5 on Friday -- Set 297

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

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 has been Spotlight On...

...and for our twelfth and final installment for 2015's year-long project, let's swing with woodwinds. I'm concentrating for this set mainly on flute, but there are a few recorders in these tracks. Flutes bring us full circle back to the ancient world.    

We began the year listening to the primal body instruments of hand-clapping, whistling and vocal harmonies.

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.

In October, I moved from stringed guitars to orchestral strings.

For November, I focused on horn arrangements.

December wraps up this year's musical project with the mellow tones of the flute and recorder. Flutes have been played on battlefields, they've been played by shepherds on hillsides, they've been part of an orchestra or played by peasants. They generally evoke a feeling of the Everyman, as well as reaching back through time to our earliest ancestors. Flutes and recorders give a dual sense of being rooted, as well as the floating sensation suggested by the wind descriptor of woodwind.

For all of you who have enjoyed this year's Spotlight On feature, I invite you to check back next week on New Year's Day for a brand new year-long project.

I've had such fun with the three I've done so far. I love taking up creative challenges like Blogging From A to Z in April, or the NaNoWriMo writing marathon in November. Deciding on a musical challenge for my 5 on Friday feature is a way to broaden my own musical horizons.

I embarked on my first 5 on Friday challenge in 2013 with the Birthday Boys/Birthday Girls project. I alternated male and female singers each month, beginning with January Birthday Boys, to see what sort of music they bring us.

In 2014, I ran The Hit Makers feature, where I looked at different styles of music each month, five of my favorite artists in that style and what songs launched their careers. That was an amazing project, beginning with the British Invasion set.

Where will 2016's musical journey take us? Drop by on January 1st to find out.

Let's finish up 2015 with a Spotlight On flute.    

1 - Coming Home Baby - Herbie Mann - 1961

2 - The Hustle - Van McCoy -1975

3 - Fernando - ABBA - 1976

4 - Colour My World - Chicago - 1971

5 - Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin - 1972

If you'd like 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.

5 on Friday -- Set 244 -- The Thanksgiving Edition

Photo courtesy of the Graphics Fairy

Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...

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 weekend is all about giving thanks here in The Great White North.

To all of my readers, friends and family -- I wish you many blessings on this Thanksgiving.

1 - The Green, Green Grass of Home -- Tom Jones

2 - Thank You -- Led Zeppelin

3 - Thank You For the Music  -- ABBA

CLICK HERE to watch the video

4 - Counting My Blessings  -- Bing Crosby

5 - How Great Thou Art  -- Elvis Presley

Poetry Train Monday - 28 - Dancing Queen

As some of you may know by now, my gram passed away Saturday morning, Dec. 1st at 11:30 am with her daughter and her granddaughter at her side. Thank you from the depths of my heart for all your prayers, because I know it helped to ease Gram's final week of life. And I know it gave comfort to me and my family as we waited with Gram for her to embark on her journey to the other side.

As some of you may also know, I've always had an open communication from family members who are no longer with us. I get messages constantly from the other side - all saying the same thing. They are fine, don't worry, don't be sad. They are aware of us here on this side and it's only a veil which separates us - they are as close to us as a thought, and it will be but a blink of an eye until we're together again.

Often my messages will be something simple, like what song is playing on the radio when I turn on the car. When my dad was in the hospital for his final week of life, 'I'm Coming Home' by Johnny Mathis played when I got in the car, several times.

'I'm goin' home, goin' home
Tell someone to meet me I'm comin' home'

Recently when I got in the car when Gram first went to emergency, I turned on the radio and heard Pete Seeger singing this:

'To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep'

So, bearing that in mind, about half an hour after Gram passed, while we were waiting for my uncle, my sister and her boyfriend to join us in Gram's room, I told Mom I would get us some coffee at Tim Horton's, plus a small bite to eat because we needed something. I got in the car, turned on the radio and heard Janis Ian's 'At Seventeen'. Hmm, I thought, nothing yet. Still early, only the first hour.

I got two coffees and two yogurts, which were jammed firmly into the little cardboard tray. I went back to the car, opened the door to get in, and something promptly knocked one of the coffees right out of the tray where it was very firmly gripped. It landed on the asphalt in its lid, upside down. I picked it up and nothing leaked out. And it was Mom's coffee - I could tell by the marks on the lid (2 M 1 C.)

I got in the car, already smiling because I knew someone had knocked the coffee out of the tray on purpose. And I realized right away what the message was. Things feel topsy turvy but nothing is lost. Yes, I was smiling as I turned on the car to go back to the hospital. Turned on the radio to hear ABBA's 'Dancing Queen', to which I started singing along. Then I got to the line:

'You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen'

I realized that the first song really was a part of the message, because it made me hear the word 'seventeen' very clearly. Gram was trying to tell me that she felt like she was seventeen again. She always loved dancing, was a huge fan of 'Dancing With The Stars', used to ask me 'Does Brad like to dance?' And when I said not really, she'd always say, 'Ah, that's a shame. I always loved it!' She used to urge Mom to go to dances, too. My gram was truly a dancing queen. And I also remembered that Gram was married on the 17th of August.

So, in honor of my grandmother Juliette Doucet, I'm posting the lyrics to 'Dancing Queen' for today's Poetry Monday.


Dancing Queen


You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
Ooo.. see that girl, watch that scene, diggin the Dancing Queen

Friday night and the lights are low
Looking out for the place to go
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing
You come in to look for a king
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music's high
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine
You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance


You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine oh yeah
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
Ooo see that girl, watch that scene, diggin the Dancing Queen

You're a teaser, you turn 'em on
Leave 'em burning and then you're gone
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance

You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine oh yaaa
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
Ooo.. see that girl, watch that scene, diggin the Dancing Queen

Diggin the Dancing Queen

-by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, recorded in 1975

Painting - 'Ballroom Dancing' by John LaGatta