I was excited to see in the news last week that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir pulled off a flash mob activity. I love the concept of surprising people with good things. Life gives us way too many unhappy surprises, even without the influence of other people. The Tabernacle Choir is currently touring the Eastern seaboard. I missed my chance to see them this year (due to lack of liquidity). But how cool would that have been to be a tourist at Colonial Williamsburg when 300 members of your co-audience break out into song?
I hope a more polished video of this comes out. Part of the fun of watching a flash mob event is to see the reactions of the non-participants. For those of you not familiar with the flash mob phenomena I am including a post of one of my favorite flash mob videos below.
In other news, reader Ver shared with me a story of some singing Babushkas from Russia. Talk about your old lady band. The members in this group are in their 70's and 80's. It is nice to know that through all their hardships they have turned to music to lighten their load.
NPR's article on the singing Babushkas can be found here.
If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful. D&C 136:28-29
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Hot, Hot, Hot
St. George is HOT, HOT, HOT. So hot we held our last practice in Leeds which is cool, cool, cool -- and not just because of the temperature. I wish I had taken some pictures of the Old CCC Camp or the goats and the chickens. But I did get a couple videos of our practice.
A really easy song to teach beginning instrumentalists is America's "Horse With No Name." Like Jambalaya, it only has two chords. Unlike Jambalaya, however, the chords are incredibly easy on a variety of instruments. I've taught it to a lot of kids, mostly because it is an easy chord progression and lends it self well as a song where kids can focus on strumming over notes. But in the end, it is also a song I like to sing.
For those of you interested in trying it yourself, here are the tabs for ukulele and guitar. And if you scroll down a little bit further you can hear the Phretted Phillies' rendition. P.S. look how cute Jenna's pony tail looks all sketchy like.
Horse With No Name
We also worked on another one of my favorites "Spirit in the Sky". I get to play bass on that one which makes me look like I can play a bunch of different instruments, but most of the time I say, "Jenna, show me which notes to play." One thing about the bass, it makes you feel "cool" just playing it. I'm hoping to get a recording of Becky playing bass on "Last Kiss" (It has a much more difficult bass line)
I was going to leave with some cool jazz from Joe and Cameron -- just to keep us, you know cool -- but then I remembered it is Father's Day. I imagine Macey misses Father's Day here 'cause he won't get a Father's Day Primary gift from Naji. Naji totally gave his candy bar gift to Joe. I asked Naji if Joe was his new "Daddy." He said, "Yes, but only 'cause Sam is vegan and doesn't eat [milk] chocolate." Ah...it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a dad, Sam.
In honor of Father's Day, I leave you with Macey singing a cover of Bad Religion's "Sorrow."
A really easy song to teach beginning instrumentalists is America's "Horse With No Name." Like Jambalaya, it only has two chords. Unlike Jambalaya, however, the chords are incredibly easy on a variety of instruments. I've taught it to a lot of kids, mostly because it is an easy chord progression and lends it self well as a song where kids can focus on strumming over notes. But in the end, it is also a song I like to sing.
For those of you interested in trying it yourself, here are the tabs for ukulele and guitar. And if you scroll down a little bit further you can hear the Phretted Phillies' rendition. P.S. look how cute Jenna's pony tail looks all sketchy like.
Horse With No Name
We also worked on another one of my favorites "Spirit in the Sky". I get to play bass on that one which makes me look like I can play a bunch of different instruments, but most of the time I say, "Jenna, show me which notes to play." One thing about the bass, it makes you feel "cool" just playing it. I'm hoping to get a recording of Becky playing bass on "Last Kiss" (It has a much more difficult bass line)
I was going to leave with some cool jazz from Joe and Cameron -- just to keep us, you know cool -- but then I remembered it is Father's Day. I imagine Macey misses Father's Day here 'cause he won't get a Father's Day Primary gift from Naji. Naji totally gave his candy bar gift to Joe. I asked Naji if Joe was his new "Daddy." He said, "Yes, but only 'cause Sam is vegan and doesn't eat [milk] chocolate." Ah...it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a dad, Sam.
In honor of Father's Day, I leave you with Macey singing a cover of Bad Religion's "Sorrow."
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Good Morning Friday -- I hope you are good and awake!
