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Berklee Before Bedford Bus

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:51:49 GMT

Lunch Meeting at Berklee. Here's Dana - former Director of the Alumni Regional Admissions Program. And a good buddy!

He was grabbing a few minutes of bass practice before lunch.

And here are my good friends and gracious hosts, the Doolittles. Featuring grandson, Alex!!

Simon was 2yrs old when I used to live with them. Now he's "Uncle Simon" bouncing nephew Alex on his knee as Bob (now known as grandpa) looks on.

Here's Alex and his grandmother - Katherine

Here's my incredible loft accommodations -

If this was all it was, it would be great! But there is more to it -

After saying goodbye to the Doolittles, I boarded the subway and the bus to Bedford!!!

More on the Suzuki Conference to come.....!!!!

Berklee - Back Bay Visit

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:50:15 GMT

One note from Monday - on the trip from the Airport a woman across from me on the subway was having a phone conversation. I thought she was from another country and tried to place the sound of her accent. Then I realized she was a local with an especially strong "Boston Accent." That made me chuckle. I guess my ear had lost track. But now it's back!!

I'm glad I went kayaking yesterday cus the rain started in the night last night and went thru most of the day today.

When the bus (the Number 1 Bus - as anyone who makes the trip up and down Mass Ave can tell you) stopped in Harvard Square and I didn't get off, the Very Nice and Accommodating Bus Driver turned and said "Where are you goin' anyway? This is the last stop!" "Berklee," I told her. "You got on the wrong side!!" I wasn't sure what was happening after that as she continued driving and we ended up at the same stop I got on at. I asked if I needed to get off the bus and she pointed to the sign and said "Does that sign say 'Berklee???'" So, then I got it. I got on the Harvard bus instead of the Inbound Bus, so she'd turned it around and now we were heading back...I guess she thought I was a dummy. But she was nice to let me stay on the bus!!!

Back Bay seems more 'dressed up.' Someone said it got that way for the Democratic Convention in '04.

Berklee is growing - taking over more buildings. Here's a picture of my old 'home.'

The Music Synthesis major has changed it's name to Electronic Sound Design or something like it. Here's the Library...

I met with Larry Baione. He was one of my teachers at Berklee and is now the Esteemed Department Chair.

-----------------------------
Last but not least, then there's time to hang with the Doolittle Family! Next post is all about them!

Back in Boston

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:27:21 GMT

I'm Back!!

After the flight landed and getting my bags, I was off for my first 'reunion' - with the subway.

First New Thing - no more money. So, to get from the Airport to Cambridge, the attendant recommended a Weekly Pass, or 'Charlie Ticket.' So, for one price, I can ride the subway, the bus, the ferry or any convenient carrier pigeons they happen to be using. From baggage claim to Central Square only took 40 minutes. Pretty good, I think.

The first three days of this trip I'm staying in the spacious loft room of Bob & Katherine Doolittle. There will be some pix of the house and family in another post.

Later this week the International Suzuki Association Teacher Trainer's Conference happens in Bedford. Til then, I hope to meet with some Berklee pals.

The first order of business was kayaking!! In order to accomplish that, I had to reunite with the Green Line all the way to Riverside and then walk 20 minutes to 'Charles River Canoe and Kayak.'

Here are some Beautiful Pix from that trip:

Here is one of my favorites -

Too Much Fun. No, really!

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:11:11 GMT

Friday - the 14th Annual Guitar Arts Family Picnic!! It *used* to really be a picnic, but now it's held indoors due to the high number of complaints about heat and mosquitos. Everyone brings food and the kids can play anything they want. (As opposed to our Studio Recitals where I usually say no to some of the ideas they have for things to play.) And we top it off with some games and a Play-In.

Play-In - in Progress....

It was extra-fun this year because Andi came! Yes, I picked her up (yes, from Austin. So I drove 5 1/2 hours in one day. So what????) and she played her guitar along with the other kids.

We had two Talent Show participants - Anthony performed a Jonas Brothers tune (with a CD backing track) and Aaron the Fuhrman Tanz.

Yeah! Our Gold-Level Trio (the GFA Veteran performers) gave us a half hour of mixed ensemble pieces and solos.

Since all of the younger kids hope to one day play at their level, they assisted in posture and hand position games with them. Here the Kids are joyfully piling little toys on the Advanced Kids. They hope in vain that the toys will drop off. This is the night they realize you really CAN grow out of wiggling in your chair and just play the guitar.

