Hadyn

Been Here Awhile

4.5 billion years – Earth. Yeah, it has been here awhile. My son and I are currently entranced by photos of Earth taken by UK astronaut, Tim Peake, presented in his book “Hello, Is This Planet Earth? My View from the International Space Station”.

Our favorite photos:

the dazzling night time photo of Italy…I don’t know why this shocked us, but from space, the shape of Italy looks exactly how it looks on our globe.
the cartoony, loopy route of the Amazon River

Before we gazed at the photos we got firm with a few facts:

The moon is approximately 240,000 miles from Earth
Low Earth Orbit (LEO to those in the know) – is anything that circles the Earth within an altitude of 1,200 miles from Earth
The International Space Station orbits at an altitude of approximately 220 miles above the Earth, well within LEO
the ISS circles the Earth 16 times a day – the photographer’s opportunity for “the perfect shot” is minuscule (this book represents a lot of planning)

250 million years – Crocodiles. Yeah, they have been here awhile. We’ve just finished Owen Davey’s “Curious about Crocodiles” (graphics: A++). But, oh dear, crocodiles. Everything about them is bad news. My son and I mused over this: what if we were crocodiles and the only good thing anybody could say about us was that we help regulate populations of other species by preying on them?

35 million years – Squirrels. Yeah, they have been here a while. We decided to learn more about squirrels since we have been glaring at one (“Dennis”, our own personal backyard menace) every single day since we installed our bird feeder. We are picking and choosing our reading topics in the Thorington/Ferrell book, “Squirrels, The Animal Answer Guide”. Sad fact: only 25% of squirrels make it to their first birthday party. The rest provide banquet fare for ever so many larger animals. From what we’ve read, those who make it past their first birthday can be found congregating around bird feeders.

200,000 years – Man. New kid on the block. Let’s just admit that we don’t stand a chance against crocodiles and squirrels.

17,000 years ago – Cave Paintings of Lascaux. Yeah, these have been here awhile. We did a quick internet study of the breathtaking, graceful drawings of horses, bulls, and deer found in the French caves. This inspired our new Read ’n’ Draw project: once a week I give my son drawing paper that has been divided into 4 squares. Atop each square is a noun (like arrow, question mark, cat head, snail, stop sign, Saturn). Without me saying the word aloud, my son has to draw a picture of the noun. A fun, satisfying activity, with results so close to being breathtaking and graceful.

These books have been around awhile – recent fiction re-visits:

from 1958, Mary Nash’s “While Mrs. Coverlet was Away”. We read this every August and we love every theme (self reliance, cats, vitamins, neighbors) in this fun, original work. Maybe the best overlooked part is found in chapter 15; a captivating account of “turtling” at the local slough…by the end of of this descriptive narrative we feel as sweaty, sunburned, muddy as the book’s characters – an afternoon well spent.
from 1941, Holling C. Holling’s (we pause to consider the author’s name)(sorry, we are that immature) “Paddle to the Sea”. This is our second time through this poetic and observant journey through the Great Lakes, and we are focusing on the geography aspects.

The Local Diner – Yeah, it has been here awhile. A story problem to elucidate: One of the busboys was rummaging around the diner attic and found a chest filled with old menus. The diner called in designer, “Miss Jane”, who selected a menu from 1920, 1930, 1950, and 1960 to frame and install near the entrance of the diner. The designer said she would be able to frame the menus in jazzy retro “diner style” colors for $80 each. But the diner accountant, “Mr. Tom”, said that he could frame the menus with supplies from the local mega art store for $25 each.

– If diner management selects Miss Jane to frame the menus (which really is the best idea), how much more will they spend on the project, than they would if Mr. Tom’s plan was put into action?
a) $25 b) $80 c) $180 d) $220

– If Mr. Tom is directed to purchase the cheapo frames, and the frames fall apart after one year and have to be replaced, this time using Miss Jane’s framing services, how much will the diner have spent to have the menus framed twice?
a) $150 b) $420 c) $575 d) $1,000 (answers at bottom of post)

Classical Music Corner – The Symphony – Yeah, it has been here awhile. Franz Joseph Haydn composed from the mid-to-late 1700’s and created a 4-movement template for symphony construction that has been used by a majority of composers to this day. Cheers for Haydn’s organizational skills! Cheers for the following Haydn compositions:

1785 – Symphony # 83 in G minor, known to all as “La Poule” (the hen), movement 4. Jaunty, happy, sort of fussy-precise…this is the piece where we can hear bits of “Pop Goes the Weasel” –

1787 – Symphony #88 in G major, movement 4. We refer to this as “Busy Bugs”. Who can hear this and not envision jillions of ladybugs on roller skates? This piece flies! We came across this movement about a month ago and have listened to it about 15 times. My son LOVES it –

1791 – Symphony #94 in G major known to all as “Surprise Symphony”, movement 2, this performance conducted by one of our favorites, Mariss Jansons. We wait in anticipation for the mighty boom (about a half minute into the piece) –

Welcome to the best part of my day,
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: d) $220 and b) $420)

Let’s Get This Party Started!

