Remembering Jean Ritchie, 12/8/22-6/1/15

Tags

Daily Kos, Jean Ritchie, Long Island Hall of Fame, NPR, NY Times

Jean Ritchie with her sons, Peter (L) and Jon Pickow

Jean Ritchie, the wonderful folksinger who was born in Appalachia and brought the dulcimer to a much wider audience, died on Monday at the age of 92.

Harp on the willow tree, now it is hung.
One man, one faith, one God, to them I clung.
Sweet were the songs of life, now they are sung.
Harp on the willow tree, now it is hung.

– Jean Ritchie (from Epitaph for Myself)
from Jon Pickow’s Facebook page

I had the pleasure of meeting Jean at a Christmas party at her home in Port Washington, Long Island.  Her son Jon had invited the entire Norman Luboff Choir.  We were on break from a tour.

Meeting Jean and being at the party was such a delightful experience, one I shall always remember.

My impression, on hearing the guests, all folksingers, share songs in turn:

Six or eight songs had been sung, and now it was Jean’s turn.  She was standing with her back to the room, washing dishes.  Had that been me, I may have asked others to sing, delaying my contribution until I had finished what I was doing.  Not Jean.  She continued washing dishes and sang beautifully!

Isn’t that wonderful? It wasn’t a show. She had no need to change a thing: she didn’t turn to face the audience, didn’t put on more makeup or change clothes. She didn’t ask for more light. There was no printed program. She just sang. Singing wasn’t something different. It’s who she was. I have always admired that.

You can find more about my impressions of the party and the wonderful folksinging guests here:

Authenticity in Performing

New York Times obituary by Margalit Fox:
http://nyti.ms/1AOebha
Be sure to scroll down to watch a video of Jean singing “Shady Grove” while accompanying herself on the dulcimer.

from NPR:
http://n.pr/1RI8kOE

The Wall Street Journal
http://on.wsj.com/1QcmvOS

Lexington (KY) Herald-Ledger editorial:
Jean Ritchie, a righteous voice of Kentucky

The Courier-Journal:
http://cjky.it/1GpeL7p

Jean Ritchie’s Induction into the Long Island Hall of Fame:
http://nyti.ms/1EYlOwL

from AMP, Alternate Music Press:
http://alternatemusicpress.com/features/jeanritchie.html
includes discography and books by Jean Ritchie

from The Mudcat Café:
http://bit.ly/1APmU2O
featuring an exhaustive list of related links

from DailyKos.com:
http://bit.ly/1QabRbh
More videos!

Jean Ritchie’s memoir:
Singing Family of the Cumberlands

DVD:
Mountain Born:  The Jean Ritchie Story
KET Teacher’s Guide

Memorial donations:
http://www.appalachianvoices.org/

Rest in peace, Jean.  We will miss you greatly.

If your think your friends/network would find this useful, please share it with them — I would greatly appreciate it. 

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Mi Addy: the back story

These are my new plates!

Since I haven’t driven for such a long time (since graduate school!), and since I now have a beautiful Fiat, I wanted to honor the experience with something special.

So I began daydreaming about names.

My VW bug was named Hansel, but just in my head.  No fancy plates.

This time around, a fond memory surfaced.  Several years ago, I lived in an apartment on Cabrini Blvd. in New York (near the Cloisters) with a single mother and her baby boy, Joseph.  We decided before I moved in that we would trade piano noise for baby noise.  I got a whole lot of nothing done during my 11 months there, because I played with him so much.  He was extremely cute, intelligent, and curious.  I witnessed him learning to walk!

He used to scratch things and listen to the sound.  The cushions, arms, and back of the couch; the end table, coffee table, lampshade and its base; and, most interesting to me, a tiny steel manufacturer’s tag on the corner of a filing cabinet!  The tag had raised dots and letters, so the surface was varied.

Joseph talked all the time, using his voice to experiment with sound.  When I would look him in the eye and repeat a string of sounds he had just made up, he would have an astonished look on his face, as if to say, “Oh!  Someone finally gets it!”

One day, he woke up ast 5:00 a.m. saying only one word, “Addy, addy, addy,” over and over.  He repeated it until he went to daycare at 8:30.  When he came home at 5:30, he was still saying it.  And that was the word of the day until he went to sleep around 10.

I rather liked it!

CT vanity plates can have up to seven characters, including one period.  “ADDY” seemed too plain.  “MY ADDY,” with 2 “Y’s,” looked too symmetrical.  So I went with “MI,” since I have an Italian car.

The CT DMV website has a page where you can try out your choice to see if it’s available.  So I tried it out, adding a variety of  backgrounds at the same time.  The plain background didn’t work for me.  I like lighthouses, so there you go.

In honor of Joseph and the Italians, here it is.

