Still learning

I remember when I was a kid, practicing my violin was not always something I wanted to do. I wish I knew then what I know now. When you are young, you want instant results, not small improvement over a long period of time. I was impatient and restless. Now, at age 55, I see things much differently. I recognize and appreciate the beauty of practice. I am not in a hurry anymore. I love slowing difficult passages down to a crawl to look inside them...to figure them out.Taking my time feels good. And it still works.
I have experienced this new appreciation most recently while practicing the guitar. I play the guitar, yes, but I have not had any formal training and am completely self-taught. I don't consider myself a guitarist at all, but I enjoy it immensely. I borrowed an electric guitar from my friend Ben the other day and set about trying to learn some riffs that I admired, but I knew were out my reach. I embraced the idea of playing them slowly, over and over. Little by little I gained confidence and started to master these riffs. I learned to play them well enough to record and share with my Facebook friends. This tried and true regiment really works...even for me in my middle years. Take my time. Enjoy the work. Trust the process. I didn't see that as a kid. I practiced my violin. I got pretty good. I still play. It is a joy...a gift. And I am better now than ever. Wow.

https://www.facebook.com/tim.hazlett.9/videos/10222400968155481/

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The COVID-19 Pandemic continues. Life has changed. The world has changed. But it is not the first time in history that a pandemic has changed the course of history. Here is an excellent article about how an epidemic of Yellow Fever led to the United States's acquisition of the Louisiana Territory.

https://helenair.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/yellow-fever-and-the-louisiana-purchase/article_eda1c5b3-f498-5517-a72c-0194957494e4.html

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The Heritage Philharmonic was scheduled to play our Spring Concert on March 15 at Helzberg Hall here in Kansas City. This was cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We had hoped to reschedule the concert for October, but that remains to be seen. In the meantime, we had to turn our music in last week because much of it is rented and needed to be returned. I was very sad making the drive to return it to our music librarian. So much practice and rehearsal...and no chance to play it in a performance.

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I have given up watching TV news, and I don't read much news anymore either. I listen to music...more than ever. My latest listening project has been listening to the First or Only Symphony of composers:

Philip Glass Symphony no 1
Edward Elgar Symphony no 1
Joachim Raff Symphony no 1
Howard Hanson Symphony no 1
Igor Stravinsky Symphony no 1
Charles Gounod Symphony no 1
Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphony no 1
Peter Tchaikovsky Symphony no 1
Gustav Mahler Symphony no 1
Johannes Brahms Symphony no 1
Franz Liszt Faust Symphony
Samuel Barber Symphony no 1
Georges Bizet Symphony in C major
Felix Mendelssohn Symphony no
Anton Bruckner Symphony no 1
Charles Ives Symphony no 1
Leonard Bernstein Symphony no 1
Edvard Grieg Symphony in C minor
William Walton Symphony no 1
Carl Nielsen Symphony no 1
Franz Schubert Symphony no 1
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony no 1
Robert Schumann Symphony no 1
Camille Saint-Saens Symphony no 1
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Symphony no 1
Jean Sibelius Symphony no 1
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony no 1

I am still immersed in no 1's....I will update later. But there is something wonderful about a First.

Happy Birthday Mom!

May 2, 1940. The miracle of childbirth. A baby girl is born to Leslie and Eileen Welker in Lamar, MO. Her name is Judith Elnora Welker, and she grew up to be my mom, my friend and my inspiration. I call this Blog "Classical Connections" because I love classical music. My dad was certainly a prime influence on me with respect to music, as I said in the very first post in 2014. But I have to give equal credit to my mom, for she too nurtured and shaped my musical journey and without her, music would not mean nearly as much to me as it does.
This little girl from Lamar grew up to be an extraordinary woman. She got married, worked to support my dad as he completed his academic studies, raised two children, made friends everywhere we lived...most of whom she still stays in touch with...became a great tennis player, runner, journalist, advertising executive, artist and musician....and I know I am leaving many other accomplishments out. This remarkable woman is turning 80 years old, and I know it blows her mind as much as mine, and everyone who knows her. She still walks, runs, rides her bike, works in the yard, delivers Meals on Wheels, and serves at Church, She still has a passion for learning new things, and helping others.
She is also a cancer survivor, a person of deep faith, a person who serves God, and worries more about others than herself. And she is a grandmother who has more love to give her family than the visible light of the Universe. Yes, she is that special, and I love her more than words can express. So to you mom, I say "Cheers", just as we say when we take our selfies at the Kansas City Symphony concerts we love to attend together. I look forward to the next decade and beyond of Friday morning coffee, symphony concerts, fun times with family and most of all, your boundless love, joy, and positive spirit. I love you.

