Live Music
So's the other day, Saturday, I'm at this party, see, and there's two grand pianos sittin' in the hosts' living room (she's a piano teacher), and this kid their son starts playin' this piece, and it jes' blows me away! Music that just grabbed onto me, I thought if I weren't holdin' onter somethin' I'd plum fall over backwards-like! Intense. Just a tidal wave of sound knocking me over.
As I'm leavin' this party I says to meself, I says, "Jen girl, you need more live music in your life. MP3's, man, they just ain't the same, sound-quality-wise. Now LIVE music, that's somethin' ta look forward to."
So's fast-forward to Sunday. I'm rehearsin' with the choir and Don, our director, nice bloke, he says there's a free concert that night over at a church in Forest Hills, and he'll be playin' the organ and we're welcome ta come and check it out. It's a live performance of John Rutter's Requiem Mass. Now, if you've never heard'a John Rutter, now HE'S a composer! And his Requiem Mass is...well, it's one of the most beautiful and movin' pieces I've ever had the luck ta hear. But I've only ever heard it on the YouTubes, never live. And I says to meself, right then, that there ain't no reason I shouldn't go to this performance. So's I run home and get all my chores done, and grab my friend Grace and we high-tails it over ta Forest Hills, and within the first two minutes after the choir opens its mouth, I'm sittin' there weepin' in the pews. Fantastic. Absolutely bloody fantastic.
It's also got the most intense Agnus Dei I've ever heard. A good Agnus Dei, it's all about the Lamb of God so it's usually sweet and uplifting--starts soft and ends soft, maybe there's a little drama in the middle but it's happy drama, Hooray-we're-all-saved, ya know? But Rutter's Agnus Dei, man...intense. We're talkin' Mozart's De Profundis levels of intense, we're talkin' verses-interspersed-with-burial-prayers, ruminations on man's mortality, we're all cut down like flowers, Who-can-possibly-save-us-now?! And even when the question gets answered--it's Jesus, who's surprised?--it's this desperate last minute triumph and glory and gratitude. No soft lambs-wool here, let me tell ya!
So there it is, live music. What did I tell ya? MP3's just ain't no substitute.
Then Tuesday comes around, and I decide--no reason, other than that I got an open schedule that day--ta take my lunch break a little earlier in the mornin', 11:30 instead o' 1, and I head over to Schenley Plaza on account o' the nice weather. And I'm halfway there and I'm thinkin', I wonder who's playin' over there today. I ain't seen Brad Yoder for a while, I always like his music but I hadn't seen anythin' listed on his website. So I don't go straightaway over to the tent, I sit out in the sun. Inside the tent I see a couple o' musician settin' up, and there's a guy with a guitar singin' softly. And I sit up and I says to meself, "Is that Brad Yoder?! It IS Brad Yoder!"
Turns out, he was doin' a double show, playin' backup to this nice young lady with a keyboard, Heather Kropf. It was mostly her stuff, with Brad openin' for her then backin' her up on the vocals or the tenor sax. She had a real nice groove and a soft, intense voice, a little bit of Vienna Teng, or maybe a more mature Vanessa Carlton. Then they played a few o' Brad's songs to wrap things up. And Heather was all, "You can buy a CD or get on the mailing list or whatever, but really it's just a beautiful day and here's some free music, so enjoy!" I like that attitude, I do!
So this Heather Kropf person--I don't think you'll be too disappointed if you checked out her songs. She's got a website and a Myspace page where you can give her a listen.
There it is--that's what it all comes down to, see? A beautiful day, and here's some free music.
MP3's just ain't no substitute.
As I'm leavin' this party I says to meself, I says, "Jen girl, you need more live music in your life. MP3's, man, they just ain't the same, sound-quality-wise. Now LIVE music, that's somethin' ta look forward to."
So's fast-forward to Sunday. I'm rehearsin' with the choir and Don, our director, nice bloke, he says there's a free concert that night over at a church in Forest Hills, and he'll be playin' the organ and we're welcome ta come and check it out. It's a live performance of John Rutter's Requiem Mass. Now, if you've never heard'a John Rutter, now HE'S a composer! And his Requiem Mass is...well, it's one of the most beautiful and movin' pieces I've ever had the luck ta hear. But I've only ever heard it on the YouTubes, never live. And I says to meself, right then, that there ain't no reason I shouldn't go to this performance. So's I run home and get all my chores done, and grab my friend Grace and we high-tails it over ta Forest Hills, and within the first two minutes after the choir opens its mouth, I'm sittin' there weepin' in the pews. Fantastic. Absolutely bloody fantastic.
It's also got the most intense Agnus Dei I've ever heard. A good Agnus Dei, it's all about the Lamb of God so it's usually sweet and uplifting--starts soft and ends soft, maybe there's a little drama in the middle but it's happy drama, Hooray-we're-all-saved, ya know? But Rutter's Agnus Dei, man...intense. We're talkin' Mozart's De Profundis levels of intense, we're talkin' verses-interspersed-with-burial-prayers, ruminations on man's mortality, we're all cut down like flowers, Who-can-possibly-save-us-now?! And even when the question gets answered--it's Jesus, who's surprised?--it's this desperate last minute triumph and glory and gratitude. No soft lambs-wool here, let me tell ya!
So there it is, live music. What did I tell ya? MP3's just ain't no substitute.
Then Tuesday comes around, and I decide--no reason, other than that I got an open schedule that day--ta take my lunch break a little earlier in the mornin', 11:30 instead o' 1, and I head over to Schenley Plaza on account o' the nice weather. And I'm halfway there and I'm thinkin', I wonder who's playin' over there today. I ain't seen Brad Yoder for a while, I always like his music but I hadn't seen anythin' listed on his website. So I don't go straightaway over to the tent, I sit out in the sun. Inside the tent I see a couple o' musician settin' up, and there's a guy with a guitar singin' softly. And I sit up and I says to meself, "Is that Brad Yoder?! It IS Brad Yoder!"
Turns out, he was doin' a double show, playin' backup to this nice young lady with a keyboard, Heather Kropf. It was mostly her stuff, with Brad openin' for her then backin' her up on the vocals or the tenor sax. She had a real nice groove and a soft, intense voice, a little bit of Vienna Teng, or maybe a more mature Vanessa Carlton. Then they played a few o' Brad's songs to wrap things up. And Heather was all, "You can buy a CD or get on the mailing list or whatever, but really it's just a beautiful day and here's some free music, so enjoy!" I like that attitude, I do!
So this Heather Kropf person--I don't think you'll be too disappointed if you checked out her songs. She's got a website and a Myspace page where you can give her a listen.
There it is--that's what it all comes down to, see? A beautiful day, and here's some free music.
MP3's just ain't no substitute.