What is the Function of Art? ~and a "Music Heals Us" Project Update

This article, The Trueness of Beauty, by George Anderson, has me thinking (again) about beauty, art, and in particular about Lauren and Danny's music project planned for this summer. Anderson asks the question:

"What is the function of art?"

His answer:

"It's to heal. And such also is the function of love."

Anderson acknowledges that form and function can't be separated, however looking at the approach of art, he feels, can help us to identify what has gone wrong when art and love aren't working. 

He also asks:

"So how should we talk to each other?"

Art and love as healing, and healing in relationship with other--that's what I'm thinking about. I look forward to seeing how Lauren and Danny will have a chance to embody these ideas through their music this summer.

Project Update:  John (Active Son) has signed on as the project manager and will be accompanying Lauren and Danny to the West Bank this summer.

John had already made plans to be in Jordan this summer for an internship, and is glad to join with his sister in this project for part of the summer. I'm glad too, and I think his strengths in the areas of  logistics and service will contribute to the goals and vision of the project in a significant way. 

Danny, Lauren, and John have a little over a week to finish raising the necessary funds for their project. Many thanks to those of you who have contributed. If you haven't already, you can read more about their project on their Kickstarter page.

A Musical Endeavor

Two years ago, Oldest Daughter, Lauren, and violinist, Holly Jenkins, brought their music to Jordan and Palestine, seeking to engage people with limited opportunities of experiencing classical music. Through musical performance, teaching, and workshops, they shared their music, while learning about different forms and possibilities of cross-cultural engagement. These experiences planted a seed of vision in Lauren; during the past two years that seed has germinated and sprouted, and now it continues to grow.

This summer, Lauren, plans to return to the Middle East, this time with her friend and fellow musician, Danny Lai. A violist, Danny  has nurtured a similar vision of how he might share the gift of music he has received. When he and Lauren met at Northwestern University, where they study with Roland and Almita Vamos, a collaboration began.

One of the goals of their project is to explore long term possibilities for similar music projects for themselves and other musicians, and to consider what sort of framework might best support such efforts. I love their vision and their ambition. And, of course, I look forward to seeing Lauren and Danny in Jordan this summer, and hearing them play music together.

You can read more about their project on their Kickstarter page.

Tour for Peace Begins

We were glad to welcome Lauren's violinist friend, Holly, to our home this week as they prepare to begin their musical Tour for Peace. Micha, the videographer, arrives tonight.

Besides the requisite practicing, Lauren and Holly have spent many hours this weeks in "arts administration", writing emails and making phone calls to finalize their arrangements in the West Bank. They plan to leave for Nablus on Monday but before they leave they will begin their tour by sharing their music and interacting with Jordanian students participating in a cultural exchange program sponsored by East West Initiatives.

Holly, Lauren, and Micha are blogging at Tour for Peace.

Resurrection Letters, Volume II~He Makes All Things New

From a favorite soundtrack for the Easter season:



"All Things New"

Come broken and weary,
Come battered and bruised 

My Jesus makes all things new, all things new 

Come lost and abandoned,
Come blown by the wind 

He'll bring you back home again, home again

Chorus:
Rise up oh you sleeper awake 

The light of the dawn is upon you 

Rise up oh you sleeper awake

He makes all things new

All things new 

come frozen with shame,
Come burning with guilt,
My Jesus loves you still, loves you still

Chorus 

Bridge:
The world was good, the world is fallen,
The world will be redeemed,
The world was good, the world is fallen,
The world will be redeemed 

So Hold on to the promise,
The stories are true.
My Jesus makes all things new,
The Dawn is upon you.



Chorus

Tour for Peace

It has been a couple of months of twists and turns for Oldest Daughter, times of hard work, expectation, disappointment, revelation, and more hard work. What began as a vague but determined desire for continued musical growth and an opportunity to use the music God has given her to bring something good to the lives of others where it is greatly needed, developed into ideas which required persistent inquiries, networking, and arranging, and has culminated into the musical Tour for Peace project described in the Kickstarter project below.

If they are successful, Oldest Daughter (who will come out of anonymity on this blog for a time), and her good friend and fellow violinist, Holly Jenkins will spend several weeks this summer giving a free recital tour, hold free workshops and give lessons for youth in Jordan and Ramallah, in the Palestinian territories.


A brief word about Kickstarter: it is an online venue for funding creative projects. All projects must first be approved by Kickstarter before they can be launched. Projects are an all-or-nothing venture: If Lauren and Holly do not reach their goal of $6000 in the next 26 days, they will receive no funds and backers will not be obligated to meet their pledges. Thus, backers are not charged (via Amazon payments) until and unless the project if fully funded in the specified time.

