing the Perseids in their full glory:
• First and foremost, get away from ground light. Go camping, visit friends out in the country, or just turn off all your lights; ground light is the biggest detractor from enjoying the night sky.
• You have to stay up late. Prime viewing is from midnight to dawn, so try taking a nap beforehand, or better yet, celebrate the end of summer by letting the kids (and yourself!) stay up later than usual.
• Find a spot that gives you a clear view of the northeast sky (the portion of the sky in which the morning sun rises). It’s the rotation of the earth towards the trail of the remains of the comet Swift-Tuttle that causes the shower, and the earth rotates towards the northeast.
• Give yourself some time to adjust to the lack of light. You may have to sit for at least 45 minutes to allow your eyes to fully adjust to the dark. If you need to bring along a light, find or make a red-filtered flashlight. You can use that and not cause your eyes to regress from night vision mode. Allow your focus to roam a bit; often you catch the beginning of a meteor trail best from your peripheral vision.
• Bring along a blanket or a lounge chair that allows you to recline comfortably, and dress warmly, even during our recent hot evening weather.
Give it a try - you won’t be disappointed, and you and those with you will be filled with the joy of the timelessness of the universe and the never-predictable nature of life. You can fill the time waiting for your eyes to adjust by telling the stories of the stars to a young person. Waiting for them up there is the fearless Perseus, the beautiful Andromeda, the strong Hercules, and bears, lions, scorpions, and other animals galore. They have been there for untold millenniums, tracing their steps night after night, just waiting for you to raise your eyes and learn their story. Oh, and don’t forget to make a wish…
Have a great week!
One of the true benefits of growing up in a sleepy town on a lake is that you become quite well acquainted with the stars. Whether you’re lying in a sleeping bag at the lakefront on a quiet summer night, or staring skyward during a break in skating on the frozen expanse in the dead of winter, the stars in their courses were always there to greet you.
It also meant there were plenty of folks to teach you the finer points of the planets, the Milky Way, and the constellations. I became familiar with the fact that the appearance of Orion meant winter was right around the corner, and that his disappearance meant summer was here at last. I learned the story of vain Cassiopeia, forever destined to look towards the heavens for half the year, only to be forced to hang upside down facing the mortal earth during the other half. I joined the legions of children who learned that the “Drinking Gourd” (the Big Dipper) pointed the way to Polaris and freedom for escaped slaves heading north. I knew that the first and brightest star you saw in the evening sky was usually not a star at all, but the planet Venus - though for the life of me, I could never really distinguish a planet by its constant light as compared to the “twinkling” of the stars.
Growing up in the sixties, I also witnessed an early mark made by humankind’s hand on the nightly dance in the sky. I have vivid memories of a cold winter night when adults as well as children took a break from skating and cocoa to watch a shocking new phenomenon pass overhead. It was Echo, an early, very primitive weather satellite resembling a giant beach ball that caught our imagination that night. If you strained your eyes very hard and focused on the spot where it was expected to appear to the north, a very dim but constant light would emerge every 20 to 30 minutes or so and trace a stately arc across the sky. To those assembled, it was astonishing: we had added a star to the sky and put our thumbprint on the ageless heavens for the first time in history. Of course, by now we have added countless orbiting objects to our very crowded sky, but I still find it fun to point out the unblinking light of an artificial satellite to those around me.
But there are streaking lights in the night sky that were even more breathtaking to my young eyes, and they are at their peak this very week - the Perseid Meteor Showers! My mother claimed she once witnessed the night’s greatest light show, the Aurora Borealis, from our backyard, but that was years before I was born and I have yet to experience it personally. So for me, shooting stars are the greatest show off earth. The Perseid show hits its highest density in mid-August each year, with up to 90 to 100 visible meteors per hour during prime viewing hours. Whether or not you have seen the meteor showers, experts are predicting that this will be one of the best displays in the northeast in years, so try not to miss it!
Several factors contribute to this year’s forecast, not the least of which is that the moon will not be in evidence to work against the meteors with its reflected light. It is also expected to be relatively clear during the peak days, which begin this Wednesday the 11th and continue through the weekend. Observing shooting stars can take your breath away with their dramatic and unpredictable nature and can be a great family activity, if you don’t mind staying up a bit late. Here are some tips for the best approach to maximize your chance of seeing the Perseids in their full glory:
• First and foremost, get away from ground light. Go camping, visit friends out in the country, or just turn off all your lights; ground light is the biggest detractor from enjoying the night sky.
• You have to stay up late. Prime viewing is from midnight to dawn, so try taking a nap beforehand, or better yet, celebrate the end of summer by letting the kids (and yourself!) stay up later than usual.
• Find a spot that gives you a clear view of the northeast sky (the portion of the sky in which the morning sun rises). It’s the rotation of the earth towards the trail of the remains of the comet Swift-Tuttle that causes the shower, and the earth rotates towards the northeast.
• Give yourself some time to adjust to the lack of light. You may have to sit for at least 45 minutes to allow your eyes to fully adjust to the dark. If you need to bring along a light, find or make a red-filtered flashlight. You can use that and not cause your eyes to regress from night vision mode. Allow your focus to roam a bit; often you catch the beginning of a meteor trail best from your peripheral vision.
• Bring along a blanket or a lounge chair that allows you to recline comfortably, and dress warmly, even during our recent hot evening weather.
Give it a try - you won’t be disappointed, and you and those with you will be filled with the joy of the timelessness of the universe and the never-predictable nature of life. You can fill the time waiting for your eyes to adjust by telling the stories of the stars to a young person. Waiting for them up there is the fearless Perseus, the beautiful Andromeda, the strong Hercules, and bears, lions, scorpions, and other animals galore. They have been there for untold millenniums, tracing their steps night after night, just waiting for you to raise your eyes and learn their story. Oh, and don’t forget to make a wish…
Have a great week!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
It was a bright cold day in April
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Opening line of 1984, by George Orwell
I’m sure we are all responsible adults and that, for the most part, we’re able to separate fact from fiction, but recent events have driven me to put something in print for all to read (if anyone is actually reading this, of course):
I will not use this blog or this medium of electronic communication to misrepresent facts or manipulate perception.
I know at this point you’re all saying, “Whew! That’s a load off my mind,” but for once, I’m not kidding. Even in this literary piffle that I write, I take very seriously the responsibility to not hand you a load of hooey in order to get my point of view across or to falsely influence your perception of an event, idea, or person. Occasionally I may push an agenda in my efforts to advocate or inform (read more books, make more time for the arts, complain about the weather…), but I will always make it clear that I am expressing my opinions or hopes, and any corroborating examples or facts I include have been backed up by fact-checking and research.
