The Watersons Singing in the May

The Watersons "Hal-An-Tow"

Take no scorn to wear the horn
It was the crest when you was born
Your father's father wore it
And your father wore it too
Chorus (after each verse):
Hal-an-tow, jolly rumbalow
We were up long before the day-O
To welcome in the summer,
To welcome in the May-O
The summer is a-coming in
And winter's gone away-O

What happened to the Spaniards
That made so great a boast-O?
Why they shall eat the feathered goose
And we shall eat the roast-O

Robin Hood and Little John
Have both gone to the fair-O
And we will to the merry green wood
To hunt the buck and hare-O

God bless Aunt Mary Moyses
And all her power and might-O
And send us peace to England
Send peace by day and night-O

Happy May Day to you all!

Beltane Blessing


Oh God, bless our flocks and bearing kine;
Hate nor scath let not come near us,
Drive from us the ways of the wicked.


Keep thine eye every Monday and Tuesday
On the bearing kine and the pairing queys;
Accompany us from hill to sea,
Gather thyself the sheep and their progeny.


Every Wednesday and Thursday be with them,
Be thy gracious hand always about them;
Tend the cows down to their stalls,
Tend the sheep down to their folds!


Every Friday be thou, O Saint, at their head,
Lead the sheep from the face of the bens,
With their innocent little lambs following them,
Encompass them with God's encompassing.



Every Saturday be likewise with them,
Bring the goats in with their young,
Every kid and goat to the sea side,
And from the Rock of Aegir on high,
With cresses green about its summit.



The strength of the Triune be our shield in distress,
The strength of Christ, His peace and His Pasch,
The strength of the Spirit, Physician of health,
And of every other saint who succeeded them
And who earned the repose of the kingdom of God.


Bless ourselves and our children,
Bless every one who shall come from our loins,
Bless him whose name we bear,
Bless, O God, her from whose womb we came.




Every holiness, blessing and power,
Be yielded to us every time and every hour,
In name of the Holy Threefold above,
Father, Son, and Spirit everlasting.



Be the Cross of Christ to shield us downward,
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us upward,
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us roundward,
Accepting our Beltane blessing from us,
Accepting our Beltane blessing from us.







AM BEANNACHD BEALLTAIN


Beannaich an t-al's an crodh-laoigh;

Na leig fuath no foirne, 'n ar gaoith,

Fuadaich oirnne doigh nan daoi.


Cum do shuil gach Luan is Mart,

Air crodh-laoigh's air aighean dair;

Iomachair leinn o bheinn gu sal,

Tionail fein an treud 's an t-al.


Gach Ciadaon agus Daorn bi leo,

Biodh do lamh chaon a chaoidh 'n an coir;

Cuallaich buar d'am buabhal bho,

Cuallaich cuanal d'an cual chro.


Gach Aona bi-sa, a Naoimh, 'n an ceann,

Treoraich caoraich a aodann bheann,

Le 'n al beag ba as an deigh,

Cuartaich 'ad le cuartachd Dhe.



Gach Sathurna bith leo mar chach,

Tabhair gobhair a steach le 'n al,

Gach meann is maos gu taobh sal,

Is Lioc a h-Eigir gu h-ard,

Le biolair uaine shuas m'a barr.


Treoir na Trianailt d' ar dian's gach cas,

Treoir Chriosda le shith's le Phais,

Treoir an Spioraid, Ligh na slaint,

Is Athar priseil, Righ nan gras.


'S gach naomh eile bha nan deigh

'S a choisinn suamhnas rioghachd De.


Beannaich sinn fein agus ar cloinn,

Beannaich gach creubh a thig o'r loinn,

Beannaich am fear sin air an sloinn,

Beannaich a Dhe, an te a rug o'n bhroinn.




Gach naomhachd, beannachd agus buaidh,

Bhi 'g aomadh leinn gach am 's gach uair,

An ainm Trithinn Naomha shuas,

Athar, Mic, is Spiorad buan.


Crois Chriosd bhi d' ar dion a nuas,

Crois Chriosd bhi d' ar dion a suas,

Crios Chriosd bhi d' ar dion mu 'r cuart,

Gabhail beannachd Bealltain uainn,

Gabhail beannachd Bealltain uainn.

The month of May

The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth
to blossom, and to bring forth fruit; for like as herbs and trees
bring forth fruit and flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart
that is in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in lusty
deeds. For it giveth unto all lovers courage,
that lusty month of May.

- Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, 1485

Multitasking

Multitasking over loads the brain so it can not lay down sharp memory trails so the person has a very poor recollection of the things they just did. This is sad. I like my memories sharp with defined edges. I guess if you hate your life you can be contented doing this but its self destructive. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Take your time and do it well and enjoy your accomplishments!
-Beth Boyle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How Does Multitasking Affect Memory?


Back in the 1970s, a guy named Jerry Fodor expounded an arcane concept called the computational theory of mind (CTM). Put very crudely, it says the mind creates consciousness through information processing using its own language and rules. The theory, which Fodor has since abandoned as incomplete and psychologist Steven Pinker has taken up, isn't a metaphor, as both have pointed out time after time. It envisions the mind as actually executing information processing. The human mind is far superior to a mere computer; the very existence of computers is evidence of this.

Too late, said we in the general public. "Computation" is pretty much the same word as "computer," so we like the metaphor. It's the only way we can wrap our computers around your theory. As we came to see computers as a representation of our minds, other metaphors came hard and fast. Memory retrieval is like random-access memory (RAM) accessing a hard drive. Binary encoding of an image is like the way we translate an odor into the scent experience of a flower.

Say, our minds really are like computers, we agreed. Let's see what it takes to make them crash.

