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dcseain1. Music
As i have discovered in conversations with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nancylebov, i had a best-case experience in my years in the public schools of Prince William and Fairfax Counties, Virginia, US. Mrs. Davis was the music teacher at Dale City Elementary school when i was in grades 1-4. From her, and my mother, i learned my love of song and singing. From Mrs Davis, we learned to read music. We had to prove we could read at least treble and bass clefs by the end of grade 3 or early grade 4 (we had year-round school back then, so things were a bit more fluid like that than today).
We had music class for an hour a week, on Wednesdays or Thursdays in my years there. We spent part of each class singing, with a student changing the overheads for lyrics we did not know, and with Mrs Davis sitting with her back to us, playing the piano for us to sing with. I loved watching Mrs Davis play the piano, because the visual patterns of the keys as she pressed them was beautiful and mesmerizing.
I came home from school one day when i was 8 and said to my parents, "Mommy, Daddy, i want to learn to play the piano". They looked at each other, at me, back at each other, then Mom asked me why and i told her about watching Mrs Davis and i wanted to do that. By the end of that month, i had piano lessons, along with S and T Frey, who lived down the street. For six months, i practiced at the Freys house every day after school. Then, in the Fall, on a Monday, a modern upright was delivered to our home and put into the edge of the dining room, along the stairs. So i could practice at home then.
The next year, in Grade 5, age 9 at the time, i came home and said i wanted to learn to play violin. So, dad took me to the local music store, and rented me a violin. A few months later, a private tutor was recommended to me, and her neighbor was selling a full-size violin, which i was finally big enough to play. So my parents bought it for $600. I still have it, and still play it. It's worth a very good bit more than $600 today.
In High School, i was no longer concertmaster, and so switched to viola, as i made only 3rd chair in 1st violin, and any 2nd-rate violinist would surely be a 1st-rate violist. I found i liked viola better - the mellower sound, the larger size, the more laid-back people, the less cut-throat competition for position, the generally cooperative environment the violists created.
I went 20 years playing viola, and a tad of cello, before performing on violin at the behest ofmuzikmaker21, with whom i still have symphonic intentions - literally. (I see opening with french horns and cellos in the lead, and building from there - we'll see where it all leads).
My performance of music - instrumental or vocal - is more important to me than recorded music. I do have my share of recorded music, and groups and performers of which i am quite fond - a couple of which to the point of being rather a groupie.
And any comments i make on music are incomplete with a shout-out to Hazel Cheilik, under whom i studied orchestral and chamber playing in high school, and a tip of the hat to my dearly departed friend Buffy Beverage, a cellist whom i am honored to have known, and even more honored to have played with for years in quartet and in ensemble. Oh, i did a year on the big bass drum in marching band in 4th year of high school, too.
2. Manners
Hm. Manners. Well, when i was five, i came home from a day of play for lunch to a fully set table - multiple forks, spoons, finger bowls and all. That afternoon was spent teaching me what various forks were for, how to use them, that one uses one's flatware/silverware from the outside in toward the plate, where to find the finger bowl, water glass, wine glass, cordial glass, and what. This was considered a standard extension of please, thank you, if you would be so kind, and don't chew with your mouth open. This was a thorough introduction of things to come - visits to friends of my father's on Embassy row, parties at embassies, visits to the White House (not state events), dinners at the trout club and more.
Recently, i think it was November, my mother spent an hour explaining to me about her efforts to be fair to us two kids, to treat us equally, to spend the same amount of money on us both. I think it was in large part to her explicit and implicit examples of fairness and treating all with dignity, even when it is not easy, and my inherent desire to have a peaceful environment, plus reinforcement from our wonderful neighbours, and my friends, that has inspired me through life to - mostly- try to behave my best, though i know i fail on that grandly at times, being human and all.
I started reading Judith Martin, aka Miss Manners, quite young, and being a budding faggot from a young age, certain bits of formality and stuffiness are core components of my character.
This topic was hard. I think that's all i have to say, though follow-up questions may clarify what i'm fairly sure i just obfuscated.
3. Boardgames
Some time in the late Summer or early Fall of 1975, my mother sat down on the floor with me and we played Monopoly. Her stated purpose was to teach me better how to count and to make change and about money. That Monopoly set was a wedding gift from her parents, as no American household is complete without a Monopoly set. Years of family games of Monopoly would follow. Scrabble got added as i moved into Kindergarten in July of 1976. Dad started teaching me chess in the Spring of 1977, just after i had tubes put in my ears. As we move into 1978, my sister was big enough that Candyland and Trouble appeared. That Xmas, my great-grandma Shoenmann (Mom's Dad's Mom) gave my own Scrabble set, which i still have. Risk entered the picture at some point, along with many others. Other friends had other games, and we would get together and game when we weren't in the woods or along the creek or at the playground, or it was too hot, or rainy, or icy or what.
