Off to Italy on Saturday

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This is actually a “full” holiday this time. Except for March break when I was 18, every other time I went to Europe I had to do something: present at a conference or sing with a choir as well as tour around. This time my wife and I will be staying in Firenza for a few days with a side trip to Pisa and then the other few days will be in Roma with a side trip to the Vatican city. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is the jet lag; however, we won’t have to sing the next day like the previous three trips.

I must remember to charge up the batteries and free up the memory of the digital camera before I go.

As many years as a deck has cards

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Happy Birthday to me!

The smells of Christmas

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Burning rubber — On Friday I picked up three casserole dishes covered in foil from my mother-in-law and put them in the downstairs fridge. I almost forgot them for our Christmas supper so I hurriedly put them in the oven to warm up. I heard a couple of loud snaps. Later there was a burning rubber smell. My MIL had put elastic bands around the foil!

Charred wood — My wife got a new four candle windmill turning thing. She put the old one on one table and the new one on the other and lit the eight candles. I was in the kitchen at the time and I started to smell burning wood. The new windmill was only an inch or two above the candles and it had started to char. The old windmill was a good 4 or 5 inches above the candles.

1776 steps

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Our company put together a team to climb the 1776 steps of the CN Tower to raise funds for the United Way. I surprised myself by putting in a respectable time of 20:26. Though I took the camera up with me it was pouring rain so I only took a few pictures of the team while we had breakfast after the climb. Now I am very tired, not really because of the climb, but because I had to get up at 6:15 am on a Sunday to meet the team downtown at 7:30.

A year less a day

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…until I can take early retirement.

Rabbie Burns Night

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After the haggis was addressed, complete with actions and a piped in haggis in sheep stomach, we ate a fine multi-course “Scottish-type” meal including haggis which, to me, tastes like a spicy version of dressing. My cousin invited us. Her husband is the resident pro at the Royal Ashburn Golf Club where it took place.

Queen Charlotte's Ball

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My wife and I attended the ball yesterday at Fort York. Ms. Charlotte was the wife of King George III. He eventually went mad, partly from the genetic disease, porphyry, and partly as a result of the arsenic-laced antimony he was given to “help” his madness which actually triggered his madness from the porphyry.

Anyway, we learned a couple more early 19th century dances and tasted 5 kinds of port. It is too sweet for me—I’d rather have a stronger, tastier liqueur if I’m into sweetness; otherwise, a dry wine is fine with me. The buffet supper was derived from late 18th, early 19th century recipes, very tasty. Dancing afterward was enjoyable: we were a part of 5 other couples who knew what they were doing. We left at the dessert break since we had left the house at 9 a.m. for choir rehearsal. A long but enjoyable day.

Christmas party of almost 1000

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Our union held its first annual Christmas party with just short of 1000 people in one of those wedding / convention places north of Toronto. Only four us represented our small local, actually make that two as the other two are on the union executive. The majority of the others were from the Hydro One local. They were ready for a party after the 105 day strike they suffered from June through September until the Ontario Government told the CEO to get back to the negotiating table. My wife and I had a good time and the price was reasonable for a few drinks, supper and dancing with a live band. I’m looking forward to next year. Though, I should request that the president have someone edit his speech: it went on for over half an hour and got very union rah-rah and political. No jokes either.

Riser report: Concert for Peace and Remembrance

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The Bell’Arte Singers presented their concert for peace and remembrance last night. Our music director, Dr. Lee Willingham, carefully choreographed the singing, readings and even the choir movements to make, from what I heard anyway, a very moving concert for the audience. And it was gratifying to have a larger audience.

The concert was hard work for me as I (tried to) sing tenor. Reading music in the treble clef after many years of only reading in the bass clef took some adjustment. I consider myself good enough in the bass clef to, usually, match pitches to written notes. I had to re-orient my thinking for this concert. I still can’t hit the notes much above an F above middle C except in a quiet falsetto; however, I believe I contributed where I could.

Our next concert is December 10, 2005 at 8:00p at Grace Church on the Hill, 300 Lonsdale Road, Toronto. We’ll be singing with the York Region Childrens' Choir.

Bell′Arte 2005-2006 Brochure

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As the Bell’Arte Singers domain name seems to have expired for the moment, I thought I should post the season brochure here. Send the manager (yours truly ) an email (bas DOT manager AT gmail DOT com) for a printed copy or for further information.

Off to Miller Lake

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…Bruce Peninsula to a “camping cabin” at Summer House Park for a week.

Bored meeting cancelled

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My very first board meeting as choir manager and recording secretary was cancelled this morning: several members couldn’t make it at the last minute. For me, it meant I could walk the dog, do some weeding and have a couple of beers this evening to help survive this spring hot spell. Another board member wasn’t amused: he was already on his way to Toronto, he had hired a babysitter for tonight though he did have several other meetings arranged for during the day.

I asked our company if they have a policy on community evening bored meetings at my work place. The parking would be free and the place is not too far from the QEW.

Ran a 5km race last night

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Our company (well at least the four of us anyway) fielded one team to enter the YMCA Corporate Challenge. The stats are out. Our team came in 127 of 478 teams and 24 of 95 in our class (open - 1F, 3M). We made the first page of stats with a time of 1:38:25.4 and averaged 24:37 per 5km leg. I thought I had run slower than a couple of years ago but I heard that course layout was less than 5km. The beer and pizza at the end tasted great.

Stroking for Charity

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My son and I will be joining my wife’s school staff team for Dragon Boat racing at Kelso Conservation Area near Milton on Saturday morning. Right now the weather’s looking kind of iffy for a sun tan but it should be fun anyhow.

