Archive for April 2019

Thoughts on writing for my 400th post

Thoughts on writing for my 400th post
On July 14, 2014, I sat down and started this blog with three posts, the better to keep myself from wondering what to do first and to keep from looking like I was a rookie with just one posted essay to my name. Those three posts are still the backbone of my categories Sustaining Books,... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 24, 2019 at 9:41 am
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The value of habits

The value of habits
How are your spring habits coming along? Are you doing extra cleaning or shopping, or moving your woolly things back in your closet so the linen things can come forward? My spring habit of listening to or watching playoff hockey games is ruined with no one to cheer for — again.  That’s just when I recognize... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 22, 2019 at 3:10 pm
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The Harvard Dictionary of Music, but not biography

The Harvard Dictionary of Music, but not biography
I thought I’d have a set of posts ready to do about composers when I settled down with “The New Harvard Dictionary of Music.” Hey, I even had portraits of my favorites lined up — Tchaikovsky made it here, and Beethoven and Handel were waiting in my files. But there’s only one problem: The dictionary... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 19, 2019 at 3:02 pm
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Exotic words in 'The Harvard Dictionary of Music'

Exotic words in 'The Harvard Dictionary of Music'
“The New Harvard Dictionary of Music,” one of my father’s favorite reference books, is now one of my new favorites. Its sheer size means it would not be finished in one post (this one). Here are some of the more exotic things I’ve found in it — so far: Aliquot string: “A sympathetic string. The... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 17, 2019 at 8:58 am
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The value of music

The value of music
When it’s past time to work on arithmetic — from monthly bills to the figures for my taxes — there’s no use having a story on in the background. I know, I’ve tried. Music is precious then, for tuning my brain and distracting the parts that want to go off and play with something else... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 11, 2019 at 11:21 am
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Happy Tartan Day, USA

Happy Tartan Day, USA
Happy Tartan Day! This is actually a North American celebration, beginning in Canada in the 1980s, but adopted in this country thanks to people who recognized that the Declaration of Arbroath (adopted in the Scottish city of Arbroath in the year 1320) is an ancestor of, and model for, the U.S. Declaration of Independence. So,... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 6, 2019 at 8:51 am
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The value of having standards (or values)

The value of having standards (or values)
The present series — the Serious series, if you will — about values has made me think of many things I value. One of those things is having standards, saying that I value some things over others. I have on my desk a button I picked up at a rally for the striking Chicago Symphony... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 3, 2019 at 9:00 am
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What to learn from 'The New Harvard Dictionary of Music'

What to learn from 'The New Harvard Dictionary of Music'
One of the new additions (editions, too) to my library recently is my father’s copy of “The New Harvard Dictionary of Music,” edited by Don Randel (Cambridge, Mass., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), It was one of Dad’s favorite reference books when anything musical came up — and it got a lot... Read more »
By Margaret H. Laing,
April 2, 2019 at 8:40 am
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