“Life is like a piano... what you get out of it depends on how you play it.”

The Pope's brother Msgr. Georg Ratzinger — for thirty years choirmaster of Regensburg Cathedral — recently gave an interview to the Swiss Catholic press agency KIPA, in which he divulged that Benedict XVI's favourite musical pieces are the Clarinet Quintet and the Clarinet Concerto. Inside the Vatican reported that Benedict was playing Mozart on his piano on the Sunday afternoon following his installation as Pope, when he returned to his old apartment to see his brother. And papal biographer George Weigel said in Newsweek after Benedict's election that "here is another surprise for cartoonists of the dour Ratzinger: he's a Mozart man, which I take to be an infallible sign of someone who is, at heart, a joyful person."

But let's hear Pope Benedict himself on the subject. In the extended interview that was published ten years ago as Salt of the Earth we read: "You are a great lover of Mozart." " Yes! Although we moved around a very great deal in my childhood, the family basically always remained in the area between the Inn and the Salzach. And the largest and most important and best parts of my youth I spent in Traunstein, which very much reflects the influence of Salzburg. You might say that there Mozart thoroughly penetrated our souls, and his music still touches me very deeply, because it is so luminous and yet at the same time so deep. His music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy of human existence."

Quicksand

Forget about the monsters, giant bugs and ghosts. When I was a lad, the biggest and wierdest danger to any hero or hapless wanderer in the movies was QUICKSAND!



Quicksand offered filmmakers a simple recipe for excitement: A pool of water, thickened with oatmeal, sprinkled over the top with wine corks. It was, in its purest form: "My gosh, we're sinking! Will we escape this life-threatening situation before time runs out?" Those who weren't rescued simply vanished from the script: "It's too late—he's gone." The alternative was no less random: Surviving quicksand has always required more good fortune than skill. Is that a lasso over there? A tendril from a banyan tree, perhaps. It is brought to mind as the children and I saw the Socerer's Apprentice -- the newest and coolest version of quicksand and ther serendipitous escape.


Speaking of quicksand, Maureen is married.

What can I say? Librarians rule!" --Regis Philbin

I came across this article from NPR... check it out! Here

When words leave off, music begins. Heinrich Heine

Yes, it is June. As any parent can tell you, it is crunch time for parents. The halcyon days when you can sit in a crowded and hot and sweaty auditorium awaiting your child's few minutes of fame. Of course, no school district is different when it comes to inconvenient timing, (not enough time to eat dinner), length, (at least 3 hours), and date, (but John, Paul, Mag and Veronica have something on that date, too.) But then the girls sit down at the bench and all those inconveniences are tossed out the window. Just the girls and the piano keys!!! Enjoy.

Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy. Robert Heinlein

I rather enjoy making my children's lives difficult. However, it does pay off for them.



A little known fact is that some 15 years or so ago, Maureen, too, played the clarinet. She came to hate it.

Lost in the Music?

If you have ever wondered what music for soundtracks is made of, I think you'll like the video clip you can find here . An aside: Gone "viral" is a show called Glee. Maureen and Claire both love the show, primarily because of this:
and this:

Hank Jones RIP

"To me, music consists of melody, rhythm and harmony, and if it lacks any one of those three elements, then it's not music anymore." - Hank Jones Hank Jones, whose self-effacing nature belied his stature as one of the most respected jazz pianists of the postwar era, died on Sunday in the Bronx. He was 91. By the 1980s, Mr. Jones’s late-blooming career as a band leader was in full swing. While he had always recorded prolifically — by one estimate he can be heard on more than a thousand albums — for the first time he concentrated on recording under his own name, which he continued to do well into the 21st century. He is survived by his wife, Theodosia. Mr. Jones was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 1989. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2008 and a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 2009. And he continued working almost to the end. Laurel Gross, a close friend, said he had toured Japan in February and had plans for a European tour this spring until doctors advised against it. “I never tried consciously to develop a ‘touch,’ ” he told The Detroit Free Press in 1997. “What I tried to do was make whatever lines I played flow evenly and fully and as smoothly as possible. “I think the way you practice has a lot to do with it,” he explained. “If you practice scales religiously and practice each note firmly with equal strength, certainly you’ll develop a certain smoothness. I used to practice a lot. I still do when I’m at home.” Mr. Jones was 78 years old at the time.