Marylou Speaker Churchill

I've been meaning to write a few words about Marylou Speaker Churchill ever since I found out about her death on November 11, the day after she passed away. I didn't know Mrs. Churchill well, but I studied with her for three weeks at a summer festival several years ago, and she was the kind of person who left an impression, no matter how briefly you knew her.

She was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 30 years, and principal second for 23 of those years.

I have a spiral bound collection of music she gave me that summer, with a yellow cover bearing the title "Basics, Opus 2" and her name at the bottom. The title and her name are printed, but the rest of the front cover is covered in words, too - her own writing. A few phrases stand out to me each time I look at this little booklet, but especially the words written across the top of the page: "Start with JOY!" You didn't have to know Mrs. Churchill long, or very well at all, to realize that that was how she approached not just the violin, but all of life - with joy.

Inside the front cover are about 15 pages of exercises excerpted from various violin methods - Schradieck, Korguoff, Dounis, Yost, Galamian, and a little Simon Fischer. There's also a page of charts covering frequencies, ratios, cents, decimals, etc. for complete chromatic scales in Pythagorean, Just, Mean-tone, and Equal-tempered systems of intonation. (It's quite complex and gives me a headache just to look at that page.) Every page in the book, every exercise, is the sort of thing that can kick your butt whether you're mediocre or excellent (actually, I don't know anything about being excellent, but I can imagine).

There's an excerpt from a presentation she gave to young musicians once that seems to sum up her personality and beliefs well - her deep faith, her personal conviction in all that she did, and her vibrant love of music and of people:

"It appears that the greatest concern of the young musician seeking an orchestral position is the belief in stage-fright or nerves. Assuming proper preparation and a good attitude (I have nothing to lose, I don't have the job so I can't lose it), the manifestation of a loss of control is simply fear; fear of not doing as well as you can. There is a law of this universe which is so simple and so powerful and it literally wipes this fear out of your being, and it is this... "perfect love casts out fear." If you are actively engaged in loving your instrument, loving the music, loving the audience, loving the committee, loving your enemies, then there is simply no room for fear of any kind, and you will find yourself playing better than you expected. To love is to live, and breathe, and sing, and play. Love then."

The New England Conservatory, where Mrs. Churchill taught, has a nice tribute to her life and work on their website, which you can read here.

Midway through that yellow-covered collection of music is the last movement from Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time." This movement, "Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus," or "Praise to the Immortality of Jesus," is only for violin and piano, and she included it in a book otherwise consisting of exercises as an opportunity to focus on tone, bow distribution, vibrato, phrasing... well, there are endless things to think about with this piece. But I think she also just loved the piece and wanted to share her copy of the music with her students. [Edit to add: you can read Michael's musings on an impromptu collaboration with Mrs. Churchill on this very piece at his blog.]

At the top of the Messiaen, penciled in just below the title are two words written in large cursive: "all love."

You can listen to a recording of Mrs. Churchill playing this movement with pianist Veronica Jochum here. It's an incredibly moving performance that vividly demonstrates that love - of music, of people, of life - that she spoke about.

Olan Mills and Church Directories

The church where Nathan is employed is in the process of making a new church directory, complete with photos of those who belong to or attend the church. Olan Mills is taking all the photographs and has been calling us for weeks in an attempt to get us to schedule an appointment for a photo session.


Last night I sent the following email to the generic church email address:

Dear staff members at [church name],

I am writing to express my concern at the way contact information of church attendees has been shared with Olan Mills. Tonight marked the sixth phone call to our home phone during dinner hours.

I find it problematic for the church to give out our personal contact information to any company soliciting our time and business.

Thank you for your understanding,
[my full name]

(This was considerably toned down from my first draft, incidentally, which included words like "outrageous" and "unacceptable" and phrases like "I have told them on several occasions and in no uncertain terms that, had I wished to schedule an appointment, I would have done so.")

There's no way I'm the only person who finds this approach irritating, right? Right? But I got a reply from the church which essentially said, not, "We're so sorry we gave out your contact information to a solicitor and you've experienced this irritating situation," but instead (and I paraphrase), "We're sorry you have a problem with it, but we have no idea why, since church directories are THE BEST THINGS EVER and EVERYONE SHOULD WANT TO BE IN THEM."

Part of the email read,

"Olan Mills is only making calls to either confirm appointments or to schedule appointments so that our entire church family can participate in the new directory."

Right. I KNOW. That's what my email was about, their numerous calls to try to make me schedule an appointment. Why are you reiterating the problem as though it's a solution or explanation?

