"I" Photos

After the Ives Piano Trio; performed by Mariko Smiley, Marilyn Thompson, Judiyaba and the A-Zed audience!

Sophia Hall

Charlie Lucke photos

Kudos to the audience!

It's not every chamber music audience that can sing Rock of Ages and TaRaRaBoomDerE.....at the same time! It was a good spirited group that was willing to try to do a little bit of what Charles Ives does in the Piano Trio, which we then played.

Thanks for entering the spirit of the piece!

Charles Ives

Charles Ives (1874-1954) was a pioneer of combining American tunes, feelings and sounds with European musical forms. His music was a radical departure from what had been done before. Both Henry Cowell (C concert...violin sonata) and Lou Harrison (H concert...string quartet) learned from him and were promoters of his music.

There is a well written biographical sketch online at http://www.charlesives.org/02bio.htm

And the words he wrote for one of his songs gives a clue to how he thought of music.

I think there must be a place in the soul

all made of tunes, of tunes long ago;

I hear the organ on Main Street corner,

Aunt Sarah humming Gospels; Summer evenings,

The village cornet band, playing in the square.

The town's Red, White and Blue,

all Red, white and Blue; Now! Hear the words

But they sing in my soul of the things our Fathers loved.

Thanks to Will Johnson for the quote and the link!

"I" or is it "IF"?

"I" is approaching rapidly!

But in truth it is the "IF" concert because the Faure songs which suffered a last minute cancellation from the "F" concert will be on this one! Soprano Carol Menke and pianist Marilyn Thompson will do not only Faure, but also songs by Charles Ives on September 26. Judiyaba and Marilyn will play some Ippolitov-Ivanov. (you'll love it) and then Mariko Smiley, Judiyaba and Marilyn will play the Ives Piano Trio, a wonderfully inventive, fun, and unusual piece.

The concert is at 7pm in Sophia Hall at Summerfield Waldorf School; 655 Willowside Rd. Santa Rosa.

There might also be a bit of audience participation in this concert.

Don't worry (how many of you remember Mitch Miller?)

From the "H" concert.

"H" PHOTOS!!

Thank you ,

Charlie Lucke

for the wonderful photos!!
...showing the cello technique used in Robert Hughes duet "Sonitudes"

...Robert Hughes talking about the inspiration for his piece, and a bit of history about Lou Harrisons quartet.

Mariko Smiley and Maria Caswell

listening to Bob before playing.

Practicing fo "H"

This concert requires a different sort of practice for the cellist.

In Robert Hughes' duet for flute and cello (Sonitudes) I had to buy a new drumstick and am practicing using it on the strings...with the cello on the .....well, you'll see! And in Lou's string quartet I am also practicing my drumming, but this time with the flat of my hand on the body of the cello.

(I am writing this between practice sessions)

Lou Harrison 1917-2003

I encourage you to google Lou, if not to read more, to see the photos. I think seeing him helps give a sense of this unusual and wonderful man. One of his teachers was Henry Cowell, who many of you heard in the "C" concert and who encouraged the use of known tunes. Lou taught at Black Mountain college and worked with John Cage. He also studied Balinese and Javanese gamelans. He and his partner Bill Colvig made an American gamelan, using reclaimed materials for special sounds and tunings. From all these influences he developed a very personal style. I find it elegant, touching, inventive and different from a lot of 20th century music in being what I think of as non-aggressive.

A Lou story: For many many years he and Bill lived in Aptos (near Santa Cruz) and was composer in residence at Cabrillo Music Festival, which I played. One year he invited a friend and I to camp in his backyard during the festival. That sounded fun, so we arrived with a little pup tent and a hibachi and set ourselves up. Lou came out, shook his head and disappeared for a while. He came back with a huge cabin style tent which we all erected. We thought that was great! But he shook his head again, disappeared for a few minutes and came back out with an asian carpet which he placed very carefully in the tent. THEN we were set. Except the hibachi.

He took us inside and showed us around the kitchen, just warning us that a certain pot in the fridge was their 1000 year old family soup and was never to be emptied. (one just adds to it, and boils it...a lot)