They are off to a good start and are hoping for a rush of donations at the beginning so that they might attract the attention of the Kickstarter organizers and be featured on their site.

Thanks for taking a look and for considering this project!

The Show Must Go On

This Christmas found Oldest Daughter on tour in Asia with Oberlin's Orchestra. We missed her dearly but were glad for the opportunity she had to visit China and Singapore with fellow musicians and friends as they shared their music to full halls wherever they played.

When we caught up with Oldest Daughter in early January, as she made her way to Jordan, arriving just a couple days after we did, the first and most memorable story with which she regaled us was of their concert in Wuhan.

The short video below mostly tells the story, and features sleep-deprived Oldest Daughter and her friend, Holly, as they play in their traveling jeans for a sold-out crowd of 1300, while waiting for their luggage and the rest of the orchestra to arrive. (They are playing Sarasate's Navarra, which they performed together in their junior recital in November. They didn't have their music with them but were able to download it from a borrowed computer.)

Amman Recital~Violin and Piano

Friday, January 28 · 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Union Bank, Main Auditorium (downstairs), Shmeisani

Lauren Manning, violin
Rania Ejeilat, piano

Come hear Schumann Sonata in A minor, Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, and a few little surprises...

Admission is free

Flowering Jordan 2011 Wall Calendar-or-Calendars for Music

EDIT: My calendars are no longer available on Amazon but I still have about 20 or so, so if you'd like one contact me at desert mom 88 @ gmail. com (leave out spaces). At least for now you can still view the imagines on the Amazon page. Thanks!

I guess this would be the right time of year to mention that my last 50 Flowering Jordan 2011 Wall Calendars are now available for sale at Amazon. If you've read my blog for awhile you know that I enjoy appreciating the beautiful wildflowers of Jordan. I also enjoy taking their portraits, highlighting the unique beauty with which God has adorned each flower.

In the spring I produced my first Flowering Jordan calendar, a project inspired by my desire to raise money for Oldest Daughter's continuing music education. The previous spring, thanks to Tayta, we had Muffins for Music, and this year it is Calendars for Music. What a lovely way to combine three beauties in my life: Jordan flora, music, and Oldest Daughter.


Product Description from my Amazon Page:

The unexpectedly stunning wildflowers of Jordan, from cyclamen to capers, to the enigmatic black iris, bloom on each page of Flowering Jordan's 13 month wall calendar. At the crossroads of three continents, the country of Jordan enjoys great biodiversity, boasting some of the most diverse flora of any place in the world. Although nearly 80 percent of the nation is desert, Jordan has more than 2,500 plant species, including many flowering plants, and several distinct ecosystems.

• The calendar is eligible for free shipping.
• More images from the calendar may be viewed on my Amazon page.
• Jordan residents may purchase calendars from Karis Kraft located near 2nd Circle.

Making Beautiful Music Together

Oldest Daughter arrived home last night from a master class in the Czech Republic with just enough energy to give us hugs, eat some lentil-barley stew, pop a melatonin, and head for bed. But today I enjoyed looking at the pictures and hearing the stories with which Oldest Daughter enthusiastically regaled us. This was Oldest Daughter's second time to attend this master class, held in the beautiful Czech town of Litomysl.


All dress rehearsals and three of the public concerts which take place during the master class are held in Litomysl Castle, one of the most revered Renaissance castles in the Czech Republic, and birthplace of the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana.

Litomysl Castle

20 young musicians participating in the master class received private lessons and quartet coachings every day with four internationally renowned faculty (Milan Vitek, Oberlin Conservatory; Peter Slowik, Oberlin Coservatory; Niels Ullner, Carl Nielson Academy of Music, Odense, Denmark; Stephen Clapp, The Julliard School).

Oldest Daughter's Quartet

Smetana Quartet Performed in Smetana's Birthplace

Mr. Milan Vitek, Founder and Artisic Director of the Litomysl Master Class

Oldest daughter counted it a privilege and blessing to spend three weeks interacting with other young musicians, exchanging ideas, and submitting to an intense regime of practicing and rehearsals, resulting in the generation of musical and personal growth and many stimulating performances.

Performance of the Fiser Sonata, Litomysl Castle

Below is a spot on Czech news highlights the opening concert. (Most of it is in Czech, but English snipits of Oldest Daughter, Stephen Clapp, and a Danish cellist are all included.)

