Oh NOOOO! Editing the rough recording of the next Poetry Planet for StarShipSofa and Audacity crashed. Thought I'd only lost about 2 minutes of work, because I'd been a good girl and saved after almost every change. No such luck. Upon reopening the file Audacity claimed it couldn't open it (or the back up file) because there was no data on it. AAARRRGH! Luckily there was some other back-up file of the same recording, but it was the rough recording with none of the edits. Arrrrgh. Well, it could've been worse. I might've had to re-record everything....
In other news, today I leave for Poland. I'm singing 2 concerts with women's medieval singing group Diadema, directed by my good friend Allegra (from Elysium). We will be singing at this beautiful convent near Krakow. The program will consist mostly of music by one of my favorite composers and historical figures: Hildegard of Bingen.
Then I have a few days at home and it's off to the Italian seaside for 2 weeks in the sun! Yippee!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
List of Podcast appearances
OK, I've been at this awhile but it's only just occurring to me that I should start an (as yet incomplete) running list of my podcast appearances complete with links, etc. Here it is with the most recent first:
--------------------------
- -- Poetry Planet No. 7: "2012 Rhysling Award Showcase", StarShipSofa No. 256
- -- Main Fiction: The Timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, 1942 by Kim Stanley Robinson, StarShipSofa No. 249
- -- Poetry Planet No. 6: "Moon Imaginings" StarShipSofa No. 245
- -- Poetry Planet No. 5b: "Time Travel - Part 2" StarShipSofa No. 229
- -- Short Fiction: "Urchins, While Swimming", by Cathryn M. Valente PodCastle No. 198
- -- Short Fiction: "Unwoven", Tim Waggoner, Tales to Terrify No. 5
- -- Poetry Planet No. 5a: "Time Travel - Part 1" StarShipSofa No. 223
- -- Poetry Planet No. 4: "Coming Home" StarShipSofa No. 208
- -- Poetry Planet No. 3: "Rhysling Award Showcase", StarShipSofa No. 202
- -- Poetry Planet No. 2: "First Contact", StarShipSofa No. 192
- -- Poetry Planet No. 1: "Introduction", StarShipSofa No. 184
- -- Fiction: Kingspeaker by Marie Brennan, Podcastle No. 122
- -- Music: Theme Music for Blood and Chrome Podcast
- -- Transcriber Editorial: StarShipSofa No. 130
- -- Fiction: Love Among the Talus by Elizabeth Bear, Podcastle No. 96
- -- Poetry: Clone Assassin by Lyn C. A Gardner, StarShipSofa No. 102
- -- Fiction: Daughter of Botu by Eugie Foster, Podcastle No. 63
- -- Flash Fiction: A Hand and Honor by Brenda Cooper, StarShipSofa No. 91
- -- Main Fiction: Gunfight at the Sugarloaf Cafe and Taxidermy by Jeff Carlson, StarShipSofa No. 88
- -- Main Fiction: Vinegar Peace, Or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage by Michael Bishop, StarShipSofa No. 82
- -- Nebula Nominee: - 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss By Kij Johnson, StarShipSofa No. 72
- -- Poetry: Three Poems - Marble People, Chess People and Gargoyle People by Bruce Boston, StarShipsofa No. 71
- -- Sofanauts: No. 5 May 16, 2009
- -- Poetry: If Cold Is A War by Ann K Schwader, StarShipSofa No. 70
- -- Poetry: Time Trapped by Ann K Schwader, StarShipSofa No. 69
- -- Fiction: Room Service by Donna George Storey, Nobilis Erotica No. 113
- -- Poetry: Our Fallen Do Not Fall by Ann K Schwader, StarShipSofa No. 61
- -- Poetry: On Any Given Midnight by Ann K Schwader, StarShipSofa No. 60
- -- Poetry: Fifty Cents by Mark Rich, StarShipSofa No. 57
- -- Music: Silent Night, Diane à 3, StarShipSofa No. 56
- -- Fiction: Ancestor Money by Maureen McHugh, Podcastle No. 36
- -- Main Fiction: A View From A Height by Joan D. Vinge, StarShipSofa No. 54
- -- Poetry: An Eccentric In Orbit by Laurel Winter, StarShipSofa No. 53
