Miscellania

St. Mary's had a Vestry retreat over the weekend at the Church of the Good Shepherd in the Corral di Tierra area. They let us use there facility in exchange for our letting them come in and have there retreat at our facility. It was nice to have the change of scenery, and the weather couldn't have been nicer, with blue skies and temperatures in the 70s. The church is nestled in a valley among the oak trees, and has a small hill as its back yard. During the lunch break many of us took a short hike to the top, and were rewarded with the above view looking over the hills of Laguna Seca and Fort Ord all the way across the bay to the Santa Cruz mountains. It was a very relaxing and restorative time.

I went to see the radiation oncologist again last week to tell him of my decision to have the implants. The next step is to have some testing done to make sure there is no problem with the urinary tract that would rule out such a procedure. It is not something that the patient is normally aware of, but can be very problematic if not identified prior to treatment. The encouraging thing was his characterization of my tumor as "minuscule with a small 'm'". Stay tuned!

My mother seems to be doing somewhat better. She has been taking walks up and down our block every day, and I even got her to the grocery store on Monday. At first she protested, but once she got inside she had a ball. Everyone was glad to see her (she is quite an institution there) and she was able to pick out some things she had been wanting but had been able to describe correctly to allow someone else to get for her. Case in point - Bok Choy. She kept thinking it was Endive, and would be so disappointed when we would pick up the one she had named instead of the one she meant! The visiting nurses and physical therapists are still coming on a regular basis, and she takes all of the exercises they have assigned her to heart. She is a real fighter, that's for sure.

Last night was the first Camerata rehearsal for the May concert. We will be singing (among other things) an arrangement I wrote of Idumea, so I am very excited about that. The program is very different from what we usually do, with lots of songs in the folk and patriotic idioms. It is going to be a lot of fun.

Motherly news

Things are going better with my mother at this point. The nurses have been giving her regular care, and she now has a hospital bed, which allows her to sleep comfortably. However, she has not yet been able to return to her routine of walking into town each day. I am hopeful that she will be able to do so before much longer.

Yis'hak Adonai!

Or literally, "The Lord laughs!" From Psalm #2 and set in a most dramatic way in Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms." This was the featured work in our concert with the Camerata Singers this past weekend. We were joined by countertenor Christopher Fritzsche, formerly of Chanticleer. What a voice! His rendition of Psalm 23 was absolutely heavenly.

Our program opened with choral settings of Aaron Copland's "Old American Songs" - both sets. These are real gems. There are 10 different songs, each with a different character. We were fortunate to have a full orchestra for the concert composed of top quality musicians. Not cheap, but well worth it.

The final piece on the program was Randall Thompson's setting of the 23rd Psalm for chorus and harp. It is a lovely, flowing (overflowing, if you will) work that made for a gentle benediction after the fireworks of the Bernstein. We sang to a sold out house on Sunday, and the audience expressed considerable excitement about the concert at the reception afterwards.

It was an exhausting week, but in a good way. Thank goodness we had Saturday off!

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!*

Every so often a cold front comes through in winter, and we get a little snow on the local mountains. That's Mount Toro across Monterey Bay, taken from the eastern end of Pacific Grove. It never stays long, but it sure is pretty.

Wednesday was just a lovely day!

*(From the movie "White Christmas.")

Another brief respite...

A quiet day in Pacific Grove...

When it rains...

Actually, it has been raining here, and pretty cold, too. We've seen snow on Mt. Toro, which is at best an occasional sight. The title of this entry refers to life events, however.

A week ago Saturday my 94 year old mother was complaining of back pain. She had done her usual walk into town, but was unable to make it all the way back. She sat down to wait for the bus, but none came. Monterey-Salinas Transit has recently decided that Pacific Grove no longer needs bus service on Saturdays. Fortunately, a good Samaritan who was having a cup of coffee at an outdoor table for the Little Red House noticed her distress, and gave her a ride home.

When we went to have our usual afternoon snacks with her, she was clearly in a lot of pain. She took some pain killers, and that seemed to help. Two hours later we received a call from the Lifeline service that she had fallen out of bed and needed help. By this point she was in agony, and couldn't move at all without screaming. It was clearly time to bring in the professionals, and an ambulance came and took her up to the hospital, where she remained for four days.

They never did determine the source of her pain, and she was doing better, so she was to transition to the local convalescent hospital for a few days so they could come up with a plan to manage her pain. Unfortunately, there were no open beds, so at the last moment they took her to a different facility.

