The Mocking Bird

I can still hear the mocking bird. [Meniere’s removes the low pitched sounds, age the high.]

Each morning that I summon the courage to walk slowly up that slight rise in the road to where it crests at Star View Lane, I can hear the mocking bird with my tired right ear.  One can easily recognize other birds by their limited repertoire of songs, and while the mocking bird may occasionally repeat a phrase it finds interesting, it soon tires and begins a never ending, rarely repeating song … full of melodic and rhythmic invention unmatched by the best human composers.  It is then we know it is a mocking bird.  We must resort to violins, trumpets and tympani to enhance our performances!  But … to us the most evocative sound is still the human voice …. singing of life, love, lust or loss … 

Watch out for scare %ages!

According to a new study, regular use of benzodiazepines -- which include medications such as Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), Xanax (alprazolam) and Klonopin (clonazepam) -- is associated with as much as a 51 percent increased risk for Alzheimer's among people who use the drugs for three months or more.

This is not the first study to suggest a link between use of this class of drugs and increased dementia risk. Another study published in 2012, also in BMJ, followed 1,063 elderly individuals for 20 years. The researchers in that study determined that the risk for dementia was 4.8 per 100 person-years among people who took benzodiazepines versus 3.2 per 100 person-years in the group not taking the drugs.

Here, if one increases the number 3.2 by 50% (1.6), they get 4.8.   However, the real increase is just 1.6 (100 person-years), 1.6%.

Another study reported on by a reviewer said that an increase of 1 person in 10,000 to 3 persons per 10,000 was a threefold increase, or 300%! Wrong! The correct increase is 0.0001 to 0.0003, or an increase of 0.02%.

Prednisone tapering.

None of the on-line articles about prednisone tapering list narcolepsy-like experiences. However, there are many testimonials by people suffering these effects, to which I can also testify. I also wonder about the cause. Could it be that as the body’s hormonal system tries to restart, the gland that normally creates melatonin kicks into high gear ahead of the rest?

Posts!

Stupo! I didn't realize that each Post had a page of its own that visitors were clicking on to view! I have been placing related comments in the Musings page.
Only one close friend has Commented on the music. In a way, I understand, since I find that I'm reluctant to comment on other blogs. However, it may be that as I surmise in one of the Musings, the sounds are too Passé !!!  I think that I may comment on a few of the songs!

Brahms

On a whim, I've ordered some bone conducting earphones. If only I could really hear again ...  what to listen to? I think I miss Brahms most of all.  The piano pieces, the wonderful songs [Habe Dank (sp?) etc.],  and the 4 Symphonies!

Dark Matter!

WHOA!  What if ...   no ...  but, what if ...  the proposed 'dark matter' supposedly needed to assure us that the universe is moving according to our laws of physics ...  is also the same, long sought after 'super gel' needed by æther believers to provide the medium for information and energy transfer ...

How Sweet!

Finally! I spent many frustrating hours trying to embed the pdf of the score for How Sweet is the Springtime in a new Score page. Success ... but limited ... as I tried so many things, I can't recall exactly how it was accomplished.  The performance with the Garritan Stradivarius has been added to the Music Tab.

Dear Daddy Rabbit

For many years, Dr. John Sweet wrote a play that was performed by his wife's Virginia Sweet's Dance students. For several years I assisted with the sound recordings as my daughters were in the plays. One year John and I composed some of the music used ... Dear Daddy Rabbit was sung and danced by one group of students. I've added this tune to the Music Tab.

Why the Blog?

I imagine that a blog about one's past activities is, indeed, a boring subject for any viewer who was not involved in those activities.  So.  I have added a blurb to the Musings Tab which may be an explanation.

A Christmas Carol: Ballet music

I have now added Music for a Ballet on the story of A Christmas Carol to the Music Tab.  It will remain ‘unfinished’ as I can no longer hear the music. There is no score aside from the Digital Performer data and I now have to choose carefully how to expend my time. But there are interesting ideas here …

             Composer: Henry Warner

             Author: Charles Dickens

Germany

Hi ... and guten tag!  [obviously, I don't know German!]  Thanks for viewing ... I was very surprised!

About The Paying Guest

In early 1957 Dr. Dave Jewett and I, decided to create a musical play to be performed the following year by the MDL Players.  Dave [serving 2 years as the Navy Medical Officer] was really the driving force behind this effort that 'made it all happen'!  He wrote the book and lyrics, recruited the talent of actors, set and costume designers, a choreographer, and directed the play.  At first we spent one or two nights a week working on the project .... it soon became almost every night after we set a production date.  

This video is compiled from still photographs of rehearsals and a few short silent film clips taken from the projection booth of the theater. [It should be remembered that in 1958 a 100 ft reel of Kodachrome film only allowed for 3 minutes of video]. The sound recording is also marginal, but all that we have. The stage was not miked, so the loudness of the recording varied as an actor moved on stage.  For the orchestra, I recruited anyone available who had an instrument and I played the piano while kicking the bass drum with my left foot.  The cast was ‘top notch’!

