“Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.”
– Albert Einstein
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday. Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/04/15/one-liner-wednesday-end-of-story/
Category: musings
theater organ
I just saw a piece on the Today Show about the only remaining theater organ in Seattle, which in the 1920s had fifty in silent film and stage theaters. The organ in the piece was a Wurlitzer, which was one of the most common manufacturers of the day.
It reminded me of the Roberson Museum in Binghamton, New York, which housed a Link theater organ, built by the firm of a local family. Edwin Link went on to found Link Flight Simulation, which used the technology of the organ business to craft the first mass-produced flight simulators, the Blue Boxes that trained many pilots in World War II.
When we moved here in the 1980s, I studied organ with M. Searle Wright, who was an enormously talented classical organist, teacher, and composer, and, at an age when most people are retired, then the Link Organ Professor at the State University of New York-Binghamton. He also was one of the few remaining masters of theater organ, able to sit at the console and accompany silent films, bringing to life the sounds of the world and the moods of the characters. It was an amazing experience to hear him accompany a film! Talented younger organists would travel up from New York CIty to study theater organ techniques from him.
We more often heard Searle’s theater organ talents when he played a 45 minute prelude of classic American songbook and Broadway tunes before each Binghamton Pops concert on the Morton theater organ at the Forum. On the music stand, he would have only a list of the pieces (perhaps with the key structure, he planned to include that day and would weave those songs together, showing off the fun aspects of theater organs, the literal bells and whistles.
A magical art, which is, thankfully, still being kept alive by those to whom an older generation of organist like Searle Wright passed on to them.
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SoCS: delightfully short
I should be delighted that the SoCS prompt is so open this week. It was sweet of Linda to take into account people who are doing the A-Z challenge so that they can double-dip with the letter D and SoCS. Of course, I am not disciplined enough to do those every day kind of things, but more power to all those who are participating!
I guess I could ramble on SoCing with whatever is Top of JC’s Mind, but I should work on some of the backlog of posts I need to write. Well, at least the Holy Saturday post which expires today…
The prompt from Linda for Stream of Consciousness Saturday: use a word, anywhere in your post, that begins with the prefix “de-.” Extra points if your word ends with “ed”! It’s all about the fun – have some!
http://lindaghill.com/2015/04/03/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-415/ Anyone can join in! Just go to the link above for the rules, which include linking back to that post so others can find your contribution.
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April fool
It’s April first, also known as April Fools’ Day, when pranks and practical jokes abound.
I am not participating and am attempting to avoid as much of the folderol as possible.
I have never enjoyed pranks and let’s just say that I am not known for my sense of humor. Or maybe more accurately, I don’t have a broad sense of humor, which most April-Fools’-Day-ness requires.
My natural resistance to it is only part of the story. There are just too many serious circumstances and happenings right now – both on a national/international level and among family and friends – for me to spend time dealing with jokes and false news stories and such.
So, I’m opting out and trying to get my head together to deal with the remainder of Holy Week and Easter amidst the challenges of winter-becoming-spring.
JC
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Out like a llama?
In the Northeast US where I live, people often say that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. This year, March certainly did begin with cold weather. Later in the month, we did get enough time above freezing that we had thawing so that we could see grass in sunny patches where the snow was not shoveled/plowed/piled up.
Today is March 31st and it is snowing and sticking to the grassy areas and accumulating, so March is not going out like a lamb. I am proposing that it is going out like a llama – still soft to the touch, but with a bit of spit and kick to it.
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Ten years later
2005 was a difficult year. I lost a great and good friend, my long-time church community, and my father-in-law all within a few months.
Today is the first of the major tenth anniversary dates. Ten years ago today, which was Good Friday that year, my friend Angie died from cancer, leaving behind a husband, two sons, a daughter, her mother and siblings, extended family, and many, many, many friends.
I’ve written about Angie before, including here, so I won’t go on too long about her awesomeness. Her legacy includes not only her wonderful family and friends but also a charity fund that gives scholarships, supports cancer patients and their families, and supports The Discovery Center, our local children’s museum, which Angie blessed with her artwork. There is an art gallery, memorial tree, and butterfly house dedicated to her there, as well as an art gallery near the African Road/Vestal Middle School auditorium, which I will always think of as Angie’s Auditorium because it was a long-time dream of hers that she helped fulfill when she served on the Board of Education.