She had an absolute fit. She thought they had taken her to an insane asylum and that she was being locked up. She demanded that they call the police. Of course, they didn't. By the time we got there she was literally foaming at the mouth she was so upset. She accused them of locking her in bed - actually, they had simply raised the rails so she wouldn't fall out. She managed to lower one end and climb out the foot of the bed.

I got her up out of the wheelchair and walked her around the facility a bit. She was able to do this without trouble, so I decided the best course of action was to take her home. No way, no how was she going to let them keep her there.

Because of the departure against medical advice, there was no opportunity to come up with any sort of a pain management plan, so she has been having to suffer for the past few days. The visiting nurse association was supposed to send somebody, but this doesn't seem to have happened yet. Her place is going to need some modifications, and she definitely needs to have some pain medications.

Oy.

Daffodils....

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Narrowing it down...

We met with the radiation oncologist on Tuesday. A wonderful man who clearly knows what he is doing. We were tickled to learn that he had originally been a piano major at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music - until (as he said) they kicked him out for playing Pop Warner Football one summer instead of devoting himself to his art.

The appointment was at 10, but we arrived at 9:30 to make sure we were in the right place and had time for the paperwork. He met us at the front desk, and said he'd be with us in just a couple of minutes. I think that is the first time in my life I've been taken early by a doctor! He spent a good two hours with us going over all the current information on prostate cancer treatments, and did a very thorough exam.

He agreed that it would be good to have the biopsy sent out for a second opinion, so I will definitely do that. Still, I doubt there will be a change, and I need to decide how I want to proceed. The doctor recommended surgery to remove the prostate, as had the urologist. However, the reason for the recommendation is that we just don't have data yet out 15 years on the modern types of radiation treatment. The numbers from the past (which gave surgery a slight edge in mortality figures at 15 years) were based on treatments that had been done in the 1960s. Radiation technology has come a long way since then.

The person who is doing those types of studies is scheduled to speak at a convention in the next couple of months, and the doctor felt that they would probably be announcing the results of the current 15 year data at that time. I am very curious to see what it is going to be. The radiation oncologists experience was that in the very few cases where cancer recurs after treatment with radiation implants, it is not in the prostate. This means that the cancer had already spread before the treatment took place. I am confident that I am early enough in this discovery process that that has not happened for me.

Lots of friends have been very helpful with testimonials about treatment they or their friends have had. I have to look at the overall numbers, though. Quality of life is very important to me, and from what I've learned so far the risks of problems in that regard is far greater with surgery than with the radiation implants. That is the direction I am leaning, but I am still in the learning stage.

Whew!

After waiting with bated breath, we received our letters this week informing us we had passed our auditions and were being asked back to sing in the volunteer chorus with the Carmel Bach Festival! With the changes that have been made, there were no guarantees, so we are quite elated. St. Matthew Passion, here we come!

Sing, sing, sing...

On Saturday we had our all day retreat with the Camerata Singers in preparation for our concert next month. It was a gorgeous day, and we made significant headway on all our music. I am particularly taken with Randall Thompson's "The Lord is My Shepherd" - just a gorgeous piece.

In the meantime: "Lagaramshu! Lagaramashu goyim!"

In Friendship's Name...

My college roommate Jim came to visit this weekend. We hadn't had much opportunity to see each other for some time, and it was wonderful to see him. It occurred to me that he and I use a lot of the same expressions - but I can't remember if I got them from him or him from me! We managed to pick up where we had left off all those years ago. It is an interesting time displacement phenomenon. Our comfort level and familiarity was such that it was as if we had been in close contact all along. Friends truly can be forever.

Audition time!

Today we had our auditions for the volunteer chorus for the Carmel Bach Festival. My wife and I like to take the first slots, but amazingly, a friend of ours managed to grab the first one moments before I got through to schedule the appointments. Still, positions two and three aren't bad.

We met the new chorus master, Andrew Megill from Westmister Choir College in Princeton, NJ. I had worked in the kitchen at Quad Club with some of the students from WCC when I was in college, so had some familiarity with the institution beyond mere reputation.

He is quite a personable fellow, and we had a nice time talking with him. The auditions themselves were pretty difficult - considerably more so than the equivalent ones last year. Still, we got through them OK and have the rest of the weekend free from the stress of preparation.

The warranty must have expired!

I need to go back and look at my user manual - I must have come with a 50 year warranty. Now that it has expired, little (and not so little) things are going wrong. As I was having my biennial physical exam, my doctor apologized for keeping his finger in my nether throat for so long. He wasn't sure, but something felt a little odd on my prostate and he recommended I see a urologist. The urologist was impressed that my regular doctor had noticed anything, because it was very subtle. However, he agreed that there seemed to be some hardening down there, and had a biopsy done. That showed that in fact I have a small area of prostate cancer.

