APRIL_MAY 2019

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

End of the season. MPRO’s 2018-2019 season will end with the Spring Concert on May 5. See Fred Palmer’s column for information about the concert and the remaining rehearsals for this season. Members who have email should have received copies of the concert flyer.

This will be the last issue of Upbeat for the season.  Members who would like to contribute articles or announcements for the September newsletter should email me by mid-August. My contact information is in the membership mailing list.

In (belated) honor of April 1: Music hath charms… for Swiss cheese?  Internet

searching indicates that this was a real study, reported by a number of sources. Wheels of Emmental cheese were exposed over a six-month period to continuous 24-hour loops of different types of music including hip-hop, Led Zeppelin, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. There was also a  “no music” treatment. At the end of the experiment, two different taste test panels rated the cheeses to evaluate differences in flavor and aroma.  The results indicated that the “musical cheese” had a milder flavor

and that the cheese treated with hip-hop music had a stronger flavor and aroma than

cheeses treated with other types of music. The cheesemaker believes that sound is one of many environmental factors affecting the bacteria involved in the formation and aging of cheese. Further study is planned.  For more information, see: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hip-hop-and-mozart-improve-flavor-swiss-cheese-180971721/

-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 information regarding the final three meetings, dress rehearsal and performance that will conclude MPRO’s 2018-2019 season. There will be seating charts for the meeting on April 29, dress rehearsal on May 3 and concert on May 5.  Please note that sopranino, great bass and contrabass recorders as well as krummhorns, viola da gamba and bassoon will be needed for the April 29 meeting, May 3 dress rehearsal and May 5 concert, great bass and contrabass recorders, viola da gamba and bassoon for the meeting on April 10 and contrabass recorders for the meeting on April 24.  The meeting on Monday, April 29, and dress rehearsal on May 3 will take place at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1106 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Carlos at 7:30 P.M., and the spring concert will be at Trinity Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 5, at 2:00 P.M.  As in the past, small ensembles are encouraged to appear in the spring concert.  Those groups that intend to perform at the spring concert on May 5 are asked to send me the following information by April 19:  the title(s) of the music to be performed, the name(s) of the composer(s), the name of the ensemble (if any) and the names of the ensemble's members.

April 10

Purcell:  Incidental Music to A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream

Anonymous:  O Maria, virgo davitica/O maria, maris stella/ Veritatem Palmer:  The Glass Elevator

April 24

Koechlin:  Assez lent

Palmer:  The Glass Elevator

Monday, April 29

Trinity Presbyterian Church

1106 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Carlos

7:30 P.M.

Incidental Music to A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream

Janequin:  Il estoit une fillette

O Maria, virgo davitica/O maria, maris stella/ Veritatem

Koechlin:  Assez lent

Palmer:  The Glass Elevator

Friday, May 3

Dress Rehearsal

Trinity Presbyterian Church

7:30 P.M.

Incidental Music to A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream

O Maria, virgo davitica/O maria, maris stella/ Veritatem

Koechlin:  Assez lent

Janequin:  Il estoit une fillette

Palmer:  The Glass Elevator

Sunday, May 5

MPRO Spring Concert

Trinity Presbyterian Church

2:00 P.M.

Incidental Music to A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream

O Maria, virgo davitica/O maria, maris stella/ Veritatem

Koechlin:  Assez lent

Janequin:  Il estoit une fillette

Palmer:  The Glass Elevator

Once again, the orchestra’s spring concert will feature a varied and attractive program, and I encourage you to invite your family and friends to attend this performance.  I would also like to thank the members of MPRO for all of the time and effort that they have put in preparing this season’s music, as well as MPRO’s President, Judith Unsicker, and the orchestra's officers for seeing to the necessary tasks that make MPRO's programs possible.  Special thanks go to Irene Beardsley for playing keyboard at the orchestra’s meetings and performances.  I wish all MPRO members the very best this summer and look forward to seeing all of you again in September at our first meeting of the orchestra’s 2019-2020 season.

        

Sincerely, Fred Palmer

MORE FOOLERY: WILL KEMP

Will Kemp was an Elizabethan actor and comedian, associated with comic roles in several of Shakespeare’s plays. On a bet, Kemp set out to dance between London and Norwich in ten days or less. He did it in nine days, and published a summary of his feat titled The Nine Daie’s wonder in 1600.  The illustration above shows him morris dancing with his “tabrer”- a player on the pipe and tabor. The entire summary is available online at: http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/Kemp.htm.  A YouTube search for “Kemp’s Jig” leads to several recordings of a 17th century dance that may

or may not have been part of Will Kemp’s repertoire.

The Board: President: Judith Unsicker; Treasurers: Chantal Moser and Mary Ashley; Recording Secretary: vacant; 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' Issues

MPRO Archives:  http://www.mpro-online.org/MPROArchives.htm