Now, at this point, you’re probably asking yourself, “What do I care if Charlie looks up the correct spelling of Captain Yossarian?” But in the big picture, this is something I am concerned about, and you should be, too: the relative nature of truth as represented in the media these days, particularly on the internet, and its impact on our overall perceptions now and into the future. When an individual can, intentionally or unintentionally, present information out of context or create spurious content that is spread to millions in a heartbeat, one has to question where we go for truth nowadays. I am, of course, referring to the deplorable incident in recent weeks surrounding former USDA official Shirley Sherrod. I am not going to climb on my soapbox to opine about shameful political motivation and outcomes that may be associated with it. I do want to shout my opinion regarding the core injustice in this story - that the whole mess was generated by information that was intentionally skewed and disseminated on the internet!
From where I stand, this is among the issues in our society that cause me the most fear for my children and grandchildren’s future: the increasing trend to accept information as truth, without any attempt to check its veracity. It’s not the deficit, it’s not global warming, it’s not the decline of civility (although that may be related) that cause me to question our legacy, it’s history’s lesson that when the people stop demanding truth or are too comfortable, naïve, or biased to question the status quo, bad things follow.
I know that since the beginning of recorded history, truth has always been elusive, and that the winners are always going to report the story with a bias towards their interests. I am aware that history is replete with examples like George Armstrong Custer, who was considered a hero and a martyr for 100 years or more until his life became synonymous with the dark history of European/ Native American relations and conflicts in North America. But throughout history, there have been repositories of fact and truth that conscientious individuals could call upon to try to discern and distribute the real story. What worries me is that in 2010, people are increasingly relying on the internet to be that source, especially young people. I myself often turn to online resources to gather facts (such as the spelling of Yossarian), and when I do, I feel a twinge. For the most part, the open source process that provides reference sites with their info is fairly successful and accurate, but you should never take what they present at face value. The creep of inaccuracy into listings and data in sources such as these can be very slow and unintentional, but it remains that you cannot take the information you read there as gospel. And there are certainly cases, such as the Shirley Sherrod / Andrew Breitbart debacle, where facts seem to have been intentionally edited out of their original context and posted on the web without warning the viewer that this was the case. Once something is posted, many folks accept it as truth, and in this age of digital editing, manipulation, and technological wizardry, that is a very scary thing.
I pledge, for whatever it’s worth, that I will do all I can to not exacerbate this situation. It would be wise for each of us to make that pledge - to not accept information outlets as being wholly accurate unless we can verify them as such, and to not perpetuate the cycle by forwarding unverified information without a disclaimer labeling it as such. In the battle for truth in this very complex world, the onus is upon each of us to hold the line and to exercise a healthy skepticism whenever necessary. Otherwise, we may find ourselves and our descendants in a society of individuals who not only no longer have the ability to do so, but aren’t even aware that they once could.
…and that is my opinion!
I couldn’t send out my message this week without including an excerpt of a note we received from Department of Music and Jazz at The Music Settlement (J@MS) faculty member Ken LeeGrand, who just returned from the Berklee College of Music’s PULSE Training Institute (PTI) and filed a report on some of our current jazz students who he observed participating in Berklee’s five- week Summer Performance Program. I think you will agree from the evidence that the music education currently being provided to these young people by The Music Settlement is second to none!
I wish everyone [from The Music Settlement] could see the fine job our students are doing at Berklee College of Music!!!! ....They are representing us in excellence!!
So far I have seen 4 of the 5 students we have attending. First I saw Jack Laskey (J@MS) in a Fusion Jazz Quartet rehearsal (keys, bass, drums and guitar). It was his first time rehearsing with this group and he wasted no time not only fitting in but writing the bridge to the original piece they were working on! He displayed his excellent solo "chops" and drew very complimentary comments from the director Robert Schlink. Even though the amp Jack was playing through was problematic, Jack did not get rattled and continued to display all of the fine musical and personal qualities we teach and talk about in J@MS!!!!!
Next I went to an R & B ensemble under the direction of Winston Maccow. Winston explained that he hadn't written the charts for Aretha Franklin's “Rock Steady,” so he sang the part and told a young trombonist from Memphis to teach it to the rest of the horns (2 trmpts, 2 alto and 2 tenor saxes). He was close but Brian Plautz (J@MS) nailed it and showed it to the section. In the meantime, Brian Benton (J@MS) was drawing great reviews on electric bass. After the rehearsal many PULSE viewers complimented him on his skills.
I've now been in 4 hours of rehearsal but I wasn't going to miss Jevaughn Bogard in his Mainstream Jazz rehearsal.... The person directing this ensemble was an older gentleman and explained that he had been at Berklee for many many years. (I'm sorry but his name escapes me.) It was obvious he knew Jevaughn because at the opening of the piece he turned to JB and asked for some of that "Ben Webster sound" for the opening solo, that JB delivered in fine fashion. He was very much like the other directors with his compliments on yet another one of our players! As he knew I was there with JB he gave me the "look and the thumbs up" many times during this rehearsal as signs of his approval with JB. He really likes JB's sound!!!
Every ensemble was filled with very talented young musicians but it was quite obvious that the students from J@MS not only are holding their own but are emerging as humble players with ability that is really being recognized by their directors. As a representative of TMS, I'm very proud of these students and the humble way they present themselves. The J@MS' Saturday school has been a great thing for these and all of the students involved!!!
Regards,
Ken LeeGrand
Have a great week!
Opening line of 1984, by George Orwell
I’m sure we are all responsible adults and that, for the most part, we’re able to separate fact from fiction, but recent events have driven me to put something in print for all to read (if anyone is actually reading this, of course):
I will not use this blog or this medium of electronic communication to misrepresent facts or manipulate perception.
I know at this point you’re all saying, “Whew! That’s a load off my mind,” but for once, I’m not kidding. Even in this literary piffle that I write, I take very seriously the responsibility to not hand you a load of hooey in order to get my point of view across or to falsely influence your perception of an event, idea, or person. Occasionally I may push an agenda in my efforts to advocate or inform (read more books, make more time for the arts, complain about the weather…), but I will always make it clear that I am expressing my opinions or hopes, and any corroborating examples or facts I include have been backed up by fact-checking and research.
