For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
As we head for my 300th set, coming up in six weeks, let's look back on some of the sets that have led to this milestone.
This is a typical set from 5 on Friday's heyday, with six active participants all posting their own sets, and lots of discussion about music in the comments section.
My sets over the years have had a vast array of inspiration. Sometimes they were part of a larger project (like this year's Spotlight On individual instruments,) sometimes they were part of my creative process while working on writing projects, and sometimes they reflected on the time of year or what was going on for me personally.
This set is a mix of late 70s/80s/early 90s tunes, a look at my typical tastes during that period.
For my look back as we approach the next milestone set, here is:
For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
As we head for my 300th set, coming up in seven weeks, let's look back on some of the sets that have led to this milestone.
During my second year participating in 5 on Friday, I decided to do a little Elvis tribute as January of 2011 arrived, since January was his birth month.
This was the first of several musical projects that grew into year-long features like 2015's Spotlight On individual instruments, 2014's The Hit Makers, which looked at the songs or compositions that launched careers, and 2013's birthday celebration featuring singers born each month.
For my look back as we approach the next milestone set, here is:
For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
As we head for my 300th set, coming up in eight weeks, let's look back on some of the sets that have led to this milestone.
Mike Golch and I are the only remaining 5 on Friday bloggers since Travis posted his 200th set on November 15th, 2013 and then took a step back from blogging. Travis is the originator of 5 on Friday, and we got to know each other well over the years. I'll always consider him a dear friend.
Back in its heyday, there were up to ten weekly contributors, spinning tunes that introduced me to lots of new-to-me music. For Travis' last set, there was a core group of four of us.
Now it's just me and Mike. We send our sets out into the world and I know from my blog stats that there are many people following the sets, who I'd like to thank for dropping in at A Piece of My Mind over all these years.
Last week, Mike posted his 300th set. Congratulations to my Friday music partner!
Who wants to take a wild guess as to what sort of music appeared on my very first 5 on Friday set?
Exactly.
Ballet music.
This week, let's take a trip back through time to Friday, February 12th, 2010 (which was actually my late grandmother Viola's 87th birthday.)
For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
This year I've been taking a once-a-month look at specific instruments and showcasing five songs or tunes which place that instrument front and center.
This year's feature is called Spotlight On...
...and for our eleventh installment, let's continue our look at tonal complexity by the addition of a horn section. Horns have traditionally heralded ceremonies and carry with them an association with celebration.
Moving on, we explored percussion with April's look at drums, May's look at the vibraphone or vibes, June's look at piano, and wrapping things up with cowbell in July.
In August I trained the spotlight on a favorite of mine, the bass guitar. In September we gave the stage over to that diva of instruments -- the lead guitar.
If you're Canadian, you already know why the bells have rung with joy throughout the land.
If you've come to A Piece of My Mind from Blog4Peace, there's a reason that Canadians are celebrating with tears of relief and wide-beaming smiles of hope.
Today we witnessed the swearing-in of Canada's newest prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
It's impossible to go into details about this without turning an apolitical peace movement into something its founder, Mimi Lenox, would prefer to keep aside for this special day.
So far I've typed several things that I've quickly erased, because I deeply respect Mimi's reason for keeping things non-partisan.
I will simply say that for a country made up of two genders and of people descended from many ethnic groups, as well as sending representatives from six distinct regions, the cabinet ministers sworn in alongside Trudeau today at last reflects Canada's citizens in a way that's never happened before.
As well, Canadians were invited to witness the swearing-in ceremony in a spirit of openness that has been completely absent in Ottawa for the past nine years. In fact, this ceremony has never before been witnessed by the public. There was limited space inside Rideau Hall for the event, so large-screen tvs were set up outside to broadcast the speaking of the oaths, to cheers of delight that filtered inside at several key moments.
For this year's Blog4Peace, I'm posting a song that captures the spirit of today's swearing-in of a new government in my nation's capitol, a spirit that so many of my fellow Canadians share with me.
Many changes in government begin with promises and end in cynicism. My husband and my mom watched the ceremonies with me, and it really touched me that my mom became more and more excited as each new cabinet member came forward to swear the oath. She has seen more parliaments than me, and she said today that she's never seen a group of people that exuded such a sense of dynamic change. The simple yet profound difference of having an equal number of male and female cabinet ministers was something I don't think my mom had ever thought she'd witness.
The reason I've wrapped this year's post around a political celebration has its roots in the mean-spirited tone of the campaign run by the outgoing government, in contrast to the optimistic tone of the incoming government. There's a relieved sense in Canada that we've somehow managed to pull off a revolution without having to fire a shot.
My deep and grateful thanks go out to my fellow Canadians for showing up in record numbers on voting day. With Remembrance Day / Veteran's Day coming up, Canadians have shown that standing up for your country doesn't only mean serving in the armed forces. Peacefully showing up to vote can mean all the difference.