The announcements in the church bulletin every week for the past two months, and the announcements made from the pulpit in Sunday mornings have all made it clear to me that a directory is being made. Six phone calls crosses the line from nice "church family on Sunday morning" stuff to harassment. I get enough sales calls in the evenings without having to worry about having a church give out my personal contact information.

Seriously, am I the only person who finds this outrageous?

Clumsy

I put my foot up on the ledge in the shower, grabbed my can of shaving cream, and shook it vigorously so it would be foamy and not drippy. In shaking it, I slammed it into my raised knee.

An inauspicious start to the day, don't you think?

Hello? Anyone Still Reading Here?

I have been, apparently, much too busy to blog lately.

This is probably a good thing, having so much going on in my life, but I'm still hoping to find balance - the kind of balance that allows for practicing violin, teaching students well, playing gigs, keeping up with friends, doing necessary housework, cooking delicious meals, reading good books, and spending time with my FavoriteBoy. [FavoriteMan? I started calling him FavoriteBoy when we were first dating and he was not yet 20 years old; now, in our mid-twenties, I'm thinking I need a new moniker. Suggestions?]

Will I ever find this kind of balance in my life? Right now it seems like wishful thinking, indeed.

To summarize the past few months, I read that the Army Strings had a vacancy for a violinist and submitted my resume. To my complete shock, they offered me an audition. (G_____ College? Whoever heard of it? I had figured my resume would go straight into the recycling bin.) I practiced as many hours as I could squeeze in daily to prepare for the audition (despite the fact that it was way out of my league and most people auditioning seemed to have master's degrees) and then decided to channel my motivation in a different direction, after all. Cancelled audition time; took lessons with various Boston grad school teachers. I do think a military career would be right up my alley... maybe someday.

Still figuring out how I feel about all these events and what exactly I plan to do next, but have stated publicly that 2009/2010 is going to be The Year In Which I Start Kicking Serious Butt In Life.

Meanwhile, since the aforementioned balance in life seems impossible to achieve, Nathan is enjoying eating bagel bites and pizza rolls (purchased with coupons, of course) instead of home-cooked meals half the time, and the living room is covered in laundry waiting to be put away.

I am still loving my vegetarian ways and consuming copious amounts of autumnal roasted veggies, baked spicy sweet potato wedges dipped in ketchup [my fav], and warm bean soups of various varieties. [By the way, it's National Vegan Month. I'm thinking of trying to be a legitimate vegan for the duration of Novemeber. Hmm. Eating vegan at home is easy, it's eating out or with friends that gets difficult...]

That's what's going on in my life. As to what's going on in yours, my dear internet friends, I wish I knew. My Google Reader has 1,000+ unread items.

Balance... right.

Women: Know Your Limits!

Ashleigh posted the funniest video on her blog, and I just had to share it here...

Grocery Store Musical

Improv Everwhere has put their latest video online: the Grocery Store Musical. The song is really, really weird, but I like watching peoples' reactions.

Feeding The Hungry

Take a minute to read this woman's incredible story.

Breastfeeding May Protect Heart Health

A recent study suggests that breastfeeding offers health benefits for moms as well as for babies, including lowered risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The article is interesting, and points out strengths as well as possible weaknesses in the study done.

(Also, the picture in the article will give you warm and fuzzy feelings, guaranteed.)

Piano Stairs and "The Fun Theory"

Here's a cool initiative - encouraging little healthy behaviors (like choosing the stairs over the escalator) by making them more fun!

Baby Panda Sneeze

This made me laugh this morning!

Evangelical Scandal

Although I already wrote about this on Twitter, I thought it worth a mention here on my blog as well. Last Thursday Nathan and I went to a Mark Noll (author of "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind") lecture, an event focused on combatting anti-intellectualism in the evangelical church. Well, this is what the top of the program - hundreds of copies of which were distributed to conference attendees - looked like:



Ironic, right?

Trader Joe's

This article does a great job of summarizing why I (and most people I know) love Trader Joe's so much.

"...try telling your friends you’re going to Trader Joe’s and they’ll ask if they can go too. But you can’t drag people to Safeway."

$5 InStyle Subscription

Since several of my readers wrote me saying they had taken advantage of the great $5 Real Simple subscription deal I posted about a while ago, I thought I'd let all you magazine-lovers know that right now you can get a year's subscription to InStyle from Amazon.com for only $5. What a deal! (The cover price is $51.87.) And don't forget, magazine subscriptions from Amazon.com always ship free.

