Tag Archives: entertainment

I Believe, in Music and In Life

28 Apr

Music has played an important part in my life and I have been blessed that my children have participated and enjoyed their scholastic music careers. My son sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and both he and my daughter have participated in numerous honor choirs across the state.

With each experience comes an increased appreciation for music and how it impacts their life. Each clinician and conductor teaches the students an improved breathing technique, a new warm up routine, or even how posture and carriage affects the sound and tone.

Love of Choir_Collage

My life as a choir and band Mom is ending with the close of my daughters senior year in high school. Last week was the Nebraska district music contests across the state and I made the trek down to Nebraska City to listen to the band and choir perform. I have been honored to be a part of a program where 75% of the students participate in either band, choir, or both. What other high school can make that claim? I’d challenge any school in the country.

The first song the choir sang at the District Music contest was Ani Ma’amin and although the students could say it and sing it they couldn’t spell the title.  They could tell me it was a Jewish Hebrew song sung during the Holocaust. During the warm up director Betty Colbert recited the translation before they started. What a great way to teach multiculturalism, and history.

English Translation: 

“I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he may tarry, I wait daily for his coming.”

Hebrew:

“Ani Ma’amin be’emunah shlaima bevias haMoshiach, ve’af al pi sheyismame’ach im kol zeh achake lo b’chol yom sheyavo. Ani Ma’amin.”

It is not unusual for our choir selections to be religious or in another language, but I had not heard Hebrew before and the history of this song interested me. Ani Ma’amin is a song created and sung in the horrors of a cattle car full of Jewish prisoners. In one boxcar the sound of singing could be heard and it spread throughout the whole train.

The history of this song is stirring, inspirational, a song of faith and hope. From the Chabad.org website I learned the full story and it’s worth a visit.

I am partial to the choir, only because I sang in choir in high school and was the piano accompanist for several years, but I will post  the band performance later this week.

The day was especially moving for the seniors who will be graduating in just a few weeks. Their graduating class is only 32 students and in this small community most have been together since preschool. Out of the eleven students below eight of them started in preschool together. At this point it’s almost their whole lifetime.

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Jazz Hipster

28 Mar

I’ve been brought into the world of Jazz, smooth jazz that is by Steve Raybine. Steve is a very accomplished musicians in many areas and has recorded two albums on Chrysalis Records which are played in over 150 radio stations world wide. He has played with the jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, and Michael Feinstein and his resume and accomplishments are just too numerous to list here.

If you are a musician, a music teacher, or a lover of jazz, head over to Steve’s website, it’s packed with all kinds of information on practicing, and teaching tips. Guarantee if you are a student of music you will spend hours reading.

 

Original digital art created by Steve Raybine, d/b/a SAR MUSIC, LLC. Director of Musical Arts, Performer, Composer, Instructor, and Artist in Omaha Nebraska

Steve has now branched off  and is now creating digital art in coordination to his musical art. Just like his music, the art ranges from abstract, to surreal,  provocative, and just down right “groovy”.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Steve at Hamilton Color Lab and printing over 100 different pieces of his digital art. On a personal level we have been creating a video to an upcoming jazz piece.  Can’t give any more information than that yet, but I promise an update when the sneak peak is released.

The “Jazz Hipster” was created by Steve Raybine and and and available for sale as signed  8×10 photographic print, matted to  an 11×14″ frame.

 

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Day 288-290: High School Football

10 Nov

High school football, the central point of every fall Friday night in a small town. It’s the center of the social scene, the place to be seen and to see people and watch some football. Elmwood-Murdock high school has been conference district champions for the past 13 years and make the state playoffs every year I can remember.

Nebraska, High school football

Nebraska, High school football, obviously doesn't want me to take his picture

Class C2, Nebraska Football

Class C2, Nebraska Football

High School Football Cheerleaders

High School Football Cheerleaders

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Day, “Who Knows What”, of My 365 Project???

