Day 21 – Juggling and … monking?
Today’s submissions paired together well. Two creative and clever ways of captivating and entertaining an audience. One juggles and the others … don’t … sing đ
Here you can watch the original videos:
Chris Bliss Juggling Act – Beatles Song
Silent Monks Singing Halleluja
Loved the submissions! They reminded us of our own school performances and end-of-year concerts. Did you ever take part in those at your school? Or at your church or local theatre group?
This is the semi-finale, ladies and gentlemen! Only one more video to go before it’s time for the Christmas Livestream on the 23rd. Below we will post the times again! We can’t wait! But before that we will see you one more time in tomorrow’s video.
HUGS,
Mona & Lisa
Christmas Livestream info:
December 23rd 2022
London â 10 pm (GMT)
Los Angeles â 2 pm
New York â 5 pm
Berlin â 11 pm
Moscow â 1 am
Sydney â 9 am
You can use this time converter if you live in a different time zone.
You can already save the livestream link HERE.
Juggling to such an iconic song amazing !!
What a talent !
We use to do Christmas programs in grade school, I remember memorizing my lines.
Was alot of fun !
Wow, Chris Bliss is totally amazing! Especially performing live on stage in front of an entire theater audience. No chance for errors, and no outtakes. He must do nothing else from the time he gets out of bed until he goes back to sleep.
Good to see Trudy doing better. She is so lucky, -even gets treated to live MLT performances! Yes, all sorts of animals naturally respond to music. Lots of research has been done on this. I think it would be more surprising if they did not.
Way back when, I got a book called “Juggling for the Complete Klutz” It was funny but it legitimately taught me the fundamentals of juggling. I’m not good, but I can sort of make a go at it. The book came with a set of square bean bags that were really good to learn with. They are easy to grab and when you miss, they don’t go rolling away from you like balls (or oranges, or lemons).
I was wowcool honored to be a featured contributor!
In this video, one might notice more global connections about the music-curious bird that visits Mona playing an acoustic guitar. For instance, in my favorite MLT tune (actually that song is tied with the MLT tune, June for #1) is that at the St. Catherine’s Chapel at the very beginning of the MLT music video I Don’t Know Birds That Well, a white bird flies out in front of the camera while Mona and Lisa are playing ukuleles.
The Spirit is often depicted as a dove.
To me, that’s what comes to mind watching I Don’t Know Birds That Well on YouTube.
God loves the animals He made, making sure they all went into the Ark and then globally flooding the Earth with only 8 humans on board. Technically, it’s then all creatures with human beings as the crown of creation. The rest of humanity perished in their unbelief. What’s also interesting to note about the course of events pertaining to the ark animals is that a bird (probably sent out from the Ark) one day returned with an olive branch to signal that the global flood was now over, because things were growing again somewhere.
I’ll admit the story of God’s love for all creatures is getting better all the time.
Peace this Christmas,
Mike
We had a variety type show in medical school- only time I ever played for an audience. I played electric guitar on versions of Fame, I Get Around, Time Warp, and my all time highlight , Money. Nerve wracking but thrilling.
Love watching your smiles and reactions each dayâŚ
I was asked to play 3 or 4 songs for the last show of my high school year (on the same day of the show). So i had to learn those songs in a few hours with no rehearsal in front of the fully packed auditorium of my high school. It turned out great n the kids were going crazy, we played the beatles – twist and shout , heart – alone , bryan adams summer of 69 n others. The audience of my fellow friends , parents n collegues cheered me on n it was a great way to finish high school n I cherish that great memory .
I’m setting in Wisconsin wrapping presents, watching it snow and listening to some groovy tunes. It’s gonna be alright
I like the MLT sticker on your pick guard. It looks great!
Thanks man. I’ve had an MLT shuffle going on my player for 4-5 hours. Just sounds so good. I wrote it’s gonna be alright because that’s what Mona was singing at the time. Revolution. Lol
I have a sticker on my laptop. When my high school students ask “Who’s That?”, I tell them to look them up!
Lisa did a pretty good job juggling lemons and the Advent Calendar all at the same time LOL. My favorite part is playing the acoustic guitar for Trudy the bird. I think there are Christmassy birds such as a partridge in a pear tree, four collie birds, three french hens, and two turtle doves.
