Masterly yodeling from John Lilly 

John Lilly sings a clever yodeling song. Wish I could find a video of his "Man of Constant Sorrow" rendition, which moved me so much on Saturday night.

The intensity of Becky Kimmons 

Becky Kimmons brings her characteristic intensity to Hazel Dickens's "Pretty Bird" in the melding of two West Virginia greats.

More art than you know what to do with 

The Google Art Project has partnered with hundreds of art museums to present detailed photographs of artworks on line. If you click the link, it will choose a work for you at random. Move the mouse, and it will show you the name and location of the work, and let you navigate by collection, artist, and so forth.

This page from the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry can be seen in real life at the Château de Chantilly.

Boccherini goes Basque 

Boccherini's take on the fandango. (Actually, my reading suggests that the fandango is not particularly Basque, but I couldn't resist the alliteration.) 

I never would have thought that harpsichord music could sound so wild and crazy.

Crazy Basque dancing 

I found this while looking for fandango, the impossible dance, as I thought of it after my one attempt at a workshop. How can you stay on your toes with your arms in the air for so long?!

I guess this is probably related, or maybe it is a kind of fandango. If you can read the Basque, write and tell me all about it!

(If it's not Basque, write and straighten me out!)

Mysterious forces 

The artist Guy Laramee has created a group of works he calls Guan Yin in response to his mother's death and to the Japanese tsunami, which occurred around the same time. From his description:

Everything we know, everything we did, everything we think we are, everything and everyone we love, all this will be wiped out. We would like to think that something will remain, culture, knowledge, or call it “life” if you don’t want to call it God, but of this also, we have no certitude. “No certitude” seems to

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A self-translating Japanese poem scroll 

Hon'ami Koetsu was a calligrapher, a potter, and many other things. It's still amazing to me to contemplate the fact that he lived at the same time as Shakespeare. If you click on the image of the scroll, it will take you to the Princeton University Art Museum site, where you can navigate the scroll and see translations of the poems.

Slow excitement 

 

The leisurely evolution of this Ngombi village music culminates at about five minutes in with a delightful finishing flourish, then starts all over again.

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Aug5

Vocal Week daily morning warm-ups

Augusta Heritage Center, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV

Once again I have the good luck to be running the morning warm-ups for Vocal Week at the Augusta Heritage Center!