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Preserving an Ancient Instrument

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged basque, culture, instrument, music, rare, stone, txalaparta, wood on December 5, 2016| 7 Comments »

Photo: Iñaki LL

One of my Facebook friends shared an entertaining page on “rare and strange instruments” (you have to see it to believe it), leading me to seek more information on an instrument called the txalaparta. It may not be as unusual as the piano that makes cats meow but is nevertheless worthy of investigation.

According to Wikipedia, the txalaparta is “a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone. In some regions of the Basque Country, zalaparta (with [s]) means ‘racket,’ while in others (in Navarre) txalaparta has been attested as meaning the trot of the horse, a sense closely related to the sound of the instrument. …

“During the last 150 years, txalaparta has been attested as a communication device used for funeral (hileta), celebration (jai) or the making of slaked lime (kare), or cider (sagardo). After the making of cider, the same board that pressed the apples was beaten to summon the neighbours. Then, a celebration was held and txalaparta played cheerfully, while cider was drunk. …

“Traditional txalaparta was almost extinct in the 1950s with a handful of pairs of peasants maintaining the tradition. It was then revived by folklorists, such as Jesus and Jose Antonio Artze from the group Ez dok amairu.” Now you can hear it on YouTube, below.

More at Wikipedia.

Video: The Give and Take of Wood and Stone. Oreka Tx Brings Once Threatened Basque Sounds and New Global Resonances to the U.S. in September 2010 and on Nömadak Tx.

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Postmodern Jukebox

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged doo-wop, music, pop, postmodern jukebox, ragtime on November 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Postmodern Jukebox band.

Scott Bradlee and his Postmodern Jukebox band take modern hits and play them in old-timey styles with surprise guest artists. The results are awesome.

James Sullivan has the story at the Boston Globe.

“When the Wang Theatre at the Citi Performing Arts Center first opened in 1925, the ornate performance hall was known as the Metropolitan. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox [offers] listeners a ticket of sorts back to the Jazz Age of the theater’s beginnings, with Bradlee’s old-time piano anchoring the collective improvisation of a Dixieland ensemble.

“Then they’ll get to the part of the song when Justin Bieber taunts an ex because she still hits his phone up.

“Right from the start of the band’s five-year ascent on YouTube, Postmodern Jukebox made its method clear: The group takes the pop hits of the text-and-Snapchat age and recasts them as meticulously arranged period pieces, from ragtime to doo-wop. …

“Despite the vintage sound, his group’s work is not intended as a pure throwback, says Bradlee, a 35-year-old New Jersey native, who recently moved to Los Angeles after launching PMJ from a Queens basement in 2011.

“ ‘It’s more of an alternative universe, in a way,’ he says. ‘We might even go into something a little bit hip-hop or funky. It’s more . . . an aesthetic – you kind of know it when you hear it.’ …

“Working outside the conventional music industry in more ways than one, Postmodern Jukebox doesn’t announce all the performers expected at any given performance. Drawing from a roster that now numbers nearly 70 singers and musicians, Bradlee varies the lineup from city to city, depending on location and availability.

“Sara Niemietz … takes the lead on PMJ’s versions of OutKast’s ‘Hey Ya!’ and Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself,’ for which, she says, she had Bessie Smith – the ‘Empress of the Blues’ – in mind. …

“Though Niemietz headlines her own shows, acts, and does theater work, she likes the all-for-one-and-one-for-all camaraderie of the PMJ players.

“ ‘It’s almost like you’re on a team,’ she says. ‘Everyone is working together to create a larger experience.’ ” More at the Globe.

Listen:

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Seen in Harvard Square

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bellowphone, callioforte, harvard square, inventor, minstrel, music, street musician on September 29, 2016| 5 Comments »

Who wouldn’t love Harvard Square? Although too many sights there are troubling, the square also offers a nonstop showcase of wonders. It’s kind of a mirror of human experience.

The last time I was in Harvard Square, I was meeting Minnesota friends for dinner. I ended up arriving at Harvest restaurant a few minutes after them because I simply had to stop and listen to this musician-inventor play his bellowphone.

From Len Solomon’s About page: “Classically trained musician, inventor, and one-man-orchestra Len Solomon performs a unique recital of music and comedy.