Away in a Manger: Animals in the Bible
The tune, Away in a Manger has a lovely melody line to it. A manger is typically understood to be a trough for feeding horses. There are some other interpretations. The “Away” in the “Away in a manger” is most often referring to a make-shift crib.
In the manger scene, the baby Jesus is among family, worshipping kings, and a whole bunch of animals. I’m certain that every animal’s knee bowed to the baby Jesus, just like the 3 kings did.
On this note, is there a talking donkey in the Bible? Yes. After Balaam starts punishing the donkey for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam (Numbers 22:28), and it complains about Balaam’s treatment.
This and the Ark are all nifty scenes concerning animals from the historical record as depicted in the Bible.
Merry Christmas,
Mike
Hi Michael. I heard a statement a while back that said if all the animals on earth died that man would die too. But, if man died first all the animals would be fine. Sad but true. Merry Christmas
Tim, did you ever see a series that aired on the History Channel a few years ago called Life After People? It discusses how and on what time scales different aspects of the world would change if everyone on Earth suddenly disappeared for whatever reason. Really fascinating stuff! Full episodes are on YouTube.
One of the most interesting conclusions was that perhaps the longest-lasting evidence of humanity, continuing even after the erosion and burial of our most durable architectural structures, would be the instinctive behaviors that we have bred into dogs.
I haven’t seen that particular series but I do like watching those types of programs. I will check it out. I can believe what we breed into animals and teach them for that matter will influence them for a long time after we are gone. I believe in creation and evolution. Every living thing evolves and adapts to it’s environment. But I do believe there was a beginning and there will be an end. That big gas ball in the sky won’t burn for eternity.
That was a great show. I haven’t seen it all, but what I saw was really fascinating. It’s like driving through an old factory town where the vines are reclaiming the buildings and weeds are breaking up through the parking lot asphalt.
Yeah I’ll have to look that up. I like the Ancient Aliens series also. Makes a person think.
Hi Tim and Merry Christmas.
I hadn’t heard of that expression, and never thought of it that way until now but it sure is thought-provoking. It would also make for a great movie plot like a non-fiction version of Planet of the Apes.
Merry Christmas to you Michael and David. I don’t know if there’s a Heaven but if there is I want the Angels to sing like this.
A very merry, merry Christmas to you, Tim.
Well, at least there are angels, LOL.
What a coincidence! With the Klaatu video I went looking for “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and came across this bit. Around the 34 second mark is an almost identical quote:
https://youtu.be/tkeDTL7bIKM?
Hi Michael, I love those pictures of the donkey, they are exactly the image that I have of them, so cute. I posted this video previously on almost every Advent, so will continue the tradition. One of my favourite and moving Christmas nativity scenes. The donkey was a close friend of the Little Drummer Boy and always accompanied him in the cartoon. Little Drummer Boy.
Thanks, Jung and I sure appreciate you running that YouTube video link for a number of reasons but mostly because….
đ
Thankyou for Day 22 Edition today, I enjoyed and impressed by submissions and sponsored M & L ‘s reactions, their thoughts .
I recall in Kindergarten, or Grade 1, or maybe Grade 2, it was somewheres during those 3 grades it occured how I was so painfully shy/stage frightened during a Xmas play, or had some Xmas aspect to it , as I played one of the 3 kittens who liost their mittens, buggered up my lines, peed my pants, cried, same thing happened again in whatever grade in elementary school, Ibut it was for ” Twas The Night Before Xmas ….
I fared a bit better in Grades 6-8 as I was in school choir, though still shy/stage frightened still a little , it was more my comfort zone to sing Xmas songs and even now in church, I sing in the music team for church, and for many years , our church took part in an all area community Xmas Carol concert event where we sang 2 songs, still Shy /nerves than stagefright, until I get singing, then I’m fine … ( I’ve done a few non Xmas Karaoke stuff and a few Ooen zmuc Jans singing, again, at first nervous , til I get going, then I’m ok….
Looking forward to last Day of Advent Calendar 2022 Video Daily-ies — before the Big #MLTBuzzLuvGroovified Livestream on the 23rd, saved link/got notification turned on…it’s at 5 : 00 PM my time in Ontario, Canada đ¨đŚđ¤đąââď¸đŠâđŚ°
Jacki, I hope that you found your mittens!