It's here another computer term we filched, multitasking, made the leap from metaphor to reality. Originally coined in the mid-'60s to describe a central processing unit's (CPU) ability to carry out more than one process simultaneously, multitasking has come to describe the reality of post-dot-com life. In an ironic twist, the computer, which has served as a metaphor for the functioning of our minds, has come to manipulate our minds' functioning.

Right now you have your Web browser displaying this HuffPo page, plus you probably have your e-mail client open, a Word doc up for work and maybe iTunes on shuffle. The joke is that your computer is actually multitasking; all of these applications are running simultaneously. You, however, are not multitasking and your computer knows it. In a windowed interface, only one window can be prominent at a time, and it overlaps idling windows. Yet, a mouse click is all it takes to move from window to window, introducing different information each time.

Our brain is equipped to handle this rapid shift from window to window, but not well, and nowhere is the futility of multitasking more apparent than in its effects on memory.

The human mind can shift rapidly between tasks, on the order of a few hundred milliseconds. Recent research has uncovered supertaskers, the 2.5 percent of the population who are better than everyone else at texting and driving. But the average mind prefers something closer to a second or two between changes in input. The faster this shift, the less sense we can make of the information.

Functional imaging studies have uncovered a culprit, a kind of flabby region of the brain called the posterior lateral prefrontal cortex (pLPFC). This region, a sort of initial routing hub for information inputs, sends stimuli to their proper centers for processing and storage. It's also been shown to create a (metaphorical) bottleneck when it's bombarded by information.

As pieces of information arrive, the pLPFC puts them in a queue rather than processing them simultaneously. When intervals between information inputs are short, say around 300 milliseconds, this routing hub actually slows down. When confronted with several stimuli, it queues two for processing and ignores the rest.

In the meantime, we're still taking in information, but it's slipping past the pLPFC hub and into the striatum, which is responsible for habit learning, like driving a car or finding letters on a keyboard. Habit learning requires so little conscious thought that we tend to attribute its functions to our limbs and digits, which seem to carry out tasks on their own.

Unfortunately, things like holding a conversation and absorbing the text of an article require an entirely different type of learning, called declarative memory. This type, governed by a different region of the brain, creates coherent meaning out of words on a screen or numbers in an equation. If the pLPFC is busy processing other information, then the page we scanned, the bit of music we listened to, the question we were just asked, essentially slips past to the striatum. When we attempt to recall the information, it's not where it's supposed to be. In effect, the information came in, but it wasn't learned. It's the reason we're insulted when a person we're speaking to checks his BlackBerry while we're talking. We've entered into competition for the person's attention and, for the time being, we've lost.

Such is the curse of multitasking; we are bombarded with more information than ever before, yet we make less use of it than we ever have, too. Researchers have consistently drawn the same conclusion: multitasking is counterproductive and exhausting. Slllloooowwww dooooowwwwwn.


Josh Clark is a writer and blogger for HowStuffWorks.com. He is also co-host of the HowStuffWorks.com podcast, Stuff You Should Know, available on iTunes.

The Chimney Sweepers Glee

Then on May-day we sons of soot

Through the streets do feetly foot,

With silver garlands are so grand,

With silver garlands are so grand,

And thus we dance our saraband

With a ruttock, a cluttock,

A wallet, a satchel

O rare May-day.

We be kings and queens and duke,

Here is Lord Tye-Wig and Lady Jewkes

And hand in hand with Madam Flaskin

The great grandee Don Galligaskin

So Ladies now we bid adieu,

May May-day wever smile on you,

And thus in all our gear so fine

With Madam Montague we dine.

With a ruttock, etc�



By Dr. J. Beckwith of Norwich and words by J. Walker, 1790

Horse thieves braiding manes to mark horses for theft

The braiding of horses' manes is being used as a code to mark the animals for theft, police have said.

Following a warning from Fife Constabulary about 10 cases have been reported in the past couple of weeks.

Pc Ian Laing said: "It probably happens throughout all of Scotland. It is certainly a problem throughout England."

He urged horse owners to be on their guard and to report any braiding found on manes or other suspicious activity.

Officers said a variety of horses had been targeted in this way and it was not only expensive thoroughbreds which were coveted by the horse thieves.

Pc Laing also recommended that all horse owners register on the HorseWatch Scotland website for more local information about, and better local protection from, equine crime.

Buddy, a German shepherd

Buddy, a German shepherd, was with his owner, Ben Heinrichs, when his family's workshop caught fire. Once he and Buddy were safely outside, Heinrichs turned to the dog and said, "We need to get help." He didn't expect Buddy to actually do anything about it, of course. However, help is exactly what the shy dog brought -- in the form of an Alaska State Trooper, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The dog's heroic act was caught on the trooper's dashboard camera.

Buddy had gone off into the woods, and Heinrich assumed the pooch was hiding. In fact, Buddy had run out to the road, where he caught the attention of Alaska State Trooper Terrence Shanigan, who had been alerted by concerned neighbors when they saw a fireball erupting in the distance. Shanigan was having difficulty finding the fire due to the winding country roads. That's when Buddy suddenly appeared. On a hunch, Shanigan followed the dog and arrived on the scene just in time. He was able to talk the fire department through the difficult directions, and they put out the flames just before the fire spread to the family's home.

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Canny Shepherd Laddie

There's songs aboot oor soldiers and oor sailors by the score,

Of tinkers and of tailors and of others there's galore;

But I'll sing ye a song that you've never heard before,

It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.



