9 Novermber 25

My calendar for 9 November points to the first known recording of classical music, a performance of Handel's "Israel in Egypt," in 1889. It was made on a wax cylinder, using Thomas Edison's invention. The date for this event was actually 29 June 1888, and I am correcting my calendar appropriately. But it's always appropriate to celebrate music, so I'm wearing my eighth-notes tie today.

The small eighth-note pin on my collar is engraved with the letters "E. S.," standing for the name East Siders, a high school singing group from Allentown, PA, which I was part of from 1967-1971. We were sponsored by the Lehigh Valley chapter of Youth for Christ. We sang at churches and schools in eastern Pennsylvania, and our summer tours took us to many churches in Florida, Texas, and Ontario, Canada. YFC had an annual conference in Ocean City, NJ, and in 1968 our mixed quartet (with me as tenor) won that singing competition.

8 June 23

Are you ready for a really long list of musicians, famous and not-so-famous? I culled the list of "famous birthdays" for 8 June so that I could wear my musical eighth notes tie. Take a deep breath (as though you were ready to sing!) and browse through these entries:

1671 Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (Adagio in G-minor), born in Venice, Republic of Venice (now Italy) (d. 1751)
1722 Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht, German composer, born in Free Imperial City of Ulm, Holy Roman Empir (now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany )(d. 1794)
1740 Gabriele Mario Piozzi, composer, born in Quinzano d'Oglio, Lombardy, Republic of Venice (now Italy) (d. 1809)
1753 Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac, French composer, born in Muret, Haute-Garonne, France (d. 1809)
1783 Joseph Lincke, German cellist and composer, born in Trachenberg, Silesia (now Żmigród, Poland) (d. 1837)
1805 Luigi Ricci, Italian composer, born in Naples, KIngdom of Naples (now Italy) (d. 1859)
1810 Robert Schumann, German pianist, composer (Humoresque), and music critic (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik - New Journal for Music), born in Zwickau, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1856)
1812 Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, Moravian violinist and composer, born in Brno (d. 1865)
1812 Spyridon Xyndas, Greek composer, born in Corfu, Greece (d. 1896)
1834 George Garrett, English composer, born in Winchester, England (d. 1897)
1837 Jan Kleczyński Sr., Polish pianist and composer, born in Janiewicze, Russian Empire (d. 1895)
1856 Natalia Janotha, Polish pianist and composer, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1932)
1858 Antoni Nicolau, Spanish composer and conductor, born in Barcelona (d. 1933)
1858 Harry Rowe Shelley, American composer (known for his hymn music), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1947)
1881 Próspero Bisquertt, Chilean composer, born in Santiago, Chile (d. 1959)
1888 Poul Schierbeck, Danish organist and composer, born in Copenhagen (d. 1949)
1894 Erwin Schulhoff, Czech-Russian composer and pianist (Ogelala) who died in a German concentration camp, born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
1909 Ferhunde Erkin (née Remzi), Turkish concert pianist and pedagogue, born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) (d. 2007)
1913 Jagamas János, Hungarian composer, born in Dés, Romania (d. 1997)
1918 Robert Preston [Meservey], American stage and screen actor and singer (The Music Man; Mame; The Last Starfighter), born in Newton, Massachusetts (d. 1987)
1923 Karel Goeyvaerts, Flemish contemporary classical and minimalist composer (Zomerspelen/Summer Games; Aquarius), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1993)
1924 Sheldon Allman, American-Canadian actor, singer, and songwriter (Nevada Smith, Harris Against the World), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2002)
1926 Anatol Vieru, Romanian-Jewish composer (Ultimele zile, ultimele ore/The Last Days, the Last Hours), and pedagogue, born in Iasi, Romania (d. 1998)
1930 Yannis Ioannidis, Greek composer, born in Athens, Greece
1932 Hans G. Helms, German writer and composer, born in Teterow, Germany (d. 2012)
1939 Laurence Cook, American jazz drummer, percussionist, and avant garde composer, born in Boston, Massachusetts
1939 William "Bill" Watrous, American jazz trombonist, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 2018)
1940 Nancy Sinatra, American singer ("These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"; "Something Stupid"), and daughter of Frank Sinatra, born in Jersey City, New Jersey
1940 Sherman Garnes, American rock vocalist (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers), born in NYC, New York (d. 1977)