This is post #148, ever so close to our 150th post; definitely cause for a party, so my son and I started the festivities by laughing through two favorite story problems from the vault –

From the Oct 2, 2018 post (“Did absence make the heart grow fonder?”): A Farmer Brown Story Problem –

Poor Farmer Brown, literally, poor Farmer Brown. He is spending so much money replacing items that his cats, Olive and Owl (the hissing sisters), have destroyed. Over the past twelve months, Farmer Brown spent:

– $300: area rug in kitchen (shredded)
– $150: winter coat (clawed to death)
– $100 each: 3 farmhand bed quilts (each mistaken for litter box)
– $200: office blinds (permanently bent from bird watching)
– $100: large ceramic planter (tipped over so many times that it finally cracked)
– $ 78: small ficus tree (casualty of repeatedly tipped over planter)
– $300: neighbor’s yarn stash (don’t ask)

Judging the past year to be typical, how much should Farmer Brown budget per month to replace things Olive and Owl will most likely have their way with in the coming year?

A). $59 B). $79 C). $99 D). $119 (answer at bottom of post)

From the September 19, 2015 post (“Lights! Camera! Edison!”): A Local Diner Story Problem –

Art at the Local Diner – The diner is gussying up the place with selected pieces of what some might call art. Of course, they are installing the classic “A Friend in Need” (the rest of us know it as “Dogs Playing Poker”) by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, purchased for $45. A portrait of Elvis on black velvet has also been purchased for $90. Posters of Batman, Superman, and Marilyn Monroe round out the collection, the lot acquired at a garage sale for $10.

How much has the diner spent on “artwork”? (Heh, heh, the answer is not “zero”.)

A). $10 B). $145 C). $175 D). $900

Money to purchase the exciting wall decor came from the diner’s tabletop jukeboxes. At 25 cents per song, how many songs had to be played before the art could be purchased?

A). 45 B). 580 C). 850 D). 1,000 (answers at bottom of post)

We take a break from story problem frivolity to present a few notes from the current academic focus: our “Shining Stars of the 1860’s” unit –

– Ely S. Parker – “One Real American – The Life of Ely S. Parker”, by Joseph Bruchac. A larger-than-life man: Seneca sachem (which we learned is pronounced “say-chem”, meaning chief), Mason, Civil War General (close aide to General Ulysses S. Grant), competent engineer, skilled writer, diplomat, bi-lingual, you name it. We love this man and we loved this book.

– Abraham Lincoln – “Abraham Lincoln – A Life from Beginning to End”, an Hourly History book by Henry Freeman. Of course, there are so many books written about Lincoln, but this one speaks to my son’s level of comprehension. Here is something that caught our attention: before marrying Lincoln, one of Mary Todd’s previous suitors was NONE OTHER THAN Stephan A. Douglas, YES that Stephan A. Douglas of the Lincoln-Douglas debates!!!!

– Matthew Brady – “Matthew Brady, Historian with a Camera”, by James D. Horan. This book includes 450 of Matthew Brady branded photographs (many were taken by his trained assistants). Totally interesting to us: a Matthew Brady photograph of Lincoln is used for both the $5 bill and the copper penny.

– Harriet Tubman – “Harriet Tubman – A Life from Beginning to End”, another Hourly History book. Excellent resource. This caught our attention: as Harriet Tubman would guide fugitives along the underground railroad, she would change the tempo of the spiritual “Go Down Moses” to indicate whether it was safe to move forward. Of course, we had to listen to “Go Down Moses” and consider the parallels between the tasks of Moses and Harriet Tubman:

Back to the party! What is a festive gathering without a prize drawing?

I have set up a container for my son to draw three surprise classical music suggestions for Saturday night listening. I did not know this was going to involve a learning curve – my son does not have the grasp of selecting only three items from the container, but we will get there. Here are last Saturday’s winners –

– “The Hen Symphony” – from Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 in G minor, “The Hen”, movement 4, (1785). We LOVE this super merry movement and have probably listened to it 15 times so far. We sort of think we can hear a few measures from “Three Blind Mice” stuck right in the middle:

– “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” – from Handel’s Old Testament-based (Book of Kings and Book of Chronicles) oratorio, “Solomon” (1748). The 18th century “Englishness” of this piece almost makes us smirk, but then we hear those oboe harmonies and all is forgiven:

– “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3” in G major, movement 3 – from Bach’s 1721 assemblage of the 6 concertos. Hurries along at a fast clip. Who can’t like this?

