6 November 23

National Saxophone Day is celebrated annually on 6 November, the birthday of Adolphe Sax (1814-1894). He was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the flute and clarinet. My tie shows saxophones and many other instruments.

7 November 22

Today's musical instruments tie honors yesterday's celebration of National Saxophone Day! Adolphe Sax (who invented it) was born on 6 November 1814. I have never played a saxophone but I enjoy its jazzy sound. There's a saxophone image near the knot atop my tie.

5 November 21

Wearing a fancy music tie today to honor the birthday tomorrow of Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), celebrated as National Saxophone Day. I never played the saxophone but my good high school friend George Grund did. Other birthdays of note today include Art Garfunkel (1941), Gram Parsons (1946) and Peter Noone (1947).

6 July 20

Today's music-themed tie celebrates the birthday of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950), Swiss composer, musician and music educator who developed Dalcroze Eurhythmics, an approach to learning and experiencing music through movement. This occasion was suggested to me by my comrade (in the Combs Building at EKU) Nicola Van Onselen Mason, who enjoys working music into every nook in the school classroom. She has just been named Interim Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education.

25 October 18

If you need an earworm today, I'll recommend the Blue Danube Waltz, by Johann Strauss II (the "Waltz King"). He was born on this date in 1825. It's also the birthday of Georges Bizet, in 1838.

17 July 18

Today is World Emoji Day, so 👔. Find tens of thousands more at EmojiBase. Today also marks the birthdays of musicians Peter Schickele (performer for "P. D. Q. Bach," born in 1935) and Vince Guaraldi (famous for "Linus and Lucy" and other Peanuts music, 1928-1976). Handel's "Water Music" had its debut 301 years ago!

8 May 17

Wearing a musical-themed tie to honor the birthday (yesterday) of Johannes Brahms (in 1833) and Peter Tchaikovsky (in 1840).

27 June 16

On 26 June 1284, the "Pied Piper" lured 130 children away from Hamelin, Germany, when the city refused to reward him for removing rats and stopping a plague. At least that's how the legend goes! You can find out more about the true history behind the legend at this page. My tie includes some flutes to honor the Piper.

7 March 16

Calling on all fans of "Boléro" to join me in a rousing crescendo to celebrate the birthday of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Years ago we had a family joke about our local classical music station, that we couldn't tune in without fearing that they would play Boléro!

16-17 July 15

Music notes for tomorrow -- a Friday, when I don't usually wear a tie -- Birthday of Peter Schickele (1935), who discovered P. D. Q. Bach, and of Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976), who composed music for many Peanuts® animated TV specials. It is also the 298th anniversary of the premiere of Handel's "Water Music."

17 July 14

Happy 79th Birthday, Peter Schickele! He has been discovering the unpublished musical works of P. D. Q. Bach since1965. July 17 is also the anniversary of the premiere (in 1717) of Handel's "Water Music," and marks the 1928 birthday of jazz musician and pianist Vince Guaraldi, most famous for his compositions for the animated Peanuts® cartoons.

5 January 14

"On the Twefth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . Twelve drummers drumming . . . " My tie shows a tumble of drums and other instruments. If you look carefully at the tree you'll see an ornament for the Little Drummer Boy.

1-2 September 13

Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000) was born on 2 September. His hymn texts hit many wonderful themes, but I love particularly those challenging the church to become deeply entangled in social issues. Here is the first verse of "When the Church of Jesus Shuts Its Outer Door":

When the church of Jesus shuts its outer door,
lest the roar of traffic drown the voice of prayer,
may our prayers, Lord, make us ten times more aware
that the world we banish is our Christian care.

(United Methodist Hymnal, 592)

See also "The Church of Christ, in Every Age" (United Methodist Hymnal, 589; Presbyterian Hymnal, 421), and "When in Our Music God is Glorified" (UMH, 68; PH 264).

1 April 12

Today is Beth's first day as organist/accompanist at Somerset First Presbyterian Church, about 45 miles from our home. She chose my tie for the occasion out of the half-dozen with musical themes. Pipe organs don't usually have drums but they do have ranks that mimic the acoustics of strings, brass, flute and reed instruments.

5 January 12

Happy Twelfth Day of Christmas! I don't have twelve drummers drumming, but my tie has about a dozen drums on it, with a few "pipes" (flutes) as well.

16 December 10

Happy 240th birthday, Ludwig van Beethoven!

25 October 10

• 1825 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer (d. 1899)

• 1838 – Georges Bizet, French composer (d. 1875)

19 August 10

I went into the closet and heard drums, brass and celli shouting "you haven't worn us since February of last year!" So I let them out to play today.

23 February 09

Hallelujah, it's Handel's birthday (1685)! (Amen!)

04 January 09

To celebrate the first Sunday in 2009 I wore this tie which was a Christmas gift to me from Nicholasville Presbyterian Church, thanking me for helping Beth with her organ duties. It's a very musical tie!