Two Oakville Choral Society concerts

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Personally I think I sang both of them pretty well. However a couple of the choristers around me were making more mistakes last night than on Friday. One person admitted he thought he knew the music so well he could watch the director more. Perhaps I need to let these people in on some secrets: Unless you have the time and, ah, memory, you must be selective about what you memorize and what you continue to “sight read.” It is a good idea to memorize page turns and repeats in case you flip the wrong number of pages, memorize entrances and ends of phrases—especially where the director changes the tempo and, say in Bach or Handel, learn the complicated runs. There’s not enough time “at speed” to sight read a bunch of sixteenth notes. Don’t be afraid to mark beats with pencil strokes. For example, the last few bars of Hubert Parry’s, I was Glad, has a combination of dotted eighths and sixteenths and dotted quarters and eighth notes. This is quite impossible to count “by eye” when the director is pulling back the tempo, too.

It was a small but happy crew that gathered at the bar after the concert. I got to know a couple of the female choristers including one who had joined on my wife’s urging when they had been talking at the gym.

Two Messiah concerts sung

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Personally, I think I did better at the Wednesday concert since I had taken the day off. Working all day and then singing for two hours takes a lot of extra concentration. Nothing major, just some missed entries. Oh well, the “full house” audience loved it.

The alto soloist also had her problems. She seemed to have lost her place, twice in two different solos. Had she brought in some emotional baggage (boyfriend argument, death in the family?). We’ll never know. Unfortunately for her, everyone (at least the 80+ people in the chorus and orchestra) knows the solos from Handel’s Messiah.

At the wine and cheese reception after the concert, the “treasurer” gave a speech and handed out honouria (?) envelopes. I would have been rather embarassed had I been that alto soloist. I also thought it was kind of a strange practice. Of course, not everyone got (or expected) a cheque either. After all, my boss doesn’t call all of us into one room, make a speech, and give us each our pay cheque.

We have the cutest puppy!

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We picked up Finnegan, an eight week old Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier puppy, this morning. He whimpered all the way home and neither ate nor drank all afternoon. After a couple of long naps he has started to adapt to chez nous this evening. He drank some water and licked me immediately after and he ate some kibble from our hands. Toilet training started…

Sorry, no pictures yet. There is film to be developed and it appears my son took the memory chip from the digital camera before he left to visit his cousin this evening.

A Midwinter Celebrated

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I enjoyed singing this concert of Mozart’s Te Deum, Haydn’s Little Organ Mass and Dvorak’s Mass in D, the “original” chamber work for choir and organ. I hope the audience had a good listen, too.

Last night’s impromptu choir party took place at the new Fox and Fiddle (used to be Shopsy’s) across the street. I thought just that three of us were going; however, after putting the music in the trunk I found we were a party of 20 or so. In some ways this was better than a house party. After standing for a couple of hours performing at a concert you end up standing around some more at someone’s house. And a pint Guinness seems just the ticket after an evening of singing.

Concert tonight

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Last night’s dress rehearsal went OK. At one point I was told to not sing as loud and for the other basses to sing louder. I know that one piece very well as I was bass section leader when I learned it first. In that other choir I always had to lead as there were some entries when I was never sure whether the rest of the section would join me. Perhaps I was still leading since we are standing “scrambled” and I can’t hear the rest of my section.

My voice is resting at the moment; although, this morning I played over some of the pieces for next Saturday’s concert. I’m hoping the choir I’ll be singing with next week knows the material well — I want to add to the voices not to lead them. I would need much more learning time or familiarity for that.

Puppy day: March 12

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We got notice today we are “on the list” for a male soft-coated Wheaten terrier on March 12. Good timing as my wife will have just started her two week March break.

Hardly feels like a day over 49!

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But I am. Happy Birthday to me!

2005!

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Happy 2005 everyone!

It hardly seems possible but we are already five years into this century and millennium. With the earthquake and tsunami, Nature reminded us on Boxing Day, 2004 that despite our modern times and so-called human superiority: she’s still around. I can only say this is a rather sober beginning to 2005.

My wife and I celebrated quietly watching TV. Because of her cold she decided bubbly wouldn’t taste good so we greeted the New Year with decaf coffee and Carolans. We missed the countdown as we were watching Moulin Rouge! on French CBC at the time. It reminded me of a combination of Mary Poppins and Les Miz—light fare for a New Year’s Eve. The songs, mostly borrowed from familiar pop music, were in English and, fortunately, there wasn’t much plot so I could follow the dubbed French dialog without too much trouble. My wife had seen it back in 2001 in the movie theatre.

9.0 Earthquake near Sumatra, Indonesia = Extreme Indian Ocean Tsunami

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As of this writing the death toll is said be 63,000 though some areas are still inaccessible because of the mighty force generated by the Boxing Day sea-floor earthquake and subsequent tsunami. I have collected some images of just the physical destruction. There are many more images of bodies, body bags and coffins but also of the thousands of heroic rescue workers toiling away in the tropical heat and humidity, amid the stench of decomposing corpses, to try and help clean up the mess and distribute aid to the probably millions of newly homeless peoples.

This is why I joined the Singers

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Eight part, double choir antiphonal singing in the wrap-around gallery at Eastminster United Church is what Christmas music is all about to me. To make music as well as sing. Yes, I enjoyed myself even though my voice, today, is more basso than baritone. Three days of concert singing does that to you.

I have nicknamed one choir member “Ten-to-One Mary” or “Mary Come-Lately.” Our Saturday dress rehearsal was annouced as being 10 to 1. We usually rehearse on Saturdays at 10:00 for 2½ hours. “Mary the Soprano Soloist,” from Peterborough, was supposed to been staying a local hotel. We tried phoning them. No-one by that last name. Finally at 12:50 while we were singing the last carol of the rehearsal, Mary showed up. Ah, we said, “Mary the Literalist” was finally here! “There’s something about Mary.”