The Civil War and Mozart, Perhaps on the Same Day

It may come as a surprise for many people that one of the most notable Civil War naval battles took place in France...or just off the coast of France...on June 19, 1864. The CSS Alabama had been wreaking havoc on Union shipping for years, until mid-June 1864 when it entered the harbor at Cherbourg for repairs. Word of her arrival reached US forces and the USS Kearsarge set off for Cherbourg to destroy her. The story is a great one, and it is told well in this article:

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/the-american-civil-war--1861-1865/the-battle-of-cherbourg.html

I will let you read the details for yourself, but as it relates to classical music, I couldn't help but wonder if any of the thousands of people who watched the battle from the shore would perhaps go to a concert later that same day. Paris is about 300 km from Cherbourg, a pretty easy train trip even in 1864. Assuming the battle took place in the morning...I am not sure what time it did happen...any one of the spectators could have made it back to Paris for a concert. So I looked at the June 19, 1864 edition of Le Petit, a daily newspaper in Paris. Top of the list was a 7:15 pm performance of the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart.

What a day that could have been...to witness an historic Civil War naval battle, then be back in Paris for a production of Mozart's most well loved opera.

On another artistic note, the famous French painter, Edouard Manet, painted the battle. He was not witness to it, but he used descriptions from those who did witness it to paint this that same year. The picture now resides at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Slumps are nothing.

A few weeks ago, as the global pandemic was beginning to make itself known here in the US, my son learned that his baseball career was over. He played college baseball at Missouri Western University. This was his final year of collegiate baseball. He knew this was his final season, and he had made peace with that. He is ready to graduate in May and move on with his life. But no one, least of all him, saw things ending the way they did. It was not a hit nor walk nor strikeout...a win or a loss...it was a virus that brought his career, and that of thousands of other collegiate athletes, to an abrupt end. This was the end of a journey that started many years ago, in our backyard.

A little boy learning to hit a ball. This has been repeated millions of times since the invention of baseball in the early 1800's. Fathers...mothers...sons...daughters....a bat and a ball.
Baseball is a ruthless game. It is failure with small bursts of success sprinkled in. At every level, failure is the norm. Yet it is a game that we love none-the-less. And Jack took to it immediately and never let it go. From that time to now, it has been a big part of his life. I couldn't even begin to calculate the number of swings, ground balls, fly balls, etc etc he has taken and fielded. And of course there is weight training, film study, and team building.
There is also injury, disappointment, politics, and rivalry. The little boy above had surgery on his knee in 2016 and suffered life-threatening pulmonary embolisms afterwards. All for baseball.

I too have a few baseball scars...taking line drives off my chins that I could not block coming off his bat. Getting hit hurts! But we kept going.
To say I am proud of him is an understatement. Regardless of batting average or any other baseball metric, I am most proud of his dedication, resilience, and work ethic. And his sportsmanship. He gives back to others and uses his talent to lift others up.
I remember a time when he was in a slump and looking for anything to get out of it. It is a helpless feeling for a player to go from hitting everything the pitcher throws to not being able to hit anything!
He kept at it...kept grinding and trying...and finally he connected for a home run to break the slump. He signed the ball and gave it to me.

"To Dad...slumps are nothing"

Puma's voltaic healing, Shostakovich makes me edgy and the Nature of Daylight

A couple of weeks ago, two things happened almost simultaneously that I knew I needed to write about. I got sick. I came down with a low grade fever, chills, and body ache. Earlier that same day, I was reading old newspapers and saw an advertisement circa 1888 about a belt that claimed to use voltaic electricity to heal a variety of illnesses and ailments, Electricity was a new revelation at the end of the nineteenth century and people explored the possibility that it could cure many of the diseases that inflicted many people. So later that night, as I crawled into bed and covered up in a super warm fleece blanket, Puma the cat followed me. This big blanket was covering part of my head and all my upper torso. The lights were out. Cheryl was sleeping in Ethan's room so I could have our bed to myself to try and get over this bug. I felt Puma take a stand in the middle of the blanket by my head and she started kneading her claws vigorously. She was also purring loudly. She leaned over me and her nose touched my nose. POW. A blast of static electricity cracked us. I opened my eyes. Puma kept kneading and I was treated to a laser light show of static "voltaic" electric all around this blanket. And....I kid you not....I started to feel better. This little cat somehow knew I didn't feel well. And she said, "just relax and let me take care of you old man." The sparks were green and yellow. They crackled. I fell asleep. and when I awoke, I felt better. A lot better. Coincidence? I think not. Puma's voltaic healing I say.

