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Greetings to All for a Safe, Happy, Healthy and Musical New Year

Music Director, Deborah Booth to Lead NYRG Session on Thursday, January 28th

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NYRG Season will continue on February 25th when Rotem Gilbert will lead us from California; on March 25 Adam Gilbert, also from California, will lead us; on April 29 we will welcome Larry Lipnik; on May 20 Valerie Horst will be our conductor.
Season Finale on June 17 will be led by Deborah Booth.

7:00 PM, set-up & social, 7:15 PM downbeat, 8:30 PM last cut-off;
fifteen minutes additional social time for those who want to stay on and chat with other attendees.

All Meetings will be held via Zoom until further notice.
All necessary links will be provided on a timely basis once you have registered for a session.

Visit our Archives Page for Listing of the Session Music

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Participants will need to have the Zoom application installed on the device being used to participate and position themselves either near their modems or connected directly with an ethernet cable for best results. An external microphone and speaker or headphones also improves the experience. Sign up, it's free. For more information and to install Zoom, visit their website: https://zoom.us

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MEMBERSHIP DUES Yearly dues: $40
MEETING FEES: Members: $15 per meeting; Non-members: $20 per meeting
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT (payable at season beginning) is $140 includes dues and a full season of meetings (save $5 per meeting!)

STANDARD PAYMENT

Zelle is NYRG's Preferred Method of Receiving Payment
Click here to pay using Zelle to NYRG treasurer Judith Wink jwink@nyc.rr.com.

PAYMENT RATES

Membership Meeting Fee: $15.74; Non-member Meeting Fee: $20.88; Early Bird (at season beginning): $144.36
Click here to pay using Pay Pal

If you are paying for individual meetings (not using "Early Bird Discount"),
you must pay electronically through Zelle or PayPal, not by check.

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                                             Greetings to New York Recorder Guild Participants!

                                                                       From Music Director Deborah Booth

I hope that you are all in good health and reasonably positive spirits. These are indeed difficult times for everyone, especially New Yorkers. I'm thinking of each one of you, and wishing the best luck for you and your families. Music is a great solace at times like this, and I think we could all say that we feel very lucky to be musicians. It provides us inspiration and distraction from the harsh realities of the daily News.

Please allow me to recommend that you consider playing your instruments and practicing as much as you have energy to do. It really does help raise the spirits. This may be a good time to explore and organize your sheet music files. Who knows what you may find! I'm always surprised when I delve into the backs of filing cabinet drawers. Often many surprises! You could also do some exploring online for available music - through the ARS site or Imslp or CPDL or many others. There is a wealth of material out there.
Another thought for being productive in these isolated times would be to carefully oil all of your recorders. As this is a time of seasonal weather change, it's a perfect time to moisturize the wooden instruments. You will make them happy and they will sound better and last longer. I'm sure the thing that we miss the most is being able to play together in groups. Let's join together in hoping that we will be able to be together soon and share our music!!!

Very Best Musical Thoughts!
Deborah

View Deborah Booth's bio and professional background on our Board page

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This coming weekend, January 16 & 17, AEM will bring its Winter Weekend Workshop Online. With a baker's dozen (13!) classes for you to choose from, in 7 classes sessions on Saturday and Sunday. We'll end the weekend with a Faculty Concert and Winter Weekend Workshop farewell. Registration is now open!

Visit the AEM website for more information and to register: www.amherstearlymusic.org

AEM ONLINE Saturdays and Sundays: classes scheduled each weekend

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Join a Virtual Recorder Class with the American Recorder Society

For schedule and information, visit their website at: americanrecorder.org

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For more information on other workshops, visit our Workshops page for dates and registration information.

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Special New York Music Concerts and Events

(additional events and concert series are listed on our Events page: check websites for schedules and changes for the upcoming season)

GOTHAM EARLY MUSIC SCENE (GEMS) is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of early music in New York City and serves professional and amateur performers and ensembles, church organizations, audiences and enthusiasts.

