Author: Laura Conrad

Report on the September 21, 2010, meeting

We played:

Schedule

As far as I know, we will have normal dropin meetings through
October on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Concert Announcement

The Cantabile
Renaissance Band will play an all-Morley program at 12:30 and
I’ll play a Boismortier suite with my
sister at 1:30.

Arts Around the Block 2010

The Classical Venue
Church of the Holy Spirit, 160 Rock
St., Fall River, MA

September 19, 2010

Outside on the green

1 PM
Ishmael Stefanov, Olde Englishe Country Fiddle
1:30 -3:30 PM
The Stonebridge Gambol Renaissance Dance Group
3:30 PM
The Fall River Fipple Fluters.

The Chapel

12:30 PM
Cantabile Renaissance Band playing music of Thomas Morley, from
the Age of Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare – Laura Conrad, Anne
Kazlauskas and Ishmael Stefanov
1 PM
Judith Conrad plays Spanish Golden Age Keyboard music on Harpsichord
– Antonio de Cabezon – 500th anniversary this year
1:30 PM
Boismortier Suite, Laura Conrad, Recorder, Telemann Sonata, Frank
Fitzpatrick, Recorder accompanied by Judith Conrad on Harpsichord
2 PM
Jagan Nath Singh Khalsa and Jacob Litoff, violin/viola duo Urs Jacob
Flury Rousseau Suite and a Mozart duo for Violin and Viola in G major,
and a Grand Duo by Ignace Pleyel.

The Sanctuary

12:30 PM
Wildwood Strings: Violins: Carolyn Conrad, Louise Brady;
Viola: MaryAnn Nichols Hubbard; Cello: Paula Boyle. Bach’s Brandenburg
Concerto No. 3, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and other classical
favorites.
1:30 PM
Harold Fortuin and Benjamin Fortuin (age 5) on piano, playing
solos and duets by Beethoven, Ravel and Fortuin.
2 PM
Judith Conrad Playing Schumann (200th anniversary this year). Scenes
from Childhood and Phantasie, Opus 19
2:30 PM
Otto Guzman, Cello, with Judith Conrad, Beethoven Variations on
Hail the Conquering Hero Comes’
3 pm
Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofief, led by Judith Conrad from
the piano, Sam Swidey, Narrator, with Jagan Nath Singh Khalsa, Dan
Moniz Carroll Grillo Brown, Joan Genereux, Peter Genereux and Harold
Fortuin.

Performers

Wildwood Strings
a classical string quartet, is based in
southeastern Mass. Four compatible musicians formed the group four
years ago, and have performed in concert, in churches, and at special
events since then. The group’s members are: Carolyn Conrad and Louise
Brady (violins); Mary Ann Nichols Hubbard (viola); and Paula Boyle
(cello).
Jagan Nath Singh Khalsa
studied violin in Chicago and in
St. Louis. He is a member of the Sikh ashram community in Millis,
MA. His love of music extends to orchestral, chamber music, and most
especially music for church. He also teaches violin and plays in local
community theater shows. He has played at several previous Arts Around
the Block Festivals.
Jacob Litoff
got his B.S. in music at Boston University. and
performs on violin and viola in several orchestras including the Dirk
Hillyer Festival Orchestra, The Charles River Sinfonietta, Merrimack
Valley Philharmonic, and as concertmaster for shows done by the Star
Players of Bristol County. He is president on the board of the
Charles RIver Sinfonietta,. He teaches many students on violin and
viola privately , and plays chamber music all the time. He and Jagan
Nath have been performing some violin/viola duets for events at many
private houses lately.
Frank Fitzpatrick
flautist and recorder player, has a B.S. in Music
Education from Rhode Island College, where he graduated magna cum
laude, and is working towards a masters degree in special education at
Bridgewater State University. He is the music teacher at a school for
children with autism. He currently studies recorder with John
Tyson. As a composer, Frank has written music for recorders, big band,
string quartet, piano, computer, and other pieces and songs for
various ensembles. He has written one symphony. He is better known in
Fall River as the initiator of the hard work by so many that placed
ex-priest James R. Porter in prison. He lives in Cranston.
Otto Guzman
a native of Guatemala now living in Pawtucket, is the
principle cellist in the Fall River Symphony. He is playing cello,
tenor viol and recorder, and also plays cornetto, trombone and
lute. He has built many of his own instruments.
The Cantabile Renaissance Band
specializes in the music of the
sixteenth century that was written to be played in the home. They meet
most Tuesdays in a Cambridge living room, and for much of the year
anyone who wants to is free to drop in. They play regularly for the
Project Bread “Walk for Hunger” on the first Sunday in May and at the
Arts League of Lowell gallery, and have performed on the Lowell
“Destination World COOL” event, the Boston Public Library “Never too
Late” series, and the Loring-Greenough House concert series.

