Gregory Short - Northwest Composer

Gregory Short, August 14, 1938 - April 1, 1999, was an American pianist and composer, the first Northwest pianist to extensively feature music by American and Northwest composers and possibly was the most frequently performed Northwest composer in the Pacific Northwest.

The structures are harmonic in conception rather than contrapuntal or mathematical. His vernacular themes derive from a multi-cultural environment across the United States and the globe. A tonal painter, Short composed with color and emotional intentions, including tone clusters, through a very wide range of classical music forms. 

For additional information:

• Gregory Short Bio with Picture
• Gregory Short List of Compositions

Review of a Stan Kenton Orchestra Recording

Cuban Fire contains ten compositions by Johnny Richards for the Kenton orchestra. In the spring of 1956, Kenton recorded seven of these compositions and they are worth revisiting.

The title Cuban Fires showcases various sections of the orchestra between solid walls of sound and really outstanding solos. For Valiant Congo there are terrific sax and trumpet solos that suggest what is to come in track six Festival of Fools.

Others of Mr. Richards’ wonderfully expressive compositions are Reminiscences, Who Knows, The Fair One Dances, and Three Hearts, which quickly move ahead by way of rich sonority and hard driving energy.

From th 1960 session, Valiant Congo and Festival of Fools are not to be missed!

Review of a Modern Jazz Quartet Recording

Did you grow up with the MJQ’s recording Pyramid? Because only a few of us are around, we should pass on a few of these hidden gems of American culture.

The vibrancy of colors on track 1, Vendome, unfold so beautifully. Next, a hot sun shines through the title track - Pyramid, a blues composed by Ray Brown. Beauty and truth; truth and beauty!

Later, on my 1950’s spinet I impovised on Pyramid for Marj. We were consolidating our record collections and lives those many decades ago. 

From both of these near concertos for the ballsy genius of Milt Jackson, who seems to be fronting the quartet, the next track is Duke Ellington’s standard - It Don’t Mean … which the MJQ polishes up, still keeping the presence of Bags in front of his personal rhythm section.

My favorite MJQ rendition of John Lewis’ composition Django comes next.     
Pop and jazz standard How High the Moonstarts with very formal arrangment, followed by a needed release of tension from Mr. Jackson, who is again back in front of the others. At the end, we return to formal writing.   

Jim Hall’s Romaine opens with pianist John Lewis, who I feel has been eclipsed by vibraphonist Milt Jackson on these recording dates in 1959-1960. It should be noted, however, that Mr. Lewis’ playing on the Pyramid recording is some of the best that I’ve heard from the highly esteemed leader of the legendary MJQ.

You must have this recording.

To Appear Separate or To Relate - That is the Question!

For more than a decade, I have been reading and sharing the book, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, my copy translated by Robert A. F. Thurman (1991), a Columbia University prof.

In the beginning of Vimilakirti’s teaching is an homage to Buddha, followed by: “… the bodhisattvass’ purification of the Buddha-field.” My understanding widened from a narrow view of being somebody to include everybody in the universes — Buddha field.

The personal query ‘To Appear Separate or To Relate’ is a variant of the ‘To Be or Not To Be,’ one of the perennial questions. The challenge ‘To Appear Separate or To Relate’ assumes that there is an absolute core of something separate inside ourselves and everyone else, too.

Is there really an absolute difference between us or not ? Although a conflict seems to arise between being somebody and everybody, I see them together. The relative and absolute coexist. I know that there is noting that is not me.

Books

Light rain coming down on the tall evergreens makes a beautiful northwest image, best seen from in front of computer looking out the window. Good day for social networking, while three dogs nap in front of the wall heater: a three dog day.

A good friend pointed me to a new site that might interest you too. It is alltop.com and I am checking out news feeds in the categories of Food, Art, Books, and Music. Starting at alltop, I selected Culture > Books.

Scrolling through NYT and Powells and and Booksquare about half-way down, I selected the Issues in Publishing topic that opens to a post from Firebrand Technologies:

We offer book publishers software applications that help them track their
publishing projects from acquisition through publication. We also offer a
service called ‘eloquence’ which distributes bibliographic information from publishers to retailers, wholesalers, and aggregators, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Bowker.

I returned to Books for more exploration of this topic. Publishing Talk looks
interesting. I appreciate the post Death by Blogging.

Seeds of Compassion in Seattle

Eye to Eye with Dali Lama, by Ward Serrill, Special to The Seattle Times, April 11, 2008 (abridged)

“The eyes are the windows to the soul,” says an old English proverb. I am about to look into a pair of eyes that will change my life.