The juggling video is incredible, my respects to the juggler.
Golden Slumbers is one of my favorite beatles songs.
I liked how Trudy listens to Mona play the guitar
Nice juggling act.
It’s a super interesting question about the effect of music on animals that the MLTs are raising, particularly via a soft melody line like that from The Beatles’ tune, I Will played by Mona in this video.
There is an observable effect of music on animals. Even in the sci-fi classic motion picture, Day of the Triffids, the walking plants taking over the Earth eating human beings alive are (it was discovered) controlled by music, particularly in the ice cream truck tune taken from one particular scene of that movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVbdYIEybMo
Is the effect of music on animals positive, negative or both like it is in humans? For instance, some people hate modern music altogether.
In a relatively recent 2019 article in Musicably.com which is loaded with un-Christmaslike vulgarity, their redacted following review of an Inside the Score YouTube video concerning it title The Death of Melody was criticized. In my own estimation, there’s not much merit to these criticisms. To their credit, the Musicably writers notice this isn’t an isolated phenomenon of disappointment in most modern music’s lack of melody.
Clearly, there has been a loss in the melody component of recent music enough so to write about the widespread phenomenon by interested parties, but perhaps the root cause of this condition is attributable entirely to auto-tune or computerization confounding variables. It’s difficult to articulate it perfectly but somehow the human element of music making is what has disappeared.
The reason I mention this is perhaps because the MonaLisa Twins have gone against the grain and write original songs with uplifting, melodic, happy lyrics. This, I believe, is the value-added nature of this group as opposed to any other. There is none like The MonaLisa Twins.
Merry Christmas,
Mike
It’s interesting how the most accomplished musicians when asked what makes a great song in their view, the answer is always the melody. It has to have a good melody.
Trudy seems to be wondering “where is this lovely magic coming from!?”
There have been some very interesting studies done with plants and music. The results are amazing. Plants seem to be as sentient as animals sometimes. Not only did they show a preference to music styles, but they would make music when connected with electrodes to synthesizers. Also, put plants on motorized pots, and they soon figure out how to move around!
Thanks, TomĂĄs, and Merry Christmas.
That’s the sort of thing that came to mind with the Day of the Triffids movie of plants eating people.
When I saw that movie on television, I remember running across a Venus Fly Trap plant on one of the gimmick/gags/magic tricks catalogs, and ordered it. It spooked me a couple of times because of the British horror movie thoug, LOL.
It’s cool that the Venus Fly Trap is also carnivorous, so technically, omnivorous because it likes to eat insects also. Insects behave interesting also.
That juggler was amazingâŚI kept waiting for maybe a 4th or 5th ball to appearâŚbut that mean the music would have to be more hectic like maybe âRevolutionâ or âJohnny B. Goodâ.â¤ď¸đ§Ą
Our Christmas and end of year concerts were just concerts. No wackiness.
Oh. Groups.
All through school, beginning grade 4, I was in chorus. Add band (flute) in grades 5, adding piccolo in grade 7. In high school (9-12) add marching band, jazz band, orchestra, plays, and musicals.
Also, church choir, flute solos in church, and hand bell choir grades 9-12.
In grade 6, the school district with much help, I imagine, from the Friends of Music, put on a masterpiece. All the choruses from elementary through high school, plus high school band and orchestra. I don’t remember the piece or composer. I remember that by the 4th bar the audience (parents, families, etc) realized this was not your typical school performance. It was the first time I experienced, as a performer, that the audience plays a part. It was awesome. Ausgezeichnet! (sometimes only the german will do). My mother remembers it as well. When the conductor gave us the downbeat at the end, the audience stood as one! Now I’m teary remembering.
Jazz band competition in high school. I had a couple flute solos, I think one with alto flute (the school’s). I remember playing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8_fLu2yrP4
My flute played Roberta’s part. I channeled my nerves into the performance, but after I was so jittery, teary, out of control. And I owned the audience, But, alas, not the judges. I got second, I think.
Wow.
You really know birds that well…reaching Trudy with your gift of music. Will Trudy be a Livestream guest?