- -- Poetry: King’s Men by Samantha Henderson, StarShipSofa No. 47
- -- Poetry: Fairytale Graveyard by Mikal Trimm, StarShipSofa No. 42
- -- Poetry: Judy Resnick by Laurel Winter, StarShipSofa No. 40
- -- Main Fiction: Tideline by Elizabeth Bea, StarShipSofa No. 39
- -- Flash Fiction: Moon Over Baton Rouge by Atalanta Pendragonne, StarShipSofa No. 36
- -- Poetry: Goodbye Is Meaningless by Mark Rich, StarShipSofa No. 33
- -- Poetry: Goodbye Is Meaningless by Laurel Winter StarShipSofa No. 32
- -- Poetry: How To Make Love To A Shark by Laurel Winter StarShipSofa No. 30
- -- Poetry: Time Travel Verb Tenses by Laurel Winter StarShipSofa No. 29
- -- Poetry: They Arrived by Mark Rich, StarShipSofa No. 27
- -- Poetry: Godlet by Laurel Winter StarShipSofa No. 26
- -- Main Fiction: Sledge Makers Daughter by Alastair Reynolds StarShipSofa No. 17
- -- Main Fiction: Lightling Out by Ken MacLeod StarShipSofa No. 16
- -- Main Fiction: Infinity Syrup by Laurel Winter StarShipSofa No. 10
--------------------------
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Report: Raggio di Sol - Concert "Colors of Life"/"Farben des Lebens"
Raggio di Sol gave a concert on Pentecost Monday (as it's called here). The first one since I joined the group. The concert went well but not without more than it's fair share of drama before-hand. One of our female singers, and alto, got into a fairly serious bicycle accident after our penultimate regular rehearsal. She spend several days in the hospital, underwent surgery on her arm and suffered from a mild concussion. It was clear that she wasn't going to be able to perform, so Alfredo asked one of the singers who's supplementing the ensemble in September's big benefit concert to fill in. As fate would have it, she came down with the flu and had no voice, so had to cancel at the last minute. Such it is with singers. You just can't sing if you have some infection in the upper airways!
So, what were we to do? Some of the pieces we couldn't shuffle the rest of us around to fill in the gab, so they got axed, others we could. This is the program we were left with:
Pierrre Attaignant (1530) - Tourdion
Thoinot Arbeau - Pavane
Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621) - Kyrie XXII
- Gloria XVII
G. P. da Palestrina (1525 - 1594) - Sicut cervus
Orlando di Lasso (1532 - 1594) - Lebensregel
Mateo Flecha? (1481 - 1553) - Riu, riu chiu
Thomas Morley (1558 - 1603) - Hard by a Crystal Fountain
Heinrich Schütz (1585 - 1672) - Verleih' uns Frieden
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643) - Sfogava con le stelle
- Anima mia perdona
- Che se tu se'il cor mio
- Luci serene e chiare
We had to leave off pieces by Thomas Tallis, Giovanni Gastoldi, Melchior Franck and Andreas Hammerschmidt. A real pity, but hopefully we be able to perform them at a later date.
I think despite the truncated offerings, that the concert was well received. The church was not full, by any stretch of the imagination, but neither was it empty which was positive, given that it was the end of a long holiday weekend when most people go away. Our hard work trying to memorize the Monteverdi paid off for the most part. They were emotive and pliant which is what they need. Even if we couldn't do them memorized because Ingo was stepping in for Irma.
I was especially pleased to see a couple of my voice students (and parents) there as well as a neighbor and some colleagues of Magnus'.
Upcoming singing events include 2 concerts in Poland singing Hildegard von Bingen with my good friend Allegra Silbiger's group, the benefit concert with Raggio di Sol and more Hildegard in Dillenburg. Hopefully, some more performances will be added before the end of the year.
