politics and society/ heath and education

I am not American. Coming from another country with different priorities of society and dissimilar political system, there are two topics that always gave me a feeling of unease. These two are Health and Education. I think a country that considers itself to be so great and offer everybody opportunities needs to make sure that all people can be healthy and be educated. I am happy that the health care bill passed, even though I am sure that it is just a first step and a compromise, but progress needs to start with little steps. In the past years, I have heard of so many people that were in terrible situations because they could not afford doctors and health care. What really got me though, were the millions of children without coverage, to me that is unthinkable. What kind of society leaves their children in such a situation?

Children are our future, they are going to be the ones at the rudder, steering forward when we are old, they deserve a good chance. That brings me to the second topic, education. In my view, it is fundamentally wrong that level of education rises and falls with the financial state of parents. Cheaper house, cheaper town and ergo, school district not as good. It is not equal opportunity, if rich children can either move to a great public school district or just go to a great private school and others are left behind. When I grew up, I thought the harder you worked and the more you learned and when you did everything right, you will be on top financially. I do not think that anymore, the amount of money people make, is not always related to amount of work, too many factors contribute to being well off and for sure is it not related to people being better persons than others. I see money as a great divider, people with money can send their kids to great schools and they can move into the same stratosphere. Of course there are always children that find their way anyway and their are others with the best starting position and they fail, but in general, money is a deciding factor. I despise that, because I think it should be based on merit and achievement. Wouldn't that ultimately be better for all of society?

I do worry about my children and their academic future, they will have to find a way to get scholarships or community college is calling. Maybe we just move to Germany and they can study anything they want - if they are good enough - for a nominal little fee. I am very happy that a new bill was signed yesterday, making student loans much easier to acquire and to pay off. Another step in the right direction. Sometimes, politics can move things forward or better them - at least until the tide changes in this two party system (another peculiar thing).

Then of course, I hear about nuclear power and offshore drilling and all my joy had been canceled out again. I think it is healthier for my mind to turn off NPR and listen to 400 years old music instead, but I find myself unable to. I feel a strange sense of duty to be an informed - well, I would love to write citizen, but I am not one of those - person. Good night and good luck!

Mandalas and Zentangles

I saw a very interesting time lapse video of a Buddhist monk and mandala master creating a Tibetan Sand Mandala in the Sackler pavilion (Smithsonian in D.C.). Mandalas are simultaneous art and meditation, sand mandalas in particular take a long time of concentrated and patient effort due to their intricate nature. A mandala like this represents a palace of Buddhist deities that exists in the mind of the monk. The one in the video took 8 days to make. After a mandala is completed, it gets swept away to remind us of the impermanence of existence. What a strong and powerful symbol. It reminds me a little bit of a big puzzle that takes so long to finish, just to take it apart and put it back in the box. I have always loved puzzles and their meditative nature. Even though finishing is the goal, it is not what is important about doing a puzzle. The journey is the real goal. Anyway, they don't let me embed this video of mandala master Venerable Ngawang Chojor, so here is the link.

When I checked on youtube, I found this interesting video though:



This reminds me that I have been meaning to do some zentangles. Zentangles is like drawing with patterns instead of colors, it is very meditative and free, a bit like doodling, and you never know what you will get. I used to do a lot of black ink drawings that consisted of nothing but tiniest little dots made with technical pens and I loved sitting at the desk and dotting away. It takes a lot of patience, but it is such a moment of creation, molding and shaping these dimensions on a two dimensional piece of paper.

Borromeo quartet at WGBH - Beethoven's Grosse Fuge

Admittedly I check my email too often, but it can be rewarding at times. I received an email from WGBH, inviting me to a Classical Guest Street session with the Borromeo String Quartet in their studios. I clicked on their link right away and got two of the last 20 tickets. Even more lucky that Fiddler from Rockhound Place was able to go with me. They had a reception and we got to walk around the new studios a bit, I had not seen them yet.

Violinist Nicholas Kitchen introduced the audience to Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge in a multimedia program, which was very interesting and entertaining. I just LOVE to take music apart for a deeper analysis and then listen to it all put together again - so very enlightening. The quartet ended with a performance of the entire opus 133.

