Saturday, January 5, 2019

2018 in Review

For us, that is for me and most of my immediate family, 2018 was a very good year. Becky and Daniel got married, we welcomed our first grandchild to the world (Anna and Pierce's baby boy, Henry) and, in December, Becky was offered her first faculty job at UCLA. Also, after years of hard work and a multi-year NEH grant, the end of CJ's book project is finally in sight! I am looking forward to a somewhat less stressful 2019.

For me personally, 2018 was a year full of music making, local politics, hiking, and prison work.

But first things first. Henry!


Henry 12 hours after he was born


Our Grandson sleeping in his great-grandma Sue's arms.
Is he cute or what?
He smiles!

Starting early
Our beautiful daughter and grandson



He is so happy in his bear suit!

Somebody's happy!

This little guy was born into a prosperous, adoring family full of love for him and determined to do everything possible to give him a good start in life and to raise him to be a good man. He deserves it. And so do all other babies born into this world.

Now, for the rest of an eventful year.

A trip to Berkeley

In April, we flew down to the Bay Area and had a nice time with Becky and Daniel. We spent time with Daniel's parents in Palo Alto and explored Berkeley's book shops and restaurants with B&D and our niece, Alison.
Stanford University

The bench at Stanford where these two agreed to tie the knot

Lunching with cousin Alison in Berkeley

Becky and Daniel's Wedding

Other than a slight incident involving makeup stains on the bride's dress, the wedding went very smoothly. It was a pleasure to see Daniel's parents again and to meet his grandfather, his sister, and other family members who came from as far away as Britain. It was a wonderful couple of days and, afterwards, the happy couple headed for the Yucatan to enjoy their honeymoon among the pyramids.

Such a handsome couple!
I am pretty sure the collective IQ in our house was never higher than when this group of young scientists gathered here the evening  before the wedding.
Becky with some of her friends and colleagues
Sunrise with Mom

In July, at Aunt Joanne's request, I took her, my mother, and my sister to the Sunrise Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park.
At Sunrise

Lots of music!


On January 20, Philharmonia Northwest presented a chamber musicale at the Piranha Shop in SODO. I was in a group performing the first movement of Antonin Dvorak's beautiful string quintet op. 77 and was also in a bass trio (the Adagio movement of Poradowski's Trio for Three Contrabasses) with the rest of the Philharmonia bass section, Brent and Megan. January 20 was also the day of the Women's March so CJ joined us at the Piranha Shop after doing her civic duty.

On February 25, in the third concert of the 2017-2018 season, we (Philharmonia Northwest) performed an all Latin American concert, including a new piece commissioned by the orchestra, Tres retratos Mexicanos (Three Mexican Portraits), by Mexican-American composer Osvaldo Mendoza. The inimitable Seattle Symphony violinist Mikhail Schmidt gave a great performance as the soloist in Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla's Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (Four Seasons in Buenos Aires) and, during rehearsal, had lots to say to the bass section!

Our annual collaboration with the Kirkland Choral Society took place at Benaroya Hall as we performed Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem, more commonly known as Verdi's Requiem. We dedicated the concert to the victims of gun violence in America. 

Orchestra + choir + good soloists = lots of musical power!


My bass onstage at Benaroya Hall before the Requiem

Philharmonia Northwest and Kirkland Choral Society onstage at Benaroya Hall for Verdi's Requiem. Sadly, I am not in the picture, being too far to the right.


Since our principal bass, Brent, hurt his hand, I was principal for this concert and we hired a replacement to take his place. Playing principal at Benaroya Hall - that's a first!

On April 29 we played an all Bernstein concert in honor of his 100th birthday year. My takeaway: some of his music is HARD! Still missing Brent. A paid sub took his place.

Our annual Seattle Young Artists concert was, as usual, packed with talented young people playing their hearts out. Again I was principal and Brent shows no signs of coming back anytime soon.

One of our board members, who is also a composer, corralled Megan and me to play in a bass quartet he had written called "Home Run." Get it? Four basses. We did not get enough rehearsals but played it anyway on May 29 at Seattle Central College. On the bright side, he paid us $250 each.

I attended my 5th MMR in August. My prearranged group, a string quintet, had originally planned to play the Dvorak Op. 77, but we read through the first movement of George Onslow's  String Quintet No. 12, Op. 34 and promptly fell in love with it. David Brown of the Vancouver Symphony coached us and our performance on Saturday morning turned out very well.

Happy with our performance! With our coach David Brown.
One of the best times at MMR this year was getting some people together in the evening to sightread chamber music. Several of us gathered to play Brahms string sextets, Dvorak's string quintet, and some other pieces late into the night. So much fun.

