I am sorry, but I will be taking a few weeks off again. I have arthritis in my hands. Next week I will be having my 5th surgery to hopefully enable me to keep on playing the piano and typing without too much pain. I had hoped to have enough blogs written to be able to keep publishing without anymore gaps. That has not happened. My right index finger just hurts too much to be able to type with it. And trying to type without using that finger is a pain all it's own. 

So, I will see you in a few weeks, after my finger has healed up a bit.

Wish me luck!

Until next time.

Last week, I wrote a little about some of the issues with performing these days. Along with being a performer, I am also a teacher. Some of the same problems are active here, too. When we sing, we tend to spray out the little droplets that can carry the virus. I cannot let students into my house to teach right now.

I have a kidney condition called Polycystic Kidney Disease. (It’s more of a condition than a disease. Unlike Covid-19, it is not contagious.) Currently, my kidneys are functioning at about 37%. The Coronavirus attacks kidneys. I cannot risk exposure.

But I don’t want to give up teaching. What to do?

I have joined the ranks of those who teach on-line. Is it ideal? No. Is it doable? Yes.

How does this work? Well, it starts with an email or a phone call. Let’s say that you are interested in voice or piano lessons. You find my website and send in the contact email. I respond. We chat a little, and then schedule that first meeting. In the past, this would be in my living room. We would have some tea, you would meet Xander, the out-going one of my two cats, and maybe the dogs, Rocky and Kaiser. We would talk about your goals, and you might sing something for me. Then we would talk about what kind of music you prefer, what you dislike, and start to map out a plan for your lessons. If you decided that this was what you wanted, then we would schedule your lessons. This first meeting is always free.

Nowadays, we still start out the same, with the emails and phone calls, but instead of you coming here, we meet on-line. I work primarily with Zoom and Skype. You would probably still meet Xander, he tends to insinuate himself into most of my on-line meetings. Whether we had tea would depend on if you made some for yourself. I will probably still have a cup. We would still talk about the same things, but there would be a couple of additions.

We would need to discuss accompaniments. You see, I usually accompany my students; I play the piano for them while they sing. This does not work for virtual lessons. There is always a slight lag between what you say and when I hear it. By the time I have played a note, and you hear it to sing, I have gone on to another note. Also, it is impossible for me to play and have you hear it while you sing. Only one person can be heard at a time.

There are a lot of options.

As a general rule, I dislike karaoke. I don’t want to sing It’s All Coming Back to Me Now just like Celine Dion. I want to sing it the way I sing it. However, it is a readily available option for a student, and there are a lot of free tracks out there on YouTube. I also have used a site that for a small monthly fee allows you to change the key and the tempo of a song, something that can come in handy for customizing to a student.

I have had a lot of success in recording accompaniments and then emailing that to students. Still not ideal, but I can put the song in a range that works for each student, and at a speed that they prefer.

When we work in person, there are certain things that I am used to listening and looking for. Many of those I can still see, tension in the voice or neck. And while I cannot see your whole body, I can still tell when you are standing properly, and am learning to listen for new things.

Distance is no longer an issue. Live in a different state? No problem, so long as we keep track of the time zones, we’ll be fine. I now have students in 3 different states!

As I said last week, we are artists. We are (hopefully) used to thinking outside of the box. We will get through these times, we just need to be creative.
​
Would you be willing to lake on-line lessons? What do you think the pros and cons would be? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be playing some of the songs that my students are working on right now, on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.
 
Until next time!

It seems that Covid-19 will be here throughout 2020. This has changed the artistic landscape profoundly. Concerts, musicals, and operas are now dangerous, both to the audiences and for the performers. The virus travels by minuscule droplets in the saliva. And you know what happens when you sing? You spray spit. It just happens. 

Singing is part of what makes me ME. When I talk about someone who has an illness, for example, someone who has bipolar, I do not say that they are bipolar. I say that they have bipolar. Having bipolar disorder does not define them. But I am a singer. It defines me. I have been a singer since I was a very little girl. And, you know what? Singers tend to like performing. Some of us love performing. I am one of the latter. I go out of my way to find venues where I can sing.

Before all this hit, I was singing and playing the piano for 4 hours every Wednesday morning at one of the local hospitals. (They have a lovely grand piano in one of the lobbies for lucky volunteers to play.) I love performing in hospitals. You see someone who is scared, nervous, upset, and for just a moment, their step lightens and a smile crosses their face. You know that you have made a difference in that person’s life, even if only for a moment. I had people stop and talk, or – my favorite – people would sometimes stop and sing with me.