Now the old plates have to be mailed back to the CT DMV.  And the MA title?  I’m still waiting for the MA RMV (that’s the Registry, not the Department) to cash my check and send me the duplicate.  The deadline for sending it to the CT DMV was October 15th.  Fortunately, they use the date as a motivator.  There is no late fee.

 

 

A tribute to Robin Williams

Robin Williams. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Photographer’s Mate Airman Milosz Reterski – Navy NewsStand.
Actor/comedian Robin Williams entertains the crew of USS Enterprise, December 19, 2003 (cropped)
Actor/comedian Robin Williams entertains the crew of USS Enterprise (CVN 65) during a holiday special hosted by the United Service Organization (USO). The show took place in the ship’s hangar bay and featured the visiting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, NASCAR driver Mike Wallace, and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) celebrity Kurt Angle. The shirt worn in the picture is the popular “I Love (Heart) New York” translated into Arabic.

So many people are posting on Facebook upon learning of Robin Williams’ apparent suicide.  I posted, too, then tried to do something else.  I feel compelled to post here as well.

Read the NY Times article

Depression needs to receive much more press and public discussion.  Comedians, actors, artists, musicians, dancers, writers… often struggle a great deal, unbeknownst to the public.

Toni Nadal, who is Rafael Nadal’s uncle and coach, once said in an interview that people just don’t get it.  They see what happens during the performance (or, in his case, the tennis tournament) and think that represents the artist’s/player’s daily life.

I agree.  People don’t see what happens in everyday life, whether it’s jet lag, lack of sleep, performing/rehearsing when under the weather, altitude changes, relationship issues, sleeping in a different bed every night… it’s a very long list.  In tennis, even the balls are different from tournament to tournament.  They come off the player’s racquet differently, react to weather conditions, and travel through the air differently in each location.

From what I’ve read, people with a well-developed sense of humor are often depressed.  Harvey Korman, for example, was known to have struggled with major depression throughout his life.

So Robin Williams’ death, in some ways, should come as no surprise.  We need to pay more attention.

R.I.P., Robin Williams.  Thanks for all you gave us.

Please share your thoughts.

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My Addy and The National Holiday

Tags

Chicago, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Family, holidays, Iowa, New York

Not everyone is aware of this, but June 23rd is The National Holiday.  My father made the designation in honor of his birthday one year.  From that time on, he would remind us on the 23rd of each month, beginning in January.

The significance of this, this year, is that I am hoping to pick up my new car on that day. It feels appropriate, and would make me very happy.

Let me tell you why.

Dad bought me my first car, a VW bug.  I had a church job at the time, but no car.  My college roommate drove me to choir rehearsals and church on Sunday mornings, and picked me up afterwards.  Dad wanted me to keep the job, but didn’t want my roommate to have to drive me around.

As it happened, I went shopping for a piano 11 years later.  I found a Baldwin at the Baldwin dealer when I lived in New York.  Dad knew I had been looking. Shortly after I had paid the down-payment and arranged for financing, he called.  Upon asking what the balance was, he offered to pay it!

This was in December, a year after graduate school.  He wanted the piano to be in my apartment for Christmas.  He had his heart set on it. Baldwin did the best they could, given their delivery schedule in the city.  I had the piano two days after Christmas. My dad was quite disappointed, and had trouble with the idea for the rest of his life.  I tried to make sure he knew how happy I was, and told him that I would not have practiced on Christmas Day anyway.

He lived in Iowa.  Although he attended seminary in Chicago, he just wasn’t a city person. So the demands of a New York delivery schedule at a large company didn’t make an impression.

In my hometown, the store owner would have closed early on Christmas Eve, loaded the piano onto his truck with a big red bow around it, and delivered it right on time.

“My Addy” is the name I’m giving my new car.  For 11 months, I lived in a beautiful apartment on Cabrini Blvd. in New York with a single mother and her baby, Joseph.  We traded piano noise for baby noise, and I loved every minute.

Joseph talked all the time.  He invented words.  Sometimes, when he would come out with a string of gibberish, I would just look him in the eye and repeat what he had said. The look on his face was priceless:  “Wow!  Somebody gets it!”

For one entire day, the word he repeated constantly was “addy.”  He started the minute he woke up at 5:00 or 5:30.  Around 8:30, he went to daycare.  When he came home at 5:30, it was still “addy, addy, addy,” and he kept saying it until he went to sleep around 10:00.

If it works out for me to pick up My Addy on my father’s birthday, that would feel special. He passed away in 1991, but I’d like to think I could send him some happiness in that way.

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Happy Birthday, Norman Luboff!

Tags

arts, Music, Norman Luboff, Norman Luboff Choir, Pianist, piano

Norman Luboff
(May 14, 1917 – September 22, 1987)

I had the privilege of touring the United States as pianist with The Norman Luboff Choir twice. I am grateful to have had such a wonderful experience.

 Discography of The Norman Luboff Choir

 

 

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Happy New Year!

