Coffee Klatch

A local DJ is trying to break the world record for longest radio program by one personality. Mat Albro has been on the air since 12:01am on Monday. The current record is 135 hours by a DJ in Italy. As I understand it, this is sanctioned by Guinness and all that, so when he breaks it, he’ll be in the Book (along with “from Indianapolis”). The programming is a variety of things, focusing on classic rock, and it’s interesting to see the kinds of songs he’s playing after more than 4 days with no sleep.

He’s been able to take the radio station’s van (with someone else driving) out to local restaurants and other places, broadcasting live from there, which I’m sure helps as well as making things more interesting. To find out more about it or to see how he’s doing, visit http://wklu.net/. You can also listen live at http://wklu.net/listen.html. He’ll be on the air (hopefully) until at least Saturday afternoon.

Right now there’s a group of deputies administering some tests to see what sleep deprivation is doing to him. Similar to testing for sobriety. Pretty funny. He says he’s waiting for the hallucinations that he’s heard about to start kicking in. Ha!

For what it’s worth, he is drinking absolutely NO coffee, caffeine, or energy drinks. He’s got someone helping him out who IS taking little naps and drinking coffee, and he apparently looks horrible!

There’s also a link on the website to send him words of encouragement. Help him out and send him a note or joke or something. I did.

Go Mat!! (Oh, and you can follow his perspective on this event on his blog.)

The first piece I ever heard by Johan de Meij was his first symphony, entitled “The Lord of the Rings,” whose movements were:

1. Gandalf
2. Lothlórien
3. Gollum
4. Journey in the Dark
5. Hobbits

It was quite interesting and they type of symphonic music to which I really enjoy listening. The music was quite evocative, conjuring up (pardon the pun) images of the characters from the books (and now movies).

A few weeks ago I worked my Tuesday evening shift until 10pm and was driving home listening to the local classical station and heard music that was interesting enough that I purposed to sit in the car when I got home until the piece was done so I could find out what it was and who wrote it. That’s only happened to me a couple of times before. Anyway, the piece ended right before I got home and I found it was the Symphony No. 3 by Johan de Meij, called Planet Earth, with only three movements:

1. Lonely Planet
2. Planet Earth
3. Mother Earth

That night I looked online to try to find a CD of this piece and it took a while because he just wrote it last year. I eventually was able to find ONE recording by a Dutch orchestra (go figure! they were the ones who commissioned and premiered it) and I emailed our Music Librarian to recommend buying it for our library. She did and it just got finished processing this week. Yesterday I got to hear the whole thing for the first time and I really enjoyed it. I don’t want to give much away, but it’s got big, majestic sounds and delicate, quiet sounds. You definitely want to have the sound up solid when you listen to this, whether on headphones or in a room.

Johan de Meij’s composition style seems to combine elements from Respighi, Holst, and Stravinsky (all of which I like). He made good use of choir (no words, just voices) a la the “Jupiter” movement from Holst’s The Planets. You can read a brief bio and see a list of all his compositions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Meij. You can’t find this third symphony on Amazon yet, but the rest of his works you can. The third symphony is available here.

Tonight we had a full five octaves of handbells at our rehearsal for the first time ever! It was AWESOME! Not only did we have 13 regular ringers there (with no subs!), but we played some Christmas music that was written for 5-6 octaves. Not 4 octaves, but 5 minimum. The way that tends to work is the harmony goes down to the C4 (in the handbell world, that’s the C in the middle of the bass clef, one octave below middle C) and the octave below that has a bass line, so if you only have 4 octaves and go down to the G3, you’ve got part of a bass line.

Well, tonight was the first night where we’ve had five octaves and people to play them. Ideally we’d have one more person to distribute the bass notes with (we have just two for the full octave, C3-B4), but it was still much better than me doing it all alone. We added an extra table and foam pad, so there was room for all the bells, and it was GREAT!

Tonight we worked long and hard on two songs: “The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Kevin McChesney and “Up on the Housetop” by Arnold Sherman. Two great level-5 Christmas pieces that are fun and challenging, while still being great music. They’re two of our harder pieces that we’re working on for our Christmas season. We’re also going to be doing Sleigh Ride by Robert Ivey and Blue Christmas by Hart Morris. That’s what we’ll be working next week (after we run through the two we did tonight to refresh).