I remember our Elementary School Christmas assembly in Grade 6. Was in my first year of private guitar lessons after two years of learning in school, and I played “The First Noel” followed by “Malaguena”. Well, the second one was not very Christmas-like but the school’s music teacher liked what I had learned outside of school. It was a fun day.
This is the one that has always blown my mind. I can solve a Rubik’s cube. I can juggle. But this is insane: https://youtu.be/q6AsllXpKBU
Of course, they’re not ordinary Rubik’s cubes; the sides have different shaped edges so he can feel them, but no less amazing!
Wow, I can’t imagine someone thinking that this would even be within the realm of possibility!
No way!
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome. Thanks, Roger.
That is mind boggling! Thanks for sharing Roger!
Wow amazing Roger. Takes some great hand dexterity and coordination to do that.
Today’s vids were pretty good. The juggler made me sweat. I did like how you guys gave it a go (as the English say). But best of all was when you ate the orange while watching the Monks. Maybe a switch from pop-corn?
I really didn’t take part in the School functions. I did play football (American that is). But nothing else.
Can’t wait til tomorrow’s episode. Ya’ll rock. Peace be.
I enjoyed the video. That juggler is awesome. Have you ever heard of Nina Conti. She is a ventriloquist out of the UK (I think). She is very funny, ingenious and perhaps a little disturbed.
I heard a good joke about a monk. After 10 years of loyal service the High Priest granted him 2 words, he said “Food cold”. He was granted 2 more after 20 years. He said “Bed lumpy”. On his 30th year he said ” I quit” to which the High Priest said. “Good, all you do is complain”.Have a great day.
Awesome vids today! So much fun! Particularly impressed with the skill of the juggler! How ’bout that?: Chris Bliss a few days before Christ-mas! Very happy to see Trudy is progressing! When I was quite young, I was impressed by a juggler to the point of teaching myself to juggle in front of a mirror. To this day, I think I juggle left-handed because of the mirror! I can keep 3 balls aloft, but nothing fancy or tricky. In school I was far too reclusive to join any theater groups. That is, until early high school when I attended a small Christian school that was putting on Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. With such a small pool of potential actors, guess who got to play Scrooge? I was terrified, but got thru it by telling myself the other kids in the play were counting on me. It turned out fine, and was probably good for my character and social development. My singing voice is good enough for church choirs and the like, and I sang at church with my family of four as a group a couple times, but I’d never consider a solo! I can’t believe tomorrow is the last Advent post already, and I know the livestream is gonna be a joyous blast!
As an additional note on performance…I went to a Flying Karamozov Brothers show and at the end they ask for 3 objects from the audience to juggle. The audience is prepared! So I thought I would try the same thing in the next performance I did. I wound up with a tire iron, a rubber chicken (why on earth did someone have a rubber chicken with them?!?) and a balloon! One, two, threeeeeeeee……one, two, threeeeeee……, one, two – it was rather hilarious. I managed to keep it up for almost two minutes, but I decided not to do that any more.
I’ve tried different size and/or weight objects for fun, and it’s quite challenging! One set I remember was a ping pong ball, tennis ball, and basketball. I know I didn’t last anywhere near two minutes, so BIG kudos to you with such a varied grouping of items! Oh, and why didn’t you question why someone had a tire iron on them? Were you maybe expecting a rumble between two rival gangs to break out soon?
I think when I asked they ran out to the car to get something. The balloon was part of the room decorations and someone just grabbed it. Thank goodness it wasn’t filled with helium – that would really have been challenging!
I cannot imagine trying to juggle 3 such differently weighted and shaped items!
Fun videos!!! I teach High School Art and we had a Teacher Kazoo performance as part of our Holiday Concert and of course I had to participate!!!!
Merry Christmasđ
Dave Fogle
Cleveland Ohio
I’ve seen the monk video before – always good for a smile! I was mesmerized by the juggler. It is hard to fathom how anybody could be that coordinated – especially making the juggling fit the music so well, not to mention the level of concentration needed to perform such a complicated routine so flawlessly. I am hopeless at juggling. My daughter, Meriel, however was a very good juggler in elementary school. Juggling was part of the grade 5 curriculum at her Waldorf school. I remember watching her in an assembly in which all members of her class juggled. One by one, students dropped the balls until it was just Meriel left juggling. She just went on and on and on as the audience cheered.