My college years were spent sharing housing with various friends, including a particular happy house in Circle Towers in Fairfax. One day, we were siting in the library, which adjoined the kitchen. One roomie was tossing oranges, which were in a bowl on the counter. So we all started throwing oranges at one another, then we ran out the door to the nearby park and played freeze tag for a while, then ran back to the house, picked up the oranges, and we guys insisted the ladies play Risk with us. They cleaned our clocks quite thoroughly that game.
A few years ago,scruffycritter introduced me to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
chez_turtle, where it turns out the hostess, chelona is someone i knew from, and lived with during, college.
In addition to board games i play Babble, and on Facebook, i'm always up for a game of Lexulous, Wordscraper, or Word Twist.
4. Conversations inselki's kitchen.
*Tries frantically to think whybadmagic would choose this topic* *shrugs shoulders* selki is a gracious hostess always, and her parties always have lovely people at them. In the kitchen, getting food, making food, throwing away trash, grabbing a drink, doing dishes or whatever we are doing, is where the most intimate conversations usually happen in my experience.
Kitchens invite that. They are warm. They are about feasts and cookies and iced tea and coffee and camaraderie and kneading bread or biscuits.
5. The state that taught you to keep toilet paper in your car.
The State of New York. I have family in Chautauqua County. Several of my friends went to Cornell in Ithaca. One passes through NY from S to N along I-87 on the way to Quebec Autoroute 15. Back when, there were signs: "Primitive Facilities Next n00 miles". What that meant was that when you pulled into the rest area, there would be a mound to the left with a wooden sign in it that said "Men" and a mound to the right with a sign in it that said "Woman". Behind each mound was a pit toilet. So, it was bring your own or use leaves. That's all there is to say about that.
NY is a lovely state, an i spend 2 weeks each year in that state, one week in the Summer, and one week in October. I spend additional time there from time-to-time, visiting family or just being there. I go to New York City sometimes, too, which is nice, but, though a part of New York State, New York City and Westchester are not like what is N or W of them.
As i have discovered in conversations with
nancylebov, i had a best-case experience in my years in the public schools of Prince William and Fairfax Counties, Virginia, US. Mrs. Davis was the music teacher at Dale City Elementary school when i was in grades 1-4. From her, and my mother, i learned my love of song and singing. From Mrs Davis, we learned to read music. We had to prove we could read at least treble and bass clefs by the end of grade 3 or early grade 4 (we had year-round school back then, so things were a bit more fluid like that than today).We had music class for an hour a week, on Wednesdays or Thursdays in my years there. We spent part of each class singing, with a student changing the overheads for lyrics we did not know, and with Mrs Davis sitting with her back to us, playing the piano for us to sing with. I loved watching Mrs Davis play the piano, because the visual patterns of the keys as she pressed them was beautiful and mesmerizing.
I came home from school one day when i was 8 and said to my parents, "Mommy, Daddy, i want to learn to play the piano". They looked at each other, at me, back at each other, then Mom asked me why and i told her about watching Mrs Davis and i wanted to do that. By the end of that month, i had piano lessons, along with S and T Frey, who lived down the street. For six months, i practiced at the Freys house every day after school. Then, in the Fall, on a Monday, a modern upright was delivered to our home and put into the edge of the dining room, along the stairs. So i could practice at home then.
The next year, in Grade 5, age 9 at the time, i came home and said i wanted to learn to play violin. So, dad took me to the local music store, and rented me a violin. A few months later, a private tutor was recommended to me, and her neighbor was selling a full-size violin, which i was finally big enough to play. So my parents bought it for $600. I still have it, and still play it. It's worth a very good bit more than $600 today.
In High School, i was no longer concertmaster, and so switched to viola, as i made only 3rd chair in 1st violin, and any 2nd-rate violinist would surely be a 1st-rate violist. I found i liked viola better - the mellower sound, the larger size, the more laid-back people, the less cut-throat competition for position, the generally cooperative environment the violists created.
I went 20 years playing viola, and a tad of cello, before performing on violin at the behest of
muzikmaker21, with whom i still have symphonic intentions - literally. (I see opening with french horns and cellos in the lead, and building from there - we'll see where it all leads).My performance of music - instrumental or vocal - is more important to me than recorded music. I do have my share of recorded music, and groups and performers of which i am quite fond - a couple of which to the point of being rather a groupie.
