Summer's Soundtrack

Okay, today is the third consecutive gorgeous day of the Spring. It's so warm, sunny, and green out there. I have transitioned from resigned furry boots to tentative flip flops to joyous bare feet. Friends, Summer's back!

And of course there's music to compliment this utterly delightful change. Here's a *very small* sampling of my favorite summer tracks. . . .

Chopin is my hero. Currently, this is my favorite prelude of his.



Why, yes, I selected the video that features a b&w photo of a very solemn composer. :) Rimsky-Korsakov is so good for reading with. I love the adventure his music is infused with.



Okay. If Chopin is my hero, Debussy is my inspiration. Clair de Lune is special to me. I love playing it, listening to it....everything. I love its flawless key changes and fluid chords. I should stop gushing.
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So those are my classical tracks. Other favorites that are perfect for golden summer evenings . . .


Ahh...I was introduced to this duo last summer and have enjoyed them since. I love listening to this piece on bright afternoons. And any other time of day. :)


I saved the best for last! This is the song that puts my summer ideals to music. I. love. George. Winston.
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There are so many other songs that I love for this time of year. What do you listen to in the summer?

Music for when

Music is so incredible! It has the ability to influence a person's mood in a big way. I am constantly listening to it, but I am very picky about what I am listening to at a certain time. I went through my CD stash and here is the list I came up with:

Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Vivaldi, Copeland- I am a classical music junkie! Sure, some of it may be 'boring', but it's all really pretty if you listen. Whenever I encounter someone who screams at the mention of classical, I direct them to The Four Seasons and put their name on my convert list. Just kidding about that last part. :) But anyway, now that you know that I love classical, I will tell you when I like it best. It's very good for school, especially Bach. The last four guys are really good for reading to. Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherzade is adventure in musical form. A good semi-classical composer is John Rutter. His Requiem is wonderful.

Celtic Woman- This is good all-purpose music. I clean my room to it, as it's fun to sing along with, I do school to it, as it's interesting enough to take my mind off the insanely boring subject I am doing, yet I can still concentrate. The best part of these Irish ladies is their variety- they do old folk tunes to movie music , and they make it all sound good!

Phil Keaggy- Here is someone who is a bit more obscure. He's a guitarist that has been recording since the 80's. His music is so relaxing and beautiful- this is one of those CD's I have to be careful I don't over-listen to and tire of! I listen to it when I am tired and don't want to sleep quite yet, among other times.

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas- This is the best pairing of musician's ever. Alasdair Fraser can fiddle like a banshee and Natalie Haas can back him up with the coolest cello techniques. The music is modern yet classic and completely amazing. Truly.

Enya- Where do I begin? "Enya makes good music" is a shameful understatement. I am somewhat new to the ranks of Enya fans, but I am already devoted. Her music has a wide range, bur ethereal is the dominating theme. And there's so much of it! She has been around for a long time and has recorded enough to keep me happy for a long time! I listen to Enya at lot of various times, but writing is my favorite time to. I can even give her lovely song Only Time some credit for helping me out a most annoyingly severe writers block. :)

Movie soundtracks- Haha, these are great! The ones I have been listening to lately are The Fellowship of the Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom of the Opera, and The War: A Ken Burns Film. I write mostly write when I listen to them, except Phantom; it's too dramatic. :) It's another very good school CD, though! Fellowship is my favorite. This is kind of funny:

Last night, I was writing with this music in the background. I hadn't meant to listen to it at that point; my sister just wanted music and I was not going to listen to Phantom of the Opera at 10 PM! I started writing unexpectedly, but I was very glad to, so if course I kept at it. Well, I got to a part in the piece I was working on and the weirdest thing happened. The emotions the current song was conveying was exactly what was going on in my story! And it wasn't the music affecting me- I had things already planned out in my head before the music came. It was really cool. :)

George Winston- More writing music! This is my favorite stuff to write to. George Winston's piano solo's are very... feeling. Sad, a lot of the time. It's easy to get depressed if you listen to him too much, but in rationed amounts it's simply beautiful.

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Well there you have it! That's my music, or most of it. :) What's yours?

Oh, and a big thank you to Nela, my newest follower!

~Margaret Rowena

Have you voted on my poll yet? I would love it if you would!

What's up?

My brother left for his freshmen year of college a couple weeks ago. I was watching him pack up the car on the morning of departure. He lifted into the car a bin full of assorted essentials that used to be filled with toys- building blocks, to be exact. The tag was still on it. He ripped it off saying, "Well, I won't need this anymore." A few minutes later, I hugged him hard and watched him drive away.

That really struck me- the tag you see above had been on that Rubbermaid that held our childhood toys for a long over a decade. Now the bin is filled with the stuff someone needs for life in a college dorm room, not passing the playtime hours. Things really can change.
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Credit

Being the dedicated (yeah right!) fan that I am, it took me a few months after its release to get Celtic Woman's newest CD! But I did get it, and I think it's fantastic. If you are not familiar with these singers, I will say that their performance style is not exactly my favorite (big and showy), but the music is wonderful. I was amazed at how much Celtic Woman has changed since their original CD from 2004; Chloe especially, but I still like her a lot. And I am delighted with Lynn and Alex, the two girls that I hadn't 'met' until this week.
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Check this out: my roommate [sister] and I got new coverlets! Simple pleasures, right? :)

The tree one is mine. I love trees! Sister has one with colorful hills on it. She loves it, as you can see below:
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I turned fifteen! My birthday was very nice, thanks to my wonderful family.

