...The Rest of the Story

As Paul Harvey used to say.....
I went hunting online for another piece of band music, a piece that Thomas played in eighth grade for All-District Middle School Honor Band entitled "Salvation is Created" by Pavel Chesnikov. Short, but very dramatic in tone color and dynamics. The title and author immediately suggested Orthodox Church music to me. Pavel's biography had more drama than I could imagine...

Chesnokov was a composer and choirmaster. "Salvation is Created" is a communion hymn specifically for a liturgy celebrated on Thursday. This was the last choral music he wrote for the Church before Communism shut down churches. According to Wikipedia, he never heard it performed publicly - but it escaped to the west. Chesnokov continued composing secular works and teaching choral conducting until Stalin coveted the ground of Christ the Savior cathedral in Moscow and blew up the church. Chesnokov, in disgust, never composed anything again, because he had been the cathedral's last choirmaster.

As for the site, it proved too swampy to support Stalin's world congress of soviets and was covered with a public swimming pool. After communism fell, the people of Moscow rebuilt the cathedral. Vindication.

Americans and Western Europeans seem to think they do a vocal piece honor by arranging it for instruments. This is contrary to Eastern church tradition, which maintains that the best sound to praise God is the one He gave men, the human voice. But... one can listen to the band arrangement (choose "Salvation is Created") and judge its merits against the choir arrangement.

I must admit guilt to co-opting this music. Thomas would practice his trumpet and forget his English or history. So when I'd ask him while driving to school in the morning if he were finished with homework, and he'd answer "no", I'd sing, "Thou art roa-sted, thou-ou-ou-ou art roa-sted" to the first line. After a couple rounds of "Mom, Dad would roast you for singing church music with other words," Thomas figured it was easier to do the homework to shut me up. Mom Power.

Oops (3/1) - forgot the pdf sheet music for anyone who'd like to see it, courtesy ChoralWiki. Daniel, Thomas, anyone?

What kind of town is this anyway?? Bus fires

Last Sunday night, 7 school buses were burned at North Brandywine Middle School, north of Coatesville and across the road, west side, from Brandywine Hospital. To whoever thought that was such a smart idea, maybe that they would get out of school:

Ain't gonna happen.

Those buses weren't the property of Coatesville area school district. They were owned by Krapf Bus, which serves nearly the entire county. There are a lot more buses where those came from. So give up.

The two kids being held for torching houses were in jail when this happened, and still are there. Pyromaniacs, seek therapy!! People who are not in the habit of praying are losing sleep over you.

California budget crisis

If the legislature or Govuhnuh Ahhnold messes with the pension funds:

We're toast.

To any Saddleback College employees contemplating early retirement: Either have that new job with benefits in hand, or hang in there until you're 60. Paying COBRA will eat 1/3 of your pension. At 60 Saddleback pays your health insurance. Why else would I be retraining at 55??

SECOND ARREST IN ARSONS

Last night on the 11pm news they announced the arrest of a 20-year-old male who was a friend of the first person arrested. See all the links in the previous post. This person had a record, and it was sad to see the parents of the 19-year-old denying their son could do such a thing and blaming it on the 20-year-old. Is the truth somewhere in between?

Bob and my girls also noted that the 19-year-old's mother bore a passing resemblance to my sister Deb. Sorry, folks, she's in Michigan, and all her kids are over 25.

ARREST MADE IN COATESVILLE ARSON SPREE

I heard about it as I was leaving MS Word review class today from an instructor who also lives in Coatesville. Check the (Chester County) Daily Local News and the Philadelphia Inquirer for details. Also video from WPVI channel 6 Philadelphia.

Sheesh! A kid, the same age as my youngest? Lord have mercy. Bail is set at 9 MILLION dollars. He's not going anywhere.

First Week of Computer School

Last Tuesday was my first day at Full Circle Computing. My counselor, Brian, had said that state-funded training would rather do business with trade schools than community colleges. One, to avoid federal paperwork, for example FAFSA; and two, to fit into budget constraints, only a $4500 grant is given.

When I had taken Windows 98 at Saddleback (Community) College 10 years ago, different conditions applied. The class was held in a lecture room holding 100 people. The instructor projected the moves on a screen behind her. Bob and I shared a book-and since he was getting his class paid for by his employer (the same Saddleback College), he felt the book was college property and did not write in it, bring it home often, willingly share it, and left it in his office after the class was over. (This caused me to beg, plead, whine, and cross-examine Thomas a lot, since these things seem to come naturally to him.) And finally, I (we) had to sign up for computer lab time. A lot of the lecture flushed out of my brain with all the cooking, dishes, and homework help in the intervening time, and there were 4 proctors for a big room of 50 or more people. I believe I owe more to my son for knowing how to operate Windows.

Now at Full Circle, the lecture room IS the lab. My first day was in a room with 7 computers in it. Only one other student was in my room for the day! I had also wondered if I would be the oldest student in the place - maybe, but my instructor admitted to having 4 children 20 - 28 and being a neighbor of one of Bob's cousins. She had the rearmost setup, linked to a big monitor in the front. As she pulled up start, clicked buttons, dropped down menus, etc. she could see what we were doing and could individually guide us. Each course has its own book, written by the staff, in which we are free to write and highlight - they even throw in the highlighter.

