I recently had the privilege of taking an online course on Korean philosophy, and I must say it was a truly enlightening experience. This course, rooted in the rich cultural tapestry of Korea, delves deep into concepts that resonate with anyone seeking a new perspective on life.
One of the most captivating aspects of this course was the exploration of the "Korean Matrix." It's a concept that beautifully illustrates how Korea has absorbed and transformed external influences, crafting a cultural identity that is uniquely Korean. Understanding this process allowed me to appreciate the depth and authenticity of Korean thought. What follows is my final assignment, an article which had to combine present-day culture and the aspects of philosophy we considered as the most interesting in the course.
In November you met Maria Sofia, studying Arabic and giving a helping hand in Palestine. In December, Emanuele, living in Milan and working as a software developer. After them, the first of my former students I want to introduce you in 2016 is Edoardo , Edo, with his lovely girlfriend, Federica, aka Kika. They live in Salento, Contrada Lusci is their place and a lifestyle, about which they write on their blog. They are a special couple and I'm glad to share their story with you all. It is a story of love, peace, beauty, respect for nature and every living being, hope and incredible adventures.
Edoardo was one of my students, he left school
eleven years ago and he is a young man in his thirties now. I met him again a
couple of months ago because he and his lovely partner, Federica, presented a very
original project, a book + CD, here in
my town and I was invited to the event by friends and colleagues.
Obviously teenagers change once they turn into
men and women but what surprised me most meeting Edoardo again was how totally different
his posture, attitude, smile, speaking voice and look were. He looked and
sounded relaxed, calm, focused and imperturbable. His eyes and his smile were warming,
welcoming, peaceful. Well, actually, both Kika and Edo are the
embodiment of the word “peaceful” and both have a special smiling light in their eyes which speaks volumes of their inner world.
Good Music Brighter Children is written for parents, educators or anyone who wants to build a bigger, better brain using music. Scientific studies indicate that children introduced to classical music at a young age read earlier and perform better on achievement tests. Adults can also revive tired brain cells using music. This book gives you a step-by-step program that any parent or individual can follow. You’ll discover how introducing your children to good music can accelerate language development, improve math and science skills, enhance physical coordination, strengthen memory and reading retention, and benefit children with learning disabilities. Discover how to choose an instrument and music teacher for your child; how to get your kids to practice and how character traits such as confidence, responsibility, creativity and teamwork are taught when learning a musical instrument. Learn how to introduce your child to the music community and how to appreciate all kinds of music. Last, if you want to advocate for music in your schools, this book gives the ammunition and data to do so. Also includes a 35-page Resource Section on the best music, books, and DVDs for kids.
(by guest blogger Vanessa Gallo) People
are driven by inspiration, ambitions and needs in life. It is the zeal and
passion towards life that makes them aspire for many things in life. Different
people have different interests and passions. Some may find satisfaction in
art, some others may love music and certain others will be fond of reading
literature. Many people will not be happy to read a book, watch a movie or
listen to music. They may want people with similar interests to talk to. Every
individual is unique with different view points and opinions.
People
who are interested in art, music and literature have many advantages on the
web. They can create communities online and share their thoughts regarding
these topics. Many people love to join with people with similar or related
interests. Artists have a relatively more flexible schedule and hence many art
communities have appeared all over the world, especially in the United States. Gatlinburg
Artists’ Community, John C. Campbell Folk School and Sedona are a few art
communities of the United States. Gatlinburg community is located in Tennessee
where most of the artists of the US live and work. All their studios are open
to the public and the artists specialize in themes related to the Great Smoky
Mountains. This community attracts many tourists.
My love for books is known beyond borders, since I've been blogging in English for a while now and I have been sharing my passion with readers living in so many different contries.
What has happened is that in the last years, I've read many books, but not so many in my native language, which is Italian. That's a pity, of course, but as we usually complains in the book blogosphere, "so many books, so little time!"
Today has been pretty special as for books & me and the outcome is ...there are a few Italian books I am going to read soon.
