I love the pristine hopefulness of a new year. A New year has so many possibilities, so much potential and a whole 12 months of adventure in it. I shall make plans and enter into the New Year eagerly and energetically. How will it turn out? Will the New Year be a disaster, or success, or something in between? I resolve to cling tightly to my personal goals. I plan to adhere to my healthy eating plan, geared to my issues with blood sugar, and my need to lose weight. How? I will combat the feelings of deprivation by pampering … Continue reading
Tag Archives: music
I love the periods of penitence and preparation we experience in our Liturgy. This is Advent, and it is a beautiful time of preparation for the celebration of the Birth of Christ. Did you know that Advent music and Christmas music are actually not the same hymns? Here is one of the beautiful traditional antiphons sung during Advent. and another: Dear Lord, thank You for the beauty in the Liturgy and in the hymns of Your Church. Amen. … Continue reading
The last two blog entries on vocation (Progressing In My Vocation and Unsticking My Vocation) have led to my thinking about the woman of Proverbs 31. She is, in the ideals of her time period, a very capable woman whose thrift and hard work make it possible for her husband to join the important elders of the community. “There are so many ways!” you told me dejectedly. There need to be many, so that each soul can find its own in that wonderful variety. Bewildered? Make your choice once and for all: and the confusion will turn into certainty. (THE … Continue reading
I spent most of this past week in Arlington taking in the amazing Catholic Writer’s Guild Live! Conference, that took place in the same place as the Catholic New Media Conference, and the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show. WOW!!! It has taken me nearly three days of recovery to even begin to absorb all that I attended. First, the good. I loved meeting people whose blogs and books I have read, am reading, or would like to read. That was so very very FUN I can barely handle it yet. Give me time. I’m a mite slow in managing input … Continue reading
I recently gave in to an urge I have had for over a year to purchase an ocarina from Mountain Ocarina. Finding time to practice is important and I’m having success with five minute sessions. HISTORY The Ocarina is a simple instrument most often made in the shape of a potato with seven or eight holes on top and two on the bottom. Instruments resembling the ocarina have cropped up in the cultures of South and Central America, ancient China, and India among others. Generally the native versions are made of clay, which is fragile. Mountain Ocarinas are not fragile. … Continue reading
I’m a person with a very visual memory. I think in picture which, if I need to speak or write, I translate into words. When I am reading, all the words translate into images and the story unrolls in my mind like a film and surrounds me. Music is also stored as images rather than directly as sound. Everything in my brain is visual; it is all translated from the pictures when I communicate. To learn a song I practice it over and over and over again until pictures flow in patterns in my mind. Those images hold the music … Continue reading
The Chant Cafe had a marvelous post titled Doing Something About It rather than merely complaining about a problem. VERY GOOD. In this case, it is about the music for Mass and the persons who are working hard to DO SOMETHING about the problem rather than just complaining about it. In particular, I found the upcoming Words With Wings interesting and exciting. I hope to get this when it comes out so that I can use it in my home school efforts. House Unseen, Life Unscripted, is a blog I very much enjoy so when I saw the article Why … Continue reading
I enjoy good church music including chant and the Chant Cafe is a fun blog on this topic. Enjoy this clip of lovely chant. … Continue reading
Lovely harmony. Nailed our Anthem even though it can be a difficult tune to sing. I love our anthem, I love the words and what they represent. I love our country, its documents and traditions. I love Liberty that prevents tyrants from interfering with Christians living as Christians. I see our Liberties being violated by the current and previous administrations and most people fail to see how far things have gone. I am sad and anxious about these changes because when Liberty is violated the government will eventually persecute those who resist the loss of Liberty. I pray for our … Continue reading
This is a duet between Native American Flute and an Autoharp set up as a “diaprizm…a diatonic autoharp with floating penatonic chord bars” [Hal Weeks–musician] It is a lovely piece. Sometimes we need this sort of thing as a balance to all the difficulties in life. Things like sudden surgeries can really get a person down and it is important to balance these with reminders of nicer things. How about this piece: JoAnn Smith playing a Scottish tune, Sky Boat Song. Pretty song played marvelously well! And of course, one should enjoy the humorous side of life brought to us … Continue reading