Philharmonia's first concert of the 2018-2019 season was at Benaroya Hall on September 29, as we played an all Taiwanese program including singers and musicians from Seattle, Vancouver BC, and Taiwan. Our conductor, Julia Tai, is from Taiwan and she worked tirelessly to make this concert happen, rehearsing singers in Vancouver and Taiwan beforehand and bringing it all together for the concert. Paid for two substitute bass players as Brent is still out and Megan took the season off to finish a music ed degree.

Our second concert, on November 18, was a celebration of Seattle composers and featured Seattle Symphony cellist Walter Gray. Composers Sarah Bassingthwaighte, Ken Benshoof, and William Bolcom were featured with Sarah and Ken attending some of our rehearsals to make minor changes to the music on the fly. Ken Benshoof's piece, a cello concerto, hadn't been played in over 30 years and the soloist back then was Ken's wife, with Walter in the orchestra. The great circle of life. More hired guns in the bass section. Brent still far from being in bass playing trim.

Indivisible Kirkland

I am on the steering committee of Indivisible Kirkland along with three women who are extremely dedicated, in fact more so than I seem to be. This year we met with all of the state representatives and state senators from the three legislative districts that overlap with Kirkland, the 1st, the 45th, and the 48th. They are all Democrats and share our values and priorities, which makes the meetings something of a mutual admiration society. We let them know what we would like to see happen in the next legislative session and usually find ourselves in complete agreement with them.

Our greatest accomplishment this year was, in collaboration with KirklandSafe and the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, persuading the city of Kirkland to pass a gun safety resolution. We worked closely with the assistant city manager on the details of the resolution's language, spoke in favor of it at city council meetings (yes, I did), and participated at a town hall meeting on the subject. As one result of this effort, the city council passed the resolution unanimously and proposed a ballot measure, Kirkland Proposition 1, to fund, among other things, expanded mental health and human services programs focusing on gun safety, homelessness, domestic violence, suicide prevention, and related public safety issues. It was approved in the November election. AS WAS A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN CONGRESS!! Just saying.

CJ and I also wrote hundreds of cards and letters to voters all over the country to help Democrats win. Plus, we made some new friends!


Indivisible Kirkland members writing letters and postcards to voters all over the country.
Hiking


In March, I went on a field trip to Eastern Washington with members of the Ice Age Floods Institute. We took a walk at Hanford Reach with geologist Bruce Bjornstad, who is a well known authority on the floods, and had a great time admiring the views and looking at the landscape through a geologist's eyes.

The Stewart Range viewed from the Indian John Hill rest stop on I90

Locke Island

Dunes at Hanford Reach

Layers of sediment from the ancestral Columbia River

The Columbia River at Hanford Reach


In late May, son-in-law Pierce and I hiked the beautiful Iron Bear Trail deep in the Teanaway Country near Cle Elum. I think this was my third time on the Iron Bear and it never disappoints: great views of the Stewart Range and, as the trail rises, Rainier appears on the southwest horizon behind the high ridges of the western Cascades. The forest, in typical eastern slope fashion, is a mix of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine and, in the spring, wildflowers are everywhere: balsamroot, trillium, red paintbrush... Obviously, this is one of my favorites.

Stewart Range from the Iron Bear Trail
Ira Spring Trail - Mason Lake

In June, just days before Becky and Daniel's wedding, my friend Jim W. and I hiked to Mason Lake via the Ira Spring Trail. One of the best things about this trail is that, just a few miles west of Snoqualmie Pass, it is less than an hour from home!

Mason Lake

Scorpion Mountain Trail

One of my goals for 2018 was to get close enough to get a good look at the most inaccessible volcano in the state of Washington, Glacier Peak. To this end, in early July, Jim Whitehead and I, along with son-in-law, Pierce, hiked the Scorpion Mountain trail near Stevens Pass. The trail is very steep in places (switchbacks are for wimps apparently) with an elevation gain of 2500 feet, but the forests of Hemlock, Douglas Fir, and Cedar are beautiful and so very quiet. Parts of the trail, on Johnson Ridge, featured steep dropoffs on both sides, adding some spice to the journey. We saw only four other people (plus a dog) in the 8+ miles we hiked, so it felt like we were on our own private mountain. From the summit, the views of Glacier Peak and the Central Cascades, along with millions of Avalanche Lilies blooming in the alpine meadows, made the effort to get there a small price to pay.