As if two story problems and a surprise drawing for music listening were not enough, there is EVEN MORE partying to come in the next two blog posts!

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: D. $119, B. $145, B. 580 songs)

Our Hour

Class is in session for one hour every single night and my son and I LOVE this time together. We are focused, fascinated, and leaning forward to learn more. Here is how we divided up our studies and stories hours this past week:

Before Carl Linnaeus, before Charles Darwin, before John James Audubon: MARIA MERIAN (1647-1717), artist/nature observer. We learned all about Merian in the Sibert Medal 2019 book, “The Girl Who Drew Butterflies” (Joyce Sidman). Merian’s meticulous work documenting caterpillars/butterflies/host plants was cited 130 times by Carl Linnaeus in his major opus, “Systema Naturae”. Maria Merian was the first to bring scholarly attention to the caterpillar-to-butterfly connection. More, of note:

We rolled our eyes: As a female in her native Germany, Maria Merian was forbidden to study at college, and yet her groundbreaking work was criticized because she was a “self-taught amateur”.
We cheered: Tsar Peter the Great bought 300 of her original watercolors to start Russia’s first art museum. My son selected one of her works in poster form for his room:

History Time:

“The World Jesus Knew – A Curious Kid’s Guide to Life in the First Century”, by Marc Olson/illustrated by Jemima Maybank. A scholarly work, accented with sly humor. Here is what caught our attention:

Palestine was under the rule of the Roman Empire during the time of Jesus. This was actually a BIG deal – Roman rule infiltrated all aspects of life
Because fisherman were in the water so often, they often fished WITH NO CLOTHES ON
The Sanhedrin, what was it and how powerful was it?

Learning-about-Careers Time:

“Vet Academy” (Martin/Keoghan) – My son’s cousin Kelly is a vet (and as far as we are concerned, THE BEST VET), so we thought we should learn more about her world:

My son and I mused over three vet specializations and what each would mean in terms of life-style: small pets (vet treats animals at local veterinary clinic), farm animals (vet drives all over creation to check on “patients”), or zoo animals (vet essentially lives at the zoo).
Our favorite page of the book was in the zoo animal section: we learned to distinguish between cheetahs, leopards, and jaguars by examining their spots. We keep getting smarter.

Language Arts Time:

PREMOOSC – YENIDS – HEVETOBEN – TWESARE – YECCLER – PRITOMANEL

After spending really a lot of time putting together months and months of puzzles, I bought a “Jumble Junior” book. Perfect.

Math Time:

A Farmer Brown Story Problem – Even though Farmer Brown has a perfectly good rooster to awaken his 8 farmhands, he has been under pressure to purchase an alarm clock for each worker. Farmer Brown is letting them choose between a digital (vocab) clock ($12) or a vintage analog (vocab) clock ($15). Three fourths of the farmhands want a digital clock, the rest have ordered the analog. Total shipping will be $10. Farmer Brown has budgeted $100 for new clocks, will this cover the costs? (answer at bottom of post)

Reading for Fun Time:

Three words: Hank the Cowdog. Years ago we read through the gigantic series and we are now revisiting our favorites. Two weeks ago we read, “The Mopwater Files”. Last week it was “The Disappearance of Drover”, this week, “The Incredible Priceless Corncob”. Hank time is Texas-sized smile time.

Arts and Crafts Time:

French curve – We were swerving and curving after I found an envelope of plastic French curve templates that had belonged to my father (an engineer). Why shouldn’t my son know about Ludwig Burmester’s (a German mathematician) French curves?

Music Appreciation Time: last night we listened to music for CLOCK-WATCHERS:

– Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 “The Clock” (movement 2, the “tick-tock movement”) composed in 1794. Performed competently (and adorably) by the Kawartha (Ontario, CA) Youth Orchestra –

– Zoltan Kodaly’s “Viennese Music Clock” from his Hungarian folk opera “Háry János” (1926). A spirited performance, complete with dancing clock, by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra –

– LeRoy Anderson’s “Syncopated Clock”. This piece was composed in 1945, while Anderson was serving in the US Army, as Chief of Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence (proving that he could do two things at once). I sort of think that Leroy Anderson (a brilliant man with a huge sense of humor) would have approved of this kookie performance by the St. Luke’s Bottle Band (and I totally want one of those feathered green hats). This ensemble is having WAY TOO MUCH FUN –

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(Unscrambled words: COMPOSER, DISNEY, BEETHOVEN, SWEATER, RECYCLE, TRAMPOLINE)
(Story Problem answer: NO)

A Little Night Music

Question 1: If my son and I spend 15 minutes every night listening to classical music, how many hours of listening will we have stacked up over the course of a year? (answer at bottom of post)

Question 2: If we average 3 pieces per evening, how many compositions will we have listened to over the course of a year? (answer at bottom of post)

I have been thinking it would be helpful to have a tab on title-block that would take us to a page where our music themes were listed. So, OMGosh this has taken forever to assemble (and only includes music I have blogged about since July, 2014), but VOILA! This post is now tabbed on title-block as “Our Music Themes“.