“The one-hour show features your favorite symphonic compositions, arranged for Dog Whistles and Bicycle Horn, plus a chromatic pipe organ devised from plumbing parts and coat-hanger wire, and of course, the ingenious Majestic Bellowphone: a musical masterpiece of Medieval technology! …

“Len majored in guitar and early music at Antioch College, and followed that with two years of playing guitar in a country-rock band in Idaho. He finally gave up the glory of playing for drunkards in bars five nights a week, and went to work for 10 years as a professional cabinetmaker in the Boston area. In 1983, in his Cambridge basement, Len built the Majestic Bellowphone, and he took it to the streets along with his 5-ball juggling routine, taking his place among the ranks of classic Harvard Square street acts.”

Click to hear the callioforte and bellowphone.

081816-inventor-plays-music-Harvard-Square

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Pop-up Classical Music

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 5th Grade, architect, Catherine Stephan, classical music, designer, Fresh Sound Foundation, gypsy caravan, hospitals, John Rossi, magic, malcolm gay, music, music center, music haul, musician, parker quartet, pop-up, postaday, prisons, schools, Seth Knopp, Suzanne Kreiter, u-haul, underserved neighborhoods, Vermont, Yellow Barn on September 19, 2016| 2 Comments »

Photo: Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
A stage in the back of a U-Haul (paid for in part by Fresh Sound Foundation) allows the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet to perform anywhere.

Classical musicians who believe their music will bring a blessing to whoever hears it have been presenting in offbeat locales in the Greater Boston area. Tomorrow, too. Malcolm Gay has the story at the Boston Globe.

“The 17-foot U-Haul truck sat parked in an empty field, ringed by trees. With the touch of a button, a roof-mounted winch whirred into action, unspooling cable as a fan-shaped stage lowered like a drawbridge from the rear. The U-Haul’s modified rear doors acted as a band shell, flanking the stage to project sound, and a custom-made sail, supported by deep-sea fishing rods, projected as a visor from above.

“Fifteen minutes later and the vehicle, dubbed the Music Haul, was a fully functioning stage — a 21st-century gypsy caravan that will bring live performances to the streets and schools of Greater Boston, Sunday through Tuesday.

“ ‘It really is more boat than truck,’ said Catherine Stephan, executive director of the Yellow Barn music center. ‘We got to know RV dealerships really well.’ …

“ ‘It’s supposed to be as close to magic as possible,’ said architect John Rossi, one of the traveling venue’s principal designers. …

“Its creators say the Music Haul’s main mission is to bring world-class concert performances to the most unlikely of places: schools, underserved neighborhoods, hospitals, perhaps even prisons.

” ‘We exist in the world as musicians that is in a way so finely controlled and tuned,’ said Yellow Barn’s artistic director, Seth Knopp. ‘Music Haul removes some of the ceremony, which can be a barrier for people who are not often exposed to that world. There’s an element of taking something out of its accustomed place and allowing it to take people by surprise.’ ”

What a good thought! Reminds me how you can suddenly start seeing the pictures on your walls again if you move them to a new location in the house.

Read more about this enchanting initiative here.

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Vision of Hope Zambia

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged africa, apron, artisan, at-risk, berklee college, Chitalu Chishimba, craft, fair, girls, HIV, housing, meg o'brien, music, orphan, postady, povert, shower, street children, Vision of Hope Zambia, zambia on August 8, 2016| 2 Comments »

080616-vision-of-hope-zambia-apron

The first booth I encountered at the Art and Artisan fair Saturday was promoting a charity called Vision of Hope Zambia.

Co-founder Meg O’Brien had been a student at Berklee College of Music when a missionary friend in Zambia asked her to lend her musical talent to uplifting girls who lived on the streets.

When she visited Africa, Meg must have been shocked by what she saw: young girls, often orphaned, often HIV positive, who had no place to get a meal or even take a shower. She flew into action, co-founding Vision of Hope Zambia with Chitalu Chishimba.

Meg’s mother and aunt also flew into action, creating a craft initiative that donates 100 percent of proceeds to the cause.

The two artisans not only sew with skill — baby bibs, changing blankets, aprons and the like — they also are good at selling, promoting Meg’s charity while highlighting various features of their products.

Meg’s aunt saw me talking to my grandchildren and immediately pointed out the colorful array of child-size aprons. In the end, though, I bought an adult-sized apron for myself.

From humble beginnings in 2009 (“weekly meetings in the backyard of the Girl Scouts building underneath a tree”), the organization is now able to provide housing and education for many girls as it continues to grow.

Photo: Vision of Hope Zambia
Girls at Vision of Hope proudly show off their hard work in rug making.