Tags

Bobby McFerrin, improvisation, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Music, New Year, video

A wonderful improvisation by Bobby McFerrin, one of the best musicians out there, performing at Lincoln Center with two of his kids.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Remembering my mother

Tags

Carthage, Carthage College, Friesland, Mother, Ohio River, Superman

Caroline Elise Moorman Saathoff

Since I am thinking about my mother this week and next, I thought I would repost this profile from last year.

Name: Caroline Elise Moorman Saathoff.  She had one or two more middle names which I no longer remember.  Her birth certificate lists only Elise.  Her brother Bill spelled their last name “Moormann,” with 2 “n’s,” while my mother stuck to using one.

City of birth: Metropolis, IL, all the way down on the southern border.  Yes, THAT Metropolis, home of Superman.   My mother grew up outside of town, and it’s pretty small (pop. 6,482 as of the year 2000 census).

Metropolis is across the Ohio River from Paducah, KY.

College: Carthage College, Carthage, IL
Music Education major, sang in college choir, where she met my father.  The college later moved to Kenosha, WI.

How she left home: my mother was the only one in her family to go to college.  She left home with $8 in her pocket, found a job, and sent home for her trunk.

Most distinguishing characteristic: her hair!  She had the same hair as mine.  Many people from Friesland, where my ancestors are from, have very finely textured blonde hair.  It’s slightly wavy, but the second the wind blows, it goes completely straight.

Most unusual word: cattywampus (means ”kitty corner,” and it’s not in the dictionary).  The only other person I’ve heard say this is from Lexington, KY.

Best spelling: M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-humpback-humpback-I.  (Get it?  That spells “Mississippi.”)

Funny thing she did: She loved to write silly poems on family birthday cards.  They were really bad, eliciting groans every time.  And she knew they were bad.  But I know she had fun writing them.

How she got me to vacuum the furniture: by hiding change under the couch cushions!  I thought for a long time that people had lost change from their pockets.

When I was sick: whenever I had a fever, she would make orange-flavored slivered ice.  I still don’t know how she did it.  It was so good.

Favorite activity: riding her bike to the park and back with her friends Ellie and Edith.  On the final afternoon of her life, she was on her bike after school (she taught kindergarten), on the way to meet her friends.

Favorite food: tomatoes!  She was still eating entire platefuls in August, long after everyone else had tired of them.

Favorite flower: dogwood.

What I admired most: her unwavering integrity and incredible determination.

I miss you, Mom.  43 years is a long time.

Our little choir’s 1st success of the new season

Tags

choral singing, Church, church choir, Church service

Copyright 1978 Maranatha! Music, admin. by The Copyright Co.

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord
And He shall lift you up, higher and higher,
And He shall lift you up.

Sources:
Celebration Hymnal  #622
Renew!  #188
Sing the Faith  #2131
Sing with Me  #201
Singing the New Testament  #230
The Faith We Sing  #2131
(as listed at Hymnary.org)

Background

Today was Kickoff Sunday at our church.  Some churches call it Homecoming Sunday, and there are many variations on the theme.  The designation denotes the first Sunday after Labor Day weekend, the beginning of school, the opening of church school, and the return of the choir.

Our “traditional” service began 1/2 hour earlier for the first time, which also moved choir rehearsal to 8:30 from 9:00.

Good morning!

When I arrived at 7:30 to practice, the chairs (a new experiment in lieu of pews) were in place for the parishioners.  The location of the choir was left for us to take care of.

The six people who sang today all arrived at 8:30!  Because of the earlier time, that could have presented a problem.

We welcomed Joyce, a new member who is trying out a new experience.

Logistics

We discussed where everyone would feel comfortable, moved a few chairs, moved the piano so we could all see each other, and had a terrific rehearsal!

The choir wanted to face the congregation throughout the service in order to lead the singing.  I couldn’t agree more!  Finding seats among the parishioners and then walking to the front for the anthem would have disrupted the flow of the service. 

Pam, a choir member, had suggested earlier in the week that we could spend less time rehearsing the hymns and more time looking ahead to the following week’s anthem.  She made a good point.  So today we warmed up on the sung response to a congregational reading.  That only took a minute or two, a good use of our time, as the congregation needed our leadership with the unfamiliar music.

The anthem

Our anthem was perfect for the offertory.  Written like a round, the choir sang the melody.  Sue, a soprano in the choir, handled the descant (essentially the 2nd entrance in the round) beautifully.

I came across this engaging piece while browsing through “The Faith We Sing,” an alternative to the standard hymnal.  Although I didn’t know it, I fell in love with it right away.  I was so happy when the choir had the same experience!

The congregation had a wonderful reaction to the choir’s singing today.