And they spend the full day immersed in a course. Tuesday was Intro To PC; Wednesday was Intro to Word 2007; and Friday was Word 2007 Intermediate. i only have 2 gripes: one, is that my bum leg is acting up; and two, is that Word 2007 totally revamped its user interface and I can't practice with Word 2004 at home!!!!!

More band craziness

Dimitri Shostakovich, Festive Overture, Opus 96 All my WHS band classmates have this number permanently tattooed on their brains - unless stroke has caught up to them. M. Frang wanted to score big with this against the bigger Muskegon schools, and all that happened is we beat Montague, the archrival across the river. The Montague director, Mr. Flahive, said our lead trumpet in '69 sounded like brushing with Vote toothpaste (geez, does that admission age me). So when we returned from area band/orchestra festival, that lead trumpet, son of the Methodist minister, wrote an endorsement for Vote toothpaste all over the bandroom blackboard.

In 1975 the San Diego classical radio station played this to mark Shostakovich's death. Boy did we have some phrases wrong.

I took a music appreciation course at Saddleback College back when I only had one kid, and wrote a compare and contrast essay on this piece and Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture. Scored an A.

Later I taped the LP that WHS Band cut in order to play the opening fanfare (repetitiously, if necessary) to blow my teenage son out of bed.

About 2000 I was substituting at Mission Viejo High School and examined the teacher's CD collection in a free period. I literally screamed when I saw the contents of one: The Eastman Wind Orchestra conducted by Donald Hunsburger, featuring Opus you-know-what. Hunsburger was the arranger who transcribed the work for bands. Of course I went out and bought it!

Last, but not least, while hunting for links I came upon this commentary/program notes. Everyone at whom Mr. Frang threw a baton should read this. After all that miserable practice someone should get a good belly laugh!!
PS. Always thought as much. I had suggested it in my essay.

Fire in Coatesville, take 3 (for me)

Scuttlebutt in the comments under the Daily Local News article on last Tuesday's fire suggested they might have a 'person of interest' under interrogation. A more concrete finding is the shoeprint taken from my neighbor's back yard.

However, more 'persons of interest' need to be tipped on and taken in: another fire last Friday destroyed a mobile home in East Fallowfield township on the south edge of South Coatesville. No injuries, thank God.

I talked to my neighbor today and confirmed two things: one, that someone was sleeping in the back room when it was torched, her ex-husband. They have a truce concerning his visits to the Coatesville VA hospital when he's sick, so he can stay in town. There are no motels close by. And two, I must have been the first one to call in the fire. She said I had her address off by two digits, and I labeled its flash point the back porch when it was the back wall. Hey, I was looking off my back porch into the smoke.

Thank you, Lord, That they are alive, safe, and still have the house.

Wednesday Bob shoveled the walk on the north side of the house....and noticed prints going as far as the doghouse for the cats on the back porch, and returning the way they came. Was it the pyromaniac? Did he/she see the neighbor's yard light? Think the 'cat'house contained a dog? Notice the light was on in the kitchen?

Or be repulsed by the hands of the guardian angel? We could use Gen. Archangel Frightful Michael on this watch.

Some Good News

Last night around 8 pm, I got a phone call. My sister Grace was calling.....from her home. Sprung from the Big House!!

After seeing the kind of treatment his mom was getting in OK City, my nephew Aaron decided he could cover the basic care if the physical therapist could come to the house. SOMEBODY agreed. So Grace is confined to the sofa - but her boys are happy to see her.

Never mind getting food that a hospital/institution won't give you!

Let's try again on the Alla Barocco link

In case I didn't get the title to be a hot button, try this for Alla Barocco. When you get there, scroll down to Alla Barocco and choose the right play button: gray for lo-fi, black and green for broadband. I finally looked in blogger 'help'.

Tom was kind enough to create a file to place in our iTunes, and I can forward it if anyone would like a copy. Playing this, the Star-Spangled Banner, and our fight song (plagiarized Notre Dame Victory March) was the cost of getting into the school basketball games for free.

OK Nikki or Daniel, how do I link in jpegs?

Sundays on the Phone with Mom

My experiences in 3 months of rehab in the Payson (AZ) Care Center taught me a lot about accepting things I can't change. Things like not being free from pain, being able to move my body freely, being able to move about the building, being in a place with no family or friends whatsoever, or being able to leave that prison. I learned to adapt. When I got placed on a commode without being sure my call lights were in reach, I did'nt howl 'help me' like some residents would, because I knew the nurses and aides had become hardened to it. So: (tune: Camptown Races)

"I can't reach my call lights here, scuba, poobah,
I can't reach my call lights here, oh scuba day.
One's stuck in the can, (In the bathroom which I could not yet move myself into)
One's stuck on the left,
The third one's stuck in the middle of my bed,
Somebody help me please!"

