Landscape of Words

a journey through landscapes real and imagined

Song of the Birds

November 3, 2020 / / 1 Comment

One of my favorite cello performances is the performance of Song of the Birds (El cant dels ocells) by Pablo Casals for the United Nations in 1971. Casals was born in 1876 in the Catalonia region of Spain. He learned the cello as a child, and discovered the Bach cello suites when he was in his early teens. At the time, the unaccompanied cello suites were considered “exercises,” yet Casals’ love of Bach led him to practice the suites daily. After years spent with Bach’s suites, he started performing them – and then everyone heard the beauty! It is said that Casals played at least one suite every day for the rest of his life. Pablo Casals is also known as a man of peace, who pursued justice. He worked on behalf of the poor, and used his music to draw attention to injustices. After the Spanish Civil War, Casals left Spain and refused to perform his cello in any country that recognized Franco as the leader of Spain. He made one exception. He performed Song of the Birds at the White House in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy. In 1971, Casals received the United Nations Peace Medal, and he again performed Song of the Birds. His acceptance speech was beautiful, and really brings me comfort on this night when I am hoping and praying for peace….

“I have not played the cello in public for many years, but I feel that the time has come to play again. I am going to play a melody from Catalan folklore: El cant dels ocells – The Song of the Birds. Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: “Peace, Peace, Peace”, and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven and all the greats would have admired and loved. What is more, it is born in the soul of my people, Catalonia”. Pablo Casals, United Nations 1971 http://www.paucasals.org/en/-PAU-CASALS-United-Nations-speech/

Peace, Peace, Peace…

Wren recorded an improvisation on Song of the Birds… here it is:

Song of the Birds
“But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
    let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
    Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
    that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Job 12:7-9 The Message

Ingenuity!

October 7, 2020 / / 1 Comment

We are slow and sparse with posts these days… hang in there with us because I’m just in a “season of busyness” at the moment. I’m looking forward to a slower pace sometime soon. I do get to take short breaks and watch my feeders. It’s definitely fall. I love all of the changing colors and migrating birds – although I do miss the hummingbirds! One day while Wren was practicing we had a visitor at the feeder. It was a really strange visit…a woodpecker at the hummingbird feeder! I guess he was thirsty? It was pretty cute! I thought this little bird was pretty clever! Sugar is sugar… and hummingbird food needs little digestion, so it was instant energy!

We are revisiting some hymns that have already been posted, but Wren is improvising as she plays. She’s writing a lot of music these days, and the improv sessions help her come up with themes for her compositions. I thought you might enjoy hearing some of her creative process. Here is her version of Amazing Grace and Ash Grove:

Fall Already?

September 27, 2020 / / 2 Comments

It seems like fall happened over night! The Asters are blooming and the hummingbirds are gone. Sunsets are amazing, and sunrises are pretty spectacular too. Would you like to take a walk with me? Here are some things I’ve seen this weekend:

Fox Squirrel
Sunset on the Praire
Sunset
Sunrise
Oak Hickory Forest
Black Oak
Goldenrod and New England Aster
Sunset
Flicker eating berries from Virginia Creeper
New England Aster

Another hymn of comfort for you! Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley

Planets

September 20, 2020 / / 2 Comments

Holst’s The Planets is one of our favorites – especially Jupiter. The main tune in this movement is also the hymn tune Thaxted. We have already posted a version of this hymn early on in the project, but we have a new recording for you!

Last night, we went out to see if we could see stars. We have to drive about an hour to the West and a little South in order to get away from light pollution. Even in our favorite soybean field, we still see a lot of light from Chicago and Rockford. There is also a lot of air traffic! I’m continuing to work on my astrophotography skills, and this is the best way to see the stars where we live! I got a new star tracker for my birthday. It’s supposed to be used to get some really good deep space shots. Last night was the first time to set it up so we mostly played around. Here is a shot of the Milky Way. The brightest “star” is Jupiter.

Milky Way

The moon was pretty spectacular last night!

Waxing Crescent Moon
So many stars!

The star tracker I got for my birthday moves your camera to match the movement of the earth during a long exposure. You can also speed it up. This is a shot of a 2 minute exposure moving 6 times faster than the earth’s movements. This effect will be more interesting when I have mountains or some other kind of interesting focal point in the horizon.

Little ditty

September 12, 2020 / / 2 Comments
check out this “little ditty”

Just a fun little ditty for today. In the Suzuki method, there are fun lyrics that help the musician learn. The ditty today is Allegretto by Dr. Suzuki (the accompaniment is also part of the Suzuki method, not Wren’s composition).

So you can sing along:

On a hill far away, on a warm summer’s day,
the three bear’s cabin stood on the edge of a wood.
On a hill far away, on a warm summer’s day,
the three bears went away for a walk.
First the big papa bear,
then the kind mama bear,
then behind with his chair,
came the small baby bear
On a hill far away, on a warm summer’s day,
the three bears went away for a walk.

Walk with Me

September 5, 2020 / / 2 Comments

I know that a lot of my posts are about walks, but I feel like we are on a journey these days. It’s been a long walk since March! Wren played I Want Jesus to Walk with Me for her hymn of comfort tonight. I’m glad we have Jesus with us on this walk!

Here are some pictures I’ve taken on recent walks. They range from walks on our camping trip (yes, I still have more photos), to a walk I took in a local forest preserve and a trip to see Lake Michigan (we’ve missed the lake).

Partridge Pea
Prickly Pear
Wild Grape
Virginia Creeper
At Lake Michigan
Great Blue Heron

Middle School!

September 1, 2020 / / 2 Comments

I can’t believe my girl is in middle school.

She was looking forward to lockers and changing classes, orchestra and art, and making new friends. Today was not what we expected, but it was a good day (I think).

What a week!

August 30, 2020 / / 2 Comments

We made it through…but *whew* that was exhausting! Thanks for those of you who still check on the blog and read even though I’m not getting a post up every night. I made it through the first week and now this week we get to see what Middle School is like! (I can’t believe I have a Middle Schooler!)

I’m trying to be creative with my classes this year, and keep it engaging despite being a zoom class. When I am in the classroom, I always try to have “Film Friday.” Students really look forward to Fridays, and they learn to love David Attenborough almost as much as I do. So for our first “Film Friday” I did something special for the class. The discussion post this week was for the class to tell us all about their favorite place. I went and found photos online of all of the favorite places and this is what it looks like! I really love seeing the places that others love – and learning about why!

Hymn of comfort is back tomorrow! I’ve already got it set and ready to go!!!

Lesson Plans

August 26, 2020 / / 2 Comments

Today was my first day of classes. This semester I’m teaching Ecology and Global Health. I love teaching these classes. I love that I still have things to learn, even in my 21st year! When I teach ecology, I love seeing students develop a love of creation. Most students will not become ecologists, but most do start to understand and appreciate how beautifully complex this world is.

My Global Health students are so passionate about others. They are so excited to learn and truly desire to understand what it means to love their neighbor. But they also genuinely want to explore the brokenness of social systems that keep these neighbors sick and/or hungry. I always learn to hope in new ways by hearing the new ways that students think about these problems. I’m excited for the semester and what we will learn together!

Micah 6:8 is one of my favorite verses and informs how I teach both of these courses.

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

My mom set this verse as a choral anthem, and this past weekend, Wren played an arrangement of the anthem for church. Here is the video!

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