Beargrass along the trail

The North Cascades

Glacier Peak - a 10525 foot volcano surrounded by miles and miles of wilderness

In mid-July, Jim W, Pierce, and I hike to Spray Park, one of the classic trails in Mount Rainier National Park. It was a beautiful day and the views were spectacular.
Our party crossing a snowfield

Glacier Lilies at Spray Park

Alpine meadows with a certain mountain on the horizon

Tonga Ridge/Mount Sawyer

Later in July, Pierce and I went hiking on the Tonga Ridge trail. We spent about an hour on forest service roads (having missed a key turnoff) but finally found the trailhead. We saw almost no one on the trail and had a grand view of Glacier Peak from Mount Sawyer.

Tiger Lilies along the trail

Glacier Peak from Mt Sawyer
Green Mountain

In late August, Jim W, Erik N, and I tackled the Green Mountain trail, possibly the hardest hike of the summer (8.5 miles, 3300 feet elevation gain). The day was a little cloudy and smoky but this only added atmosphere to the views. Since this was my third Glacier Peak themed hike, I think I fulfilled my goal of spending some quality time with that rather obscure mountain.

An un-named pond about 1000 feet below the summit

I wonder why it's called Green Mountain?

Downey Creek Valley leading into the wilderness of the North Cascades

Green Mountain Lookout

Floating on air with Glacier Peak
Frenchman Coulee

Becky and Daniel visited in mid-September in hopes of taking a hike at Mount Rainier. Sadly, the weather was rainy so we headed east of the mountains for dry weather and Frenchman Coulee. Ice age floods carved this canyon out of solid basalt. We hiked to the head of the coulee, where there is a small waterfall. Afterwards, we visited the Wanapum Heritage Center near Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia River for an interesting look at Native American culture in this part of the country. Amazing to think that people have lived in this area for thousands of years and we walked in and took it over about 170 years ago without so much as a by your leave.

Becky and Daniel at the head of Frenchman Coulee

Columbia River basalt and lots of it

Tolmie Peak

In mid-October, I hiked the Tolmie Peak trail with Sue's daughter-in-law Tammy. It was a cold morning with some frost on the trail but the weather was beautiful and the exercise kept us warm. This is one of my favorite hikes for obvious reasons and I try to do it every year. This time, we came across one of the state legislators from my district, Roger Goodman, on the trail! We exchanged pleasantries but, as he was going up and we were on our way down, we did not have a long conversation. Apparently, he hikes every weekend and likes to go it alone.

Eunice Lake with Tolmie Peak Lookout in sight

The Mountain and Eunice Lake from the lookout

Tolmie Peak Lookout

Eunice Lake

Mowich Lake with Mountain
Prison Work

CJ and I continued our work on prison education at the Monroe Correctional Complex. I volunteer at least a couple of times a month with University Beyond Bars to supervise a computer lab for inmates and to tutor math during Saturday study halls. CJ meets with a group of inmates called Bridges To Hope in a different part of the prison and I recently got permission from the prison authorities to join her in her work in that area.
When CJ taught her annual class last summer at the prison, the honors students from UW and the Bridges To Hope men brainstormed ways to help with reentry issues, job training, and humanizing life in prison. Together they came up with the idea of using virtual reality (VR) in the prison to address all three of these areas. The UW School of Computer Science is totally on board with this idea and we met  on campus at the VR lab with a group of computer science students and staff, Department of Corrections staff, and our state legislator, Roger Goodman, to discuss future plans.
Almost everyone got to experience VR and, after a student presentation and some discussion, we all agreed that we had a reasonable path to accomplishing something really good. Since then, Roger has put us in touch with Steve Sinclair, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections, who is interested in exploring this idea with us. Exciting times!

Roger Goodman trying out VR

Roger, still enjoying VR



Friday, August 10, 2018

Midsummer Musical Retreat 2018

The Midsummer Musical Retreat (MMR) is a weeklong event for amateur musicians that takes place at Whitman College in Walla Walla every year during the first week of August. I attended for the first time in 2014 and had such a great time that I have not missed one since!

MMR is open to instrumentalists and singers of all abilities. The idea is to make music all day every day with breaks only for lunch, snacking, wine drinking, and dinner. Just about everyone is friendly and when music is not being played, there is lots of socializing and getting to know our fellow travelers in the world of amateur classical music and jazz. At the end of the week, on Saturday, everyone performs whatever they have been working on which, for most of us, means at least two and possibly more performances over the course of the day.