Now, at this point, you’re probably asking yourself, “What do I care if Charlie looks up the correct spelling of Captain Yossarian?” But in the big picture, this is something I am concerned about, and you should be, too: the relative nature of truth as represented in the media these days, particularly on the internet, and its impact on our overall perceptions now and into the future. When an individual can, intentionally or unintentionally, present information out of context or create spurious content that is spread to millions in a heartbeat, one has to question where we go for truth nowadays. I am, of course, referring to the deplorable incident in recent weeks surrounding former USDA official Shirley Sherrod. I am not going to climb on my soapbox to opine about shameful political motivation and outcomes that may be associated with it. I do want to shout my opinion regarding the core injustice in this story - that the whole mess was generated by information that was intentionally skewed and disseminated on the internet!
From where I stand, this is among the issues in our society that cause me the most fear for my children and grandchildren’s future: the increasing trend to accept information as truth, without any attempt to check its veracity. It’s not the deficit, it’s not global warming, it’s not the decline of civility (although that may be related) that cause me to question our legacy, it’s history’s lesson that when the people stop demanding truth or are too comfortable, naïve, or biased to question the status quo, bad things follow.
I know that since the beginning of recorded history, truth has always been elusive, and that the winners are always going to report the story with a bias towards their interests. I am aware that history is replete with examples like George Armstrong Custer, who was considered a hero and a martyr for 100 years or more until his life became synonymous with the dark history of European/ Native American relations and conflicts in North America. But throughout history, there have been repositories of fact and truth that conscientious individuals could call upon to try to discern and distribute the real story. What worries me is that in 2010, people are increasingly relying on the internet to be that source, especially young people. I myself often turn to online resources to gather facts (such as the spelling of Yossarian), and when I do, I feel a twinge. For the most part, the open source process that provides reference sites with their info is fairly successful and accurate, but you should never take what they present at face value. The creep of inaccuracy into listings and data in sources such as these can be very slow and unintentional, but it remains that you cannot take the information you read there as gospel. And there are certainly cases, such as the Shirley Sherrod / Andrew Breitbart debacle, where facts seem to have been intentionally edited out of their original context and posted on the web without warning the viewer that this was the case. Once something is posted, many folks accept it as truth, and in this age of digital editing, manipulation, and technological wizardry, that is a very scary thing.
I pledge, for whatever it’s worth, that I will do all I can to not exacerbate this situation. It would be wise for each of us to make that pledge - to not accept information outlets as being wholly accurate unless we can verify them as such, and to not perpetuate the cycle by forwarding unverified information without a disclaimer labeling it as such. In the battle for truth in this very complex world, the onus is upon each of us to hold the line and to exercise a healthy skepticism whenever necessary. Otherwise, we may find ourselves and our descendants in a society of individuals who not only no longer have the ability to do so, but aren’t even aware that they once could.
…and that is my opinion!
I couldn’t send out my message this week without including an excerpt of a note we received from Department of Music and Jazz at The Music Settlement (J@MS) faculty member Ken LeeGrand, who just returned from the Berklee College of Music’s PULSE Training Institute (PTI) and filed a report on some of our current jazz students who he observed participating in Berklee’s five- week Summer Performance Program. I think you will agree from the evidence that the music education currently being provided to these young people by The Music Settlement is second to none!
I wish everyone [from The Music Settlement] could see the fine job our students are doing at Berklee College of Music!!!! ....They are representing us in excellence!!
So far I have seen 4 of the 5 students we have attending. First I saw Jack Laskey (J@MS) in a Fusion Jazz Quartet rehearsal (keys, bass, drums and guitar). It was his first time rehearsing with this group and he wasted no time not only fitting in but writing the bridge to the original piece they were working on! He displayed his excellent solo "chops" and drew very complimentary comments from the director Robert Schlink. Even though the amp Jack was playing through was problematic, Jack did not get rattled and continued to display all of the fine musical and personal qualities we teach and talk about in J@MS!!!!!
Next I went to an R & B ensemble under the direction of Winston Maccow. Winston explained that he hadn't written the charts for Aretha Franklin's “Rock Steady,” so he sang the part and told a young trombonist from Memphis to teach it to the rest of the horns (2 trmpts, 2 alto and 2 tenor saxes). He was close but Brian Plautz (J@MS) nailed it and showed it to the section. In the meantime, Brian Benton (J@MS) was drawing great reviews on electric bass. After the rehearsal many PULSE viewers complimented him on his skills.
I've now been in 4 hours of rehearsal but I wasn't going to miss Jevaughn Bogard in his Mainstream Jazz rehearsal.... The person directing this ensemble was an older gentleman and explained that he had been at Berklee for many many years. (I'm sorry but his name escapes me.) It was obvious he knew Jevaughn because at the opening of the piece he turned to JB and asked for some of that "Ben Webster sound" for the opening solo, that JB delivered in fine fashion. He was very much like the other directors with his compliments on yet another one of our players! As he knew I was there with JB he gave me the "look and the thumbs up" many times during this rehearsal as signs of his approval with JB. He really likes JB's sound!!!
Every ensemble was filled with very talented young musicians but it was quite obvious that the students from J@MS not only are holding their own but are emerging as humble players with ability that is really being recognized by their directors. As a representative of TMS, I'm very proud of these students and the humble way they present themselves. The J@MS' Saturday school has been a great thing for these and all of the students involved!!!
Regards,
Ken LeeGrand
Have a great week!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
All Good Books are Alike
All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened…
Ernest Hemingway
I’ve noticed lately that there is a lot of media time being given to a personal entertainment option that not only provides information and in-depth factoids, but also immerses the user in vivid imagery that engages the senses in flights of fancy, guaranteed to make the hours whiz by. This device allows users to digest its output at their own pace, and can be set aside and left for long periods of time without losing any fidelity or reverting to a default setting. What’s more, you can avail yourself of this product in several formats, and you never have to worry about a power source, adaptors, or attachments. It works just fine at either the beach or the living room and comes in very sturdy packaging. Best of all, it’s reasonably priced, and is sold at just about any retail outlet you can imagine, even at the airport.
Naturally, your first question is, “What has Steve Jobs come up with now, and how can I get it?” But you would be wrong - this device has been around for at least 550 years, and probably a whole lot longer. I am referring, of course, to a book. Not a Kindle, or an iBook, or even an Etch-a-Sketch; I mean the printed word, bound in hard or soft cover and maybe illustrated, but definitely filled with fantastic things.