Aren't pictures that are so obviously taken my the subject great? :)

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Okay, I have caught IBS (Insecure Blogger Syndrome) and have a request to make of you: I would love it if you could tell me your opinion of this blog, and suggestions for it if you have any. I have allowed anonymous comments if you don't want me to know who you are, but you can still be as nice as normal when you comment. I also have a poll up, so please vote.
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Thanks so very much!
~Margaret R.

Discoveries

I have discovered two wonderful things today:


First off are these little chocolate covered clouds of goodness- Mallow Bites! Oh, are they good. The serving size is 24 pieces.... I am not sure if I have exceeded it yet.


Second of all, is the Les Miserables soundtrack. I was cruising the CD shelves at the library and stumbled upon it. Hmm, I thought, perhaps this will be interesting. I settled down in my room with it, planning to read Enna Burning or something while listening, but ended up paging through the booklet, reading the lyrics, and sometimes singing, along with the performers. What powerful music!

I have been planning to read the novel for a while, and I am sure that figuring out the story through the songs will give me a better understanding of the 1000+ page tome.

Have you made any pleasant discoveries lately?
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Would you believe that this is this is the fourth time I have changed the appearance of this blog? I just can't keep away from websites like Shabby Blogs. How do you like the greenery of this new look?

~Margaret Rowena

Disclaimer: The above photos are not mine.

Days 21-25

21- Something I know I do differently than most people
The way I play "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" by Debussy on the piano- I use different rhythm and even a few odd notes.

22- A website
A blog page I found today has some very cute blog flair. Other than that, I don't do much web surfing. Blogger and Facebook are my haunts. I do know a ton of ah-mazing blogs, though; check out the above page to see 'em.

23- A way in which I want to be remembered
I want to be the slightly eccentric old lady with long grey hair that lived with her multitude of animals in the middle of nowhere. She wrote under a pen name, so none of the skeptical neighbors knew that the nutty old lady was actually writing published books.

24- A movie no one expected me to love
Everyone thinks I am nuts for liking the old Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, that's all I got. The people I watch movies with are pretty unabashed by weird movies. Oh, they were surprised by my adamant dislike of Chicken Run. P.S.- I really want to see the new 'Alice' with Johnny Depp.

25- A recipe
Take a good slice of wheat bread. Homemade is ideal for this; thick and full. Slather some creamy peanut butter on one half. Don't be shy! Then spread some Nutella on the other half. If you want, put another piece of bread on top. You have just made the most wonderful sandwich in the known world.


Who's ready for a random photo?

Have a delightful day, everyone!

~Margaret Rowena

Happenings

Hello everyone! It feels like it has been a while since I last posted, and I wanted to write something cool for this newest post, but nothing was coming. So I am just going to tell you all the stuff that has been goin' on with me lately!

1. I had a piano recital tonight. I told myself and everyone that it was just another recital and there was no way I was nervous. Psh, I do these things all the time, right? Right. Well, my number was third to last on the program, so I had all concert to NOT think about my turn. But when the time drew near, I was feeling acute anxiety. I had hoped to play my piece from memory like I could at home, but if I had not had the music in front of me while I was playing, it would have been a disaster. But I did it, and it's done, and I have all year to prepare myself for a butterfly-free recital next time! My friend and I also played a duet of "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera that we have been practicing for quite some time. It turned out very nicely, I think. Big sigh of relief :)

2. I have been very tired for last few days. The reason? Late night reading. The book Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is the type that you simply cannot put down for at least five chapters. I have been letting myself go for up to ten, which means my light has been on at 12:00 AM on a week night. It's a book about books, and very suspenseful, so I am just loving it.

3. I am very fed up with school. I want it to be done!!!!! Maybe the snow (!!!) that is falling outside right now will help me get into the winter/school year mindset again. But for now it is Friday night, and I will block IT from my mind until next week. Starting now.

4. My delightful friend, Abigail, told a whole bunch of stuff about blogging, so now I know how to mess with the template and fonts and buttons and backgrounds.... Can you tell? How are you liking the new theme? This website has a wide selection of the cutest blog graphics I have seen yet.

5. More recital stuff: I have my violin recital tomorrow, and I am not as confident as I should be about my song. But my teacher (who you know to be very cool) is assured that I will do fine, so I am blaming the insecurity on recital jitters. Which still do exist, as I learned tonight!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Tuesday Night Magic

I have played the violin for about 7 years now. I used to hate it with a passion, thinking it was boring and useless and extremely hard. But I am over that now, thankfully. Two years ago I started private lessons with a new teacher, which completely changed my view on this wonderful instrument. She is a professional cellist, but she is also good playing the piano and the violin. My brother, also a cellist, had been taking lessons from her for about two years when I started with her. I was apprehensive at first, for this was the first new teacher I had in five years! My old teacher had been the easy-going director of the small beginner orchestra I had started out in. She was a good teacher, but with as many children as she had to teach, I got little attention and my playing did not improve much in five years. But I was still sad when she announced that she was retiring. Anyway. Back to the near past. After one year with my new teacher, I had made leaps and bounds with my playing and was having a great time, too. Yes, I was having fun! I look forward to Tuesday night lessons and try to live up to my teacher's hopes for me. She likes it I move with the music, which I am still shy about, and is all about resonance and good tone.
I still get discouraged sometimes when I practice at home. When I play my exercises for my wonderful teacher, and especially when she plays them with me, I get volume and splendid sound that I used to only dream of. It's like magic, what she does. I still have much to learn and far to go, but the dislike and anger I used to feel when I played the violin has been replaced with happiness and satisfaction with the music I make.