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 A personal note from Sylvia
Summer vacation is winding down. Public schools here in Hawaii started a few weeks ago, on August 6th. That seems very early to me, since I always remember starting right after Labor Day. But, no matter when it falls, the beginning of school always means one thing to me . . . it is time to start practicing music for Christmas! So, whenever school starts where you live, consider it a "call to action" to start preparing for the holidays!
This month's newsletter includes several features that are becoming "serials." I hadn't really intended them to be recurring themes . . . but they have turned out that way. The first article below, about women in orchestras, became the second in a "we've come a long way" series.
In April, I wrote an article about the floods here on Kauai. That turned into a series about the Hawaiian islands. I've gotten more response about these articles than any others I've written. So, this month I'm telling you about some of the birds on Kauai. It is such a big subject, it will be continued in a future newsletter.
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A few weeks ago I watched two episodes of "Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts" on the Turner Classic Movies channel. This classical music series with the New York Philharmonic was broadcast on CBS from 1958 to 1972. I remember watching it as a kid.
The first episode I recently watched was called "Humor in Music." It was filmed in black and white from Carnegie Hall on February 28, 1959. It was fun to see the shots of the audience because everyone looked so "1950s." As I expected, all the women and girls were in dresses, but I was surprised that so many of them were wearing hats! And, of course, ALL of the musicians were men.
The next episode I watched, "What Is a Mode," was from Nov 23, 1966. It was in color from the brand-new Lincoln Center. Once again, all of the musicians I saw were men . . . including the two harpists.
This got me thinking . . . when were women first hired in major orchestras?
Doing a Google search, I found an April 11, 1971 article by Judy Klemesrud in the New York Times archives (don't you just LOVE the internet!) entitled Is Women's Lib Coming to the Philharmonic? Here's the first paragraph:
A few months ago, Zubin Mehta made some remarks in these pages that might qualify him, in the eyes of Women Libbers, as the Male Chauvinist Musician Pig of the Year. "I just don't think women should be in an orchestra," said the handsome Mehta, whose Los Angeles Philharmonic has 16 women members. "They become men. Men treat them as equals; they even change their pants in front of them. I think it's terrible!"
Later in the article, one of the four female musicians in the New York Philharmonic in 1971 responded this way:
"It doesn't bother me," said Michele (Shelly) Saxon, 23, a Brooklyn-born bassist. "I've seen men zillions of times in their underwear. You see it all the time in the fashion ads. And some of our Philharmonic men look better than those male models."
Here's how Ms. Klemesrud describes the other three women in the NY Philharmonic at the time, who were all string players.
Orin O'Brien, 35, a tall and slender bassist, who in 1966 became the first woman to be named a permanent member of the Philharmonic. A native of Los Angeles, she is single and considered the orchestra's "glamour girl."
Evangeline Benedetti, a 30-year-old Texas-born cellist. Her husband, Donald, is a free-lance trumpet player.
Toby Saks, 29, a cellist who is the only mother in the orchestra. A native New Yorker, she and her husband, David Berldnski, a philosophy professor, have a 3-year-old daughter.
As I said . . . we've come a long way in so many ways!
After reading that article, I fast-forwarded through the 1966
Young People's Concerts episode that I had recorded on my DVR and was able to locate a short section where I found the woman in the bass section! (It kind of felt like playing
Where's Waldo!)
By the way, I just found out that August 25th is Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday!
MORE HISTORY
Another Google search led me to www.classicfm.com: "Classic FM is the UK's only 100 per cent classical music radio station. Since we began broadcasting in September 1992, the station has brought classical music to millions of people across the UK."
In 1913, the first women were hired by a major orchestra. The Queen's Hall Orchestra in London, led by Sir Henry Wood, took on six female violinists in 1913. By 1918, the orchestra had 14 female musicians. However, there was still a stigma around women musicians - particularly around the instruments they played.
