This is an excerpt from my journal a few days back, but the lunch discussion was so interesting, I thought I would add it.
August 28, 2017
We had a simple hot dog lunch and some interesting discussion. I talked to Mom and Dad about Can You Forgive Her?, and I said it wouldn't suit every reader's tastes as the writer used quite a few lines to describe the green drawing room.
“It wouldn't be everyone's tastes in movies either,” said Mom.
It reminded me of my brother Bruce who can't appreciate some of the historical period movies I like. “All the scenes take place in one room!” he's said.
I guess I still had “drawing room” on the brain, so I said, “With some of the period movies I like, they think everyone just sits in the drawing room.”
Dad couldn't resist punning. “Yes,” he said, “and they don't even do any drawing!”
I got into a silly mood as I took a hot dog from the platter and said, “Come along, little dogie.” We then had a discussion as to why cowboys said “Come along, little dogie” to cattle. From the sound of the word, it seems more appropriate for dogs. Mom thought it might have been influenced by a Spanish word.
I looked it up later and had difficulty finding the information I wanted. I finally found a definition of dogie with a possible word origin. The Spanish influence was one theory, that it was taken from the Spanish word for lariat, dogal. Dogies, apparently, are orphaned calves. Ramon F. Adams, a writer on western Americana, had one explanation for it, that orphaned calves, weaned too soon, got swollen bellies and were called “dough-guts” which then became “dogies.”
“Come along, little dogies,” was not the end of my silliness. For some reason, I began to sing, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” I tell people sometimes that my brain is a random jukebox. When I'm in a happy mood, my random jukebox can make some odd selections of very silly and stupid songs. This is one example. When I was a kid, my oldest brother Tim had an album of K-Tel novelty songs from the '60s and '70s called Looney Tunes. Tiny Tim's “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” was on it. My brother's record seemed like a kiddie album to me, and I played it plenty of times, but why this particular song popped into my head at lunch time, when I hadn't heard it recently, I can not explain.
This brought up Tiny Tim and his falsetto voice in discussion, and we talked about what an odd character he was. The discussion then shifted to ukulele players, and I made the case that ukulele players are not considered as nerdy as they may have been at one time. I listed several “cool” modern ukulele players: Youtuber Dodie Clark, Grace Vanderwaal who won America's Got Talent and Iz Kamakowiwo'ole who had a hit with his version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World.” This then made me think of Disney's Moana, and in Saturday's quick walk-through of the Disney store, the “Lava Song” (which has a ukulele accompaniment) had been playing. Somehow, magically, and not unhappily, the “Lava Song” replaced “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” as the song stuck in my head.
I have been thinking that the little snippets of life I post to Facebook are a diary of sorts, and compiling these bits together should give you an idea of my recent activities.
December 1st I got a Christmas decorating injury. I must have sliced my finger on a cardboard box and -- sorry if this is disturbing to some of you -- actually sliced into my fingernail at the root end. Who knew that Christmas decorating was dangerous? December 3rd Some news. I got my new proofs this morning and approved them. "Action Men with Silly Putty" should be available in print in the next three or five days. I'll make a big announcement when it is.
December 5th Last week, I wrote up a draft for the first chapter in the Paloma book (a biography.) I still need to fill in some blanks for chapter one and got some new information from Paloma's mom. I helped Mom decorate the house and prepare a special Christmas luncheon for her Bible study ladies on Friday. I arranged the fruit salad plates and helped serve. Mom made a terrific seafood medley with crab, shrimp and scallops in an alfredo sauce over rice. Dad put his origami skills to work with some fantastic napkin folding. (He folded trees with green napkins and pinwheels with red ones.) I finished off the week going to see Handel's "Messiah" by the Cathedral Choir at Hawthorne Gospel Church with friends Jeannie and Iris. Friend Stan was part of the choir, and his son was the tenor soloist. It's been a wonderful Christmas season so far.
Soprano soloist Winnie Nieh
December 5th I just got my copy of Maria Lynn Hurty's "Christmas Crazy to Jesus Joy" Advent devotional. I read her reference to the "greasy grimy gopher guts" song and thought, "That's my Maria." She does make a spiritual point of it, I promise. I'm pretty sure she serenaded me with that song once upon a time. I know she taught me the "My Reindeer Flies Sideways" song to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance." Really, it looks like a lovely book with some nice thoughts, beautiful photography and some Maria humor.
