The Shepherd and The School Boy of William Blake

Just posted another video on youtube featuring two songs from William Blake's "Songs of Innocence". "The Shepherd" and "The School Boy". The audio is from and old cassette tape recorded circa 2002 in Newberry, South Carolina. Scored for guitar, violin, viola cello and flute and solo voice.

New Posts at my Youtube channel

New videos at my Youtube channel. "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats. "Songs of Innocence, Introduction" of William Blake and "East of the Sun" by J.R.R. Tolkein. One of the most popular videos is "Infant Joy" of William Blake, also in the Songs of Innocence. "La belle Dame Sans Merci" of John Keats is also a fast rising video.

Also added somewhat recently was "Little Black Boy" from Blake's Songs of Innocence.

I had some very nice response to the Keats' songs from the John Keats site here.

Hope you'll stop by, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel.

Oh, I do have another site and I forget to post things on this one. It's here.

Also I have a new CD at Amazon.com titled "Ode on a Grecian Urn." It was released prior to the recording of Ode to a Nightingale but it has any very nice songs by several great poets. You can find it here.

Happy Birthday, Michael Head

Happy Birthday and thanks for the beautiful and fun songs, Michael Head.

from Wikipedia:

Michael Head was born in Eastbourne, United Kingdom on January 23, 1900. His father was a barrister and journalist and his mother an accomplished amateur singer and pianist. His mother’s influence evidently dominated, and at age 10 he commenced his musical training, taking piano lessons with Jean Adair and singing with Fritz Marston at the Adair-Marston School of Music. He was educated at Monkton Combe School Somerset In 1919, after a period of study at the Royal Academy of Music, he won the Sir Michael Costa scholarship for composition. During World War I he was called up for service, and while working at an ammunition factory, composed the song cycle Over the rim of the moon (Head et al., 1920). This was to become his first published work.

Check out my YouTube channel for a new video of Michael Head's "A Piper" here.

'Oldest musical instrument' found

From article at BBC:
Scientists in Germany have published details of flutes dating back to the time that modern humans began colonising Europe, 35,000 years ago.

The flutes are the oldest musical instruments found to date.

The researchers say in the Journal Nature that music was widespread in pre-historic times.

Music, they suggest, may have been one of a suite of behaviours displayed by our own species which helped give them an edge over the Neanderthals.

The team from Tubingen University have published details of three flutes found in the Hohle Fels cavern in southwest Germany.

Read the entire article here.

John Andrew, 77 prepares for Verdi's Otello

From TimesOnline:

Think of Rocky for opera lovers: this summer Jon Andrew, a former star international tenor, is coming out of retirement at 77 for one last shot at Otello.

If he makes it all the way through the title role of Giussepe Verdi’s adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy Othello, he will become the oldest person to tackle one of the most demanding roles in the repertoire.

Plácido Domingo, 68, the great Otello of modern times, no longer performs the demanding role, while Giovanni Zenatello quit it in 1933 at 57 after more than 300 appearances as the Moor of Venice.

On the face of it Andrew is hopelessly underprepared. He has not sung a major solo part since he performed The Flying Dutchman in Buenos Aires in 1982 and he last tackled Otello in Munich in 1979. But his secret weapon is a ferocious commitment to fitness that would shame singers half his age.

Read all here.

Related story here.

Thanks to a former voice student, Bradley Trammel who recently performed his senior recital at USC (South Carolina) for sharing this story with me.

Age of Aquarius

The Aquarian alignment 14th February 2009

We measure our global sense of both space (latitude and longitude) and time (universal time - UT or GMT) from the prime meridian located at Greenwich, England. So we can perceive the collective influence of this momentous astrological event by looking at the alignment from this globally ‘centered' perspective.

When we do something extraordinary and exquisite emerges

At dawn on 14^th February the day dedicated to St Valentine, the patron saint of Love, the Moon in Libra enters the seventh house of relationships. And Jupiter and Mars are aligned in Aquarius in the twelfth house of spiritual transformation.

Forty years ago, the intuitive words of a song called Aquarius, brought the dawning of the new age into our collective awareness:

When the Moon is in the seventh house

and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Then peace will guide the planets

and love will steer the stars

At dawn on 14^th February the Cosmos actually embodies this perfect alignment to support our collective manifestation of love and peace and dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

The Fifth Dimension sings Aquarius on You tube.

The Constellation Aquarius on a interactive sky chart.

What is this little guy?

Saw this little one just a few nights ago on the patio. I believe it's a snail but what kind? We had a good rain recently and some warm weather. I had never seen such a shell before. The desert has so many surprises.

Inaugural Music

Belated congratulations to President Barack Obama and all those who made his election victory possible. Since this is a music site and I'm trying my best not to include politics I just want to share a few thoughts about the music played by the venerable classical musicians who braved the below freezing temperatures that January morning at the capital building. Even though most people heard the pre-recorded version they did play along to it knowing that their instruments would be stretching the limits in such conditions. Also they did not bring out their million dollar "babies."

Here's more on the story thanks to Southeast to Southwest.


As far as the piece which was a take-off on Aaron Copeland's arrangement of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts, by John Williams. I thought it was very nice althought I prefer Copeland's simplicity and inspiration.

As hoped for, (by me), it did get to a choral summation before the coda after a sophisticated ensemble played beautifully by the group.

Celebrating Freedom on Martin Luther King Day

Tucson has three events scheduled for Martin Luther King Day Celebration:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Multi-faith Service - St. Augustine Cathedral will be open for a special, multi-faith religious service to commemorate the birth date and legacy of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "Freedom March" - Jan. 19 A Freedom March commemorating the birth date of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrating Dr. King's message of human rights. The march begins at the University of Arizona Mall and ends at Reid Park DeMeester Outdoor Performing Center.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day Festival - The Tucson Children's Museum presents a celebration honoring the life and works of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


I ALWAYS cry when I hear this speech. I have a dream. One can feel the spirit of love and truth pour forth through this man and resonate deep within one's being where love, truth and light await his awakening.






May our new president. Barack Obama, carry the bright light of truth and freedom that is his and our heritage to a new day, a new dawning of a more perfect union and world.

Shaman's Hand Blog Talk Radio for January 11, 2009

Shaman's Hand with it's musical focus on Michael Emmanuel's music and musings is also starting to add shows that deal with ISSUES! Whats this?

This week's show will focus on the Drug War! Our featured guest will be Sheriff Richard Mack. He's going to talk about how and why he went from under-cover narcotics agent to an advocate for ending the so-called "war on drugs." Does this mean all illegal drugs?

Mack, as I, is a member of LEAP. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Other members from Leap are expected to join us for this interesting discussion. You can also join in by using the sidebar link or click here.