I'll be in the panel of reading judges in a literary contest, we are 29 and have the task to choose the winner in the fiction section. I'll have to read 3 novels, debut releases by new authors for important Italian publishers. The event, Fieramente il Libro is at its second edition here in my town and I'm flattered and honoured to be involved. It'll take place on 27/28/29 June 2014. I can't wait! I'll keep you informed, of course, and I'll start reading soon.
It's been long since I last did so many different things in only one weekend! But this weekend has truly been pretty busy and special.
On Saturday morning I was at school. What's so special for a teacher? Nothing but it is unusual for me, since Saturday is my day off. I had to be there since I was involved in a project and had to take part in two different meetings with two groups of our students to whom I presented our "Project Anita B." for the celebration of the International Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January). I'll tell you more about this possibly tomorrow.
On the heels of their hit album Higher, Mercy River is back with mesmerizing harmonies and upbeat vocal arrangements. Their new album features inspirational favorites and original songs that highlight the talents of this singing sisterhood.
Sing It Out, Speak Life, How Deep the Father's Love For Us, Walk You Through the Night, Who I Am, Holy Ground, Restless
Reason, For the World, Walking On Sunshine.
Are you enjoying The Paradise on BBC One or Masterpiece PBS? Have you noticed how beautiful its soundtrack is? My guest today is the composer of the wonderful music accompanying Denise and Moray's story. His name is Maurizio
Malagnini. He is an Italian composer based in London whose work spans drama, animation,
documentaries. His music has been broadcast internationally on the main
European networks BBC1, BBC2, ITV, MTV, SKY, RAI. He has produced his scores for
the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra,
L'Ensemble dell'Opera di Roma and his own ensemble, Cinema Paradiso.
Maurizio has composed scores for popular BBC
Series such as "The Body Farm" and The Paradise (Series 1 and 2).
Could this lovely costume series be the same without his brilliant score?
I’m sure you have noticed how good the soundtrack for Denise and Moray’slove storyis! Are you ready to meet its composer? Welcome Maurizio Malagnini
at Fly High and enjoy our little chat below. By the way, don't forget that The
Paradise series 2 goes on BBC1 every Sunday night and, if you live in the US, season 1 is going to end soon on PBS Masterpiece.
Maurizio Malagnini rehearsing with the BBC Concert Orchestra
What’s
the life of an Italian living in London like? Hard? Very hard? Not hard at all?
I mean, are there things you miss terribly or can you easily cope with the
differences ?
While watching and loving The Paradise back in autumn 2012, I immediately noticed that it had perfect music, beautiful soundtrack, didn't you? I particularly liked it and thought it was just brilliant match to the gorgeous locations, perfect costumes and gripping story-line. Silva Screen Records release the soundtrack for the BBC series The Paradise just today! The set includes a beautiful booklet with images from the BBC drama. Series 1 of The Paradise was broadcast on BBC 1 from 25 September to 13 November 2012 and is now going to premiere on American PBS on October 6th.
No dates yet for series two on BBC1. They are still shooting it in the North of England and promised their fans series 2 for next autumn.
Hello and welcome, Karolyn. It is a great pleasure to have you as my guest at FLY HIGH!
I love rock music, I love romance and I love reading! So I was curious to know more about your Brothers
of Rock series of books. Can you
tell us more about the project?
Thanks
SO MUCh for having me! J
Brothers of Rock is a romance series following the rock band, Chasing
Cross. Each band memeber gets their own
book and the books focus on the band off the stage. Together, on stage, they’re ‘brothers’ in the
sense of music and show. But off stage
they are five different men. The series
doesn’t just get into romance, it also tackles several other issues...
addiction, recovery, loss, abuse, etc.
It’s jam packed with drama and love!
In Book 1, All
Access, Jess meets Johnnie. She doesn’t recognize him as the famous
lead singer of a hugely successful band. Between them is love at first sight.
Do you believe in that kind of special “click” mysteriously connecting two
people on their first meeting?
The possibilities of interesting meetings in the web and social networks are infinite. But going on blogging in different areas, I am more and more astonished. I've been really lucky so far! I'm here today to introduce one of my latest fortuitous interesting meeting to you: Kris Searle, a very talented musician.
