Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Golden Rules for Ensemble Playing

(original author unknown)
1) Everyone should play the same piece.
2) Stop at every repeat sign, and discuss in detail whether to take the repeat.
3) If you play a wrong note, give a nasty look to one of your partners.
4) Keep your fingering chart handy. You can always catch up with the others.
5) Carefully tune your instrument before playing. That way, you can play out of tune all night with a clear conscience.
6) Take your time turning pages.
7) The right note at the wrong time is a wrong note.
8) If everyone gets lost except you, follow those who get lost.
9) Strive to get the maximum NPS (notes per second). This way you gain the admiration of the incompetent.
10) Markings for slurs, dynamics, and ornaments are only there to embellish the score. Ignore them.
11) If a passage is difficult, slow down. If it is easy, speed it up. Everything will work itself out in the end.
12) If you are completely lost, stop everyone and say, "I think we should tune."
13) Happy are those who have not perfect pitch, for the kingdom of music is theirs.
14) If the ensemble has to stop because of you, explain in detail why you got lost. Everyone will be very interested.
15) A true interpretation is realized when there remains not one note of the original.
16) When everyone else has finished playing, you should not play any notes you have left over. Please play those on the way home.
17) A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note. A wrong note played with authority is an interpretation.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Rastrelli Cello Quartet - Oblivion (Piazzolla)



No words necessary.

Thanksgiving Harvest

Happy Thanksgiving to all in Canada today!

We had our turkey dinner last night, but today I reaped my fall harvest.


I anticipated a heavy load on the apple tree this year, as we usually get every other year, but we had a cold spring... So even though there were a lot of blossoms, the bees weren't very busy.

I picked a couple apples last week, and these today. There are still about three on the tree which I couldn't reach, and some had already dropped to the ground. These, the main harvest, will make a few nice apple coffee cakes or something.

Monday, October 3, 2011

And another passes away...

MARGE DEVRIES (1929-2011)


Marge DeVries passed away and went to be with her Lord on Friday, September 23, 2011. She was born Margie Lou Sherman, to Carl and Alberta Sherman, on August 16, 1929 in Brooklyn, Washington.

Because her father was a locomotive engineer for a local timber company, Marge grew up in the logging camps of Southwest Washington, where she made friends that lasted a lifetime.

In the 1940's her family moved to Seattle where Marge graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1947. In 1949 she joined her parents in Oak Harbor, Washington and met Peter DeVries, a young farmer, whom she married on December 8, 1950. Together, Pete and Marge raised a family of seven children, Timothy, Mark, Ryan, Stanley, Lewis, Wallace, and Andrea. In 1966 the family moved to LaConner.

Marge went back to school to study music after the youngest of the children was in school. She earned an AA degree from Skagit Valley College, and earned two bachelor's degrees in music and education from Western Washington University. She taught choral, band, and orchestra at Whatcom Middle School and Sehome High School and taught voice at Western Washington University in Bellingham. She was the Director of Music at the First Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, and also at the First Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, CA, where she and Peter lived for a short time. After retiring from public school teaching, Marge taught at the Sylvan Learning Center in Mount Vernon, and continued to teach private voice lessons.

After her family and friends, music was the great love of Marge's life. Among her hours she gave to charities, she volunteered for many years for the Tulip Festival Committee.

Marge was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Peter, and her son Lewis.

She is survived by her children, Timothy DeVries, Mark and Adele DeVries, Ryan and Nancy DeVries, Stanley DeVries, Wally and Kenna DeVries and Andrea DeVries; her sister, Lois; as well as 6 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; many loving nieces and nephews; and many, many friends.

A memorial service to celebrate Marge's life will be held at the Kern Funeral Home in Mount Vernon, on Monday, October 3, 2011, at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to Hospice Northwest, in Marge's name.
Published in Skagit Valley Herald Publishing Company on September 28, 2011