View, unobstructed wrote:

OMGosh, guys.  Look at this Serge re-tweet!

One can never keep a good woman down!  Yea for you, Tango.
 

JetmamaDiDi wrote:

KeepOnSinging wrote:

For me, and I think for all of us, what brought us together was not a SHIP, even though we loved the possibility, but an experience of sheer beauty of MnM's dancing partnership..  And for me, it was especially the Viennese Waltz.  Iin this cynical and often dark and cruel world of ours, these glimplses of beautty bind us together.  I am rarely on the board, but I share this with all of you tonight and hope that it brings beauty and strengthens hope.  Love to you all CEK, View, JET, VMMM, Booky, HRM, April, Annie, Gabriele, Gunner, Tennessee, Luv, Tango, East, Cassidy, Ollie and Carrie.  

Since season 18 I have had this experience of sheer beauty three times with performers and music that I had not listened to or watched before..  I have shared one of them to this message board: the ice dance partnership of Papadakis and Cizeron.  I watched their 2015 FD many times, but I have watched their 2016 FD even more.  I have not shared the unusual vocal partnership of Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe, especially "Guide Me Home" and "How Can I Go On."  

Today a friend posted a beautiful piece played by a then 12 year old trumpet player, a girl, named Melissa Venema, who was extraordinary, not in near perfect technique in one so young, but in her artistry and musicality, so unusual in one so young.  I knew that I wanted to share this video with you all just in case you have not seen/heard it. Then I read the story on this piece of music.  I did not see "American Sniper" but this is the music played at the end of that movie.  And it is in fact a piece played at the end of concerts honoring those who died to free the Netherlands.  

 "Il Silenzio" (The Silence) is of military origin having been adapted from an old Belgian calvary charge. Trumpet player Nini Rosso and Guglielmo Brezza composed the piece in 1965. Russian composer Tchaikovsky used an Italian bugle call to open his Capticcio Italien. The thematic melody of "Il Silenzio" is
an extension of the Italian Calvary bugle call. The memorial piece was commissioned by the Dutch and first performed in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. Although "Il Silenzio" is an instrumental piece, it contains a small Italian lyric which is spoken. Buona notte, amore Ti vedrò nei miei sogni Buona notte a te che sei lontana Good night, love I'll see you in my dreams Good night to you who are far away. In a cemetery six miles from the Dutch city of Maastricht are the graves of 8,301 American soldliers who died during "Operation Market Garden." They fought to liberate the Netherlands from the Nazis in the fall and winter months of 1944 - 1945. The Dutch people of Netherlands have chosen to adopt the American, British, and Canadian soldiers who lie beneath the sod in the cemeteries of Holland. The Dutch families have chosen to tend the graves of those men while keeping alive the memory of the soldiers whom they have adopted. Customarily, they keep a portrait of their foreign soldier in their homes in a place of honor. On "Liberation Day," memorial services are held to honor the men who died to liberate the Netherlands. "Il Silenzio" has always been that special piece of music which concludes the memorial service.[color=#ffffff !important]5:21[/color]Il Silenzio - Melissa VenemaDrakeSparrow

• 5 years ago
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WOW, KOS.....simply incredible! Having been, myself, a trumpet player of much less stature and talent at age 12, I concur that this girl's artistry and musicality is superb, but her technique is also excellent, particularly for her age (at the time). She had definitely mastered circular breathing and the warmth of her tone was extraordinary (very difficult at the tempo of the piece). As you probably know, brass instruments do not play the notes by simply fingering and blowing into the instrument in the same way as woodwinds. The musician must be able to hear the tone they need to play and each note as they play it because there are only 3 valves and more than one note is fingered using the same valve(s). When she hit that high note after a couple beats of rest, she was right on it...not flat or sharp...and, let me tell you, that is VERY difficult!!! It also had the warmth of the lower notes--even more difficult!

I certainly hope that Meissa Venema is playing professionally somewhere as she is a very talented young lady with a great deal of poise and grace. BRAVO to her....and thank you for sharing this.

As a footnote, I did see "American Sniper". Now that I know the piece of music at the end and its history, it is even more impressive. The movie was really a tribute to someone whose life was dedicated to his country...and the way he died was both tragic and ironic. "Il Silenzio" is most appropriate.

Yes brass instruments are notoriously hard, and it is a sad fact that fewer and fewer students are choosing to devote time to playing them.  What I learned my first year of accompanying (piano) junior high and high school brass and wind instrumentalists is how often judges hurt exceptionally gifted players whose musicality and artistry surpassed players who executed everything by the book but did not have the artistry and musicality that many gifted players in that there is emotion, delicately expressed in their playing. Too often glitz and brightness and speed also trump artistry.  I am super impressed that you were (are?) a trumpet player.  I know how hard that is, because I was in a music program that demanded that we learn the basics of playing and performing all instruments in band/orchestra.  It nurtures great respect for the work needed to play each instrument well. 

At 12 years old, Melissa was clearly moved by the music she was playing and it could be heard in her playing.  My guess is that those who place ahead of her in competitions are not ahead of her in musicality and artistry but in note by note technique and how she places her lips.  It is maestro Andre Rieu who had her play with his orchestra when she was 12.