December 5th Well, here it is. "Action Men with Silly Putty" is now available in print. $:) 8.99 It would make a good Christmas present for someone or maybe just a gift to yourself. December 7th I did some transcription today from one of my interviews with Miss Paloma. Earlier, I helped to rearrange the furniture to make room for the Christmas tree in the front room, and Dad assembled it. Decoration for the tree will happen tomorrow. Already, two packages arrived at the house with gifts I've ordered. I did all my shopping online. Tonight, I plan to watch the live "Hairspray" on NBC. December 10th Mom and Dad got a new high-def TV on a Cyber Monday deal. When it was first set up, we didn't have the new cable box, so I enjoyed connecting it to my Youtube account to play my Youtube lists and recommendations on the big high-def screen. Some of the musicians I follow make very visually pleasing videos, often taken in nature scenes, so it was very enjoyable to see them in high-def. We watched Piano Guys, a cellist named Tina Guo and The Harp Twins, Camille and Kennerly, among others.
December 10th I'm putting more ornaments on the tree today. We have a number of bird ornaments, airplane ornaments, star and angel ornaments. For some reason, I tend to arrange these on levels towards the top of the tree, birds then planes, then stars, then angels. This is what I try to do anyway. Right now, unless I move him, I've got a little boy flying a kite that is somewhere in the airplane level and practically in the realm of the angels. (This thought was not in the original post, but I thought I would add it here. That kite has a lot of lift!)
December 11th
My family seems to know I like to cuddle up in blankets in cold weather. One year, for Christmas, I received a Snuggie. Another year, I received another brand's version, what my brother dubbed the "blue burrito." The blue blanket zips and snaps around you and transforms you into a kind of burrito. Well, it's blue burrito weather. In fact, I have that and an additional blanket. December 12th I have to report for jury duty tomorrow. Do you think that if I tell them I'm a mystery fiction writer, I won't get assigned to a case? So, the day went by fine. I was in the jury pool for a criminal/murder case. I suppose it could have worked as a research opportunity as a couple of you pointed out. On the questionnaire, I did mention my mystery novel and named "Forensic Files" as a TV show I watch. Anyway, I wasn't selected, and I don't need to return tomorrow. I was able to do a lot of nice reading on my Kindle and finished the book I had started. December 15th I made up a new word for the state of today's weather ... bbrriness. December 18th I'm watching a movie starring two of my favorite classic actors, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart, "The Philadelphia Story."
December 18th We had a lovely Christmas cantata yesterday. The worship team proceeded down the aisle with electric candles. One of the little girls in church dressed as an angel and sat by the manger scene with a little lamb puppet. We sang with a a combination of CD accompaniment and live piano. We even had a small brass section, two trumpets and one saxophone, playing for the processional, recessional, Christmas carol singalong section of the program and in the foyer before and after the concert. Hot chocolate and cookies were served. It was all lovely. One friend commented (slightly paraphrased), "You know how you are watching a Christmas movie and everything is so cozy, and you wish you were there? I felt like I was in a Christmas movie. I was there." December 19th I've been enjoying reading friends' posts about their Christmas baking. Yesterday, I baked peanut butter blossom cookies with Hershey kisses. Today, I hope to make gingerbread men with a new Kitchen Aid mixer. December 20th I just made some gingersnaps for Christmas. I tried out a recipe from a food blogger and adapted it slightly with some seasoning ideas from an Alton Brown recipe. These have a combination of fresh grated ginger and minced crystallized ginger instead of ground ginger. Mom, Dad and I all taste tested them and decided they are pretty good. I added a half cup flour to one half of the dough for making gingerbread boys tomorrow.
For some reason, this book ended up having a kind of soundtrack. In most of the fiction I have done, music has served some sort of inspirational purpose, but it was sometimes "behind the scenes," not something that came out in the actual writing. There might be songs that I would play over and over again during some stage of the creative process, because it inspired me to write about a particular character or scene, but the song itself was not part of the story. With "Action Men with Silly Putty," I found that quite a few song titles actually got mentioned within the context of the story and that this trend continued throughout. Thus, my book ended up with a soundtrack.
I want to share that with you. In some places, I can share some lines of context and some places not in case it should prove to be a spoiler.
It's also a fairly eclectic soundtrack with songs from jazz, rock, country, Broadway, even opera and classical.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
In the beginning, we meet a suspect with two differently colored eyes, heterochromia iridum.
