1.) Everyone should play the same piece
2.) Stop at every repeat sign and discuss in detail whether to take the repeat. The audience will love this a lot!
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 (and vice versa).
8.) If everyone gets lost except you, follow those who get lost.
9.) Strive to get the maximum NPS (notes per second). That way you gain the admiration of the incompetent.
10.) Markings for slurs, dynamics and ornaments should not be observed. They are only there to embellish the score.
11.) If a passage is difficult, slow down. If it's easy, speed 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. If you have notes left over, please play them on the way home.
17.) A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note. A wrong note played with authority is an interpretation
*disclaimer, this was not written by me*
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Informative History on the Pledge
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
When I said that did it catch your ear? You may or may not know this, but the pledge that is repeated today is not the way it was originally written by Francis Bellamy in August of 1892. What I just said a few seconds ago was the original version before several modifications were made. Something else of interest is the fact that putting our right hand over our heart was not the original way to salute the flag. All the modifications made to the pledge and salute were because of various historical influences, which I will discuss in a moment, as well as giving you a short history of the writer of the pledge. Although some people objected to the changes that were added, we still dutifully recite the pledge with the modifications in place.
Francis Bellamy was born in Rome, New York, May 18, of 1855. He died August 28, 1931.He was 37 years old when he wrote the pledge. On June 1, of 1881, Francis married Hattie Benton, throughout the course of their marriage they would have two children, both boys. Francis’s political beliefs were definitely socialistic, yet despite this he was a Baptist minister. Later in life he was dismissed from his pastoral position because of his socialism. At the time of his dismissal he went to work for one of his parishioners, David Ford, and the editor of the Youth’s Companion, the magazine that would later publish the pledge. Socialistic beliefs seem to have run in the family, as Francis’s cousin, Edward Bellamy, was a well known author at that time of the two socialistic utopian novels “Looking Backward” and “Equality”. Following in his cousins footsteps, Francis managed to get some of his own work published as well. The most well known being the pledge of allegiance, which debuted in the Youth’s Companion. The Youth’s Companion was a nationally circulated magazine for teenagers at that time. Francis wrote the pledge (as well as a speech) for a public school Columbus day program that the Youth Companion was encouraging to take place on a national level. Before Bellamy wrote the pledge, the only well known American flag recitation repeated was written by Colonel Balch in 1889. It went like this. “We give our heads and our hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one Flag." The new pledge written by Bellamy caught the eye of the public and still stirs American hearts today.
The pledge remained unchanged from its original form until 1923. At that time the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added in place of just “my flag” in an attempt to make the pledge more specific to the US. Supposedly this was so that immigrant children would not confuse the flag referenced in the pledge as the flag of their homeland country. Due to Communist concerns in 1954, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God” to rid the pledge of any potential socialistic interpretation . This final addition to the pledge produced the iconic verse that is repeated across America today: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”
One Last interesting fact to note about the history of the pledge involves the gestures. Originally the salute was made with stiff right arm, palm down, extending outward. When it was changed, the familiar hand over heart gesture was used only for the first half of the pledge. Upon reaching the second half, speakers would extend their right arms towards the flag palm down. During WWII, having no desire to resemble Nazi Germany’s salutes to Hitler, the second half salute was modified to the hand over the heart for the duration of the pledge.
Although Francis Bellamy’s granddaughter contended that he would not have approved of the changes to the pledge’s composition, her concerns went unheeded. The change that was made in the gestures while saying the pledge met with no notable resistance at all. These changes evolved the pledge into what we all know and repeat today.
When I said that did it catch your ear? You may or may not know this, but the pledge that is repeated today is not the way it was originally written by Francis Bellamy in August of 1892. What I just said a few seconds ago was the original version before several modifications were made. Something else of interest is the fact that putting our right hand over our heart was not the original way to salute the flag. All the modifications made to the pledge and salute were because of various historical influences, which I will discuss in a moment, as well as giving you a short history of the writer of the pledge. Although some people objected to the changes that were added, we still dutifully recite the pledge with the modifications in place.