Smart Choices Campaign

Have you heard about the new food-labeling program called "Smart Choices"? Many of our country's largest food manufacturers (General Mills, ConAgra, Kelloggs, Kraft, Unilever, PepsiCo, and others) are participating in this campaign, "designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices" through the use of a green checkmark prominently displayed on the front of "smart choice" food items.

The green checkmark label that is starting to show up on store shelves will appear on hundreds of packages, including — to the surprise of many nutritionists — sugar-laden cereals like Cocoa Krispies and Froot Loops.

“These are horrible choices,” said Walter C. Willett, chairman of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health.

He said the criteria used by the Smart Choices Program were seriously flawed, allowing less healthy products, like sweet cereals and heavily salted packaged meals, to win its seal of approval. “It’s a blatant failure of this system and it makes it, I’m afraid, not credible,” Mr. Willett said.

I guess it's hard to put a checkmark on a bunch of broccoli.

Smoothie Recipe #1

I just realized that the Green Smoothie Challenge I wrote about is almost over! It ends September 17. Well, that went by quickly. I actually have to say it hasn't changed my habits much from normal. I ate a couple of "Joe-Joe's" (Trader Joe's version of Oreos) and other things with white sugar over the past month, just occasionally, and I'm okay with that. I had a green smoothie for breakfast almost every day, but not quite. I ate a green salad for lunch or dinner almost every day, but again, not 100%. And I exercised almost every day as I usually do, doing 3- or 4-mile runs for the most part. It was fun to do the challenge, and I came up with a few new smoothie "recipes."

Here's what I made this morning:

2 T. chia seeds, soaked overnight in 1+ cup of water
2 T. peanut butter
1 frozen banana
3-4 c. fresh spinach
2 T. psyllium seed husks

It was delicious! The peanut butter flavor could have been a little stronger, though, so if you're not worried about the calories, you could add another tablespoon or so.

If you're curious about chia seeds, here's one article I've found that details the health benefits. In short, they are a complete protein, a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, a good source of B vitamins, a great source of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc, and a good source of fiber. When you soak chia seeds in water, they acquire a gel-like consistency. I like them in smoothies, or mixed in with my oatmeal. I'm looking forward to trying new ways of eating them, too -- I'm relatively new to the chia thing, haven only gotten my first order in the past month. I ordered mine from a seller on Amazon.com, by the way - it was the best price I found.

Not Alone

Tonight Nathan and I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. We decided to leave early and grab a bite to eat at the mall where the movie theater is located. Nathan got pizza (of course), and as we sat talking I couldn't help noticing a mother and daughter sitting nearby scraping the cheese off their respective slices of pizza. When Nathan and I got up to leave, as we walked past them I smiled and commented, "I thought I was the only one who scraped cheese off my pizza!" The mother laughed and explained that they both preferred their pizza with little or no cheese. They, like me, often order pizza with no cheese (always prompting weird looks and comments from pizzeria employees) or make their own cheese-less pizza at home.

Hey, I'm not the only one!

Also, the world is full of friendly people, which makes me happy.

(We enjoyed the movie very much.)

Health Care and the S.A.D.

Just wanted to share a few links I've found interesting lately, mostly on the topics of wellness, healthcare, and food.

Most of you probably saw John Mackey's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal back in early August. If you didn't already read it, I suggest reading his original, un-edited version. Mackey lays out eight clear steps to government health care reform. He also suggests greater personal responsibility for health and preventable illness, pointing out how the American diet is responsible for such an overwhelming percentage of disease. As the CEO of Whole Foods, he's certainly made a lot of liberal foodies more than a little annoyed, and many are currently boycotting Whole Foods because of Mr. Mackey's opinions on the subject. I suppose it was to be expected that stating that health care is not a basic human right would be sure to get people riled up.

"Many promoters of health care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care-to universal and equal access to doctors, medicines, and hospitals. While all of us can empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have any more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have an intrinsic right to food, clothing, owning their own homes, a car or a personal computer? Health care is a service which we all need at some point in our lives, but just like food, clothing, and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually-beneficial market exchanges rather than through government mandates. A careful reading of both The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter, because there isn’t any. This "right" has never existed in America."

Michael Pollan also weighed in on the health care reform issue, suggesting that the biggest problem isn't just the health care system; what really needs to be addressed is the Standard American Diet and the government subsidies within agriculture (corn, soy, etc.) that often affect what Americans can readily afford to eat.

