OCTOBER 2016

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Joining MPRO and Renewing MPRO Membership.  We encourage new members to join at the beginning of a rehearsal season, but you are welcome to join at any time. Performing in our concerts is optional, and you can wait until you feel you are ready. There is a “Frequently Asked Questions” section for prospective new members at the “Joining MPRO” link on our webpage, http://www.mpro-online.org.  Dues are due at the beginning of the season. New and returning members should fill out a copy of the membership form on the Joining MPRO page, print it, and bring it with your check to give to membership chair Chris Flake at a rehearsal. In case anyone has problems printing the online form, an edited copy is included in this newsletter.

Save the Date for the 2017 MPRO Workshop.  The workshop is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, January 14, 2017 at Angus Hall (our regular rehearsal site).

Further information will be available in the November issue of Upbeat.

News That’s Fit to Print.  I have been writing a “Music Trivia” feature, not to monopolize the news, but to fill the blank spaces in each issue of Upbeat. If you have an announcement or interesting information that you would like to have included in a future issue, please contact me (judith.unsicker@gmail.com).  Each issue is usually four pages long, but we can go to six if there is enough “fit to print” material.  And we still need an official newsletter editor. Contact me if you’re interested.

-Judith Unsicker


conductor-clipart-21015909-black-and-white-conductor-isolated.jpg

CONDUCTOR’S CORNER

Dear members of the Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra,

        Listed below is the music for the next three meetings of the orchestra. Please note that there will be sectional seating for the Telemann La Joie, with those playing Soprano Recorder 1 and 2, Alto Recorder 1 and Tenor Recorder 1 sitting on the right as they face the conductor and those playing Alto Recorder 2 and 3 Tenor Recorder 2 and Bass Recorder 1 and 2 on the left.  Please observe this seating arrangement when you choose your place at the beginning of the meetings on October 12 and November 9.  Please note as well that great bass and contrabass recorders as well as bassoon will be needed at all three meetings and sopranino recorder and krummhorns are called for on October 26.  Also, a reminder that MPRO now holds its regular meetings in Angus Hall at Trinity Church, 330 Ravenswood Ave (at the corner of Laurel) in Menlo Park.  Please remember to bring a music stand to these meetings since none will be available at Angus Hall and plan to arrive early to allow for parking and getting from your car to the meeting room.

October 12

Vivaldi:  Concerto RV 531

Telemann:  La Joie

Trene and Lasry:  La Mer

Fortuna Desperata

October 26

Gabrieli:  La Spiritata

Vivaldi:  Concerto RV 531

Praetorius:  La Canarie

Trene and Lasry:  La Mer

Fortuna Desperata

November 9

Gabrieli:  La Spiritata

Vivaldi:  Concerto RV 531

Telemann:  La Joie

Trene and Lasry:  La Mer

Fortuna Desperata

        I look forward to seeing you at these upcoming meetings.

     

-Sincerely, Fred Palmer


MUSIC TRIVIA: MORE REALLY EARLY MUSIC

The oldest known (and undisputed) musical instruments are Paleolithic flutes made from bird bone and mammoth ivory, from caves in southern Germany.  They have been dated at about 35,000 to 43,000 years ago.  An even older fragment of a cave bear femur from Slovenia may or may not be a flute. The National Museum of Slovenia maintains that it is 55,000 years old and made by Neanderthals. It has four holes on one side and what may be a thumb hole on the opposite side. Some scientists contend that the holes are a predator’s tooth marks. A musicologist believes that the holes are spaced to produce a diatonic scale, and a professional flautist has recorded music on a replica of the “Neanderthal flute.”  For more information and photographs, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_flutes  and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divje_Babe_Flute.  There is a video featuring the replica music at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHy9FOblt7Y.

The Board: President: Judith Unsicker; Treasurer: LouAnn Hofmann; Recording Secretary: Helen Shamble; Membership: Chris Flake; Publicity: vacant; Graphics: Mary Ashley; Newsletter Editor: vacant; Workshop Coordinator: vacant; Hospitality: vacant; Music Sales: Laura Gonsalves; Historian: vacant; Webmaster: Dan Chernikoff;  Music Director: Fred Palmer; Assistant Music Director: Greta Haug-Hryciw. 

MPRO website: http://www.mpro-online.org      

 

Past Months