CHRISTMAS CAROL CONTEST {season III}

Yes I know I haven't posted in forever.

Life = crazy.

So be it.

ANYWAY......

This is my third Christmas blogging, and as always, I'm celebrating by holding a contest! A Christmas carol contest to be specific, but of course you already knew that from the title of this post, didn't you? ;)

This contest is broken into two sections. The first is naming the carol from which twenty or so lyrics come from, and the second is a bit of guessing of my favorite carols. Please be fair and use your brain, hymnals, songbooks, and your family to figure these out. Don't just copy/paste the line into google and see what comes up. That's LAME.

Please either SEND me your answers at TREBLECLEFBLOG@GMAIL.COM or COMMENT with your answers and I won't publish them until the contest is closed.

Whoever has the most correct by Christmas at midnight is the winner!!! They will have the chance to guest post here on Treble Clef and also have their button/ad displayed on my sidebar for one month. Let's get to it!

PART A:

(below are several lines from Christmas carols. Please state what carol they come from.)

1. I knew that God has sent that little boy to remind me
   what Christmas is all about.
2. Oh, Christmas Carols, by candlelight
3. Twenty, ten, five and let it freeeeEEEEEEeeze!
4. And folks dressed up like Eskimos
5. And then with a roar they were both on their way
   Each knowing they'd meet on some other day.
6. The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night 
7. So frequently to vanquish all 
   The friends of Satan quite
8. The rainbow has an end,
   And you'll be there my friend someday.
9. Hang a shining star 
10. Raise, raise the song on high
11. And time would heal all hearts
    And everyone would have a friend
12. Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
13. Oh, won't be the same 
    If you're not here with me 
14. Nor thorns infest the ground
15. Christmas day is in our grasp
    So long as we have hands to clasp
16. God with man is now residing, 
    Yonder shines the infant light
17. Once bitten and twice shy
18. The blind will see.
    The deaf will hear.
    The dead will live again.
19. And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging
    chimes of doom
20. In all our trials born to be our friend.
21. With the dawn of redeeming grace
22. Oh, some like it hot, but I like it
    REALLY hot! Hee hee!
23. Thou shalt find the winter's rage
    Freeze thy blood less coldly
      

PART B:

(guessing game!)

See if you can guess....

One or more of my top favorite RELIGIOUS carols

And also see if you can guess....

One or more of my favorite SECULAR carols

(All of these may or may not be answers to Part A)

---

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY! :)

Love Me Some Beethoven

I love my Owl City, my Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Train, PINK, and everything else.

But my heart lies with the masters:

Beethoven

Bach

Mozart

Brahms

Tchaikovsky

Haydn

Rachmaninov

and the other masters of the classical music. 

Call me a geek.......but honestly, this is where it's at. These people were master composers, it's a shame so many people don't appreciate their music now, because it is amazing.

You ask someone "What's your favorite Beethoven symphony?" they will probably respond with either:

(a. The fifth because it's the most famous (especially the beginning)
(b. The ninth because it has the theme that EVERYBODY knows Beethoven for. You know....Ode To Joy? That theme.

Personally, my favorite is the fourth, but I adore the seventh almost as much.

The point of this post? Go out of your comfort zone and listen to some classical music. Just listen and let the music flow. Just try something new.

My suggestions?

BEETHOVEN'S FOURTH SYMPHONY

(a very short selection from this symphony can be found HERE)

HAYDN'S HORN CONCERTO No. 1

(First movement HERE, Third movement HERE)

TCHAIKOVSKY'S 1812 OVERTURE

(Full length recording HERE)

MOZART'S REQUIEM

(Short recording HERE)

There are so many amazing classical pieces, these happen to be four of my all-time favorites.
Check them out and tell me what you think!

On The Field

The countdown has begun! Our first marching band show is on Saturday and those of us in the band are cramming sectionals, individual practice before the weekend and trying to get better and better so that we can come out with a smashing good performance on Saturday night. In fact we have a full ensemble practice tonight and I can guarantee that it will be an intense one. When it comes to regular practices, the toughest one are the ones before the first show and the ones in the week leading up to finals.
I'm pretty sure I can expect a lot of yelling tonight.

Anyway, as the season is well underway by now, I thought that I might go into a little more detail about the show itself and give you the original music so that you can see how it's put together. There's only one word to describe this year's show, and that word is EPIC.