Chorus


Oh the shepherds o the Coquet, the Alwin and the Rede,

The Bowment and the Breamish, they're all the same breed,

Wi their collie dog beside them and a stick with horn heid

It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


They climb oot ower the mountain ere it's turned the break o' day,

Through the bent and moss hags and round bogs they wend their way,

Quick tae see a mawkit yin or a sheep that's strayed away,

It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


They send the collie around the sheep with a yell o "Gan oot wide"

Then whistle with the notes so shrill the dog drops in his stride

"Come by Moss! Doon a bit I'll tak my stick oot ower yer hide"

It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


If the lambing time is stormy he will curse and he will swear

There's a yowe that's lost its lamb and I've skinned an auld yowe there,

Some o them have ta'en the sickness, nae mair trouble can I bear

It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


In the back-end tae the marts he'll gang if the prices they are dear

To celebrate he'll treat his pals tae whisky and tae beer,

But if the prices they are bad, it taks a dram tae cheer

The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


In the winter when its stormy and drifts are piling high

He'll never flinch tae tak the risk that in the snow he may die

His first care is his sheep are settled and sheltered safe may lie

The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


At Alwinton they may turn oot tae see the Shepherds' Show

Then into Foreman's for a drink they with their cronies go,

They'll argue and they'll sing and shout, but fecht, well bless me no

The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


Now if ye've gaun among them as A've done for forty years

Nae kinder hearted folk you'll meet if you look far or near

The kettl'e set a boiling and they cry "Sit you doon here"

The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.


Chorus


A've said nae words aboot their wives A'm shair there is no need

But in every house I've been tae yet they seem tae be the heid,

And I'm sure you'll all agree with me, it taks a hell of a good wife to breed

A canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.




From Herd Laddie o the Glen (1988)

Songs of a Border Shepherd

Willie Scott

Shepherd and Singer

Compiled by Alison McMorland



Also Sung by Jimmy White, Yetlington, Northumberland

Recorded by Peter Kennedy

Issued on Caedmon/Topic LP The Folk Songs of Britain Vol. 3 Jack of all Trades

These two verses, without any chorus, seem to be all that Jimmy White sang for Peter Kennedy

Always Marry An April Girl

Praise the spells and bless the charms,
I found April in my arms.
April golden, April cloudy,
Gracious, cruel, tender, rowdy;
April soft in flowered languor,
April cold with sudden anger,
Ever changing, ever true --
I love April, I love you.

by Ogden Nash

Oh my, I have been to this place!

Man's body discovered on beach

Police in Fife have appealed for information after a body was discovered on a beach in Dalgety Bay.

The body of a 42-year-old man from Warwickshire was found on the foreshore at St Bridget's Kirk at 0830 BST.

A spokesman for Fife Constabulary said his death was not being treated as suspicious.

But he added that officers were trying to trace a Silver Ford Galaxy they believe will help determine how the man came to be in the area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8626111.stm

The Hyacinth

Hyacinthus is a genus of bulbous flowering plants, formerly placed in the lily family Liliaceae but now regarded as the type genus of the separate family Hyacinthaceae. They are commonly called Hyacinths, and are native to the eastern Mediterranean region east to Iran and Turkmenistan.


Hyacinth was a beautiful youth loved by both the god Apollo and the West Wind, Zephyr. Apollo and Hyacinth took turns at throwing the discus. Hyacinth ran to catch it to impress Apollo, but was struck by the discus as it fell to the ground, and died. A twist in the tale makes the wind god Zephyrus responsible for the death of Hyacinth. The youth's beauty caused a feud between Zephyrus and Apollo. Jealous that Hyacinth preferred the radiant archery god Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo's discus off course, so as to injure and kill Hyacinth. Apollo did not allow Hades to claim Hyacinth. Instead, Apollo made a flower, the hyacinth, from Hyacinth's spilled blood.

Spring Pools

These pools that, though in forests, still reflect
The total sky almost without defect,
And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,
Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,
And yet not out by any brook or river,
But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.

The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods -
Let them think twice before they use their powers
To blot out and drink up and sweep away
These flowery waters and these watery flowers
From snow that melted only yesterday.

Robert Frost

BEFORE you thought of spring

BEFORE you thought of spring,
Except as a surmise,
You see, God bless his suddenness,
A fellow in the skies
Of independent hues,
A little weather-worn,
Inspiriting habiliments
Of indigo and brown.

With specimens of song,
As if for you to choose,
Discretion in the interval,
With gay delays he goes
To some superior tree
Without a single leaf,
And shouts for joy to nobody
But his seraphic self!

Emily Dickinson (1830–86).

A Bird came down the walk

Emily Dickinson (1830–86).

A BIRD came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,—
They looked like frightened beads, I thought
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.

Emily Dickinson (1830–86).

A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost

OH, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orcahrd white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
To which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends he will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

To Daffodils

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

by Robert Herrick
(1591-1674 England)

THE RAT

THE RAT is the concisest tenant.
He pays no rent,—
Repudiates the obligation,
On schemes intent.

Balking our wit
To sound or circumvent,
Hate cannot harm
A foe so reticent.

Neither decree
Prohibits him,
Lawful as
Equilibrium.

Emily Dickinson (1830–86)

AS IF SOME LITTLE ARCTIC FLOWER

by: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

As if some little arctic flower,
Upon the polar hem,
Went wandering down the latitudes,
Until it puzzled came
To continents of summer,
To firmaments of sun,
To strange, bright crowds of flowers,
And birds of foreign tongue!
I say, as if this little flower
To Eden wandered in--
What then? Why, nothing, only
Your inference therefrom!

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

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Tenor Kenneth McKellar dies aged 82

Scottish tenor Kenneth McKellar has died at the age of 82 after a very short illness.

Mr McKellar passed away at the home of his daughter Jane, in Lake Tahoe in the United States.

The singer was known for his recordings of Scots songs, particularly those of Robert Burns, and appeared in musicals, on television and on radio.

Jane McKellar, 46, said her father had died just one week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

She added: "It was very, very sudden and very fast, so it came as quite a shock to all of us.

"But he kept very, very spirited and funny and warm right through to the end, so that was a blessing.

