Posted in All Posts, Writing on April 8, 2008 | No Comments »
I find children’s language acquisition to be absorbingly fascinating. I have no reason to believe my elder daughter is particularly gifted, but I marvel all the same at her learning process.
Almost a year ago, I blogged about her language development to 26 months in my post, “A 2-Year-Old Learning English.”
I had noticed over the past [...]
Posted in All Posts, Writing on February 26, 2008 | No Comments »
In the world of music composition, the desire to experiment, to advance the state of the art, tugs against the siren call of popular acclaim. Risk the new, or refine the familiar? In the world of music reviews, experimentation seems more often praised than populism. The “great composer” label seems most frequently awarded to those [...]
Posted in All Posts, Writing on November 28, 2007 | No Comments »
On October 31, I jumped in with both feet and signed up for the National Novel Writing Contest. NaNoWriMo runs each November.
Check out the NaNoWriMo Web Site.
The challenge is to write 50,000 words of original fiction within the 30 days of November. That’s 1,667 words a day.
No, it’s not about refining the craft or advancing the [...]
Posted in All Posts, Classical (1600s-1910s/WWI), Writing on November 15, 2007 | No Comments »
After a group of friends and I discussed Voormeij’s painting, we forwarded our impressions to the artist. He offers a gracious response and expansion on his thoughts about Abstract Art and Classical Music.
Enjoy!
_______________
Hello Vince,
Thank you and your ‘gang’ for taking the effort to discuss my work. When I received your email I was so very [...]
Posted in All Posts, Classical (1600s-1910s/WWI), Writing on November 10, 2007 | 5 Comments »
In “Painting and Music: Peter John Voormeij (Part 1),” we looked at a painting by Voormeij. Now that you’ve had a chance to appreciate his work, navigate to this link and watch the video (top of the page). It’s only about 9 minutes. Feel free to watch it all, or stop at 3 minutes (2m53s, [...]
Posted in All Posts, Classical (1600s-1910s/WWI), Writing on November 10, 2007 | 3 Comments »
I saw this picture on the Elliott Louis Gallery (Vancouver) Web site.
This picture really struck me. I want to share it with you. (I promise we’ll relate this to classical music.)
By itself it seems an abstract representation of a physical object like ice-cubes or glass. But, the title provides meta-data that creates context and suggests [...]
Posted in All Posts, Writing on July 7, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
In 268 pages, Ms. Prose demonstrates that careful reading is the first step towards writing effective narrative. Reading Like a Writer examines in turn:
Close Reading
Words
Sentences
Paragraphs
Narration
Character
Dialogue
Details
Gesture
She goes on to reveal her love for Anton Checkov’s work, [...]
Posted in All Posts, Writing on May 21, 2007 | No Comments »
When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better and/or Worse by Ben Yagoda
In 241 handbook-sized pages, Ben Yagoda offers commentary, advice, and humor about - of all things - English usage. Ben draws examples from popular music (lots of lyrics), movies, sports, New York cabbie jokes, the Book of Common [...]
Posted in All Posts, Writing on May 18, 2007 | 4 Comments »
I am fascinated by my daughter’s language development. 26 months ago, she could barely cry, and now she uses 3-word phrases to correctly and accurately express meaning.
I just want to share some thoughts about her journey:
Long before she could say the words, she understood that the sound “shoes” referred to the items she wears on [...]
Posted in All Posts, Writing on May 11, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Vocal Impressions: Hearing Voices, Round Four
Here’s an exercise that blends music (in 3 of the 4 samples) with writing. NPR is hosting its 4th write-in that asks listeners to describe several famous voices.
How would you describe the voices of Mick Jagger, Eleanor Roosevelt, Barry White, and Luciano Pavarotti?
Let’s have fun with this writing exercise:
1) Listen to [...]