We open with 'The Chase' from National Treasure. The first ten measures are done at a hold and are extremely loud. It's very big, very showy and very awesome.

We then move into the next part of the opener - 'Interrogation'. This part is very driving. It's fast and it builds in a very intense way from light woodwinds to a huge horn chorale.

The middle and ending of the opener, plus the ballad, and the closer to the drum solo are all parts of the song 'Ben'. This song features two ballad-like areas and also some really intense, driving, fast parts from the main theme.

From 'Ben' we move into drum solo and after that finishes, we're off and running with 'Titan Spirit', our final song from Remember The Titans. Whereas a lot of the National Treasure music was intense and minor pitched, 'Titan Spirit' is in a major key and has a lot of really cool little sports themes and the way we're doing it on the field even features a big football 'HUH!' from the band. It's fun.

So, that's our show, just arranged for our band.
It is So. So. Epic.

A Kotzschmar Concert

Oh I just LOVE a good concert!

In Portland at the auditorium at City Hall there is the huge and beautiful organ called the Kotzschmar Organ and every Tuesday night in the summer a guest organist comes and plays a concert, and I got to go and see the one last night with my grandmother!

A man by the name of James (Jimmie) Jones was the organist, he was quite young and was VERY good, but the really neat thing was that a woman named Anita Cirba played along on many of the pieces on trumpet.

See the appeal this holds for me now?

Anyway, the concert was INCREDIBLE.

The organist was so so great and was very animated in his playing, which made him fun to watch. It was especially fun to see him glissando the really low pedal notes that are played with the feet. 

This is him:

The trumpet player, Anita, was simply fabulous. She had beautiful tone quality and was just so nice to listen to. She played trumpet, fluglehorn, and piccolo trumpet, and I especially enjoyed listening to her play the fluglehorn. One of the cool things too was that she played a couple of pieces from the balcony instead of the stage which created a very cool effect.

This is her:

They had a great program too. Some Mendelssohn, Holst and Durufle, along with more contemporary composers. I really liked on of the pieces 'Tea and Trumpets' which featured very 'punny' title such as 'Trumpet Mandatory' instead of the usual trumpet voluntary. I knew some of the music too like Hovhaness' 'Prayer of Saint Gregory' and Durufle's theme from his 'Veni Creator'. I was so excited when they started to play the Holst piece though because it turned out to be the ballad from 'Jupiter' from 'The Planets'. 

Of course, our marching band did the planets two years ago and the Jupiter ballad was my favorite part of the whole show.

It was very nice on organ and trumpet too...

All in all it was a fantastic concert and I would love to see them perform again sometime!

It's raining here today, but that's OK. Good for reading books and doing homework and stuff like that :)

music is... {guest post by Jocee}

the emotions that cannot be expressed through words

a desire that is too sacred to be uttered

a heart's song...it can be joyous

a whole new world with caverns that have yet to be explored
my is more than my life. music is me. 

Just a single note can instigate a feeling within you and it can change your point of view on something. It can turn the tables. It can put you in someone's shoes that you may not have wanted to be in, but it did anyway.
I think it's very interesting how people may say that music is their life, and they may have a band or they may play an instrument, and when you take time out of your day to listen to them, they start playing and all you hear is noise. Pure noise. It may be the style of music that they're playing, or it may be the talent of the performer themselves.
Sometimes the style of music you listen to changes the most in your teen years. You may be a ballerina lover, who listens to the soundtrack of Swan Lake daily, and then you may suddenly switch to heavy metal. Whoa. What happened there?
And then music styles can change drastically in the parenting years. They may listen to the latest hits to impress their teens, or they may listen to the oldies. You know, the 1990's, early 2000's  ;)
For me, I'm a consistent lover of soundtrack {major John Williams fan over here, oh yeah!!} and a genre that can only be explained if you listened to it. It's the Jocee genre ;) But mostly, the music I listen to depends on my mood.
Happy ~ "Something in the Water" Brooke Fraser
Sad ~ "Someone Like You" Adele
Angry ~ "Imperial March" Star Wars - John Williams
Conflicted ~ "Near to You" A Fine Frenzy
Anything Else ~ "Rolling In the Deep" Adele
To me, these artists are sincere in their music. I mean, when they start playing, it doesn't sound like my sister's rendition of the "Hallelujah Chant". {which you probably don't wanna hear, by the way, no offense to my sister who's probably going to kill me later since she knows how to read now} It sounds like real music. Sometimes the artist reaches into the book called my soul and turns a page, and quotes me. It's amazing. 
When someone says music is their life, sometimes I think of an all boy band who practices in their dad's garage. The typical D+ average grades and trying to get a "gig" wherever they can. Maybe I'm stereotyping but sometimes you're going to have to specify was music is to you. 
Whether music is within you, or music is your food & drink, or if music is you.
It matters. Because it defines you.
Jocee: dark amber brown eyes, brown hair, dreams with emerald green eyes, sees life the color vintage, cupcake enthusiast, lover of British accents, left-handed, traditional coca-cola bottle lover, lavender vanilla bubble baths, sea shell collector, avid believer in Narnia, Wonderland and Middle Earth, dictionary reader, quill and ink writer, profound quote creator, despiser of capital letters, your personal imagination station, inspired by rainy days, aspiring photographer, bubble blower.