Now before you start on me about being an old fogey or a Luddite or some other form of over-the-hill crank with a keyboard, here’s my point: books are hot again! As we amble through this summer, which is shaping up as the toastiest overall on record, I catch repeated stories in the media about how spending the summer reading a great book is more popular now than ever. Some librarians may disagree, but the fact is that certain authors of fiction have really lit up minds across this country. I think there was concern that the fever that gripped the younger generations (as well as us old fogeys) through the run of the Harry Potter series would abate with the conclusion of the seventh and final book, but there is ample reason to believe this is not the case. Whether its young folks devouring Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or it’s their older siblings reading any one of the vampire/ werewolf/ supernatural-themed series that abound today, good old books appear to be in demand with the “Kindle generation”. And for those of you who may question the quality of the literature, I can say personally that I don’t care what the subject matter is, as long as it’s well written, and most of my generation cut our reading teeth on fantasy anyway. C’mon, how many 50-somethings out there first got caught up in a love of books through the imaginary worlds of Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and Dune? If it gets young folks to dig reading, I’m all for it!
It’s also interesting to note the apparent boom in book reading amongst the fogeys. I know that the best-seller lists remain full of self-help books and screeds of political diatribe, but there is also plenty of more traditional summertime fiction to be found, led by Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I’m sure, too, that there are plenty of folks using various electronic devices to read their selections, but everyone I know is doing it the old fashioned way -putting aside an hour or two, finding a comfortable spot, and cracking open a book. This to me is the real hook of great (and not so great ) literature - the chance to slow down the pace a bit, maybe get your mind off the day’s drudgery, and climb a tree with Captain Yossarian, get lost with Ralph and Piggy, or have a cup of tea with Emma. Reading is a solitary enterprise, of course, but a good book will deliver you into a world of complexity and fill your time with witty conversation, life-long friends, intrigue, and quite possibly danger. And guess what? If you’ve finished your book and moved on to other things, you can revisit it, and nothing will have changed, unlike almost anything else in life. Atticus Finch will still hold true to his beliefs, Gus McCrae will still ride off into the sunset, and Holden Caulfield will be waiting for you out in the rye.
What really seals the deal for me is that you can also share these worlds with others and ponder their interpretation, even if it’s different from yours. Books as gifts come with the promise of more than momentary impact, and often can provide the basis for conversation well into the future. Give one to a young person and think of it as a way to keep the cycle going; open another person’s mind to the power of the written word and give them something to do on a sultry summer afternoon. Sometimes we all need an escape from the daily grind.
Have a great week!
Ernest Hemingway
I’ve noticed lately that there is a lot of media time being given to a personal entertainment option that not only provides information and in-depth factoids, but also immerses the user in vivid imagery that engages the senses in flights of fancy, guaranteed to make the hours whiz by. This device allows users to digest its output at their own pace, and can be set aside and left for long periods of time without losing any fidelity or reverting to a default setting. What’s more, you can avail yourself of this product in several formats, and you never have to worry about a power source, adaptors, or attachments. It works just fine at either the beach or the living room and comes in very sturdy packaging. Best of all, it’s reasonably priced, and is sold at just about any retail outlet you can imagine, even at the airport.
Naturally, your first question is, “What has Steve Jobs come up with now, and how can I get it?” But you would be wrong - this device has been around for at least 550 years, and probably a whole lot longer. I am referring, of course, to a book. Not a Kindle, or an iBook, or even an Etch-a-Sketch; I mean the printed word, bound in hard or soft cover and maybe illustrated, but definitely filled with fantastic things.
Now before you start on me about being an old fogey or a Luddite or some other form of over-the-hill crank with a keyboard, here’s my point: books are hot again! As we amble through this summer, which is shaping up as the toastiest overall on record, I catch repeated stories in the media about how spending the summer reading a great book is more popular now than ever. Some librarians may disagree, but the fact is that certain authors of fiction have really lit up minds across this country. I think there was concern that the fever that gripped the younger generations (as well as us old fogeys) through the run of the Harry Potter series would abate with the conclusion of the seventh and final book, but there is ample reason to believe this is not the case. Whether its young folks devouring Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or it’s their older siblings reading any one of the vampire/ werewolf/ supernatural-themed series that abound today, good old books appear to be in demand with the “Kindle generation”. And for those of you who may question the quality of the literature, I can say personally that I don’t care what the subject matter is, as long as it’s well written, and most of my generation cut our reading teeth on fantasy anyway. C’mon, how many 50-somethings out there first got caught up in a love of books through the imaginary worlds of Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and Dune? If it gets young folks to dig reading, I’m all for it!
It’s also interesting to note the apparent boom in book reading amongst the fogeys. I know that the best-seller lists remain full of self-help books and screeds of political diatribe, but there is also plenty of more traditional summertime fiction to be found, led by Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I’m sure, too, that there are plenty of folks using various electronic devices to read their selections, but everyone I know is doing it the old fashioned way -putting aside an hour or two, finding a comfortable spot, and cracking open a book. This to me is the real hook of great (and not so great ) literature - the chance to slow down the pace a bit, maybe get your mind off the day’s drudgery, and climb a tree with Captain Yossarian, get lost with Ralph and Piggy, or have a cup of tea with Emma. Reading is a solitary enterprise, of course, but a good book will deliver you into a world of complexity and fill your time with witty conversation, life-long friends, intrigue, and quite possibly danger. And guess what? If you’ve finished your book and moved on to other things, you can revisit it, and nothing will have changed, unlike almost anything else in life. Atticus Finch will still hold true to his beliefs, Gus McCrae will still ride off into the sunset, and Holden Caulfield will be waiting for you out in the rye.
What really seals the deal for me is that you can also share these worlds with others and ponder their interpretation, even if it’s different from yours. Books as gifts come with the promise of more than momentary impact, and often can provide the basis for conversation well into the future. Give one to a young person and think of it as a way to keep the cycle going; open another person’s mind to the power of the written word and give them something to do on a sultry summer afternoon. Sometimes we all need an escape from the daily grind.
Have a great week!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The other day I met a bear in the woods...
The other day (the other day), I met a bear (I met a bear), out in the woods (out in the woods) a way out there (a way out there)….
Anonymous
Does the concept of vacation seem different to you nowadays? Do you return from a week or two away from the office feeling less relaxed and refreshed than when you left? Do you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? Apparently, you’re not alone.
