Meeting the girlfriends parents Japanese style

I have a charming Japanese penpal. At 65 little older than myself, and also with a 30 year old daughter. He recently told me how his daughter brought her new boyfiend home for the first time. They all sat together in silence in a darkened room drinking tea. The only sound they could hear was the boiling water, he said. Of course that was a new one on me. He said they all enjoyed their first meeting. Now in my case, I have 3 sons and a daughter, but each time any one of them has brought someone new to our home, it's been a rather embarrassing encounter. For both sides. Sitting across a table in broad daylight, it's hard to know what to say and where to look. However polite and friendly everyone tries to be, it is in essence an examination. Sitting together in a darkened room, without having to speak sounds so much more pleasant to me. I think I'll try that next time myself. It is apparently a Japanese custom.

Tims thoughts of the day: Learning to appreciate art and music

Tims thoughts of the day: Learning to appreciate art and music: "My sister used to make my Dad furious by playing Rolling Stones LPs at max. volume. He said it wasn't music, just a noise. I bet his father ..."

Learning to appreciate art and music

My sister used to make my Dad furious by playing Rolling Stones LPs at max. volume. He said it wasn't music, just a noise. I bet his father told him the same, when he listened to Benny Goodman on the radio.
What I'm driving at, is each generation seems to have it's own type of music which is often a form of rebellion against the older generation and their old fashioned ways. Personally I've never been keen on following the masses and had three heroes when I was young - Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Lester Young.
When I found myself yelling at my sons to turn the sound down on their rap music, I had a flash back to my dad. Then I said to myself "Whoa there!" and decided to try and be open minded. Well, time has passed and now I have the pleasure of listening to my granddaughter Gianna learning to play violin. What I like about her, is if she hears music, whether it's pop, classic or jazz, she has no prejudice at all. Likewise art galleries. I can hear my dad saying "What's that supposed to be?" when I look at pictures by my favourite painters. But if I try seeing things through the eyes of a child, I get far more pleasure.
George Crumb was the first composer of minimalism that I heard, this was soon followed by a performance of Steve Reichs music and others like Terry Riley and Michael Nymen came along after that. I've since even grown fond of Steve Reichs music and Arvo Pärt too. But the strange thing is, this all happened to me with virtually no musical training! Unless you can count Be Bop. Like my granddaughter Gianna, I just listen and if I like it - Fine! But if I don't like it, that's fine too but I just pass on. So simple, but it works for me.

Steve Reich in NYC

Steve Reich Ticket Giveaway!
community.boosey.com
Magnus Lindberg Ticket Giveaway

...Steve Reich Hey NYC'ers - Wanna see Steve's "Sextet" this weekend? For free?? http://community.boosey.com/2010/yale_reich/

James Carter, Harry Carney, Joshua Redman Kenny G & Hans-Christian Dellinger. What do they all have in common?

Well, they all play or played saxophone. But what I mean is "Circular Breathing".
Ever since hearing Harry Carney play "Sophisticated Lady" with Duke Ellington, I've been fascinated by the ability to sustain a tone for what seems endless time. I was baffled. When does he breath? He must have lungs the size of zeppelins. Well, the answer is not in how much air the lungs can hold but in mastering circular breathing. The are umpteen websites on the subject, but I've asked Hans Christian Dellinger how he does it, and he explained it's breathing in while at the same time breathing out. To try this you can blow your cheeks up and using just the air in your mouth, slowly breath out whilst breathing in and out through the nose.
If you listen carefully, you will notice how all the people above have perfected this technique to a fine art. It's not easy. I even read once that Kenny G. holds the world record for playing the longest note on the saxophone without taking a breath. I think it was over an hour!

Mika Yoshida

I get invited to some interesting concerts round here. Just latetly I've noticed how marimbas have become popular as a solo instrument, but also in bands and orchestras. As you know, they have a very pleasant, deep woody sound. There are some African bands that play the granddaddy of marimbas, the Balaphon. That's made of special wood and quite hard to play. Anyway, I've heard several excellent percussionists playing marimbas in concert and like it a lot. But by far the finest marimba player, in my opinion is Mika Yoshida. She lives in NYC and will be playing at the Carnegie Hall in January. If you're in New York, don't miss this first class concert
:-Mikarimba Madness with SteveGadd& EddieGomez!
Location: Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall
Time: Friday, 07 January 2011 19:30

Hans Christian Dellinger live

Hans Christian Dellinger, whose CD "Streaming" I've been talking about on my blog, will be playing live in concert this Saturday :-
11.12.2010 | 20.00 h
H2-Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst
Glaspalast Augsburg
www.zukunft-musik.de minimal-post
music by Michael Nyman, Marc Mellits and Graham Fitkin (HARD FAIRY for soprano sax and two pianos)
He has several other forthcoming concerts, which are all on his website www.hans-christian-dellinger.de