A Brief Return

Hey everybody! It's me, Sally....remember?

I know, I know I've only been gone a week....

First off, let's have a round of applause for our guest posters this past week. *Claps* You guys all did a wonderful job, thanks so much, I really enjoyed reading your posts. And if you loved these guest posts, then you're in luck because we start another, longer, round of them next Saturday when I head off to band camp.

As for me, I had quite the awesome week at Pilgrim Lodge. I did a lot of music, and I actually led a workshop in more classical instrumental music with my arrangement of Bring Him Home. It was a LOT of hard work and I was glad to have a counselor to help me out a bit too because we really needed someone to conduct and I needed to play. Plus I know virtually nothing about stings, and he was a violin player so that helped a lot for the string players in my group. It was really really pretty at the performance, soft guitar chords, light eighth-noted piano with chords underneath, classical high trumpet melody (played wonderfully by yours truly), haunting harmony in the second trumpet, dark cello bass line, and sweeping violin and viola descant. It was really really amazing and a LOT of fun.
I also did a bunch of other stuff, like chapel services, some art projects, walk the labyrinth, eat ice cream, swim, and go out in the big yellow dory. I added a new instrument to my ever growing repertoire too. I learned how to play the mandolin! It was really fun, and it's really cute. Hmm...I wonder what will be on my Christmas list this year...

All in all it was a really great week. Yesterday though, was WAY too much driving. My mom picked me up at camp, we drove home which was a little over an hour, I had an hour at home then my mom and I had to drive another 45 minutes to my brother's All-Star baseball game which they won 14-4. Yay. Then we got in the car again and drove four hours up to a campground on Mount Desert Island where my grandparents are staying at a campground which Is where I am now.
It's windy and cold up here right now, so we're just sitting in the camper. Later though, my parents, my brother, my aunt, her boyfriend, and I are going to hike up Acadia Mountain which should be fun and hopefully warmer than it is here.

How have your weeks been?

Of Trampolines and Friendly Toes

Hello everyone! Yesterday, well, last night actually, I spent the night at my dear friend Lucy's house. As always we had lots of fun bouncing on her trampoline and naming a photograph 'friendly toes' among other things. She was feeling a little left out that she was going away and not going to be around during the whole guest post fest this summer, so we thought we would do a little conversation post for today because we haven't had one of those in a while. I will type in black and Lucy will type in purple. Why don't you say hello, Lucy?

Hello, Lucy.

Lucy, I'm pretty sure that I am Sally, not Lucy, YOU are Lucy, although we do get mixed up sometimes....

Pshhh, ladeeda. I'm hungry. GIMME A STRAWBERRY.

They're out in the kitchen and for the taking......

Your brother is a very boring person to text, Sally. Have you ever noticed that?

LOL, no, but I can imagine. So Lucy, what are your plans for the day after we eat strawberries, finish this post and do some trampolining?

I'll morph into a potato and sit on the couch doing something completely unproductive. Ya know, the usual.

Oh Lucy...I think I will do lots of trumpet playing (the usual), I need to practice a piece that I'm playing in church on Sunday, an audition and solo piece I need for band camp, and also Bring Him Home for next week at camp. Oh and I'm getting this reiki attunement thing which is like opening up a channel in you for energy to flow and I can like send good energy to people through my hands. It's pretty cool.

So you could send good happy energy to say, our dear friend Ttam? 

Who is Ttam? Wait, I don't wanna know.....SUBJECT CHANGE!

He's in your section, silly goose. But how about we change the subject to cheesecake?