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Making Music of Natural World

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alaska, Algonquin Park, amazon, animal orchestra, bernie krause, bioacoustician, Cartier Foundation, Central African Republic, elephant, hawaii, monkeys, moog, music, musician, nature, Ontario, postaday, Rachel Donadio, soundscape, the weavers, tim chapman, whales, wolves, Yukon Delta on July 31, 2016| 4 Comments »

Do you know about the “Great Animal Orchestra“? Rachel Donadio at the NY Times has the story.

“The bioacoustician and musician Bernie Krause has been recording soundscapes of the natural world since 1968, from coral reefs to elephant stamping grounds to the Amazonian rain forest.

“Now, Mr. Krause’s recordings have become part of an immersive new exhibition at the Cartier Foundation here called ‘The Great Animal Orchestra.’ Named after Mr. Krause’s 2012 book of the same title, the show opens on Saturday and runs through Jan. 8, [2017].

“At its heart is a work by the London-based collective United Visual Artists, who have transformed Mr. Krause’s recordings of the natural world into 3-D renderings. Imagine stepping into a soundproofed black-box theater whose walls spring to life with what look like overlapping electrocardiograms, representing different species’ sounds. …

“The installation includes recordings Mr. Krause made in Algonquin Park in Ontario, where he found himself caught between two packs of wolves; in the Yukon Delta, a subarctic area in Alaska, where birds from different continents converge; and in the Central African Republic, where he heard monkeys. He also captured the cacophony of the Amazon, and whales off Alaska and Hawaii. …

“Mr. Krause is a polymathic musician who performed with the folk group the Weavers and helped introduce the Moog synthesizer to pop music — including songs by the Doors and Van Morrison — and film scores. He hears natural sounds with a studio producer’s ear.”

Read more here about Krause and his efforts to get the word out on the disappearing habitats of his featured animals.

This article inspires me to pay better attention to the music of the natural world on my morning walks. So much beauty goes right over my head.

Photo: Tim Chapman
Bernie Krause on St. Vincent Island, Fla., in 2001.

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Refugee Musicians

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged black entrepreneurs, bremen, Damascus conservatory, double bass, emotional, germany, Isabelle de Pommereau, MAias Alyamani, music, musician, postaday, Raed Jazbeh, refugee, SEPO, syria, Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra on June 16, 2016| 4 Comments »

I liked this story from the “People Making a Difference” series at the Christian Science Monitor. It’s about refugee musicians in Europe finding one another and bringing beauty and deeper understanding to their new countries.

Isabelle de Pommereau writes, “On a March evening in Berlin, bassist Raed Jazbeh and other musicians play the melancholic tones of ‘Sea Waves’ by Syrian composer MAias Alyamani. Mr. Alyamani wrote the song a decade ago after leaving his homeland, ‘to hold in my mind a piece from my country in my music.’

“Now, with hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees flooding Germany, ‘Sea Waves’ takes on new meaning.

“Mr. Jazbeh himself fled Syria three years ago, as war tore it apart. So did many of the other musicians – also Syrians – performing ‘Sea Waves.’ Some had risked their lives and lost their instruments crossing Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea and then trekking into Europe.

“Jazbeh is the one who brought these musicians together. Last fall, he created the world’s first philharmonic orchestra of Syrian musicians in exile, reuniting the violinists and harpists, percussionists and trumpet players …

“The Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO) has been giving Syrians and Germans a chance to connect in a fresh way, around music. The ensemble is helping to shatter stereotypical images of refugees, instead offering a portrayal of them as hardworking, creative people who have much to contribute to society. …

“Jazbeh grew up in the city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, with music at the center of his life. … After he landed at a refugee center in Bremen, he played chamber music for friends and at community centers. [He also] began looking for friends from his days at the Damascus conservatory. ‘Facebook was so important,’ he notes.

“Gradually, he found them. In Italy. Sweden. The Netherlands. France. …

“In all, about 30 Syrian musicians came together for that first concert. ‘It was very emotional,’ Jazbeh remembers. …

“ ‘The music touched my heart,’ said concertgoer Abdulrhman Hamdan, fighting back tears. At home, in Damascus, he had had to stop his engineering studies. He arrived in Berlin last winter after a journey by foot, bus, and boat.

“ ‘It makes me feel sad and happy,’ he added. ‘On the one hand, the music [evoked the] war. On the other hand, it was hope that there is peace again.’ ”

Read how the concert changed the impressions of one German audience member here.