On most days, we meet at 8:30AM for a sectional with one of the coaches specializing in our instrument. We spend the time working on any difficult passages in the music we are playing in one of the large ensembles (the Symphony Orchestra in my case, but others go for the Chorus, String Orchestra, Symphonic Band, or the Big Jazz Band). At 9:45 the large ensembles rehearse until noon. Lunch comes next, followed by be three hour-long sessions for ensembles or classes. The Fermata Bar (where we pause - get it? - for wine, snacks, and ad hoc group performances) is at 5:15 followed by dinner at 6:00.

On arrival day, Monday, there is an after dinner concert at 7:30 to introduce the faculty, followed by a reception at 9:00 for socializing and wine drinking. Tuesday evening there is a "Pops for All" event where people play and sing show tunes and other popular songs. Oh yes, and to drink wine. Wednesday night features a "Folk Jam" (I have never done this one), and Thursday night is "Club Morendo" for which people sign up to perform anything they want. On Friday night there is a faculty concert (usually excellent) and Saturday features Skit Night and the Big Band Extravaganza.

So we keep busy.

For me, the morning sectional included all of the bass players and our faculty coach, David Brown of the Vancouver Symphony. This year there were only two basses so we had a lot of quality individual time with Dave. Since our parts had only a few difficult passages, we had time to talk about all things bass, from exercises to improve technique, to the best types of strings, to the pros and cons of the new fold-up travel basses. We also read through some bass trios just for fun.

After the sectional, the Symphony Orchestra rehearses from 9:45 to noon with my old friend Roupen Shakarian conducting. Roupen was the music director of Philharmonia Northwest (my home orchestra) from the 1980s to 2010. I spent 15 seasons with him in Philharmonia, so I am familiar with all of his quirks, including his stock of Monty Python jokes. Also, having played for many other conductors, I really appreciate the clarity of his conducting style. It's the best I have ever seen, including conductors I have watched leading professional orchestras.

In the afternoon, my three hours were: chamber music in the first hour, a small jazz group in the second, and the "Afternoon Orchestra" in the last hour.

First Afternoon Hour
When the string bass is mentioned in terms of chamber music, most people who know something about repertoire think of Schubert's "Trout" piano quintet. Some otherwise well-informed persons believe that, in fact, the Trout is the only decent chamber piece for bass. As one lady said to me at lunch one day "There is the Trout. And then the Trout. Oh yes, and the Trout." However, those with such uninformed opinions are sadly mistaken and I felt compelled to defend the honor of my instrument with a "Well, actually..." moment. I myself have played the first two movements of the lush Vaughn Williams Piano Quintet at previous MMRs. The Dvorak String Quintet Op. 77 is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written and I put together a string quintet (two violins, viola, cello, and bass) to play it at Philharmonia's Chamber Musicale in January. And there are more, as you will see. So no, as wonderful as Schubert and his piano quintet are, for the bass it is not the Trout and only the Trout.

Originally, our quintet had intended to take the first movement of the Dvorak to MMR but, at our first rehearsal in March, I just happened to have the music for George Onslow's String Quintet No. 12, Op. 34 available and asked if the group wanted to play through it. We sight read the first movement and it was love at first play.  So Onslow it was for MMR.

Despite the examples I gave above, it is true that chamber music including a bass is not as common as I would like and many of the pieces are not well known. So,  if I want to play, I have to pay. In this case, I obtained the music, recruited people to play it, scheduled rehearsals, registered the group for MMR, decided who the best coach would be, and tried to make sure we got that coach assigned to us. These things I did. And if I do say so, my master stroke was getting the estimable David Brown to coach us. He is a great teacher, a nice guy, and somehow manages to combine super-human technical skills on the bass with great musicality and a totally unpretentious demeanor. He's not a good coach. He's the best.

Second Afternoon Hour
Patrick Sheng, an enthusiastic young jazz guy, coached a group of inexperienced jazz players in the second hour. I probably had the most jazz experience of anyone in the class and I don't have much! We were all expected to improvise solos and some had never tried such a thing before and were a little nervous. One trombone player adamantly refused to do it! It was fun but not exactly fulfilling musically speaking.

Knowing I would be playing jazz at MMR, a few weeks earlier I purchased pickups for my bass and a Fender bass amp called the Rumble 40. It is very lightweight and helps out a lot when playing with horns, drums, and piano. I will also be using it in the big band I have been playing with at home. It definitely made me one of the cool kids at MMR as both of my fellow bassists borrowed it twice for their own performances.