After three repetitions help came. "Susan, you're fun-nee" said the aide. The nurses would ask me for prayer if it looked like a hard day was coming up. The only grouch I had in the room was the night nurse with the 2am bedpan, and once physical therapy proved to her that I could get out of bed without falling her mood improved immensely.

I was shocked when my mom got caught in the 'automatic' door at the Whitehall Shell/A&W/Long John Silver's and it broke her pelvis. Didn't she carry enough weight to cushion the blow? or to have her bones built up to avoid osteoporosis? This was the beginning of the end of her independent living - at age 70. She's in a wheelchair, walking hurts her back.

"Mom, it just kills me that you have to be in a home," I'd tell her. "Your mind is still there." Since I was in California, my youngest sister did the actual placement, and I'm sure she feels worse for having had to be the one to do it.

I used to feel bad about calling her - until I'd walked a mile in her shoes in Payson. I lived for calls from my kids and was overjoyed when they got up the gas money to visit - Twice. Now I make a point about calling every Sunday, and if I miss, make an extra call. She says some weeks that I'm her only "visitor".

Since my middle sister in Oklahoma fell and got lumbar fractures, she has been in rehab in Oklahoma City since August. None of her immediate family can drive from Lawton, so she's up there alone. I swipe my daughter's cell phone and set up a 3-way call. Grace is harder to get to - bedridden - so she gets a cordless phone from the nurses' station. Then I call Mom, who usually gets a push to a phone in the hall. Mom asks about the weather, the usual how's the grandkids questions, and then sits back and listens to Grace and I go at it. Mom wishes the phone had 4-way so we could include sister Deb, niece Brandy, or even Great-great-aunt Capitola, who is 105, lives with a 65-year-old granddaughter, and has cheated the nursing home twice. "Nurses in homes are so busy, Aunt Tola, that you probably get better care from Carol."

Mom and Grace got extra calls on Wednesday about the fire. Take no chances having them fret about the national news.

Lord, You sure are teaching us patience with these (medical) high-maintenance bodies!!!

Fire in Coatesville, epilogue

I was interviewed by the Coatesville police, fire marshals, and PA state troopers. No news people, however. The only thing totally destroyed in the fire was a waist-high Rubbermaid storage shed and its contents. The occupants' peace of mind, however, is another story.

News video is available for the websites of the local tv stations: KYW - 3, CBS; WPVI - 6. ABC; WCAU - 10, NBC; WXTF - 29, FOX. When the camera looks straight at the fire damage, look to your right beyond the white house next door to the brick house and the yard above the 4' stone wall. That's our back yard, between the stone wall and the wooden fence.

Also news on CNN and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Inquirer site says a disabled relative was sleeping in the back room where the fire started. Bleep! I'm glad I was fast on the dial thumb.

OOPS

How DO I get that link to become active? An alternative is to Google "Alla Barocco" and select "shan1975's soundclick station", which is how I found the mp3 file.

For all Band alumni, esp. Whitehall

There is a link to an excellent MP3 of "Alla Barocco" by Giannini at this site: http://www.soundclick.com/members/default.cfm?member=shan1975&content=station&id=403184
Choose Alla Barocco by Goose Creek Bands from the page.

The title means "in baroque style", but the composer put the subtitle Folk-Rock under it. Our band would play it to warm up the crowd before basketball games and between the halves. It made a great alternative to the marches, show tunes, and baaaaaad arrangement of "Sweet Georgia Brown". (It was bad because it had been simplified too much. People kept trying to swing the rhythm like the famous whistling rendition for the Harlem Globetrotters. Mr. Frang, the teacher, kept throwing fits at us.)

One cup of lemonade, in an economy that's been throwing lemons. I think I ought to find a recording of The Boss' "Glory Days" to go with it.

There was another fire in Coatesville last night:

Too close for comfort!!!!!!

Last night, around 9:30, two of my girls were in the kitchen and one was in the dining room on the computer. (The phone jack is in the dining room.) I was watching TV in the living room waiting for the timer to go off for the loaf of bread in the oven.

The younger 2 smelled smoke, and thought the bread was burning. The older one looked out the back door, saw the flames, and shouted “There’s a fire!” The girls handed me the phone to call 9 1 1, because they figured I'd get the address right. I dialed on the run and saw the flames for myself. As it was, I heard the sirens from the nearest firehouse before the dispatcher finished getting information from me.

The first fire engine arrived just as I hung up the phone. I think a cop was just ahead of it, because someone with a male voice was blasting the flames with an extinguisher.

This was not a vacant house. There were people inside watching TV, who knew nothing until a neighbor across the street knocked on their door. The vacant house between my house and the torched house was unaffected.

Police, fire, ATF, and news agents were running all over the neighborhood between houses. The police and fire marshal took statements from my daughters and me. Chester Avenue was blocked off all the way from Oak Street to Lincoln Highway, its whole length. My girls said the fire engines in front of the house and behind it were there past 1 am.

Now there is an ABC channel 6 newsvan in the alley and plenty of lookie-loos going by.

Someday soon this psycho is going to trip up, I pray.