In the Arms of an Angel - My Night with Sarah

On May 29, 2014 I hurt my back at work.  June 12, 2014 was my anniversary with Amy for 10 years of marriage.  Due to my injury, I was unable to do anything and so I bought tickets to go see Sarah McLachlan live, here in Prince George.  I love to listen to her music because it is peaceful and relaxing.  One of my favorite tunes of hers is Angel.  I will do another blog post on who Sarah McLachlan is later, this post is for the evening I spent with her.  Because this post is for school, I will speak to some of the artistic aspects of the concert, which in all honesty, I became upset only for a moment during the concert because I thought "OH! I better pay attention to the lights and other background effects for my blog."  I quickly changed my mind and got back to soaking up the sound of Sarah.  I feel like I can call her by first name now that I have seen her live in concert.  Amy said that she feels now she enjoys Sarah's music more now that she has heard her in concert.

So briefly, I thought it was real cool how they used the light show to go with the feel and beat of the music.  For example, slow music - slow lights, faster music faster lights.  She also brought the music up in tempo and volume and at the peak of it, their was a video of fireworks on the backdrop.
Speaking of the backdrop, it was neat how the backdrop would show pieces of art work or photos of nature and sometimes video of Sarah performing with some of the band.  It was really cool how they would over lap her upper body with her hands while she played the piano.  Although I could see the sound guys, I wasn't able to see how they put these effects on the back drop.  It must have been done by someone else. 

Sarah had a competition on her website for people to share how they "Shine On" (the name of her newest album) and the winners got to sit on stage in Sarah's "living room".  It was really sweet to see a grandma up there, she must have been in her 70's or older.

The range of Sarah's voice is amazing.  You can't really get a feel for broad her range is by listening to a CD, however, seeing her in concert using her whole body to reach those high notes and nail the lower notes really opened my eyes to how amazing her voice really is with the broad range.   I also found it interesting that a professional singer/artist would be so obvious with using her body to help her hit difficult notes.

The band members were vary skilled in their instruments, even using different variations of them.  Each one performing small solos through out the night.  They would too use their body to show the emotion of the song that they were playing.

Watching those professionals tonite and seeing how passionate they were about every song that they performed, made me think of them when they were kids and made me wonder who encouraged them and gave them the opportunity to rise to the level of success that they have achieved. 
Wow I could write so much more.

 

I will leave you with this, Angel is one of my all time favorites of Sarah's and so I tried to sing it this morning.  I have recorded myself playing it on the guitar as well as I videoed Sarah singing it live.  You can put your vote in and let me know how I did, just keep in mind I only practiced the song twice before recording.  Thanks for reading and listening.

 

 

Rocking with pots

Josiah was putting pots on the piano bench and I was about to tell him very sternly to put them away when I saw two wooden spoons in his hand.  So I was running all over the house trying to find my phone hoping to video tape this band that just formed in my living room. Luckily I managed to find it in time to grab some of the action.  This is really hard sometimes. All I wanted today was some piece and quiet, but the kids wanted to play music.  While the sound of the pots banging was deafening to my ears and both Amy and I wanted them to stop, I had to say, this is what we wanted.  We want musical kids, we want them to explore with sound, so sometimes we just have to let them play, especially when it is spontaneous like this.  So get ready for a new beat......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7jQH5hzs_o&list=UUOqEgbT-IFNCtLa_WLGUwyg

Acoustic Versus Digital Piano

I have been curious about teaching music in elementary school and so have been trying to research it by asking current teachers.  What I discovered is that, as an elementary teacher (Primary or Intermediate) it does not matter what you enjoy teaching, you may end up teaching music to your students because you may end up in a school without a music specialist.  If you so happen to land a job in a school with a music specialist, then they will likely teach music to your students, teach band, and/or choir or anything having to do with music. 

I then wanted to see if BC music teachers had a website, a place to go for ideas and inspiration.  I found The British Columbia Registered Music Teachers' Association.  On this website I found some articles that were written, one of which discusses a topic that I was in discussion with some of my peers.  I really like the way this article is written, primarily because it is pro acoustic and provides me with more ammunition if I have to ever have this conversation again.  The following link will take you to this article.  I hope you enjoy it and would like to hear your opinion on acoustic or digital.

Acoustic Versus Digitial Piano

The Whistler

Often times I will come out of my daze and find myself whistling or humming a tune.  Such was the case this morning.  I was riding the bus up here and I was humming this song I listened to last night.  I can only remember a couple lines so it was over and over.  Then I thought, I need to change it up, and so the whistling began.  I love to whistle.  I  think that when you hear someone whistling or singing, it reveals their mood and a little more about them then s/he may realize.  As I began to whistle I was walking with  people from the bus and I don't like to interrupt their peace so I kept it quiet.  As I walked through the university I noticed how my sound carried and it became much more....what is the word?  But it seemed to come more alive then the dull quietness.  So I opened up and let my whistle roar!  Coming from yesterday's music class with Grade 5/6 yesterday and learning about music notes, I thought I would write the notes for the tune that I was whistling.  Now I haven't shown pitch or actual notes, but maybe that will be for another time.  So, here it is below, try to clap along.

Oh!

and it is a rough draft, I do have some scribbles here.  I thought about doing a good copy but decided to share the experience and thought process as much as I can on written paper.