1941 Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins, American pop, R&B, and funk singer-songwriter (Parliament-Funkadelic - "Knee Deep"), born in Elkins, West Virginia (d. 2023)
1942 Chuck Negron, American singer-songwriter (Three Dog Night - "Joy to the World"; "One";"Old Fashioned Love Song"), born in The Bronx, New York
1944 (William) "Boz" Scaggs, American rock guitarist (Steve Miller Band, 1967-68), and singer-songwriter ("Lowdown"; "Lido Shuffle"), born in Canton, Ohio
1947 Annie Haslam, British art-rock singer-songwriter (Renaissance - "Carpet Of The Sun"; "Mother Russia") and painter, born in Bolton
1947 Joan La Barbara, American vocalist and composer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1947 Julie Driscoll, English rocker and actress (33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee), born in London
1950 Elmar Oliveira, American violinist (Naumburg competition, 1976; Tchaikovsky Competition, 1978; Avery Fisher Prize, 1983), born in Naugatuck, Connecticut
1951 Bonnie Tyler [Gaynor Hopkins], Welsh rocker ("Total Eclipse Of The Heart"), born in Skewen, Neath, Wales
1951 Tony Rice, American bluegrass guitarist (J.D. Crowe and the New South), born in Danville, Virginia (d. 2020)
1955 Greg Ginn, American punk rock guitarist, singer and songwriter (Black Flag), born in Tucson, Arizona
1955 James Jonathan Sylvers, American keyboardist and vocalist (The Sylvers -"Boogie Fever"), born in Los Angeles, California
1956 Uri Caine, American classical and jazz pianist and composer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1958 Michael "Jakko" Jakszyk [Curran], British rock singer, songwriter and guitarist (Level 42, 1991-94; King Crimson, 2010-present), producer, and actor, born in Archway, London, England
1960 Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter (Simply Red "If You Don't Know Me by Now"), born in Manchester, England
1961 Keti Garbi, Greek pop singer (To Kati), born in Athens, Greece
1962 Kristine W [Weitz], American musician ranked by Billboard as the 8th Greatest Dance Artist of all-time (The Advocate), born in Pasco, Washington
1962 Nick Rhodes [Bates], British keyboardist (Duran Duran - "Hungry Like the Wolf"), born in Moseley, Birmingham, England
1965 Dine Doneff [Kostas Theodorou], Macedonian jazz double bassist, arranger, and composer, born in West Germany
1966 Doris Pearson, British pop and disco singer (Five Star - "Can't Wait Another Minute"), born in London, England
1967 Neil Mitchell, Scottish rock keyboardist (Wet Wet Wet - "Good Night Gir"; "Love Is All Around"), born in Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire.
1970 "Seu" Jorge [da Silva], Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, singer, and actor (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), born in Belford Roxo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1972 P[eter] J[ason] Farley, Hackensack, bass (Trixter-Give It To Me Good)
1975 Levente Gyöngyösi Hungarian contemporary classical composer ("Birth" Symphony), born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
1977 Frøy Aagre, Norwegian jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist, born in Tønsberg, Norway
1979 Derek Trucks, American guitarist and founder of Grammy Award-winning The Derek Trucks Band (Tedeschi Truck Band), born in Jacksonville, Florida
1981 Alex Band, American singer (The Calling - "Wherever You Will Go"), born in Los Angeles, California
1981 Sara Watkins, American fiddle player
1983 Lee Harding, Australian punk-rock singer, born in Frankston, Australia
1995 Tom Grennan, English singer-songwriter (Little Bit of Love), born in Bedford, England
2004 EmiSunshine [Emilie Sunshine Hamilton], American country-folk singer-songwriter, guitarist and ukulele player, born in Madisonville, Tennessee

1 April 22

Celebrating the birthdays yesterday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and today of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). In their own times their nations used the Julian calendar, so you will occasionally see Bach's birthdate as O.S. 21 March and Rachmaninoff's as O.S. 20 March.

I think, therefore I am also mentioning the birthday yesterday of Rene Descartes (1596-1650), even though he is not known for musicality.

3 May 21

Today is a good day to celebrate musicians! Of course musicians are born every single day on the calendar, and you can follow that history at On This Day.  Of special note for 3 May, I'm keying in on Marcel Dupre (1886), Bing Crosby (1903), Virgil Fox (1912), Pete Seeger (1919), James Brown (1933) and Frankie Valli (1934). A new one to learn about is Myriam Fares (1983), an Arab (Lebanese) female artist who performs choreographed dance routines while singing.