Stonebridge Gambol is a group of dancers and musicians dedicated to
promoting the learning and enjoyment of all forms of Renaissance
dance. The group is active primarily within the Society for Creative
Anachronism (SCA), although participation in the SCA is not necessary
for participation in Stonebridge Gambol. Dance practice is held every
Sunday afternoon from 4-6 PM at Goff Hall, 124 Bay State Road,
Rehoboth, MA. All dancers and musicians are welcome to join
us. Admission is free. They are directed by David Barnes.

Laura Conrad
a Durfee High graduate, now lives in Cambridge MA
where she directs the Cantabile Renaissance Band and studies recorder
with John Tyson. She is the webmaster for Laymusic.org and
SerpentPublications.org, two websites which support musicians who play
Renaissance Music in small groups. She is playing recorder today; she
also plays serpent, an ancestor of the tuba which was widely used as
the loudest bass instrument available between 1600 and 1850.
Anne Kazlauskas
is a 1978 Ithaca College voice graduate. A church
singer and keyboardist for over 30 years, she now concentrates on
early European, traditional Scottish, English West Gallery and
American shape note music. She is regularly heard with Convivium
Musicum, West Gallery Quire and Norumbega Harmony.
Harold Fortuin
Pianist and composer, Harold lives in West
Roxbury but has played at two previous Arts Around the Block
Festivals. His music has been featured at numerous festivals in the
US and abroad, and he has developed microtonal musical instruments
and software. He has taught at Olivet College, Michigan State
University, and the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Today he is
joined by his 5-year-old son Benjamin, making his piano-playing
concert debut.
Ishmael Stefanov
studied violin, winds and voice, and played with
school and community orchestras, bands and choirs. Following
graduation from engineering school, he discovered the world of Morris
and contra dancing. He plays with the Black Jokers Morris Team and the
West Gallery Quire, and sings in Norumbega Harmony.
Dan Moniz
a Swansea resident, is the first-chair clarinettist in
the Swansea Community Musicians.
Carroll Grillo Brown
a Fall River resident and chemical engineer,
plays all sizes of saxophones. She currently performs weekly with the
Swansea Community Musicians.
Peter Genereux
plays trombone is two area big bands and other
groups. He enjoys reading, riding bicycle and outdoor work.
Joan Genereux
has taught instrumental music at the Gordon School in
East Providence for many years. She plays in several area wind
ensembles an big bands as well as a saxophone quintet and saxophone
quartet. Here she is playing the baritone saxophone.
Sam Swidey
is a retired English teacher, adjustment counselor, and
principal in the Fall River School System, and an adjunct teadher at
BCC. He lives in Somerset with his wife Mary whom he met in French
class at Stonehill College when he whispered an answer to a question
the professor had asked her. They have 5 children and 11
grandchildren.
Judith Conrad
who lives in Fall River and graduated from Durfee
High, is the organist/pianist at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in
Kingston RI. She studied piano with International Concert Pianist
Theodore Lettvin in Boston, and with Freeman Koberstein at Oberlin
Conservatory, and holds a degree from Harvard University. She will be
playing harpsichord and recorders today. She will be playing at the
celebration of Cabezon’s 500th birthday in October in Almeria, Spain
next month. A specialist in early music and performer on clavichord
and harpsichord, she is the Founder/Director of the Delight Consort
and of the Fall River Fipple Fluters. She is also the originator of
the conceit “Clavichordists for World Peace”.
The Fall River Fipple Fluters
are an amateur recorder-playing group
founded in 1991 by Judith Conrad. They play together for fun every
Friday at Four-thirty in Fall River. New members are always welcome,
willingness to try to learn recorder is the only requirement. They
play all sizes of recorder and many different styles of music, the
core repertoire being Western classical music from the 16th to the
18th centuries, the heyday of the recorder. For further information
call Judith Conrad, 508-674-6128 or e-mail her at
judithconrad@mindspring.com.