I am pretty sure that on every conversation post we've ever had you have changed the subject to cheesecake. Now how many times do I need to tell you that I HATE CHEESECAKE! Although I do find Louie Armstrong's song 'Cheesecake' quite entertaining.

Ttam likes cheesecake. 

Lucy, you are not prolonging the lifespan of this conversation. Besides, I am getting very hungry for strawberries.

Let's show them the Friendly Toes and wrap this up.

Okey dokey. By the way, I took this picture last summer and the toes belong to my friends Hannah, Molly, Molly, and me. 

FRIENDLY TOES!!!!

Bye guys!

¡Adios, mi amigos penguinos!

Oh Lucy...what am I ever going to do with you?

Finally, A Final Product

Completion.

Victory is mine.

I finished the main writing of this piece a little while ago but then I had to format it for all the parts. Like the score only has the four basic parts, but there are a LOT more. I've got trumpet 1, trumpet 2, clarinet 1, clarinet 2, flute, oboe, alto saxophone, french horn, and trombone/tuba/other bass instruments.

I am extremely please at how it turned out, and I cannot wait to play it at camp in about two weeks. It also serves a dual purpose for camp because we're supposed to bring something that we've created and I'm just going to bring this instead of slaving over a painting or something. I've already slaved over this.....although it was not really work for me because it was very fun.

Anyway, the main point is that I am very happy with it. Yay me.

Also, today was the last day for half my classes! Woot! Except for the final, no more biology, no more band, no more history and NO MORE GYM. (The last one in particular makes me very excited)

I can't believe freshman year is almost over....here comes SUMMER!

On Recent Compositions

{Out of curiosity, is anyone out there a composer like me? If you are, make sure to comment or email, I'd love to be able to swap tips for good composition!}

I've been in the mood for composition recently.

A little while back I finished my arrangement of Bring Him Home, from Les Misérables,

I did a bunch of basic trumpet hymn transpositions,

I did an arrangement of the hymn Let There Be Peace On Earth for trumpet and trombone,

During my trip to Paris, I had a spark of inspiration, and as soon as I got home I began work on a composition for full concert band in the fantasy style, Fantasy on a Theme from Les Misérables. (Inspiration for this was kinda funny. I was listening to the musical on the plane ride home and got to the end of the show, which holds a very pretty musical phrase and this phrase combines with some of the most beautiful lyrics in the show: 'take my hand, and lead me to salvation / take my love, for love is everlasting / and remember the truth that once was spoken / to love another person is to see the face of god.' I was really listening to it that one time and I was immediately like 'I have to write a song based on this.')

And then, over the weekend I felt like doing a bit of composition so I sat down and thought 'A horn piece would be nice'. Thus, I wrote a short piece entitled Etude for French Horn.

As you can see, it's a rather short piece, only a little under thirty measures, but that's an etude for you. Rather short, plus the beginning parts are medium tempo, the middle is fast and the end is REEEEALLY slow, so it's a good small group piece. As you can see, it is written for three horn parts unaccompanied, and each part should really only be played by one person. The third part isn't too difficult, there's just one 16th note run, the second part is moderate and shouldn't be played by a beginner. The first part is fairly hard as it does go up quite high for a lot of the song and also has some really technical parts. Here's the recording...please comment with your thoughts!

I showed this to my friend who plays french horn today and he immediately took it and wanted to play it :)

L & M are for Little Mistakes

L & M are for Little Mistakes

Little mistakes, mishaps, things not going quite the way you thought they would, these can make a big difference. It's funny how so much of my band geeky-ness seems to be based on a couple little mistakes. Believe it or not, I had always wanted to play flute, and planned to do so almost right up until we chose our instruments in fifth grade. Near the last minute I first thought "Wow. French horn is awesome." and I now kinda wanted to play horn instead of flute. I became extremely indecisive. It was just because of this hesitation, this indecisiveness that brought me to being a cornet player. Pretty much my dad was like 'Why don't you play my old cornet to start off with. If you hate it, you can always switch.'

So I became a cornet player. And I was hooked.

All because of one little mistake in the way I thought things were going to turn out....and boom. I'm on my current path.

Learning trombone was a mistake too. I never meant to learn....I just picked up my brother's one day, played a couple of notes, and decided it would be fun to learn.