For other news on the health-and-wellness front, check out this USA Today article pointing out that 60% of adults can't digest milk. Yep. Since becoming a vegetarian back in February, I've found myself leaning more and more towards the "human milk is for baby humans, and cow milk is for baby cows" viewpoint, finding it increasingly odd that the human species relies on dairy for a sizable percentage of food intake. (Not that I ever liked cheese or milk!) Of course, some call my viewpoint on this issue "propaganda," but then take the "Got Milk?" commercials in stride without a second thought - of course cow's milk is part of a healthy diet. What?

The American Heart Association made waves by suggesting that women limit their added sugar intake to no more than 6 tsp. a day, and for men, 9 tsp. Quite a reduction from the average, which this article says is 22 tsp. per day!

For those calorie-counters who say, "A calorie is a calorie - who cares if it's from a potato chip or an apple?", here's an interesting article that delves into the science of that very issue. It's not the sort of thing you can skim - I found myself really having to think about each thing the author was saying.

That's all the linkiness for now!

By the way, I still love being a vegetarian. I was chatting with Nathan this evening about how my mindset has changed in the past seven months. I'm gaining a new perspective on how I view food as I think more about where my food has come from, and in some cases, at what costs. I told Nathan I find it interesting that some use words like "extreme" when describing my decision not to eat meat, when I, in my current frame of mind, view my dietary choices as exactly the opposite of extreme. Factory farming seems extreme to me. Almond butter, fresh-picked fall apples, medjool dates, avocados, spinach, hummus, ak-mak crackers, pita bread, sweet potatoes, squash, savory beans... mmm, these things are delicious simplicity.

Capital Punishment

This is a lengthy article, but well worth the time spent to read it.

Trial By Fire: Did Texas Execute An Innocent Man?

Labeling

Yesterday I gave a first violin lesson to a five-year-old girl named H, a beautiful child with wide blue eyes and a short-cropped pixie haircut.

The child's mother had - there's no better way of putting it - "warned" me rather cautiously over the phone prior to the lesson. She's quiet, she's shy, she has developmental delays. She had a "kindergarten assessment" and a psychologist recommended that she get involved in music. She has a hard time focusing. She has "issues." She has "problems."

I really didn't know what to expect when H. walked through my door yesterday, tiny violin case in hand. What I discovered was a charming child who quickly became at ease with me, giggling at my little jokes and standing near enough to rest her hand on my knee as we talked and learned about the violin together. She eagerly asked questions and willingly participated in each task or activity I offered. When her attention briefly waned (altogether normal for every five-year-old I've ever known), a quick change of direction in the lesson brought her back into sharp focus. When her enthusiasm bubbled over, her words ran together and became a bit jumbled - nothing a gentle, "Try saying that a little bit slower" couldn't fix.

So far, she's taken to the violin like a duck to water. None of the stiff, tense fingers some kids have; her hands are malleable and held the bow quite nicely. She breezed through a little game involving oft-confusing commands such as "touch your violin shoulder with your bow hand," "touch your bow elbow with your violin hand," etc. After ample repetitions and lots of encouragement, she was playing a simple rhythm on her E-string right in between her bow tapes, holding the violin with beautiful posture and the bow with soft, natural fingers each in their proper place.

The two of us, I think, had a wonderful time together. There's something quite special about her, and I don't mean that at all in the sense that the "education professionals" seem to be saying it. I just think she's H, curious and sweet, uniquely herself, and altogether delightful. Just one lesson with her, and I completely love her.

At the end of the lesson, H's mother seemed overjoyed. She exclaimed "You're wonderful with her!" and thanked me several times, expressing that she thought violin would be the perfect activity for H.

Oh, I don't say this to "toot my own horn" at all. While the mother's enthusiasm certainly made me happy, I mostly felt a little sorry for her - sorry that H. had to be "assessed" and then labeled as somehow deficient or abnormal, sorry for the stress and worry it had obviously created in this family, sorry that little H. will no doubt pick up on these conversations and feelings amongst her family if she hasn't already. Sorry that it had to be a surprise to H's mother that someone would be "good with her" and enjoy working with her so much. Sorry that every teacher H. encounters in the future won't have, as I had, 30 minutes of one-on-one time at her disposal each week to focus solely on H. and get to know her for the fun little person she is.

There are certainly cases and scenarios in which a family can find comfort and empowerment through a name for a genuine disorder; cases where this provides direction and a great deal of help to a family. But I'm pretty sure that there's altogether too much labeling of young children going on.

My favorite label is a name, and if the child wants to add a comma and the word "violinist" to the end of his or her name, well, my happiness is complete.

Should I Be Offended?

I'm not sure which is weirder, the fact that Nathan jokingly calls his earmuffs "marriage enhancers," or the fact that I think it's hilarious that he does so.