(This is merely a listing; to read a few short lines of information about each composition and find links to youtube videos of said compositions, click on the links.)

Music Themes – Post Titles

Art set to music: Checkered House, by Grandma Moses – from “Good Books, Bad Books“

Over the River and Through the Wood – Lydia Maria Child
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson
Carol of the Animals – Robert Davis

Art set to music: Pirate Chief, by Howard Pyle – from “Fly By“

The Maid of Amsterdam – traditional sea chanty
Overture to The Flying Dutchman – Wagner
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – Klaus Badelt

Art set to music: The Clipper Ship, by Currier and Ives – from “Garden Par-tay“

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan
Over the Waves – Juventino Rosas

Art set to music: The Fall of the Cowboy, by Remington – from “Answers for Everything“

Thanksgiving – George Winston
Hoedown – Aaron Copland
Back Home Again – John Denver

Back to School – from “If it’s August“

Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov
Entry of the Gladiators – Julius Fucik
Song of the Volga Boatmen – traditional

Barbershop Quartets – from “The Cliffs Notes Version“

Sincere – Meredith Willson
Mr. Sandman – Pat Ballard

Benjamin Franklin in France – from “It’s a Date!“

Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio – Mozart
The Coffee Cantata – JS Bach
Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor (Farewell Symphony) – Haydn

Black History Month Selections – from “Conversation Circle”

Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin
The American Scene: The Southwest – William Grant Still
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore – Duke Ellington

Blue Days – from “Something Blue“

Blue Skies – Irving Berlin
Blue Tango – Leroy Anderson
The Blue Danube Waltz – Strauss

Blue Moon Tunes – from “Second Time Around”

Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin
Clair de Lune – Debussy

Brazil, thinking about – from “Tick, Tick, Tick“

exploring “The Little Train of Caipira” – Heitor Villa-Lobos

The Cambrian Explosion – from “In Which We Learn about the Cambrian Explosion“

Simple Gifts – Joseph Brackett
Polka Dots and Moonbeams – Van Heusen/Burke
1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky

Chicken Coop Melodies – from “Farm Fresh“

Symphony No. 83 in G minor (The Hen) – Haydn
The Hen – Respighi
Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little – Meredith Willson
Chicken Reel – Joseph M. Daly/Leroy Anderson

Classical Broadway – from “Desperately Seeking Ganesha“

Rosemary – Frank Loesser
Piano Concerto in A minor – Edvard Grieg
Baby Face – Akst/Davis
Hallelujah Chorus – Handel
Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina – Rice/Weber
Violin Concerto in D minor – Brahms

Cuckoo for Music – from “Things that go Bump in the Night“

Organ Concerto No. 13 in F major (The Cuckoo and the Hen) – Handel
Symphony No. 6 in F major (The Pastoral) – Beethoven
The Cuckoo – Respighi

Dealer’s Choice (my son selects 3 from a list of 10) – from “Starry Eyed“

The William Tell Overture – Rossini
The Cuckoo – Respighi
Mambo – Leonard Bernstein

Dental Procedures, music for – from “Messenger Service“

Symphony No. 6 in F major (The Pastoral) – Beethoven
The Barcarolle – Jacques Offenbach
The Moldau – Bedrich Smetana

The Doldrums – from “Going Nowhere Fast“

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams
We Sail the Ocean Blue – Gilbert and Sullivan
Sailing By – Ronald Binge

Duets! – from “Sap Happy“

The Flower Duet – Leo Delibes
Si Fino All’ore Estreme – Bellini
People Will Say We’re in Love – Rogers and Hammerstein

Einstein and his Violin – from “Brainiac“

Violin Serenade No. 6 – Mozart
Violin Serenade No. 13 (Eine Kleine Machtmusik) – Mozart
Violin Sonata No. 26 in B-flat major – Mozart

Exotic Lands – from “That’s Gotta Hurt“

Scheherazade – Rimsky-Korsakov
Overture to Abduction fro the Seraglio – Mozart
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel

Fanfare for the Water Bear – from “A Fanfare for the Water Bear“

Water Music – Handel
The Aquarium – Saint-Saens
The Wild Bears – Sir Edward Elgar

Franz Schubert Night – from “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?”