It seems that we are becoming a society that doesn’t know how to relax. Personally, I have great difficulty just kicking back and watching the clouds roll by. I’m much more prone to try to kick, hit, shoot, and toss as many balls, Frisbees, beanbags, and horseshoes as possible while simultaneously watching, attending, visiting, and experiencing as many things as I can. Trying to relax is exhausting! You get up too early because that’s when the fish are biting, and then you stay up too late playing one more hand of Tripoley or singing one more camp song. And what is it with songs around the campfire, anyway? Is there any other time in your life that you willingly engage in singing in the round? Or, for that matter, would you ever in your right mind substitute silly hand gestures for words and phrases in mixed company without being under the influence of too many s’mores?
But I digress. Because campfire songs and food that sticks to your face for the next three days are actually verifiable signs of a summer vacation well spent, in my book. It may lead to embarrassing Facebook postings and major dental work, but it was well spent. No, what gets to me are two common trends I see (and of which I am guilty) that seem guaranteed to turn vacation time into anything but a rejuvenating experience.
The first trend is this strange need for the “power vacation”. You know the symptoms - trying to fill every minute of every day with activities and experiences. We’ve all heard the neighbor or coworker talking about how they just got back from visitingYellowstone-shootingtherapids-climbingthatmountain-seeingMountRushmore-takingcampfirecookinglessons-joiningacattledrive-etc. over the recent three-day weekend! Maybe it’s our greatly increased mobility, or our more informed world, or our early 21st century madness, but many of us have this overwhelming urge to visit every giant ball of string or two-headed calf within a tri-state area, otherwise we don’t feel as if we have really done anything on vacation. If we’re not exhausted, if we haven’t had a full sensory immersion in every waking second of our time away from the daily grind, well then we just haven’t had fun, by golly!
The other trend is the really scary one - the dreaded “working vacation.” Now this one is the result of some very real modern day curses: cell phones (or even worse, smart phones), laptop computers and wi-fi, Facebook, Twitter and all the social networks, and this weird sensation that so many of us seem to suffer from these days - namely, the fear of being disconnected. Guess what folks? If you’re sitting in the sun on the deck of a boat lazily drifting down some foreign body of water and you take just a quick glance at your iPhone to check your e-mail, YOU ARE AT WORK! If you’re gauging the wind before your tee shot on hole #3 at a golf course in some other time zone, and you hear the “ping!” of an alert from a pocket in your golf bag notifying you that there’s an update from Wall Street, YOU ARE NOT RELAXING! Finally, and most depressingly, if you’re sitting cross-legged before the grandeur of some breathtaking natural wonder, and your immediate reaction is to fire up your Blackberry and update your status on a social media site so “all my friends can share this with me,” YOU ARE NOT EVEN IN THE MOMENT!
Please excuse the preachy capitals. As I have mentioned, I am as guilty as others in both of these trends (well, maybe not the Facebook part…), but I am passing this on to you as a public service. Do as I say and not as I do. The summer is still young and there are beaches and campsites and wilderness trails and sticky s’mores galore awaiting you, so make the most of them. Dare to disconnect, strive towards solitude, and reach for rest and relaxation. Try something new - do nothing for a while. Haven’t we earned it?
Have a great week!
Anonymous
Does the concept of vacation seem different to you nowadays? Do you return from a week or two away from the office feeling less relaxed and refreshed than when you left? Do you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? Apparently, you’re not alone.
It seems that we are becoming a society that doesn’t know how to relax. Personally, I have great difficulty just kicking back and watching the clouds roll by. I’m much more prone to try to kick, hit, shoot, and toss as many balls, Frisbees, beanbags, and horseshoes as possible while simultaneously watching, attending, visiting, and experiencing as many things as I can. Trying to relax is exhausting! You get up too early because that’s when the fish are biting, and then you stay up too late playing one more hand of Tripoley or singing one more camp song. And what is it with songs around the campfire, anyway? Is there any other time in your life that you willingly engage in singing in the round? Or, for that matter, would you ever in your right mind substitute silly hand gestures for words and phrases in mixed company without being under the influence of too many s’mores?
But I digress. Because campfire songs and food that sticks to your face for the next three days are actually verifiable signs of a summer vacation well spent, in my book. It may lead to embarrassing Facebook postings and major dental work, but it was well spent. No, what gets to me are two common trends I see (and of which I am guilty) that seem guaranteed to turn vacation time into anything but a rejuvenating experience.
The first trend is this strange need for the “power vacation”. You know the symptoms - trying to fill every minute of every day with activities and experiences. We’ve all heard the neighbor or coworker talking about how they just got back from visitingYellowstone-shootingtherapids-climbingthatmountain-seeingMountRushmore-takingcampfirecookinglessons-joiningacattledrive-etc. over the recent three-day weekend! Maybe it’s our greatly increased mobility, or our more informed world, or our early 21st century madness, but many of us have this overwhelming urge to visit every giant ball of string or two-headed calf within a tri-state area, otherwise we don’t feel as if we have really done anything on vacation. If we’re not exhausted, if we haven’t had a full sensory immersion in every waking second of our time away from the daily grind, well then we just haven’t had fun, by golly!
The other trend is the really scary one - the dreaded “working vacation.” Now this one is the result of some very real modern day curses: cell phones (or even worse, smart phones), laptop computers and wi-fi, Facebook, Twitter and all the social networks, and this weird sensation that so many of us seem to suffer from these days - namely, the fear of being disconnected. Guess what folks? If you’re sitting in the sun on the deck of a boat lazily drifting down some foreign body of water and you take just a quick glance at your iPhone to check your e-mail, YOU ARE AT WORK! If you’re gauging the wind before your tee shot on hole #3 at a golf course in some other time zone, and you hear the “ping!” of an alert from a pocket in your golf bag notifying you that there’s an update from Wall Street, YOU ARE NOT RELAXING! Finally, and most depressingly, if you’re sitting cross-legged before the grandeur of some breathtaking natural wonder, and your immediate reaction is to fire up your Blackberry and update your status on a social media site so “all my friends can share this with me,” YOU ARE NOT EVEN IN THE MOMENT!
Please excuse the preachy capitals. As I have mentioned, I am as guilty as others in both of these trends (well, maybe not the Facebook part…), but I am passing this on to you as a public service. Do as I say and not as I do. The summer is still young and there are beaches and campsites and wilderness trails and sticky s’mores galore awaiting you, so make the most of them. Dare to disconnect, strive towards solitude, and reach for rest and relaxation. Try something new - do nothing for a while. Haven’t we earned it?
