Music Gets the Grade

The Globe and Mail has a front page article that a large scale study has shown music performance education in high schools increases overall grade performance.  This isn't the first time music has been heralded as a contributor to improving general intelligence and performance.   I was recently considering how expanded our studies of any field are.  I expected that the music field now would be much more complex than  fifty years ago when I was in school.  So I went to the University of Toronto (UofT) website to find out more.  And yes - this turns out to be a fascinating exploration of human progress.   Before we look at this, I did see something that I found amusing. One university in the U.K. offers a related masters - the applied acoustics, M.Sc. It was its terminology that got my attention.  "At a time when there is a shortage of highly qualified noise consultants in the UK, gaining this MSc in Applied Acoustics at University of Derby will give you a real edge in your acoustics career."  I quote this one because of use of the term 'noise'.  I had had veered off into the engineering realm of acoustic, noise, and vibration . So back to the UofT and on the topic of music.  This is the introduction and a list of the new courses for 2019-2020.  The full set of course descriptions are HERE. Home to a diverse and dynamic community of scholars, performers, composers, and educators, UofT Music offers a supportive community in one of the world’s most diverse and dynamic cities. We provide a superb learning environment, an internationally renowned teaching faculty, multiple performance halls, and an outstanding music library collection. With degrees and diplomas available in numerous areas of study, our array of courses and programs provides our 900 students an exceptional opportunity to explore various fields within music.” – Don McLean, Dean Here are their new courses for 2019-2020 MUS1069H – Remix Music, from Analogue to Digital MUS1070H – Music, Genre and Variation MUS1169H - Listening to Cities: Music, Sound, & Noise in Urban Environments MUS1280H - Analysis and its Futures in Ethnomusicology MUS2186H – (Un)Popular Music Education MUS2224H – Conducting for Composers MUS3316H - Cognitive Perspectives in Music Theory MUS3421H - Composing for Theatre MUS4439H - Flute-Guitar Masterclass MUS4616H - Topics in Interactive Media and Performance MUS4617H - The 21st Century Creative Performer: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry to Performance and Performance Practice One scrolls through the regular set of ensemble, performance, history, composition and theory courses. Past the many pages are course in music and health sciences - these are fascinating.  What about the Music & Health Doctoral Research Project? This is what a bus load of garden visitors looks like on a garden tour day. The Flamborough Society is a great group and were willing to pose for a group shot after visiting the three gardens on my street - my next door neighbour and the neighbour across from her.  All similar houses, similar plots and lots, and different garden designs.  People find it wonderful to see how different the gardens are.

Those Rose Thorns

I am always victim to rose thorns in the garden. Enter garden, do a little work, get a rose thorn in the finger.  And the result?  Pain and swelling from the tiniest rose thorn.  Who do these tiny rose thorns hurt so much? Ask an expert: "DEAR DR. GOTT: Last spring, I contracted rose-thorn disease. Very painful and extreme swelling occurred in just one finger. I was in the hospital for days under sedation and on antifungal meds. I’m still having stiffness and swelling in that finger now and then. When will this go away? I must say, everything is not coming up roses here." DEAR READER: Rose-thorn (or rose gardener’s) disease has the technical name of sporothrix schenckii. It is a fungus that resides on hay, sphagnum mosses and the tips of rose thorns. It can cause infection, redness, swelling and open ulcers at the puncture site. The fungus can spread to the lymphatic system and move on to the joints and bones, where it ends up attacking the central nervous system and lungs when the thorn or thorns are deeply embedded.  Diagnosis can be complicated because the condition is relatively uncommon. When an ulcer does present, it is often mistaken by a physician as a staph or strep infection and gets treated accordingly.  It is only when the antibiotics prescribed fail to eradicate the ulcer that physicians look outside the box." Read the rest HERE. Doesn't it give this field of roses new meaning! Here's the upcoming meet and greet this Sunday in Hamilton on Dundurn St. S.

The Garden Ladder Story

The garden elements that signal a romantic garden include the garden path, the rendezvous and enticing sights, smells and sounds along the way.  I hadn't considered what story would be told by a man vs a woman.  This garden seemed to immediately be a garden story told by a man.  When I looked at the ladder to the barn window, what comes to mind is the story of Rapunzel, or an enticement to come out to rendezvous.  Perhaps this is the garden story of sneaking out a second floor window:  Here are the steps from wikiHow: 1. If there is no sturdy tree right outside your window, go to the garage or storage shed when your parents are not home. Look for anything that can help rappel you out your window (i.e. long, thick ropes, tall ladders, anything that act as a rope or ladder). You should only use the rope if you know its strength, a safe limit for most ropes that is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) is 150 lbs. Tests your limits- better safe than sorry. 2. Bring the rope or rope-like objects back to your room and hide them. Test the ladder: put it under your window. It will work if you can crawl out your window and onto it safely. Put the ladder or ladder-like objects somewhere in your backyard where they are easily reached and unnoticeable. 3. Check to see if your parents and other family members are asleep (preferred), or in their bedroom with the doors closed. You may just be able to sneak out the front door. If they are not, and you just can't wait, and you have a sturdy tree right outside your window, climb the tree. If the previous things apply but you don't have a tree, follow the rest of these steps: Make sure you have at least one friend who is willing to come to your house and stand beneath your window in case you fall. Two-three friends is optimal, but make sure they are strong and you can rely on them to come quietly at the designated time. Have them bring a flashlight. 4. Have your friends go get the ladder from its hiding place and put it under your window. These friends should have a pretty good idea of your backyard and they should be very quiet. Put on sports shoes or go barefoot; socks will make you slip. Have your friends hold the legs of the ladder steady and crawl out the window, down the ladder. Once you're safely down, stash the ladder somewhere nearby. 5. Walk away from your house or have someone pick you up a block away, or push your car at least 100 feet (30.5 m) away and go have a great time. 6 . Come back at least one hour before you expect your parents to be up. It will be easiest to come in through the front door. If this is unwise (you have a loud dog downstairs/alarm/etc), then use the same method you used to get out. Put the ladder back under your window, climb up, have your friends place it back into the hiding place. Replace your screen, close your window. Have your friends hoist you up on their shoulders and climb back in your window. Untie the rope, replace the screen, and close your window.