Kaylin's group emptied out the entire container of jungle animals, so they were declared the winners.

Group Shot! Thirteen kids from ages 3 thru 16.

Saturday and Sunday we visited Ft Worth, Texas where we celebrated Jim's mom's birthday.

Andi and I gave our 1st Duo Concert - she plays the Ubiquitous 3rd String Ostinato as harmony to songs in Gmajor
I think she was a pretty big 'hit' with the Great-Grandparents! (and with me, too!)

Guitar Concert & Practice Advice

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:41:21 GMT

Guitar Houston hosted the first of it's Concert Series this evening at Emerson Unitarian Church. The featured performer was Paul Galbraith. You should google him - he plays an 8 string guitar which he designed and he plays it like a cello. He has transcribed lots of keyboard pieces and felt he needed the extra range.

Anyway, the reason for this post is that someone asked him after the concert how much he practices. He said he's lucky because the schedule at the school he's working at now gives him the mornings free. So, he gets in about 4 1/2 hours a day before he goes to work.

The person asked if he practices whole pieces or just practice-spots. He said he rarely plays an entire piece, it's almost always just parts of the tune. He said if you play entire pieces in practice, "...you're just repeating yourself, really."

This is some very interesting food for thought and insight from a GIANT of a performer.

Bunny!!!

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:18:16 GMT

For the last three weeks, the Guitar Studio has a new resident. He's taken up living under the porch.

During group class, we can see him outside munching on the grass. From the looks of him, he's a domestic bunny that either ran away from home or, more likely, was released by his former family to live in the large bayou behind our property. Recently a construction project as begun on the bayou and apparently he chose us as his refuge from the heavy machinery.

We sure like having him around!!

DC Weekend - Whirlwind Weekend

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:58:37 GMT

FRIDAY NIGHT ON THE (OLD) TOWN

Margaret, Andi and I spent our first evening in the DC area with Beka in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

For those of us from Texas - it's cool to be in DC! Really. As in you need a jacket kind of cool. Mimi, Andi, Beka and I enjoyed a walk and nice dinner in Old Town. We saw a burial area behind the Old Presbyterian Meeting house where there is a tomb to an "Soldier whose name is known only to God" who fought in the Continental Army of the American Revolution. There is Dr. James Craik, Chief Physician and Surgeon to the Continental Army. Which means he took care of George Washington. There is a marker for Laura-Ann Gilman. "Died August 18, 1807. Aged nine months & 18 days"

SATURDAY - MEMORIAL MASS AND DC FAST-TRACK TOUR

Saturday morning we attended St Lawrence Catholic church for a Memorial Mass in memory of my Dad. I began attending church with my family at St. Lawrence when I was just 10 years old. It was nice to see friends and share good memories of our Dad. Afterward, we went to lunch at Ruby Tuesday.

After lunch, Dad's friend, Bob Stief was gracious enough to offer to take us around DC. Margaret really wanted to see the White House. He said he would take us there and wherever we wanted to go and that he would either double-park or drive around the block while we jumped out and took pictures. Believe me, we are grateful to him for helping us see some sights (and to my sister who loaned us her car!!)

We saw the White House (including perennial protesters,) the Washington Monument, a concert in progress on the Capital Mall and the Lincoln Memorial.

Afterward, a nice dinner at Metro Diner.

The BIG STORY of the day has to be the birth of Andi's new obsession - the Washington Monument.

Her mom had talked to her in the past about seeing the Statue of Liberty. Andi's never seen it, but Margaret has. "Washington Monument" was hard for her to say, so at first she was calling it "Statue to Livery"

She was very very impressed with the 'big-ess' of the Washington Monument and especially with the red blinking lights at the top. When Mimi and I were ready to move on, she was not. She stopped and emphatically blurted out a string of questions. "Wait. WAIT! I have some questions," she began. "First, why is it so tall? And what are those two red lights like eyes at the top? And why are they there and do they have a battery or somethin'?"

That is exactly how the questions poured out of her.

She was impressed with the Lincoln Memorial. We talked about how he looked a little sad and that the people were fighting with each other. How if he hadn't been so strong, we would not have a country any more - he kept it together and helped everyone to get along. She remembered these things afterward.

So, we went to dinner to treat our gracious driver. When our food arrived, Andi stared at her french fries. She stood one on end. It was cut at at angle at the top. She pointed at it and said, 'It looks like the Washington Monument'
Margaret used the ketchup to apply the 'red eyes' at the top.