“Mostly Messiah” Concert

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Two sold-out houses! Congratulations to the choir on good performances. My personal “best,” so to speak, was last night’s performance. As four tenors were absent on Friday night I sang tenor in some pieces with varying degrees of success. I noticed, however, that “my” basses had some problems with notes and entries. In order to “rest” my upper voice registers, I sang the audience carols an octave lower. Last night I returned to my usual spot amongst the first basses and we did much better. I did have some inadvertent solos where I came in, correctly I might add, and, a beat later, the rest of the basses joined in. Overall, though, I think the male sections of this choir have improved greatly in sound and quality over the past few months.

The music director made one cut last night (selections from Hadyn’s Creation) and tightened up the program. Friday night we ended with the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. Last night we had time to add Worthy is the Lord and the final Amens to that.

It seems that only four persons showed up to assemble the risers and set out the chairs which would explain why the audience was waiting in the narthex when I arrived at 10 to 7 on Saturday night. I might have come earlier had I known but I had already “served” three times and given up part of a vacation day, too. Fortunately the movers did the work last night after the concert.

I didn’t go to the pub last night even though it was on the way home. A Guinness would have been an excellent salve for the throat. I figured a the mixture of loud talking and alcohol might have “roughened” and deepened my voice too much for today’s concert. I was also tired of wearing my tux for the third evening this week.

“A Baroque Christmas”

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My voice register is a little lower today after “blowing the pipes” on chorus selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. I agree with our music director’s opinion that the the Oratorio’s first chorus, Jauchzet, Frohlocket is one of the most joyous, uplifting pieces of the choral literature.

One soloist experienced a problem by coming in a beat too soon during a duet even though that person had previously performed this “perfectly” in rehearsals. Even more embarassing was to receive compliments on the solo from choir members who hadn’t even noticed the error. This probably speaks to the tremendous talent and professionalism of the music director who brought along the orchestra. At least the soloist didn’t falter despite realizing the mistake. Perhaps part of the problem lay in the fact that the soloist had to leave the choir during the previous movement and quickly thread a path through the instrumentalists and music stand power cords to a spot near the conductor’s podium. The lighting was poor and the soloist had to stand slightly in front of the music director in order not to block the sightlines of some of the orchestra. All that, and still try and count bars of a piece where the orchestra starts on the last eighth note of a 4-beat bar and the singer comes in several measures later on the last eighth note of the bar. There, the incident has been described and now we’ll move on to better things.

As my in-laws live close by the concert venue we visited there between dress rehearsal and concert and after the concert. The older I get, the more tired I seem to be the next day if I stay up past midnight. I definitely won’t be lingering after the two evening concerts coming up this week.

Drove to the grocery store

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Though it is only a five minute walk, we have a new car! We’ve traded in the big, rusty, peeling-paint, 363,000+ km 1992 Dodge Caravan for a 2004 Aveo: a second “family” car for my son for to use for his daily school commute once he gets the hang of stick shifting. I’ll use it for my evening errands just because it’s fun to be driving manual again.

Of course history repeated itself: I was having trouble backing out of the driveway what with the “pulling up the ring” to reverse, clutching, etc but mostly because I forgot to release the parking brake. Yes, I remember doing the same thing at my driver’s test when I was 16.

Bell’Arte News Letter - Fall 2004

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Rather than forwarding and bulking up people’s inboxes I can just forward the URL (especially since, as of this writing, their web site seems to be down). Another cavaet: this certainly isn’t my html markup.

Welcome to another edition of the Bell’Arte Singers' newsletter. We hope you find it enjoyable and informative. If for some reason this email does not display correctly, please click on this link:

Join us for our 17th Concert Season!

Mark these dates in your calendar today to make sure you don’t miss this great choral season with the Bell’Arte Singers.

A Christmas Masque

Sunday, December 12, 2004
The Bell’Arte Singers perform with the Toronto Masque Theatre under the direction of Larry Beckwith. The performance features music from the 17th century to the present day. The audience will delight to a consort of players, soloists, dancers, readings and the finest in choral repertoire – all in the candlelit sanctuary of Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth Avenue, just east of Broadview. This matinee-only performance takes place at 3:00 PM.

Oratorio for Choir and Organ

Saturday, February 26, 2005
The Bell’Arte Singers directed by Dr. Lee Willingham, present Haydn’s Little Organ Mass; Mozart’s Te Deum and Dvorak’s Mass in D. The concert, featuring the critically acclaimed organist Ian Sadler, takes place at 8:00 PM at Christ Church Deer Park Anglican, 1570 Yonge Street, Toronto (just north of St. Clair).

A Canadian Spring Rhapsody

Saturday, May 14, 2005
Bell’Arte presents works that evoke the season of spring and the majestic geography of Canada. The concert features some of Canada’s finest composers: Healey Willan, Ruth Watson Henderson, Imant Raminsh, Stephen Chatman, Ben Bolden, Kieren MacMillan and more. Hear us at 8:00 PM at Christ Church Deer Park Anglican, 1570 Yonge Street, Toronto (just north of St. Clair).

Treat Yourself to a Bell’Arte Season’s Subscription
15% off the individual ticket price
Save, with a Bell’Arte Singers Concert Season' subscription. Get three concerts for $50.(adult) and $38.(students and seniors). Sign up for a subscription by checking our website at www.bellartesingers.com or by calling our subscription office at (416) 699-5879. Purchase a subscription before the December 12th concert and receive a Bell’Arte CD of your choice – free of charge!