This piece, which can be done in many different ways, turned out to be a great way to begin the new season.  Any number of singers would be appropriate, the placement of the singers for the two parts of the round could be flexible, the number of repeats could be changed during the singing with no problem, and the keyboard part could either be played or omitted.

Compliments to the choir!

I am so proud of my little choir for their enthusiasm, wonderful suggestions, cooperation, and willingness to show up early!  The spirit of collaboration is wonderful, allowing everyone to feel a sense of ownership.

What’s next?

I can’t wait for next week!  We will be singing “Lead Me, Guide Me,” by Doris Akers, followed by “Over My Head,” an African-American spiritual arr. by John Bell, the next week.  “Over My Head” was suggested by a choir member last Spring. Thanks, Carolyn!

Bethel A.M.E. Church in Kirksville, Missouri, where Doris Akers first learned to sing and play Gospel music. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Remembering Kirk Birrell

Tags

church choir, Kirk Birrell, tenor, tribute

The bells at Christ Northampton.  Designer:  Kirk Birrell.  (Photo credit:  Christ Northampton’s Facebook page)

We first met a little over a year ago.  Kirk was 82.  His greeting was, “I’m your tenor.
I have two volumes; on and off.”

This being my first Sunday at a new church job, I wondered what I had gotten myself into.  In previous choirs, though, the tenors each had their own take on how to sing.  One made up his own part, and one had a fondness for sliding whenever possible and a wobble in his voice.

My plan was to be friendly and engage in conversation.  I wanted to find out what was in there.

After two or three Sundays, I realized that Kirk wanted his opinions to be heard, but often, further discussion was not necessary.  So I listened and got on with the rehearsal.

The brief conversations had been going well.  Then, one Sunday after church, Kirk approached me to give me a heads up about operating the lights behind the organ.  They were tricky.  And when I am there by myself, knowing how to work the lights is important.  I was surprised by the overture.

About two weeks later, he offered me a ride to the bus stop!  He had no plans to travel in that direction, since his house was on the opposite side of Northampton.  So I was surprised once more.

But that was not all.  We crossed the parking area to his car and got into a Chevy Volt!  Somehow, that didn’t fit the personality profile I had constructed in my mind for him.

The anthem one Sunday was “Children of the Heavenly Father.”  I asked the choir to enter one voice part at a time, S A T B, every 2 measures.  The first two entrances went well, and then Kirk came in.  If this had been a solo entrance in a large hall, it would have been perfect!  However, the tenor part joined the other two in a unison to be sung piano.  It was the complete opposite of a solo entrance.

When I asked Kirk to enter softly, he didn’t think he could.  My hunch was that no one had ever shown him how.  So I suggested that he use less air, and demonstrated doing that.

He did it!  He was happy, and I think everyone else was, too.

After his health began to decline, he sang with the choir one more time.  He opted to remain seated while everyone else stood.  After the choir members in front moved out of the way, he could see me.  I was glad he could be there, and the anthem went well.  I think he enjoyed it.

One Sunday when he wasn’t feeling well, he asked me what we would be singing the following week.  I gave him a copy of the anthem, thinking that maybe he wanted to take it home.  Then I walked away to take care of something else.  When I returned, Kirk was seated on a bench, looking at the music!  I was touched by his commitment, looking at the music while not feeling well.  He told me that it didn’t look too hard.

My take on Kirk’s voice is that he could have been an opera singer, had his family’s circumstances been different when he was younger.  His voice was even throughout his range, and there was no wobble whatsoever.  And I never heard him slide.  

I am grateful to have known him, and for all the ways in which his life touched mine.  My prayers are with Natalie, his lovely wife of 62 years, and his family.

Rest in peace, Kirk.

Obituary

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A poem for collaborative pianists everywhere!

Tags

accompanist, poem

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The following poem was sent to me this morning by Elaine Broad Ginsberg (Lainee), conductor of the Hampshire College Chorus.

THE ACCOMPANIST

I've always worried about you-the man or woman

at the piano bench,

night after night receiving only such applause

as the singer allows: a warm hand please,

for my accompanist. At concerts,

as I watch your fingers on the keys,

and how swiftly, how excellently

you turn sheet music pages,

track the singer's notes, cover the singer's flaws,

I worry about whole lifetimes,

most lifetimes

lived in the shadows of reflected fame;

but then the singer's voice dies

and there are just your last piano notes,

not resentful at all,

carrying us to the end, into those heartfelt cheers

that spring up in little patches from a thrilled audience

like sudden wildflowers bobbing in a rain

of steady clapping. And I'm on my feet, also,

clapping and cheering for the singer, yes,

but, I think, partially likewise for you

half-turned toward us, balanced on your black bench,

modest, utterly well-rehearsed,

still playing the part you've made yours.

Dick Allen

Originally published in North Dakota Quarterly, 
Vol. 74, No. 3, 2007

Thank you, Mr. Allen! Thanks, Lainee!

★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★

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