Violinist & Violist Philipp Otto Naegele [1928-2011]

On the night of January 30, 2011 after a short illness, Philipp Otto Naegele passed away peacefully in his sleep. A brilliant violinist and violist, Philipp was a guiding light in the classical music world and a dedicated and inspirational teacher and mentor.

[http://www.philippnaegele.com/PhilippNaegele/Home.html]

He was my youngest daughter’s violin teacher for the past four years. Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1928, his mom a physician and his father artist Reinhold Naegele. With the rise of Hitler in 1939, and 11 years old, he emigrated to England via Kindertransport, a rescue mission for primarily Jewish children that took place nine months before the war started. In 1940 he crossed the Atlantic to the U.S. by naval convoy - a pretty dangerous thing to do with Nazi U-Boats patrolling the Atlantic and those convoys being pretty easy pickings.

In the U.S. he settled in New York City where he went to school, eventually obtaining his doctorate in musicology from Princeton University. He also spent a graduate year on a Fullbright Fellowship at the Vienna Academy of Music studying violin with Franz Samohyl. Imagine going back to Europe after the war......

He then spent  eight years as violinist in the Cleveland Orchestra and the next 36 years as a faculty member in the Smith College music department, eventually becoming the William R. Kenan Professor of Music Emeritus at Smith. In 1950 he became involved with the founders of the Marlboro School and Festival (Vermont) where he began a participation as violinist and violist - and ultimately translator - that has endured till now.

My daughter spent an hour a week with Dr Naegele for the past four years. Extremely modest about his abilities and accomplishments, he was old school - a tough but caring teacher. Prior to Dr Naegele, she had been taking lessons from the teacher she started with at three years old. An excellent teacher but we felt it was time to move on. Dr Naegele treated her like an adult - an eye opener at first! If you were not prepared for your lesson he would let you know. There was one particularly busy week when she had not had a lot of time to practice. Five minutes into the lesson he sent her home, telling her to come back after she had practiced.  A good life lesson for an 11 year old - she was always prepared after that!

Thanks so much Dr Naegele, Eva and the rest of our family are really going to miss you.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

--
Dr Naegele lived in Northampton, MA. For more information on his incredible life see http://www.philippnaegele.com (That's where I got the sketch above by pianist Amy J. Yan. Hope that is ok.)

Polka Jamming at Center Court - Basketball Hall of Fame

Occasionally I diverge from technology and education here.....

Last Saturday night (Oct 25, 2008) my in-laws, Happy Louie and Julcia, were honored at the Krakus Festival held at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. This year the event celebrated the 400th anniversary of the first known North American Polish settlement in Jamestown, Va. Polish people were first invited to this country for their skill at producing soap, glass and potash.

Proceeds from the festival will be used to fund improvements to The Polish Center of Discovery and Learning at Elms College. The center, according to their website, is a LIVING MONUMENT, which celebrates the many contributions, past and present, of the Polish people and their descendants to the economy, the arts, and sciences of our nation. The mission of the Center at Elms College is to provide guidance and support materials to schools and other institutions wishing to introduce Polish topics to their students, to offer a variety of workshops, exhibits, concerts, conferences, seminars, films, plays, lectures and other events which focus on the history and cultural traditions of the Polish people in Europe and the United States, and preserve objects representative of the folkarts and material culture of the Polish people in America.

Entertainment at the festival included music by the Eddie Forman and Echo orchestras along with Lenny Gomulka and Chicago Push. Gabby and Eva, my two classically trained violinist daughters, got a chance to play with Lenny and his band.



Beautiful music Gabby and Eva..... congratulations Louie and Julcia..... it was a very special evening.

The TENORI-ON - a New Digital Music Performance Instrument

Yamaha has been working with Toshio Iwai (岩井 俊 雄), a Japanese interactive media artist, to develop a new digital music instrument called the TENORI-ON.

You may not have heard of Toshio Iwai but in other parts of the world have. He's created a number of successful commercial video games and has worked in television, music performance, museum design and digital musical instrument design. According to a bio linked here:

He became a cult figure in Japan with his computer generated virtual sets for the science news show Einstein TV(1990-91) and his virtual sets and characters for the immensely popular daily interactive children's show for Fuji Television, UgoUgo Lhuga(1992-94).

If you've been to the Exploratorium in San Francisco you may remember Iwai's Well of Lights and Music Insects pieces that are housed there in the permanent collection.

The Yamaha website describes the TENORI-ON as...

"...a 16x16 matrix of LED switches that allow anyone to play music intuitively, creating a "visible music" interface. The TENORI-ON is simultaneously both a performance input controller and display. By operating and interacting with the LED buttons and the light they produce you gain access to the TENORI-ON's numerous performance capabilities."

Here's a TENORI-ON product demo video posted on YouTube.



WOW - impressive - the first thing that came to my mind are the potential apps/hacks - should be very interesting.

The TENORI-ON is scheduled to go on sale in the U.K. next month.