Music at the Inauguration: Healing the Country
What a day of beautiful and varied music this has been! I have cried tears of joy and of gratitude more times today than I have in a long, long time. I LOVED all the music that I heard today and was reminded once again that music can do as much to bring people together as anything on the planet. At the actual inaugural ceremony we heard everything from multiple trumpet fanfares to Aretha Franklin to Yo-yo Ma and Ithzak Perlman and it was all simply wonderful! The atmosphere was so electrified however that I think most any music selected would have been well-received and beautifully performed. I believe that our country, just today, began to heal in way that is desperately needed. It’s going to take years and years, but with God’s help and lots of beautiful music, it will happen!
Loved the quartet! Big question re: temperature. How was that possible? Fingers still worked (pretty quickly, too); instruments held their tune. 20-some degrees. I kept looking for heaters, and seeing none, remain puzzled. Bravo x 3 and Brava!
Yes, I wondered that too Elizabeth! My daughter is a professional violinist and I’m going to ask her about that. I did notice that the pianist had on fingerless gloves, but I wondered how in the world the stringed instruments were staying in tune and how the musicians were able to move their fingers like that! They did appear to be kind of up and away from the other people though so there may have been a clear plexiglass box around them with some heat in it? Good question! Thanks!
Good question about the string players. Aretha Franklin was incredible!!! The whole day was so special, I was riveted to my TV.
Ok, the sleuth found out. They taped it. Saw the story on Yahoo. Then “finger-synched” at the event. No matter. They were awesome anyway.
If I understand this right, I believe that the actual moment when the power transferred occurred as the quartet played. Couldn’t have worked that out better if they’d tried!
Good sleuthing Elizabeth
Thanks Elizabeth! Someone told me earlier today that it was also on NPR yesterday that it had been pre-recorded. I was puzzled because it showed the people looking back and up where the musicians were sitting? Or were they just looking at a screen?
As I understand it, the music was pre-recorded for quality two days earlier. The musicians still played live at the inauguration, but it wasn’t miked. The only people who heard the live performance were those sitting close enough to hear it with their own ears. (And it was probably somewhat out of tune.) The rest of us all heard the pre-recorded version. Does that make sense?