Stahlke Adoption: September 2014

Sunday, September 28, 2014

From Helen Keller

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Ricardo Muti

What an experience to watch this musician conduct a rehearsal. I can see why the CSO loves him. He is a master teacher, using metaphors to express concepts, gestures to make points, and even his bodily demeanor to express emotion. One of my favorites was when the orchestra was failing to keep the tempo steady. Muti pretended to be Thomas the Train, slowing down gradually to a full stop!

The other incredible skill involved his singing solfege at the fastest pace I've ever witnessed. (Solfege is the Do-Re-Mi system that was popularized in the movie Sound of Music.) Whenever Muti sang a musical line back to the orchestra, he did it with solfege syllables, up to tempo. And in the piece they were playing--Strauss' Death and Transfiguration--that meant that many of the passages sped by impossibly quickly. Incredible!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Wow!

Ricardo Muti, the conductor of the Chicago Symphony, is leading a rehearsal of the Oak Park/River Forest Symphony tonight. This local symphony orchestra is led by the Principal Trombonist of the Chicago Symphony, and he asked Muti to conduct a work on their next program.

This rehearsal is free and open to the public. I'm very excited to attend, because Muti is not only one of the best conductors in the world, but he is also beloved by the members of the Chicago Symphony. To watch the rehearsal techniques of such a genius is an opportunity to which I'm looking forward very much.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Contrasts

One of my kids will never return my “good morning” greeting. But this child is the only one who says “thank you” when picking up the sack lunch I made for them. Go figure.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Word Creation

When my sister recently visited with my father, his speech was so confused that she could only understand one word per sentence. One theme did get through, however--that he was afraid of getting lost.

"Dad, this is Anne. I'm here with you, and you won't get lost."

No response.

"Dad, Anne is here with you. And I love you."

His response:

"Anne, I love you Titanic-ly!"

Friday, September 05, 2014

Names

Dad's dementia comes and goes, which is characteristic of his disease. So even though he might not remember my name one day, here's an example of the opposite:

Last week, Anne told me that Dad had talked about "Mary" most of the day. His hospice aide, whose name is Mary, comes every weekday afternoon for an hour to change him and give him supper.

So Anne asked him which Mary he was talking about--his hospice aide or his daughter.

"The Chicago Mary!"

Monday, September 01, 2014

Alliteration

About ten days ago, my sister telephoned that Dad was thinking more clearly. The three of us talked by speaker phone, with Anne prompting Dad and helping him with the conversation. She asked me to describe my work as organist at our church, so I gave an update on how my job had been going.

Dad began to get sleepy, as the morphine took effect, so Anne suggested we say goodbye. Dad couldn't remember my name, but he knew who I was:

"Goodbye, Music!"

Stahlke Adoption