My performing experiences were all done as part of groups – bands and orchestras. I was far too self-conscious to do any solo parts! But I loved being part of the show, even if just in the background.
That’s fantastic! Now that’s a good school!
It truly was a great school. Gardening was part of the curriculum, and handwork too. They all learned to knit in grade one, creating their own bag to carry their recorder flutes in. It was quite a process – winding the wool, sanding the wooden needles, all before starting to knit A different form of handwork was taught in every grade, but it always led to something useful and beautiful. In the early years, math was taught with movement patterns – marching around the room. The students became very adept at mental math. Each grade level’s literary curriculum was a different mythology – fairy tales in grade one, Aesop’s fables in grade 2, Old Testament stories and stories of the saints in grade 3, Norse mythology in grade 4, Greek and Egyptian in grade 5, Roman in grade 6, and then moving into the study of history for grades 7 and 8. Science was taught through experimentation first, then theory. Storytelling was emphasized right from the beginning so that children developed the ability to form their own mental images from what they were hearing. Art and music were also important aspects of the curriculum. Each grade 8 class took an end of year adventure/coming of age trip. One class learned to sail a tall ship and took it on a voyage, my daughter’s class went wilderness camping and dog-sledding in the north. The students learned poise, confidence in their abilities to solve any problem, and the ability to think deeply and critically. The school was a magical place!
WOW! I wish I had gone there!
Me too!
I always have liked that Waldorf education is varied, experimental, and academically challenging all at once. It was great that you gave your daughter an opportunity to receive such an education!
Yes, it was one of the best things I could do for her and she thrived there. One of the guiding principles of Waldorf education is “to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives.â
Meriel must have grown up to be a very well rounded person. My Mom was a Home Economics teacher, a department that no longer exists around here. Unless students are taught things like sewing at home, they have no clue on how to do it. Kind of a sad state of affairs.
I have seen that juggler with that Beatles’ song once before. He is amazing.
When I was in the 5th grade, there was some sort of a talent show in the auditorium. I got on stage and sang a Little Anthony & the Imperials song, “Tears on my Pillow” alla cappella.
I played the trumpet in Junior High School (now called Middle School) and High School in the band. We generally had a Spring Concert and a Winter Concert.
One time we gave a concert together with the school’s chorus. One of the highlights was a female student paired off with a math teacher sang “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” from “My Fair Lady”. It sounded so good.
We also played on stage every year for Graduation, playing Pomp & Circumstance.
It was nice when I graduated, I got to sit on stage with the band & didn’t have to walk down the aisle lol.
Cheers,
Bobby S.
P.S. this month has flown by way too fast.
A great thing about the Twins’ Advent calendar, is how we have our memories jogged by the topic and member comments.
I remember liking âTears on my Pillowâ a lot, but I was only in 3rd grade when the original version came out. The Sha Na Na version is the one I really listened to more.
Amen, Dennis! Every morning I look forward to seeing Mona and Lisa react to something, and the rest of the day I’m taking a trip down memory lane or thinking about some topic I didn’t expect would cross my mind at all that day.
Tears on My Pillow was on the first record I ever bought: a compilation album based on my favorite TV show, called “Fonzie’s Favorites”. I did a pretty fair impression of Little Anthony when I was eleven.
Loved the guy doing the juggling many hours perfecting that without doubt. As far as animals and music goes one of my old cats would always stop and listen to Roy Orbison no matter where in the house he was he would run over to the radio or T.V.
The cat I have now called Oreo bless him will always come over when I play the guitar and he loves the single notes when using the bigsby. I’m really enjoying these wonderful festive videos so thank you both and all involved đ
Hey Hey Weâre The MonksâŚâŚ.Wow that juggling fellow was awesome. Man, Iâm going to miss these. Once when I was little (probably 8 Yrs old) our teacher had me play the bongos while she played piano during one song at our school chorus concert. My little legs had a hard time holding them and they kept falling to the floor. So I would pick them up and keep plugging away. It was funny. To everyone but me!
The silent monks are pretty good but the fellow juggling to Beatles music was out of this world. I have to look him up.