Searle is a BBC featured artist in the UK and is enjoying his musical career both sides of the Atlantic. Since his forth award win in Los Angeles, Searle has gone on to win other awards including VH1 songwriter and other accolades so his career is breaking through. After just winning his forth Los Angeles Music Award, last year for Best Electronic/Dance Artist and the year before for Single of the Year, Kris now has 3 movie placements in 2010, 2 trans-atlantic collaborations for MTV Base channel and a collaboration coming out with his record label Inspire U Records called "Inspired Artists". His single "I Would Give You It All" has been placed on a film titled "Truth About Kerry" with Stana Katic from ABC's "Castle". He has 2 UK releases with Big Brother Celebrity Darnell and UK Rapper AYO with songs "Warning Signs" and "Honestly Remix" and he is also writing for a animation trilogy. For the rest of 2010 Searle wrote his second album "Dawn of Momentum" with producer TMAC. Last year Kris' song 'Warning Signs' was considered for a Grammy in the Best Pop collaboration with Vocals and Best Short Form Video which compliments his move into his new electro/dance/pop sound. You can listen to a TEASERof the first 6 tracks from the album here.
These days I’ve been reading an Italian book that has recently won an important prize here in our country, “Il Premio Strega”. It is a melancholic, but beautiful, short novel by Tiziano Scarpa, STABAT MATER. It is set in Venice at the end of the 17th century but it really seems not to have time or space . Unfortunately, if you are not Italian or can’t read Italian, you must wait for a translation which has been planned but not yet done.
Now, I’d suggest to you to start the music in the player here below and, only after doing that, read my short review.
You’ll understand why. Hope you'll enjoy it.
It’s night, the orphanage is plunged in silence, darkness and sleep. All the girls sleep, apart form one, Cecilia, 16 years old. During the day she plays the violin in the church, behind the impenetrable thick grating which gate the believers out of her life , impeding them even to see the girl's face. At night she feels lost in her deep solitude, gets up and secretly gets to her hidden place where she writes to the most intimate but at the same farthest person in her life: the mother who abandoned her in that asylum, the Ospedale della Pietà di Venezia. Music is to her a routinely habit as many others, a dull repetitions of sounds. But Cecilia feels and writes: “The world wants us to be silent”. In her lyrical and philosophical nocturnal reflections she has also another addressee, her own Death, who appears to her as a black-snike haired woman she doesn’t fear at all.
But one day things start slightly and slowly changing: a young music teacher and composer arrives to substitute old Don Giulio. He is a young priest, with a big nose and copper hair. His name is Antonio. Antonio Vivaldi.
Thanks to her complex stormy relationship with music, Cecilia will find her way with an unexpected choice of rebellion, freedom and self-determination.
Good story, isn't it? And very well written, too. I’m stunned at the writer’s ability in feeling such distant (to him) desperate loneliness and conveying it to us with so much strength and sympathy. I particularly liked these lines among others: ( my translation from Italian ) “Since I was born I’ve had to do what I’m told in here, so all the things which counts to my heart, I must be able to put them in the small spaces left, in the small empty cavities left by chance”. This is writing to her: completely alone at night, on pieces of papers already written shrivelled and thrown away by the nuns or the girls ... in the small white spaces left... to a mother always dreamt about and never really experienced.
Well, it has been a different Saturday night, moving and amusing at the same time.
You must know I love music, classical music, opera, poliphony as well as Brit pop or good Italian music. I studied singing for many years and I used to sing in a choir with whom I toured all over the world. Just wonderful memories now: when I had my first child I stopped, cause it was too complicated to cope with my job (teaching), my family ( husband and a baby son), my house and my beautiful but "time wasting" hobby. So I had to give up. Anyhow, any time they organize concerts or cultural events I'm invited to take part in ... the audience. So they invited me for this evening at 7 p.m. telling me that three young people from L'Aquila would perform in a melodrama show based on fables. One of them is one of my best friend's daughter, the other two friends of hers. I went, entered the big hall with a bit of nostalgia, sat among the crowd of familiar faces - colleagues, ex-colleagues, some students of mine, my ex-singing mates- and waited for the beginning of the show reading the leaflet with the curricula of MIRIAM, DIEGO and VALENTINA. What extraordinary young people! They've really achieved a lot in their young lives: diplomas, degrees, drama courses and so on. What a pity that on 6th of April the earthquake shattered down their houses and greatly complicated their lives and their expectations. What luck they are still here safe and sound. Valentina did her latest exam at University just few days ago among several difficulties. Miriam had to come back and live in our small town in Lazio -100 km from L'Aquila- and commutes whenever she needs to by car. Diego has been living in a small house in the countryside with the rest of his family since then.