"I started to whistle 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.' It wasn’t my favorite
song in the world as I’m not too fond of getting looped up and seeing pink
elephants or walruses with egg men or whatever it is you’re supposed to see while
under the influence, but it was that line 'the girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.' It
seemed fitting." From this point on, this suspect comes to be known as Kaleidoscope Eyes.
"Rubber Ball"
Jack Donegal is a toy inventer and the owner of his own toy business, Out of the Box Toys. His buddy Andy Westin is his marketing manager. The "Rubber Ball" song comes out in the context of a musical ball in their toy line.
"Are You Going To San Francisco?"
Although my sleuths, Jack Donegal and Andy Westin, are New Jersey natives, the opening scenes take place in California and San Francisco.
At some point, Jack persuades Andy to don a disguise in the chapter "We Become Spies At the Expense of My Dignity." Jack picks out a loud rainbow tie-dye T-shirt -- a beaded one -- for Andy at a Salvation Army thrift store.
"'Are you sure this is men’s wear?' I asked.
I actually took the hanger from him and sniffed at the shirt cautiously,
expecting to detect traces of a five-leafed plant. I inspected the tag, but there was
nothing to indicate how gender neutral it was … or not.
“Don’t worry,” said Jack. “You’ll fit right in with the culture.”
I’d fit right in with the culture, all right, providing it was a subculture of
hippie Indian chiefs. I remembered that ‘60s song about the gentle people you’d
meet in San Francisco, you know, the ones with flowers in their hair. I would
have to draw a line at flowers in the hair. I eyed Jack with caution, almost as if he
could read my mind. I ran a hand through my summer crew cut, relieved that my
hair would not hold a flower even if I tried it."
"Mission Impossible Theme"
The next few songs are mentioned in the context of a chapter titled "Music as Psychological Warfare and the Most Esoteric Security Code Imaginable"
"Soul Bossa Nova"
"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General"
"Bad Boys"
These two songs "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" and "One Way or Another" were actually listed separately but close together in this chapter. While I was writing though, I did a lot of listening to this Glee medley of both songs.
"Hit Me with Your Best Shot/One Way or Another"
There's actually quite a few more, and it makes a long list, so I think I will leave some for a new installment.
I am an occasional insomniac. I guess I am what you may call a light sleeper. If I have a headache or a tummy ache or if I'm too hot, any of these can give me difficulty sleeping, and sometimes, my brain just likes to be active and dream up story plot ideas in the middle of the night. (Now, if I can only manage to do that while dreaming.) So, sometimes some sleepytime music helps ease me into Sleepland. So, to all my fellow occasional insomniacs, I hope you find this list of sleepytime songs helpful.
Fellow insomniac and blogger friend, Song Smith, recently blogged about her sleepytime song picks from Norwegian singer Ane Brun. I've already checked out Ane's music and discovered it did help me sleep. Read Song's post here. You may also enjoy Song's other blog posts. Her posts often give virtual hiking tours in her native Netherlands and elsewhere. Occasionally, her cat Viggo takes over the blog and talks about his trials as a kittycat.
1. "Hushabye Mountain" -- Hayley Westenra
I love Hayley's pure lovely voice, and I love this "Hushabye Mountain" lullaby from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so much. My only objection is that it is too short. The tinkling music box sounds are gentle and pleasantly haunting.
2. "Brahms Lullaby" -- Hayley Westenra
Here is another example of Miss Hayley singing a lullaby. She has, among others, an entire album of lullaby music, so if you like these examples, you can easily find others. Some of her other classical crossover and Celtic recordings would also work for sleepytime.
3. "Sweet Dreams" -- Jewel
Jewel also has an entire album of lullaby music. I really like this one with its gently lilting melody and poetic lyrics.
4. "All the Pretty Little Horses" -- Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church commented on this one that she wasn't sure if the baby would want to sleep or get up and dance. The Spanish guitar on this one does give it a different feel, but it is still gentle and soothing.
5. "Hushabye Mountain" (a much longer rendition) -- Youtuber ShadowCa7
I don't know this Youtuber by any other name than her screen name, ShadowCa7 or Destiny. In her own comments, she humbly asserts that she can't play and can't sing. I beg to differ! If the first "Hushabye Mountain" was a little too short, this rendition is extra long with some new additional verses created by ShadowCa7.