Photo: Isabelle de Pommereau
Raed Jazbeh, a Syrian refugee, had to play a borrowed instrument until an anonymous German donor sent him this double bass as a gift.

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Heal Thyself with Opera on Call

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged anxiety, caroline kennedy, david bebber, emotion, healing, healing power, house call, Joshua Sofaer, music, opera, Opera Helps, perspective, sing, stress, sweden, therapy, tim jonze, uk on May 15, 2016| 2 Comments »

Tim Jonze wrote a funny story at the Guardian about hiring a therapeutic opera singer to deal with his anxiety about becoming a father.

“The soprano reaches a dramatic climax, demonstrating impressive lung power as she sustains the dizzying peak note, before bringing Quando me’n’ vo’ to its close. It is a powerful, emotionally draining performance, and one that seems to resonate around the room for some time after she has finished. Which is why I get up off the sofa and ask her if she would like a cup of tea.

“This, as you might have guessed, is not your typical night at the opera – and not only because it’s only just gone 11 am. It is called Opera Helps, and is a project dreamed up by the artist Joshua Sofaer. The gist is this: contact the Opera Helps phoneline with a personal problem, and they will endeavour to send a singer to your house. Said singer will briefly discuss the issue with you, select a suitable aria that addresses it, then perform it for you while you relax in familiar surroundings: on a comfortable chair, for instance, or even in bed.

“It’s not therapy as such – in fact, they are very keen to stress that their singers are not trained therapists – but the project does aim to help you look at your problem from a new perspective and, hopefully, experience the healing power of music.

“ ‘It’s about giving someone the space for reflection, the same way having a chat with a friend might give you fortitude to carry on,’ says Sofaer, who found success running the project in Sweden before bringing it to the UK. …

“ ‘In my experience, you either respond to the music or you don’t – I don’t think it is based on your musical education or what class you’re from or how much money you’ve got, which is the common perception. The idea that opera needs an expert audience is a complete misnomer.’ ”

More at the Guardian, here.

Photo: David Bebber for the Guardian
Opera singer Caroline Kennedy sings to Tim Jonze to relieve his stress.

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Throwing Concerts for Animals

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged animals, Aubree Bernier-Clarke, behavior, bison, black prairie, captivity, Charles Snowdon, composer, David Teie, gorilla, Laurel Braitman, mental health, music, postaday, tamarins, University of Wisconsin, wolves, zoo on April 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

In this story from radio show Studio 360, we learn that music is intriguing to animals, at the very least arousing their curiosity and perhaps stimulating and soothing them.

“Laurel Braitman is a historian of science and the author of ‘Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves.’ She’s particularly interested in the mental health of animals in captivity.

“ ‘If their minds aren’t stimulated, they can end up with all sorts of disturbing behaviors,’ she says. Braitman wondered if music — so often soothing to people, but usually foisted on animals without their permission — could help counter their symptoms of anxiety and depression.

“That led Braitman to arrange a series of concerts for all-animal audiences: gorillas in a Boston zoo and a small herd of bison in Golden Gate Park. Recently, the bluegrass band Black Prairie played for the residents of Wolf Haven wolf sanctuary in Tenino, Washington. …

“Can we say that they liked it?

“Researchers are trying to answer this question in controlled experiments where they observe whether animals move toward or away from speakers, depending on the music.

“Dr. Charles Snowdon of the University of Wisconsin collaborates with a composer, David Teie, who writes music tailored for certain species. They base their compositions on sonic frequencies the animals use in nature. Their music for domestic cats features tempos of purring or suckling kittens; small monkeys called cotton-top tamarins, on the other hand, got music that sounds remarkably like nails on a blackboard. ‘It is pretty godawful if you ask me,’ Snowdon says. ‘But the tamarins dig it.’ ”

More here.

Music for Wolves: Black Prairie from Aubree Bernier-Clarke on Vimeo.

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Flamenco Night

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged barbara martinez, fado, flamenco, jose moreno, juanito pascual, lachiusa, minnesota, Moonbox, music, musical, postaday, wild party on April 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

What a weekend for entertainment! On one day, we saw the musical The Wild Party (LaChiusa version) at Moonbox Productions in Boston. (Very good.) On another, we attended a flamenco concert in a church.