Have a great week!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
It is probably not love that makes the world go around, but rather those mutually supportive alliances through which partners recognize their dependence on each other for the achievement of shared and private goals.
Fred Allen
Over the past few years, The Music Settlement has reached out to like-minded organizations to develop partnerships that go beyond the traditional parameters of collaboration. We follow several principles in this process. We seek out grassroots organizations that connect to the same communities and people we serve with our own programming, we look for an artistic product that expands what is already offered here on our campus without duplicating it, and we search for partners whose artistic product and mission can align with or enhance ours. The expression I often use to describe this last notion is that we build a “creative cauldron” on Magnolia Drive - that is, an environment in which artists interested in collaboration can cross paths and new and interesting things can happen.
What makes our partnership offer a bit different is that we give these artistic organizations a home on our campus: an office space along with some basic support and resources, at a significantly reduced monthly fee. We help them with the back-office structure that is often one of the greatest challenges to survival that a small organization may face. They excel in their artistic, mission-based efforts, but their physical office space is often in someone’s kitchen, spare bedroom, or basement. Maintaining an office presence, administrative support, and all that goes with it is sometimes the straw that breaks the camel’s back in such situations, and what we offer can lighten that weight for them.
The latest addition to our list of affiliated partners is Inlet Dance Theatre, which has been producing contemporary dance since its founding in 2001 and has established a solid reputation for a significant artistic product, with a true commitment to arts education and community development at its core. It is the brainchild of Artistic Director Bill Wade, formerly a faculty member at the Cleveland School of the Arts and founder of YARD - Youth At Risk Dancing, and the former Director of Footpath Dance Company. Here’s a portion of Inlet’s mission statement:
Inlet utilizes the art form of dance to bring about personal development in the lives of individuals through training and mentoring, and to speak creatively about life and the issues we all face.
Bill Wade backs that up with a commitment to bring his vision to neighborhoods in and around the city of Cleveland, and he has dedicated his artistic life to enhancing the lives of young people of our community who are at-risk and underserved. As he says on the company’s website, www.inletdance.org:
In a community where people are often used to further dance, Inlet Dance Theatre is committed to using dance to further people.
We are very excited to be the new home of Inlet Dance Theatre, and welcome Bill, his staff and his company to their new office on the second floor of Burke Mansion, right next to the offices of another affiliated partner, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.
Joining the qualities of two or more organizations to strengthen a whole is not unlike the act of making music together. I was reminded recently of the power of that effort within the walls of our very own recital hall. On Sunday, June 6th, our performing ensemble-in-residence, the Almeda Trio, performed their final concert of the season here in Lester Glick Recital Hall, concluding an excellent inaugural concert series which was generously sponsored in part this year by BNY Mellon. The trio consists of faculty members Robert Cassidy, Ida Mercer, and Cara Tweed. Their performance on June 6th included an exhilarating blend of works from Robert Schumann, Paul Schoenfield, and Dmitri Shostakovich, and culminated what has been a terrific year of accomplishment and challenge for this group of faculty from The Music Settlement, who have, amazingly enough, been playing together for less than three years. While those who attended the concert raved about the trio’s keenness to embrace challenging and eclectic selections with such thrilling success, one should also be aware of all the effort and dedication that went into this and all of their performances to date. I thought I could best capture that by reproducing a letter in its entirety that the trio included in the event’s program to their audience:
Dear Friends-
With today's concert we conclude our first season as an ensemble-in-residence at The Music Settlement. It's been a busy year for us not only on this campus, but in the Cleveland area, with concerts at the Solon Center for the Arts, Cleveland State University, and educational concerts at numerous schools of Northeast Ohio. Our performance at CSU was broadcast live on WCLV, and we were featured guests on Around Noon with Dee Perry on WCPN. In mid-May we hosted a Chamber Music Invitational, at which student chamber ensembles performed and were coached by us. We also went beyond the Ohio state line, performing in Bloomington, Illinois and Indianapolis, Indiana, and played some "friend-raiser" house-concerts in February and May, which were great fun.
That describes our public presence. However, we thought our "behind the scenes" activities might be of interest to our audience as well, as they are what make it possible for these performances to take place. So, this year found us meeting for rehearsal every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 am till noon at The Music Settlement (and additionally in the weeks immediately before concerts). We studied piano trios by Beethoven, Copland, Mendelssohn, Piazzolla, Schoenfield, and Schumann, as well as maintained the works by Brahms, Haydn, and Shostakovitch that we had learned last season. Exploring these pieces together for five hours each week is a pretty thrilling experience. We have grown tremendously through this shared effort and feel so lucky to be making music together. As Philip Ball says in his book The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It, "Music is a mystery. It is unique to the human race: no other species produces elaborate sound for no particular reason. It has been, and remains, part of every known civilization on Earth ... It engages people's attention more comprehensively than almost anything else: scans show that when people listen to music, virtually every area of their brain becomes more active."
Thanks so much for your support. We are honored to be sharing this marvelous, intangible, uniquely human art form with you.
We are truly blessed to have such focused and talented faculty and musicians here at The Music Settlement. Please make an effort to catch the Almeda Trio’s 2010-11 season, beginning next fall at The Music Settlement, where great artists are gathering every day!
Have a great week!
Friday, June 4, 2010
In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row.” John McCrae
Wasn’t that a great Memorial Day weekend we just had? I can’t remember when the weather was quite as enjoyable, as May slipped into June. Now those of you who know what a lousy memory I have may comment that you’re not surprised I can’t remember, since I barely can recall what I had for dinner yesterday let alone what the weather has been like on a certain weekend of any year. But the truth is that I have a special mnemonic device that keeps this weekend fresh in my mind through the years - muscle memory.
Every year since I don’t know when, my family has celebrated Memorial Day with a handful of rituals. Sure, we have a picnic and a gathering at the old homestead on Chautauqua Lake, and we even gather on Monday morning to watch the Bemus Point Memorial Day parade (don’t blink or you’ll miss it!), but there are a couple of other rituals that are less anticipated: taking down the storm windows and putting in the dock.
The less said about the storm windows, the better, except to mention that the process involves balancing on a shaky old ladder, manhandling crumbling old storm windows the size of a sports car, and enduring the sensation experienced when your life flashes before your eyes 14 times in one day. But this isn’t the real killer; that experience is reserved for putting in the dock.