Serenade – Schubert
Ave Maria – Schubert
March Militaire – Schubert

French Composers – from “A Test of Faith“

The Infernal Galop (The Can-Can) – Jacques Offenbach
Clair de Lune – Debussy
March of the Toreadors – Bizet

The French Horn – from “Working for Peanuts“

Water Music – Handel
Venus – Gustav Holst
Pavane for a Dead Princess – Maurice Ravel

Fun Music Only – from “Inventors Invent“

Dance of the Hours – Amilcare Ponchielli
Chicken Reel – Leroy Anderson
The Pink Panther – Henry Mancini

Good Shepherd – from “The Rattlesnake Sermon“

Sheep May Safely Graze – JS Bach
He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd – Handel
Tender Shepherd – Charlap/Leigh

Groundhog Day – from “Rodent Rage“

Winter – Vivaldi
Waltz of the Snowflakes – Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6 in F major – Beethoven
Put on a Happy Face – Strouse/Adams

Halloween, scary music for – from “Back in the Saddle Again“

Dance Macabre – Saint-Saens
Mars – Gustav Holst
Masquerade – Khachaturian

Harp Music of the Angels – from “Sunday School“

Harp Concerto in B-flat major – Handel
Harp Concerto in A major – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Concerto for Flut and Harp – Mozart

The Hungarian March, 3 Ways – from “Travelogue“

Hungarian March – Berlioz
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 – Liszt
Hungarian Dance No. 19 – Brahms

Hymns: three from one – from “Riveting“

Ave Maria – Jacques Arcadelt
Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ Symphony) – Saint-Saens
Finlandia Hymn – Sibelius

Inventions for Inventions – from “Lights! Camera! Edison!“

Invention No. 6 in E major – JS Bach
Invention No. 8 in F major – JS Bach
Invention No. 13 in A minor – JS Bach

London Busses – from “Late Bloomer“

Jupiter – Gustav Holst
Pomp and Circumstance – Elgar
Fantasia on Greensleeves – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan

March Madness – from “Ranch Report“

Colonel Bogey March – Lieutenant F.J. Ricketts
The Imperial March – John Williams

March’s Marches – from “Wordery“

The Redetzky March – Johann Strauss, senior
March of the Siamese Children – Richard Rogers
The Washington Post March – John Philip Sousa

Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream – from “Flying, Farming, and Felix“

Overture to Midsummer Night’s Dream – Mendelssohn
The Wedding March – Mendelssohn

Michelangelo’s Rome – from “One Sculptor, One Scoundrel“

The Pines of Rome – Respighi
Palladio for String Orchestra – Karl Jenkins
Symphony No. 4 in A major (The Italian) – Mendelssohn

Minor Key Music – from “Miners and Minors“

The Hebrides Overture – Mendelssohn
In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg
Ride of the Valkyries – Wagner

Minuet in G to the Power of 3 – from “Hendecasyllable“

Minuet in G – Mozart
Minuet in G – Beethoven
Minuet in G – JS Bach

Mount Vesuvius – from “Mounting Interest“

Funiculi Funicular – Luigi Denza
Aus Italien – Richard Strauss
Neapolitan Song – Rimsky-Korsakov

Music to Soothe – from “Music to Soothe“

Mass in D minor, motet – Anton Bruchner
Sheep May Safely Graze – JS Bach
Simple Gifts – Joseph Brackett

Negro Spirituals – from “Heavenly“

Down by the Riverside – traditional
Wade in the Water – traditional
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – traditional

Nocturnes – from “Zootique“

Nocturne No. 2 – Chopin
Nocturne No. 3 – Liszt
Harlem Nocturne – Earl Hagen

The Oboe – from “Music Mechanics“

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel
Swan Lake, final scene – Tchaikovsky
Le Tombeau de Couperin – Ravel

Overtures – from “Takes a Lickin’ and Keeps on Tickin‘”

Overture from H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan
Overture from Midsummer Night’s Dream – Mendelssohn
Overture from The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart

Paris Tribute – from “A Ghost by any other Name“

The Swan – Saint-Saens
Carillon – Bizet
La Vie en Rose – Edith Piaf

Pizzicato! – from “The Price is Wrong“

Divertissement: Pizzicati – Leo Delibes
Symphony 4 in F minor – Tchaikovsky
Anitra’s Dance – Edvard Grieg

The Presidents’ Music – from “The Liberace Instigation“

classical pieces composed during each administration

The Recorder – from “Well Played“

Sopranino Recorder Concerto in C major – Vivaldi
Ode to Joy – Beethoven
Greensleeves – traditional

The Sad Song Scale – from “Two Different Worlds“

Symphony No. 3 in F major – Brahms
What’ll I Do? – Irving Berlin
Serenade – Schubert

Saint Patrick’s Day – from “The Business of March“

Toora Loora Looral – James Royce Shannon
The Irish Washerwoman – traditional/Leroy Anderson
Danny Boy – Frederic Weatherly