Then she turned around, pointed at the wall and said, "Look! It's over there, too."

Sure enough - a mural of the Monument and some cherry blossom trees covered one entire wall of the diner.

Later that night, when she should have been sleeping, she was standing her crayons on end. They looked like the Washington Monument, too.

SUNDAY ADVENTURE ON THE WAY TO THE ZOO
Sunday was Grandparents Day. The National Zoo - home of not one, not two, but THREE live pandas, was having a special event. Kids and Grandparents could attend beginning at 8am. A special breakfast of pancakes was available as well as a 20% Grandparent Discount (not too shabby!) at all stores in the Zoo.

We were a little late getting out the door, but by 7:30 we were at the Metro Station. When we arrived at the stop where we needed to change trains to get to the zoo, we heard an announcement that that line was closed due to an 'accident.' It turns out that a person had thrown himself in front of one of the trains.(!) The Service was stopped for 3 hours.

This had us worried that we might not make it to the zoo in time to enjoy the Special Festivities....Fortunately we got a cab to take us. We went in to a Starbux to ask the barista if she knew how we could contact a cab in DC. She pointed across the room and said "That man drives a cab. Maybe he can take you." What a lucky break!!

We missed the pancake breakfast, but I did spend a bit of 20% discounted bucks at the Gift Shop before the time ran out. Woo-hoo! Another blessing of grandparent-hood.

We spent the whole day at the Zoo the highlight of which was seeing SuperStar Pandas Tian-Tian, Mei Xiang and Thai Shan (the 4 yr old 'baby' panda).

Andi hanging like a monkey while looking at the panda

WORLD'S LARGEST GUITAR ENSEMBLE

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:02:19 GMT

I flew out of Newark on Sunday night. My plane was delayed so long that I didn't arrive in Houston, Texas until after midnight. Yikes!

But I'm so glad I did because it meant I could go through with plans to be part of the attempt to break the Guinness Book World Record for Largest Guitar Ensemble.

The drive began around 8am. I had hopes of bringing some people with me from my studio or whereever - but it didn't work out. The trek to Scenic Luckenbach, Texas from Houston took over 4 hours. Luckenbach is kinda between Fredericksburg and Austin. It's a town of 10 acres. It boasts a General Store in use since 1849 (and still going!) a dance hall which hosts some spiffy events (they advertise that they are 'even able to get Willie' as in Nelson) and some very nice people good at putting together events. They have a saying "Everybody is somebody in Luckenbach." So, there it is.

Anyway, they made room to park 4,000 cars. They filled up their space in addition cars were parked along the street (well, the road) every way you could come or go from Luckenbach.

Over 1,400 hundred preregistered on-line and the numbers ran over 2,000. However, 190 of those prereg'd did not show up, so the final total was 1,859. The World Record Attempt was successful!!

For me, this is my second time to be included in a huge musical group that makes it to the Guinness Book. (You can read all about the first time when you visit my studio since it's immortalized in a collage frame. It includes a Thank You note from the White House.) Soon there will be a second frame with another excerpt from the Guinness Book regarding this huge musical group. The first time it was a marching band of 1,776. I"m glad this time it involved guitars.

It was a fun event. Yes, it was (mostly) country style and yes, most of the guitars were not treated so great with the vast presence of dust and people. And yes. Many of then were out of tune....But to gather so many guitar-lovers in to one place was, well, just a lot of fun.

Here's a few pix ..

... and there are more ON FACEBOOK

Here's a Vid of the World Record Performance In Progress!!!

Silver Bay - Finale (Friday)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:04:37 GMT

August 21, 2009

It all winds down today. We had to be checked out of our rooms by 11am. Morning classes went as usual with our Final Concert scheduled at 3:30

Another 6:30 trip to the bay to swim before my day got started. Guess who waited at the cove which had been all mine the rest of the week?? THE FRLW's!!! They were being quiet, so I think they were having a devotional goodbye meeting. That would be a Convocation, right? Anyway, they didn't get noisy until it broke up and they headed back to their lodge to get their transportation out of there.

As we had lunch, a new group arrived. They must have traveled in a bus because there were MANY of them and they kept on coming. Families, old people, young people, babies, kids, teens. None of them spoke English - they were from an "Iglesia" (I don't remember the name or where it was.)

The sad thing for them is that check-in is at 4pm, so their luggage sat on the porches of the Inn and they basically had nothing to do. So, one large group left and another-much quieter one!-arrived.

