On p. 40, Henry is giving Will a tour of his studio. There's a picture of William Primrose on the wall. Will asks, "William Primrose?" Henry nods, and Will says, "I only bought every record he ever made." Henry says he taught at he Kearney school for a time.
Primrose was the first really prominent violist. Walton wrote his viola concerto for Primose and he together with Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifitz, two of the preeminent soloists of the 20th century made a series of chamber music recordings which I devoured as a youth.
No I didn't buy every record Primrose made. I don't think he made all that many. But there are certainly a lot more fine violists out there today then then. Primrose did teach at the Curtis Institute for a while. Primrose was British, Piatigorsky (cellist) and Heifitz (violinist) were Russian.
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Writing is, to me, an entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial ideas are the life's blood of my writing. For my entrepreneurial course, Entrepreneurship on Line, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. For entrepreneurial real estate to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
William Primrose
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
In the end, They're Just Kids.
I went to the first concert of the spring, 2009, student recital series. A fantastic young violinist from Australia, named Ray Chen (Doesn't sound very Australian, does he?) played Johannes Brahms' 2nd violin sonata. Then a girl from Jacksonville, FL, played William Walton's Viola Concerto.
Now I love the Brahms, but not the Walton. It's sonorous, and lively, and dark, and light hearted, and funny. But things happen for no apparent reason. Whenever I listen to his music, whatever it is, I keep asking myself why I am listening to this set of notes when I could be listening to another set of notes. I never ask myself that when I listen to anything by Brahms or Mozart, or Beethoven, or about two-dozen other composers.
But back to the kids. Jana Pope was one of these kids, absolutely amazing both in their presence on the stage, their technical abilities on their instruments, their musicality, and maturity. And because they have such spirit, they're extremely beautiful and fun to watch play. The girls always put on a style show, the boys not so much. You get a terrific performance, a beauty pageant, and a style show, all at the same time.
But it's funny, when you pass these kids on the street, they're just kids, under the same pressures that a lot of kids are under.
This is part of what got me as I worked on this book. They have these tremendous skill sets they've been working at since they were little, but in the end, they're just kids.
If you want to go to Curtis Institute concerts, they're free and open to the public. You can find the schedule of them at www.curtis.edu.
What about this? Want to read more? Click on the book or order it right from here. What do you think? I'd like to know. Post a comment.
Writing is, to me, an entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial ideas are the life's blood of my writing. For my entrepreneurial course, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. For entrepreneurial real estate to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Getting story ideas
I went to a concert at the Curtis Institute, the model for the Kearney music school. Some kids did absolutely the best possible performance of Mendelssohn's String Quartet #2.
During intermission, I went down to the men's room. There was hard bass case down there in the hallway. It's about 8 feet tall and could easily hide a body. Aha. So for some as yet undetermined reason, somebody kills one of the students and stuffs him in the base case and it sits there. My wife says, wouldn't they smell it? I said, not if he put the body in a bag and sealed it up and then got the case out of there. Hmmm. I'll have to let that one percolate. Who was the victim. Why did he or she get killed? Who was the killer? How did it happen? When did it occur? How did the killer get the case out of there before the body smelled? I smell another musical mystery coming out of me.
What do you think? Post a comment.
Writing to me is an entrepreneurial activity. For my entrepreneurship blog, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Plot device
Every writer needs devices to help move story, he or shejust needs to make sure the device doesn't seem contrived or impede the development of the story. On p. 43, I use a device. I had the Kearney Music School staff keep attendance at concerts so Henry would know who left early and when on the night Ian died. Students were required to attend at least the first half of every student recital. I hope it didn't seem artificial. The way to know is ask, when you read it, does it stick out at you. If it seems bogus, it is.
But I was also reacting to a problem I have with concerts at the Curtis Institute of Music on which the Kearney school is based. Students aren't required to go to other students' recitals. And when they do go, their attendance varies according to who is playing and what they're playing. So there's this constant flow of attendees coming in and going out. I think people should come at the beginning and stay to the end. Otherwise, it's annoying to the audience, disrespectful of the performers, and not as educational for the students. But what do I know? I'm not driving that train.
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Monday, May 26, 2008
About the Curtis Institute
The model for the Kearney School was the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Wikipedia describes it as: "a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. It is considered to be one of the leading musical institutions in the world.
"It was originally established in 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok, and was named in honor of Cyrus Curtis. It has served as a training ground for orchestral players to fill the ranks of the Philadelphia Orchestra, much like the Vienna Hochschule fur Musik (University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna) and the Vienna Philharmonic or the New England Conservatory and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, although pianists, singers, organists and composers are offered courses of study as well.
"All pupils attend on full scholarship, but admission is extremely competitive. Besides singers, pianists, organists, conductors and composers, only enough students are admitted to fill a single orchestra. Accordingly, enrollment is in the range of 150 to 170 students.
Synopsis:
Ian Kearney, the director of the Kearney Music School, an elite musical training school in Philadelphia, dies after a fall from a balcony during a recital. World-famous cellist, Henry Harrier, recently forced from the faculty, returns to investigate Ian's death when his prized former student is arrested. Henry shows through his brilliant and single-minded pursuit of the truth that, as usual, they have it all wrong. This Sherlock Holmes-type mystery leads the reader through the world of classical music and lays bare the conflicts which dominate the lives of talented adolescents when placed under the pressure of studying for a demanding, stressful, and often elusive career as a classical music performer. Henry Harrier is part John Le Carre's George Smiley, part Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, and part Orlando Cole the beloved teacher, renowned chamber musician, and until his own retirement, the premier cellist of the Curtis Institute.Author Profile:
Tim was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1946. In 1951 he moved with his family to Schenectady, New York, where he lived through high school. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, from 1964 to 1968. He graduated in 1968 with a B.A. in history and philosophy. He received his Ph. D. in history in U.S. history in 1980 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after spending 2.5 years in the U. S. Army. Most of his army service was completed in Wuerzburg, Germany, from 1969-1971. In 1972 he returned to Madison to complete his doctoral study. His dissertation, Those Who Moved; Internal Migrants in American 1607-1840, combined the statistical analysis of genealogical and biographical data with the study of traditional literary diaries, letters, and journals.Tim was a market and survey research consultant from 1983 to 2000 and a smoking cessation researcher from 2000 to 2003. His consulting practice focused primarily on conducting community health needs assessment. He authored hundreds of market research reports and published a number of his assessments in Community Health Needs Assessment published by McGraw Hill in 1996 and in a revised volume published in 1999. In 2000 he joined the staff of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he conducted smoking cessation research. He published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and spoke at national smoking cessation conferences.
In 2003 he moved to Philadelphia and earned his real estate license. He now practices real estate, works on publishing his novels, and studies and teaches entrepreneurship.Tim has written a dozen novel-length stories, a volume of short stories, and about a 3-foot stack of pages poetry. He is currently working on earning his 4th million in real estate sales, publishing his novels, and working on an entrepreneurish handbook as a support for his students.
Tim is a trained violist and an experienced string quartet player. He is an avid listener to classical music and regularly attends classical music concerts. He has two grown children by his first wife and a stepdaughter with his second wife. He likes to cook, read, write, entertain, develop relationships, and help other people. Formerly Tim used to travel frequently. He doesn't so much anymore. Now he regards the combination of real estate practice, writing and publishing, and the teaching and studying of entrepreneurship as enough of a trip.