Shrill Thrills! (the piccolo) – from “Jams and Jellyfish“

Chinese Dance (Nutcracker) – Tchaikovsky
Triton Fountain in the Morning – Respighi
Stars and Stripes Forever – Sousa

Strauss Family, the splendidly gifted – from “780 Pairs of Saddle Shoes“

Radetzky March – Johann Strauss, senior
Feuerfest Polka – Joseph Strauss
Thunder and Lightning Polka – Johann Strauss, junior

String Quartets – from “We the People“

String Quartet in B-flat major (La Chasse) – Haydn
String Quartet No. 2 in D major – Borodin
Cantina Band (performed as a string quartet) – John Williams

Summertime – from “Barely Scraping By“

Summer – Vivaldi
Fireflies – Amy Beach
Summertime – George and Ira Gershwin
In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry

Sunday Night Music – from “How We Write“

How Great Thou Art – Carl Gustav Boberg
Turn! Turn! Turn! – Pete Seeger/Book of Ecclesiastes
Let us Cheer the Weary Traveler – Nathaniel Dett

Surprise Endings – from “Bringing Handwriting up to Scratch“

The Wild Bears – Sir Edward Elgar
The Moldau – Bedrich Smetana
The Imperial March – John Williams

Tambourines! – from “Peace, Love, and Tambourines“

Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
Tarantella – Rossini/Respighi
Russian Dance (Nutcracker) – Tchaikovsky

Tea Time – from “Textbooks – if we ruled the world“

Tea for Two – Youmans and Caesar
Tea for Two (Tahiti Trot) – Shostakovich
Tea for Two – Art Tatum

Things in the Sky – from “Snakes and Pirates“

Fireflies – Amy Beach
Clair de Lune – Debussy
Mercury – Gustav Holst

The Timpani – from “One Thing Leads to Another“

Dance of the Seven Veils – Richard Strauss
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Richard Strauss
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – Klaus Badelt

Trains – from “Posting about Posters“

The Little Train of Caipira – Heitor Villa-Lobos
The Steam Engine – Patrick Doyle
Take the A Train – Duke Ellington

Tribute: music for a beloved grandfather – from “Imagine That“

Fight for California – McCoy/Fitch
The Army Song – Sousa/Arberg
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Ungar

The Vatican, background music for – from “Holy Zucchetto“

Gregorian Chants – traditional
Gloria in Excelsis Deo – Vivaldi
Locus Iste – Bruchner

Virtuoso Night: Stanley Drucker – from “Affordable Housing Forever“

Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor – Brahms
Appalachian Spring – Aaron Copland
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin

Virtuoso Night: Sir James Galway – from “Thousands and Thousands“

Concerto for Flute and Harp – Mozart
I Saw Three Ships – traditional
Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

Virtuoso Night: Wynton Marsalis – from “Novel Ideas“

Concerto in E-flat major for Trumpet – Haydn
Moto Perpetuo – Paganini
The Prince of Denmark March (Trumpet Voluntary) – Jeremiah Clark

Virtuoso Night: Itzhak Perlman – from “Insert Clever Title Here“

Humoresque – Dvorak
Out of Africa, title music – John Barry
Violin Concerto in E minor – Mendelssohn

Waltzing with Tchaikovsky – from “Case in Point: Ibn Battuta“

Serenade for Strings – Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Waltz, Act II – Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin, Polonaise – Tchaikovsky

Wistfulness – from “Finish the Poem“

Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, love theme – Tchaikovsky
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Ungar
What’ll I Do – Irving Berlin

Worker Bees, a soundtrack for – from “Bee Plus!”

Moto Perpetuo – Paganini
The Pizzicato – Leo Delibes
Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

Welcome to the best part of my night!
– Jane BH
(answer 1: 91+ hours)
(answer 2: 1,095 pieces of music)

We the People

Here is what is going on with us the people at the STORIES AND STUDIES CENTER (my son’s bed, every night, 10:30 pm):

The Preamble to the Constitution – our hearts are touched by the perfectly worded preamble, so I am having my son memorize it. For the past two weeks, every night after we read through the preamble, my son writes the missing words in a fill-in-the-blanks preamble. And every night, more words are missing – so we are doing the successive approximation thing. Interesting thought – what if schools alternated the Pledge of Allegiance with the Preamble every morning? Another thought – what if every proposed law was required to read as clearly and straightforward as the preamble?

Building a House – we’ve read through “How to Build a House” by Gail Gibbons. Yes, this is a little kids book, but seriously, it is so well organized, every contractor should hand one of these to each of his clients, so they can get the basic idea of what comes before what. This book provoked a yucky side study – my son wanted to know more about a house’s septic system. Ick.

Sharks! – from the excellent Usborne book series. Here is what has caught our eye so far – the eyes of the hammerhead shark. CRAZY. Also, so sad: baby sharks are left by their moms after they are born. So, apparently they raise themselves. No wonder they have such bad manners.