6. "We Will Go Home/Song of Exile" from "King Arthur" soundtrack -- ShadowCa7
Here's another example of her beautiful singing and guitar, this time with a little violin as well. You can download some of her music for free here or donate to help her create more videos.
7. "Misty Mountains" from "The Hobbit" soundtrack -- Peter Hollens, ft. Tim Foust
I do tend to find soprano voices particularly angelic or soothing, but I'm not as prejudiced against male voices as this list might make me seem. I really like this rendition of "Misty Mountains." His collaborator Tim Foust has a great bass voice and looks the part for Aragorn or Boromir.
8. "Somewhere Out There" from "An American Tail" -- Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
"Somewhere Out There" is not a recent soundtrack song, but it stands out to me as a favorite among soundtrack songs from a non-Disney animated film. It's also gentle and with lyrics like "under the pale moonlight," it seems appropriate for sleepytime.
9. "Once Upon a December" from "Anastasia" -- Deana Carter
Here's another favorite from a non-Disney animated film. I adore this song, and really like the original with the music box sounds. This version seems to have more Russian folk-y instruments, which I also like.
10. "Cossack Lullaby" -- Natalia Faustova
Speaking of things Russian, I came across this Cossack lullaby while randomly searching Youtube. This led to finding lullaby music from nearly every culture: Turkey, Israel, Portugal, Norway and on and on. I'm including this one, because I found it particularly interesting. The video includes the Russian words with English translation and some Russian folk art style illustration. Daggers seem strange to mention in a lullaby, but I suppose so do cradles crashing down out of treetops.
11. "Sleep My Young Darling" (Icelandic Lullaby) -- Sissel
Norwegian singer Sissel sings this lovely Icelandic lullaby.
12. "If You Were a Sailboat" -- Katie Melua
This song by Katie Melua has some poetic lyrics, and the accompanying video looks like a surreal but pleasant dream. You may want to enjoy some of these videos while you're still awake. Katie has a unique almost quirky voice that I like.
13. Katie Melua with Georgian Polyphonic Choir
I discovered Katie Melua through Pandora radio and Georgian polyphonic singing through someone I follow on Pinterest, and then I discovered the video above which combines the two. Katie is British-Georgian.
14. "Qartuli Khmebi" -- Imeruli Simgerebis Popuri
I have no notion what I just typed above except that it is the language verbatim from the video itself. Here is another example of Georgian singing. I may not understand the language, but I feel the spirit of it. This seems like it could be romantic dinner background music as well as pacifying enough for sleepytime.
15. Humperdinck: "Hansel and Gretl Prayer" -- Libera
I remember singing this lullaby with my college women's choir. Libera is a boy choir however.
16. "Isle of Innisfree" -- Celtic Woman
The harp is thought to be -- without a lot of Biblical evidence -- the instrument of angels. It does have the right sort of sound for sleep.
17. "A Dream Within a Dream" -- Bogdan Ota
I enjoy discovering new talent through "America's Got Talent," "Britain's Got Talent" and other world versions of the game. Bogdan Ota was a discovery through "Norway's Got Talent." The above is his own neoclassical composition, and the title seems rather fitting for this list. The video has some interesting animation.
18. "Asleep at Last" -- Wailin' Jennys
If you were to play this list at bedtime, by the time we get to this point, hopefully, you will have long been "asleep at last."
When someone asks me a simple question like "What music do you like?" I find myself stumped. The best answer to that question is something like "I have eclectic tastes." I can't say, as I've heard others say, that "I like everything," because I don't like everything indiscriminately. I would probably need to talk to you for hours before you'd really know the answer to that question. I do like music from multiple genres including a lot of older music from decades that predate me.
I also like different styles of music for different moods and activities, one sort of playlist for exercise, another sort of playlist for relaxing, etc. For this post, I've compiled a list of fifteen songs to be cheerful by.
One category of music I have been exploring a lot lately is acapella music, including Youtubers who do multitracking videos, overdubbing their own voices, singing the full range of parts. Acapella music may sometimes be classified as a genre, but really that category can cover a wide range of styles, sometimes by the same group or artist. Styles can range from Renaissance madrigals, turn of the century barbershop music, doo wop, Broadway, movie soundtracks, today's pop, almost any style.
I was really impressed with Youtuber Sam Robson's mult-track version of Disney's "Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" with 120 overdubbed voices and percussion and instrument voices all made with the human voice or claps.