The flamenco headliner, guitarist Juanito Pascual, was joined by flamenco percussionist and singer José Moreno and singer and dancer Bárbara Martinez. Such exuberant and mournful fun! It reminded us of fado concerts we’ve attended, although that happy-sad tradition is Portuguese and flamenco is Spanish.

The music included pieces that go back centuries plus Pascual’s own compositions, which are a fascinating blend of old and new. Challenging at times, but pretty intriguing. One was dedicated to the person back home in Minnesota “who persuaded my mother to let me take guitar lessons.”

An article in the Concord Journal notes that Pascual, who is just beginning a 15-city tour to promote his latest CD, “skillfully weaves such influences as Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Bach and many others into his original compositions.” The Journal also quotes Boston Globe critic Steve Morse, who admires how Pascual “combines vivid colors, rich imagination and a yearning, never satisfied mastery of his art.”

Even in pieces without Moreno’s percussion support, Pascual’s virtuoso performance sounded like he was simultaneously playing two guitars and a set of bongos (flamenco involves slapping the wood as well has playing the strings). Very dramatic.

More at the Concord Journal, here. And you can hear samples of the music at all three artists’ websites.

Photo: www.juanitopascual.com

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Customizing Songs for Strangers

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Alex Vadukul, brandon stanton, Chinatown Soup, Custom Melodies, customized, emon hassan, Fialka Semenuik, Grey Gersten, humans of new york, Josh Koenigsberg, mmuseumm, music, new york, Philip Weinrobe, photographer, postaday, songs to order, takeout on April 8, 2016| 2 Comments »

You probably know about Humans of New York and the photographer Brandon Stanton, who gets strangers to tell him how they really feel. I was reminded of his work when I read this NY Times story about an artist and musician who invited strangers to answer offbeat questions about their lives and then used the material to write songs for them.

Reporter Alex Vadukul attended a gallery exhibition of the work in February.

He writes, “The crinkled papers pinned across the small Chinatown gallery’s walls … contained scrawled drawings and questions: ‘Do you know your limits yet?’ ‘Most recent Google query?’ and ‘Were you ever involved with the occult?’

“They were not pointlessly esoteric. Grey Gersten, an artist and musician, had designed them to gather information he then used to compose songs about strangers; individuals filled them out for him two summers ago during rapid 20-minute song-making appointments for his project, ‘Custom Melodies.’ …

“Mr. Gersten, 32, worked from an impromptu music studio inside the Mmuseumm, a peculiar contemporary museum the size of an elevator shaft in the narrow Cortlandt Alley in TriBeCa, where people handed him the papers through a window opening. The forms, posing questions personal and abstract, helped him explore a concept: Can you bottle a stranger’s essence in a song? The resulting compositions were played publicly at the Chinatown Soup gallery on [Feb. 5, 2016] and varied from ambient and sonic to poppy and feverish.

“People wandered through the space studying the papers on the walls, but a few sought their own original forms. …

“Josh Koenigsberg, 31, who sat for a song appointment, also tracked down his form at the gallery. … He recalled: ‘It was like going to a doctor’s office, except you filled out the last dream you had or the last time you got goose bumps. And he studied your form like he was a doctor.’ (One man at the event described it as a ‘takeout window for music.’)

“Another participant, Philip Weinrobe, 34, found his form hanging beside the gallery’s busy bar. It indicated his earliest memory was ‘sitting in a playground and looking up,’ that his favorite advice is ‘measure twice, cut once,’ and that at the time his last Google search was, ‘Why aren’t my marigolds flowering?’ ”

More here.

Photo: Emon Hassan for The New York Times
At a Chinatown gallery in February, visitors read forms people filled out so Grey Gersten could write customized songs.

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Music Class in Refugee Camp

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged American Refugee Committee, arc, dong yang camp, music, playing for change, postaday, refugee, thailand on March 30, 2016| 4 Comments »

The American Refugee Committee, or ARC, is a wonderful nonprofit that periodically sends me news from its headquarters in Minneapolis. Recently, I learned about its Welcome Home blog, which reports on the organization’s Changemaker initiatives, including this music collaboration in Thailand’s Dong Yang Refugee Camp.

“Every year,” writes ARC, “we hold a global ideas competition with our staff around the world. We love seeing the inspiring, new ideas that are submitted.

“This year, we were excited to see one of these ideas come to life in Thailand. Facilitated by ARC and Playing for Change, an organization using music to connect people around the world, this Changemaker idea brought together kids in Dong Yang refugee camp for a two day music workshop including creative, visual arts projects and music lessons.