"I hope people will remember him for the breadth of the music he made. He also had a great sense of humour.

"He was a very private person, so for someone who spent so much time in the public eye, when he was off-stage he was an intensely private person." His singing seemed effortless and concealed the huge talent which made it so
Family spokesman


Mr McKellar, whose wife Hedy died in 1990, was born in Paisley in 1927 and graduated from Aberdeen University with a BSc in Forestry before studying at the Royal College of Music in London.

He had a long association with record company Decca and in the early sixties was the tenor soloist in Decca's recording of Handel's Messiah.

The tenor appeared in musicals and made regular BBC TV and radio broadcasts, which attracted a huge following. He also represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1966.

During his career he toured the world to perform and had fans as far afield as Australia and Canada.

A family spokesman said: "His singing seemed effortless and concealed the huge talent which made it so.

"Those who knew him best remember a man of great humour, a man who could not bear pretentiousness and who, although not one to suffer fools gladly, was totally without conceit.

"No-one is irreplaceable but it is unlikely that there will ever be another Kenneth McKellar."

Paying tribute to Mr McKellar, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said: "As well as being an outstanding entertainer with a magnificent voice, he also had a deep commitment to helping the careers of young performers.

"It should also be remembered that Kenneth McKellar commanded a huge international audience, and took the songs of Scotland worldwide. He is a great loss to music and the country, and will be sorely missed both at home and abroad."

Quote on Race

I know that black is beautiful and white is beautiful. But the most beautiful color of all is black and white together.

We hate each other because we fear each other. We fear each other because we don't know each other. We don't know each other because we won't sit down at the table together.

- Rev. Ralph David Abernathy,

Frank Zappa - Evelyn, A Modified Dog

The Lamb

Little Lamb, who make thee
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee;
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!



William Blake

Shepherds, sheep and Monks

Gordon our first ram




I met brother Bruno and Brother Pierre and bought my first Scottish Blackface ram from Mount Savior Monetary Pine City NY over 15 years ago. The Monastery of Mount Saviour is a community of monks that live a simple, monastic life according to the Scriptures and the Rule of St.Benedict not far from Corning, New York.



The origins of the Scottish Blackface Sheep are uncertain. It was developed on the Anglo-Scottish border but it is not clear exactly when these sheep became a distinct breed.

Early monastery records show that monks in the 12th century raised sheep that are the progenitors of the modern Scottish Blackface breed. The monks used the wool of the dun-faced sheep, as they were often called, for their own clothing and exported large amounts to Europe. Latter records show that in 1503 James IV of Scotland established a flock of 5,000 Scottish Blackface Sheep in Ettrick Forest in the area south of Peebles in the Borders.

Today the Blackface is the most numerous breed in the British Isles. Roughly thirty percent of all sheep in the UK are Scottish Blackface. The Blackface epitomises the mountain sheep. They have long coarse wool that shields them from moisture and biting winds. They are able to survive the harshest winters in the most extreme parts of Great Britain.

Several types of Scottish Blackface have evolved over the years, but the most common are the Perth variety, which is large framed, with a longer coat, and mainly found in north-east Scotland, Devon, Cornwall and Northern Ireland, and the medium-framed Lanark type, with shorter wool, commonly found in Scotland and Ireland.

The introduction of Black Faced Highland sheep to America first occurred in June, 1861, Hugh Brodie imported one ram and two ewes for Brodie & Campbell, New York Mills, New York. In 1867 this flock and increase was purchased by T. L. Harison of Morley, St. Lawrence County, New York. Isaac Stickney of New York also imported a small flock about 1867 for his farm in Illinois.



Murdo is our current ram and flock sire and he is descended from Gordon our first ram purchased from the monetary.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

There's music in my heart all day,
I hear it late and early,
It comes from fields are far away,
The wind that shakes the barley.

Above the uplands drenched with dew
The sky hangs soft and pearly,
An emerald world is listening to
The wind that shakes the barley.

Above the bluest mountain crest
The lark is singing rarely,
It rocks the singer into rest,
The wind that shakes the barley.

Oh, still through summers and through springs
It calls me late and early.
Come home, come home, come home, it sings,
The wind that shakes the barley.

by Katharine Tynan

Snowflake had a nice healthy ewe lamb today

Snowflake had a nice healthy ewe lamb today

Joining The Colours

THERE they go marching all in step so gay!
Smooth-cheeked and golden, food for shells and guns.
Blithely they go as to a wedding day,
The mothers' sons.

The drab street stares to see them row on row
On the high tram-tops, singing like the lark.
Too careless-gay for courage, singing they go
Into the dark.

With tin whistles, mouth-organs, any noise,
They pipe the way to glory and the grave;
Foolish and young, the gay and golden boys
Love cannot save.


High heart! High courage! The poor girls they kissed
Run with them : they shall kiss no more, alas!
Out of the mist they stepped-into the mist
Singing they pass.

by Katharine Tynan


Notes

This poem was first published in 1914 in the Westminster Gazette, 18 Sep 1914, and reprinted in the October (1914) edition of The Queen's Own Gazette - the journal of The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). It was written by the poet on the 1st Battalion's departure from Richmond Barracks, Dublin on 13 August, 1914. The title given in the journal is "Joining The Colours (West Kents, Dublin, August 1914)" - the latter part of the title would appear to have been subsequently dropped.

Katharine Tynan (23 January 1861 – 2 April 1931)

Katharine Tynan was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. After her marriage in 1898 to the writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson (1865–1919) she usually wrote under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson (or Katharine Tynan-Hinkson or Katharine Hinkson-Tynan). Of their three children, Pamela Hinkson (1900-1982) was also known as a writer.

