News of the week of November 4, 2014

I missed it all, but I’m told we played:

Schedule

We continue to meet as usual on Tuesday evenings at 7:45 PM at
233 Broadway, Cambridge.

Concerts

Pazzi Lazzi and Renaissonics will be playing at the Dante
Alleghieri Society, 41 Hampshire St., Cambridge, on Friday, November 7.

The Viola da Gamba Society of New England is presenting a
workshop and a concert
with Convivium Musicum on the Dow Part
Books, a collection of music from the 1580’s. The concert will be at All Saints Church,
Belmont, 7pm on Saturday, November 8.

News of the week of October 28, 2014

Meeting Report:

We played:

Schedule

Ishmael has agreed to open up and start the meeting on Tuesday,
November 4, Election Day, so we will meet as usual then.

Usual is 7:45 pm on Tuesday at 233 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

News of the week of October 21, 2014

Meeting Report

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm at 233
Broadway, Cambridge, MA. On election day, November 4, we will
meet only if someone volunteers to open up and get the rehearsal
started.

News of the week of October 14, 2014

Meeting report, October 7

We played:

Meeting report, October 14

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm at 233
Broadway, Cambridge, MA. On election day, November 4, we will
meet only if someone volunteers to open up and get the rehearsal
started.

Concerts

The New England Conservaroty of music is having a Festival of Music and
Dance
this week. John Tyson, who is one of the organizers,
especially recommends tomorrow’s concert, which
will include Renaissonics playing both Renaissance and Baroque
dance music, as well as world-famous exponents of other dance
styles. All events are free.

Performing opportunities

There are two events this weekend which could include
performances if enough people wanted to go to them.

  • A
    memorial gathering for Helen Conrad
    , where we will scatter
    my mother’s ashes under a ginkgo tree planted in her garden in
    her memory, to the accompaniment of music, poetry and
    remembrances by her friends and family. This will be in Fall
    River at 4pm on Saturday, October 25.
  • The Wort
    Processors Ciderfest
    will be in Amesbury on Sunday, October
    25 from noon to 3pm.

News of the week of September 30, 2014

Meeting report

We played:

Schedule

We continue to meet as usual on Tuesday evenings at 7:45 PM at
233 Broadway, Cambridge. Next Tuesday, October 7, will probably
be a small, intimate one, if you’ve been thinking of coming but
are intimidated by the idea of a crowd.

Upcoming concerts

The Loring-Greenough House will present Mignarda playing a lute song
program centered on the music of John
Dowland
on Sunday, October 5, at 3pm. For more information
see
the Loring-Greenough website.

The Boston Early Music Festival
presents a program
of Monteverdi
madrigals on Saturday, October 11 at 8pm in Jordan Hall.

News of the week of September 23, 2014

Meeting Report

We played:

Schedule

We continue to meet as usual on Tuesday evenings at 7:45
pm.

There is some question about whether there will be a quorum on
October 7, so if you want to come then, let me know, or it might
get cancelled.

Two pieces of science fiction criticism

I mentioned a few months
ago
how difficult I found it to write well about Science
Fiction, although I enjoy reading it.

I realized this morning that this week I’ve read two really
good pieces of criticism that were science fiction related, so I
thought I’d pass them on to you.

  • Here’s the
    piece
    Jo
    Walton
    wrote about Mary Renault. You should read it for
    its description of why trying to sell her work as genre Romance
    is a doomed strategy:

    Romance makes assumptions about the value and nature of love that are very different from the assumptions Renault is using. Romances are set in a universe that works with the belief that love is a good thing that conquers all, that deserves to conquer all. Renault is starting from an axiomatic position that love is a struggle, an agon or contest—a contest between the two people as to who is going to lose by loving the other more, which certainly isn’t going to lead to inevitable happiness.

  • Here’s an interview
    with Peter
    Watts
    where he explains why there’s so much torture in
    contemporary science fiction:

    Need to deliver a three-page neurophilosophical infodump at the climax of your first-contact novel? You could always have Spock and McCoy trading debating points in the med lab. Or you can have your protagonist assaulted so violently that his very consciousness shatters into profound autism, that he perceives all external input as a deafening disembodied voice from the heavens. (That was Blindsight.) Pretty much any infodump becomes more – immediate – when you sheath it in pain and jeopardy.

News of the week of September 9, 2014

[raw]

Meeting report

We played:

Schedule

We continue to meet as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 pm at 233
Broadway, Cambridge.

Upcoming concerts

Jody Wormhoudt writes:

I don’t know the extent of Wellesley College’s publicizing,
so I wanted to mention to you (for yourself and for passing on) a
couple of events next month of interest to Renaissance wind players,
both at Houghton Chapel, and both free as far as I know — Google for
more info from the Wellesley website:

Bruce Dickey, cornetto with Liuwe Tamminga playing the Fisk Organ
Tuesday, October 7, 2014 – 7:00pm

Piffaro Saturday, October 25, 2014 – 8:00pm

[/raw]

News of the week of September 2, 2014

Meeting report

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting as usual tomorrow, September 9, at 7:45 at
233 Broadway, Cambridge. David has agreed to open up and start
the rehearsal; I will be there as soon as I can after the polls
close.

We will continue to meet as usual on Tuesdays.

Playing opportunities

The Boston
Recorder Society
is now taking registrations for the 2014-2015
season. They will be continuing their loud wind band, for those
who want a friendly place to play while learning a brass or reed instrument.

The West Gallery
Quire
will be meeting as usual on the second Sundays of the
month, starting on September 14.