Written in 1825/26 when Beethoven was completely deaf, it was originally composed as the last movement of string quartet Op. 130, but later published separate as Op.133. Almost 200 years old and is still very contemporary even today. The four voices, their themes and rhythms intertwine and cross in such a complexity and show the pure genius of Beethoven. It combines dissonance and fortissimo with quiet serenity and it surprises with dramatic interplay of silence and sudden bursts of musical expression. Cathy Fuller expressed it well: “Beethoven takes four voices, fully engaged and throbbing at high speeds, and drives them to the edge of a cliff before stopping them on a dime to listen to the vastness of silence.” [link]

The Borromeo Quartet has its home base in Boston and is the Quartet-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory. It was formed in 1989 and the group plays more than 100 concerts a year. These brilliant musicians are very accomplished and they create a passionate synergy that transcends their performance and connects to the music and its meaning on a deeper level and is in all its serious glory plain fun. I have rarely seen such a range of emotional expressions as tonight. They perform every now and then at the Gardner and I hope I can enjoy them there sometime soon. As an interesting side note, they don't use traditional scores, but cool macbooks instead and advance through the music with a pedal.

Here is an interview with the Borromeo Quartet at WNYC:


And here is the Quartet performing the final movement of Beethoven's Opus 18 Number 3 at WNYC:


Here is an interesting article by Alex Ross, the music critic of the New Yorker:
Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, and an article in the Boston Globe: Borromeos zero in on late Beethoven

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

Last summer I asked my choral director if we are ever going to sing Arvo Pärt and she said, well we are singing Whitacre next year. With my impending Europe trip, I did not jump at the computer and research this unknown to me composer. I wish I had though. When I finally had to part with the Duruflé requiem and welcome the music of Eric Whitacre into my life, I was amazed by such beautiful music that seems to float and move. He also seems to be a genuinely nice person and is quite in touch with musicians and singers, now that surprises me, because my experience with musicians is different (with the exception of the wonderful and humble John Cage).

So anyway, I don't want to delve deeper here but share this fantastic idea of Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir. Composer Eric Whitacre and producer Scott Haines called people to record their voice part of Lux Aurumque directed by Whitacre. Six scholarships were awarded. It was very exciting, because they were announced on different days and the chosen singers were just brilliant. So all in all, Haines mixed the 185 voices on 243 tracks with people from 12 countries and produced this wonderful music video. Haines did a superb job, because the sound for sure transcends little computer microphones. They must be wizards.



Beyond the wonderful music and the novel idea, this is a perfect example of the potential good of the internet. The power of music as the universally understood language married with the possibilities of modern technology bring together people from different backgrounds and beliefs, cultures and races and unites all in a moving piece of music. This is the second video of this kind, last year they also did Sleep with Virtual Choir. I hope this is not the last Virtual Choir project, I would love to attempt a part myself. For now though I am happy to sing five of Whitacre's pieces this spring with Sounds of Stow.

Spring is here, ignore the calendar

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
~ Zen proverb

How can one not feel better with the sun of spring permeating everything. The warmth and the light coaxing out new life all around and radiating deep into my soul, sprouting hope.

And this is where some photos should be posted, but Blogger does not let me do so at the moment, so I'll try later ... Blogger has been acting very peculiar as of late.

day 16 of brain mush

So somehow I caught something a few weeks ago and I got sick with the flu or at least something that has all those symptoms. Unlike John though, who bounced back quickly, mine had to turn into a double ear infection, sinusitis and bronchitis. So here I am, 16 days later and still feeling like my brain was sucked away by aliens and substituted with mush of mystery meat, peas and carrots. Why did I pick something this awful? Because I was fed this mush daily when I was in the hospital for four month in 1972. And this was the mildest on the list of offenses this hospital stood for. Yuck.

So I would like to write something meaningful, but with a head that feels like it is teetering on the verge of explosion, meaningful and thought-out are not easily achieved. It does not help that I thought it would be very beneficial for me to run around in the sun on a tennis court, 'get your lymph system going' as John called it. That thought was apparently not a good one either.... cough, cough and off to bed now with a good book. Gave up on Sense & Sensibility & Seamonsters and will be reading the Rockhound Place recommended Shiver instead.