Living on the lake requires having a dock. It’s as American as apple pie, and few places are more pleasant at the end of a long summer day than one-third of a football field stretching out over the water. However, like sausage making, the installation of the dock is a sight best left unseen. First of all, the sections of the dock are all back-breakingly heavy, the lakeshore is foot-breakingly rocky, and the water in late May is inevitably a spirit-breaking few degrees above freezing. I promise myself three things after I help complete the task each year: that before next year I will buy a wetsuit, hand off the really brutal jobs to the next generation, and plan to take out the dock in the fall in a systematic and easily replicated fashion. Then the pages of the calendar turn, another May rolls around and I find myself doing the heavy lifting, unable to figure out which section goes next and feeling numb from my chest down as my leaky waders slosh with icy water. Maybe this is just the inevitability of the human experience, but so often this is what first comes to mind when I think of Memorial Day.
But in the last 20 years or so, my point of view has broadened beyond my own narrow definitions. As a youth, I was growing up in a country struggling with a very unpopular war and that seemed to have no idea how to reconcile that with the sacrifice young men and women were making far overseas in our name. As I watched the Memorial Day parade in my 20’s, I admit that I didn’t connect the men at the front of the procession in their once well-fitted uniforms with their compatriots’ sacrifice through the years. I was the son of a World War II veteran and the friend and relative of several others who served in Korea and Viet Nam, but by the fortune of time, I did not face the option of national service myself. But as I grew older, the realization strengthened in me that they occupied a strata of humankind that deserved my highest level of respect. Whether or not you agreed with the reason a conflict started or intensified, the sacrifice others made for each of us was undeniable. Perhaps the fact that most cemented my growing respect for these individuals was that I was named after my mother’s cousin, who died in the service during World War II and is buried in France. In some small way he lives in me, and I am proud to bear witness to his legacy.
So when that parade comes my way each year, I stand and I applaud the folks up front, and I forget my aches and pains and disappointments and frustrations, and I say a quiet thanks for my cousin and all his fellow soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Wasn’t that a great Memorial Day weekend we just had? I can’t remember when the weather was quite as enjoyable, as May slipped into June. Now those of you who know what a lousy memory I have may comment that you’re not surprised I can’t remember, since I barely can recall what I had for dinner yesterday let alone what the weather has been like on a certain weekend of any year. But the truth is that I have a special mnemonic device that keeps this weekend fresh in my mind through the years - muscle memory.
Every year since I don’t know when, my family has celebrated Memorial Day with a handful of rituals. Sure, we have a picnic and a gathering at the old homestead on Chautauqua Lake, and we even gather on Monday morning to watch the Bemus Point Memorial Day parade (don’t blink or you’ll miss it!), but there are a couple of other rituals that are less anticipated: taking down the storm windows and putting in the dock.
The less said about the storm windows, the better, except to mention that the process involves balancing on a shaky old ladder, manhandling crumbling old storm windows the size of a sports car, and enduring the sensation experienced when your life flashes before your eyes 14 times in one day. But this isn’t the real killer; that experience is reserved for putting in the dock.
Living on the lake requires having a dock. It’s as American as apple pie, and few places are more pleasant at the end of a long summer day than one-third of a football field stretching out over the water. However, like sausage making, the installation of the dock is a sight best left unseen. First of all, the sections of the dock are all back-breakingly heavy, the lakeshore is foot-breakingly rocky, and the water in late May is inevitably a spirit-breaking few degrees above freezing. I promise myself three things after I help complete the task each year: that before next year I will buy a wetsuit, hand off the really brutal jobs to the next generation, and plan to take out the dock in the fall in a systematic and easily replicated fashion. Then the pages of the calendar turn, another May rolls around and I find myself doing the heavy lifting, unable to figure out which section goes next and feeling numb from my chest down as my leaky waders slosh with icy water. Maybe this is just the inevitability of the human experience, but so often this is what first comes to mind when I think of Memorial Day.
But in the last 20 years or so, my point of view has broadened beyond my own narrow definitions. As a youth, I was growing up in a country struggling with a very unpopular war and that seemed to have no idea how to reconcile that with the sacrifice young men and women were making far overseas in our name. As I watched the Memorial Day parade in my 20’s, I admit that I didn’t connect the men at the front of the procession in their once well-fitted uniforms with their compatriots’ sacrifice through the years. I was the son of a World War II veteran and the friend and relative of several others who served in Korea and Viet Nam, but by the fortune of time, I did not face the option of national service myself. But as I grew older, the realization strengthened in me that they occupied a strata of humankind that deserved my highest level of respect. Whether or not you agreed with the reason a conflict started or intensified, the sacrifice others made for each of us was undeniable. Perhaps the fact that most cemented my growing respect for these individuals was that I was named after my mother’s cousin, who died in the service during World War II and is buried in France. In some small way he lives in me, and I am proud to bear witness to his legacy.
So when that parade comes my way each year, I stand and I applaud the folks up front, and I forget my aches and pains and disappointments and frustrations, and I say a quiet thanks for my cousin and all his fellow soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Monday, May 24, 2010
But then they danced down the street like dingledodies
“But then they danced down the street like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me…” Jack Kerouac
As Memorial Day looms on the horizon, a young (well, middle aged) man’s thoughts turn to… festivals! Anyone who knows me can confirm that I often write of my enthusiasm for public gatherings that center on the mutual celebration of creativity. These can range from functions that have art as their focus, such as Parade the Circle, to events that celebrate more esoteric arts, like horticulture at The Great Geauga County Fair. I always try to get to new events every year, dragging my family and friends to the full range of out-and-about activities that our incredibly eclectic region can offer.
This past weekend I added a new entry to my list; despite the fact that the event was celebrating its 41st year and that it happens only a couple of blocks from where I have worked for more than 12 years of my life: the Hessler Street Fair. I can’t explain why it’s taken me so long to get over to one of Cleveland’s most unique celebrations. I’ve been aware of it for more than 20 years, and each year pledge to go, but life gets in the way, I guess. The event reminded me of the old Coventry Road Street Fairs that I used to attend, as it was a true counter-culture experience in every way.
A couple of factors I look for in festivals are that they have a unique and definable theme and that they feature top-of-the-line people watching opportunities. In truth, county fairs, civic celebrations, and arts & crafts fairs tend to look alike after a while. There are only so many strung beads you can look at, funnel cakes you can eat, and bar bands you can hear before your eyes start to glaze over. This is definitely not the case with the two days in May that make up the Hessler Fair each year.