Again, I laughed so much, and the juggling was quite something! Can’t believe he never dropped one, nor was he close to drop them. I can juggle one ball at a time, and I may drop it đ
Our school in Argentina was quite big and we’d put on musicals. We did Cats once. I was no good to be a lead, so I was always in the chorus at the back. We had so much fun being teenagers.
I love watching both of you laugh! Thank you for another uplifting video!
This was a great juggling to music video. I was a sheep in my grade school Christmas plays. In high school, one of the 3 wise guys. That was it.
That juggling act was incredibly impressive, for reasons that have already been described here.
I taught myself to juggle as a teenager, although I can’t do anything more than the basic move. If you’re a beginner, I’d suggest starting with handkerchiefs to give yourself plenty of time to develop the particular brand of hand-eye coordination you need, and then go full speed with something very easy to grab onto, like beanbags. Then you should be ready to graduate to balls.
I didn’t do any sort of performing in high school, but I did have the co-lead in my fifth grade school play. It wasn’t something I was eager to do, but the part required memorizing extended monologues, and I was pretty good at that sort of thing.
Pigeons aren’t nearly as cuddly as baby geese, but I’d love to see and hear more about Trudy as events warrant. It seems like she’s becoming a real player on the MLT scene!
I just found an old photo of me in that school play. You can see how thrilled I was.
Oh my yes, in school was so much fun and doing Midnight Mass at our Church. And Now I get to see Maddie sing at school which is so much fun!!
That juggling performance was awesome, and the perfect choreography with the Beatles song while juggling even more impressive. Yeah loved how he could match the juggling speed everything with the beat of the music. The silent monks performance to Hallelujah was so creative and fun too. It’s the creativity in people to do something radically different that is so amazing and moving sometimes. Great submissions! Always love seeing you both get into the music and the performances here too. A great start to juggling there Mona and Lisa, I am sure with a little practice you could create some wonderful juggling moves with your music.
As for school performances it was only in elementary school I was ever involved in any kind of stage performance. In grade 5 for a Christmas show for the parents each class did a show to a Christmas song, and I recall our class did “March Of The Toy Soldiers”, because we all dressed up in red or blue uniforms with wooden guns and marched. Being 11 or 12, anything to do with playing soldiers and army really resonated, it was around the time I was praying on a quest for a BB gun, which is another whole story. I remember part of the school project was that each of us had to make our uniforms out of card board with material and design supplied so we all looked the same in uniform. It was a big several weeks project in itself. It was so fun, and I remember the whole getting nervous thing before the show, then doing the performance and feeling so proud we did it just right and the crowd (parents) loved it. My big stage show moment, will never forget. I was one of the red soldiers by the way!
Thank you Mona and Lisa again for a wonderful morning really enjoyed it. Oh I am going to miss these daily Advent videos, but from your song Close To You lyrics (one of my very fave MLT originals), “Goodbye past, is it true that good things don’t last…” and what amazing good times the Advent has been, and looking forward to the live stream!
By the way, seeing Trudy mesmerized by your singing singing and guitar was so precious. It is amazing the effect music has, even on animals. Another example of the power of music indeed.
You two really do have some kind of special connection with birds. I wonder if your singing does the same thing to dogs, horses and other animals. You certainly are the “bird whisperers”. (You also have that ability with some humans.)
I tried to juggle a couple of times and failed miserably – juggling takes finesse and I’m more of the “bull in the china shop” kind of guy.
I never got into the arts in high school. I was a little bit shy, and never even considered drama. I was in three different high schools and never got settled into a rhythm until my senior year. I think my love of the outdoors always trumped anything going on at school. Mona doing “donuts” in the snow in the “Out and About” video brought back some memories of those times. Somehow most of us survived, and I later learned to love the arts. With artists like you two out there, I’ve always been content to just watch and listen from the sidelines.
LOL. Yeah, well, I juggle, but I wouldn’t do it in a china shop!
The juggling was truly amazing, and I thought Chris Bliss’ performance was good as well. ;^) He could easily be a performer in the Circle du Soleil ‘Love’ show in Las Vegas. Thanks for another fun Advent Calendar morning!