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My latest listening project was the 16 string quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich...1-16 in sequence. It took me four days...so four per day! It rewired my brain for sure. DS is a legit genius. Conflicted, tormented,  razor focused, yet open to exploration. comical, and dark. I noticed that Puma the cat was on edge after the first day. DS's tonality, voicing, and phrasing is world class. But it's not always so easy on the ears. It stimulates a response in the brain that triggers edginess. Unforgettable and clever. A great musical journey...highly recommended. and it requires more than one pass, so I will do this again soon.
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I landed on the music of Max Ricther last year when I wrote about his soundtrack for the movie Hostiles. Last week I heard On the Nature of Daylight for the first time on Sirius XM Radio. This comes from his album The Blue Notebooks. I almost had to pull off to the side of the road to compose myself.

Alexandre Guilmant in Kansas City 1898

On February 8, 1898, the French organist and composer, Alexandre Guilmant gave a recital in Kansas City as part of his tour of the United States. This recital took place at the Grand Avenue church. Guilmant had a long, distinguished career as a performer, composer, and teacher. He lived from 1837 to 1911.

Here is the review of his performance in Kansas City published in the February 9, 1898 Kansas City Journal:

Here too is a wonderful piece of music composed for Organ by Guilmant. Enjoy!

The Kid is Alright: Pinchas Zukerman and the KC Symphony 2.8.20

I've had the pleasure of seeing Pinchas Zukerman perform a number of times, going as far back as the mid-70's when I saw him for the first time...he was playing the violin as a soloist. But he is also a conductor, and a virtuoso violist as well. In addition to playing the "standards" of the violin-viola concerto repertoire, he has also distinguished himself as a fine chamber musician. If you watch any number of interviews and documentaries about him, what stands out to me is his love of making music WITH other people...not FOR other people. He loves being "in the band" so to speak. The spotlight of the concert stage is not what he seeks...he would rather be part of a group effort. And Saturday night, watching him perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D with the Kansas City Symphony...that's exactly how it felt. Sure, he was the star...we all came to see him play the Beethoven...but he blended into the orchestra and made it feel like a group effort, even though he was doing the heavy lifting. Beethoven's Violin Concerto was premiered in 1806, and was not well received. Imagine that...this seminal work got off to a very slow start. But tonight, everyone in Helzberg Hall probably already knows and loves this concerto. Along with Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Brahms, Beethoven is on the Mount Rushmore of violin concertos. And the concerto starts with? That's right, 4 "d's" tapped on the timpani, followed by a rather lengthy orchestral introduction...over three minutes. So rather than just standing there waiting for his entrance, Zukerman jumps in with the second violins and plays with them...a man who loves being part of the band. And when it's time for the solo violin to enter, he steps forward and takes the hand-off from Maestro Stern and off we go. My mom asked me how many times has he played this concerto in his career.. I don't know...probably hundreds...but the great thing about him, and this concert, was his eagerness to make music. He was engaged, enthusiastic and alive. How does Billy Joel manage to play Piano Man with any enthusiasm after playing it thousands of times? Not sure...but Zukerman seemed to be having fun. When he reached the cadenza of the first movement, his true genius was obvious. The woodshed had velvet walls. The technical nature of the work was visible to the eye, but the resulting music was simply beautiful to the ear. Leaning into the cadenza, he swayed, and shimmied. all under the watchful eye of Stern,who did a wonderful job keeping the balance and guiding the attacks and phrasing for everyone else. And here's what Zukerman does that many if not most violinists can't do...and this is true of singers...he can be "loud" when he plays softly. I don't know how to explain this very well...but when he plays quietly and delicately, the music does not lose its power nor force. And when he does play at full volume, it is such a great contrast to his pianissimo. There were continued smiles throughout the performance, intentional eye contact with Stern and other musicians, and an obvious love and respect of this timeless music. After making his debut as a child prodigy some sixty years ago, the kids is still alright.
There was other music this evening as well. I am a huge Janacek fan...how many of you can honestly say that? I have probably listened to his Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba a hundred times. And his piano work On an Overgrown Path is also a big favorite of mine. But I had never heard The Fiddler's Child before this week. (I listened to it in advance of the concert.) What a great work! It has the same rhythmic pulse and chordal style of Taras Bulba, and a very tasty violin solo played with great tone and taste by guest concertmaster, Joseph Meyer. I listened to it again today because I am hooked!
And speaking of hooks...musical hooks...there was also Mozart's Symphony no. 39 this evening. Once again, the KCS played Mozart with finesse, crispness and most importantly, ENERGY. It seemed like Maestro Stern and the Band were having fun. Mozart sets so many traps for you as a musician. First off, there are the repeats and sudden stops that make you hold your breath that no one will  blow through a stop sign and play in a rest. No one did. But much more importantly, as great as Mozart is, a blase', uninspired Mozart is a real drag. If you are going to do it...than DO IT. KCS brought their A-game tonight and brought Mozart to life. Cheers!