Also this season…

OMEA Workshop
Saturday, November 27, 2004
The Bell’Arte Singers will participate in the Ontario Music Educators' Association Workshop. The event offers a weekend of workshops for choral conductors, music and classroom teachers as well as singers and lovers of choral music. Watch our website for full details and a registration form.

A Baroque Christmas
Saturday, December 4, 2004
The Bell’Arte Singers will perform with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra in this inspiring tribute to the festive season. The choir, conducted by Dr. Lee Willingham, will join the orchestra for such favorites as Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 (Christmas Concerto) - Corelli; Messe De Minuit sur des Airs de Noel - Charpentier; Magnificat in B flat Major - Pergolesi; Christmas Cantata - Luebeck; and Christmas Cantata - Bach. The concert will take place at St. Boniface Church, 142 Markham Road, at 8:00 PM. Ticket information and a map can be found on the Scarborough Philharmonic website.

Christmas Concerts 2004

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It’s not too early to think of Christmas concerts. One of the choirs has been rehearsing already. See my events listing.

Niki enJoyed, Mom's Birthday, Fireworks

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The Joy of Niki memorial concert at Roy Thompson Hall on Sunday night went very well. Niki’s widow, Shelagh Goldschmidt and Her Excellency, Adrienne Clarkson, Canada’s Governor General were honoured guests. It was a busy weekend indeed for us performers with three rehearsals. It was certainly worth it to have now sung under the direction of Helmut Rilling, Mario Bernardi, Lydia Adams, Noel Edison, Howard Dyck and Robert Cooper — all in one evening.

My sister, my sister-in-law and I took Mom out for her birthday: just a year shy of the three-quarter century mark. We enjoyed a Greek meal at a restaurant along the Danforth. Of course I just had to have Baklava for dessert.

Today there were fireworks, roman candles and big firecrackers, at work around 8:30 am this morning. They attempted to scare off the pesky seagulls nesting on the roof. For a while there was a cloud of seagulls milling about; however, later I noticed seagulls, once again, guarding the roof edges. I’m wondering whether some non-toxic smoke bombs could work? Or perhaps some tear gas canisters lobbed on to the roof after hours.

Riser Report - An Evening with Stephen Hatfield

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It was a great concert from this singer’s point of view. Mr. Hatfield proved just as voluble to the audience as he did at our two dress rehearsals. His enthusiastic conducting style, especially during his spiritual arrangements, is quite infectious. Several high school choirs joined us for the finale “Living in a Holy City.” According to one of their teachers, a Bell’Arte Singers member, a couple of students admitted being moved to tears. Of course, having a bunch of students there, also brought out the parents, relatives and friends to hear us. I’m looking forward to the 2004-2005 season.

Personal notes:

• This is the first late spring concert I can remember where I haven’t been sweat-soaked. I didn’t have numb feet problems because I wore sandals and my back was less sore because we could move and sway to the music. In fact, we were encouraged to do so.
• I could have used three or four more rehearsals for a few of the songs. Then I might have had enough time to learn the pieces well enough that I could add body percussion (finger snaps, thigh slaps, hand claps, etc).
• Remember to bring the black “dress” belt from the dress pants I wear at work the next time we are all dressed in black.
• Today feels like a “down” day. Probably because I’m a tad tired — we didn’t get in until about 2 a.m. after the post-concert party.
• Pretty well everyone seems to have handed in the fifteen pieces of music they were given. Now I have to sort it and return some to the various lenders and file the rest.

Spirit Matters Concert

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On Friday night, as mentionned, the Bell’Arte Singers presented a short concert for the Spirit Matters conference. I guess some spirit set the schedule rather than some AR organizer. We battled downtown rush hour traffic to get to the church on time for the rehearsal at 6. They were still setting up and doing sound checks so our rehearsal started 20 minutes late. As you might guess, the spirit also had trouble starting the concert and we were delayed about 45 minutes from the 7:30 start time. We sang (pretty well I might add considering the circumstances) to a goodly size crowd. Our short program included the Mi’kmaq Honour Song, Turn the World Around, La Lluvia, two movements of Between Earth and Sky and the Freedom Trilogy. Even if only 10% of the crowd becomes part of our audience in two weeks we might pay off some of our outstanding choir debt.

I don’t know what else happened after our concert — we left due to thirst and hunger. For me, the best part of the night was the eight of us eating and drinking. One factoid I learned is that today’s high school field trips include the hiring of a security guard to patrol the halls and keep the kids in their rooms. Music teacher choir members actually get some sleep on these trips though they do have to give up their weekends.

Rodrigo (This incredible man can play a fugue using just two different sounding shakers!) and his partner of Cassava Latin Rhythms accompanied us. We bought their group’s new CD, “Encuentros”: a great Latin-Salsa listen on the way home Friday night.

OCS AGM and piano

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The Oakville Choral Society dinner and AGM took place at the usual spot last night. Of course I paid for one glass of wine what I pay per bottle for a “premium” batch of wine but I’ve complained about that before.

I learned some more names, like Judy, Maria, Paula, Debra and Eileen. I figure I have about sixty more to go! The MC, James entertained us with a it’s-not-really-a-demo game show software with a series of questions for the four sections, i.e., sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. For some reason, James and his tenors tied for first place with the basses. Oh, there was a few bits of business presented by the treasurer (who’d been informed the day before that the president couldn’t or wouldn’t attend). The main agenda item was celebrating the music director’s 25th anniversary with the chorus. (According to James' quiz, a choir sings at church and a chorus is a secular singing group.) A partly new slate of board members was nominated and elected including a fellow bass for president. Congratulations Anthony.