As you can imagine, that was not welcome news. It is not life threatening and is very treatable. However, my options both have unpleasant possible outcomes. Surgery to remove the prostate will completely take care of the cancer. It will be gone, with no danger of it spreading. However, there is a 50-70% chance of impotence afterwards (not to mention a 3-10% chance of incontinence!)

Radiation therapy is pretty good these days, and the data show that it is just as effective 15 years out. Unfortunately, they don't have data beyond that. The doctor indicated that if it were he, he would opt for the surgery. Then he added "I think..." The problem with doing the radiation is that if ends up not being effective, surgery is no longer an option, and the only treatment would be hormone therapy which would basically eliminate libido.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't!

I have not decided what to do yet, but will talk to the radiation oncologist before choosing which option to take.

Needless to say, I have had better days.

Of happiness the very pith...

There is a tradition among the online Gilbert & Sullivan community "Savoynet" of getting together when possible and singing through as many of the operettas of that wondrous duo as possible. For simplicity's sake, these gatherings are known as "QWERTYIOP"s. The first ever US West Coast QWERT took place yesterday, and I was fortunate to be close enough to attend.

It was prompted by a visit from a pair of British Savoynetters, returning home after a cruise to Hawaii. People turned out in force to meet the delightful couple, and the group managed to get through four (count 'em, four!) of the operas: Patience, Iolanthe, Yeomen of the Guard and Pirates of Penzance. My wife and I managed to get there in time to participate in all but the first one, having had churchly duties in the morning. We even brought along a photo of D'Oyly Carte tenor Philip Potter (seen above as Nanki-Poo) for its place of honor on the piano - something that is de rigeur at a QWERT for the simple reason that there was one at the very first such gathering.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely, and some of the voices were truly outstanding. Whenever someone stumbled over a phrase, the 30 or so singing the chorus parts would chime right in and help put the soloist back on track. There is nothing quite like the G&S commuity!

Tempus fugit!

Over halfway into January already... Hardly seems possible.

The New Year's Day service at the Episcopal church was interesting. Other than the six of us who were serving, there was one parishioner! Our priest decided it would be best if we all sat up in the choir, and so the service was intimate and lovely. I did one of the readings, and played the bandura to accompany my wife as she sang "I wonder as I wander." The sermon was more of a group discussion than a lecture, and it ended up being one of the more spiritually uplifting services I have attended in quite a while!

Our sons visited for a couple of days during the week between Christmas and New Years - one from the east coast and one from the Bay Area. It was nice to spend some time with them. It is difficult to do so at this busy time in their lives, so every moment is greatly appreciated. The oldest needed to go to Santa Barbara to meet up with his girl friend for the return to New Jersey, so my wife and I decided to make a night of it by staying at the Ballard Inn in the Santa Ynez Valley. It is a lovely B&B, with excellent food and even a little wine tasting.

Then last week our youngest daughter came to stay for a few days during her winter break from Berkeley. She even came to church with us on Sunday and she and I played flute and recorder on Bach's "Sheep may safely graze" while the choir sang. It was a real pleasure to make music with her.

Things are gradually returning to normal as vacations are over and the new year quickly ages.

Thank goodness *that's* over!

We managed to survive the Christmas rush, attending four services in two days. It started with 10 AM Sunday morning, to celebrate Advent IV. No choir for that one. That evening there was a 7 PM Christmas service at the Lutheran church. We arrived about 20 after 5, after a nice, easy dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. (Their new mango curry pizza is wonderful!) I brought along my viol and my bandura, and intended to tune the 4 octaves of the latter instrument when we got there. I figured there would be plenty of time, as the choir rehearsal didn't start until 5:45.

So much for expectations! The organist was already there, and was unhappy that middle C on the principal was out of tune, despite the organ having been tuned that week. As I was present at the tuning, I had some concept of how to fix it. Fortunately, it was one of the facade pipes and the problem was obvious. Somehow the flanges around the aperture had been flattened out, so I simply bent them back to their normal position and voila! The organ, she is in tune.

At that moment our violinist appeared. I hadn't expected her until 6:15, but was glad to see her. We worked out which pieces she would play and when, and even had the chance to go through them. It is pretty stressful rehearsing something for the first time an hour or so before you have to perform it! Luckily, she is a professional, and quickly mastered the parts. I went back to continue tuning the bandura when I heard a scream. The violinist had missed a stair and had fallen to her knees. She was a bit shaken, so we sat with her for several minutes while we made sure nothing was seriously wrong.

