The Tudor Fair Blog
Old Music Monday: Mary Tudor and Choral Music
I just finished another episode of my Renaissance English History Podcast (the most uncreatively named podcast ever!) (get it on itunes!) on Mary Tudor, and it got me thinking about church music during the five years that Mary reigned. She wasn’t famous for endowing any colleges, or really supporting scholars,…
Random Friday Fun Facts: The Music of the Spheres
“music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired” Boethius: De institutione musica Most serious musicians understand that music and math are inextricably linked. The early mathematician Pythagoras discovered many different ratios within musical harmonies (a perfect fifth, for example) by…
Writing about Reading: TotalBoox
In my professional life, one of my roles is as the New Products columnist for Public Libraries magazine, and much of what I wind up writing about are eBook products, since that’s where my big interest lies. I just found this new product that’s been around for a while for…
Favorite places in England: The Golden Cap
I regularly read Dorset Life on my ipad. It’s a local magazine all about Dorset, which I first picked up on a trip to Bournemouth a few years ago. Completely opposite to men who read Playboy “for the articles,” I freely admit to reading Dorset Life for the pictures. In…
The Week in Books: Every Valley
I’m a big fan of the Messiah. Every year I go to a sing-a-long, and since I’ve been in LA it’s been at the Disney Center. I used to play my parents’ old record of the complete recording (vinyl, before it became trendy) and would study to it. I can…
Old Music Monday: Palestrina, The Sixteen and music for Lent
I’m sitting at home nursing a cold, the last of the three of us to catch it. Being sick with a kid is infinitely worse than being sick on your own. Because when the kid is awake, you’re awake. And not only are you awake, but you’re also keeping them…
Renaissance English History Geekdom
Many of you know that I geek out on Renaissance English History. I still have a “bucket list” to do to get an advanced degree in it, but for now, I do what I can with books and travel. If you haven’t checked out my Renaissance English History Podcast yet,…
The Fetal Brain on Music (for Lennon James Picco, the son of our pediatrics nurse Ashley Picco)
On Tuesday of this week we went to our pediatrician’s office to pick up paperwork for Hannah’s labs, which we needed to get done before her appointment next week (I lagged on doing them and then lost the paperwork – typical me). Instead of the calm doctor’s office, things were…
The Week in Books: The Lost Art of Dress
I’ve said before that I’ve been clearing out my physical books the past few years; it’s my goal to eventually have my library only on my kindle, because then, when we move, I can just pack all my books in one teeny tiny box. I’m down to about 2-3 shelves, and…
Glastonbury in the winter
I lived for several years in the UK, and it’s still one of my favorite places where I spend much of my time. Some of my dearest friends are in London, along with some of the most special and meaningful spots for me. One of those places is Glastonbury, which…
Raising a bilingual baby (and brushing up on Deutsch as an adult)
Personal share here: My dad is from formerly East Germany – Leipzig – and came to the US when he was a teenager in the 1950’s. By the time I was born, in the 70’s, he had stopped speaking German very much other than when he was having an argument…
Old Music Tuesday: Ensemble Cinquincento
If any of you are into early music, and you have sirius radio, there is a wonderful program called The Millennium of Music, on Symphony Hall, channel 76, at 11am eastern/8am pacific on Sunday mornings. I generally catch it in snippets when I’m on my way to walk Hannah at…