Laura Riding

The Poet's Corner


Here where the end of bone is no end of song
And the earth is bedecked with immortality
In what was poetry
And now is pride beside
And nationality,
Here is a battle with no bravery
But if the coward's tongue has gone
Swording his own lusty lung.
Listen if there is victory
Written into a library
Waving the books in banners
Soldierly at last, for the lines
Go marching on, delivered of the soul.

And happily may they rest beyond
Suspicion now, the incomprehensibles
Traitorous in such talking
As chattered over their countries' boundaries.
The graves are gardened and the whispering
Stops at the hedges, there is singing
Of it in the ranks, there is a hush
Where the ground has limits
And the rest is loveliness.

And loveliness?
Death has an understanding of it
Loyal to many flags
And is a silent ally of any country
Beset in its mortal heart
With immortal poetry.

Laura Riding, one of my favorites poetess

So, where do we go from here?

There is very little support of the arts and especially music. There is one teacher in this school that couldn't find a full time teaching job, so she worked part time. There was no insurance for part times and she got cancer and quickly died, and her house was taken by the creditors. One has to have medical insurance and support of the arts, society relies on the arts like spirituality to be healthy like previous society. People think that society runs on only technology, but it is only a hollow block if there is nothing in it. If most songs that are on the top list are trashy, unlike the ones created by an industry that was more geared in a work of art than making great amount of money like they are interested now. So, where do we go from here?

A Work of One's Own

People are in a quick rush to get somewhere! There are no values placed on works of ones any more. Everyone is chit chatting trying to look like a celebrity, and though there is nothing wrong to that, when the admiring of one do that one natural ones to follow. The email, with its short message, there is little time to expand one thoughts. Everyone is in a quick rush to get somewhere but are they really getting anywhere at all? The same goes to instruments one has to take ones time learning new things. Like I heard in these blogs say rightly, " there are more bad teachers, than there are instruments," that is very true. Teachers don't let students expand their own way of knowledge by themselves, but are taught what is conventional. I heard of very little of Mozart playing other works of other composers, mainly like many great composers he had to perfect his own. Yet, there is total need to learn as much from the treasured past whenever possible.

Technology of Recordings

Technology has created where one could listen to a concert of music from the 50's or earlier, before one had to go to a concert. Chamber music was done so that people could play together at their houses, whether they had learnt to read music like in classical or play folk music by ear. Before, actually there were more people playing instruments with the number of people living in that town or city. Now, people rely on recordings and lesser of videos. Therefore, less people in general have to generate their sound. The 80's saw the advent cds, then came computers, then they figured they could download. Before a citizen of a country would hear a few concerts in a life time, unless they were a traveling musician. Now, if one wants one can hear music continuously. Does it deafen the ears or the brains to be bombarded by information? A person on the radio might hear on the radio in one day with it on, what someone might have heard in a life time, even much less. A person living in the 60's or 70's treasured their recordings, but now there are so many downloads, of endless music or anything else for that matter. Still, there is less of oneself, less time certainly for oneself. For every great advancement there is drawback. Yet, information is precious, just not at the stack of oneself. In slowing things down we see things clearly for their real value. There records had value for their insightful covers and notes and inside art. The cds are great in their non scratch aspect. Certainly, the value of a concert is totally incredible, as well as the versatility of books that go any where and one can flip one open. The value of a fountain pen, when the rush of an idea comes to one in the midst of the ocean surf watching the pelicans dive from the pier, as the moon slowly gleams from beyond the approaching night.

Ukulele Tuner

I don't mind being the ukulele tuner. The friend who started playing ukulele was a trombone player, but renting the instrument at school couldn't afford one after school. He plays guitar too. You would think he started ukulele because of me, but he didn't that I know of, knows me as a viola player. I told him to use a guitar tuner and tune down the D two(flats)b's! making a C he would need for the rest of the notes are there A E G. I use a /violin/cello tuner for my ukuleles for the C is there. I asked why he doesn't buy a immediate student trombone and he says he has to pay to go out with his girlfriend, and the new used sports car he bought.
The other guy doesn't have a job now, but he plays Gibson Les Paul, but he was playing basson, and wants to play it, but out of school he can't pay for one. Those are expensive. He likes the oboe family and music of the Baroque. He comes from liking classic rock like Led Zeppelin, etc. I wonder I haven't seen too many Les Paul players that want to be bassonist, interesting. He is going to be a fireman, so that is sealed. There is too many fireman applications.
I like playing my mandolin and ukulele in the evening. It always seems to me that the soprano is more ukulele sounding than the tenor, and like playing that, acoustic guitar that is what I like late in the evening, maybe with somthing on the tele.

The Saxophone

The saxophone was developed in the mid 19th century by Adolphe Sax a Belgian. He worked making musical instruments like his father. In those times children followed the path of their fathers, like Black Smith, Bakers, etc. The first instrument he developed was the baritone sax and he showed it to Hector Berlioz, which was a dear friend of his, with similar personality. A few years later he came out with the rest of the saxophone family, alto, soprano, tenor, etc. The baritone sax wasn't the first one he developed but he perfected the bass clarinet. He had duals with other bass clarinet players with his improved method and won the duals. Like fighting duals that occurred in the 19 century. There was a small orchestra of his with his improved instruments and saxes and he won a large orchestra with more outdated instruments.
I was a bass clarinet player at fifteen years old, the sax wasn't easy to rent neither in California or Florida in High School. When I got a job in a music store near where I lived taking care the the classical department, I bought an alto. It was a great alto from Buescher of the 50's in mint condition from a close neighbour who never got to play it, for he left in the Navy. He was going to play in the band in the Navy but it didn't materialize. He wasn't too happy to give his precious instrument but I have been enjoying it ever since. The sax was played in the Paris Conservatory in his time and he was a teacher there, beside making them. Berlioz kept being his deep friend and wrote many articles in music periodicals of the period. In the instruments were used in Berlioz music, then in Wagner. The instrument stopped being played in the conservatory or orchestras, for a long period after that till the 1920's when black musicians started realizing the greatness of the instrument in Jazz. It was too there wasn't much a great composer like Wagner or Berlioz for a period till jazz came alone, Debussy, the Martinu( great composer for many instruments) in the early 20 century.