Loudly sing cuckoo.” For those who may not be up on their Middle English, that’s the opening line for a traditional round, and possibly one of the oldest works of written musical counterpoint or polyphony.
We’re in the middle of graduation season once again, and our own Chorus School graduation and spring concert will take place this Friday night. Generally, I love Elgar’s music, but how and why did his “Pomp and Circumstance” march become the anthem...
This post is a little later than usual, mainly because I had an impromptu root canal late yesterday. I have just two words for this – NOT FUN. This was a new procedure for me, and I can now imagine a little more vividly what it might feel like to be abducted and operated on by...
Our Alumnae Chorus gave its spring concert on Sunday evening. The theme was “Women’s Experiences of War,” and the program included, among many other works, a movement from the piece Anne Frank, A Living Voice that SFGC commissioned in 2004. Just before the...
Ginger the “accordion dog” has been back at the Civic Center BART station during the morning commute this week. Ginger and her human (whose name I don’t actually know) have made quite an impression on me, and I look...
I read with great interest in today’s New York Times that Lincoln Center will launch a new festival of performances next fall, titled “White Light.” In addition to the festival’s spectacular line up of artists, and the deeply thematic programming (including...
This past Saturday was a fundraiser concert for the Chorus School’s Levels I and II. SFGC board members make opening remarks at these events, and this year’s board speaker was Natasha Hoehn, who is not only a board member, but also an alumna. In speaking about the...
Taking on challenges and learning new tasks isn’t always comfortable or fun at first. But, as I learned last Saturday, a little perseverance and confidence in one’s skill level can make all the difference, leading to a sense of accomplishment and even a degree of pride and...
Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley, our big newspaper of the week was the Sunday edition of the Modesto Bee. Sometime in my pre-teen years, my parents also began subscribing to the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. In those days, it was an excellent...
This past winter, I decided to read straight through all 7 books in the Harry Potter series. I had never read them all, certainly not in any order, so my knowledge of the books was largely based on the film version of each story. However, reading them in succession made a big...