Tynan was born into a large farming family in Clondalkin, County Dublin, and educated at a convent school in Drogheda. Her poems were first published in 1878. She met and became friendly with the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1886. Tynan went on to play a major part in Dublin literary circles, until she married and moved to England; later she lived at Claremorris, County Mayo when her husband was a magistrate there from 1914 until 1919.

For a while, Tynan was a close associate of William Butler Yeats (who may have proposed marriage and been rejected, around 1885), and later a correspondent of Francis Ledwidge. She is said to have written over 100 novels. Her Collected Poems appeared in 1930. She also wrote five autobiographical volumes.

Tynan produced a great deal of writing during her career. It is reported that she was capable of delivering one novel per month! Apart from two anthologies, sixteen other collections of poetry, five plays, seven books of devotion, and one book about her dogs, she wrote over 105 popular novels, twelve collections of short stories, and innumerable newspaper articles. Her work was marked by an unusual blend of Catholicism and feminism, but was always drawn from real life.

Tynan suffered from bouts of depression throughout her life, but particularly after the sudden death of her husband in 1919. However, she kept writing, especially poetry, up until her death in London in 1931.


Tynan died in Wimbledon, London, in 1931 at the age of 70.

EASTER

Bring flowers to strew His way,
Yea, sing, make holiday;
Bid young lambs leap,
And earth laugh after sleep.

For now He cometh forth
Winter flies to the north,


Folds wings and cries
Amid the bergs and ice.

Yea, Death, great Death is dead,
And Life reigns in his stead;
Cometh the Athlete
New from dead Death's defeat.

Cometh the Wrestler,
But Death he makes no stir,
Utterly spent and done,
And all his kingdom gone.

by Katharine Tynan

BLESSINGS

God bless the little orchard brown
Where the sap stirs these quickening days.
Soon in a white and rosy gown
The trees will give great praise.


God knows I have it in my mind,
The white house with the golden eaves.
God knows since it is left behind
That something grieves and grieves.

God keep the small house in his care,
The garden bordered all in box,
Where primulas and wallflowers are
And crocuses in flocks.

God keep the little rooms that ope
One to another, swathed in green,
Where honeysuckle lifts her cup
With jessamine between.

God bless the quiet old grey head
That dreams beside the fire of me,
And makes home there for me indeed
Over the Irish Sea.

by Katharine Tynan

Sunset on Holy Saturday

A Better Resurrection


By Christina Rossetti

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numb’d too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimm’d with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall–the sap of Spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perish’d thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.

Happy Easter

Easter Day

by Christina Rossetti
Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon--
I, only I.

Yet give not o'er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

Christ and Staff, oil on canvas.

Carl Heinrich Bloch (Danish painter, 1834-90), Christ and Staff, oil on canvas.

Making a Bukkehorn

Bukkehorn and lur

All Rams Horns for blowing are not Shofars as used in Hebrew Worship. In Norway the ram's horn and wooden horn (Bukkehorn and lur) are traditional instruments. The bukkehorn is an instrument type which is found over large parts of the world. It was traditionally used on high mountain summer dairy farms by herders at least since medieval times. There are two main types of bukkehorn. The more common type has a plain hole for a mouthpiece and is blown as a brass instrument, with from two to three up to eight finger holes. The other type is called tungehorn ("tongue horn"), and is played like a clarinet; it has a reed made of birch bark or juniper in the mouthpiece. There is far less knowledge of the ritual use of these instruments than of their function as "tools". In Norway, both these instruments and their history are associated with mountain farms and shepherds. The ram's horn was, from its earliest days, a practical tool rather than a musical instrument, used as a means of giving warnings and signals. Later horns were made with two, three, and up to eight finger holes. It is also called the trumpet horn (trompethorn). A variation on the ram's horn is known as the tongue horn (tungehorn). It has a reed made of juniper wood that is similar to a clarinet reed, and has from four to eight finger holes.




Women Blowing Lur

While the ram`s horn was used first and foremost by shepherds, the lur (similar to an alpenhorn) was the instrument of the dairy maids (budeia) who tended the summer farms. The lur`s history can also be traced back to the Middle Ages. We know that the lur was an important tool at sea in olden times, where it was used to communicate between boats. In the Oseberg ship, an elaborate grave from Viking times, a wooden tube was found that researchers believe was a lur. We divide lurs into 3 groups based on the construction technique: lurs that are hollowed out of a single piece of wood, lurs that are made from a piece of wood that is first split and later bound back together, and lurs that are simply bound together by a birch strip. The lur is blown like a trumpet; the thin end where you blow is usually formed something like the mouthpiece of a trumpet. On an ordinary lur it is possible, using overblowing technique, to produce pitches ranging from the 2nd up to the 6th or 8th harmonic of the harmonic series (natural scale). If the lur is very long, it is possible to produce all the way up to the 12th harmonic.

http://www.moabmusicfest.org/Norse_by_NorseWest_School_Assembly

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/the_bukkehorn.htm

April

by Mark R Slaughter

Still an irritating wind;
Vestiges of stubborn grey –
Jibing us of recent winter blight.

It’s coming though – like perky breasts
Pushing through a blouse –
Teasing, pleasing in it’s tantalising play:

Warmth of youth in April sun –
Simmering off depression,
Brains retuned; remapped for fun.

April is a portal –
Smoothly transitions
Delicate dispositions – suchlike mine,

Easing hunched bodies into
Summery smiles.



Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010

April come she will

April come she will
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain;
May, she will stay,
Resting in my arms again

June, she´ll change her tune,
In restless walks she´ll prowl the night;
July, she will fly
And give no warning to her flight.

August, die she must,
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;
September I´ll remember.
A love once new has now grown old.

The Shofar

The shofar is mentioned frequently in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and rabbinic literature. The blast of a shofar emanating from the thick cloud on Mount Sinai made the Israelites tremble in awe (Exodus 19, 20).

