Making Music with a New Friend

Jason and Joan make music (The only picture anyone took was really blurry, so transforming it into "art" seemed the way to go.)

Last Thursday I had one of the most fun experiences of my life. The McClellans came over for the evening. The youngest kids wanted to play with the train set some more. Jason and Omer messed around with cameras for a while and then he and I made music together for... I have no idea how long... hours. I don’t think I remember the last time I was so completely absorbed in something. Shawn was even playing his chanter at the same time, right next to me, not the same songs, and I never even heard him. I was oblivious to the 12 extra people in the house. Blocking out other noises is not something I’m good at, at all, so this was very out of character for me. We wanted to include Shawn in our playing, but he can’t read music, so we had to give that up since I didn’t seem to have music to anything he knows. I guess the girls went downstairs and watched a movie. I was not any kind of a hostess, let alone a perfect one.

We played and played till Jason had a sore shoulder and I had a very stiff neck. Then we gave it up, not because we were tired of the activity, but our bodies needed a rest. We chose three songs that we both like and thought sounded good together and made sure we both have the music to those to practice. Patrick thinks we should do a gig at the local Italian restaurant with an open case for people to throw money. I know we’re not anywhere near that good, but it certainly went better than either of us anticipated. I’ve never played with anyone on any instrument in a duet like that... well maybe Clara and I played one or two accordion duets when we were kids. But never with a different instrument. He said he hadn’t either. We like a lot of the same kinds of music.

It helps that the accordion is not currently the subject of the derision of every person in the universe. It’s down to something like 90%. * smile * What’s the definition of perfect pitch? When you throw an accordion in the dumpster and it doesn’t touch the sides before it lands.

Seriously, if you listen to TV commercials you'll now hear accordion in quite a few of them. I’ve had several young people say "Cool!" when the find out that I play. Now there’s a reaction I’ve never encountered prior to the last few years. Kinda nice!

We went to Manistee tonight to hear "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" sung by a local group called the 16th Century Singers. It was an outstanding Christmas experience, very nearly perfect with only one major flaw.

The Lutheran church where it was presented was traditional, narrow and high. The banners and drapes on the lecterns and railings were shades of blue with gold trim- stunning against the white walls and dark wood. There was a tall, tapering Christmas tree to one side decorated thickly with white lights and white and gold ornaments in the shapes of many symbols of Christianity. The lamb and the chalice, crosses, stars, chi rho, and snowflakes.

The scripture readers were all very good and could actually make you listen to passages that we've all heard since we were two years old. The organ prelude selections were Bach, Brahms, and a piece by Alexis Chauvet that I did not know before, but I'd love to get the music for. The singers were on key and I love the complexity of the rhymes in the old English songs, and the odd musical rhythms that mark some of the old carols. The congregation got to sing along on six of the songs.

The sixteenth century costumes were fascinating, with many different styles worn by the 12 different singers.

A totally worshipful Christmas experience!

The one flaw... after the singers processed so we could see them, they all went to the balcony and sang from there so we couldn't watch them. I suppose that, too, is traditional, but c'mon.... can't we engage more than one of our senses at a time? I really wanted to be able to watch them. I know it was live music, but I feel as if I might as well have stayed home and listened to a CD.

And here's a real joke... just the perfect irony of the church. This program was first presented at Kings College, Cambridge in 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who felt that the church needed more imaginative worship. With no apparent grasp of the joke, the next sentence of the historical description in the bulletin says that from that date on the service has always begun with the same song.!

Wonderful Times Turning Acquaintances into Friends

About three years ago we met a family from Scottville when we were trying out having a booth at the Farmers' Market. We enjoyed visiting with them, and have sort of kept in touch, but nothing much beyond that.

However, this fall we've gotten to know them much better, and the past two days have been a lot of fun. They came to our place on Thursday for lunch. This was no minor accomplishment! They have 9 kids and one grandma who lives with them too. But we had a great time- everyone got enough to eat, and almost everyone got to sit on a chair that isn't broken. Afterwards the youngest three (ages 6-9) played with the train around the tree. It was really nice to see kids having fun with the trains! They explored the ornaments on the tree too. Everyone else split up into smaller groups. Omer and Pat (the dad) of course went off to talk about serious topics. Our Josh visited with the oldest son (Shawn, age 21). Some of us stayed in the living room and visited.

The 16-year-old, Jason, plays violin and he invited us to an orchestra concert at West Shore Community College that was last night. The price was right- free- so we went. Turns out that it was the premiere performance of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra. Now, this is not Grand Rapids, of course, but it was pretty cool to be at the first concert of a local live orchestra! They played an ambitious program that included several of my favorite pieces, so that was fun.

Afterwards, we went to their house for a while. Shawn plays bagpipes and penny whistles. So he and Jason played some more music for everyone (although the bagpipes inside are WOW, it's neat to see them played in real life). We all just had such a good time that I'm sure we'll be getting together again.