Hello everyone. I’m in limbo and might not make it home. It should die down enough to get over the passes. But I would need a load and then dead head to Spokane. Kind of icy snow when I go that way. Oh well. The first video reminds me of watching Circus Acts. I miss them. Watched them on the Ed Sullivan show. I had the opportunity to audition for one of the last Circus that had a big band in 1977. I decided to audition with the Army Band program at West Point, NY. I did play the last song with a Church Choir and a German organist in 1981. They did quite well. There was a hiccup though. The organist transcribed the trumpet parts. He wrote Trumpet in D on the top. Which tells me that it would be written for D Trumpet. I played the B flat. Was rusty, but I worked at the transposition on sight. We had 1 rehearsal before Easter. I started to play the part and it sounded so bad with the organ. Come to find out he transcribed it for B flat trumpet. All my hard work was in vain. Lol After getting my eyes to transpose to D it was hard to get my brain to stop. Lol fond memories. It did turn out extremely well. Hope to see everyone on live stream no matter where I am. Hope to stop before ut starts. If I cannot, I’ll be there in spirit and will listen later. Peace. Stay safe. Stay Groovy! â¤ď¸đšđ¤
Safe travels, Ken!
People with that kind of dexterity and eye/hand coordination are marvels to watch. Full marks to both of you girls for trying to juggle, I have had numerous epic failed attempts at it. You’ve no doubt heard of dancers with two left feet, well I would be the juggler with two God only knows what.
I was fortunate growing up in the era that I did, we had school bands (concert and stage/jazz), drama clubs, sports teams, lots of more intellectual type activities (I passed by on most of those haha), and we didn’t need a single electronic hand held device for any of them ;>)
In my adult years, I drifted away from the local performances as far as participation goes (business commitments and all that), but both my wife and I enjoy supporting the efforts of those that do put in the time and hard work to put on a show. Being in a small community means that we all know who is part of the production and that in itself is fun. Plus some of the players are incredibly gifted actors and musicians.
Golly, only one more morning of submissions and viewing…whatever will I do then?
Keep the Groove on!
D
p.s. I LOVE the MLT guitar strap, it suits my Seagull S12 beautifully!
Hello Ladies,
Wow, what great submissions today. Love the juggling video and watching your reactions to the Beatles song.
The silent monks video I had just seen yesterday. What a coincidence!
I was in a school Christmas play in first grade. I was the last S in Christmas that was spelled out.
I was very careful with my S as I brought it home, and my mom would pin it to me, and I would pretend to be SUPERMAN đŚ¸ââď¸ đ.
I haven’t thought of that in many years!
Thanks Ladies for all you do. Best Always
Rick Ross
PS Skinny Claus says Merry Christmas (he is a distant cousin of Krampus)
Both videos were amazing and very entertaining ! Thank you for sharing. In 2nd grade our class did a Christmas play called The Tree Angel. I was one of the trees. The next was in 5th grade . our class did A Christmas Carol . we had to speak with a British accent and our teacher wanted to make it a musical but in didn’t turn out so well , so all lines were spoken.I played the guy collecting for the poor and needy, only a few lines but I think I did alright, Those were the only performances I ever did, maybe a good start for a resume.
LOL Vincent! A TREE! Now that’s a role even I might be able to handle!
I was 1 of many pine trees the only other parts were a woodsman and a tree angel, I belonged to a week union,
and still stood tall and proud
Bravo Vincent! Bravo!
My wife and I have performed during Christmas services at churches for several years. This Saturday I will be performing at a church playing background music (What Child Is This/Greensleeves) on the guitar. We’ve (together and separately) also performed during the year at several venues. Then in my younger days at the smokey bars circuit (drums and guitar). Mike.
Good juggling try, girls ! I think I was in 4th grade when I had a part in School´s Christmas play called The Grief Of Fairy Tale Land´s King. I played the professor. The villain of the story has put a spell on all the people in the land. Because of that I wore shoes in my hands and gloves in feet.
Applause for the juggler, it looks so effortless, but god knows how many hours of practicing he had done. By the way, your enthousiasme with this video is great,thanx to Michaela for choosing this.Just one more day before the grand session, I can’t wait!!!
You two are an absolute joy to watch! I start my morning watching these videos and can’t think of a better way to get the day going on a high note. A special thank you to Michaela for curating such a great collection of videos! I love how Trudy is mesmerized by the guitar. Another songbird in the making. Perhaps you can teach her the Pigeon Dance from Sesame Street. https://youtu.be/VDJsgtoizj8
Another fun, happy and enjoyable MLT Advent Calendar episode! Thank you for doing this!