Jazz band was a mistake too. Sixth grade, I really didn't know what a jazz band was or did in the school. I really didn't care about it. I had not yet taken the plunge into the complete music crazy world I am in now. I only got into the jazz band because I was walking out of band one day and my band director stopped me. Our conversation went a little something like this:

"You'll be at jazz tomorrow morning?"

"Um.......I don't know? **stutter stutter stutter**

"7:10, here, tomorrow morning. You will be here."

At this point I was still very much intimidated by her....so I was there at 7:10 the next morning. And once again, the mistake, the chance that I had ended up there was a very good one. I had my first chance at playing lead trumpet, and my year in that training jazz band on cornet led me in the next two years playing second and lead trumpet in the performance band and having multiple solos. 

Marching band? Also a mistake. At the end of seventh grade I put my name on a list that basically said 'I'm interested in the marching band can I have more information?'

I got no more info.

Until I got a call in the middle of August. There was a guy on the end of the phone and this is what he said "Hi, I'm Matt and I'm your section leader for marching band and I'll see you for uniform fitting and our first practice next Monday."

So I ended up in marching band.

It just goes to show, little mistakes can lead to great things.

G is for Gig

G is for Gig

Well....concert would be a more accurate term for what I'm going to talk about but that starts with a C and I needed a word that started with G and this was the best I came up with. Yeah it's slang, yeah it's not grammatically correct, but it just so happens to be the best word for the topic of this post. Hmph.

What in the world is a gig? You may ask this question. Dictionary.com seems to have several different meanings for the word 'gig', and the definition I wanted was.....at the bottom. Welcome to my life...

Anyway,

gig4

noun, verb, gigged, gig·ging. Slang .

–noun

1.

a single professional engagement, usually of short duration, as of jazz or rock musicians.

2.

any job, especially one of short or uncertain duration: a teaching gig out west somewhere.

–verb (used without object)

3.

to work as a musician, especially in a single engagement: He gigged with some of the biggest names in the business. 

Today, as you may have guessed, we had a little concert, or, as we may as well call it, a gig. It was a judged affair and went very very well. In our clinic/critique afterwards the judge basically just told us we were awesome, he didn't have anything to work on with us. That was pretty cool, I guess they really thought we were good. We'll just have to see what our final score came out to be.

Our pieces were called Deer Path Dances, Country Wildflowers and Sky Dance. Sky Dance was by far my favorite. It was really high and big and bold and fast and plain AWESOME. Totally cool.

Now just time to prepare for our Pops Concert at the end of May. I know we're playing a medley of Elton John stuff, a piece called Music for a Darkened Theater which is like a medley of songs from action/thriller/horror movies, and a third tune that may or may not be a concert band arrangement of Owl City's Fireflies! I know my band director bought the chart and the score earlier this year and he was thinking of doing it for this upcoming concert and I'm really hoping that he will. I would so love to play that song in band...

E & F are for Epically Fun

No, no, I didn't forget to post yesterday, I simply just simply didn't have the time! My day was totally jam packed, so I have combined days E & F together in this one post.

E & F are for Epically Fun

Yesterday was a great day, much improved over the dreadfulness of Monday. The school day itself could be described as so-so, pretty average, it was after school that was awesome.

April is nation jazz appreciation month, and to celebrate this, our music boosters organize a jazz band event called Jazzapalooza for all seven middle and high school jazz bands in our city.

Pretty much what happens at Jazzapalooza is the middle schoolers get to work with clinicians for the afternoon, everyone gets yummy pizza for dinner, and it ends with a great concert in the evening. Now, high schoolers don't do the clinics, but there were certainly plenty of us around and I was actually asked by my old band director if I would work with the trumpet sections in her two bands. I had a lot of fun doing that and after I was done....the trumpets sounded great! It was awesome. There was a really fun improv clinic too, which I got to participate in. Improv is really fun because basically you just have a couple of chords that you play, you've got a handful of notes to choose from, and you just go for it and jam. Totally epic and awesome. After a couple breaks and our three clinics it was pizza time. All the rest of the high schoolers were arriving and we had a great time. All my band friends were telling my brother how he REALLY needed to be in the marching band next year. We'll see if he decides to do that or not.

We mostly just chilled for a while afterwards. Did some jamming in the band locker room, tuned the middle school bands and just hung out before the concert. The concert.....was awesome. I got to sit in and double the lead trumpet part with my old two middle school jazz bands which was great and my high school jazz band did really well too. I did have one mini heart attack moment though....I got up on stage and realized that I only had half the pages to my second song. Yeah....Sally freak-out-on-stage moment right there. Luckily, it turned out that I had the piece memorized without knowing it so playing it without music was a breeze.