-------------------
So, what were we to do? Some of the pieces we couldn't shuffle the rest of us around to fill in the gab, so they got axed, others we could. This is the program we were left with:
Pierrre Attaignant (1530) - Tourdion
Thoinot Arbeau - Pavane
Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621) - Kyrie XXII
- Gloria XVII
G. P. da Palestrina (1525 - 1594) - Sicut cervus
Orlando di Lasso (1532 - 1594) - Lebensregel
Mateo Flecha? (1481 - 1553) - Riu, riu chiu
Thomas Morley (1558 - 1603) - Hard by a Crystal Fountain
Heinrich Schütz (1585 - 1672) - Verleih' uns Frieden
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643) - Sfogava con le stelle
- Anima mia perdona
- Che se tu se'il cor mio
- Luci serene e chiare
We had to leave off pieces by Thomas Tallis, Giovanni Gastoldi, Melchior Franck and Andreas Hammerschmidt. A real pity, but hopefully we be able to perform them at a later date.
I think despite the truncated offerings, that the concert was well received. The church was not full, by any stretch of the imagination, but neither was it empty which was positive, given that it was the end of a long holiday weekend when most people go away. Our hard work trying to memorize the Monteverdi paid off for the most part. They were emotive and pliant which is what they need. Even if we couldn't do them memorized because Ingo was stepping in for Irma.
I was especially pleased to see a couple of my voice students (and parents) there as well as a neighbor and some colleagues of Magnus'.
Upcoming singing events include 2 concerts in Poland singing Hildegard von Bingen with my good friend Allegra Silbiger's group, the benefit concert with Raggio di Sol and more Hildegard in Dillenburg. Hopefully, some more performances will be added before the end of the year.
-------------------
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Report: Pop/Rock Concert
OK, I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot to blog about a recent concert I did. I mentioned it before - Me and two others covering pop and rock music.
Anyone who knows me, knows that this isn't really my thing. However, since meeting Janusz, who takes singing lessons from me and is an avid midi-file/keyboard player, I've been playing around with singing pop music. I find it awkward to sing (I'm a soprano after all), it sits all wrong in my voice, and if I sing it comfortably, it sounds all wrong. That's changed a little lately, since I started working with Carol Baggott Forte, actually. And our choice of repertoire and the keys we do it in have helped too. Here's the list of songs I sang:
Carole King, You've Got a Friend
ABBA, Mamma Mia and Money, Money, Money
Morris Albert, Feelings (yes...)
Mike Oldfield, Moonlight Shadow
Those Were the Days
Moody Blues, Nights in White Satin
BeeGees/Barbara Streisand, Woman in Love
Madonna, La Isla Bonita
The other two sang mostly Polish (they both are) and German pop. Renata and I sang back-up for each other on a few songs.
This was a sort of open rehearsal, since we've never performed this stuff outside of Janusz's living room. Oh, wait. Actually, Janusz and I did a gig for a Christmas party for a friend of his. But we only did 5 songs - 3 Christmas, Woman In Love and Hey, Jude. Anyway, Janusz has mountains of equipment to transport and set up and he wanted a chance to go through the motions, as it were. Ideally, we'd like to get gigs playing at weddings or receptions/parties, that sort of thing.
Well regardless, it went off quite well. I was rather pleased. I didn't manage to memorize anything though, which is not so great, but I didn't flub anything! W00t! I have issues with memorization. I grew up and went through college never realizing I had problems with texts and memorization. But that's worthy of another post!
There were quite a few people there - around 80 or so. Most were friends and clients of Janusz's but 8 or so were friends and pupils of mine. I've gotten feedback and except for the occassional "you can tell you're a trained singer", which in this case is not necessarily a compliment, all positive.
This coming weekend I have a wedding to sing, in which I'm to sing Schubert's Ave Maria (in Latin) and a pop song - Das Beste by Silbermond. I sure hope I have to sing the pop song first. I'm sure I can switch into classical singer mode easily, but it's my pop-singer mode I'm insecure about.
Also this "weekend" (it's "Pentecost Monday" which is a holiday here in Germany) the little 8-person choir I sing with ("Raggio di Sol") is giving a concert of Renaissance and Baroque music. Now THAT's my thing.