I also did programs for nursing homes. I don’t even mind too much that I wasn’t making much (any) money for these. I felt like I was making a difference with my music. And at the risk of sounding hopelessly corny, that was enough.

And now all of that is put on hold, with no idea when it can come back. This time of year High Tea Carolers should be starting rehearsals. (They are my Victorian caroling troupe. We do make money each year.) But it is not safe for us either to rehearse or to sing in public. At the beginning of all this there was a choir in Washington state with 61 members. They were social distancing. In the end 50 people got sick, and 2 died.

What can we do?

Some venues are opening at 20% capacity and enforcing mask-wearing. Others are going for something along the lines of a drive-in movie, with concert goers sitting in their cars, honking horns instead of clapping their hands. The Met gala this year went virtual, with opera singers performing in their homes, sometimes with unexpected accompaniments and staging.

I saw two singers in France who went to a nursing home and sang outside in the parking lot. They did a 20-minute set four times, once for each side of the building. I keep thinking about something like that.

Music and all the performing arts will find a way. Not only are the arts vital to those who perform, they are vital to the life of our culture. We just need to be creative. After all, that is what we do best.
​
Do you have any ideas for safe ways to perform? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be playing music by people who have figured out ways to make this work all week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.
 
Until next time!

In 1963, a girl group called Martha and the Vandellas recorded a song called Heatwave. It is one of the first songs to come out in what would become known as the Motown sound, a combination of R&B, gospel, and jazz. Motown, or Motor-town, was Detroit, known for its car factories.

Songwriter Lamont Dozier was sitting at his piano, playing a riff to warm-up his fingers when the TV meteorologist announced that there was no break in sight for the heatwave engulfing Detroit. As he played Dozier started making additions to the riff, with the thought of a girl singing. Heatwave was born.

With this hit, Martha and the Vandellas became the first Motown group to get a Grammy nomination for best R&B recording. They lost to Ray Charles singing Busted.

In 1975, this song became a hit for Linda Ronstadt. She had just finished a performance, and the audience was still demanding more. Out of desperation, she and the band tried Heatwave. Though that initial performance was rough, it was good enough that they decided to work on the song. It became one of Ronstadt’s biggest hits.

Coming forward to 2010, Phil Collins also had a hit with the song. Which has also been featured in movies and TV. A good song remains a good song.
​
Whenever I'm with him
Something inside
Starts to burning
And I'm filled with desire
Could it be a devil in me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be?

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart (It's like a heat wave)
I can't keep from crying (It's like a heat wave)
It's tearing me apart

Whenever he calls my name
Soft, low, sweet, and plain
Right then, right there, I feel that burning flame
Has high blood pressure got a hold on me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be?

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart (It's like a heat wave)
I can't keep from crying (It's like a heat wave)
It's tearing me apart

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh, heat wave
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh, heat wave

Sometimes I stare in space
Tears all over my face
I can't explain it, don't understand it
I ain't never felt like this before
Now that funny feeling has me amazed
Don't know what to do, my head's in a haze
It's like a heat wave

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(But it's all right, girl)
Oh
(Go ahead, girl)
Yeah, yeah
(Well, it's all right, girl)
Oh
(Can't miss it, that's love, girl)
I feel it burning
(Don't pass up this chance)
Right here in my heart
(It sounds like a true romance)
Don't you know it's like a heat wave?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Burning, burning)
Oh (Burning, burning, burning)
Yeah, don't you know it's like a heat wave?
Burning right here (Burning, burning, burning)
In my heart (Burning, burning, burning)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Burning, burning)
Oh (Burning, burning, burning)

What is your favorite version of Heatwave? I’ll be playing Martha and the Vandellas as well as a few others this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.
 
Until next time!

Sometimes in a Broadway musical, there is a song that doesn’t seem to contribute to the story. It usually allows someone to shine, perhaps an underutilized singer or dancer. Why is it there? Is it just a fluff piece? Sometimes. And sometimes it is going on in front of the curtain while a set change is going on behind, or to allow a leading actor time for a costume change.

Too Darn Hot from Cole Porter’s musical Kiss Me, Kate is one of the first kind. It opens the second act. If the set crew hasn’t changed the set by the end of Intermission, they need a new design. There is a pretty massive set change, but in a Broadway theater there should be plenty of time to make the change.