Variations

The late Lamar Gammon. a founding member of the Bay MIDI Club, had a very favorite song … The Shadow of Your Smile, composed by Johnny Mandel.  Lamar sponsored a contest for any and all, offering two prizes … one for the Best Arrangement and another for the Best Orchestration of this song. I decided to do a set of Variations based on styles of various composers and bands … J.S.Bach, Chopin, Bizet, Segovia, Stan Kenton, Brazil 77, etc.  The Variations on a Theme won both prizes.  I have added this music to the Music Tab.

Evergreen

 In 1979 I acquired one of Sony’s new consumer VCRs and tried it out by recording some piano stuff. The camera was not truly portable as it was connected to the VCR by two rather hefty cables.  It also used AGC which did affect changes in audio level adversely. I have added Evergreen to the Video Tab.

WSJ Crossword

This week's Crossword is as delightful as usual with author Pancho Harrison adding a new twist by having some cells use a different 3 letters [pro & con] for the horizontal & the vertical answers. In the past, other authors used the same multiple letters for both the horizontal and the vertical answers.

Evolution

Evolution was written in the 1970’s for use with an art piece by Roland Hockett which depicted a Man Arising from the Earth. This was before the widespread availability of MIDI controllers and sound generators, so analog tone generators and two, 4 track tape recorders were used to assemble the final tracks. The music suggests that mankind, as we know it, lasts but a brief moment in Cosmological time.

Concerto Study

During my first year studying music at the University of Alabama, a course in Music History exposed me, for the first time, to the Piano Concertos of Schumann, Grieg, & Tchaikovsky. I remember bragging, "shucks, I can do that" ... so, over the next two semesters I wrote the 1st Movement of what I called Piano Concerto in e minor. Upon hearing the two piano version at a Symposium, Henry Cowell commented that the, "weaving introductory theme soaring over the 1st Theme, was interesting". Later, after much study of theory and composition, and hearing what Brahms, Rachmaninof and Prokofiev had done with the form, I was completely deflated. Many years later when the electronic orchestra became viable, I orchestrated the 2nd piano part ... just to hear the piece ... and I renamed it, Concerto Study ... just to have some way to refer to this very early work.

Fun City

The music written for the rides at Fun City, Panama City Beach, FL. has been added.

Michelson's Error

OK.  This morning I added my 'little paper',  Michelson's Error, to the bottom of the Musings page ... so that not too many viewers will see it and be amused at Warner's Error.

TGT

I have now added a Playlist for The Giving Tree ... Ballet music written for choreographer Carol Degnan and 1st Performed in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1987.

Contents

I've added a List of the Playlists in the Music Tab. This will be added to as more music is uploaded. I also discovered how to change the Time zone for Posts.

Early

Early this morning I uploaded the music videos for The Paying Guest to a Playlist. Then I found all the performances were stuttering ... stopping and starting ... sometimes with long waits before restarting.  Not Good! However, it turned out the whole internet [at least, Comcast] was suffering the same way.  So I just had to wait.  Tedium! Depressing!
 I have now added The Paying Guest to the Music Tab [4th playlist down].  Remember ... you can select individual pieces in the playlist using a small icon [2nd from left] at the bottom right of the window.

Photos

Tried to load a slide show of Lab photos. No success. Did manage to load some photos ... too small. I'll try again.    Ah! Found that the needed changes could be made right in Photos page edit.

Added music

This morning, with deceptive ease, I added 2 more works to the musica seria playlist. Remember ... one can Select the individual pieces in a Playlist by clicking on a small icon that appears in the lower right corner after the Play button is selected. Also, if the full screen icon is selected, one can return to normal screen by using the ESC key.

Finally

I finally managed to add text to the Musings page. Deleted the original and started over. This first entry is a series of comments on various subjects written back in 2006.  The addendum, written recently, came about when my son-in-law, Mark Winger, during a Christmas [last] party raised the subject of the paradoxes brought on by 'Relativity' ideas.

Another playlist

I added another playlist, musica seria,  in the Music Tab this afternoon. It includes two recent works, Canaan Bound and Potpourri for Piano and Orchestra, along with two very early works ... Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and Sonatina.

Videos

Still no success on getting the Musings page going.  I did manage to get 2 videos installed on the Video page.

still a mystery

I can't seem to enter text into the Musings page.  Tried every Save, Share. Update, & Publish button I could find ... still any entry doesn't get to the site. Have to seek more on-line info ...
Also noticed that the Posted time is Pacific time rather than Eastern ...  don't know how to change that.

Ah, finally!

 I did manage to add The Boy With a Cart playlist to the music page. The real test comes when I try to add more ... I tried so many things that it is difficult to remember what finally brought success. I plan to bring The Giving Tree on board next, and perhaps, some of the music from the unfinished The Christmas Carol.

Learning

Stumbling around from 'how to' to 'how to' trying to learn how to create this blog site. I have managed to get The Gentleman Caller installed on the Music page. It remains to be seen to see if I can add more Playlists on the same page.
Note: When playing the music, the Default is to play the complete Playlist. However, one of the icons at the bottom right side of the window allows selection of individual pieces.