---------------
Anyone who knows me, knows that this isn't really my thing. However, since meeting Janusz, who takes singing lessons from me and is an avid midi-file/keyboard player, I've been playing around with singing pop music. I find it awkward to sing (I'm a soprano after all), it sits all wrong in my voice, and if I sing it comfortably, it sounds all wrong. That's changed a little lately, since I started working with Carol Baggott Forte, actually. And our choice of repertoire and the keys we do it in have helped too. Here's the list of songs I sang:
Carole King, You've Got a Friend
ABBA, Mamma Mia and Money, Money, Money
Morris Albert, Feelings (yes...)
Mike Oldfield, Moonlight Shadow
Those Were the Days
Moody Blues, Nights in White Satin
BeeGees/Barbara Streisand, Woman in Love
Madonna, La Isla Bonita
The other two sang mostly Polish (they both are) and German pop. Renata and I sang back-up for each other on a few songs.
This was a sort of open rehearsal, since we've never performed this stuff outside of Janusz's living room. Oh, wait. Actually, Janusz and I did a gig for a Christmas party for a friend of his. But we only did 5 songs - 3 Christmas, Woman In Love and Hey, Jude. Anyway, Janusz has mountains of equipment to transport and set up and he wanted a chance to go through the motions, as it were. Ideally, we'd like to get gigs playing at weddings or receptions/parties, that sort of thing.
Well regardless, it went off quite well. I was rather pleased. I didn't manage to memorize anything though, which is not so great, but I didn't flub anything! W00t! I have issues with memorization. I grew up and went through college never realizing I had problems with texts and memorization. But that's worthy of another post!
There were quite a few people there - around 80 or so. Most were friends and clients of Janusz's but 8 or so were friends and pupils of mine. I've gotten feedback and except for the occassional "you can tell you're a trained singer", which in this case is not necessarily a compliment, all positive.
This coming weekend I have a wedding to sing, in which I'm to sing Schubert's Ave Maria (in Latin) and a pop song - Das Beste by Silbermond. I sure hope I have to sing the pop song first. I'm sure I can switch into classical singer mode easily, but it's my pop-singer mode I'm insecure about.
Also this "weekend" (it's "Pentecost Monday" which is a holiday here in Germany) the little 8-person choir I sing with ("Raggio di Sol") is giving a concert of Renaissance and Baroque music. Now THAT's my thing.
---------------
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Poetry Planet No. 2 - First Contact - LIVE!
The second edition of Poetry Planet for my favorite podcast, StarShipSofa, went live today! To listen to it and also the first episode go here.
This is a long one! 30 minutes! But it's chock full of poetry goodness! 10 poets are represented with their offerings on "First Contact". And quite a wide variety of imaginings they are! That sounded a bit like Yoda. Here's the illustrious list and links to their websites, blogs etc:
Scott Green - "First Contact"
Green Genre Poetry and
Poetry in Manchester
Mike Allen - "The Thing in the Gutter" and "On Discovery of a Habitable Planet"
Mythic Delirium
Ann K. Schwader - "The Ones Who Met Them"
Website
Yaddith Times LiveJournal
Dennis M. Lane
Marge Simon
David Kopaska-Merkel
Dreams and Nightmares magazine
Elizabeth Barrette
PenUltimate Productions Website
Wordsmith's Forge LiveJournal
Mary Turzillo
Rich Magahiz
Poem "Your Color Palette 2011"
Larry Santoro
Bluffton in the Driftless
I hope to be able to make announcements of poetry events, awards, contests and the like at the end of each show. This time we have:
The Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
and
The Rhysling Award Candidates
Enjoy!!!
