Books: A Marginal Jew. This is a series of four books, actually, and I’m on the second. They are dense reading, with the end notes to each chapter taking more space than the text, and it is ponderous and takes real mental effort to get through. Yet the level of detail in Meier’s analysis brings…
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Introducing Michael the Conductor
It is the beginning of a hectic weekend, so I leave you today with a quick video. See you on Monday!
Read MoreRecital Day: A V-log (sort of)
(Text, more or less): It has been about ten years since I gave a recital. When I gave recitals in college and grad school, I: Practiced three to four hours a day Had my own dedicated practice room, with no internet connection Practiced first thing in the morning before class. Practiced after class until ensemble…
Read MoreAdventures in Liturgy With A Musical Mom
Friday morning, I flew into church at 7:59 a.m. for 8:00 holy day Mass, trailing a widely-spaced gaggle of little ones–the last one wailing. With Christian out of town, I was single parenting, and it was also the last field trip day of the summer, with speech therapy thrown in for good measure. We’d left…
Read MoreNew Music Available: A Walk In The Woods and How Great Thou Art
My second collection of pieces for flute and piano is now available from GIA Publications. In our house it is known as “The Stanley book” because the opening piece, “Stanislaus,” is inspired by a character in stories we used to (and occasionally still do) tell the kids at bedtime. Also newly available is a…
Read MoreKids Who Write Songs, NPM memories, and other QTs
___1___ Let’s start with a story about this boy: Alex loves to rewrite songs. And oh lordy, sometimes it’s hard for an occasional songwriter to listen to it! Last night in the car, he decided to rewrite Rudolph with shades of the Lego movie: “Big Mr. Buz-niss MA-AN, had a bi-ig crane ro-BOT!” “ALEX!” I…
Read MoreWhere I Spent Last Week, And What I Learned From It
I spent last week at a conference for church musicians. I want to blog about it this morning, but so far I have spent ten minutes sitting in front of the computer grasping for what to say. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I can think of lots of things to say, but I can’t find…
Read MoreKid Conductors, Sleep, and Other Quick Takes
___1___ Wednesday night, we took the kids to a symphony concert. This one was about visual art inspired by music. At “family concerts” they also let the kids come up and take turns conducting for a few bars. The kids had a lot of fun. (no idea who the little girl with Nicholas is, hence the…
Read MoreA Stream Of Consciousness Rant About Pop Music
Katy Perry was singing on the radio when Nicholas popped out with, “Is this song called ‘Tiger Rahr’?” I chuckled inwardly at the way his brain changed “roar” into “rahr,” and then suddenly chuckled at myself, because all our kids yell “rahr” instead of “roar” as a result of being chased them around the house…
Read MoreIn Which I’m Rediscovering A Piece Of Myself
Sometimes I forget how blessed I am that what I do and who I am are the same thing. I may have a crazy-busy life with too many irons in the fire, but if you were to boil me down to the essentials, you’d be left with wife, mother, Catholic, creator. With very few exceptions,…
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Kathleen M. Basi 