This was so fun. Thank you for taking the time – your whole Advent season – to make these calendar videos for all of us!
I am amazed at Trudy listening to Mona playing the guitar. Music really does bring people (and animals) together. Made me tear up! I also loved seeing the twins reaction to the video I sent in. Thank you so much Michaela for choosing it! Mona & Lisa can juggle better than I can. That was fun to watch also. You girls made my day! Thank you!
The skill of the juggler was amazing. I wonder how much practice that takes. Hard enough to juggle normally without trying to match the music. It’s a whole new level trying to interpret a song via juggling balls.
I was always in the backstage for school performances working the lights or similar so not really performing in front of people. The most common shows were the Christmas nativity which has lots of different roles for people.
Great choices today.
P.S. Why do some people have a “Member” flag beside their name and others don’t? Just interested!
Wow, the juggling was fantastic and Chris Bliss’s juggling wasn’t bad either ha ha. I think my level of juggling is the same as yours girls!!.
School performances was a big No No for me because I was so quiet and shy at school- I even refused to go on stage to present one of my paintings to a celebrity at an annual event. Now as an adult, you just can’t keep me off stage ha ha ha.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s video and of course the live stream.
The 20th century’s creative equivalent to composers Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart goes to the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team of John and Paul who met as boys for the first time at a musical meeting sponsored by St. Peter’s Anglican Parish Church, Woolton, Merseyside, Liverpool, U.K. on July 6, 1957.
See attached photograph of St. Peter’s.
53°22â˛32.84âłN, 2°52â˛7.59âłW
Halleluiah.
Here’s some Beatles Christmas recordings research for all MLT Club members…
The following is a list of The Beatles Official Fan Club Christmas albums by year:
1963 : The Beatlesâ Christmas Record
1964 : Another Beatles Christmas Record
1965 : The Beatlesâ Third Christmas Record
1966 : Pantomime â Everywhere Itâs Christmas
1967 : Christmas Time Is Here Again!
1968 : The Beatlesâ 1968 Christmas Record
1969 : Happy Christmas 1969
Apparently, most dedicated Official Beatles Fan Club recordings were made at Abbey Road Studio 2, at least one of the recordings was made at Abbey Road Studio 3, and a portion of the 1965 Beatles Christmas album were recorded at the Marquee Studios in central London, UK.
———————————————
Interesting bits of information about the Christmas album recordings is available from multiple sources, but only some of the characterizations are verifiable as follows:
Trudy is so lovely! That reminds me of the budgies my brother and I had when we were kids – they also loved music (and the song of the birds outside) đ
At my school, we had a theatre group and a musical group (which sometimes fought over who can use the stage and who gets the good actors ;-)). I once played in “The Beauty and the Beast”; I was one the silent actors that played the furniture characters – that was really fun! My boyfriend always played the drums in the school orchestra and loved it too!
Oh my gosh, that video of Trudy is so precious. I had a hard time getting through the rest of the video, I kept replaying that part! It is indeed incredible what music can do, I also loved how Neve reacted to you singing to her.
We didn’t really have any performance groups or anything like that at my high school. I did study music so there was one performance for the exam, which was amazing to do!
That sounds great! What did you do as your performance?
I actually played Mona and Lisa’s version of Mrs. Robinson on the guitar! and besides that, I drummed, played the bass guitar, and a classical quatre mains piece on the piano.
Wow, the juggling was memorizing. Very impressive.
In high school I practically lived in the music room. So much of the musical influences I still enjoy was formed in those days. Good times.
That was fun to watch! I especially liked the juggler. I’m beginning to think that you both DO know birds that well. When I was in the school band and orchestra I would often play flute solos at our performances.
I used to do that exact thing back in high school (not as well as he does, of course), and yes, Mona, it is exhausting. Much more so when you’re actually performing because then the pressure is on! The most difficult thing is that the ball has to be caught on the beat which means you have to know exactly how long a note lasts when you throw it. I did high school performances as well as a few local juggling guild shows. Looks like you both have the skills…just need practice!
I have seen the monks before. Freaking hilaious!