1 September 19

Marking the birthday of Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). His most famous composition is Canon in D. Here's a beautiful version that might be a little too fast.

3 May 18

Musical birthdays today: Pete Seeger (1919), Frankie Valli (1934), Marcel Dupre (1886), Bing Crosby (1903). Find more here!

21 March 17

Do you remember listening to "Pictures at an Exhibition," or "Night on Bald Mountain"? Both of these masterpieces were composed by Modest Mussorgsky (1838-1881), whose birthday I am celebrating with my brightly colored eighth notes tie. When I was a child we had a great big console record player, and the LP platter containing those Mussorgsky pieces was one of the first in "True Stereo."

12 May 16

Among many musical heroes born on this date: Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739), Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755), Jules Massenet (1842), Gabriel Fauré (1845), Burt Bacharach (1928), Steve Winwood (1948), Eric Singer (1958). Find even more at www.onthisday.com.

3 May 15

May 3 marks the birthdays of Pete Seeger (1919-2014), Frankie Valli (1934), Marcel Dupre (1886-1971) and Bing Crosby (1903-1977). Tomorrow (May 4) was also the birthday of C. Nolan Huizenga (1930-1989), piano professor at Houghton College and my brother-in-law! I'm wearing happy music for all of these people.

29 June 14

Today marks the birthday of Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), American composer of "short, light concert pieces" including Sleigh Ride and The Syncopated Clock. Choral singers and band directors are very familiar with Sleigh Ride for the jing-jing-jingling bells, clever sound effects and the ending horse whinny. Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy up, let's go! (Except that it's not actually "lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you" right now!)

17 July 13

Handel's Water Music premiered on this date in 1717, as a barge with 50 musicians plus King George I floated on the River Thames. Today's list of historical events from Wikipedia is particularly wonderful, showing attachments to all sorts of areas of human life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_17. One significant item not included there is "Yellow Pig Day," celebrated every July 17 by mathematicians who love the number 17. Today's tie is also appropriate to mark the birthday of Peter Schickele (1935) and Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976).

9 January 12

In 2001 on this date Steve Jobs introduced iTunes to the world. My iPod likes iTunes, and this tie has running eighth notes like the iTunes icon. (Today is also the fifth anniversary of the iPhone!)

03 May 11

Honoring musicians Marcel Dupre (1886), Bing Crosby (1903), Virgil Fox (1912), Pete Seeger (1919), James Brown (1933), Frankie Valli (1934), and Christopher Cross (1951).

05 September 10

• Johann Christian Bach (born Sept. 5, 1735, Leipzig — died Jan. 1, 1782, London, Eng.) was the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He became a composer of music in the "Classical" style, emerging from the "Baroque" style of his father.
• Also born on September 5 was John Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992), an American composer most famous for his use of "chance" elements such as silence or environmental noise, and for the "prepared piano," with objects placed deliberately on the strings to create novel sounds.
• Another September 5 child is my cousin David Kleppinger, who was a good family-and-church friend while we were growing up in Bethlehem and Allentown, Pennsylvania. David is three years older than I. During high school he sang with a Youth For Christ choral group called the EastSiders, and when he left for college (around 1967), I joined the group, continuing a Kleppinger tradition (through 1972). The "eighth note" pinned through my tie today bears the inscribed letters "E. S.," denoting (!) the EastSiders.

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Today is Father's Day in Australia and New Zealand. To celebrate, Google changed its search page logo for them to a design with TIES:

03 May 10

May 3 is the birthday of folk singer Pete Seeger (1919-), pop/rock legends Frankie Valli (1934-) and Christopher Cross (1951-), organ virtuoso Marcel Dupre (1886-1971) and stage/movie singer Bing Crosby (1903-1977). Other famous people born this day include Ann B. Davis (Alice, the maid, in "The Brady Bunch") and Golda Meir (fourth prime minister of Israel).

09 February 09

This is my sister Gloria's birthday! She was my first piano teacher (when I was about 5), and later on she gave me some wonderful experiences with organ music. On visits home from college she often took me with her to a local church where she could practice on a pipe organ, and it was during those hours that I learned to appreciate the organ works of Bach, Karg-Elert, Alain and others. She helped select my tie for today by looking over all the options from this blog!

07 May 08

1833	Composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany.
1840	Composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Russia.

Also born on this date: philosopher David Hume, 1711, in Scotland.