Francis Bellamy was born in Rome, New York, May 18, of 1855. He died August 28, 1931.He was 37 years old when he wrote the pledge. On June 1, of 1881, Francis married Hattie Benton, throughout the course of their marriage they would have two children, both boys. Francis’s political beliefs were definitely socialistic, yet despite this he was a Baptist minister. Later in life he was dismissed from his pastoral position because of his socialism. At the time of his dismissal he went to work for one of his parishioners, David Ford, and the editor of the Youth’s Companion, the magazine that would later publish the pledge. Socialistic beliefs seem to have run in the family, as Francis’s cousin, Edward Bellamy, was a well known author at that time of the two socialistic utopian novels “Looking Backward” and “Equality”. Following in his cousins footsteps, Francis managed to get some of his own work published as well. The most well known being the pledge of allegiance, which debuted in the Youth’s Companion. The Youth’s Companion was a nationally circulated magazine for teenagers at that time. Francis wrote the pledge (as well as a speech) for a public school Columbus day program that the Youth Companion was encouraging to take place on a national level. Before Bellamy wrote the pledge, the only well known American flag recitation repeated was written by Colonel Balch in 1889. It went like this. “We give our heads and our hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one Flag." The new pledge written by Bellamy caught the eye of the public and still stirs American hearts today.
The pledge remained unchanged from its original form until 1923. At that time the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added in place of just “my flag” in an attempt to make the pledge more specific to the US. Supposedly this was so that immigrant children would not confuse the flag referenced in the pledge as the flag of their homeland country. Due to Communist concerns in 1954, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God” to rid the pledge of any potential socialistic interpretation . This final addition to the pledge produced the iconic verse that is repeated across America today: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”
One Last interesting fact to note about the history of the pledge involves the gestures. Originally the salute was made with stiff right arm, palm down, extending outward. When it was changed, the familiar hand over heart gesture was used only for the first half of the pledge. Upon reaching the second half, speakers would extend their right arms towards the flag palm down. During WWII, having no desire to resemble Nazi Germany’s salutes to Hitler, the second half salute was modified to the hand over the heart for the duration of the pledge.
Although Francis Bellamy’s granddaughter contended that he would not have approved of the changes to the pledge’s composition, her concerns went unheeded. The change that was made in the gestures while saying the pledge met with no notable resistance at all. These changes evolved the pledge into what we all know and repeat today.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Mark Schauer
True story
Mark Schauer walks into a coffee shop.
There is a young teenager working the counter
Mark Schauer: "Are you old enough to work?"
Teenager: "Not yet, next year"
Mark Schauer: "Well tell your parents I said "Hi" then"
FOR REAL?! Needless to say, said teenager said he wouldn't ever vote for Schauer if he's ever up to run in two years. And I highly doubt such treatment of their son is going to get the parents or grandparents to vote for Schauer either. Way to shoot yourself in the foot Mark, saves us the trouble.
Mark Schauer walks into a coffee shop.
There is a young teenager working the counter
Mark Schauer: "Are you old enough to work?"
Teenager: "Not yet, next year"
Mark Schauer: "Well tell your parents I said "Hi" then"
FOR REAL?! Needless to say, said teenager said he wouldn't ever vote for Schauer if he's ever up to run in two years. And I highly doubt such treatment of their son is going to get the parents or grandparents to vote for Schauer either. Way to shoot yourself in the foot Mark, saves us the trouble.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Meanderings of a Barrista
I can tell I'm a band geek when I'm working as a cashier and the cash register at work shows "$18.12" as the customer's total, and I exclaim, "Just like the 1812 overture"
"I am worthy of notice"
A man stopped by to get coffee. After taking his order I went to the end of the counter to prepare his drink. After I was done making it he said to me "My name is _____ I grew up in _____ Mi. I'm a painter, I paint landscapes. I'm going to Indiana to a museum there to sign pictures. My name is _____ that's spelled with an "E-R" on the end, look me up on the internet, look at my paintings"
Yeaaah.
"You know you have addiction problems when..."
The ultimate Punishment for your kids is being grounded from getting Biggby coffee (the kids drinks), no joke.
I know I need to drink more of the product I sell when I take the customer's frequency card, swipe it, and as I'm handing it back to them (with it still in my hand) I ask them if they have a frequency card...
You know you come across as an extreme "good girl" when your co-worker finds it hard to believe you've been called anything worse than "Numb nuts"
That's all for now! I realized I have really put anything up here aside from Theological stuff & politics, which takes care of the "Kings" part...but not cabbages or random stuff. So there we go =)
"I am worthy of notice"
A man stopped by to get coffee. After taking his order I went to the end of the counter to prepare his drink. After I was done making it he said to me "My name is _____ I grew up in _____ Mi. I'm a painter, I paint landscapes. I'm going to Indiana to a museum there to sign pictures. My name is _____ that's spelled with an "E-R" on the end, look me up on the internet, look at my paintings"
Yeaaah.