The discussion on the anti-folk movement continues -- because the anti-folk movement is really about taking music back and embracing what the Smithsonian refers to as "folklife". Somewhere deep inside all of us lies our cultural memories and the sounds that touch our hearts.
I am thinking about you, NORWEGIA! Yes I know I've never been. But people I know have and are and were. There's a part of my heritagible soul that sours whenever I hear my favorite Norwegian Band -- So this one goes out to Barbara who has part of herself in Norway as well.
And since we're in Europe, lets swing by France for some good ol' French pop. After you are done checking out the great instrumentation, try to clap along. Me and the kids spent hours (I mean days) doing this -- which may explain why Judea is hobbling around on one lung.
Back to anti-folk, here is another one of my favorites -- sung by Macey
That was filmed at his "Not Farewell" house show -- but for those of you who want to see some good ol' Utah culture, here's another favorite :)
One of the nice things about this blog is that it gives me a reason to post videos on YouTube and I've created a pretty substantial playlist by now. It is comforting to me as I work and study to listen to my family and friend sing the soundtrack of our lives.
I am thinking about you, NORWEGIA! Yes I know I've never been. But people I know have and are and were. There's a part of my heritagible soul that sours whenever I hear my favorite Norwegian Band -- So this one goes out to Barbara who has part of herself in Norway as well.
And since we're in Europe, lets swing by France for some good ol' French pop. After you are done checking out the great instrumentation, try to clap along. Me and the kids spent hours (I mean days) doing this -- which may explain why Judea is hobbling around on one lung.
Back to anti-folk, here is another one of my favorites -- sung by Macey
That was filmed at his "Not Farewell" house show -- but for those of you who want to see some good ol' Utah culture, here's another favorite :)
One of the nice things about this blog is that it gives me a reason to post videos on YouTube and I've created a pretty substantial playlist by now. It is comforting to me as I work and study to listen to my family and friend sing the soundtrack of our lives.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
You are Braver and Stronger - The Anti-Folk Movement
Mainstream. It is a word I have been hearing a lot of lately. According to the media -- the tempered acceptance of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman as presidential candidates indicates that "mormonism" is now mainstream. The adoption of the ukulele into Top 40 hits like Train's "Soul Sister" indicates that the ukulele is now mainstream. And yet on both accounts, I bristle to the term "mainstream" -- even though in this case I think "mainstream" is intended to denote "acceptance".
Acceptance. I suppose that's a good place to be, but I would still like to believe that I do what I do because it is what I want to do and not because it is acceptable in the eyes of the world. I believe whole-heartedly in freedom of expression. Music, for me, springs forth as a way to express my spirituality. Religion and music, for me, are intertwined. This grass-roots movement of freedom of expression is what fuels anti-folk.
Anti-folk. This is the type of music that circumvents convention and allows for all types of voices and expression and instrumentation as long as it is down to earth and "real". (Isn't "real" the concept that art chases round the world and through the centuries?) As I have been spending some time tabbing out some anti-folk songs, I thought I would share some tabs and videos that fall into that genre.
First off is a song by Madeleine Ava. The Ol' lady band (the Fretted Phillies) are working on this one.
Cheer Up Buttercup
Madeline Ava also wrote this little song we made a video for back when I worked in primary education :)
Another anti-folk song we made with in the Media Literacy Lab is Kimya Dawson's Tree Hugger.
As you can see, the anti-folk movement asserts that everyone can sing and make music. And I like that. I like when social norms don't hold us back from doing and making and creating and finding our own joie-de-vie!
I'm going to leave you with an anti-folk remake of an old folk standard (We'll talk more about melodicas in the blogs to come).
Acceptance. I suppose that's a good place to be, but I would still like to believe that I do what I do because it is what I want to do and not because it is acceptable in the eyes of the world. I believe whole-heartedly in freedom of expression. Music, for me, springs forth as a way to express my spirituality. Religion and music, for me, are intertwined. This grass-roots movement of freedom of expression is what fuels anti-folk.
Anti-folk. This is the type of music that circumvents convention and allows for all types of voices and expression and instrumentation as long as it is down to earth and "real". (Isn't "real" the concept that art chases round the world and through the centuries?) As I have been spending some time tabbing out some anti-folk songs, I thought I would share some tabs and videos that fall into that genre.
