Other Music News

I forgot to write about Rachel's choir concert! 

It was a Tuesday night (March 31) so Miriam and I watched half it in on our commute home from Athens and then watched the rest of it in Andrew's office. 

Andrew took a bunch of screenshots but I honestly don't know where I put them...like...they're on my computer somewhere probably...but I don't know where precisely (and should be writing actual papers so I'm not going to take the time to find them now). I got to attend Rachel's concert in person in December, which was wonderful, but I think it's so nice that streaming events like this is "normal" these days because I don't think it always was (or at least not so quick and easy to access). 

Here's a quick view of Rachel:

I zoomed in on her below in case you need help finding her (she is in the second row from the back, third girl from the right):

And here's everyone who stayed up to watch her sing:

It was her professor/director's final concert of about a thirty-year career, so it was a great time to be a student of his. He had a lot of fun picking music that he'd always wanted to do and Rachel really had a good time under his direction. 

When she learned that Miriam was coming out for a little visit, she asked Naanii to see if she could pull some strings and arrange to have a tour of the carillon tower, which was recently voted the second-sexiest job on BYU campus. Because apparently that's a thing.

I thought for sure that Cosmo would be the sexiest job on campus, but apparently it was EMS. 

Perhaps Cosmo is more of an honour than a job. I don't know. 

But here's the certificate bestowed upon on the bell tower players for having such a coveted job:

Anyway, my mom arranged for Miriam to have a tour of the organs on campus while she was out and, on Rachel's request and insistence, also arranged to have a tour of the carillon tower. I'm honestly a little jealous because I always thought it would be cool to go up inside the carillon tower.

Miriam gets to tour the carillon.

Miriam gets to see Anna Lapwood.

Miriam gets to do everything!

(Just kidding—I'm not really jealous! More excited that Miriam gets to do such cool things! But, for the record, it would be cool to go inside the tower. Everyone at BYU thinks so...and that's why it was voted the "second sexiest job on campus").

Miriam got to play the practice bells, which she thought was cool enough, but she was thrilled to pieces when she was invited to play the actual bells (after climbing up 99 stairs and a ladder). 

Here's a picture of the girls at the top of their climb:

And here's Rachel trying out one of the practice bells:

Here's a video of Miriam practicing the bell keyboards and then playing the actual carillon—which rings out across campus:

It's a rare honour for a BYU student to get to play the bells—only a handful get to have the job of playing the bells each year (they don't play the chime every hour, but they do give 30-minute concerts daily at noon during the semester). 

I didn't know that my mom's friend and former coworker Janet (whose office I may or may not have cried in a time or two when I stopped by to cry in my mom's office only to find out that my mom wasn't there—I just love my mom's original office-mates in the MAD* Library, Janet and Irene)...anyway, I didn't know that Janet played the carillon when she was a student! But here she is then:

And here she is now:

When she heard my girls were getting to do this fun tour, she asked if she could tag along. She retired a few years ago, but she's still very musically involved. She used to sing in the Tabernacle Choir! And behind her you can see her husband Daron, who still plays woodwinds for the Orchestra at Temple Square, I believe. He's a clarinetist. But he also does recorders and all sorts of things.

Behind Daron and Janet you can see Miriam and Rachel and then to the right of Rachel is her boss, Janice, who is an organist herself. And a librarian. And the aunt of our friend James (who wrote Latter-day Sikh, among other titles—just mentioning that one specifically because I recently loaned that to Reid to read before leaving on his mission).

It was fun for Miriam to get to do this little campus tour—that's what kids her age do on spring break, right?—and she's so lucky she got to do it surrounded by so much support and talent!

We know some pretty great people!

* Music and Dance Library