I've had the joy of singing all my life, from elementary school onward. In college at a Big-Ten school, I was a member of the University Chorus and the Men's Glee Club, as well as singing in the chorus of a fully-staged production of Verdi's La Traviata. Whenever possible during my years in the military, I joined regional choral groups, and it was in the main auditorium of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California that I participated in a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony for the first of many times over the years. One of the greatest "highs" for me is to be a part of a concert which has brought an audience to its feet in their joy at hearing the great works performed live before them.

I love Bach's & Händel's choral works and sang the "Messiah" most recently in December 1998, but I have also learned to appreciate and then to actually enjoy, Charles Ives' choral material as well.

When you sing for many years, you eventually find that you have encountered a large percentage of the "famous" stuff, as well as many smaller (and sometimes easily forgettable) works. But when you happen to hear them again on your classical music station, they bring back wonderful memories, memories others cannot share unless they were there with you when you performed them.

A few years ago, the PBS network carried a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, including many of his compositions as well as his wonderful conducting style. An excerpt from his Chichester Psalms was played, and the memories flooded back from a very challenging series of rehearsals, learning to pronounce the Hebrew text, often at breakneck speed, along with the music. And yet, hearing that music again brought goosebumps. It is hauntingly beautiful, especially when one understands the meaning of the text, much as when singing a Mass in Latin. These are the rewards I crave - the music, the memories, and being fortunate enough to give audiences both large and small a great deal of pleasure by my small part in the performances.

Let's start with what we make music WITH, our instruments and our voices:

• The Music Heritage Network Instrument Encyclopedia


• ChoralNet - the Internet Center for Choral Music


• The Choir Links Page


• A Guide To Opera on Compact Disk


• Public-Domain Opera Libretti and Other Vocal Texts


• The Metropolitan Opera
  
• The Virtual Opera House (Lighthearted look at Opera)


• The World-Wide Web Virtual Library of Classical Music


• Five Guides To Recorded Classical Music


• What is "classical" music?
  
• The Lincoln Center Library of Classical Music


• Classical Net - Classical Music Information Sites


• "Superconductor" - Classical Music Software


• "ClassicalNet - Ensembles & Orchestras: Hundreds of Links

Go to Contrasts: The Universe

Go to Contrasts: My Music

Go to Contrasts: About Me