-----------------------
This is a long one! 30 minutes! But it's chock full of poetry goodness! 10 poets are represented with their offerings on "First Contact". And quite a wide variety of imaginings they are! That sounded a bit like Yoda. Here's the illustrious list and links to their websites, blogs etc:
Scott Green - "First Contact"
Green Genre Poetry and
Poetry in Manchester
Mike Allen - "The Thing in the Gutter" and "On Discovery of a Habitable Planet"
Mythic Delirium
Ann K. Schwader - "The Ones Who Met Them"
Website
Yaddith Times LiveJournal
Dennis M. Lane
Marge Simon
David Kopaska-Merkel
Dreams and Nightmares magazine
Elizabeth Barrette
PenUltimate Productions Website
Wordsmith's Forge LiveJournal
Mary Turzillo
Rich Magahiz
Poem "Your Color Palette 2011"
Larry Santoro
Bluffton in the Driftless
I hope to be able to make announcements of poetry events, awards, contests and the like at the end of each show. This time we have:
The Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
and
The Rhysling Award Candidates
Enjoy!!!
-----------------------
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Poem In Your Pocket Day - April 14, 2011
--------------
Today is Poem In Your Pocket Day!!
Or rather was. For me anyway, it's over. But if you are reading this on 14 April 2011, it may not be too late for you to participate! Go and find a poem you like and print it out. Carry it around with you and read it to anyone you think might even vaguely appreciate it. Go to Poets.org if you are at a loss!
Do you already have a poem in your pocket? What is it? I'd like to read it!
I carried "Singing" by Robert Louis Stevenson from A Child's Garden of Verses and on the other side of the page "Leise Lieder sing ich dir bei Nacht" by Christian Morgenstern, for my German friends. I read them both to my German playgroup mothers. They loved it. They also thought it was wonderful that America celebrates such things. The cynic in me said, "Yes, well America celebrates everything!" And while that may be true that there is a Day For Everything, I don't think it is a bad thing per se. And I quite liked the idea of Poem in Your Pocket Day.
----------
Today is Poem In Your Pocket Day!!
Or rather was. For me anyway, it's over. But if you are reading this on 14 April 2011, it may not be too late for you to participate! Go and find a poem you like and print it out. Carry it around with you and read it to anyone you think might even vaguely appreciate it. Go to Poets.org if you are at a loss!
Do you already have a poem in your pocket? What is it? I'd like to read it!
I carried "Singing" by Robert Louis Stevenson from A Child's Garden of Verses and on the other side of the page "Leise Lieder sing ich dir bei Nacht" by Christian Morgenstern, for my German friends. I read them both to my German playgroup mothers. They loved it. They also thought it was wonderful that America celebrates such things. The cynic in me said, "Yes, well America celebrates everything!" And while that may be true that there is a Day For Everything, I don't think it is a bad thing per se. And I quite liked the idea of Poem in Your Pocket Day.
----------
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Seekrit Projekt is Reality! "Poetry Planet"!
Poetry Planet is Reality, folks. What is Poetry Planet you might ask? It's a monthly segment I've decided to produce for my favorite podcast, StarShipSofa. And as you might guess it showcases Poetry. Science Fiction Poetry. Or Fantasy Poetry. Or Dark Poetry. Or Speculative Poetry. All of the above and more, probably.
This has been a long labor. I first had the idea last year to record more poetry for Tony, but he wasn't fielding submissions anymore. It's a lot of work! I had the idea that I could do a monthly segment and do all the work of receiving submissions and just deliver a finished project to Tony. But I just couldn't wrap my mind around getting it done. Then it was New Years, and I was considering what could be my New Years Resolution. I decided I would create a first article and spring it on Tony, so he couldn't refuse! I joined the Science Fiction Poetry Association and ordered Suzette Haden Elgin's Handbook of Science Fiction Poetry. I roamed around the web familiarizing myself with things. I rolled the formatting around my mind and decided the first show would be simple, with only one poem - an SF poem about poetry by Suzette Haden Elgin that I'd found on her website, and otherwise, just talking about poetry, how I've come to enjoy reciting and reading it aloud and giving guidance on how listeners might learn how to appreciate poetry.
But then life happened. I got radio silence from the powers that be (all volunteers) at the SFPA. Life happened for them too, I guess. I couldn't raise any signs of life from Ms. Elgin and so I started looking around for other poems I could. I turned to a couple of the poets whose poems I'd already read for SSS and inquired about poems about poetry. I introduced myself at the SFPA Forum and YahooGroup and announced my intention for creating the segment and got good feed back (not overwhelming though - I guess I was too vague in my request for submissions). Laurel Winter and Bruce Boston gave me wonderful poems that I'm using and Ann Schwader was so helpful and supportive of the idea, that I am indebted to her indefinitely. Check out Bruce Boston's poem "The Poetry of Science Fiction" on his site.