In other music news, we bought a Casio, 88 weighted-key electric piano at Costco. On the web I found the price in US$ was the same as we paid in Canadian plus the stand was included. Dealsville! Now I’ll have to get one of those USB midi cable setups.

Riser Report - OCS "Mozart" Concert

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It’s been a busy time for those of in the Oakville Choral Society with two concerts and two rehearsals this week. Worth the effort though, as I believe the choir performed very well and, especially, “my” section of eight basses. There were mistakes here and there but the only one that showed was a muffed entry in the second concert. Perhaps, this was due to some confusion between two similar Hossanah entries in the Haydn Little Organ Mass and the Mozart Requiem. Anyway, I stopped singing for a bar or so in order that I could find my place again in the choral-orchestral tapestry.

I personally enjoyed singing as part of the double vocal quartet plus string quartet plus percussion performing the Ward Swingle arrangement of Mozart’s Rondo from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Well done OCS and kudos to the director, Bev Stainton.

Operamania (?)

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Today’s riser report comes from the very back of the stage. I really can’t say how we sounded out in the audience because of our position on the stage of the former Midland Collegiate auditorium, behind the orchestra. The choir’s performance was lot like a real opera as the chorus was costumed in tuxedos or black outfits (no makeup though—at least on this writer) and we waited around for soloist arias before going on stage. Nevertheless, it was a paid gig for the choir and we certainly need the funds to pay off a loan. The four young soloists, music students at U of T and elsewhere, sang well, though again, we were poorly placed for listening to the front of stage voices. The choir was, basically, necessary “filler” and “atmosphere” for the “mania.”

As our director is off at Banff, Imre acted as our music “liason” with the maestro of the Scarborough Phil and Kieran MacMillan as our “business” person. I had a chat with Kieran during one of our long breaks and discovered he’s a multi-talented individual: composer, singer, pianist, software developer, Filemaker guru and trainer. His first passion is composing so he tries to arrange his business consulting activites so as to pay the bills and leave enough left over to cover some months “in seclusion” every once in a while for composition.

On TV this fall?

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On Friday, a crew of three (“producer,” cameraman and “sound guy”) came to film my wife and I discuss our thoughts on being new “empty-nesters.” Apparently this will be part of a planet parent TV episode in the fall. I’m sure I can wait. I’m not sure how erudite and interesting we were; however, it was an interesting to be “stars” for a little while. The producer asked us questions based on a couple of phone conversations I had with the show’s “director.” After each question, we answered and discussed the question while the cameraman filmed us about four feet away and the “sound guy” dangled a mike on a boom. This part was pretty straight forward, though unrehearsed by us.

Basically we talked about what life was like before kids, during and “after” kids. We also briefly went into our reactions regarding our younger one coming home again to continue his post-secondary education locally. Answers to these questions have been the subject of entries in my “Aglet.” A comment on my blog asked if I was interested in discussing some of these topics “on TV.”

Then the producer wanted some “atmosphere” and “background.” The cameraman filmed our wedding picture (gee, we look so young) and the producer took a couple of photos of our boys to scan.

Next we did some “normal,” “together” activities. I ground some coffee and poured it in the coffee maker. Talk about being self-conscious. You think to one’s self, “how dorky is this going to look, all those little habits one does?” Julie sliced a banana into a couple of bowls. Then we sat and “talked” while we drank coffee and ate sliced bananas. Pretty banal stuff.

Next we did a “together” activity. Julie sat on the couch, knitted and watched TV while I sat at desk in the same room in front of a computer looking at my older son’s website (it couldn’t anything commercial don’t you know). Oh yes, I had to move the painting hanging on the wall behind the monitor—even though we bought it some 23 years ago and we have no idea who the artist was (“Mike M” is the signature). A painting done by mother-in-law was “safe” to hang in its place. At one point Julie made an off-hand comment about an actor on the TV. Unfortunately she then had to repeat that comment several times while they took different camera shots of us “interacting.” This included the cameraman going out on the porch and shooting a “wide angle” shot through the window. My “conversation” was to make some comment about what I was reading on the website.

The crew was quite paranoid about commercial logos and wall decorations. Fortunately, all the wall hangings in view of the camera were my wife’s quilts. And, as I said, I substituted one painting. In the kitchen we had to move several “branded” items out of the way. I had to open the bag of coffee beans carefully displaying just the side without the brand name on it.

It was an interesting evening. I look forward (somewhat ;-) to seeing what got by the video editor(s) in the fall.

Science fair judge

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Today I judged eight grade 7-8 science fair displays and heard the students' presentations. Well done by all those students for the most part. Nominally I was judging “in French” though I could can read their French signs very well I didn’t think I could ask intelligent questions of them in that language. I brought along a French-Canadian retired former colleague to do that.

On a couple of projects I commented:

Strengths:

Lots of information!

Recommendations:

Too much information!

Next year I’ll have to plan to get there earlier as I didn’t have enough time to review all the displays sans étudiants.

Wine tasting and french immersion

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As I mentioned, my wife and I took part in a wine tasting evening at a (French speaking) teacher colleague’s apartment. We were the only not-able-to-talk-a-lot-of-French Anglophones there—that was the French immersion part. I followed the conversations for most of the evening though it took a lot of “active listening.” I never realized, until last night, how much of listening is usually a background task in your mother tongue.