Litomysl International Strings Master Class, 2010

The Donati String Quartet

Ahh, youth. And, blessed youth when one is privileged with the leisure to imagine, learn hard, and work hard. Just before winter break, Oldest Daughter and three of her fellow musicians at Oberlin Conservatory decided to form a string quartet. Further, when they returned to campus the first of February they would work very hard attempting to make it into the live audition round (quarter-finals) of the prestigious Fischoff Chamber competition, held annually at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. So, during the first week in February rehearsals began in earnest (four-five hours a day on top of their other studies and musical commitments) and after just three weeks of playing together, the Donati String Quartet submitted their dvd--rushed by overnight express--to the competition judges. Below is one of the recordings they made for dvd audition.

The Donati String Quartet

Twas a thrilling moment when the Donati String Quartet learned they had made it to the quarter finals, being invited to the live auditions, held last week at Notre Dame. The weeks before Fischoff--about 12--were, in a word, intense. And while intensity described just about every aspect of their preparation, from rehearsing to learning music, to juggling other obligations, to learning about interpersonal relationships, it was wonderful all.

There really wasn't much disappointment when the quartet didn't make it into the semi-finals. Oldest Daughter said that their quartet didn't deserve to make it to the semi-finals--the groups that did were amazing, playing without error. This disqualification was hardly a loss to their quartet, who in the process of working hard, hard, hard, attracted the attention of the string faculty of Oberlin Conservatory, receiving many extra coachings along the way.

Also along the way, the Donati String Quartet entered and won a competition held by NPR's Performance Today (announced during the last three minutes of Hour 1) and thus will be flown to St. Paul tomorrow to receive a master class with artists-in-residence, The Parker Quartet. And at the end of the week they will fly to Washington D.C. to represent Oberlin at the Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage.

Then there is the matter of a few finals to study for and take when they return to campus--Feet-Back-On-The-Ground.

Fullness

What began in my mind as a birthday post for Oldest daughter--her 20th birthday celebration at the end of January capped a wonderful month of family togetherness--has expanded its borders into something more...full. And while our time together inspired me to write of the fullness of Oldest Daughter's life, the fullness of our family life was juxtaposed with it, as we once again walked together, side by side.

Adding to her Christmas Break from school, Oldest Daughter spent her January/Winter Term with us in Jordan, preparing for and giving a solo concert, fulfilling her Winter Term project requirement.

Though we enjoyed the pleasant strains of violin music this summer when Oldest Daughter was home, January's concert was the first time we enjoyed the fullness of what Oldest Daughter's playing/performing( in some ways, a distinct aspect of playing) had become since her senior recital, performed in May 2008; the maturity and openness of her musical expressions was notable.

Observing the high degree to which the audience, full of long time friends and acquaintances from the community, delighted in Oldest Daughter's performance, I began contemplating the place of music, particularly live music performance, in the life of a community. Most in the audience were not aficionados of classical music, though more than a couple made comments about how Oldest Daughter's music moved them, and " carried them away to another place to enjoy beauty." Fullness of community by sharing music, beauty--beautiful music; I'm still thinking about these things...

Oldest Daughter was able to share some more of this fullness with some our our little friends--they were learning about the orchestra and came over for a special lesson about the violin.

We enjoyed fullness of fellowship and fullness of stomachs as we share some of Oldest Daughter's favorite Arab dishes with family and friends in a celebratory birthday dinner. Featured fare: Koosa Mahshi, zucchini with meat and rice stuffing, and Ma'loubi, an "upside down" dish of fried cauliflower, savory chicken, rice, and toasted almonds.

I delighted in the fullness of my relationship with an "older"daughter, who raised up from infanthood, has become a dear friend, confidante, and close sister in the Lord. God's ways are amazing!


At the end of our month together, and on Oldest Daughter's birthday, we headed just out of town, to a long-time favorite area of the countryside to enjoy each other in the fellowship of the Lord and in his creation.

In a greening field, studded with anemones and limestone we prayed together, rejoicing in the fullness of family that we had enjoyed in Christ the past month; and we prayed for Oldest daughter as she prepared to return to Oberlin, thanking God for the fullness of life that she has and is yet discovering in Jesus as she walks with Him, and asking Him to draw her ever closer to Him even as she travels far from us.

Behold the Lamb of God~A Soundtrack for Advent

Last year I discovered the wonderful Christmas musical/album, Behold the Lamb of God, by Andrew Peterson (I'm pretty sure the hat tip for this discovery goes to Justin Taylor, whose blog provides me with more great resources and links than I could ever exhaust) and I have just begun listening to it again in preparation for the celebration of the advent of Christ. A gifted musician, Peterson is also a gifted theologian, who begins the Wonderful Story as it should begin: in the days of the patriarchs and prophets. He says:

What makes this bunch of songs unique is that I wanted to remind (or teach) the audience that the story of Christmas doesn’t begin with the birth of Jesus. Many people tend to forget or have never even learned that the entire Bible is about Jesus, not just the New Testament.