It’s exciting to see how far the Circle City Ringers have come in so short a time. That’s a primary reason why I joined the group, because there was a vision to excel and become a premiere ensemble in the Midwest. We’ve been “organized” for less than two years (we were initially formed less than three years ago) and we’re already playing stuff like Up on the Housetop and Blue Christmas and doing them well. Or will be in a couple weeks. It was impressive to see how far those songs came in one good rehearsal.

Makes you glad to be a part of such a group!

There’s a cool music player I found because of Facebook. It’s called Pandora and it’s just what I need for work. First of all, it’s FREE. You can create Stations based on a song or an artist and Pandora will play songs similar to what you chose. You can customize the station by adding additional songs or artists and it will base its selections for you on the cumulative effect of the listings in your station.

What’s really cool is that Pandora is based on the Music Genome Project, which is described as follows:

Each song in the Music Genome Project is analyzed using up to 400 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst. These attributes capture not only the musical identity of a song, but also the many significant qualities that are relevant to understanding the musical preferences of listeners. The typical music analyst working on the Music Genome Project has a four-year degree in music theory, composition or performance, has passed through a selective screening process and has completed intensive training in the Music Genome’s rigorous and precise methodology. To qualify for the work, analysts must have a firm grounding in music theory, including familiarity with a wide range of styles and sounds. All analysis is done on location.

The Music Genome Project’s database is built using a methodology that includes the use of precisely defined terminology, a consistent frame of reference, redundant analysis, and ongoing quality control to ensure that data integrity remains reliably high. Pandora does not use machine-listening or other forms of automated data extraction.

The Music Genome Project is updated on a continual basis with the latest releases, emerging artists, and an ever-deepening collection of catalogue titles.

By utilizing the wealth of musicological information stored in the Music Genome Project, Pandora recognizes and responds to each individual’s tastes. The result is a much more personalized radio experience - stations that play music you’ll love - and nothing else.

So based on all these characteristics, I find that when I’m in a particular mood, I can pick a song or artist and Pandora will play music that’s so similar that even songs or artists I’ve never heard before still fit and are enjoyable. It’s a GREAT way to discover new music based on your own tastes. They don’t have classical music on Pandora yet, but they say they’re working on it. When THAT happens, I’ll truly be a Pandora Geek!

(When I want to specifically listen to music that I already have on my computer or on CD, I still use iTunes, but between the two, I’m covered.)

You can also use Pandora to share customized stations with friends and find other people with similar listening interests. Pandora also interfaces with Facebook, so you can interact with other people (or with Pandora) right from Facebook. What I also like is that you can customize your profile, bookmark songs and artists so that you can get to them easily, and create all kinds of custom stations from your profile page. And it’s all free! How cool is THAT?

If you listen to music on your computer at all, you really need to give Pandora a try. Just visit http://www.pandora.com/, create a free account with an email address and password, then click “Create a New Station” and enter a song or artist you’d like to hear. You won’t always get exactly what you put in, but you will get music that’s similar and should fit your mood or tastes. And since Pandora allows you to rate (thumbs up or down) songs you hear, you can continually tailor your listening experience. Oh, and they even allow you to pause and continue a song, which many streaming music players don’t do.  So there you go. Check it out!

Do you want a musical challenge? I just had a friend email me a link to some online music tests. There are three tests available at http://tonometric.com/.

The first one you should take is the original tonedeaf test. It plays a little bit of a tune, then repeats it and asks if it’s exactly the same as the first time. I got 83.3% correct the first time, hitting the 79th percentile. I personally expected to do better and maybe if I take it again I’ll do better.

The second test is an adaptive pitch test. It tests your ability to differentiate between pitches. While I got down to very tiny differences, like 0.375 Hz, I missed a few of those and was told that at 500 Hz I can reliably differentiate between tones 1.65 Hz apart. That put me at the 59th percentile. I’m DEFINITELY trying THIS one again!

The last test is a rhythm test. It’s probably the hardest one. You’re comparing two musical phrases again, but this time you’re only comparing the rhythms of percussion. I thought I did pretty bad on this one but I got 76% correct! But then, that’s only the 58th percentile.

These are tough tests. If you think you’ve got a decent ear, give them a try. They’ll certainly challenge you to sharpen your hearing. I think taking them again will help a little, too, since you’ll know what to expect of each test. If you do take them, post your results in a comment here, if you don’t mind.

