My housemate likes to laugh. I like weddings. Together = we like to laugh at weddings.
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4 years ago
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
What's in a name?
We get a lot of questions about the name of our group. There is in fact some thought behind it; it's not just a collaboration of awesome letters. One guess for the reason behind the 441 was "Four for one" (thank you Prof. Vanden Bosch!) while others just incorrectly refer to us as Quartet 411. We may be full of information (especially on weddings and Wendy's), however 411 is not our name.
The 441 actually comes from our tuning process. An "A" is 440 MHZ. When the quartet first started back in 2003, one of us had an impressive metronome that also allowed for tuning to different mega hertz. We took to tuning to a 441 A instead of 440 because the ear tends to like things slightly sharper. And also, obviously, because we're rather sharp women. We started to call ourselves 441 as a joke, but the joke stuck! We even once tried to adopt a different name, but alas all efforts failed. We have now embraced that we are, and always will be, Quartet 441: the sharpest quartet in town.
Just for fun...here are the meanings of the rest of our names:
But we have hope! Enid means "soul" or "life", Dorothy means "gift of God", Greta is derived from "Pearl", and Lois means "more desirable" or "better". We are much better name choosers than our parents.
I wonder about Herkimer, Holga, Oatmeal, and Shamé?
The 441 actually comes from our tuning process. An "A" is 440 MHZ. When the quartet first started back in 2003, one of us had an impressive metronome that also allowed for tuning to different mega hertz. We took to tuning to a 441 A instead of 440 because the ear tends to like things slightly sharper. And also, obviously, because we're rather sharp women. We started to call ourselves 441 as a joke, but the joke stuck! We even once tried to adopt a different name, but alas all efforts failed. We have now embraced that we are, and always will be, Quartet 441: the sharpest quartet in town.
Just for fun...here are the meanings of the rest of our names:
CHRISTINA : From Christiana, the Latin feminine form of Christian. This was the name of an early, possibly legendary, saint who was tormented by her pagan father. It was also borne by a 17th-century Swedish queen and patron the arts who gave up her crown in order to become a Roman Catholic.
Elisabeth : From Ελισαβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name ('Elisheva') meaning "my God is an oath" or perhaps "my God is abundance". The Hebrew form appears in the Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist. Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who became a Franciscan nun and lived in poverty
Let us summarize. Ctina is a legendary but tormented saint, Mallory is unfortunate and starred on Family Ties, Elle is (kind of?) named after CoCo Chanel, and I am either John the Baptist's mother or destined to be an impoverished nun. I think Elle faired a little better than the rest of us on this one.
MALLORY : From an English surname which meant "unfortunate" in Norman French. It first became common in the 1980s due to the television comedy 'Family Ties', which featured a character by this name.
GABRIELLE (as close to Elle's spelling as I could find!) : French feminine form of Gabriel. This was the real name of French fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883-1971).
Elisabeth : From Ελισαβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name ('Elisheva') meaning "my God is an oath" or perhaps "my God is abundance". The Hebrew form appears in the Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist. Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who became a Franciscan nun and lived in poverty
But we have hope! Enid means "soul" or "life", Dorothy means "gift of God", Greta is derived from "Pearl", and Lois means "more desirable" or "better". We are much better name choosers than our parents.
I wonder about Herkimer, Holga, Oatmeal, and Shamé?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wedding Numero Dos
Another successful wedding!
A stunning bride and an adoring husband, a win-win situation. I am always amazed at how much I take away from any given wedding we perform for. For this wedding, I was reminded of the place of silence (no matter how long it may be!), the ebullient love two people can share in just one glance, and mischievous little tikes.
I am the cellist, so when I get the special-constantly-reoccurring-pleasure of playing Pachebel's Canon in D, I get to sit back and watch the show. I have these 8 notes programmed into my muscular system allowing me to call the timing shots when the bride gets to the front of the church. My particular pleasure is that I get to play these 8 notes, and watch the faces of the bride and the groom as they meet each other's gaze and let me tell you. This groom was soooo excited! Thank you Calvin Seminary Newlyweds for letting me and m'ladies be part of your wedding day.
In other news--Herkimer (yes, this is my cello's name AND yes, we all have names for our instruments. I mean, when you spend so much time with an inanimate object you have to make it seem like a legitimate relationship!) needs to go to the doctor. His sound post has shifted, but good thing I have Guarneri house (Stringed Instrument Doctor) on speed dial.
Later on this same evening, we went to Wendy's as usual and sat in the dining room there with our habitual favorites, and were greeted by some extremely interesting out-of-towners. They sang to us, chatted with us, performed magic tricks, and even guessed our nationalities. They were crazy and we had hoped that our missing link and second violinist Elle "the spaniard" Talsma was there to translate their rantings in some sort of psuedo spanish. Thanks for the memories.
It was a great evening, eventful, moving, and as always when I get together with these girls, blast!
Until next time,
Herkimer the cello
Oatmeal the 1st violin
Holga the Viola
Shame' (SHA-mey) the second violin
A stunning bride and an adoring husband, a win-win situation. I am always amazed at how much I take away from any given wedding we perform for. For this wedding, I was reminded of the place of silence (no matter how long it may be!), the ebullient love two people can share in just one glance, and mischievous little tikes.
I am the cellist, so when I get the special-constantly-reoccurring-pleasure of playing Pachebel's Canon in D, I get to sit back and watch the show. I have these 8 notes programmed into my muscular system allowing me to call the timing shots when the bride gets to the front of the church. My particular pleasure is that I get to play these 8 notes, and watch the faces of the bride and the groom as they meet each other's gaze and let me tell you. This groom was soooo excited! Thank you Calvin Seminary Newlyweds for letting me and m'ladies be part of your wedding day.
In other news--Herkimer (yes, this is my cello's name AND yes, we all have names for our instruments. I mean, when you spend so much time with an inanimate object you have to make it seem like a legitimate relationship!) needs to go to the doctor. His sound post has shifted, but good thing I have Guarneri house (Stringed Instrument Doctor) on speed dial.
Later on this same evening, we went to Wendy's as usual and sat in the dining room there with our habitual favorites, and were greeted by some extremely interesting out-of-towners. They sang to us, chatted with us, performed magic tricks, and even guessed our nationalities. They were crazy and we had hoped that our missing link and second violinist Elle "the spaniard" Talsma was there to translate their rantings in some sort of psuedo spanish. Thanks for the memories.
It was a great evening, eventful, moving, and as always when I get together with these girls, blast!
Until next time,
Herkimer the cello
Oatmeal the 1st violin
Holga the Viola
Shame' (SHA-mey) the second violin
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