Neighboring states often have a friendly rivalry with one another. In Georgia, a favorite saying is, “The only good thing coming out of Alabama is Interstate 20.” A favorite riddle is, “"Why do all the pine trees in Georgia lean toward the west?” (Answer: Alabama sucks.) Even I have been known from time to time to mention searching for BMDs (Banjos of Mass Destruction) when visiting our neighbor. This is all meant in good-natured fun, of course.
Alabama, I apologize.
In fairness, I don’t know where the guy singing “I’m Alabamy Bound” in the previous post hails from, but the Carter Family were definitely not from Alabama. They were from Virginia originally and then migrated to Tennessee. Alabama can take neither the credit nor the blame for them.
Some of the finest music I have ever heard was performed in Alabama. I am including in this post portions of two concerts by the A Capella Choir of Jacksonville State University, near Anniston, from the years when Bayne Dobbins was the choir director. The clips are both a bit long, so I know you won’t listen to everything, but I do recommend that you listen to the first few minutes of both of the following clips:
1. From the 1986 Spring Concert, “Hallelujah” from The Mount of Olives by Ludwig van Beethoven (the entire choir), and “I Waited For the Lord” by Felix Mendelssohn (a duet for two sopranos).
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2. From the 1987 Christmas Concert, the arrangement of “Joy to the World” by Handel-Kuykendall (the best arrangement of that carol that I have ever heard), used as the processional.
The sharp-eyed among you may notice that two of my children are listed in the programs. As it turns out, my future son-in-law was listed too.
Lovely singing! I agree with you: the Handel-Kuykendall "Joy to the World" is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteClearly your love of making music was passed to your children. Are they still making music today?
ReplyDeleteThank you. That made for some pleasant listening on a Saturday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful music, Bob, and how lovely to have your children's music-making recorded in this way.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thank you for the introduction to the 'greyzone' - I've really enjoyed reading Tim's words. x
My thanks to everyone who has commented so far (let's see, that would be, um, Pat, Yorkshire Pudding, and Shooting Parrots) for enjoying good music. Perhaps others will give me what-for for my high-falutin', highbrow ways.
ReplyDeleteAll of my children are still making music today, yes.
Bob, I truly apologise if I was misinterpreted in some way. I thoroughly enjoyed it, too. I meant to be encouraging and kind and I'm so genuinely sorry that I've apparently got it wrong again - it wasn't intentional and I hope that you will forgive me.
ReplyDeleteI would never think ill of you and I was being authentic and respectful. I just don't know what else to say. x
Elizabeth, this is going to sound like a flimsy excuse (I don't mean it that way at all) but I think the cyber-gremlins must have it in for us. I have noticed sometimes in the past that a comment appears in my e-mail but it isn't on my blog; later, it usually shows up on my blog. I have never understood why there is a delay in some of my commenters' comments appearing on my blog. I think that is what happened today. My wife and I had just returned from traveling most of the day back from my daughter's home in Alabama (where we had been since Tuesday). Before leaving this morning, I happened to see Shooting Parrots's comment on my daughter's laptop. When we got home, I signed onto my blog and decided to thank the three people who had commented on my latest post. Your comment was not there, and I did not happen to look at my e-mail during that session, which was short, because we had a lot of snail mail to go through, unpack the car, and so forth. Afterward, I spent the evening playing the piano and watching television. Now, just before retiring, I signed on to look at e-mail and found your message. I came over here to the blog and saw it the time posted as before when I created my comment, but your comment was not posted on the blog when I wrote mine. I'm guessing it was in my e-mail, but I didn't check my e-mail until much later.
ReplyDeleteI apologize profusely for the mixup at my end, which I cannot explain and which was entirely unintentional.
So all of the comments have been positive so far. I suppose folks who don't care for this sort of music are just keeping quiet for the time being.
I've left a reply to your comment on my site, Bob. x
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