One of my businesses, The Spa on Green Street, sponsored the Gainesville Symphony's Christmas Concert in years' past and the ad we designed for the program played off the musical theme with the phrase "The rests are as important as the notes..." I hadn't given that ad much thought lately, but I was getting a …
Tag: music
Variations on the Theme
"Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the well-known air through innumerable variations." - Ralph Waldo Emerson I heard Halvorsen's adaptation of Handel's Passacaglia for violin and viola at the North Georgia Chamber Music Festival last evening and the viola at a certain point introduces a four measure …
The World of Tone
Schopenhauer attributed to music the power to directly portray the very essence of the cosmos. I didn't quite know what he meant until yesterday evening, when my son brought home his first violin and I my first cello. Several of my family were over for dinner and we entered at the end of the meal. …
The Mind of the Student
Yesterday's post on mating mosquitos got me thinking about the learning process. I've often thought that learning was akin to sex in that the acquisition of knowledge occurs through a rhythmic interplay of the student and the unknown. There is, borrowing from the mating habits of mosquitos, a harmonic convergence where the mind of the …
Decorating Silence – The Power of Sound!
A friend sent me a fascinating link to a captivating TED talk given by Julian Treasure, chair of the Sound Agency, a firm that advises businesses on how to use sound. Just seven minutes long, the talk is sure to revitalize the way you relate to sound. Here it is: My sons never cease to …
Discovering you.
I would like to share one of my favorite banjo performances with you this morning. Bela Fleck, often called the premier banjo player in the world, demonstrates the remarkable range of this delightful instrument in his performance of Bach's Violin Partita 3. Turn up your speakers or don your headphones and sit back and enjoy: …
A Breath of Fresh Air
A friend and I were walking around Mackinac Island in northern Michigan yesterday morning and we both noticed something worth repeating. The island, if you've never been, is free of motor vehicles. To move about the island you have three choices: (1) walk, (2) bicycle and (3) horse drawn carriage. It is a piece of heaven, geographically …
Brevity is the Soul of Wit
Mastery in any activity is revealed when the doer makes the action seem effortless. I have seen mastery revealed in many areas of human activity - in the kitchen, on the sports field, in the theater, in the classroom - and the signature qualities of one who has mastered his art are grace and poise. …
Natalie Merchant sings life into old poems
Natalie Merchant's singing career spans nearly three decades. Whether you remember her from the 10,000 Maniacs or from her solo work, you will likely enjoy Merchant's new album, Leave Your Sleep, a fascinating and diverse collection of poems set to music in true Merchant's unique creative style. The album is an examination of life, centering on the themes of motherhood …
Bobby McFerrin, Oprah and the Music of Life
A friend of mine once told me that he sometimes listens to a complex piece of classical music 10 or 15 times before he has enough of the "strings" to make it all the way through without being distracted. Isn't that a wonderful way to put it? I certainly thought so. Music tells a story, whether in actual words or simply in feeling content, and the stories help to condition our understanding of the world around us. In fact, it helps us to understand ourselves.
Gregory Hake 