What I am thinking about today, though, is the ten years we have been without her physical presence. The high school graduation of our daughters, the college commencements, her son’s law school graduation, passing the bar, getting married. All the little moments – hanging out in the kitchen, going out for lunch, taking the dog for a walk, attending seemingly endless committee meetings.
Because I do believe in the eternal life of the soul, I believe that Angie is still able to be present in our lives spiritually. For those who don’t believe, Angie is still present through her role in shaping the people whom she loved and who loved her, as well as through the art she left for us to enjoy and the legacy projects I’ve already mentioned.
In some ways, we have been without her for ten years. In other ways, she has been with us all along.
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One-Liner Wednesday: the mind
“The mind that is not baffled is not employed.”
– Wendell Berry
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! http://lindaghill.com/2015/03/25/one-liner-wednesday-gettin-old/
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Bach fugue
Early this morning, I was driving to 7:30 Mass at a church that was a bit further afield than usual, so I put the car radio on and caught the cadence of an organ prelude. I immediately thought it was J.S. Bach, although I did then think, perhaps it would be prudent to withhold a conclusion until I had more than two measures to go on.
As soon as the fugue began, though, I knew it was Bach – and one of the preludes and fugues I had learned while I was at Smith. (For the other organ geeks out there, it was a Prelude and Fugue in G major, although I am not sure of the BWV.) Next, they spoke about how composers often borrowed themes from their own work or others’ work and played a choral movement that used the fugue theme, transformed into a minor key. (Maybe the US court system needs to hear a bit more about this long-time compositional practice.)
It was odd for me to think about my playing Bach on the organ. There is even a bit of wonder that I ever could. It’s been almost ten years since I have played on even a limited basis and even longer since I played such complex repertoire. Long-standing tendon problems in my right elbow led to years of physical therapy and finally surgery which we had hoped would fix the problem. However, I developed calcifications that caused the symptoms to recur, so I could only play for short amounts of time, not nearly enough to practice Bach fugues.
I had been still doing some accompanying for the choirs at our church, but almost ten years ago, we lost our church home, and I have barely so much as touched an organ since.
This spring and summer will be the tenth anniversary of a string of really painful life events, the aftermath of each still present in my life and the life of my loved ones in different ways. I have the feeling that these upcoming tenth anniversaries will be as complicated as a Bach fugue, but not nearly so organized.
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SoCS: putting in “put”
My Saturday is going to be busy, so I am writing this Friday night – late after everyone else is in bed.
Ironically, I spent a lot of time today with the word “put.” The Binghamton University Chorus, in which I have sung for 33 seasons, is preparing Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang for our concert in May, but we are singing it in English rather than the original German.
In movement seven, our scores used the following text, “let us gird on the armour of light,” over and over and over. Unfortunately, the word “gird” is very difficult to sing prettily, especially when the notes are high in our ranges, as they are in this movement. So the hunt was on for a different translation that used less difficult sounds.
After comparing several Biblical translations, our director chose to change “let us gird on” to “and put on us” which is easier to sing and to understand from the audience’s perspective. So, I spent a bunch of time today writing the text change into my score.
I admit that I only wrote it in for the soprano part, which is the part I sing. Fingers crossed that the other parts write their own changes!
The tricky part comes on Monday – when my mind needs to forget the weeks of singing “gird” and put “put” in there instead.
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This is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Join us! Find the prompt and the rules here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/03/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-1415/
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SoCS: My friend Angie
I have written before about my friend Angie. I’m thinking of her today because next month will be the tenth anniversary of her death. I’m thinking about things we missed over these years, such as supporting each other as our eldest children married. If she were still alive, she would probably be on the school board still, and I’d have a clue about what is happening in the school system, something that is hard to do when you no longer have children young enough to be in K-12. She would have supported me through the health travails of our elders and I would have supported her in the same way. Even though she has been gone for a long time, I still miss her.
Friends are forever.
******
This week’s prompt is: acquaint and/or friend.
This is a February and Linda and Bee are joining forces. First, Bee’s badge and link: https://justfoolingaroundwithbee.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/love-is-in-da-blog-february-ping-back-post-rulessuggestions-week-4/
And this post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. Please join us! You can find the rules here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/02/27/special-edition-friday-prompt-for-socs-february-2815/
Joanne Corey 