Sir Henry Wood, after taking on a number of women violinists, said: "I do not like ladies playing the trombone or double bass, but they can play the violin, and they do."
17 years later, the first woman joined an American orchestra
In 1930, harpist Edna Phillips was accepted into the Philadelphia Orchestra by conductor Leopold Stokowski. This was a bit of a breakthrough - this orchestra was one of the very best in the US, ranking alongside the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony.
But some of the male musicians felt Edna was an unwelcome presence in the orchestra, particularly as she had replaced a male musician, who'd been with them for 17 years and was popular among the orchestra.
The Vienna Philharmonic didn't accept women until 1997
It was founded in 1842, but the notoriously traditional Vienna Philharmonic didn't allow women to be 'full' members until 1997, after years of male members of the orchestra insisting that accepting women would lower their musical standards.
That year, harpist Anna Lelkes became the first official female member of the orchestra.
Previously, she had played for them regularly but her name had never been listed in the programme. Lelkes was paid for her work, but never publicly acknowledged.
What does the gender balance look like today?
In 2014, American orchestras were, on average, made up of 63 per cent men and 37 per cent women.
Instrument sections tell a slightly more concerning story. In 2014, 59 per cent of violinists and 95 per cent of harpists were female, while 97 per cent of trumpet and trombone players were male.
And so, although women have made many in-roads into orchestras in the past century, it appears that there is still more work to be done.
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This month I've added more great PDFs to my site. Be sure to check them out!
Blazing Pedals Vol. 1: A Guide to Harmonic Structure and Lead Sheet Playing on the Harp
These products are NOT part of this month's sale.
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This month's sale
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This month, nine of my popular sheets and PDFs are on sale for 15% off with the
chicken code word. (You'll understand why this month's code is "chicken" once you read the Kauai article below the sale section.)
To get the 15% discount on the products below,
enter the code word chicken in the Promo Code box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code"
by August 31, 2018. For more information, see the
15% Off section at the bottom of this newsletter.
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Michael Bublé
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
chicken code
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Sting
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
chicken code
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Michael Bublé
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
chicken code
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Pat Monahan of Train
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
chicken code
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Ed Sheeran
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
chicken code
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from The Hunger Games
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
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sung by Christina Aguilera and
A Great Big World
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
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Sam Smith
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
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sung by Josh Groban
arranged by Sylvia Woods
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15% off with
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Birds of Kauai, Vol. 1
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I know very little about birds, so I can't tell you the name of the bird that I hear every morning saying what sounds to me like "sticky worms, sticky worms, sticky worms." But my lack of knowledge won't stop me from telling you about some of the birds on Kauai.
Nene
The Hawaiian state bird is the nene (or nēnē), the Hawaiian goose. It is the world's rarest goose, and it is only found here in the Hawaiian islands. Nene are herbivores, eating grasses, shrubs, leaves, seeds, flowers and fruit.
In my April newsletter, you learned that the Hawaiian islands used to be called the Sandwich Islands. The nene's specific name, sandvicensis, refers to this.
Bird Sanctuaries
There are two bird sanctuaries within 15 minutes of my condo. Here are the descriptions from the National Fish and Wildlife website.
Kīlauea Point is a beacon of hope for threatened Hawaiian wildlife and their habitats as well as the home of a historic lighthouse. Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge's dramatic backdrop of steep cliffs plunging to the ocean is one of the best places on the main Hawaiian Islands to view wildlife, and is also home to some of the largest populations of nesting seabirds found in Hawai'i. Visitors also have a chance to view spinner dolphins, Hawaiian monk seals, native Hawaiian coastal plants and Hawai'i's state bird - the nēnē or endangered Hawaiian goose.