“For young kids stuck inside the confines of a refugee camp, the workshop provided a much-needed creative outlet. One participating staff member remarked, ‘The participants so thoroughly enjoyed the activity and lost track of time while participating because they were so involved.’

“A group from Minneapolis had the chance to travel to Dong Yang to participate in the workshop and production of a music video.” More at blogspot.

Here’s hoping that the two days will lead to a lot more for these children.

Photo: American Refugee Committee

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Building Guitars Together

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Ariel Bodman, art, building guitars, Dan Collins, design, guitar, instrument, music, north kingstown, open mic, open mike, postaday, rhode island, Shady Lea Guitars, tom murphy on March 28, 2016| 2 Comments »

Tom Murphy wrote recently at the Providence Journal about a shop in North Kingstown that will teach you how to build your own guitar.

“Owner Dan Collins and his partner, Ariel Bodman, design and build guitars with the skill and dedication of artists,” writes Murphy. “They talk about the sound produced by different kinds of wood with terms like the ‘color’ and the ‘ring.’ …

“Dan and Ariel have brilliantly carved out a niche in the industry by sharing their deep knowledge and experience with student builders who pay a fee to craft their own custom instruments. With his background in art and hers in music, they give students a much deeper appreciation for their new instruments than they might get walking out of the average music store. …

“Many students become hooked on the experience and come back for a second, third, even a fourth build. ..

“The custom builds, the repairs and the teaching are the business side of Dan Collins’ unique shop, but from 7 to 10 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month, something really extraordinary happens.

“The floors are swept, tools are put away, equipment is pushed aside and the long work bench in the middle of the room is transformed into a banquet table as Shady Lea Guitars holds its ‘open mic night.’

“In a cleared portion of the workshop, there is a well-lit stage and an odd assortment of comfortable old chairs. It’s potluck, so students, customers, friends and enthusiasts alike can share their favorite recipes along with their music. The friendly audience always puts participants at ease, and they respond with heartfelt performances.” More here.

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Singing for her Supper

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blind, guitar, harvard t stop, mbta, metro, michelle abadia, music, nate homan, postaday, subway on January 26, 2016| 2 Comments »

Nate Homan recently wrote a good human-interest story for the free subway newspaper, Metro. It’s about one of Boston’s subway musicians, a blind woman.

“Michelle Abadia sits at Harvard Station early each morning that her T performer permit allows, strumming her guitar and singing to an audience she cannot see.

“ ‘Music was my passion from an early age. I don’t have a memory without it,’ Abadia said. ‘I am told that I was helping tune the piano when I was three.’ …

“She lost her sight to congenital cataracts at the age of 4 after six unsuccessful eye surgeries. She has started a GoFundMe page hoping to earn $20,000 to fund her musical career and to help pay for medical bills. …

“She earned a double degree in language studies and music in Boston College, and went on to earn a master’s in French literature and International Latin American Studies from Tufts. After that, she earned New England Conservatory master’s for vocal performances.

“Now she is trying to earn a living as a musician, after teaching Spanish at several colleges in the area and working as an interpreter in courtrooms.

“ ‘The commuters are half asleep, and I don’t know how effective I can be in brightening their days, but some people say the I do,’ Abadia said. …

“ ‘For anyone who is blind wants to be a musician, or anything, I would tell them to follow their dreams,’ Abadia said.”

More here.

Photo: Metro.us

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Friends and Family Photos

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged children's museum, music, photograph, photos, postaday, santa lucia on January 9, 2016| 2 Comments »

Today I thought I would post a few photos that other people have taken.

First, we have my great nephew at a Christmas concert. He is right up front, but I confess I can’t be sure I spotted him. My niece, a violinist, sends lots of music photos. She teaches orchestra in middle school in North Carolina. Her husband is a fine piano player. Their daughter, in college, is highly accomplished on the flute. One of their 10-year-old boys plays violin, the other plays piano but is considering taking up cello, too, in order to play in orchestra concerts like the one pictured.

The next photo shows Erik’s niece in a Sankta Lucia service last month. She lives in Denmark. I have also included snapshots of Suzanne and Erik’s kids. My husband took some at the Children’s Museum and also at the house. Erik or Suzanne took the one of two grandparents struggling to get the ballet shoes on a young lady with a mind of her own. I’m not sure who was behind the camera as I was really concentrating on the shoes.

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