File translated from
TEX
by
TTH,
version 3.85.
On 10 Sep 2010, 10:41.

No Cantabile meeting tonight

I actually probably feel better than I have either of the last
two weeks, but I now have a diagnosis (pneumonia) that justifies
feeling crummy. So I’m going to cancel the meeting tonight, to
avoid being tempted to clean or transcribe music or cook when I
should be napping instead.

Unfortunately, there will also not be dropin meetings on either
Tuesday, September 7 or Tuesday, September 14, because some of us
will be rehearsing for a concert on September 19.

So the normal dropin meetings will resume on Tuesday, September
21, at 7:45 PM at my place.

I’ll attempt to call people who normally come and who might not read email between
now and this evening. If you’ve been coming regularly, if you can let me know that you got this,
it will save me trying to dig up your phone number.

Report on the August 17, 2010, meeting

We played:

Schedule

For the month of August, we’ll be having dropin meetings as
usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Report on the August 10, 2010, meeting

We played:

Schedule

For the month of August, we’ll be having dropin meetings as
usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

My Hugo award votes

The posts were thin for a while there, and one of the things I
was doing instead of posting was reading all the Hugo award nominees so that
I could vote by the July 31 deadline. Here are my votes, with some comments on why.

Best novel

  1. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I
    actually probably enjoyed a couple of the others more than this
    one, but the writing was so good I decided it was more award-worthy.
  2. Wake by Robert J. Sawyer. If you want to cite
    a good example of “computer-science fiction”, this would be it.
  3. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century
    America     by Robert Charles Wilson
  4. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. The description I
    had of this before I read it was that it was a steampunk vampire
    novel set in 19th century Seattle. Based on that, I wasn’t
    expecting to enjoy it, but I actually did. Partly because it
    isn’t really a vampire novel, but a novel about the kind of
    communities that can form in the face of danger (which in this
    case is vampires).
  5. The City & The City by China Miéville. I had
    heard of China Miéville as an impressive writer, and this was
    the first thing I’d read of his. The writing is very good, with both
    characters and images that stick with you, but
    I downranked it as an award winner because the plot never really
    made much sense.
  6. No award. I like this part of voting. You can not only
    vote for the ones you like, but vote against the ones you don’t
    like by rating them after “No award.”
  7. Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente. This is
    the only one I didn’t manage to finish, so my apologies if
    something wonderfully exciting happens after page 150. It
    wasn’t very interesting, but the writing was very dense, so it
    was taking a lot longer than the typical novel of that length
    takes, and I wasn’t enjoying it, so I stopped reading it and
    voted against it.

Best Novella

  1. Vishnu at the Cat Circus by Ian McDonald.
    Another good example of “computer-science fiction”. Set in
    near-future India.
  2. Act One by Nancy Kress
  3. Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James
    Morrow
  4. The God Engines by John Scalzi. Well-written
    by an author I usually like, but a somewhat unpleasant
    atmosphere.
  5. No Award
  6. The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker. This
    seemed like steam-punk for its own sake.
  7. Palimpsest by Charles Stross. A time travel
    story without much I could see to recommend it.

Best Novelette

With these shorter forms, I wouldn’t have read them except for
the Hugo voting, but they’re really pretty good.

  1. The Island by Peter Watts
  2. Overtime by Charles Stross
  3. Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky
  4. One of Our Bastards is Missing by Paul Cornell
  5. Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask,
    Gentleman, Beast     by Eugie Foster
  6. No award
  7. It Takes Two by Nicola Griffith. I wasn’t at
    all sure that this was a science fiction story at all, so I
    voted against it.