Reading for fun – We are laughing our way through #4 of the Tom Gates series, “Tom Gates – Genius Ideas (mostly)”, by Liz Pichon. We LOVE this series! Every single page is hilarious. What a treat at the end of each day. Love it, love it, love it.

Tips from Le Fictitious Local Diner – not exactly a story problem: We pretended that a waiter from Le Fictitious Local Diner gave my son a list of table order totals and asked him to figure out bare minimum tips (15%) and happy customer tips (20%). We talked about how waiters are paid and how much they depend upon their tips. We talked about the difference between good and poor service. We talked about whether it was the waiter’s fault if the food was substandard (of course this would never happen at Le Fictitious Local Diner – the food is always first rate at the diner).

EEEEEW, string quartets – I kept putting this off: listening to string quartets with my son. Of course, I want to my son to know about this classical music genre, but alas, I am not a fan of the string quartet. I have tried out dozens upon dozens of string quartets in the past few years, and all I hear is either spiders dancing across a hot pan or some poor soul gasping for breath. But the time has come – I found 3 string quartets that changed my EEEEEWs to AHHHHHs, and I was enthusiastic about sharing these with my son.

First, because we knew that Franz Josef Haydn (1732 – 1809) is considered to be the “Father of the String Quartet”, I thought we should listen to the first movement of his very first string quartet “String Quartet in B flat Major” (“La Chasse”). This is the first of 68 (!!!) quartets Haydn composed between 1762 and 1803.

Next, we listened to “String Quartet No. 2 in D Major”, composed by Alexander Borodin in 1881. We listened to movement 3 (“Nocturne”) over and over. This is the deeply romantic melody used in the (1953 American musical) “Kismet” song, “And This is My Beloved”, for which he was posthumously awarded the 1954 Tony Award. (Good show Alexander! Good show Tony Award selection committee! Good show Kismet people!)

And lastly, we listened to a wonderful contemporary musical ensemble, “The Vitamin String Quartet” (I am still laughing at the name). This group is known for applying their classical skills to renditions of modern and rock songs. We loved listening to their version of John Williams’ “Cantina Band” from Star Wars.

There now, that wasn’t so bad after all!

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

The Liberace Instigation

This post is not about the man, Liberace, but about a GLARING ERROR he made before treating the TV audience to his take on the classic Strauss “Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz”. See for yourself:

You saw the problem, right?

Of course, I am referring to the introductory comment: “…I would like to take you back…many hundreds of years ago to that wonderful, romantic night when Johann Strauss first introduced the waltz…”. Here is the GLARING ERROR: Johann Strauss II premiered “The Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz” in 1867, just 86 years (NOT many hundreds of years) prior to Liberace’s 1953 TV show.

I sort of want my son to have a more accurate sense of when important musical compositions were written, so I have put together a simple chart of classical pieces that he is familiar with, and paired them with US Presidential administrations. This will give us both a bit of a sense of what was going on in the world when each piece was written, and remind us that many great compositions are not as old as we think (or Liberace thought)(seriously, I suspect a lot of people think classical music was written 500 years ago, in a galaxy far, far away).

The chart works this way:

USA Presidential Administration – 1 orchestral piece composed or premiered during that time period

George Washington – Haydn’s “Symphony No. 94” (Surprise Symphony), 1791
John Adams – Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 14” (Moonlight Sonata), 1801
Thomas Jefferson – Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5”, 1808
James Madison – Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”, 1816
James Monroe – Schubert’s “Marche Militaire”, 1822
John Quincy Adams – Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”, 1829
Andrew Jackson – Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture”, 1830
Martin Van Buren – Chopin’s “Piano Sonata No. 2” (The Funeral March), 1837
William Henry Harrison – Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman”, 1841
John Tyler – Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March”, 1842
James Polk – Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”, 1847
Zachery Taylor – Schumann’s “Symphony No. 3” (The Rhenish), 1850
Millard Fillmore – Verdi’s “Rigoletto”, 1851
Franklin Pierce – Foster’s “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”, 1854
James Buchanan – Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” (the Can-Can!), 1858
Abraham Lincoln – Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, 1862
Andrew Johnson – Strauss II’s “Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz”, 1867
Ulysses S. Grant – Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite”, 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes – Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore”, 1878
James Garfield – Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy”, 1881
Chester A. Arthur – Waldteufel’s “The Skater’s Waltz”, 1882
Grover Cleveland – Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”, 1886
Benjamin Harrison – Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”, 1892
Grover Cleveland – Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, 1897
William McKinley – Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee”, 1900
Teddy Roosevelt – Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance, No. 1”, 1901
William H. Taft – Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”, 1913
Woodrow Wilson – Holst’s “The Planets”, 1916
Warren G. Harding – Berlin’s “What’ll I Do”, 1923
Calvin Coolidge – Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, 1924
Herbert Hoover – Grofe’s “Grand Canyon Suite”, 1931
Franklin D. Roosevelt – Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”, 1944
Harry S Truman – Anderson’s “The Typewriter”, 1950
Dwight Eisenhower – Bernstein’s “West Side Story”, 1957
John F. Kennedy – Mancini’s “The Pink Panther Theme”, 1963
Lyndon Johnson – The Beatles’ “Yesterday”, 1965
Richard Nixon – Weissberg/Mandell’s “Dueling Banjos”, 1973
Gerald Ford – Williams’ “Theme from Jaws”, 1975
Jimmy Carter – Williams’ “The Imperial March” (Darth Vader’s Theme), 1980
Ronald Reagan – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera”, 1986
George H.W. Bush – George Winston’s “Hummingbird”, 1991
Bill Clinton – Doyle’s “Steam Engine” (from “Sense and Sensibility”), 1995
George W. Bush – Kirkhope’s “Viva Piñata Soundtrack”, 2006
Barack Obama – Williams’ “The Adventures of Tintin”, 2011