The shofar was used in to announce holidays (Ps. lxxxi. 4), and the Jubilee year (Lev. 25. 9). The first day of the seventh month (Tishri) is termed "a memorial of blowing" (Lev. 23. 24), or "a day of blowing" (Num. xxix. 1), the shofar. It was also employed in processions (II Sam. 6. 15; I Chron. 15. 28), as a musical accompaniment (Ps. 98. 6; comp. ib. xlvii. 5) and to signify the start of a war (Josh. 6. 4; Judges 3. 27; 7. 16, 20; I Sam. 8. 3). Note that the 'trumpets' described in Numbers 10 are a different instrument, described by the Hebrew word 'trumpet' not the word for shofar.

The Torah describes the first day of the seventh month (1st of Tishri = Rosh ha-Shanah) as a zikron teruah (memorial of blowing; Lev. xxiii) and as a yom teru'ah (day of blowing; Num. 29). This was interpreted by the Jewish sages as referring to the sounding the shofar.

In the Temple in Jerusalem, the shofar was sometimes used together with the trumpet. On New Year's Day the principal ceremony was conducted with the shofar, which instrument was placed in the center with a trumpet on either side; it was the horn of a wild goat and straight in shape, being ornamented with gold at the mouthpiece. On fast days the principal ceremony was conducted with the trumpets in the center and with a shofar on either side. On those occasions the shofarot were rams' horns curved in shape and ornamented with silver at the mouthpieces. On Yom Kippur of the jubilee year the ceremony was performed with the shofar as on New Year's Day. Rosh Hoshana is the Jewish New Year. A ceremonial horn, called a “shofar” is blown, reminding Jews that God is king. A feast with symbolic food is eaten on Rosh Hashana, and the next ten days are spent in repentance. Rosh Hashana ends on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a day of judgment, during which prayers are made asking for forgiveness.

On Rosh Hashanah and other full holidays (Day of Atonement, Ingathering of the harvest [Succot], Passover and the Feat of Weeks – Pentecost) a single Priest perfected two sacrifices in honor of the full holiday, Note that festivals such as Hanukah and Purim), are not considered full holidays requiring an extra sacrifice. On Rosh Hashanah, something special occurred during the special sacrifice. Arguably two Shofar Sounders played the long notes and one Trumpet player played the short note. Accordingly, Rosh HaShanah is called Yom Teruah (the day of the blast) Otherwise, the Trumpets had “top billing.” Rosh Hashanah27a, supports this claim: “Said Raba or it may have been R. Joshua B. Levi: What is the scriptural warrant fore this? – Because it is written, “With trumpets and the sound of the Shofar shout ye before the King in the Temple, we require trumpets and the sound of the Shofar; elsewhere not.” See also Sidney B. Hoenig, Origins of the Rosh Hashanah Liturgy, The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 57, The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review (1967), pp. 312-331. • Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1453499. Accessed December 31, 2009





Indeed, on Yom Kippur, the Shofar was sounded to announce the Jubilee Year (every 50-years, Jews were granted freedom, forgiveness and debts and reclamation of sold lands. Shofar first indicated in Yovel (Jubilee Year - Lev. 25:8-13). Indeed, in Rosh Hashanah 33b, the sages ask why the Shofar sounded in Jubilee year. Further support is found in Rosh Hashanah 29a, where the Talmud talks of trumpets for sacrifices but Shofar in the Jubilee Year does not apply to priests who are exempt from the obligations of the jubilee. Perhaps, we have the first mention of Shofar Sounding by non-Priests. Perhaps the first distancing away from the Sacrificial Cult.

Otherwise, for all other special days, the Shofar is sounded shorter and two special silver Trumpets announced the sacrifice.


When the trumpets sound the signal, all the people who were within the sacrifice prostate themselves, stretching out flat, face down and on the ground. See external references.

The shofar was blown in the times of Joshua to help him capture Jericho. As they surrounded the walls, the shofar was blown and the Jews were able to capture the city. The shofar was commonly taken out to war so the troops would know when a battle would begin. The person who would blow the shofar would call out to the troops from atop a hill. All of the troops were able to hear the call of the shofar from their position because of its distinct sound.

Post-Biblical times

In post-Biblical times, the shofar was enhanced in its religious use because of the ban on playing musical instruments as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the temple. (It is noted that a full orchestra played in the temple, including, perhaps, a primitive organ.) The shofar continues to announce the New Year and the new moon, to introduce Shabbat, to carry out the commandment to sound it on Rosh Hashanah, and to mark the end of the day of fasting on Yom Kippur once the services have completed in the evening. The secular uses have been discarded (although the shofar was sounded to commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967) (Judith Kaplan Eisendrath, Heritage of Music, New York: UAHC, 1972, pp. 44–45).





The shofar is primarily associated with Rosh Hashanah. Indeed, Rosh Hashanah is called "Yom T’ruah" (the day of the shofar blast). In the Mishnah (book of early rabbinic laws derived from the Torah), a discussion centers on the centrality of the shofar in the time before the destruction of the second temple (70 AD). Indeed, the shofar was the center of the ceremony, with two silver trumpets playing a lesser role. On other solemn holidays, fasts, and new moon celebrations, two silver trumpets were featured, with one shofar playing a lesser role. The shofar is also associated with the jubilee year in which, every fifty years, Jewish law provided for the release of all slaves, land, and debts. The sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah announced the jubilee year, and the sound of the shofar on Yom Kippur proclaimed the actual release of financial encumbrances.