What a week! Thursday was spent touching up spots as necessary and then running through the concert in the afternoon. We had a little time to rest after dinner before call time at 7:10. Despite mistakes that were being made even during that final run-through, the concert went VERY well! What a performance of quality music. The final piece, “epilogue,” was written and conducted by Don Allured, who founded the Bay View Week of Handbells and is commonly seen as the father of modern handbell music. “epilogue” really sounded like his swan song. It was very emotional and ended reverently and quietly with chimes playing the chorus of “God Be With You Until We Meet Again.” At one point during a rehearsal he said that for all he knows it could be the last time he conducts a group at Bay View. Everyone has a tremendous amount of respect and love for Don and it was an honor to play the world premiere of “epilogue” with him conducting.

Here’s the full list of our concert songs:

Gather Us In, by Philip L. Roberts
Thorncrown Chapel Portrait, by Sondra K. Tucker
Exodus Dance, by Derek K. Hakes
Contemplation on Ubi Caritas, by Catherine McMichael
Introduction and Allegro, by Donald E. Allured
Barcarolle, by Margaret R. Tucker
Colonel Bogey March, by Martha Lynn Thompson (yes, we whistled)
Lift High the Cross, by Cathy Moklebust
Celebration, by Fred Gramann
The Journey, by Arnold B. Sherman
God of Grace and God of Glory, by Martha Lynn Thompson
Psalm Nine, by Carl Wiltse
epilogue, by Donald E. Allured
The Lord Bless You and Keep You, by Peter C. Lutkin (sung a capella by all the ringers)

“Celebration” was written “in honor of Donald Allured and Carl Wiltse, in celebration of the 30th Bay View Week of Handbells, August 2007″ and “epilogue” was “commissioned by the Allured Composition Award Committee for the Bay View Week of Handbells 2007.” Both songs were world premieres and were written especially for this concert.

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL concert and I ordered a CD and DVD of it. There were five cameras filming the entire concert, so they can cut to different angles as they like while producing the video. Pretty cool!

Friday morning we had breakfast at the Bay View Inn (where we had the dinner Monday night) and we watched the video of the concert. It was a great show and was great to see most of the people that morning to say goodbye, etc. Then a 7.5-hour drive home just in time to get caught in rush hour traffic in Indianapolis.
Now I’m tired but fulfilled. It was a great week and I’m glad to have made it through without back, shoulder, arm, wrist, or hand problems. Sure there were aches and tiredness and some pains, but nothing serious, which is often a concern when ringing the really low bass bells. This was a great experience and I’ll be seriously considering going again next year. Maybe I can get more of my fellow members of the Circle City Ringers to go next year, too. The opportunity to work on and perfect great music, ring in an 8-octave mass ensemble, meet lots of other ringers and directors from around the world, and rub elbows with big name people from the handbell world is totally worth it!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Wednesday night and tomorrow’s our concert. Yesterday was full of rehearsing: three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon, and one and a half in the evening–pretty intense! Today was another three hours in the morning and only about two in the afternoon. We have the evening off.

Before I came, I was concerned about endurance, since the handbells I’m ringing are about 8 pounds each. That’s a LONG time to continue moving that much metal around. If you don’t believe me, think of it this way. A regular hammer is about 2 pounds–3 if it’s a “heavy duty” hammer. Now take three hammers, hold one by the end of the handle and hang the other two off the end. Hold it all out in front of you and move it around in circles, up and down, etc. You can also try it with a gallon of milk or water on the end. See if you can keep it like that out in front of you for just 5 minutes. It’s HARD! But that’s what ringing bass handbells is like. All that weight is out in front of the handle you’re holding and you have to swing them out and up with a LOT of energy to get a good fortissimo. And I haven’t rung bells that heavy in over two years. With 6 hours on Monday, 7.5 hours on Tuesday, 5 hours today, and 5 or 6 hours tomorrow (plus the concert), that’s over 24 hours of “workout” in 3.5 days, and good reason to be concerned about endurance.

So far, it’s been pretty good. Using “healthy ringing” techniques and tricks that bass bell ringers know and share (e.g., using balance and angles to minimize the stress on your forearms), I’m here at the end of the third day feeling pretty okay.

There’s one gal (yes, girls ring bass also) that has to carry a bronze C-1 bell in for the processional that starts off the concert. That sucker is 2.5 octaves below the bottom line on the bass clef staff and it weighs about 25 pounds. Since it’s a processional, we repeat the first 16 measures until everyone’s on stage and in their places. She has to ring it in that first part 15 out of the 16 measures, and then repeat it about FOUR TIMES until we’re all in place and continuing on with the song. Dang!! Most people use aluminum bells when they go below C3, which is one of the notes I’m ringing, but we have one set of bronze to go with our aluminum ones. Those puppies are BIG and HEAVY!