Since they were sitting around, we invited them to our Final Concert.

As the concert began, our Esteemed Director (known in the kayaking world as 'the Green Hornet') gave some introductions and then began speaking to the Spanish speakers in *Italian!* It was funny to me since I know just enough spanish to be dangerous, that she was saying things like "Tutto bene" and blah blah blah. I mean, I didn't understand anything she was saying. (Later she said the was thinking Spanish and Italian are pretty close so they'd probably understand.)

I volunteered to translate. Afterward, someone who really speaks spanish said it was all good except for one word. Instead of saying 'Mauro Giuliani was the only ("solo") composer of a song in the 1st half of Guitar Book 1 who was also a guitarist,' I should have used the word "unico." That means all my verbs were right. That's nice. Maybe I'll practice more....it sure wouldn't hurt.

The kids played well! By far the worst battle we waged this week was against fatigue. There were so many fun things to do that even though they like their guitars and music games, they would just get tired of sitting. The s'mores and campfire on Thursday night really made them drag on Friday morning. So, the fact that they pulled together and did such a great job was gratifying. They all say they want to come back again next year, so maybe this Suzuki Guitar Retreat at Silver Bay will become an annual tradition.

After the concert and saying "goodbye" and "see you next year!" to everyone, we went for our last kayak around the bay. Then the four hour drive back.

The next big thing on my agenda is the attempt to break the Guinness Book World Record for Largest Guitar Ensemble. This takes place on Sunday around the Austin area (Luckenbach, Texas to be exact.)

WORLD'S LARGEST GUITAR ENSEMBLE

Stay tuned!

Silver Bay - Day 4 (Thursday)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:09:25 GMT

Another absolutely beautiful morning for a swim. I had the cove all to myself. (and a bunch of flies, but that wasn't a problem) The water is crystal clear.

All week long there has been a group of teens here - around 100 of them. They are involved in a leadership training camp. They have a beach reserved for themselves as well as half of the cafeteria - which is walled off from the rest of us.

They are N-O-I-S-Y. Always yelling, whooping, chanting, hollering....For a couple of days it was easy to smile and marvel at the wonders of youth. Now it is tiresome and feels like a night club from the big City dropped into the middle of what would otherwise be the lovely sounds of nature.

We've been wondering what leadership organization they are training for with all of the yelling and screaming going on. We've decided it must be to lead riots. Can't think of any other type of leadership position requiring such a constant noise level. Someone remarked they were glad this was a 'dry' camp because they would probably have a keg going at their very loud hoopla tonight. Anyway, we have dubbed them FRLW (future riot leaders of the world) until we find out their real mission in life.

I miss my family. I miss talking to them on the phone. Several people told me that if you stand near the flagpole in front of The Inn, cell reception is possible. Someone told me if you put one hand on the flagpole your phone might work. I've seen people holding on to the pole and talking on their phones. But it didn't work for me.

Now, to the real story of the week - KAYAKING!! The little faculty of 3 (including me!) has become obsessed with it. We've had so much fun!! We've come up with identities based on color of our boat. Silly fun. By week's end, we settled on "The Power Papaya" for the bright orange one, "Hot Tamale" for the red and "The Green Hornet." Some people in their kayaks row for a bit, then enjoy the scenery. We saw someone today just laying back in the boat as if sunbathing. The paddle was tucked inside. I just like to row - to keep moving. What a lot of fun! I never would have thought of kayaking.

So, when we were done, we asked the boathouse attendant who teaches the kayak classes at what level in the world of Kayaking would they place our experience there at Silver Bay. We figured maybe PreSchool - 1st grade. After all, if someone with zero experience took a group guitar class at a Community Organization like the Y, you could place it about that level. After thinking for a minute, she said taking into consideration the type of kayaks they use and the lake currents (etc) she thought a Grade 5 level! That was even more exciting! We're out of 'baby' range.

Tonight the 30 (or so) of us in the Suzuki Guitar Retreat enjoyed s'mores around a camp fire. I brought my guitar which was passed around a bit. [ a side note - what is the most frequently requested song of my life do you think? I'll tell you - 'Classical Gas.' And it was requested again tonight! ] The FRLW's were having a big party in the nearby lodge and impinged on the sounds of nature, but oh, well. It didn't change the marshmallows or s'mores any.

I saw Tallulah and asked her how it felt to be 5years + 1 day old. She replied dramatically and with a toss of her hair - "Oh, SO good!"

And so it is....