(and yes! My son is quite familiar with all of the above pieces.)

BTW, this week we have been ALSO learning about Jacques Cousteau and Otto Von Bismarck.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

It’s a date!

Were we learning about date palms, date shakes, perfect dates, or perfectly awful dates? Uh, no.

B.C./B.C.E. – A.D./C.E. – My son and I keep running into the acronyms (new vocab word) “BCE” and “CE” during our academic studies. Last night we decided to find out what the letters mean. We learned that BCE (“before common era”) and CE (“common era”) refer to time periods that match up exactly with the traditional BC (“Before Christ”) and AD (“Anno Domini”). In other words, the date 335 BC is the same as the date 335 BCE. Likewise, the date 1990 AD means the same thing as 1990 CE. The terms BCE and CE have been in widespread use for the past 20 years, but we learned they have actually been around for over 300 years. We like to know stuff like this.

More Shakespeare – We have enjoyed reading adaptations of “MacBeth”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “Hamlet”, so we are now reading a retelling of “Romeo and Juliet”, by Adam McKeown. McKeown does an excellent job of introducing characters and storylines at a pace we can process, and he makes us eager to read the real plays. I think you can imagine why we aren’t starting off with the plays themselves – we want to be familiar with the basic plots, characters, and motivations before Shakespeare’s spellbinding words mesmerize us.

The Thespian Masks – How can we read about Shakespeare without understanding the basics of “comedy” and “tragedy”? I gave my son a list of ridiculous situations and had him decide if each circumstance fell into a comic or tragic category, then I showed him thespian (new vocab word) comedy and tragedy masks, the concept of which originated from the dramas of ancient Greece around 335 BC (or shall we say, 335 BCE).

Novels – We continue to read, “The Way to Stay in Destiny” by Augusta Scattergood – still really like picking up this book every night. And this past week, we began a re-read of one of our old favorites, “Schooled” by Gordon Korman (important read, heartwarmer read).

Our Farmer Brown Story Problem – Offspring in the spring! Farmer Brown’s ranch is home to 20 ewes. This spring, half gave birth to twins, a fifth gave birth to quadruplets, and the rest had a single lamb each. How many sweet lambs does Farmer Brown have now?

Last night’s music theme was “Benjamin Franklin in France” – We used the N.C. Wyeth poster on my son’s wall, of a young Benjamin Franklin, as inspiration. We decided to focus upon the years Ben Franklin served as US Ambassador to France (1776 – 1785). We know he was well-entertained in France, and this must certainly have included symphonic concerts and opera productions. It is so likely that he heard these:

Mozart – Overture to the Abduction from the Seraglio (1782). This is the composition that provoked Austrian Emperor Joseph II (maybe a bit short on the musical smarts) to remark that there were “too many notes” in the piece. My son and I think the brilliant and far more musically inclined Ben Franklin would have loved this overture!

Bach – The Coffee Cantata (1735), a way-fun work that pits a father against his strong-willed daughter, fighting over her excessive consumption of coffee. We think Ben Franklin, a known coffee enthusiast, would have been amused by this mini comic opera.

Haydn – Symphony No. 45, “The Farewell Symphony” (1772). This is a symphony we want to see in person, because a most interesting thing happens in movement 4…entire sections of the orchestra sneak away, a bit at a time. By the conclusion, only the conductor and the concertmaster are left. We hope Mr. Franklin didn’t miss this!

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

Jane’s Cool School

My adult son has autism. He is non-verbal. This blog is about our learning-at-home program.

Hadyn

Been Here Awhile

Let’s Get This Party Started!

Our Hour

A Little Night Music

We the People

The Liberace Instigation

It’s a date!

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