The 14th Dalai Lama walks into the room and sweeps his gaze across the dozen or so people standing around, bowing to each of us, his hands placed together in a blessing …

For 24 minutes I observe, ignored by all, invisible as a bird in the shadows. He never anticipates an answer. He listens as if for the first time and his answers defy expectation …

When asked about his religion of kindness, he replies “… all these things: compassion, charity, patience, forgiveness, joy; these do not belong to religion … They are simply the expressions of what it is to be human.”

The interview is over … We don’t speak a word. As he moves in front of me, my hands voluntarily reach out he looks up at me and my world stops spinning. His eyes reveal a deep gravity. I see serious work behind his childlike humor and spontaneity. The man has suffered much and discipline has made him into a spiritual warrior. This serious work, these eyes tell me, this inner work to discover peace and being.

Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, Leonard Bernstein, conductor

As the piece opens – marked moderato, I like the broad variety of sonority in this 1979 live performance from Japan: New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

As a youngster, I had not heard anything like this. In the face of extreme suffering thus music burst out front heroically. Later while going through crises in relationships, I put on the 1959 vinyl of Bernstein and the NYP, following their tour of Russia and meting Shostakovich. Through out my life, I ‘ve felt this music helped me and many others restore trust in self.

Twenty years after the 1959 studio pressing, the entire live recording by Bernstein (1979) seems even more emotionally direct and powerful. Bernstein’s New York Philharmonic strings and reeds are so beautiful, the brass so solid, the percussion so effective. What a profound presentation of this symphony in 1979.

The second movement (allegretto) both expands and deepens psychological space. Here is a breathing back into the self, mind and body that culminates in utter joyous living.

Ahhh … in the third movement (largo) we are drinking red wine, dancing around the tribal fire, singing beautifully to one another; eating roasted meat, baked roots, and many pungent flavors with sweet fruit. Again, the recapture of joy from suffering was too long coming.

The people and I are ready once more to be resurrected in the fourth movement (allegro non troppo). First we recall a march from the first movement. By the finale, we are wholly inter-related with ourselves, our environments, and our universes.

Additional information:

1. Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 in D Minor, Leondard Bernstien, cond., New York Philharmonic, 1959.“In 1959 he took the New York Philharmonic on a tour of Europe and the Soviet Union, portions of which were filmed by CBS. A major highlight of the tour was Bernstein’s performance of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony, in the presence of the composer, who came on stage at the end to congratulate Bernstein and the musicians. In October, when Bernstein and the orchestra returned to New York, they recorded the symphony for

2. Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 in D Minor, Leondard Bernstien, cond., New York Philharmonic, 1979. SONY Classical Library, SK 94733

3. Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 in D Minor, Mstislav Rostropovich, cond., London Symphony Orchestra, 2007. LSO Live, LSO0058

4. Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 in D Minor, Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Mravinsky, cond., 1954.

Serious Games for Serious Topics in eLearning

Serious Games for Serious Topics
By Clark Quinn, Executive Director, Quinnovation, and Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine

“Everyone [in corporate training and academe] wants to increase engagement and retention for learners, especially if the topic is an important one where compliance or business success is at stake. In addition to their underlying theoretical rationale, games have been shown—in practice and under a variety of circumstances—to be successful in terms of both engagement and retention. However, are games appropriate for all topics, in particular, serious ones? Can the design of a game, or even the fact that a game is being used, induce a sense of frivolity that lessens the impact of the learning?

“Serious games is a term that has evolved to describe the use of games in education, training, health, and public policy. Serious games do more than add window-dressing or fun to an otherwise serious (and potentially dull) learning task. They recast a learning task into one that is game-like and fundamentally alters the experience of the learner.

“The process of developing serious games properly starts with the learning objectives. Those objectives are turned into critical decisions to achieve a meaningful goal, which is set in a context or “world” where the application of those skills really affects an outcome that the learner cares about, with an underlying model that calculates the consequences of those decisions in the world and presents the learner with new choices until success (or failure) is achieved. Finally, we must tune that experience—adjusting challenge, feedback, support, and media elements—until it is engaging when tested.

“With such an approach, the necessary skill practice is contextualized or situated, making the learner responsible for exploration. This provides a constructivist approach to learning that includes just enough guidance to optimize the process. This does not wrap entertainment around learning, but recasts the learning practice as an immersive experience. The results can be described as “hard fun” in the sense that they don’t feel easy yet provide a compelling experience. When a serious game is done effectively, it engages the learner’s emotions and brain in a coherent experience that leaves them with new attitudes, understandings, and/or skills.

“Note that learning games are not total learning experiences. While it is possible to embed concepts, examples, and even reflection into the learning environment, games do not encompass all facets of learning. Instead, the game itself serves as practice in the overall learning experience, and other and resources outside the game experience are needed. For example, reflection on the experience should be scaffolded outside the interaction to facilitate deeper learning.