First off is a song by Madeleine Ava. The Ol' lady band (the Fretted Phillies) are working on this one.
Cheer Up Buttercup
Madeline Ava also wrote this little song we made a video for back when I worked in primary education :)
Another anti-folk song we made with in the Media Literacy Lab is Kimya Dawson's Tree Hugger.
As you can see, the anti-folk movement asserts that everyone can sing and make music. And I like that. I like when social norms don't hold us back from doing and making and creating and finding our own joie-de-vie!
I'm going to leave you with an anti-folk remake of an old folk standard (We'll talk more about melodicas in the blogs to come).
Monday, May 30, 2011
Making the Most of the Three Day Weekend
Ok. I did Sam's grosso dishes. The ones he was supposed to do before he left for Montana. But -- and here's the big butt -- Bobo was supposed to help me make a music video since I did the dishes. MIII has been asking for more Bobo footage -- and I thought we'd get a cute little video together before he emailed home -- cause that's when he gets the chance to check out the ol' blog page.
But no. Just as I predicted, because Bobo was so joyous and helpful yesterday, there was nothing left but blah for today. So, because I am an adult -- and I have too much going on in my brain to ever get "bored", I decided to try my hand at another song.
I did cheat a little, cause I went through my (not-emo) poem book and chose one of my poems that I like and that nobody else seems too. This little "never wins an award poem" is apparently more meaningful to me than to readers.
I keep trying to capture the time I had three little babies who were trying to tell me we were about to drive through a rainbow, and before I could finish telling them the science behind why we will never be able to drive through a rainbow, we drove through the rainbow. And, cool, it was all sparkly and stuff. (Oh, yes. A couple of my kids have been know-it-alls since they were toddlers. Luckily I don't need to be eaten by pandas before I believe them.)
I really had to rework the poem before it fit as a lyric. The original poem is as follows.
Here is the video of the song. They lyrics and chords follow.
Rainbows
But no. Just as I predicted, because Bobo was so joyous and helpful yesterday, there was nothing left but blah for today. So, because I am an adult -- and I have too much going on in my brain to ever get "bored", I decided to try my hand at another song.
I did cheat a little, cause I went through my (not-emo) poem book and chose one of my poems that I like and that nobody else seems too. This little "never wins an award poem" is apparently more meaningful to me than to readers.
I keep trying to capture the time I had three little babies who were trying to tell me we were about to drive through a rainbow, and before I could finish telling them the science behind why we will never be able to drive through a rainbow, we drove through the rainbow. And, cool, it was all sparkly and stuff. (Oh, yes. A couple of my kids have been know-it-alls since they were toddlers. Luckily I don't need to be eaten by pandas before I believe them.)
I really had to rework the poem before it fit as a lyric. The original poem is as follows.
The Way a Rainbow Moves
The way a rainbow moves
From place to place,
More logic than magic
Light refracts into space.
Three kids in a car
Believe we can drive right through
A rainbow of light fragile, sparkling, and new.
A belief so innocent and pure that magic overcomes logic,
And we do.
Here is the video of the song. They lyrics and chords follow.
Rainbows
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
JoJo Graduates!
He spent three wonderful years at Pine View High School wowing us with both his scientific and musical creations. (I now have a working catapult in my backyard -- thank you physics)
I think he surprised himself. This was not an easy road for him to travel.
And it was with a little sadness that we listened to the PVHS Band play "Pomp and Circumstance" without him. Guess what -- the band played on!
And now his steady second chair will finally get the chance to become first chair.
And we got one more chance to hear Joseph perform at a high school event.
As a side note, Reader MIII has indicated that he has already seen "bunches" of Joe and he would like to see more BoBo. I aim to please -- so here is a parting shot (or two)
Monday, May 23, 2011
What were you doing in the 7th Grade?
I could play the piano. Obviously, I could play the piano. I'm pretty sure I was playing the organ in church (under my mother's watchful -- very birdlike eye). But could I get up in front of the whole student body and sing -- just me and my little ukulele? I don't recall being that brave.
Bobo, on the other hand, is brave. She paints a smile on her face and nobody would ever think that she had worries or has nerves or doubts or lack of support. I sure hope she was singing this song to me -- cause I'd like to be her favorite -- her favorite mom!
Love you Bobo!
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