Yesterday for lunch, the “Pit Bells” (those of us on the floor of the auditorium in the “orchestra pit”) went out to eat together, all wearing our “Pit Bells” shirts which have a logo of a bulldog head with a handbell in its mouth or sticking out its ear or something. The only way to get these shirts is to ring in the low bass at Bay View and you have to pre-order before the Week of Handbells gets underway. Quite the exclusive club!

This afternoon we actually did a run-thru, going through the entire concert and only stopping to fix things along the way. I guess it’s usually not done until Thursday, so maybe that says something good about our music-making this year.

For those who hadn’t had enough ringing, there was a Reading Session during the free time this afternoon. I sat and listened for the first half or so, and then someone had to leave, so I stepped in and rang at the bottom. It was the G3-A3-B3 bells (bottom of the bass clef), but since I’d been ringing lower and heavier bells, they felt really light. At the end, we got to play through “Rondo Azzurro,” a piece I wrote for the Circle City Ringers a couple years ago. Got some great feedback and people seemed to like it even though it was syncopated throughout, fast, difficult, and using some WICKED accidentals. It prompted me to do an evil laugh and rub my hands together.
Tomorrow we’ll work on trouble spots in the morning and run through the concert again in the afternoon. After the 8:00 concert, we strike the whole stage, pack up the bells, fold up the tables, etc., etc. We’ve got a reception afterwards and Friday morning at breakfast we’ll get to watch a video of the concert before we head home. Pretty cool!

And with the evening off, I’m going to bed early. Nine hours of sleep sounds AWFUL good about now!

The first day is finished and it was great! We got to Bay View about 11:15, so there was time to acclimated, etc., before rehearsal started at 12:00. It went until 4:30, which is LONG for a handbell rehearsal. Especially when you’re ringing low bass.
Dinner was at a local restaurant and was excellent. We all had been preassigned tables to sit at, for enforced mingling, and we even had our names at our seats. The food and conversation were excellent and there was a special presentation of a commissioned art work (2 paintings, actually) that were given to Don Allured and Carl Wiltse in honor of this 30th anniversary of the Bay View Week of Handbells and all their work and dedication over the years.

Then we had another hour and a half rehearsal in the evening, ending with a little ice cream social, where we got to mingle and talk more.

Bed was welcome and late.
Now it’s off to a full day of rehearsals–3 hours this morning, 3 hours this afternoon, and 1.5 hours this evening. Whew!!

Well, I’m on my way to Bay View. It’s a little town just east of Petoskey, Michigan, and is also the shorthand name for the Bay View Week of Handbells. Each summer there is a Music Festival in Bayview and this week of handbells ends with a concert Thursday night that’s part of the Music Festival. We get there Monday morning and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and have fun throughout, leading up to the concert Thursday night. If I remember correctly, we’ve got about 28 hours of rehearsal between Monday noon and Thursday afternoon. That’s a LOT of rehearsing! Especially since everyone got their music and assignments during the summer and is expected to arrive on Monday ready to play their parts AT TEMPO on all of the 13 songs! No pressure!

Two of us from the Circle City Ringers are going to Bay View this year. Thanks to my good friends Dave and Juli Baldwin in Grand Rapids (Dave’s starting his own business brewing and selling mead, called Michigan Meadery, and his Orange Spice Mead won BEST IN SHOW in this year’s International Mead Festival), we were able to divide our 7.5/8-hour trip into two segments, staying at their house Sunday night (and sampling some “wares,” including a rare BUBBLY mead that was almost like champagne). Now it’s early Monday morning and we’ve got about 3 hours left to drive, planning to arrive between 10:30 am and noon.

It’ll be a long week–especially since I’m ringing some heavy bass bells for all those hours–but it’ll be worth it and lots of fun. Especially with all the networking and meeting people that will go on outside of rehearsal times. Things like an ice cream social and Bass Bell Luncheon. The final concert will have five sets of handbells, all 6 to 8 octaves, and should be quite impressive. I think I’ll be able to get a CD or DVD of the concert. That would be great.

Okay, due to popular demand, I’ve added a couple more video clips of The Manualist who performed “The Witch Doctor” and which I blogged about earlier this week. He’s actually got quite a collection of videos on YouTube. Here are a couple of my favorites!

Star Wars Cantina Band

Bohemian Rhapsody

And here are a couple other links to his stuff that you’ll like:
The Entertainer

A Manualist’s Tutorial (how he got started)