The halakha (Jewish law) rules that the shofar may not be sounded on Shabbat due to the potential that the ba’al tekiyah (shofar sounder) may inadvertently carry it which is in a class of forbidden Shabbat work (RH 29b) the historical explanation is that in ancient Israel, the shofar was sounded on Shabbat in the temple located in Jerusalem. After the temple’s destruction, the sounding of the shofar on Shabbat was restricted to the place where the great Sanhedrin (Jewish legislature and court from 400 BCE to 100 C.E.) was located. However, when the Sanhedrin ceased to exist, the sounding of the shofar on Shabbat was discontinued (Kieval, The High Holy Days, p. 114).

The shofar says, "Wake up from your (moral) sleep. You are asleep. Get up from your slumber. You are in a deep sleep. Search for your behavior. Become the best person you can. Remember God, the One Who created you." Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 3:4.[1]

See Arthur l. Finkle, Shofar Sounders Reference Manual, LA: Torah Aura, 1993

Mitzvah: Hearing the Sounds

The Sages indicated that the mitzvah was to hear the sounds of the shofar. They go so far as to establish whether a person hears the actual sound or just the echo at the outside of the pit or cave; the bottom; and midway. The Shulchan Aruch sums up that if the hearer hears the reverberation, the mitzvah is not valid. However, if the hearer perceives the direct sounds, he fulfils the mitzvah. See Mishnah Berurah 587:1–3. You can extrapolate this ruling to hearing the shofar on the radio, the Internet, etc. as being invalid.

In addition, if one hears the blast but with no intention of fulfilling the mitzvah, then there is no mitzvah. However, there is a minority decision on this point.

If one blows with the intention that all who hear will perform the mitzvah, the mitzvah is valid. If someone passes by and does intend to hear the Shofar, he can perform the mitzvah because the community blower blows for everybody. If he stands still, it is presumed he intends to hear. MB 590:9

Qualifications for Sounding the Shofar

The Shulchan Aruch begins its exploration of fitness by citing excluding classes of people:
Whoever is not obligated to fulfill the mitzvah of sounding the shofar should not substitute his efforts for another whose duty it is to perform a mitzvah. For example, the Baal Tekiah sounds a shofar for a synagogue in Chelm cannot perform he same mitzvah when another in the town of Lodz can fulfill the mitzvah.
The mitzvah is not valid for a deaf mute (cannot hear), moron (lacks the capacity) and a child (lacks the adult status).
Women are exempt because the mitzvah is time bound.
A hermaphrodite may make his shofar sounding serve for other hermaphrodites.
Women should not be Baal Tekia’s because they would be substituting her efforts for another whose duty it is to perform a mitzvah. However, if a female Baal Tekiya has already intoned the shofar for other women, it is valid. However, women should not make a blessing.
Only a freeman (not even a slave who will become free in the next month) can be a Baal Tekiya. MB 590:1–5

Being a Baal Tekiya (Shofar Sounder) is an honor.

"The one who blows the shofar on Rosh Hashanah . . . should likewise be learned in the Torah and shall be God-fearing; the best man available. Nevertheless, every Jew is eligible for any sacred office, providing he is acceptable to the congregation. If, however, he sees that his choice will cause disruption, he should withdraw his candidacy, even if the improper person will be chosen” See Shulchan Aruch 3:72.

Moreover, the Baal Tekiya shall abstain from anything that may cause ritual contamination for three days prior to Rosh Hashanah. See Shulchan Aruch 3:73

A Baal Tekiya can sound the shofar for shut-ins and home-bound women who have had baby.

If a blind blower was dismissed, but the community did not find a blower as proficient, he should be appointed as community blower. The touchstone is proficiency not disability.

Choice of animal

According to the Talmud, a shofar may be made from the horn of any animal except that of a cow or calf (Rosh Hashanah, 26a), although a ram is preferable. (Mishnah Berurah 586:1). There is no requirement for ritual slaughter (shechitah), and theoretically, the horn can come from a non-kosher animal based on the principle of mutar beficha (the material is acceptable for putting in the mouth). Moreover, since the mitzvah is hearing the shofar, not eating it, using the horn of a neveylah or a non-kosher animal falls into the category of tashmishe mitzvah (MB 586:16 (8) Since unkosher substances unfit for human consumption are not food (Avot 67b), it is permissible to use animal hair, anointing oil and incense produced from animal secretions and dyes of crimson, which are made from mollusks (Megillah 26b).

To cap this issue, a recent article appeared in the Journal of Halacha, Number LIII, and Contemporary Society, Rabbi Ari Z, Zivotofsky, Yemenite Shofar: Ideal for the Mitzvah?, Cleveland, OH: Rabbi Jacob Joseph School R. Ari Z, Zivotofsky, 2007

The Elef Hamagan (586:5) delineates the order of preference: 1) curved ram; 2) curved other sheep; 3) curved other animal; 4) straight—ram or otherwise; 5) non-kosher animal; 6) cow. The first four categories are used with a bracha, the fifth without a bracha, and the last, not at all.[2]

Shape and material


A shofar made from the horn of a Greater kudu, in the Yemenite Jewish style.

A shofar may be created from the horn of any kosher male animal from the Bovidae family except for cattle, which is specifically excluded. In practice two species are generally used: the Ashkenazi and Sefardi shofar is made from the horn of a domestic ram (see sheep), while a Yemeni shofar is made from the horn of a kudu.

Bovidae horns are made of keratin (the same material as human toenails and fingernails). An antler, on the other hand, is not a horn but solid bone. Antlers cannot be used as a shofar because they cannot be hollowed out.

A crack or hole in the shofar affecting the sound renders it unfit for ceremonial use. A shofar may not be painted in colors, but it may be carved with artistic designs (Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chayim, 586, 17). Shofars (especially the Sephardi shofars) are often plated with silver across part of their length for display purposes, although this invalidates them for use in religious practices. According to Jewish law women and minors are exempt from the commandment of hearing the shofar blown (as is the case with any positive, time-bound commandment), but they are encouraged to attend the ceremony.