Established in 1972,
Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge
(NWR) is the oldest of Kaua'i's three national wildlife refuges. The 917-acre Refuge is located in the beautiful Hanalei River Valley on Kaua'i's north shore. Encircled by waterfall-draped mountains, the picturesque Hanalei Valley on the north shore of Kaua'i harbors the Hanalei NWR. The Refuge was established under the Endangered Species Act to conserve five
endangered water birds that rely on the Hanalei Valley for nesting and feeding habitat: the koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck), the 'alae ke'oke'o (Hawaiian coot), the 'alae'ula (Hawaiian moorhen), the ae'o (Hawaiian stilt), and the nēnē (Hawaiian goose). Forty-five other species of birds (18 of which are introduced species) also utilize refuge habitat at some point throughout the year.
The Refuge is a relatively flat river valley ranging from 20 to 40 feet above sea level and surrounded by steep, wooded hillsides, up to 1,000 feet high. The water from the Hanalei River is diverted into an east and west supply ditch. It then flows northwest and irrigates approximately 75 acres of wetland impoundments, 180 acres of taro patches, and 90 acres of wet pasture before returning to the river. Hanalei NWR is closed to the public to minimize disturbance and protect endangered waterbirds.
Chickens
The nene is the official state bird . . . but the unofficial bird of Kauai is the chicken, or "moa." Feral chickens are EVERYWHERE here. And I mean . . . everywhere. They're in parks, in parking lots, in restaurants, at churches, in shopping centers, at the beach, in the airport . . . and, yes . . . crossing the road!
I asked the gardeners who take care of our condo complex how many chickens they think are usually on our property. Although the numbers vary greatly, they guess that the average is 30 chickens and 15 roosters!
Some good things about the chickens are that they eat insects and centipedes, and they help fertilize the gardens. They also entertain the tourists and provide photo ops for them. Some bad things are that they are dirty and messy and can be flea-infested. Plus the roosters have no concept of "dawn." They crow all night and all day.
Where did these chickens come from? Moa were originally brought to Kauai in canoes by the first Polynesian voyagers. Since the time of Captain Cook, the moa have been crossbreeding with common barnyard domesticated chickens. Due to Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and Hurricane Iniki in 1992, many chicken farms and backyard chicken pens were destroyed and the chickens "flew the coop" and were scattered across the island by the strong winds. Since their only predators are dogs, cats, and cars, their numbers keep growing.
Very, very few people here actually eat feral chickens, because the meat is tough and stringy. I've heard two similar recipes for cooking them.
#1. Put the chicken in a large pot of water, along with a lava rock. Boil until the rock is tender.
#2. Put the chicken in a large pot of water, along with a lava rock. Boil for 3 days. Eat the rock.
In my next Kauai installment I'll tell you about more birds here on the island.
Photo credits:
Nene photo at Kilauea Point, Kauai Jörg Hempel on Wikipedia
Kilauea point and lighthouse, G. Pederson, public domain on Wikipedia
Hanalei valley, Photographer Gh5046, public domain on Wikipedia
Nene crossing sign in Hanalei valley, Sylvia Woods
Feral chickens at Lydgate Beach Park by Jeya Pillai - Sharanya Sathiabalan
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15% off select sale items when you use the code word: chicken
Our newsletter promo codes are only redeemable online and can only be used for the items featured in the sale section of this newsletter. They are not valid for phone or e-mail orders. This month's code word is chicken and it is good for 15% off the select sheets and PDFs in the sale section above. Just because an item is mentioned somewhere in this newsletter doesn't mean that it is on sale. It must be listed in the sale section.
#1. Put the items you want to purchase in your cart.
#2. On the page where you view the items in your cart, type this month's code word
chicken in the "Promo Code" box, and click on "Enter Code."
The actual price of the featured sale products on this page will then automatically change to reflect the discount. You'll also see a note below the Promo Code box saying the name of the promo code you entered, and the percentage amount of the discount.
REMEMBER: you must enter this month's code word chicken in the Promo Code box
and click "Enter Code" on your shopping cart page by August 31 to get the discount!
If you forget, or if you have trouble adding it to your order,
email Sylvia immediately.
Offer expires at the end of the day on 8/31/2018.
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