Best Short Story

  1. Bridesicle by Will McIntosh
  2. The Bride of Frankenstein by Mike Resnick
  3. Non-Zero Probabilities by N.K. Jemisin
  4. Spar by Kij Johnson
  5. The Moment by Lawrence M. Schoen

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Luckily, the ones of these that I wouldn’t have made a point of
seeing anyway were all on Netflix Watch Now, so it didn’t cost me
anything except the time.

  1. District 9 Screenplay by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell; Directed by Neill Blomkamp
  2. Moon Screenplay by Nathan Parker; Story by Duncan Jones; Directed by
    Duncan Jones. This was the most like a real science fiction story,
    although it wasn’t as good a movie as District 9.
  3. Star Trek Screenplay by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Directed by J.J. Abrams
  4. No award
  5. Avatar Screenplay and Directed by James
    Cameron. I didn’t go to the theater to see it in 3D, but I
    don’t see how even better special effects could have redeemed
    the banal plot and characters.
  6. UpScreenplay by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter; Story by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter & Thomas McCarthy; Directed by Bob Peterson & Pete
    Docter. Disney tear-jerker. I don’t know why it’s science fiction.

Summary

Some day I’ll be organized enough to start the reading early
enough to vote on some of the other categories. But if you want
to know what’s happening in science fiction, you can do a lot
worse than get an associate membership to the convention of the
year (Aussiecon,
this year). It cost $50 this year, and they gave me free electronic
versions of all the print nominees.

Pictures from Amherst

It was a pretty busy week, and I only had the little camera, so
I couldn’t do the butterflies, and I was usually carrying too much
to make it easy to stop and take pictures. But here’s what I
got.

Marker putti

This statue was how to identify the building a lot of the
classes were in:

[Putti at Connecticutt College]

Putti at Connecticutt College
[plaque identifying Putti]

Plaque identifying Putti

Two serpent players

One of the cornetto players had always wanted to play serpent,
so he spent some time with mine, and we took pictures of each
other.

[Laura playing serpent]

Me playing my serpent
[Michael playing serpent]

Michael Yelland playing my serpent

Report on the August 3, 2010, meeting

We played:

Schedule

For the month of August, we’ll be having dropin meetings as
usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Excerpt from the Amherst Evaluation Form

I didn’t wrap up the Amherst experience because I was busy
writing the evaluation form. And by the time I was through with
that there were other things I wanted to think about.

But I did promise to let you know how it turned out. You’ll be
glad to know that the Saturday concert was really good, and lots
of people (including world class faculty members who didn’t even
know me) came up to me at the party and told me how good the
serpent playing was.

I’m not going to give you the parts from the evaluation about
individuals, but here’s something I wrote about the workshop in
general:

Beginners

This is from the section that asked for comments about the
daily schedule and kinds of classes. I wrote:

I was concerned that there didn’t seem to be any classes in anything
suitable for beginners. I don’t mean beginners in the sense that they
don’t know the fingering of a soprano recorder, but people who haven’t
previously had the opportunity for the kind of ensemble experience
that Amherst offers. I notice a lot of the people who were beginners when
I first came 20 years ago are now populating the advanced classes.
But we’re all going to die sometime, and if you don’t do beginner
classes now, where will the advanced classes come from 20 years from
now?

I would think the faculty should be more aware of this problem, since
presumably most of them make a substantial portion of their income
from teaching, and if there aren’t places where people who want to
learn something can meet the teachers, where will they get their
students?

Those questions come from someone who doesn’t have an association with
a university. I’m aware that if you know as a teenager that music is
something you want to study, and you go to the right kind of high
school (I didn’t) and college (I did, but of course nowhere was that
good forty years ago for early music), you can get a lot of what I’m talking about from
your academic experience. But one of the strengths of Amherst, and
the early music movement in general, used to be that people who
hadn’t had that experience in school could take it up later in life.
It’s not clear that that’s still happening.

And of course if there’d been brass ensemble classes for beginners,
there would have been a place for a low-level cornetto player, even if
nobody wanted to touch a serpent. My cornetto playing isn’t
performance quality, but if you had a beginning loud wind ensemble
with people who couldn’t count, it would have been easier to teach
with me in it.