The choir was now showing up for rehearsal. Most of the folks were out of town, so we had greatly diminished forces. In fact, other than having two sopranos, we were basically one on a part. I had taken this into consideration when programming the music, making sure there was a lot of solo work. Still, we needed to go through it a few times. Finally I got back to the bandura and managed to finish tuning it.

As part of the prelude music, the violinist and I played "Greensleeves on a ground." It consisted of a repeating series of chords that I played on the bandura, over which the violin had variations on the famous melody.

During the service itself my wife sang "Vom himmel hoch" as a solo, accompanied by violin and tenor viol. It was lovely. All of the music went very well, and we got many compliments as we were leaving.

We then headed over to the Episcopal church, where we sang a concert intermixed with carols at 9:30 and then the "midnight" service at 10 PM. We had diminished forces there as well, but at least had two on every part. The music was challenging, and we hadn't had long to rehearse it. The adrenaline kicked in, and we managed to sing it better that evening than at any of the rehearsals. We certainly did not peak too soon!

Christmas morning it was back to the Episcopal church. In addition to doing one of the readings, I played "Carol of the Bells" on the bandura during communion. The folks there were quite appreciative.

We visited some friends afterwards and had lunch with them, and then they came to our place to watch "Life of Brian," one of my favorite holiday movies. In the evening we visited some other friends, sharing our truffle liqueur and their homemade limoncello, while reading and answering questions from a trivia game. It was a lot of fun.

Next morning I woke up congested - I had finally caught my wife's cold...

The hours creep on apace...

Hard to believe, but Christmas is almost here. The town is decorated with banners and lights, and the rain has stopped. My wife caught a cold from one of her students, and it has been hanging on, making her miserable. We tried to go to the Chanticleer concert last night (we had had the tickets for awhile), but had to leave after the first two pieces. Her cough chose to manifest itself at that time, and it became clear we would not be able to stay. So it goes. What we heard was lovely, so it wasn't a complete loss.

We're taking it easy today, as we have two services to sing on Christmas eve, featuring a lot of what is essentially solo work.

On a brighter note, I received a CD in the mail yesterday (won it for 99 cents on eBay) called "Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot." It is a recording of original versions of a lot of popular carols and patriotic songs. I have been looking for it for a long time - the one I had had was stolen several years ago, and it is out of print. It contains the original Mendelssohn piece "Vaterland in deinen Gauen" from his Gutenberg Festgesang which was reworked into "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Mendelssohn's text is praise for Gutenberg, and the setting is for men's voices. There are some minor differences (especially in the "Joyful, all ye nations rise" strain) that are quite delightful and an entire contrasting "B" section. It is really a lot of fun.

A triumph, I tell you, a triumph!

The remaining concerts went very well, indeed. We were delighted to sing to full houses at every performance, and the comments afterward were all extremely positive. Sadly, no reviewers from the local papers attended. All I've been able to find is this one extremely positive entry from the blog "The Odd Review." The best part, though, was that we all felt extremely good about the concerts afterwards, feeling we had really put our collective best foot forward.

Now we get a whole two weeks off before returning to our rehearsal schedule for our next series, featuring Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" and Aaron Copland's "Old American Songs."

One down, two to go...

Our concert last night was quite successful. There was a good turnout, and the audience was quite enthusiastic. There's nothing quite like the feeling of being able to share the gift of music with a live audience, especially when it involves singing. There is no middleman - the communication between performer and listener is unimpeded. It is a very vulnerable thing to do, and as a result the connection from heart to heart is palpable.

My daughter was visiting from grad school this last week, and I took her to my voice teacher for a lesson. She had never had one before, but has a lot of natural ability. The first thing my teacher asked was "why do you like to sing?" She pointed out that the question included the answer (the Linguistics major in her coming through). He thought about that for a second and decided she was right, and changed it to "why do you sing?" Her answer - as it probably is for most of us - was "because I enjoy it."

That is what it all comes down to - singing makes us feel good. That feeling translates into that certain "je ne sais quois" in a live performance, and it is picked up by the audience. It is a wonderful way to spend the evening, and makes it worth getting into the tuxedo!

We give the concert again this evening and tomorrow afternoon.

Now you hear it, now you don't

Our conductor pulled the plug on my cornetto debut, more's the pity. He called me over and said that it was too loud. When I suggested that I could point it in a different direction, he clarified his statement to indicate he didn't like the effect. "So," I responded, "you meant that being able to hear it at all made it too loud!" ;-)

Oh well. I probably would have choked under the adrenaline of performance anyway. That mouthpiece is awfully tiny...