The horn is flattened and shaped by the application of heat, which softens it. A hole is made from the tip of the horn to the natural hollow inside. It is played much like a European brass instrument, with the player blowing through the hole, causing the air column inside to vibrate. Sephardi shofars usually have a carved mouthpiece resembling that of a European trumpet or French horn, but smaller. Ashkenazi shofars do not.

Because the hollow of the shofar is irregular in shape, the harmonics obtained when playing the instrument can vary: rather than a pure perfect fifth, intervals as narrow as a fourth, or as wide as a sixth may be produced.

The sounds



The tekiah and teruah sounds mentioned in the Bible were respectively bass and treble. The tekiah was a plain deep sound ending abruptly; the teruah, a trill between two tekiahs. These three sounds, constituting a bar of music, were rendered three times: first in honor of God's Kingship; next to recall the near sacrifice of Isaac, in order to cause the congregation to be remembered before God; and a third time to comply with the precept regarding the shofar.

Ten appropriate verses from the Bible are recited at each repetition, which ends with a benediction. Over time doubts arose as to the correct sound of the teruah. The Talmud is uncertain whether it means a moaning/groaning or a staccato beat sound. Shevarim was supposed to be composed of three connected short sounds; the teruah of nine very short notes divided into three disconnected or broken sequences of three notes each. The duration of the teruah is equal to that of the shevarim; and the tekiah is half the length of either. This doubt as to the nature of the real teruah, whether it was simply a moan, a staccato or both, necessitated two near-repetitions to make sure of securing the correct sound.

The sequence of the shofar blowing is thus tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah; tekiah, shevarim, tekiah; tekiah, teruah, and then a final blast of "tekiah gadola" which means "big tekiah," held as long as possible. This formula makes thirty sounds for the series, with tekiah being one note, shevarium three, and teruah nine. This series of thirty sounds is repeated twice more, making ninety sounds in all. The trebling of the series is based on the mention of teruah three times in connection with the seventh month (Lev. xxiii, xxv; Num. xxix), and also on the above-mentioned division of the service into malchiyot, zichronot, and shofarot. In addition to these three repetitions, a single formula of ten sounds is rendered at the close of the service, making a total of 100 sounds. According to the Sephardic tradition, a full 101 blasts are sounded, corresponding to the 100 cries of the mother of Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army who did not make it home after being assassinated by the biblical Yael (Judges 5:28). One cry is left to symbolize the legitimate love of a mother mourning her son. Another popular kind of a Shofar is the Moroccan Shofar. A Moroccan Shofar is known in its beauty and the ease of using it when blowing the Shofar. A Moroccan Shofar is a flat Shofar with no curves, beside the main curve. The Moroccans use it because of two main reasons: The first reason is that years ago, when the Morrocan Jews where not allowed to practice Judaism, it was easy to hide it in their clothes because of its flat shape. The second reason is that it has a special sound different from the other Shofars, also thanks to its shape. A picture of a Moroccan Shofar can be found at the following link. where you can see the flat shape of the Moroccan Shofar.

The performer

The expert who blows (or "blasts" or "sounds") the shofar is termed the Tokea (lit. "Blaster") or Ba'al Tekia (lit. "Master of the Blast"). Every Jew is eligible for this sacred office, providing he is acceptable to the congregation. If a potential choice will cause dissension, he should withdraw his candidacy, even if the improper person is chosen. See Shulkhan Arukh 3:72; The Ba'al Tekia shall abstain from anything that may cause ritual contamination for three days prior to Rosh Hashanah. See Shulkhan Arukh 3:73.

Shofar in National Liberation

During the Ottoman and the British occupation of Jerusalem, Jews were not allowed to sound the shofar at the Western Wall. After the Six Day War, Rabbi Shlomo Goren famously approached the Wall and sounded the shofar. An additional stanza was added to Naomi Shemer's song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) in which she sings, "שופר קורא בהר הבית בעיר העתיקה", " a shofar calls out from the Temple Mount in The Old City"

Use in modern times

Religious usage

The shofar is used mainly on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is blown in synagogues to mark the end of the fast at Yom Kippur, and blown at four particular occasions in the prayers on Rosh Hashanah. Because of its inherent ties to the Days of Repentance and the inspiration that comes along with hearing its piercing blasts, the shofar is also blown after morning services for the entire month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth of the Jewish ecclesiastical year. It is not blown on the last day of month, however, to mark the difference between the voluntary blasts of the month and the mandatory blasts of the holiday. Shofar blasts are also used during penitential rituals such as Yom Kippur Katan and optional prayer services called during times of communal distress. The exact modes of sounding can vary from location to location.

Non-religious musical usage

The shofar is sometimes used in Western classical music. Edward Elgar's oratorio The Apostles includes the sound of a shofar blowing, although other instruments, such as the flugelhorn, are usually used instead.

In pop music, the shofar is used by the Israeli Oriental metal band Salem in their adaptation of "Al Taster" psalm. The late trumpeter Lester Bowie played a shofar with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In Joey Arkenstat's album Bane, the former bassist for Phish is credited for playing the shofar. In the musical "Godspell", the first act opens with cast member David Haskell blowing the shofar, in preparation for singing "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord." In his performances, Israeli composer and singer Shlomo Gronich uses the shofar to produce a very wide range of notes.



Hearing Shofar
http://hearingshofar.blogspot.com/

The Last Supper by JAUME HUGUET

JAUME HUGUET was a Catalan painter, the most prominent figure in the Catalan School during the second part of the 15th century. Huguet is thought to have settled in Barcelona about 1448. He continued the Catalan tradition of Bernat Martorell, but was highly individual in his characterization. His studio produced many sumptuous composite altarpieces of the type that became typical in Spanish art and his work exercised a wide influence on the painting of Catalonia and Aragn.