1) "Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" from The Aristocats -- Sam Robson
I couldn't include the first song in the list without "I Want To Be Like You," because I like them equally well. Jungle Book soundtrack is special to me. It was one of the first albums I had as a child, and I still think the music is great.
2) "I Want To Be Like You" from Jungle Book -- Sam Robson
3) "Lemonade" -- Alex Boye
I first discovered Alex Boye through a viral video of him performing an African tribalized version of Disney's "Let It Go" from Frozen. Boye is an American musician born in England of Nigerian parents. I've explored many of his other songs, and I'm really enjoying his Africanized covers of popular songs, giving known songs a very different interpretation with his own unique flavor. The uplifitng "Lemonade" song, however, is his original.
I also love his rendition of Pharrell Williams' "Happy," collaborating with the One World Children's Choir. The fun colorful video with child mermaids and Boye as Gru from Despicable Me was filmed at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Utah. He worked with the same choir on "Let It Go." I noticed a commenter on that video asking why there was a choir of white children involved in the Africanized rendition of the song, and seeming to suggest some sort of prejudice was at work. A second commenter pointed out that Boye had creative control over his project and must have chosen the artists with whom he'd work. If he doesn't mind, why should we? With all the recent race conflicts, it's nice to keep in mind that not everyone is racist and that there are artistic partnerships like this and melding of different cultural sounds.
4) "Happy" (Pharrell Williams) -- Alex Boye
I love Boye's version of "Royals" as well, and I was not particularly enthused about the original. This one seems to have even more of a traditional African sound than in these other samples, so you may want to check that out also.
On the African theme, after having a Kenyan Maasai man visit with me in May, I very much liked seeing this video of violinist Lindsey Sterling filmed in Kenya. I think I recognize Maasai people in this video too, the people in red doing a jumping dance.
5) "We Found Love" (Rihanna) -- Lindsey Sterling
I find the "Brave" song by Sara Bareilles very moving. It has an uplifting message, and it brings to my mind young people standing up to bullying. This rendition is sung by a very pregnant Evynne Hollens, wife of Peter Hollens, a multitracking Youtube star.
6) "Brave" (Sara Bareilles) -- Evynne Hollens
7) "I See the Light" from Tangled -- Claire Ryan
You will fall in love with little three-year-old Claire Ryan singing with her father in this beautiful reenactment from Disney's Tangled.
8) "Ou est ma Tete?" -- Pink Martini
Although this song by Pink Martini may seem to be a song about loss, the lyrics are clever and fun, the music is playful and the accompanying video makes it a love song between a man and his dog (with a happy ending.) The French lyrics are fun. Here's a translation, "I lost my head in St. Honore Road. I searched for it here and there. I did not find it. Tell me. Where is my head? I lost my arms in the Place de l'Opera. I did not find them. I searched here and there. Tell me. Where are my arms? Since I lost you, I am in pieces on the avenue, and I can not pick up the pieces of myself. Repair me, my very dear, because I am not whole. I need you, only you, and what's more, I love you. I lost my nose in front of the Bon Marche. I searched here and there. I did not find it. Tell me. Where is my nose? Return to me, darling. My nose doesn't matter. It's you who can complete me. ,,, I lost my feet at the Saint-Germain-de-Pre. I searched here and there. I could not find them. Tell me. Where are my feet? ... "
9) "Istanbul Not Constantinople" (They Might Be Giants) -- Julien Neel
This song's playful rhythm and fun lyrics always helps put me in a good mood. One of the better known recordings is the 1990 by They Might be Giants, but the original version came out in 1953 by the Four Lads. Julien Neel of France has a variety of multi-track videos and collaborations with other singers and musicians.
10) "Mister Ed theme song" -- Julien Neel
When I'm in a truly happy mood, extremely goofy songs come to mind, like camp songs from childhood. I was delighted that Julien recorded this silly song, and I appreciate all the personality that comes out in his expressions in this video.
I remember a time in my college years when I was visiting my brother and his wife. My sister-in-law and I would sit up watching Nick at Nite until midnight and it was time to pack a lunch for my brother who worked a night shift. "Mister Ed" came on at that time of night, and there was something about the late hour that made the show seem exaggeratedly funnier than it would at some other time. Each night, I got the giggles every time the horse (supposedly) sang, "I am Mr. Ed."