25 Oct

Ok, I’m officially lost. I took pictures throughout my absence from this project, but for the life of me I’m sure I can’t figure out what number is which. All I know is I should be on Day 329 and I left off on Day 243 with a few in between thrown in for good measure.  That means I’m 86 days behind. Which in reality I’m not going to be able to make up. So I’m going to post my photos in groups and maybe number them.

Enjoy catching up with my life the past few months.

Here are a few snapshots of August.

Welcome Home sign greeted me on my return from Connecticut

Welcome Home!

Cass County Fair, Nebraska

Cattle in all the Colors of the rainbow at the Cass County Fair, Weeping Water Nebraska.

Pig Dog at the Fair, Super Friendly pig, loved him

Super friendly pig at the Cass County Fair, Nebraska. He acted just like a dog and loved the attention, even rolled onto his back and woofed like a dog.

Cass County Fair, Nebraska

Midway at night, Cass County Fair, Weeping Water, Nebraska

Now I’m four less behind, how many more left to go? I’m trying…but might not make it.

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Bohemian Rhapsody, Glee Style

11 May

Bohemiam Rhapsody Glee style

Bohemian Rhapsody Glee style

The television show Glee has made show choirs popular and during last weeks Elmwood-Murdock spring concert the high school choir broke away from their traditional style of robes to give us a Glee or show choir rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

I talked to Mrs. Colbert, the vocal director, on what prompted her to try this and she actually had to be convinced by her friend Noelle, who is a choreographer at The Lofte Theatre.   Noelle had a goal to do such a project and was very convincing.

The students really wanted to sing Bohemian Rhapsody and had been requesting it for several years. The song was a reward for a good years work, yet Mrs. Colbert wasn’t convinced if the students would embrace dancing and adding movements. Remember, no one auditioned or signed up for a “show choir” and these students represent about 50% of the student body population.

Show choirs normally are not this big, and with the various personalities in such a big group there might be some ruffled feathers. There was, but their choir director diffused and redirected to create an overall positive attitude that thoroughly impressed.

This was the last concert for the seniors and they really went out with a bang.

To watch and listen to this choir that earned superiors at  districts visit my YouTube Channel

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Day 137/365: Things That Never Die

21 Apr

The Things That Never Die

Elmwood-Murdock Choir

I never get tired of bragging about the students at Elmwood-Murdock High School, especially when my son and daughter are involved. Here our choir performs at the District II high school Music Contest the song “Things That Never Die”. They received “1′s”  from all three judges receiving the highest score of a 1+ for the second year in a row.   Twelve schools competed and only two schools received the high score.

For your listening pleasure here is the video from my YouTube Channel.

If you have followed previous articles you know we are a small rural school district from a community of less than a thousand people in Eastern Nebraska. Our high school has a student body population of less than 120 students. That’s approximately thirty students in each graduating class. To have this many students (almost 50%) in choir is simply amazing and the credit has to go to Mrs. Betty Colbert our choir director.

She has made choir “cool” and coaches the students to find their voice. Many students sang solos at districts (including my son) and the girls sang Italian Sonatas earning top scores. The students participate in honor choirs and learn from top vocal practitioners in the field. In 2009 they even were invited and sang at Carnegie Hall, an experience I’ll never forget.

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Day 130/365: Spring Elementary Carnival

15 Apr

Carnival Games: Put your ticket on a color, roll the die. Match you win!

It’s spring time and therefore the annual Elmwood-Murdock Elementary Spring Carnival. Student, parents and relative purchase tickets that can be redeemed for games, food, raffle drawings, jump houses and the very popular cake walk.

Although there is only a little over 200 students in the K-6 school at least twice that many attend the carnival. Kids everywhere, making a “joyful” noise. It makes you appreciate teachers. Thousands of dollars are raised that go back to the classrooms for supplies, trips, and other needed items for the students and teachers.