"You know you have addiction problems when..."
The ultimate Punishment for your kids is being grounded from getting Biggby coffee (the kids drinks), no joke.
I know I need to drink more of the product I sell when I take the customer's frequency card, swipe it, and as I'm handing it back to them (with it still in my hand) I ask them if they have a frequency card...
You know you come across as an extreme "good girl" when your co-worker finds it hard to believe you've been called anything worse than "Numb nuts"
That's all for now! I realized I have really put anything up here aside from Theological stuff & politics, which takes care of the "Kings" part...but not cabbages or random stuff. So there we go =)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The lose of purity in a Christians life
It's a gradual process, happens to all of us.
We can try, but we can hardly avoid it. Even Disney movies, when you are little they seem fine, you get older, and realize how much went over your head. But it was still being fed subliminally to us when little, sure maybe the outright innuendo's, but I'm talking about other messages. Messages that happen in every princess story, the girl constantly daydreaming about her princes, the kiss, the kiss that doesn't need to wait for marriage, the kiss that seals the happy ending, before life has even begun.The physical lust that is granted and makes it all alright. Radio songs blast the theme all the time "If it feels good, it must be right". Commercials encourage us to buy products that will make us seductive, showing images of seductive people to prove the point. Clothing stores display images of scantily clad woman and buffed up men with pants riding low. News stories are full of "who did who" from sport players, to politicians, to the stereo-typical Hollywood drama. Pick up a seemingly innocent magazine and accidentally read the wrong ad, you discover something you didn't know before, something now burned into your memory, a piece of information you didn't need to know, and now can never forget. Glance at a newspaper, take a walk on the beach, speed down the highway and glance at a billboard, go to the movies, turn on the radio. Unless you can live your life with your eyes and ears closed, you can't avoid being inundated with the messages of lust fulfilled =
happiness gained. You walk through life losing purity from unintentional exposure.
Back to my point on the Disney movies, adding to it any "Christian" love story.Such a little thing you say, such a little thing. It's just a kiss. If there's one thing I've learned thus far it's that sin begets sin. No, I'm not walking a slippery slope, I'm stating what should be a well known fact to all Christians. What desire is it that a kiss satisfies? What is it that we enjoy about the kiss, what is it that it satisfies that makes us think it should be okay to engage in before marriage? What does a kiss start you thinking about?
It's not just the world that expects it,forces it upon us, the tainting of the world's beauty, the questioning of an absolute. It's fellow "Christians" that believe we are "sheltered" and need to be "informed" so that we can better "witness" to people in this world. We are told that if we don't know about the sin that goes on in this world, we won't know how to help someone who comes to us struggling with a particular sin problem. We are told that there is such a thing as "Being so heavenly minded they were of no earthly good". Seemingly we are encouraged to laugh at crass jokes or innuendo's.Do we ever stand up and tell people that they need to stop having silly relationships that callus their hearts and pull their minds from Christ? Sometimes we do it to each other without realizing it, asking little 3 yr. old "Tommy" if cute "Christina" from daycare is his girlfriend.
Fellow Sisters and Brothers, why do we do this to each other? Girls why do we dress to please the men? Guys why do you chase after us with no intention of catching us when we fall? Fathers it's awkward, but teach your daughters how to dress, and your sons how to act. Love your daughters so they don't seek after the approval of another pre-maturely. Mothers can you not set an example for us? Help our fathers with our dressing, teach us how to protect our hearts.
We cannot do this on our own, protecting our purity requires the effort of the whole church, shielding each other, watching our lips. Encouraging one another to think upon wholesome things. We should be helping each other swim AGAINST the current, not with it.