Not only do I enjoy many different varieties of music, I sometimes like unusual meldings of styles or reinterpretations of well-known songs in new styles. Some of these may qualify as parodies. I've loved Brahms' "Hungarian Dance Number Five" ever since a duo from my high school played it for competition. This duo below play this Brahms piece in its original version and in a Latin jazz arrangement.
11) Brahms' Hungarian Dance Salsa Style, Piano Duo -- Tal Zilber and Eyran Katsenelenbogen
12) "I Want You Bach" -- The Piano Guys
Then there is this interesting mash up of the 1770s and the 1970s in a fun new version of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" ... with a harpsichord?
Very often, I prefer Postmodern Jukebox's reinventions of current or moden pop hits, reworking them as 1920s jazz or 1960s surf rock or 1950s doo wop, or, in this case, Motown.
14) "Good Old Days/New Songs Medley" -- Main Street barbershop quartet
In this medley, you hear a variety of 2015 hits as you've never heard them before, with a lot of humor worked into the act.
15) "In Christ Alone" -- Caleb Hyles
This may be a bit of a mood change from the earlier goofiness, but this is still a song to be cheerful by, for me, in a much more meaningful way. Caleb Hyles sings a variety of styles, Broadway, Disney, songs from movies and TV, but I was very happy to hear him sing this spiritual song. It is partly a tribute to Christina Grimmie, the "Voice" contestant, who was killed in Orlando. If this seems sobering in a list of cheerful songs, I'm reminded that, if this message is true, and I believe it is, her pain is gone and replaced by great joy. Hyles links to a site where you can donate to help Pulse Club victims and Grimmie's family.
"Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme ..." The first time I heard this song was in an elementary school music class. I wasn't too impressed with it at the time. Maybe the melody seemed slow and melancholy. Maybe the lyrics seemed a little bit odd. I wasn't sure what parsley, sage, rosemary or thyme had to do with going to Scarborough Fair, and I wasn't sure why the first person narrator, if he wanted a true love, demanded she make him a cambric shirt. That is certainly an odd wooing ritual. "My fair lady, I feel you are my true love. If you want to be my true love ..." Snap! "Make me a shirt." It seems like the ritual should be reversed, and the wooer should be doing kind deeds for the woman he is trying to win. "My fair lady, please accept these wildflowers as a token of my admiration."
All these years later, I am still not enlightened about the connection between herbs and Scarborough Fair or any of the other enigmatic lyrics, but I've gained some appreciation for it. That may have changed when I heard this version of it by Hayley Westenra of Celtic Woman.
A bit of this musical theme is worked into the theme song of one of my favorite TV mystery series, "Rosemary and Thyme."
It's a good cozy mystery for those who like a good mystery that won't show graphic violence or close-ups of bodies and their various injuries at the medical examiner's table. The show's heroines are two friends named Rosemary Boxer (Felicity Kendal) and Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris) who are in the gardening business together. The coincidence of two friends with such names who also happen to be gardeners doesn't seem too probable, but it's charming. The two also have detective/sleuthing skills however. Laura is a former policewoman, and Rosemary is a plant pathologist. Rosemary's plant expertise is useful in unraveling each mystery, often but not always involving toxic plants. It's also a visually beautiful show, because each episode is in some different fantastic garden somewhere. There's some mild humor woven into the stories too, which I enjoy. So, if you'd rather see roses than bullet wounds, this is the mystery show for you.
Photo from Acorn TV
Photo from Acorn TV
My father has been keeping an herb garden for quite a few years now in his retirement, and this garden has all four of the herbs mentioned in the song plus chives, tarragon, basil, marjoram, lavender and peppermint. How nice this will be for any cooking this season. I love the taste of fresh herbs but particularly basil and rosemary. Mom read about how feverfew might help migraine headaches, so for my sake, they added this to the herb garden. See my earlier post on migraine and music therapy.
Dad recently emailed me photos of his herb garden, mainly to show me this ...
And this ...
which were side by side in the garden.
Cute, Dad. Very cute.
Not to tire you with too many different renditions of "Scarborough Fair," the Gothard Sisters have a nice harmonic version and are interesting to watch with their graceful movement and different instruments.
This psychedelic header did not come out as clearly as I had hoped, but if it seems a little straining on the eye, it is perhaps more illustrative of what it is meant to represent -- migraine visual aura. This was the first clue of my illness back in high school, migraine visual aura. It would not be until many years later that I actually learned the term for it. I was getting strange headaches where I would see flickering lights. Sometimes, the illusion of flickering flights, becomes even wilder, and becomes more like viewing the world through a kaleidoscope or disco lights only I can see.
