Tag: music

Canadian Chamber Choir itinerary

Live in the Hamilton area and anxious to see a real-live science-fiction writer sing in a top-notch chamber choir (and who wouldn’t be)? Here’s the itinerary (thus far) for the Canadian Chamber Choir tour I’ll be part of in October: Tuesday, October 16Choral Collaboration Workshop hosted by Appleby CollegeWorkshop with Oakville Children’s Choir Wednesday, October …

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Musical months ahead for me

I mentioned a while back that I’ll be part of the cast of Persephone Theatre‘s Christmas production of Beauty and the Beast in Saskatoon. I thought I was playing Monseiur Dark, but I received my contract today and I’m actually being signed on to play Maurice, Belle’s father. I’m pleased, to say the least, although …

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On the premature popping-off of pop stars

Download the audio version.Get my column as a podcast. *** I recently spent a several months in the 1960s. Of course, about 40 years ago I spent a whole decade in the 1960s, but since I was a pre-teen the whole time I definitely fall into the “if you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t …

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A sound that’s out of this world

Download the audio version of this column. Get my science column weekly as a podcast. **** Summer is the season for outdoor music festivals. Here in Regina, for example, the Folk Festival will fill Victoria Park with music this weekend. But as you sit on the grass at your favorite festival listening to your favorite …

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Me, singing Star Trek

I’m not going to make it to ConVersion, Calgary’s science fiction convention, this summer: the timing just didn’t work out. But I’ll still be present when the Imaginiative Fiction Writers’ Association (a.k.a. “IFWits”) perform their becoming-a-tradition musical (this year: The Phantom of the Space Opera). At their behest, I have recorded a rather frightening version …

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Photo of the (Yester)Day: Me, Singing

Yesterday we travelled down to Weyburn for the 50-40 celebration, marking the 50th anniversary of the move of Western Christian College from Radville to Weyburn, and the 40th anniversary of the construction of the Weyburn Church of Christ’s current building. That building was brand-new when my parents moved our family to Weyburn for my father …

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Sing out, Louise!

Opera seems to be making a comeback. The Metropolitan Opera’s simulcast of productions to movie theatres around North America has been selling out. If you see an opera in the movie theatre or on television, you probably take it for granted that you can hear the singers over the orchestra, because everything on television is …

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The virtual choir

Well, it looks like this fall I’ll be part of the Canadian Chamber Choir as it conducts workshops and tours out of Vineland, Ontario. Very exciting–I haven’t had the chance to sing with a top-notch choir since my last year in the University of Regina Chamber Singers, then conducted by Kathryn Laurin, and that was …

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Anniversary of first musical recording

Wired regularly posts a “this day in technology” item. Today’s caught my eye: apparently, it was on this day in 1888 that the first known musical recording was made–Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt: Israel in Egypt, assigned the catalog number HWV 54, is an oratorio, a form in which Handel excelled. Like his more famous …

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Music scores for free!

I just learned about this site: the International Music Score Library Project. It’s a wiki that aims to “create a virtual library containing all public domain musical scores, as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world without charge.” There are currently 4,268 works represented in 7,460 PDF …

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Listen to me sing!

I finally got around to posting some new music files on my website. These are from earlier this year, when I sang with Regina quartet Livingston Square in the all-Gerswhin concert “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Gershwin!” at Government House. The other three members of the quartet were Evan Purchase, Dianne Burrows and Carolyn Speirs; …

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Is it real, or is it ElectroStrad?

Very few violinists ever get to play a Stradivarius, but maybe they can still get the sound: Researchers at Manchester University claim to have a solution for all those string players who wish their cheap violins could sound like a Strad. According to an article in the London Guardian, the researchers have developed an electronic …

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