Although my kids are far removed from elementary school the high school cheerleaders had a fundraising table. Since my daughter was at State FBLA conference I took her place. Just knew my photo of the day would come from the carnival.

I worked in the ticket redemption center where little first graders agonized over prizes worth one ticket a piece, a 6 inch back scratcher or a sticky alien man. Boy, to go back to when those decisions were the only ones I had to make. The grand prizes were large stuffed animals worth 330 tickets, and yes it was normally the 5th or 6th grade boys. Over the years they had figured out the game system. Everyone had fun, I think, it was hard to tell by looking at some of the parents.

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Day 23/365: Ice Skating

29 Dec

I loved ice skating when I was young. During the 1970′s in Connecticut the best skating was outside, a field would ice over and all the neighborhood kids would gather with skates and hockey sticks. Cities and parks would sponsor outdoor skating rinks by flooding fields and bonfires would be lite to keep skaters warm.

It was wonderful.  I learned to skate with my Dad. He skated backwards and held my hands. Didn’t matter if the ice was bumpy, or cracks made one fall down. It was the whole experience. Even when it  snowed, then shovels came our clear the skating area.  Always thought skating inside was cheating in a way, although I liked the smooth ice, it’s just not the same.

Day 23/365: Ice Skating

This rink at Eugene Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Nebraska combines the best of both worlds. A prepared, maintained surface gives the luxury of skating on “good” ice, while the open air pavilion maintains the natural feeling of skating outside. I taught my daughter to skate here and it’s a annual tradition around Christmas to spend a few hours on the ice. The park is located halfway between Omaha and Lincoln and we are very lucky and fortunate the park is so close, skating in the winter and swimming in the summer.

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Day 16/365: Santas in the Choir

17 Dec

Today I’m being indulgent, and being a very proud Mom. If my son ever see’s this he’ll be mad, trust me, but I’m going to post it anyway. Tonight was Elmwood-Murdock High School Winter Concert and this was taken during song Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. He’s the tall Bass in the back.

My youngest son is a high school senior and his choir director always said he had a wonderful voice. But he really didn’t take notice until a couple of years ago. Maybe it was singing in Carnegie Hall (yes, the one in New York City)  that he realized “Hey, this is pretty cool” .

Then he began to sing out. He has since auditioned for several honor choirs in Nebraska and  just got accepted to the UNO Honor Choir and the Hastings Honor choir.

Yeah, this picture is not the best quality, too far away, low res, but remember I said I’m being indulgent. So the image is small. But isn’t the point of the project is to chronicle your life? Oh course it is, so no apologizing. On with self promotion!

My main job during the high school concerts is to run the video camera. That’s my other hobby, video editing. To hear Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus visit my YouTube channel. I promise you it’s pretty amazing. Yes, they lost the Santa hats.

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Veterans Day 2010

12 Nov

As a new Mother of a Marine, my thoughts take a different turn on Veterans Day.  I think it’s because it’s now close to home and I find myself worrying in advance of what lies ahead. The potential of the biggest sacrifice that can be made for our country is now personal. It’s my sons. Yes, plural. My youngest son, still in high school decided that the United States Marine Corps is his calling.

Memories of my Father are particularly strong now. He was a veteran of World War II and the Korea Conflict. He never spoke of  war, not that I can remember, and his service papers were lost when we arrived home on New Years at Times Square.  So, I have sent to the National Personnel Records Center for his service records to share with his grandchildren. (I’ll share those here when they arrive in about 6 months.)

I’m also thankful for living in small town community with Midwestern traditions. Unlike other parts of the country, our schools take time to honor our veterans by inviting them to the school and honoring them with celebrations. I attended two such programs today, one at the high school and the other at the elementary.

Lieutenant Colonel Rick Gray was the speaker from the Nebraska National Guard. The choir and band sang and played in honor of those who bravely served in the armed forces past and present. It was very moving to listen to over 125 elementary children sing “Bless Our Troops”.  It’s something I won’t forget anytime soon.

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