We can try, but we can hardly avoid it. Even Disney movies, when you are little they seem fine, you get older, and realize how much went over your head. But it was still being fed subliminally to us when little, sure maybe the outright innuendo's, but I'm talking about other messages. Messages that happen in every princess story, the girl constantly daydreaming about her princes, the kiss, the kiss that doesn't need to wait for marriage, the kiss that seals the happy ending, before life has even begun.The physical lust that is granted and makes it all alright. Radio songs blast the theme all the time "If it feels good, it must be right". Commercials encourage us to buy products that will make us seductive, showing images of seductive people to prove the point. Clothing stores display images of scantily clad woman and buffed up men with pants riding low. News stories are full of "who did who" from sport players, to politicians, to the stereo-typical Hollywood drama. Pick up a seemingly innocent magazine and accidentally read the wrong ad, you discover something you didn't know before, something now burned into your memory, a piece of information you didn't need to know, and now can never forget. Glance at a newspaper, take a walk on the beach, speed down the highway and glance at a billboard, go to the movies, turn on the radio. Unless you can live your life with your eyes and ears closed, you can't avoid being inundated with the messages of lust fulfilled =
happiness gained. You walk through life losing purity from unintentional exposure.
Back to my point on the Disney movies, adding to it any "Christian" love story.Such a little thing you say, such a little thing. It's just a kiss. If there's one thing I've learned thus far it's that sin begets sin. No, I'm not walking a slippery slope, I'm stating what should be a well known fact to all Christians. What desire is it that a kiss satisfies? What is it that we enjoy about the kiss, what is it that it satisfies that makes us think it should be okay to engage in before marriage? What does a kiss start you thinking about?
It's not just the world that expects it,forces it upon us, the tainting of the world's beauty, the questioning of an absolute. It's fellow "Christians" that believe we are "sheltered" and need to be "informed" so that we can better "witness" to people in this world. We are told that if we don't know about the sin that goes on in this world, we won't know how to help someone who comes to us struggling with a particular sin problem. We are told that there is such a thing as "Being so heavenly minded they were of no earthly good". Seemingly we are encouraged to laugh at crass jokes or innuendo's.Do we ever stand up and tell people that they need to stop having silly relationships that callus their hearts and pull their minds from Christ? Sometimes we do it to each other without realizing it, asking little 3 yr. old "Tommy" if cute "Christina" from daycare is his girlfriend.
Fellow Sisters and Brothers, why do we do this to each other? Girls why do we dress to please the men? Guys why do you chase after us with no intention of catching us when we fall? Fathers it's awkward, but teach your daughters how to dress, and your sons how to act. Love your daughters so they don't seek after the approval of another pre-maturely. Mothers can you not set an example for us? Help our fathers with our dressing, teach us how to protect our hearts.
We cannot do this on our own, protecting our purity requires the effort of the whole church, shielding each other, watching our lips. Encouraging one another to think upon wholesome things. We should be helping each other swim AGAINST the current, not with it.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Answer to a Kuyper college essay question
“Describe your personal beliefs, experiences, and influences that have contributed to your spiritual growth.”
"I believe in the triune God manifested in the three persons of Father (as our Creator), Son (as our Redeemer), and Holy Spirit (as our sanctifier). I believe that Christ died on the cross to save His elect people; that there are some people that are made as vessels for destruction; that man is responsible for his rejection of the grace of salvation; and that God does not tempt man but each man is dragged away and enticed by his own evil desires. I believe that the purpose of every Christian's life is to give glory to God in whatever we do, that God has dominion over every area of life, and that thinking holistically as a Christian is vital and logical. I know that when Christ returns He shall gather to Himself all the saints, both living and dead, to be with Himself in eternity. In the area of eschatology I am still doing research but I am leaning in a postmillennialist direction. I believe that scripture is the inspired Word of God and should be accepted as a whole. I do not believe that the old covenant as a whole became invalid when Christ established the new covenant, rather that the new and old covenant work together in harmony."
(Libby this was posted for your sake...even though I didn't just write it...so I could say I got a post up)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Your Truth is my desire
Your love to fuel my fire
Without You I don't want to live
Help me my whole life to give
Unworthy is all I could ever be
Yet You give Your grace to me
Here I stand before Your throne
Because of Christ, called Your own
Help me to praise You great "I AM"
And honor Your son the crucified Lamb
For this purpose You saved from sin
And cleansed me of the filth within
Now to others make Your name known
and bless the seeds that have been sown
Father God, righteous King
Of Your greatness let all earth sing.
Your love to fuel my fire
Without You I don't want to live
Help me my whole life to give
Unworthy is all I could ever be
Yet You give Your grace to me
Here I stand before Your throne
Because of Christ, called Your own
Help me to praise You great "I AM"
And honor Your son the crucified Lamb
For this purpose You saved from sin
And cleansed me of the filth within
Now to others make Your name known
and bless the seeds that have been sown
Father God, righteous King
Of Your greatness let all earth sing.
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