In another life, our hostess was either a wine buyer, taster, whatever in France I guess. So I learned a whole lot of French vocabulary that I’ll probably forget just as quickly having do with seeing, smelling and tasting wine. We “experienced” four French vintages. I only remember the name of the most expensive and tastiest wine: Chateau neuf du pape. There was one variety I didn’t care for. Obviously most of the group thought the same as the second bottle (the hostess bought two of each, one to taste and the other to drink with our meal) sat unconsumed until nearly the end of evening.

What I learned is that, although I can’t describe the sight, smell and taste of the wine in French very well, let alone in English, at least my preferences coincide with what the experts say is a good vintage.

It seems all of my wife’s French colleagues are from France. I even detected a bit of snobbery about French-Canadians in the conversations. They probably assumed I didn’t know what they were talking about. Hah! I only tuned out the conversations at the end when it became teacher “shop talk” and gossip. Not something that would have interested me in English either.

Donation number 44

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• I’m a “pint” and some test tubes poorer of blood this evening.
• The Leaf - Sens game was on the TV at the blood donor clinic but I haven’t been following hockey all season—why should I start now?
• Fun and games: management wants a “whiteboard” on the Intranet. Time to install a Wiki! Since we have IIS, SQL server, Cold Fusion and ASP “technologies” available I’ll look into software that uses those first.
• Management also wants an FAQ. I can think of some answers to contribute like: How to set up a meeting notice in Outlook so people don’t send 20 emails trying to arrange a meeting. How to set up a personal address book in Outlook. How to use Excel’s data filter tool. How to reduce image sizes. And so on.

Canada Blooms

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Since I was downtown at a seminar today, I had asked by son who works for Landscape Ontario, one of the co-sponsors, if he could get me a ticket. With guest pass in hand, I walked into a blooming spring at the Toronto Convention Centre. The gardens were pretty but I would have to agree with one comment I heard. The conference centre lighting, industrial Hg lights, don’t a sunny day make. Many of the flowers would have looked better au soleil. With the temperature reaching 18°C at one point it certainly felt like spring outside.

Riser Report - Bell'Arte Liszt and Mozart concert

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It started to snow in the afternoon and the driving wasn’t so great getting to the concert. A few stranglers wandered in after we started the concert. However our director was giving a talk at that time on comparisons between how Mozart and Liszt treated the simple Catholic “Ordinary” Mass texts. The choir and “orchestra” performed snippets of the Glorias and Credos from each work to provide an audio illustratration.

My overall impression, from the top riser in the bass section, was that the whole concert went well. Earlier this year, the music director and the choir board decided we should just have an organ “orchestra” with Ian Sadler at the console and a tympanist. As one choir member put it, we may have lost some aural colour but the choir saved a few grand in expenses. If I had lots of “dough,” say a big lottery win, I would love to set up an “orchestra” trust fund for the choir. The interest on this fund would be solely dedicated to paying orchestra and soloist expenses which, these days, can run to $20,000 or more.

There wasn’t a post-concert party so a sixteenth of the soprano section and an eighth of the bass section ordered a pizza, had beer and hot cider, and lounged around in pajamas and sweat pants.

<whine>I’m definitely going to have to investigate “standing” shoes. I have been wearing all black Nike “walkers.” However, after an hour of standing, my feet go numb. I suspect the moulded arch and heel supports are great for walking but the constant pressure is bad when you are just standing for long periods of time. In the last opera I was in, sandals were a part of the costume and I don’t remember numb feet being a problem. Of course, in an opera, you don’t stand in one place for long periods of time either. Perhaps a black moccassin-type of dress shoe with a flat insole liner might help.</whine>

Valentine's Day with the Nylons

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My wife had the “package” supper and show at the Living Arts Centre featuring the Nylons to celebrate Valentine’s day together. According to one of the four a cappella “boys” it’s their twenty fifth anniversary. I was happy — they sung what, to me, is their signature song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

There was a bit of confusion at the beginning as their were two venues for the supper buffet: the restaurant and the one of the smaller theatres. We lined up at the wrong one. Anyway, apparently I had reserved early enough as we were table seven out on the periphery. Table sixty, for instance, was almost beside the buffet table. I discovered that cold (as from the fridge) grilled peppers and zucchini taste like, umm, cold vegetables, sorta like yesterday’s barbecue leftovers. If I were at home I would have zapped them in the microwave. The rest of the buffet was good though. The bottle of house wine was $28.95 which actually made me happy, in an inverse sort of way. The wines I have made and bottled at the store for between $7 and $9 a bottle taste as good or better than that one. Here’s to the wine at my house!

Friday night we were so tired; we watched TV until about 10 and then went to bed.

A birthday riddle

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Today is my birthday.

My age is a perfect square. My age won’t be another perfect square until the year 2019. How old am I?

Captain Kangaroo dies after a lengthy illness

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Bob Keeshan died today. When I was a kid (let’s say 40 years ago) the school was less than a 10 minute walk so I could watch most of the Captain Kangaroo morning show along with his pals, Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Green Jeans. I remember how excited I was when Mom took us to see him at Massey Hall. Life seemed to be simpler then — I probably didn’t know that computers existed nor was there an Internet. After school we played with the kids on the street: no video games, CDs or DVDs, just books and toys. Even colour TVs were a rarity back in the early '60s when I watched the show. I still remember the theme to the show.

Happy Birthday KJV!

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400 years ago King James I (That name has a great sound to it, doesn’t it?) ordered a bunch of clergy and courtiers together to create the definitive English version of The Bible. I still remember my verses from Sunday School, the ones I learned so I could get my very own bible — which I still have around somewhere.

Report from the Risers - SPO Concert

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The church was full; perhaps, 500 persons. I think the choir did a great job. The maestro likes to play with the tempi from time to time which seemed to throw the orchestra more than the choir. Personally, I only ran into a couple of timing difficulties just because I know Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria so well. For example, the maestro changed the tempo while our part wasn’t singing so I missed an entrance because I was going from memory rather than watching him and the score.