So the musical begins with Moses and the symbolic story of the Passover (Passover Us) and works its way through the kings and the prophets with their many prophecies about the coming Messiah (So Long, Moses) to the awful four hundred years of silence before God told Mary she’d be having a baby (Deliver Us). After the song called Matthew’s Begats, which lists the genealogy of Jesus, the story picks up in more familiar territory with Mary and Joseph and the actual birth (It Came To Pass, Labor of Love). The final song is called Behold, the Lamb of God, which ties together the Passover and the beauty and scope of the story.

You can listen to samples of the different tracks via the widget above and you can enjoy the third track, So Long Moses, in the YouTube video. And note, the widget links you to the recently released 10th Anniversary album which contains all the recorded tracks and all tracks, live.



***Edit*** You can sample the whole album, with lyrics here
(HT Justin Taylor, of course)

And a Soundtrack I Wish I Were Hearing Live...

Oldest Daughter's string quartet will play Mozart's String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421, I. Allegro in Oberlin Conservatory's Honors Recital this evening and I'm feeling a little mopey as all I have to listen to is the YouTube recording of someone else playing.



Oldest Daughter is also spending lots of time--much more time than she'd like--in the orchestra pit as Oberlin's voice department presents its annual opera performance. I've gathered that "opera duty", required once or twice during the undergraduate years, is somewhat like a musical jury duty. This being Oldest Daughter's second stint of opera duty in two years, she will be exempted from this obligation her final two years.

Soundtrack for a Senior Year

This is a qualified apologia for not allowing children to quit music lessons, particularly if they show any hint of musical ability. Active Son would have quit playing piano several times over if we had let him, but mean old parents that we are, we didn't. (I told him that if he could produce even one adult that said they were glad their mom let them quit piano then maybe, just maybe I would listen to his pleas to quit. He never did find one.) It gets worse. We made him sit for piano exams, endure a theory course, and "pushed" him to play for people. I guess our strategy could have back-fired, but knowing this particular son as we did, we sensed that it wouldn't.

Our long term goal was never to produce a concert pianist or the like, but to give Active Son a gift, albeit a gift for which he would have to work diligently, that he could enjoy throughout his life, and in turn, a gift that he could give to others.

The two YouTube recordings are pieces that Active Son is working on for his senior recital--he isn't the musician in these videos; he says he still has lots of work to do but I think the pieces are sounding pretty good. Good enough to inspire me to write this apologia and good enough for Artist Son to break into spontaneous applause when Active Son finished practicing the Rondo Capriccioso this afternoon.





But what makes my heart sing (and my heart sings much better than my voice) more than hearing Active Son play these beautiful pieces is watching him enjoy playing the piano and keyboard with other musicians in their youth band and to hear him tell his older sister that he is looking forward to jamming with her and his brother when she is home for Christmas.

Classical Music~So much more than Arts and Entertainment

A couple of posts ago I mentioned our willingness to fore go a clothes dryer so that Oldest Daughter can take advantage of a great opportunity to work on her music with excellent teachers and musicians this summer. Last spring I sold my gold necklace to help finance The Violin; this was not really a sacrifice as I am not much for gold. It was my token Every-Woman- in-Jordan-Must-Have-A-Substantial-Gold-Necklace, given to me by my Dear Husband years ago, but the the times have changed and when he told me what he could get for it in the Gold Souk it took me about two seconds to say, "Sell!"

Through the years God has generously provided for our family, but as is true of most families, there are financial choices to be made, and we have made as many as possible in favor of music and art. I recently read this address to the parents and students of the 2004 freshman class of Boston Conservatory, delivered by Dr. Karl Paulnack, Director of the Music Division, was bolstered in all our past choices, and encouraged to press on in our support of the musicians and other artists in our home and beyond. I hope you will read the entire address.

Though I don't ultimately agree with Dr. Paulnack's conclusion that musicians can save the planet, I do think that music is a unique gift from the Creator God to humanity which can enrich our lives and give us greater understanding about God, His relationship to us, and to the world He has created for us.

Below I've linked to the two music works Dr. Paulnack mentions in his inspirational address. The final link, if you are still listening, is the beautiful third movement of five that Violin Daughter will be playing at her Strings Master Class later this summer. Enjoy!