“Properly done, serious games are highly effective for serious topics. While the notion of a game may seem frivolous, the design and content are not. In fact, a serious game can introduce tension and crises to simulate the realistic experience of practicing a particular skill, or depict consequences, more easily than other types of learning. In the game Darfur Is Dying, for example, the difficulties of daily life such as trying to secure water while avoiding the Janjaweed militias is challenging and nerve-wracking, bringing home the simple challenges of survival for the people caught in this disaster and raising awareness of the importance of a solution.

“Pine and Gilmore, in their book The Experience Economy, talk about the step beyond the experience economy being the transformation economy, where people pay to have experiences that are transformational. That’s what we’re talking about here. Serious games challenge the learner and keep him or her engaged during the learning process. It’s the difference between watching a nature documentary and going backpacking in the wilderness.

“Deeply immersive learning experiences increase engagement, and results can be determined by learning metrics such as retention and transfer. Next to mentored real performance, serious games are arguably the best way to master a skill—serious or otherwise. However, any skill that is necessary for someone to learn can be deemed “serious,” whether it’s customer service, operating machinery, or detecting fraud. Essentially all are critical in their own way to an organization’s success. A serious game will not seem frivolous when done right. Whether you call it immersive learning simulations or serious games, it constitutes deeply contextualized, challenging practice. And that’s a worthy goal.

About the Primary Author
Clark Quinn, Ph.D., is an internationally known consultant, author, and speaker on e-learning topics including games, mobile learning, performance support, and organizational strategy. He’s written a book on designing serious games, Engaging Learning, works through Quinnovation.

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SOURCE: http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=opinion&article=96-1

Ten Web 2.0 eLearning Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes

The first I-net technology — the Internet — has been swept along by dynamic user-generated content into Web 2.0. Even if you are all over social networking, photo and video sharing, content tagging, to uncover new things in technological socialization.

1. Listen to a conference presentation. When you run across conference presentations while reading your RSS feeds (EDUCAUSE Connect is a prime source, as is OLDaily), save the conference site as a bookmark and revisit it to hear a presentation. [NOTE: check out Robin Good's feed.]
   
2. Record a 10-minute presentation about something you are working on or learning about, either as audio (use Odeo) or video (use Ustream), and post it on your blog.
3. Do a search on the title of your most recent post or on the title of the most recent thing you’ve read or thought about. Don’t just use Google search, use Google Blog Search and Google Image Search, Amazon, del.icio.us, Technorati, Slideshare, or Youtube. Scan the results and if you find something interesting, save it in del.icio.us to read later.
4. Write a blog post or article describing something you’ve learned recently. It can be something you’ve read or culled from a meeting, conference notes (which you just capture on the fly using a text editor), or a link you’ve posted to del.icio.us. The trick here is to keep your writing activity to less than 10 minutes—make a point quickly and then click “submit.”
5. Tidy your e-portfolio. For example, upload your slides to Slideshare and audio recordings to Odeo and embed the code in your presentation page. Or write a description and link to your latest publication. Or update your project list.
6. Create a slide on Zoho. Just do one slide at a time; find an image using the Creative Commons licensed content on Flickr and a short bit of text from a source or yourself. Add this to your stick of prepared slides you use for your next talk.
7. Find a blogger you currently read in your RSS reader and go to their website. Follow all the links to other blogs in their blogroll or feedroll, or which are referenced in their posts. Well, maybe not all the links, or it will take hours, not ten minutes.
8. Write a comment on a blog post, article, or book written by an e-learning researcher or practitioner.
9. Go to a website like Engadget, Metafilter, Digg, Mixx, Mashable, or Hotlinks and skip through the items. These sites produce much too much content to follow diligently, but are great for browsing and serendipitous discovery. If you find something interesting, write a short blog post about it or at least a comment.
10. Catch up on one of your online games with a colleague—Scrabulous on Facebook or Backgammon on Yahoo. Or make a Lolcat. Or watch a Youtube video.

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SOURCE: Stephen Downs, eLearn Magazine > http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=60-1

Esquire’s 10 Favorite Sandwiches - One by Chef Kevin Davis

Those of us at the front counter at The Steelhead Diner several days ago, ordered rich boy sandwiches for lunch. The regulars and first-timers all ordered the same thing — the rich boy — a flavorsome advancement on the po’boy, and word is getting around.

Esquire for March 2008 illustrates Chef Kevin Davis’ rich boy sandwich by ingredient and method, plus his hot sauce aioli.

“Traditional po’boy bread has a light, crispy crust and an airy center,” he reveals. “Also, when you order a po’boy in Louisiana, you’ll be asked what you want on it, and the common answer is ‘dressed’ - with mayo, pickle, tomatoes, and lettuce. I spice up the mayonnaise with another Louisiana specialty, Crystal hot sauce. It’s relatively mild and lets you add enough to get that vinegar zip without making it too hot.”

Oh, my goodness. That’s so good! When the cruise season starts, we might have to get their early.