And any comments i make on music are incomplete with a shout-out to Hazel Cheilik, under whom i studied orchestral and chamber playing in high school, and a tip of the hat to my dearly departed friend Buffy Beverage, a cellist whom i am honored to have known, and even more honored to have played with for years in quartet and in ensemble. Oh, i did a year on the big bass drum in marching band in 4th year of high school, too.
2. Manners
Hm. Manners. Well, when i was five, i came home from a day of play for lunch to a fully set table - multiple forks, spoons, finger bowls and all. That afternoon was spent teaching me what various forks were for, how to use them, that one uses one's flatware/silverware from the outside in toward the plate, where to find the finger bowl, water glass, wine glass, cordial glass, and what. This was considered a standard extension of please, thank you, if you would be so kind, and don't chew with your mouth open. This was a thorough introduction of things to come - visits to friends of my father's on Embassy row, parties at embassies, visits to the White House (not state events), dinners at the trout club and more.
Recently, i think it was November, my mother spent an hour explaining to me about her efforts to be fair to us two kids, to treat us equally, to spend the same amount of money on us both. I think it was in large part to her explicit and implicit examples of fairness and treating all with dignity, even when it is not easy, and my inherent desire to have a peaceful environment, plus reinforcement from our wonderful neighbours, and my friends, that has inspired me through life to - mostly- try to behave my best, though i know i fail on that grandly at times, being human and all.
I started reading Judith Martin, aka Miss Manners, quite young, and being a budding faggot from a young age, certain bits of formality and stuffiness are core components of my character.
This topic was hard. I think that's all i have to say, though follow-up questions may clarify what i'm fairly sure i just obfuscated.
3. Boardgames
Some time in the late Summer or early Fall of 1975, my mother sat down on the floor with me and we played Monopoly. Her stated purpose was to teach me better how to count and to make change and about money. That Monopoly set was a wedding gift from her parents, as no American household is complete without a Monopoly set. Years of family games of Monopoly would follow. Scrabble got added as i moved into Kindergarten in July of 1976. Dad started teaching me chess in the Spring of 1977, just after i had tubes put in my ears. As we move into 1978, my sister was big enough that Candyland and Trouble appeared. That Xmas, my great-grandma Shoenmann (Mom's Dad's Mom) gave my own Scrabble set, which i still have. Risk entered the picture at some point, along with many others. Other friends had other games, and we would get together and game when we weren't in the woods or along the creek or at the playground, or it was too hot, or rainy, or icy or what.
My college years were spent sharing housing with various friends, including a particular happy house in Circle Towers in Fairfax. One day, we were siting in the library, which adjoined the kitchen. One roomie was tossing oranges, which were in a bowl on the counter. So we all started throwing oranges at one another, then we ran out the door to the nearby park and played freeze tag for a while, then ran back to the house, picked up the oranges, and we guys insisted the ladies play Risk with us. They cleaned our clocks quite thoroughly that game.
A few years ago,
scruffycritter introduced me to chez_turtle, where it turns out the hostess, chelona is someone i knew from, and lived with during, college. In addition to board games i play Babble, and on Facebook, i'm always up for a game of Lexulous, Wordscraper, or Word Twist.
4. Conversations in
selki's kitchen.*Tries frantically to think why
badmagic would choose this topic* *shrugs shoulders* selki is a gracious hostess always, and her parties always have lovely people at them. In the kitchen, getting food, making food, throwing away trash, grabbing a drink, doing dishes or whatever we are doing, is where the most intimate conversations usually happen in my experience. Kitchens invite that. They are warm. They are about feasts and cookies and iced tea and coffee and camaraderie and kneading bread or biscuits.
5. The state that taught you to keep toilet paper in your car.
The State of New York. I have family in Chautauqua County. Several of my friends went to Cornell in Ithaca. One passes through NY from S to N along I-87 on the way to Quebec Autoroute 15. Back when, there were signs: "Primitive Facilities Next n00 miles". What that meant was that when you pulled into the rest area, there would be a mound to the left with a wooden sign in it that said "Men" and a mound to the right with a sign in it that said "Woman". Behind each mound was a pit toilet. So, it was bring your own or use leaves. That's all there is to say about that.
NY is a lovely state, an i spend 2 weeks each year in that state, one week in the Summer, and one week in October. I spend additional time there from time-to-time, visiting family or just being there. I go to New York City sometimes, too, which is nice, but, though a part of New York State, New York City and Westchester are not like what is N or W of them.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-07 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-07 03:34 pm (UTC)In class, or the playground or what, never an issue. In grade 4, we were invited to audition for choir if we wanted, and we each went up to the piano and sang a short bit. I don't recall anyone being horrible, though some were better than others.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 03:53 am (UTC)Thank you. I'm glad you've enjoyed the conversations; I've enjoyed your company!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 04:21 am (UTC)