Finally about a month ago I wrote my first draft of the article, recorded it in very rough form and sent it to Tony for approval, which he gave with his usual enthusiasm! Yippee! I could get going! Then I couldn't find the time to record the actual thing. I had grand plans of using a new recording software, but I had even less time to delve into THAT. I wanted to have music and well, it all seemed insurmountable.
Then I discovered that April is National Poetry Month in the USA. Oh MAN! I've got to get it done before the opportunity comes and goes! So I gave myself a kick in the butt and submitted the final product (flawed as it is) to Tony.
You can listen to show No. 184 by going to StarShipSofa's website. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to listen on the website or listen on iTunes Poetry Planet is after the main fiction at the 51 minute mark (Thanks Steve!).
And if you are a fan of poetry or of StarShipSofa, or of all things Science Fiction or just of me :-), please link, link, link! Thank you! And if you are a poet, my idea for the next segment in May 2011 is "First Contact". If you have any poetry even vaguely fitting that label, please get in touch with me. For discussion of the SSS show go to the Forum, where all possible links will be posted as well!
----------------
This has been a long labor. I first had the idea last year to record more poetry for Tony, but he wasn't fielding submissions anymore. It's a lot of work! I had the idea that I could do a monthly segment and do all the work of receiving submissions and just deliver a finished project to Tony. But I just couldn't wrap my mind around getting it done. Then it was New Years, and I was considering what could be my New Years Resolution. I decided I would create a first article and spring it on Tony, so he couldn't refuse! I joined the Science Fiction Poetry Association and ordered Suzette Haden Elgin's Handbook of Science Fiction Poetry. I roamed around the web familiarizing myself with things. I rolled the formatting around my mind and decided the first show would be simple, with only one poem - an SF poem about poetry by Suzette Haden Elgin that I'd found on her website, and otherwise, just talking about poetry, how I've come to enjoy reciting and reading it aloud and giving guidance on how listeners might learn how to appreciate poetry.
But then life happened. I got radio silence from the powers that be (all volunteers) at the SFPA. Life happened for them too, I guess. I couldn't raise any signs of life from Ms. Elgin and so I started looking around for other poems I could. I turned to a couple of the poets whose poems I'd already read for SSS and inquired about poems about poetry. I introduced myself at the SFPA Forum and YahooGroup and announced my intention for creating the segment and got good feed back (not overwhelming though - I guess I was too vague in my request for submissions). Laurel Winter and Bruce Boston gave me wonderful poems that I'm using and Ann Schwader was so helpful and supportive of the idea, that I am indebted to her indefinitely. Check out Bruce Boston's poem "The Poetry of Science Fiction" on his site.
Finally about a month ago I wrote my first draft of the article, recorded it in very rough form and sent it to Tony for approval, which he gave with his usual enthusiasm! Yippee! I could get going! Then I couldn't find the time to record the actual thing. I had grand plans of using a new recording software, but I had even less time to delve into THAT. I wanted to have music and well, it all seemed insurmountable.
Then I discovered that April is National Poetry Month in the USA. Oh MAN! I've got to get it done before the opportunity comes and goes! So I gave myself a kick in the butt and submitted the final product (flawed as it is) to Tony.
You can listen to show No. 184 by going to StarShipSofa's website. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to listen on the website or listen on iTunes Poetry Planet is after the main fiction at the 51 minute mark (Thanks Steve!).
And if you are a fan of poetry or of StarShipSofa, or of all things Science Fiction or just of me :-), please link, link, link! Thank you! And if you are a poet, my idea for the next segment in May 2011 is "First Contact". If you have any poetry even vaguely fitting that label, please get in touch with me. For discussion of the SSS show go to the Forum, where all possible links will be posted as well!
----------------
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