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The Quest for Arundo Donax, The Musical Work
The Quest for Arundo Donax, The Musical Work
Date: 12/23/2011 5:58:25 PM ( 13 y ) ... viewed 2486 times
I AM NOT MUCH OF A MUSICAL PERSON WITH INSTRUMENTS
My main instrument is my voice, although, I do play the Shofar too!
I blew the Shofar on the Winter Solstice at the Centro De Cultura De La Raza in Balboa Park. That was the first time I did the Arundo Tribe Blessing Ceremony. I have to say, my personal quest to befriend Arundo was inspired by an odd circumstance.
Arundo Donax grows on our neighbors land that borders or organic garden. For most of the time I have lived here, I never knew my neighbors and they never knew me. I just grew food for years on this property a few steps from my own backyard.
The Arundo Donax, The Giant Reed, I took for granted. Once more than a decade ago, there was actually a fire in the Arundo and it all burned. It was lit by a candle from a guest who was not paying good enough attention. Since then, we pay attention to anything that might cause a fire.
At the time of that fire, most of the Arundo Burned. What save our house was another plant, a large stand of lumber bamboo that was like a firewall, preventing the Arundo from coming closer to my bedroom.
I was just out of surgery from hip revisions. I had my best friend with me at the time she first saw the flames. I told her to run out and water it with the hose. Later she told me she was in awe of what she saw.
It was a little 5;1 inch woman with a little hose holding back an epic burn.
The woman who started the fire also came to my room. She thought the house would certainly burn. She was in a panic when she came to my door and told me to evacuate. I started to grap by laptop, but then got a hold of myself beyond her panic. I knew the house would be safe.
Plants love me too much, and I love them. That is basically my main fire protection if you want to know how I really feel.
In any case, the fire department came and put out the fire. It was an amazing transformational experience. Community life here was never the same. We became more aware. There were many other shifts.
THIS TIME AROUND
This time around, Sylvia Sowadski, who I have come to see and know as a caring person who works for the Fire Prevention Bureau of San Diego, came into my life because she was in charge of helping me and other neighbors come into compliance with Brush Management Regulations.
I have since had some great talks with Eddie, her boss, and others members of their staff. I have even talked to the city Biologist for open space, who was very encouraging that I pursue some of the experiments I wanted to do with Arundo Donax on this 1/3 acre.
This time around, the Arundo again has led me onto a journey of major transformation that did not end with our Brush Management coming into compliance.
I have been set out on a mystical and practical journey to Make Love, Not War with a plant that is now seen as on the top list of Public Enemy plants. The
issue that is greatly emerging, the deeper I get into this plant, is that it is not our enemy. We are our own enemy. The plant is a teacher. It is a teacher
that wants to help us get back our beat with Nature.
OH My GOD
Day by day, I am making more discoveries about Arundo Donax, THe Giant Reed. I will end up writing an E-book about its 102 uses that I am discovering. Among them, did you know that Oboes, bassoons, clarinets, and bagpipes would likely not exist if it were not for the reeds we made out of Arundo Donax?
There is so much more to say, and I have been saying it for months now.
Merry Christmas, to Sylvia.
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to all my good neighbors along the Arosa Canyon Rim.
Happy Winter Solstice to my friends at the Centro Cultura De La Raza who
helped me build an Altar made of Arundo December 21.
I will do this again on the New Year Eve.
The deeper I get into this plant, the more I pierce to an amazing story.
I welcome you to join me on
learning more about, as one writer has called it,
"The Quest for Arundo Donax.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
OMG!
THIS TOUCHES ME DEEPLY!
WITHOUT THE REEDS MADE FROM ARUNDO DONAX
THE OBOE AND THE BASSOON COULD NOT PLAY!
They would not exist.
Make them play here!
It is enough to make me want to be a musician!
I HAVE AN OLD FRIEND WHO PLAYS THE OBOE
I want her to come and play for my video I will make on the 10 x 10 patch here Arundo was growing, a patch I see outside my bedroom window.
http://tafelmusik.org/TafelKIDS_Games/games/orchestra.html
GONZALES REEDS MAKES A LIVING FROM ARUNDO DONAX
They have the largest plantation of Arundo Donax in the world, they say.
Gonzalez Reeds is one of the leading manufacturers of world-class hand selected clarinet reeds and saxophone reeds. As well as oboe cane, english horn cane, bassoon and contrabassoon cane. All the raw materials used in our products are grown at our family plantation in "3 de Mayo" at the foot of the Andes mountains. Our plantation of Arundo Donax is considered the largest in the world.
Since our beginnings in 1982, our mission has been to create the world’s best woodwinds reeds. Through our intense involvement and quality control at every stage from cultivation, production, manufacturing and distribution, we meet the needs of the most demanding professional musicians.
In addition to our deep commitment to the environment, we prioritize quality by choosing only the best raw material and manufacture using the latest technologies. That is why Gonzalez hand select reeds is now a brand synonymous of excellence in over 30 countries across the world.
http://www.gonzalezreeds.com/
THIS IS A DISCOVERY:
THE QUEST FOR ARUNDO DONAX IS A WORK OF MUSIC
http://www.tafelmusik.org/education/pdfs/The_Quest_for_%20Arundo_Donax_Guide.pdf
OMG!
IT IS ALSO A WEB GAME!!!
Welcome to TafelKIDS™: A Baroque Adventure Webgame!
This Flash-based online adventure game is set in Europe in 1704, a time of political intrigue, squabbling monarchs, and exquisite music. Players must help young Frances and Edward, who have been commanded by England’s Queen Anne to obtain a supply of precious Arundo Donax, a plant used to make reeds for instruments, that grows only in France. The two must learn to disguise themselves as French musicians in order to enter the court of Louis XIV, and gain an audience with the Sun King himself.
Relying on an international community of musicians, players travel with Frances and Edward to Italy, where Antonio Vivaldi instructs them in the elements of the Baroque orchestra; to Germany, where they must learn Baroque musical notation from J.S. Bach; and finally, to the French court, where they must dance their way into the Sun King’s favor. Along the way, players have the opportunity to discover Baroque instruments, learn more about famous Baroque composers and monarchs, and enjoy music played by the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
http://www.tafelmusik.org/education/webgame.htm
What is baroque music?
“Baroque” is the word used to describe music composed between 1600 and 1750. Antonio Vivaldi and Henry Purcell were two of the most famous composers of baroque music, and the instruments that they played and composed for had a different sound from orchestral instruments today.
How is Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra different from a modern symphony orchestra?
Tafelmusik is a small chamber orchestra with violins, violas, cellos, a double bass, two oboes, a bassoon and a harpsichord. The instruments are all from baroque times, or copies of originals in museums or private collections. The musicians play in baroque style learned from old teaching books, old pictures of musicians and old descriptions of performances from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Baroque orchestras were usually directed from the first violin or the harpsichord. Tafelmusik is directed by its principal violinist, Jeanne Lamon.
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3:57 pm
December 23, 2011
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