It truly was, an epically fun day :)

Feeling Blah

Yeah, Sally's feeling sick. Got some kind of flu-like thing so I'm home from school. This means a few things.

One, I'm sitting on the couch, writing this blog post, drinking tea, and have a TON of tissues around.

Another would be that I'm blasting the Owl City. I love Owl City....I recently heard their new single 'Alligator Sky' which was pretty cool, you should check it out if you're a fan. I'm very excited for the whole new album, All Things Bright And Beautiful to come out in May. I'll certainly be buying that on iTunes as soon as it comes out and trying to get some of the songs from it on my playlist :)

Today I am also hoping to get some good reading time in. One thing I do not like very much about having a busy schedule is that any free time I have is often spent doing homework, not reading. Blah.

I am also thinking about FRANCE. We are leaving in only sixteen days! Eeep! So exciting....my parents and I want to do a bunch of stuff there, go to a couple museums, Eiffel Towel, the Arch de Triumph, a World War II cemetery near Normandy, stuff like that as well as walking around eating crêpes on the streets that we bought from vendors, speaking in lots of French, eating french chocolates and pastries and breads and cheeses....

My brother on the other hand is a different story. He says 'NO HISTORICAL AND MUSEUM STUFF!!!!!'. He's very adamant about that....all he wants to do is sit around cafés eating baguette all day long. Oh dear. 

I know this has been a rambling post but I'd like to finish it with a picture. This is a picture I took on Friday at the jazz fest of one of the flute players music. I love taking pictures of music, but as I was editing it, my hand slipped and slid a couple of the editing bars and I clicked save at the same time. I thought my picture was probably ruined, but it turned out looking so cool! Here it is:

Bagels + Music. Who Knew?

Who doesn't love a warm, freshly baked, toasted bagel, topped with you favorite cream cheese? I think my favorite two bagels are a sea salt bagel from Scratch Bakery, served cold with just plain bagel, or a toasted everything bagel from Mister Bagel with yummy veggie cream cheese. Ooh. I'm really starting to crave bagels just writing about them! I must remedy that.

*Runs downstairs*

Darn. No bagels in the kitchen...oh well. I've got a couple slices of pizza from dinner last night, that will make a good snack once I'm done with this post.

Anyway, if bagels themselves are so awesome, what happens when you combine bagels with my favorite thing EVER- music?

Ahh, the result would be interesting, wouldn't you think?

Well, this is a story of music and bagels.

Yesterday, we had a sub in band, so we all just sat around and treated it like a study hall. I was sitting with my friends Hannah, Cara, and Isabella and we were talking a bunch, but I was also bored. They all had had homework assigned in their previous class but I had none, and 85 minutes is a long time to sit around doing nothing, plus I had forgotten my Harry Potter book at home which made me sad. So. 

First I was like 'Oh, I should do some practicing.' But all the practice rooms were taken. 

Then I thought 'I'll work on the coda of 'Bring Him Home'. But my chord changes and basic outline of the song were...at home. So basically I ended up right back where I started. And I'm not sure how it started but either Hannah or Cara was like 'Write us a song, Sally! About bagels!' And they went on to explain how it needed to have noises that went 'whoop! whoop! whoop!' and it needed to start out really chill, and then be all attack like and then slow and pretty and happy. Oh, and there had to be chanting of 'Bagels, bagels, oh my soul.' included. 

So yesterday, I wrote them a song about bagels. And it was probably the most fun I have ever had arranging or composing and I was laughing throughout the whole process. But the song came out quite nice actually, and I have the computer recording in this video for you to listen to. However, please be warned that this recording is simply AWFUL. It pays no attention to dynamics, tempos, balance, articulations, fermatas, etc. Plus the slide whistle doesn't, uh, slide and make the 'whoop! whoop!' sound it's supposed to and the clarinet sounds like a 5th grader is playing it. Quite annoying actually. Soon, hopefully, we will have a much better recording that we play. But now I present you with my composition of:

Bagels, Bagels (Oh My Soul)

Bring Him Home (II)

Enjoy :)

OK....Now what?