Since I am still sick: another Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Squirrel in the old appletree

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

Now really, this is an absolute awesome book title. I love the absurd and this sure sounded very much so. When I received it from the library, I was really put off by the title and have since talked to many people who did not even read it because of the title artwork. Personally, I think that is silly, since one should not judge a book by its cover.

Zombies add a hilarious notion to a piece of literature set in a period of stiffness and proper conduct. The books bizarre juxtaposition appealed to me on the comedic level as much as to me being a big fan of Austen. Pride & Prejudice is a satire and I do think that Austen herself would love the idea of this mash-up. Unfortunately though, this is where I think this book fails. It stays a good concept, but it delivers only a fraction of what it promises. It has its moments of hysterical and wicked fun married with the macabre, but the execution is overall inconsistent and weak. The first chapters make you laugh your head off and then it tapers into the background and comes with a big return towards the end when we get a Crouching Tiger meets Austen moment.

I am no fan of horror (too many horror movie matinees at the age of seventeen) and there is some horror in this book. I never really felt the “ultraviolent zombie mayhem” while reading, because it is being portrayed in a very matter of fact style and the characters fight according to the regency times with polite elegance and a nonchalance that makes you take that attitude as well. Therefore horror, blood and gore were not even in my field of vision while reading, the zombies did not materialize in my head. I did ignore the potty humor, as I think it neither funny nor shocking, but rather infantile and not very clever.

I am new to the genre of mash-up, but I thought it takes two aspects and by mashing them up transforms them into something different. I don’t think there is a transformation here, it does stay Pride & Prejudice. There is nothing very original about the addition that were made, they are mere sprinkles in the awesome work of Jane Austen. I kept wondering throughout if it would be more interesting with more twists like those regarding Charlotte and Collins, but I came to the conclusion that it would add so much more implausible plot, that it could become rather annoying. Or maybe that is exactly what would make this better and achieve a transformation?

Would I recommend it to friends? I love Pride & Prejudice and it was a fun way to spent some hours on a dreary winter afternoon, so I was entertained. On the other hand though, I was thoroughly bugged by inconsistencies in plot, geography and spelling that really puts this more on the level of online fanfic rather than being a book to shell out money for. With a better editor and stronger writing, this could have been something that Jane Austen herself would have enjoyed.

This might be a great way though to trick weary teenagers into reading Jane Austen. I give it three stars, not great, not bad.

200 years Chopin

Wszystkiego Najlepszego Fryderyk! I have no idea how to pronounce it, but it means 'Happy Birthday Frédéric' in Polish. Thanks to Fiddler at Rockhound Place to remind me of Chopin's birthday with her post, even though there is no absolute certainty if March first really was the day he was born. Last year we had Mendelssohn to celebrate and this year Chopin. There are celebrations all around the globe, but especially in Poland of course. Chopin's life and heritage is very interesting in the sense that he examplifies in one way how intertwined France and Poland are. Many people think Chopin is French and they are wrong but also a little right at the same time.

While reading about Chopin today, it occurred to me that I have never gone through a Chopin phase. I actually don't think I ever will. I have definite favorite pieces, the very well known Nocturne in E# minor and the Prelude in E minor for example. I would love to be able to play the Etude 25 Winter Wind, usually played very fast, though I prefer it very slow, as it becomes somewhat haunting. If I one were to look into my brain and look at the music section, they would discover a huge love for French composers, from early music to modern. Even though Chopin spent the second half of his life in France and his father had come to Poland from France, I cannot find in his music what I consider typically French. This is neither quantifiable nor educated, just based on my emotional experience.

Like many others though, I struggle at the piano with Chopin. Usually I give up relatively quickly. And then I saw this video on youtube (stick around for 0:25) and it makes me want to run to the piano and play, as much as it makes me want to sell it real fast and look for a different past time.



Robert Schumann on Chopin: "It was an unforgettable picture to see Chopin sitting at the piano like a clairvoyant, lost in his dreams; to see how his vision communicated itself through his playing, and how, at the end of each piece, he had the sad habit of running one finger over the length of the plaintive keyboard, as though to tear himself forcibly away from his dream."