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Just submitted my first critique to the Local Shaw section
of this Website. I started out reluctant to comment on a classical concert
experience with my scant background; then decided to go ahead. The critique
is all personal reactions anyway, I reasoned, so full steam ahead! I did
try to cull out some post-concert musings, which I'd like to present here:
My wife and I saw and heard a busker, playing accordion in the skyway
leading to the concert hall. (A skyway in Minneapolis-St. Paul (the
NOT-identical Twin Cities) is a broad, glassed-in passageway that leaps
across streets at the second floor level, connecting many downtown
buildings. The idea is to be able to do your walking inside during
the long winters.) We thanked him for his efforts with a thumbs-up and a
donation to the cause. A great place to busk during the winter...
On our way out of the concert hall, we ran into an acquaintance that we
hadn't seen for many months (a couple of years, in my case). We met her
husband there; she had told me in the past that he was an amateur musician
(back when I was aspiring to regain that title). She expressed surprise,
given my earlier preference for jazz and blues and rock, to find me at a
symphony. I grinned and said I was expanding my horizons.
I told them I had switched from tenor sax to bass clarinet, and was in a
couple of community bands and a mixed clarinet quartet. He talked about
getting together with some other parents at their kids' elementary school
to put on a school concert -- to include some Beatles music. We told them
about Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's documentary, Speaking in Strings,
which we had seen the night before. I think now that I'll lend them our
copy -- being a vector for musical delirium is a role that I relish! I
sense the possibility of more musical interaction with the two of them. I
plan to introduce them to MC Network, and perhaps broach the idea of some
joint bass clarinet / keyboards / guitar exploration...
When we arrived home last night, I was delighted to find an e-mail from a
Musicians Connected member who said, in her first communication, that some
of the music that I had mentioned liking, elsewhere on this site, resonated
with her. She wanted to recommend to me a CD of traditional/modern/eclectic
Central European music, full of clarinets. Well, this concept intrigues me
mightily, and I intend to get hold of this CD. What a wonderful
opportunity for musical sharing this Website offers us!
As we slowly woke up this morning, each mulling over the musical
experiences of the night before, my wife turned to me and mused, "I've
been thinking, about an idea for a play, or a book, or something: Elder
centers. People in community bands play the elder center circuit. Well,
there's this one center that becomes known for being able to discern good
music and good musicians. It becomes THE place to try to get a gig at,
because it's a great place to be noticed..."
Finally, my fellow music lover and soulmate suggested that I add a couple
more of Tom Waits' lyrics from "Misery is the River of the World"
(on his Blood Money album) to my signature, to further evoke the concept
that we're all floating together on this musical mystery tour:
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Music is the river of the world!
Everybody row! Everybody row!
-- Low_Reed, inspired by Tom Waits and a world full of music makers
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