Let’s start with the theme, if it can be called such. The event celebrates a spontaneous gathering of like minds in a picturesque city neighborhood a generation ago. The themes you encounter include open mindedness, freedom of speech, and alternative approaches to food, clothing, transportation, politics, and everything else. The Fair even seems to encourage a sense of being part of an unplanned happening, even after all these years and despite the presence of a funnel cake stand. Some folks might argue that the event is a bit dated, targeting sensibilities and points of view that disappeared with bell bottoms and granny glasses, but I disagree. The two small blocks that make up the site were crowded with young people just starting to make their way in the world, and many of the issues and ideas being promoted or proclaimed were as pertinent as oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico or the right for individuals and organizations to disagree with current leadership. And hey, bell bottoms and tie dye are back in a big way anyhow.
But the real fun this past weekend was the people watching. In fact it was more like “people meeting” rather than people watching. The street is pretty narrow, and the day was very hot and sunny. If you want to get a sense of just what a broad mix of people makes up Northeast Ohio, this is the place to see it. A wonderful blend of inner city, near suburbs, and far-flung folks, the crowd (and it was packed) was as colorful and engaging as the clothes for sale in the booths. Many of them were accompanied by their dogs, which were as diverse as their owners: a mix of tiny to large, pure-bred to mongrel, and all of them friendly. You constantly heard the exclamations of folks who had just run into an old friend, a friend they may only see once a year, at this celebration. Many of the vendor booths featured folks from exotic locales or points of view as well, as proven by my step-daughter’s new henna tattoo running up her right wrist and arm. I must admit that the Hessler Street Fair wins the award for people watching, with more interesting people per square foot than any place I’ve yet experienced.
You would think that an event like this one - small quartered, somewhat politicized, and featuring a broad socio-economic mix of patrons - might feature an atmosphere that was either closed to the outsider or confrontational, but it was neither. In the parlance of the day, it was a true “love-in,” full of smiles and handshakes and embraces; a very welcoming trip back in time to remind us that “love is all you need” is not such a naïve sentiment after all.
I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to mention the passing of a great leader and patron of The Music Settlement and the arts in Northeast Ohio, Allan Zambie, who passed away last week. All of us who knew him recognized the dedication and energy that Allan brought to his role as a current member and former Chair of our Board of Directors. His voice was one of vision tempered by reason in the board room, and no one could question his love for the arts and music in particular. Though he was in failing health recently, he overcame great personal difficulty to keep his attendance active and his voice heard right up until the last month or so. The Music Settlement and much of the arts and culture community owe a great debt to Allan and we join together to say, “Safe journey and Godspeed, faithful servant” to this very special man.
As Memorial Day looms on the horizon, a young (well, middle aged) man’s thoughts turn to… festivals! Anyone who knows me can confirm that I often write of my enthusiasm for public gatherings that center on the mutual celebration of creativity. These can range from functions that have art as their focus, such as Parade the Circle, to events that celebrate more esoteric arts, like horticulture at The Great Geauga County Fair. I always try to get to new events every year, dragging my family and friends to the full range of out-and-about activities that our incredibly eclectic region can offer.
This past weekend I added a new entry to my list; despite the fact that the event was celebrating its 41st year and that it happens only a couple of blocks from where I have worked for more than 12 years of my life: the Hessler Street Fair. I can’t explain why it’s taken me so long to get over to one of Cleveland’s most unique celebrations. I’ve been aware of it for more than 20 years, and each year pledge to go, but life gets in the way, I guess. The event reminded me of the old Coventry Road Street Fairs that I used to attend, as it was a true counter-culture experience in every way.
A couple of factors I look for in festivals are that they have a unique and definable theme and that they feature top-of-the-line people watching opportunities. In truth, county fairs, civic celebrations, and arts & crafts fairs tend to look alike after a while. There are only so many strung beads you can look at, funnel cakes you can eat, and bar bands you can hear before your eyes start to glaze over. This is definitely not the case with the two days in May that make up the Hessler Fair each year.
Let’s start with the theme, if it can be called such. The event celebrates a spontaneous gathering of like minds in a picturesque city neighborhood a generation ago. The themes you encounter include open mindedness, freedom of speech, and alternative approaches to food, clothing, transportation, politics, and everything else. The Fair even seems to encourage a sense of being part of an unplanned happening, even after all these years and despite the presence of a funnel cake stand. Some folks might argue that the event is a bit dated, targeting sensibilities and points of view that disappeared with bell bottoms and granny glasses, but I disagree. The two small blocks that make up the site were crowded with young people just starting to make their way in the world, and many of the issues and ideas being promoted or proclaimed were as pertinent as oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico or the right for individuals and organizations to disagree with current leadership. And hey, bell bottoms and tie dye are back in a big way anyhow.
But the real fun this past weekend was the people watching. In fact it was more like “people meeting” rather than people watching. The street is pretty narrow, and the day was very hot and sunny. If you want to get a sense of just what a broad mix of people makes up Northeast Ohio, this is the place to see it. A wonderful blend of inner city, near suburbs, and far-flung folks, the crowd (and it was packed) was as colorful and engaging as the clothes for sale in the booths. Many of them were accompanied by their dogs, which were as diverse as their owners: a mix of tiny to large, pure-bred to mongrel, and all of them friendly. You constantly heard the exclamations of folks who had just run into an old friend, a friend they may only see once a year, at this celebration. Many of the vendor booths featured folks from exotic locales or points of view as well, as proven by my step-daughter’s new henna tattoo running up her right wrist and arm. I must admit that the Hessler Street Fair wins the award for people watching, with more interesting people per square foot than any place I’ve yet experienced.
You would think that an event like this one - small quartered, somewhat politicized, and featuring a broad socio-economic mix of patrons - might feature an atmosphere that was either closed to the outsider or confrontational, but it was neither. In the parlance of the day, it was a true “love-in,” full of smiles and handshakes and embraces; a very welcoming trip back in time to remind us that “love is all you need” is not such a naïve sentiment after all.
I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to mention the passing of a great leader and patron of The Music Settlement and the arts in Northeast Ohio, Allan Zambie, who passed away last week. All of us who knew him recognized the dedication and energy that Allan brought to his role as a current member and former Chair of our Board of Directors. His voice was one of vision tempered by reason in the board room, and no one could question his love for the arts and music in particular. Though he was in failing health recently, he overcame great personal difficulty to keep his attendance active and his voice heard right up until the last month or so. The Music Settlement and much of the arts and culture community owe a great debt to Allan and we join together to say, “Safe journey and Godspeed, faithful servant” to this very special man.
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