What I also found interesting during the dress rehearsal, was how professionally he treated the choir — just like instrumentalists. Unlike instrumentalists, who just press the same valve or bow the string in the same place, the voice is dynamic thing. He expected us to come in on pitch after a minute or two of discussing a problem. In our choir I think there may be a couple of members who have perfect pitch: and one of them is away this season! We did fine, mostly because the majority of us have sung the works before. Perhaps I should say we all have good “memorized” pitch.

Riser Report - OCS Christmas Concert

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I thought the OCS performed well on Friday night and last night. The director, Bev Stainton, does an amazing job with the “raw” talent, mostly un-auditioned singers who make up the choir. Through hard work, voice placement, humourous cajoling and, very occasionally, some stern admonishments he gets a good, blended sound out of everyone. Three of us from the The Bell’Arte Singers, comprising two section leaders and the concert accompanist, do our part. I never realized that part of being a Section Leader is a lot of concentration, especially during a concert. Unlike an auditioned, semi-professional choir, you can’t rely on the people next to you for some of the entrances and pitches: that’s your full-time job for those couple of hours. For these two concerts, I also did a couple of solos with the choir — keeps the mind challenged and the voice timbre limber. Well done OCS. I hope they made their 15% more audience goal.

Candlelight Christmas - report from the risers

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It is always gratifying to see a large crowd in the audience — especially at Christmas when that only but augment the warm sound of audience carols. This year everyone was accompanied by the Hannaford Street Silver Band and our organist/accompanist, Ted, at the console (more on that latter). My Mom attended despite having had two hours sleep after her bus trip back from New York City due to that snow storm on the eastern seabord. The candlelight was pretty though maybe it was drafts or, shall we say, sub-standard candles that generated more wax drips than they burned.

Robert Fisher read some excerpts from the Dickens' A Christmas Carol giving us a much abreviated version. I’m sure most of know the story by now. My recent memory is of the Muppet version with old Scrooge being played by Michael Caine: our kids watched that video a lot the year they got that.

The choir sang great I modestly submit. ) There were some note and timing problems but as they occured (I think!) during loud brass or organ bits I don’t believe anyone except another music director or skilled chorister (who has done the repertoire recently) would have noticed. The organ gave Ted problems with a stuck note (cipher) during the dress rehearsal. It happened again during performance, this time a 16' note. In fact it was so low in pitch that I thought, at first, that it was 60 cycle hum feedback from the sound system. Ted finally had to “reboot” by shutting off the organ completely. After restarting we were fortunate that it didn’t happen again. According to Ted this is a “not so good” 50’s post-war model. They built lots of them but quality wasn’t all that great and it is mucho expensive to fix as the problem could be in the keys, the action, the pipe valving, etc.

Merry Christmas on behalf of the Bell’Arte Singers!

Voices of the Earth, Concert Report

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Well, we pulled it off. This concert was a lot of work for the choir. The world première performance of Between Earth and Sky by Timothy Sullivan almost didn’t take place because of difficulties in obtaining the full score. In fact, the first time the choir performed the entire work from beginning to end was in practice an hour before the performance. You can’t say we peaked too early.

Not only did the choir sing this concert but several also played percussion. I premièred (if there is such a word) my thunder sheet, I have described previously (I, II and III), during the work Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre. I anxiousily await the archival concert CD to hear what it sounded like. I also did a short solo (as in voice) in that same piece. When a fellow bass and I moved it off the “stage” one of the frame couplings broke. It turned out to be easy to fix. Next time I think I’ll tape those couplings once I’ve assembled the thunder sheet frame for a performance. Oh, I also had another solo bit during Lydia Adam’s Mi’kmaq Honour Song — I was Loon 1. I finally got to show off those years of loon call practice on canoe trips.

Cassava Latin Rhythms accompanied us during some pieces and played some of their own. I thought the bassoon was a classical instrument until I heard it used in a Cuban-style Cha-cha-cha last night. Cassava played a set at the Red Violin, a Latin dinner-dance club, on Friday night and invited the choir to attend after the dress rehearsal. Some of us did and enjoyed the rest of the evening drinking, eating, dancing salsa, cha-cha-cha and being deafened by the sound system. How loud was it? It was louder than standing beside a 500 MW turbo-generator so I would say probably close to 100 dBA. You had to either yell to be heard or get right next to someone’s ear. But I digress as usual.

My sister, my brother-in-law and my mom came to the concert and said they enjoyed it. I enjoy performing all the more for having a “home town” crowd in the audience. Did I say the concert was a lot of work?

And before I sign off here’s another slightly jaundiced view of the development of the world première work:

“Choir tries not to cringe as they sing the world premiere of Timothy’s work. This concert would have never been if their musical director, Lee had not met Timothy on a street corner in downtown Toronto. Lee was pushing a large photocopier at the time ready to run off several copies of this new work or a blank cheque for Tim. This depended on whether Timothy got around to splattering black dots on manuscript paper before the photocopier could warm up or not. Unfortunately there was no electrical outlet nearby so the choir was sent to the cleaners on a wild looney chase.”