Years ago, before my own diagnosis, when I heard the word "migraine," I understood it to simply be a bad headache. Now, I understand that migraine is a much more complicated illness and is more than just a headache. It's considered a neurological disease. It can have all sorts of variations, some of which mimic a stroke really well. A hemiplegeic migraine causes temporary partial paralysis. It's also possible to have a migraine attack that involves other symptoms but no headache at all, known as a "silent migraine." Migraine is thought to be related to epilepsy with similar triggers.
So, I was fascinated when I read an article about a scene in one of the "Twilight" movies triggering epileptic seizures in different movie theaters due to a flashing strobe light effect. Migraineurs can be photo-sensitive too, so I found that somewhat relatable. This is why as much as I enjoy Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I probably wouldn't go to one of their live concerts.
I found the video a little difficult to watch, but if I was actually in that live performance atmosphere, the volume of the music and the intense light effects, I'm sure, would all be conspiring against me, and I would be having one massive migraine attack.
I have discovered, somewhat recently, that, for me, music can also have a therapeutic soothing effect during a migraine attack. I was at work during a migraine, and I put on some headphones and some music, and, instantly, my pain level was cut almost in half. What was the magical piece? Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," the first movement. I don't know that this piece will always have that exact effect, but calming music does seem to help. Migraineurs are also noise-sensitive, so, very likely, black death metal (whatever that is) would not have the same effect.
I tried journaling my migraine attack this last time. I have read advice, some coming from pharmaceutical companies , that migraineurs should keep a migraine journal. I hope to show this to my doctor when I see him, and it should be better than saying simply, "I have a migraine." It could be helpful to me too. I don't know if I had, before now, ever logged the progress of an attack. Journaling can help you keep track of when the attacks happen, how they progress and might help you learn the first signs of an attack. You could also learn the different factors that helped aggravate it or improve it.
Oddly, mine started in my knee, some odd numb sensations in my left leg. Some time later, I scratched my head and found it painful to touch, with pain shooting through my teeth on the left side. While covering a Board of Education meeting for the newspaper that night, the disco lights began. In the middle of that night, I woke up with a throbbing head, with pains and tingling sensations shooting down through my legs and arms. So, in the middle of the night, in order to get some peace and sleep, I brought up my laptop, went to Youtube and tried some music therapy. This is the first video I tried, a Disney mashup by Youtuber Grant Woolard.
Nice, right? And, if you aren't using it as music to sleep by, the animation is interesting, to see how the different movie melodies are interwoven.
From here, Youtube went off into a long list of pieces by the Piano Guys. And it worked. I went off back to sleep, and the next morning, the headache was not gone but better than it had been in the night. This is the Piano Guys video that was playing when I woke up in the morning. Play all the way until the end when the "cello guy" of the Piano Guys is goofing around. It sounds a bit like a hypnosis video. That is the exact bit that was playing when I was waking, so if I have a sudden compulsion to play a cello at the sound of a beep, I'll know why.
If you're a migraineur, perhaps music therapy would help you. It would not surprise me to learn that music is helpful with other sorts of pain and medical issues as well. Here's an article that suggests Mozart can help epileptics.
Some of my favorite musical discoveries over the past few years have been classical music performances that have some sort of comedic element. It's amazing how many different musicians and groups have done this. Maybe purists would feel that they are being gimmicky, trying a little too hard to make classical music entertaining to a new audience. Then again, maybe these musicians are just being creative, wanting to do something new instead of performing a piece in the same traditional way. I think it's fun. King Solomon writes in Proverbs that "Laughter doeth good like a medicine," so here is your prescription for the day. I hope it uplifts you and boosts your mood.
I suppose making light of classical music is nothing new. Those of us who grew up watching Looney Tunes got an education in classical music from some episodes without really knowing it. This Elmer Fudd "Kill Da Wabbit" solo, to the tune of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," is mentioned in my mystery comedy, Action Men with Silly Putty. I won't tell you the context, because that might be a spoiler!
As a child, I remember listening to a record we had of Saint-Saens'* Carnival of the Animals. I thought it was a kiddie album, because it had dressed animals carrying instrument cases on the cover. This particular recording also had silly poetry by Ogden Nash to introduce each piece, such as this one ...
