This will ABSOLUTELY make your day

Sorry for the silence, dear readers. We've had a lot on our plates, including an exciting homestead project I'll be blogging about shortly.

Meanwhile, this is a video that never fails to make me smile. Enjoy!

Wow. Just ... wow

I stumbled on this short video clip and clicked on it merely because the caption read, "You can't watch this without smiling." Literally I had no idea what to expect. Cute cat videos? America's funniest home videos? What?

Well, one thing is certain. I didn't expect this. All I can say is ... wow. Just wow. Just absolute flippin' WOW.

Soak it in. Listen to it several times in a row. I get chills every time.

The ultimate background radio station

I love baroque music. I like to keep it playing very softly on my computer speakers, more as background music than anything else.

A few years ago, I subscribed to Pandora, where I could tweak and fine-tune the kind of music I liked. I've had that subscription for years. The trouble, however, is they tend to play the same pieces over and over and over and over and over and over........

And frankly I was getting tired of it, to the point where I thought about just giving up the subscription.

Well Older Daughter is up for a visit, and she introduced me to a really neat YouTube channel called Nemo's Dreamscapes, which specializes in background music. For example, the one I'm listening to right now now is "It's 1940s you're listening to adults party downstairs."

And that's all it is: background music, with chatter and laughter over the music, just as if you were a kid sitting at the top of the stairs watching the adult's party. Nearly 12 hours of it!

I'm hooked.

There are lots of other YouTube stations along these same lines: Oldies Music Play in a Coffee Shot When It's Raining; Dreamy Oldies Music Playing on an Airplane; 1910s Fall asleep while Grandma's reading a bedtime story; that kind of thing.

Seriously, if you're looking for some novel background music, check it out.

Powerful father-son duet

A (more cultured) friend sent me a YouTube link to a powerful duet song by the blind Italian classical singer Andrea Bocelli with his son Matteo Bocelli. Beautiful.

A little night music

The Monday before Thanksgiving, Younger Daughter had her first performance with the Coeur d'Alene Youth Orchestra.

The performance was held in the Kroc Center, part of a much larger facility. They already had it beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Before the Youth Orchestra played, the Junior Orchestra had its performance. Some of these kids were so young their feet didn't even hit the floor. Yet overall the sound was quite decent and promising.

The Youth Orchestra has kids between the ages of 14 and 18.

Although it's not always easy to eke certain standards of dress from a group of teens, participants in the orchestra have a strict dress code: below-the-knee black dresses (or blouse/skirt combos) for the girls, tuxes for the boys. No low necklines, no sparkly jewelry that would detract from the performance. The orchestra is modeled after professional orchestras complete with a Concertmaster.

Younger Daughter was diligent about practicing and attending rehearsals, and did beautifully.

Because the orchestra was heavy on strings and light on brass, woodwind, and percussion, the conductor added two older, experienced musicians to bolster these areas. As Younger Daughter put it, it was either that or the foundation would fall apart.

Before each piece, the conductor explained a bit about the musical selection.

He chose some very ambitious pieces, such as Jupiter from The Planets (by Holst), portions of The Unfinished Symphony by Schubert, and "Into the Storm," a modern classical piece by Robert Smith commemorating the brutal 1993 snowstorm that devastated the East Coast. This was Younger Daughter's favorite piece, and she said it was the one that made her feel like she was part of something magnificent when the orchestra was playing it.

Despite the concert going so well, Younger Daughter was relieved when it was over. But they played beautifully and we were glad to attend... although during the performance we all heard the enormous crash of torrential rain on the hall's roof. Driving home was a nightmare through enormous puddles of standing water and slush on the highway, as well as a nasty mixture of snow and rain. We were relieved when that drive was over!

Palm Sunday cantata

Younger Daughter was informed by her music teacher, Mr. B, that she would be participating in a Palm Sunday cantanta as part of a small orchestra accompanying a choral group. (Ahem. Her participation was not voluntary.)

This was a contemporary classical piece by a composer named Pepper Choplin. The students only had two weeks and three rehearsals to get the music down, so Mr. B requested that everyone practice for at least one hour each day. Younger Daughter found the cantana on YouTube and practiced and practiced and practiced.

Apparently so did everyone else. From the first very rough sight-reading rehearsal to the second and then third rehearsals, Mr. B was extremely pleased with everyone's progress. Yesterday was the performance.

Here's the dress rehearsal. The performance took place in a church in a nearby town.

Mr. B was conducting so fast his arm was blurry.

This was Younger Daughter's first time playing with a group of more than one or two, and she carried herself splendidly.

Mr. B is one of the most beloved music teachers in the area, the kind of person who can pull together fifty or more people of different ages and skill levels and do a lovely performance at almost the last minute.

The cantata played to a packed house. Every pew was full and some people were lined up against the back walls.

Younger Daughter did wonderfully.

Everyone did wonderfully.

Thank you Mr. B!

Mechanical music

Here's a rather astounding video clip (created by someone with WAY too much time on his hands, but brilliant nonetheless) of music made purely by mechanical means.

The timing of this setup defies belief. Well done, even if someone apparently has way too much time on his hands.