IEEE Forum, After Four, BackHoe

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IEEE Toronto Centennial Forum on Reliable Power Grids in Canada

It was almost like a reunion of former Ontario Hydro employees. Four speakers from the IMO, Hydro One, Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie, and Powertech Labs Inc gave either a description of the events of the August 14, 2003 blackout and what their companies did to help (first two speakers) or gave theirs views on the process of achieving a reliable power grid. My personal favourite was the fourth speaker, Dr. Prabha Kundur, president of Powertech Labs Inc. He’s a very smart fellow plus one of his ideas for Ontario was the same idea I had: to make Ontario an electrical power “island”using DC links. I was feeling sleepy during the middle of the presentations but, afterwards, I found this was common among others. Something about Friday evenings I guess — the technical mind starts to wind down after the work week. Four of us retired to the Spotted Dick pub across the street from the Marriot and I quaffed a quick beer before I had to run along a catch the GO train.

After Four and More

This afternoon we enjoyed an Italian lunch at dimmi's, a jazz quartet And More and a jazz vocal quartet After Four arranged by our good friend Lauren McCabe. Her partner, Ken Foster, was the fabulous saxophone player in the jazz ensemble. Ken is so modest. He joined the Bell’Arte Singers a few years ago and said he wasn’t really that good. Well, maybe he’s rusty on the sight-singing; however, he sure knows his sax improvisation and jazz rhythm. Somebody forgot to introduce the members of After Four — they were great. I was thinking that maybe I should do something like that when I retire. There must be dozen of things to do on that list now.

Back Hoe

Speaking of retired, I hear a friend of mine has bought himself a backhoe. I’m not interested in “toys”with engines like Sea-Doos and Ski-Doos but a backhoe — now there’s something I could get excited about. Rather than major landscaping, it turns out he’ll need to use the backhoe shortly as their septic tank is giving them major problems.

Voices of the Earth

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Hmmm, only a month away and I haven’t started my events' listings. Our first concert of the season takes place on Oct 18. We’ll be retreating to OELC on Lake Couchiching this weekend in order to have an intense rehearsal of our commissioned piece by Timothy Sullivan among other works on the concert program.

Hubbo Hiatus

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Postings to hubbo.com will probably be quite irregular, if at all, until Aug. 16 as I will be with the Cathedral Singers singing at Stratford (Ontario), Canterbury (UK), Vimy Ridge (FR) and at Notre Dame in Paris starting tomorrow. Perhaps if I have time and find an Internet Café I might be able to make a posting. Otherwise I’ll probably just back date entries when I return.

Undamped Enthusiasm

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Our relay team from Kinectrics participated in the YMCA Corporate Challenge 4 × 5km relay race last night. The race results are also posted. All afternoon it had been pouring rain and it continued even as I walked up to the subway at about 6 p.m. By the time I got to the Bathurst subway station and caught the 511 streetcar to the Exhibition, the rain had stopped. We runners just had to contend with a cool east wind.

This year’s race was two laps rather than the single serpentine lap of last year. I found this much better both from a runner and a spectator viewpoint. With the one lap you were out of sight of your teammates and cheering section for most of the race. Having two laps meant you could cheer on your teammates and, if you were next, you knew about how much time it would take until you should be “on deck.”It was too cold to stand around in shorts and T-shirt for very long. Apparently last year’s one lap wasn’t quite 5km while the two laps this year are.

We didn’t win — not by any type of calculation I can imagine, though I believed I bettered my 5km time from last year. However money was raised for a good cause and I got to know some of my work colleagues just a little better outside the work setting. And, of course, there’s nothing better than beer and pizza after a hard run!

According to our relay team organizer my 5 km time was 23:38. I don’t where a watch so I’ll take her word for it.

"Light and Fire" Concert

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From this singer’s point of view it was a great concert: an audience of quality, appreciativeness and quantity made it just so. No glaring mistakes that I’m aware of. Now my wife and I can look forward to free Saturday mornings to do other things.

I’m posting tonight as I’m off to Port Hope in the morning to be at my Reverend Uncle Bill’s 25^th anniversary celebration service since becoming a United Church minister. This is particularly noteworthy to my wife and I as we were just the second happly couple he married. We’ll be getting together with my aunt and uncle, my cousins' families and my sister and her kids will be there. I’ll be picking up my brother and his family on the way.

Off to Rehearsal

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Well, I have some time to kill before going our first of two dress rehearsals for our Light and Fire concert at the Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto. I hope my voice can last as a couple of the works are written with quite a high tessitura, even for baritones. At least for the next couple of days I will be on vacation so I can sleep in a bit and relax my voice. I’m anxious to start building and installing railings on my deck.

Malvern C.I. (1903-2003)

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The 70’s decade party on Friday evening was super. Imagine over 400 people, most of whom haven’t seen each other in 20 to 30 years, all talking and reminiscing. It was loud! You could barely hear the DJ’s music. My voice is still hoarse. I certainly had trouble making the “high”notes (above middle C) at the regular Saturday morning choir rehearsal. I met and chatted with (in no particular order) Rob, Rocco, Bob, Barb, Sandra, Linda, Lou-Ann, Brenda, Sally, Tim, Gord, Trevor, Neil, Lyle, Steve, Jerry, Stan, Shona, Julie, Pat, Goeff, Alvis, Paul, Susan, Gail, Ellen, Barb, Fran, Karen, Alan, John, Mr. O’Conner, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Gillings and many others whom I’ll recall as the days go by. Not only was this a reunion after thirty years: I go back with some of these people 40+ years to when we were kids on Hammersmith Avenue in the Beaches (or The Beach as it is sometimes known) where I grew up. We even talked about kindergarten teachers.

Of course I chatted with and kissed Jacquie, the woman from our year – 1973, who has been organizing this 70’s reunion since last July. Three cheers and an “Onward Malvern”to her for a fantastic job.

Malvern Grade 13 Class of 1973

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On Friday, May 23 we’re getting together for a 30^th reunion party, so I have assembled a set of thumbnail images which link to bigger pictures where you can read the names.