The song is a chance for the second male lead of Bill to have another solo, and it gives him a chance to show off his dancing, too. Besides, it’s a fun song.

One brief explanation: the Kinsey Reports were two studies done in 1948 and 1953. The first was published as a book called Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and the second was Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. They were groundbreaking and highly controversial. When Kiss Me, Kate was first done, only the book on male behavior had been published.

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
Refill the cup with my baby tonight
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
Refill the cup with my baby tonight
But I ain't up to my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I'd like to stop for my baby tonight
And blow my top for my baby tonight
I'd like to stop for my baby tonight
And blow my top for my baby tonight
But I'll be a flop with my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot

According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers to play his favorite sport
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
And the weather is sizzling hot
Mister Adam for his madam is not
‘Cause it’s too too too too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to call on my baby tonight
And give my all to my baby tonight
I’d like to call on my baby tongiht
And give my all to my baby tonight
But I can’t play ball with my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to coo with my baby tonight
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight
I’d like to coo with my baby tonight
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight
But brother, you pitch my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
And the weather is sizzling hot
Mister Pants for romance is not
Cause it’s too too too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
I’d like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
But pillow, you’ll be my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to meet with my baby tonight
Get off my feet with my baby tonight
I’d like to meet with my baby tonight
Get off my feet with my baby tonight
But no repeat with my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot

According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
Mister God for his squab
A Marine for his queen
A G.I. for his cutie pie is not
‘Cause it’s too too too darn hot
It’s too darn hot
It’s too darn hot


It’s August, so of course it’s too darn hot.
​
I’ll be playing this and other songs from Cole Porter this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.
 
Until next time!
 

Hot August night
And the leaves hanging down
And the grass on the ground smellin' sweet
Move up the road to the outside of town
And the sound of that good gospel beat
Sits a ragged tent
Where there ain't no trees
And that gospel group tellin' you and me

[Chorus]
It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
And ev'ryone goes, 'cause everyone knows
Brother Love's show

[Verse 2]
Room gets suddenly still
And when you'd almost bet
You could hear yourself sweat, he walks in
Eyes black as coal
And when he lifts his face
Ev'ry ear in the place is on him
Starting soft and slow
Like a small earthquake
And when he lets go
Half the valley shakes

[Chorus]
It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
And ev'ryone goes, 'cause everyone knows
'Bout Brother Love's show

[Spoken Sermon]
Brothers
I said, brothers
Now you got yourself two good hands
And when your brother is troubled, you gotta reach out your one hand for him
‘Cause that’s what it’s there for
And when your heart is troubled, you gotta reach out your other hand
Reach it out to the man up there
‘Cause that’s what He is there for

[Bridge]
Take my hand in yours
Walk with me this day
In my heart I know I will never stray
Halle, halle, halle, halle
Halle, halle, halle, halle

[Chorus]
It's Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies
I say, Love, Brother Love, say
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
And grab the old ladies and ev'ryone goes...


This is Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show, an interesting song for a Jewish man from Brooklyn to have written. Coming out in 1969, this song by Neil Diamond started out as an attempt to call out the evangelist preachers for taking advantage of their flocks. But when those same preachers started turning people in the South away from buying his albums, Diamond changed his tune, so to speak. He then started the story of having attended a revival while he was in college and how the music and the message were so up lifting that he had to write a song about it.

This song also was the first of Diamond’s character driven songs, as opposed to introspective songs. More along the lines of America, than of I Am, I Said.

I will be playing Brother Love and some other songs by Neil Diamond this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so check them out.
​
Until next time!

Once again, we have been living through one of the hottest summers on record. I have had this lyric running through my head:

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than
​a match head.

Those lyrics were written by John Sebastian then of the Lovin’ Spoonful. The song began life as a poem written by his younger brother, Mark, a 14-year old student. Mark had written this poem entitled Summer in the City during what was the hottest summer ever in New York City. (1966 kept that record until 2010.)
John Sebastian read the poem and thought there was something to it. But he wanted something a bit different for the verses. So, he rewrote them, keeping the title and the chorus. And he added the music.

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city

Cool town, evening in the city
Dressing so fine and looking so pretty
Cool cat, looking for a kitty
Gonna look in every corner of the city
Till I'm wheezing like a bus stop
Running up the stairs, gonna meet you on the rooftop

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city

------ instrumental break ------

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city

The writing credits for the song include John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, and Steve Boone. We know what the two Sebastian brothers did. What did Boone contribute? He wrote and arranged the instrumental break that has such sounds as car horns and a jack hammer. To this day all three share the royalties.