Third Afternoon Hour
Roger Nelson conducted the Afternoon Orchestra and we read through several pieces including a Mozart overture, a couple of symphonies, and what have you. It's fun to sight read and we got to do a lot of it. Toward the end of the week, we selected two pieces to play in public:

Vaughan Williams: English Folk Song Suite, March: Folk Songs from Somerset
Haydn: A movement of one of his Paris Symphonies which, sadly, I have now forgotten,

At Tuesday night's Fermata Bar, after a few glasses of wine, I joined a pickup group of string players performing "Eleanor Rigby" and "Ascension" which is apparently a pop tune from around 2011. Whatever.

On Wednesday night around 9:00pm, several of us got together to play purely for the joy of it. A couple of my cellist friends were there, along with a humorous Canadian violist of my acquaintance, and a few violinists, all capable musicians. I brought music for the Dvorak String Quintet and someone else brought the Brahms String Sextet No. 2 in G major. I doubled the 2nd cello part on the Brahms and we played both pieces late into the night. This turned out to be one of the most memorable musical experiences of my life. So much fun.

Club Morendo is held on Thursday night in the basement of the student center. Whoever wants to perform signs up and the music continues from 9:00pm to whenever they are done which is sometimes close to midnight.

A jazz band at Club Morendo with hiking friend and cellist, Juha, on sax
Sometimes people surprise you. In the Afternoon Orchestra, I had noticed a woman playing the oboe very nicely. At Club Morendo, I saw that she also has other talents! Take a listen. There are two people from my string quintet in this group: Larry, our first violinist, arranged the music and is playing guitar. Our second violinist, Erin, is the backup singer on the far left.

On Friday, the weather had cooled off to the low 90s so the Fermata Bar was held outside. That day our jazz group from the second afternoon hour played a tune WITHOUT MUSIC. That's how good we were! Or not. Oh well, no one is perfect.

Here are a couple of scenes from Friday night's Fermata Bar:

A jazz band featuring my hiking and music buddy, Jim Whitehead, on keyboard and my fellow bassist Ed Sale. Most importantly, my bass amp is barely visible behind Ed.


The crowd at Friday night's Fermata Bar
After dinner on Friday, a concert by the faculty (i.e. the coaches) is traditional. These are all fine professional musicians and the performances are often fantastic. Case in point: David Brown playing Psy by Luciano Berio.

David Brown showing us how bass playing is really done. 

Sooner than seemed possible, Saturday, the day of performances, arrived. At 8:30am the Saturday Sampling event begins on the music building stage. Everyone who signs up gets two and a half minutes on stage. I think there were 57 groups this year so the music went on for over three hours. I believe our group was number 53 so we were late to the party. However...

Last year I was in a bass trio and, unfortunately, one of us lost his mind during the Saturday performance and it did not go well. This year was different. Our quintet took the stage and we tore into the Onslow with confidence and passion. After the last chord the audience jumped to their feet shouting and clapping. I must admit, it felt GOOD. Afterwards, we got lots of compliments from people whose musical judgement I respect including, most importantly, David Brown himself.

We are all smiles after killing it Saturday morning. Diane on cello, me, Jacob on viola, our coach David Brown, Erin on 2nd violin, and Larry on first violin.

 This was a great group, diverse in age, ranging from 24 to 63 (yes, that's me) and all personally compatible. We had a lot of fun making music together and, after all, isn't that the point?

On Saturday afternoon, the Symphony Orchestra rehearsed for an hour or two and later, I performed with the Afternoon Orchestra at the Tea a la Cadenza as it is styled. People snacked and drank tea while a few groups played.

In the evening all of the large ensembles performed at Cordiner Hall. My group, the Symphony Orchestra, performed last and played these pieces:

Saint-Saens: Overture from La Princesse Jaune, Op.30
Grieg: Symphonic Dances, Op. 64, 2nd Movement
Lutoslawski: Mala Suita (Little Suite)

After the concert, we had dinner on the lawn and then went inside for the final event of the week: Skit Night and the Jazz Big Band extravaganza. The Big Band sounded good (I hope this link to facebook works for everyone) and the skits varied from meh to OK to salacious. One act was a woman who could whistle loudly by inserting two fingers into her mouth. Any two fingers, as she pointed out. She ended by holding up her two middle fingers, putting them in her mouth, and whistling Hail to the Chief! Most of us loved it. Then a certain young female cellist I know gave an extremely suggestive (OK dirty) description of how to moisturize a bassoon reed. It had to do with slowly licking the bottom of the reed and... Well you get the idea.

After exchanging goodbyes with many people, some tearful (lots of wine, what can I say), I headed back to the luxurious Travelodge Walla Walla for the last time. In the morning, I drove back across the state to home and reality.