"Camille Saint-Saens*
Was wracked with pains
When people addressed him
As Saint Sanes
He held the human race to blame,
Because it could not pronounce his name.
So, he turned with metronome and fife,
To glorify other kinds of life.
Be quiet please -- for here begins
His salute to feathers, fur and fins."
The poetry added to the feeling that it was both humorous and child-friendly. Even the actual compositions sound whimsical and humorous. The 2000 Disney Fantasia movie brought more whimsy to the "Finale" of Carnival of the Animals with animated flamingos. The clip below supposedly answers the age old question of what would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos.
One unique musician that seems to fall into his own niche is Victor Borge, (1909 - 2000.) He was both a great pianist and a comedian. Sometimes, watching clips, I am frustrated that he does more clowning than playing, but below is one of my favorite routines that is a good mix of both. He and his duet partner seem to play both a kind of Twister game and musical chairs while playing Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2."
I love the King's Singers. This diverse men's acappella group often incorporates some humor into their performances. Here they are singing words to Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor," supposedly telling the story of Bach's writer's, er, composer's block. Well, it starts out as Bach's "Toccata ..." but also has samples of other Bach pieces such as "Badinerie" and "Brandenberg Concerto No. 2."
Swingle Singers is another interesting acappella group that uses jazz scat singing techniques to sing classical instrumental pieces. In this performance of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," their body language and facial expressions are humorous at times, and it gets sillier and sillier towards the end, when it becomes necessary to imitate sounds of bombs and firecrackers and church bells. This performance is from the 80s. (I think one of the women is wearing a banana clip.) The group still exists but is made up of different singers.
This Italian string quartet, Paganini, is a new discovery of mine. They seem to use comedy in all of their song performances. This is a funny rendition of Pachelbel's "Canon in D." When the violinists dance off the stage, it becomes more glaringly obvious that the cellist has a comparatively boring part to play, repeatedly playing the same eight notes. He changes that up by using some plucking techniques and improvisation midway. They then change up styles to bluegrass fiddling, tango, and then some sort of gypsy/klezmer style, all with a lot of physical comedy and dancing.
This reminds me of another creative interpretation of "Canon in D" by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. I even love the punny name, "Pachelbel's 'Loose' Canon." I couldn't embed the video for some reason, but it would be worthwhile to go to the link. The guitar quartet also deviates off into multiple styles of variations on the theme, including Latin jazz, bluegrass, varying jazz styles, Spanish guitar, etc. If it doesn't exactly make you laugh out loud throughout, it is, at least, fun, and you may laugh like I did when they make an attempt to be pseudo-heavy metal and shout "Pachelbel!"
This Polish string quartet, the MozART group, are another recent discovery of mine, and they are quite entertaining. This clip shows the use of unusual instruments, a balloon, for one, and a ping pong ball and paddle as a rhythm instrument. They also have a little fun with an audience member.
I don't know if the next two pieces are classical pieces in the strictest terms. They are disco songs performed in a classical style. The Piano Guys have a punny title for their performance, "I Want You Bach," and seems to play around with the idea of what if Bach was inspired by the Jackson Five? It's as fun visually as it is auditorily.
When I first saw Igudesman & Joo's version of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," I watched it over again three times and laughed out loud each time. I showed it to my father who didn't find it nearly so hilarious, perhaps because he wasn't familiar with the original song they were parodying. I left my father at the computer and returned some time later to see him laughing until tears came to his eyes at another routine of theirs, "The Piano Teacher." This is "I Will Survive" as a kind of Russian folk song style. I especially like the melodramatic spoken part.
I discovered I like the composer Leroy Anderson and his light orchestra pieces. "The Typewriter" may not make you fall out of your chair laughing, but it is whimsical and fun.
And so is his "Sandpaper Ballet" with some interesting sandpaper block rhythm.
How about a new classical style piece inspired by technological sounds, "The Microsoft Windows Waltz?"
This last one is more of a performance of Rowan Atkinson's physical antics, as he has some highly unorthodox style of conducting Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony." At times, he seems to enact scenarios inspired by the music and finds unusual uses for his conductor's baton, using it for sword fighting and air golf.
I hope this puts you in a light and happy mood, as well as possibly introduces you to new performances and groups.
* I tried to get the umlaut over the E in Saint-Saens, but I didn't know how to do this without copying and pasting. Copying and pasting caused all sorts of havoc with my formatting, so I removed it, although I know the umlaut should be there.