'tomorrow we'll discover what our god in heaven has in store. one more dawn, one more day, one day more!' ~ one day more (les misérables)

Over the past month, my life had been totally consumed with the production of Les Misérables. But last night was our final show, last night we cleaned up and packed away the pit, last night we tore down the set, last night we partied for the last time.

But this whole experience has just been SO incredibly amazing for me. It was awesome playing each show, hitting all those stratospherically high notes every time, and getting to watch the whole show. Now, I just can't wait to get my DVD!
I must say, it was very sad, so much that by the end most of the cast and pit were crying as everyone was dead.
I REALLY wish that I could upload a video from youtube that shows several clips from the show so you could see it. Unfortunately, it has the name of my high school at the end and i don't know how to blur it out. Grrrr.

But this now brings me to a weird place. You see, from August through October marching band ruled my life. From the end of November to now, musical did.

Now I'm not quite sure what to DO with myself....
One thing I know I'm going to be doing is get back to blogging! I missed you guys but I needed the break during the craziness of Les Mis was over.

I'm pretty sure that's all I wanted to say on that...LOL.

'do you hear the people sing? say, do you hear the distant drums? it is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes....tomorrow comes!' ~ finale (les misérables)

Firework

You know, I always thought that Katy Perry had a good voice. But, I never found her lyrics to be very good. Hot 'n Cold was OK if you got past the one swear at the beginning, but I never liked California Gurls or Teenage Dream. Just didn't like the lyrics. And then a couple weeks ago I was listening to the radio in the car when this song came on.

And the lyrics were so GOOD. Really inspring. And when I turned up the volume I recognized the voice, and I thought "Wow. That's Katy Perry. With these awesome song lyrics."

You probably know what song I'm talking about.

It's Firework.

 Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting throught the wind
Wanting to start again?

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six feet under scream
But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that tehre's still a chance for you
Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed
So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road
 Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gunna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em goin "Oh, oh, oh!"

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

Such. Perfect. Lyrics.
So many good ideas.
Be yourself. Let your colors shine out. Don't be afraid. Let people know who you really are. Shine YOUR light. Bad things are going to happen (like hurricanes) but good things can follow (rainbows). Capture everyone's attention with your light, and brighten the room with your cheerful presence as a firework lights up the sky on the Fourth of July. You're your own person, an original, AND YOU CANNOT BE REPLACED.

So.

Ignite your light.


AND LET IT SHINE.

i'm a tuba failure

So...confession.

I pride myself on being able to learn instruments fast and easily.

Perfecting is another matter, I'm talking basics here although there are some instruments I'm quite good at. (I'd say I'm best at trumpet family, trombone and mallet percussion)

Cornet, trumpet, these are my main instruments. This is what I try to always be perfecting. I'm good with trumpet family.

In the middle of my 7th grade year we got XanFan's trombone. Because trombones are way cool, I of course wanted to try it out. And I was hooked. 

So I promptly learned it and was ready for all the 8th grade trombone music thrown at me in 8th grade.

In 8th grade in one of the jazz bands I ended up learning a LOT of percussion stuff. I had previous piano experience, and by the end of the year I could do mallet stuff really well as well as auxiliary percussion and a tad of set.

Also in 8th grade I decided that it was about time for me to learn a woodwind. So I started clarinet. And after the first couple tedious days, things came quickly.

 

That's all I learned officially. But I've played my friend Anna's mellophone several times and that's been easy and Lucy had an old flute lying around which I promptly picked up, played, looked up a fingering chart online and immediately began teaching myself to play flute.

But today, XanFan brought home the tuba he's been learning. And he played it for a while and then he said 'Sally, do you wanna try?' 

So I did.

And it was an epic failure. Could barely get sound out of the monstrosity.

And that is why you are not go to see me playing tuba anytime soon....

But tuba....beware.

One day.

I SHALL CONQUER YOU!!!!!

Christmas Carol Contest (Season II)

For those of you who knew of Treble Clef last year around this time, you may recall the amazing Christmas Carol Contest I hosted last year. {see here}

Lots of people entered, but HayHay, author of Fish Flakes, dominated the competition by being able to answer ALL of the carols correctly.

This year's competition is going to be extremely challenging- but it will be SO WORTH IT if you are the lucky winner.

Here's how to enter. Below, listed are several lines from Christmas carols. Some are well-known, some are not. You must then comment with each number and you answer (what carol you think the line is from) Hit submit and you're entered. You MUST ONLY USE YOUR MIND AND THE MINDS OF YOUR FAMILY to get the answers. Please don't cheat and look it up on the internet.