The lights turned off and Miriam led us, with her beautiful persuasive voice, into the fantasy worlds of Babar the elephant and the little Paddington Bear. Yes, she told us good fables, and first Valentina, then Diego, commented those stories at the piano with incredibly fit music by Francis Poulenc and Herbert Chappell. What was their message? The earthquake shattered their houses to pieces but NOT THEIR DREAMS. They are going to "become king" like Babar or to "sing their song at the Royal Albert Hall" like Paddington Bear. They want to make their dreams come true and don't want anybody or anything to stop them. I wish Miriam, Diego and Valentina success and happiness. May all their dreams come true, first of all that of going back living and working in L'Aquila with no more fear and, possibly, in a new house. Miriam plays the flute, the piano, is a good actress and is the only one of the three to have stuff of hers in the Net. I've found this clip with her playing a melody at the piano by Giovanni Allevi.
People
who are interested in art, music and literature have many advantages on the
web. They can create communities online and share their thoughts regarding
these topics. Many people love to join with people with similar or related
interests. Artists have a relatively more flexible schedule and hence many art
communities have appeared all over the world, especially in the United States. Gatlinburg
Artists’ Community, John C. Campbell Folk School and Sedona are a few art
communities of the United States. Gatlinburg community is located in Tennessee
where most of the artists of the US live and work. All their studios are open
to the public and the artists specialize in themes related to the Great Smoky
Mountains. This community attracts many tourists.
+Paradise_Rehearsal.jpg)
Searle is a BBC featured artist in the UK and is enjoying his musical career both sides of the Atlantic. Since his forth award win in Los Angeles, Searle has gone on to win other awards including VH1 songwriter and other accolades so his career is breaking through. After just winning his forth Los Angeles Music Award, last year for Best Electronic/Dance Artist and the year before for Single of the Year, Kris now has 3 movie placements in 2010, 2 trans-atlantic collaborations for MTV Base channel and a collaboration coming out with his record label Inspire U Records called "Inspired Artists". His single "I Would Give You It All" has been placed on a film titled "Truth About Kerry" with Stana Katic from ABC's "Castle". He has 2 UK releases with Big Brother Celebrity Darnell and UK Rapper AYO with songs "Warning Signs" and "Honestly Remix" and he is also writing for a animation trilogy. For the rest of 2010 Searle wrote his second album "Dawn of Momentum" with producer TMAC. Last year Kris' song 'Warning Signs' was considered for a Grammy in the Best Pop collaboration with Vocals and Best Short Form Video which compliments his move into his new electro/dance/pop sound. You can listen to a TEASER of the first 6 tracks from the album here.
These days I’ve been reading an Italian book that has recently won an important prize here in our country, “Il Premio Strega”. It is a melancholic, but beautiful, short novel by Tiziano Scarpa, STABAT MATER. It is set in Venice at the end of the 17th century but it really seems not to have time or space . Unfortunately, if you are not Italian or can’t read Italian, you must wait for a translation which has been planned but not yet done.
Well, it has been a different Saturday night, moving and amusing at the same time.
lentina, then Diego, commented those stories at the piano with incredibly fit music by Francis Poulenc and Herbert Chappell. What was their message? The earthquake shattered their houses to pieces but NOT THEIR DREAMS. They are going to "become king" like Babar or to "sing their song at the Royal Albert Hall" like Paddington Bear. They want to make their dreams come true and don't want anybody or anything to stop them. I wish Miriam, Diego and Valentina success and happiness. May all their dreams come true, first of all that of going back living and working in L'Aquila with no more fear and, possibly, in a new house.