Lovin’ Spoonful grew out of the Greenwich Village music scene of the early 1960s. John Sebastian was part of the Mugwumps. Two of the members of this group went on to become half of The Mamas and the Papas – Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty.

Summer in the City was the Lovin’ Spoonful’s only number 1 hit. The group broke up after a few more years. John went on to a solo career. He wrote the music and lyrics for a Broadway show entitled: Jimmy Shine. It opened on Broadway in December of 1969, starred Dustin Hoffman, and ran for 150 shows. (Dustin Hoffman in a musical. My mind is boggled.)

He had one more number one hit with 1976’s Welcome Back, the theme song to the TV sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. (The show that introduced John Travolta to the world.)

Do you have a favorite John Sebastian song? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be posting some songs by John Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful on my Minnich Music Facebook page so be sure to check those out.
​
Until next time!

I am torn on what to write about right now.  Our world is in turmoil: the worst pandemic that we have seen in a century, racial protests, and I have been elected to be the president of the Albuquerque affiliate of NAMI ( the National Alliance on Mental Illness). Part of me wants to return to business as usual when it comes to music, and part of me feels like we should be looking at something pertinent.

I live with an Air Force veteran. My older son is a Marine veteran. Both did tours in the Middle East. Both are reeling from recent news reports. I will admit to being shaken, too. This past weekend was July 4th. Let me just say that loud explosions coming from fireworks are not popular when you are a combat veteran.

I recently found out that my polycystic kidney disease (PKD) has my current kidney function at about 37%. This is going to entail some additional diet and lifestyle changes. I have been steadily losing kidney function for the past few years, at about 10% per year. Within the next two years, I will probably be on the transplant list. If you have any questions about PKD, put them in the comments below, and I will get back to you.
​
I think that I’m going to take a month off from writing blogs. I enjoy writing, and I hope that someone out there enjoys reading what I write. I just need some time to adjust to things. I will keep posting music on my Minnich Music FaceBook page this week, so be sure to check those out. These are pivotal times we are living in. Be safe.
 
Until next month!

I started this month with the song The Sound of Music, and I want to end it with another song from that musical. Edelweiss was the last song that Oscar Hammerstein II ever wrote.

First of all, let’s talk about what edelweiss is and how to say it. A-dle-vice, with a long A at the beginning. Edelweiss is a flower that grows in Austria and Germany. It’s a little white flower that grows on the hills and comes out in the early spring, peeking out from the snow. Hence the line in the song: Blossom of snow.

The musical was already in tryouts in Boston, when Rodgers and Hammerstein decided that they needed to have a song for Baron von Trapp to sing at the festival to say goodbye to Austria, the country that he loved so much. Theodore Bikel, who played the Baron had a good voice for folk music and played the guitar. So, the two set out to write a folk song.

 Folk songs grow out of a culture. Most of the time we don’t even know who originally wrote most folk music. Setting out to write something that would sound like an organic folk song is actually quite difficult. But they succeeded so well, that many people think it was borrowed from Austrian folk music and set in the musical.
Edelweiss is a simple song, that doesn’t require anything in the way of fireworks. But it does require a lot of love and delicacy in singing it.

Edelweiss, edelweiss,
Every morning you greet me.
Small and white, clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss,
Bless my homeland forever.
 
By the way, it is now illegal to pick edelweiss if you come upon it growing in the wild. It is now an endangered flower. Tourists were picking all of them. That’s where all the flowers have gone, tourists have picked them everyone. When will they ever learn, oh, when will they ever learn? (Sorry – went off into a different song there for a moment. I’m back now.)

When I was a teenager, I used to go to the local nursing home, (Elkins only had one) and sing for the residents there. I remember one little old man, Otto. Otto must have been in his 90s when I knew him, and was about 5 feet tall, if that. He loved it when I sang Edelweiss. It reminded him of his home in Austria. It always made him cry, but he always asked me to sing it for him. I think of Otto every time I sing it.

Music has great power. It can help us to rise up and fight for justice and equality. It can remind us of how we fell in love. And it can take us back to our youth and bring tears of nostalgia to our eyes. Music is a reflection of the society in which we live. Let’s make it a good one.
​
I’ll be playing Edelweiss and some other folk-ish songs this week on my Minnich Music FaceBook page this week, so be sure to check those out. These are pivotal times we are living in. Be safe.
 
Until next time!