If you enter, please also take this button to put on your blog to tell people you entered and direct them here so they can enter too.

Finally, how to win. The first person to get ALL the carols correct by Christmas, is the winner! If we get to Christmas and nobody has gotten all of them correct, then the person who got the highest percentage right wins.

The prize? Since I only got 2 entries to my photo contest, I canceled that and I'm using the same prize as that would have had because it was not used.

The Robin's Nest Deluxe Package valued at $35!

Including:

1 background paper (scrolling or stable)

1 header

1 blog button

1 post divider (includes signature)

1 sidebar divider

1 "Older Posts" image
1 favicon

Custom size and layout of columns and post body

Up to 7 sidebar titles

Up to 7 framed sidebar photos

1 horizontal menu (underneath header)

And now, the lines from the carols.....

1.
Come and trim my Christmas tree
With some decorations bought at Tiffany's

2. 

Oh how they pound,
raising the sound, 

3.

For black and for white (if you want it)
For yellow and red ones (war is over)
Let's stop all the fight (now)

4.

...shepherds quake at the sight

5.

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices

 6.

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

7.

...earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.

8.

..when that blue heartache starts hurting.

9.

We're snuggled up together like two
Birds of a feather would be.

10.

The King of kings, salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

 11.

Although it's been said
many times, many ways

12.

He comes to make His blessing flow
far as the curse is found,

13.

It's been a year
It doesn't surprise me

14.

A star, a star, dancing in the night  

15.

When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?

16.

Where the treetops glisten
and children listen 

17.

And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end

18.

Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die

19.

And take us to heaven, to live with Thee there.

20.

Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Seal'd in the stone-cold tomb. 

21.

"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song.."

22.

...knew the sun was hot that day

23.

Somebody waits for you;
Kiss her once for me

There you go! Now link up in a comment to enter, and do it fast before somebody beats you!

*Side Note* Your comment with your answers won't be published until we have a winner, so that no body cheats. Your answers will just stay nice and safe in my inbox :)

Les Mis Love

"At the end of the day you're another day colder, and the shirt on you back doesn't keep out the chill. And the righteous hurry past, they don't hear the little ones crying, and the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill.

One day nearer to dying."

Les Misérables. Translated roughly to mean "The Miserable People". It's a book, a Broadway production and a movie. Here's the synopsis:

"Les Misérables (literally "The Miserable Ones"; usually pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːbl/; French pronunciation: [le mizeʁabl(ə)]), translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims) , is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a seventeen-year period in the early 19th century, starting in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion.^[1]

The novel focuses on the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. It examines the nature of law and grace, and expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. The story is historical fiction because it contains factual and historic events.

Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, most notably the stage musical of the same name, sometimes abbreviated "Les Mis" (pronounced /leɪ ˈmɪz/)."

source:wikipedia

"I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hopes were high and life worth living. I dreamed that love would never die, I dreamed that God would be forgiving. Then I was young and unafraid, and dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid, no song unsung, no wine untasted."

Pretty miserable huh? But it's a great story and I know a one other blogger, Laurea, who particularly loves it. We sang a medley of Les Mis  songs in the chorus at band camp too, many of which are quoted here. The best part of Les Mis is DEFINITELY the music.

"I know a place where no one's lost. I know a place where no one cries. Crying at all is not allowed. Not in my castle on a cloud."

But WHY am I going on and on about the awesomeness of Les Mis? Well, every year, my high school puts on a simply amazing musical in February. Really. It's incredible EVERY SINGLE YEAR. And this year's show? I bet you can't guess...that's right. Les Mis! :)

"Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me? Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see? Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!"  

No, I'm not acting. But I am.....IN THE PIT BAND!!!!! I found out I made it playing trumpet today which makes me very happy. Our first practice is on Friday and we'll get music and stuff and start rehearsing. Pit requires a lot of perfect timing so I'll have to make sure never to zone out. ;)

"God on high, hear my prayer. In my need, you have always been there. You can take, you can give, let him be, let him live. 

If I die, let me die.

Let him live, bring him home.

Bring him home"

Finally, I've whipped up a short playlist of my five favorite Les Mis songs that are also quoted here for you to listen to. In order of appearance in this post: At the End of the Day

I Dreamed A Dream

Castle On A Cloud

Do You Hear the People Sing?

Bring Him Home