2020-2021 Season: Watch live Thursdays at 1:15 pm on Facebook or YouTube. Midtown Concerts is pleased to present a full schedule of concerts for the 2020-2021 season. The opening concerts will be live-streamed until it is safe for audiences to gather once again. As safety allows, they will reintroduce in-person events. Get on their mailing list and receive On the Scene which features current New York performances of early music. Call: 212-866-0468 or E-mail info@gemsny.org. For more information and concert links, visit their website: https://gemsny.org/midtown-concerts

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Contact an instructor for an online lesson via Skype or other video software. Here is a partial list of teachers offering online lessons:

Rachel Begley   Deborah Booth   Larry Lipnik    Daphna Mor    Wendy Powers    Nina Stern


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REMEMBERING MARTHA BIXLER by Judith Wink Martha called everybody "bünnie." Her husband, her colleagues, her students, total strangers, no matter who they were and how they were connected to her, everyone in her world was a "bünnie." It was a term of endearment that her nanny had used, and it pulled everyone she knew into her circle of affection and belonging. Not everybody saw it that way. "Don't call me 'bünnie,' " her longtime colleague Morris Newman would growl. Martha would apologize and promptly forget. She couldn't not think of those around her as bünnies. One year her Monday night class designed and produced a tee shirt. Sandwiched between "The Bünnie" and "Consort" was a line drawing of a rabbit with a recorder in its mouth. The night everyone in the group wore the new shirt to class, Martha's usually unflappable husband Dick doubled over with laughter. Martha's reaction was predictable: "Oh, bünnies!" There are teachers who tongue-lash a student for the most trivial mistake, and then there was Martha. She couldn't bear to criticize. Only once did the Bünnie Consort see her rebuke a student point-blank. "No, Pamela," she said, "that was all wrong." And then, horrified by what she'd done, she started back-pedaling. "But it's a really hard passage, and nobody would have expected a B flat in bar thirty, and the light where you're sitting isn't very good, and it was all Bob's fault." It was all Bob's fault another time, in a different setting. He was playing platform tennis at a music workshop upstate. For the third or fourth time, his serve went long. Somebody on the other side laughed, "Thanks again, Bob!" Just then Martha and Dick strolled by, on their way to lunch. In the measured, somber tone of one who does an unpleasant but necessary duty, Martha said, "Your serve sucks." Like Dick seeing those tee shirts, Bob doubled over. For the rest of the game he couldn't serve to save his life. Martha's gentle critiques never had that effect on her students. Those who studied with her could expect to acquire a rich tone, a feeling for articulation, an ear for other lines and a sense that the object of all your hard work was to create beauty. One Saturday, years ago, when the Guild was still meeting at Teachers College, Martha was going to offer a survey of music by women composers from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The next to last piece was scored for harpsichord and recorders. Martha had a virginal, nicknamed Percy, that she planned to take uptown for her class. A virginal, if you've never seen one, is the size and shape of a casket for a small adult. Virginals don't fit in taxis, so unless you have a van, public transportation is your only option. Getting a virginal onto a bus is no easy job on a mild spring afternoon. But the day before this workshop, New York had been hit with its worst blizzard in decades. By the next morning the street were clear but the sidewalks were slippery and the curbs were lined with mountain ridges of snow. A lesser musician would have played the harpsichord part on TC's piano. But Martha had her standards. She and two students lugged Percy to Broadway, hoisted him over an Everest of snow, and jockeyed him onto a bus, watched closely by the driver, who clearly thought we were all insane. The whole performance had to be repeated in reverse thirty blocks later, at the TC bus stop. The piece of music lasted only a few minutes, but it sounded the way the composer intended, and for Martha that was what mattered. In class she was a perfectionist, willing to go over a phrase again and again, until the articulation, dynamics, tempo and everything else were just right. This could be maddening, but the results were worth the effort. Martha never let her students take a single note for granted. Obituaries usually end with a list of survivors. Martha's include dozens of colleagues and hundreds of students. As one of the latter, I will remember her with admiration, amusement and deep gratitude. Judith wrote this special tribute to Martha Bixler. Judith's previous articles are archived on her special page. Click Here

In normal times the New York Recorder Guild meets at
Advent Lutheran Church

2504 Broadway (at 93rd Street)
Basement Fellowship Hall, side Entrance, corner of Broadway and 93rd Street

www.adventnyc.org  

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Visit our Events page for photos of last year's City Recorder and recent playing sessions and events.

Consort Finder The board and music director are pleased that you are attending New York Recorder Guild sessions to play with and meet other recorder players.  It is certainly a great place for this! You may also wish to enjoy playing recorders in a consort or smaller group setting, but it is often difficult to get the right players together for levels, geography, and temperaments.   If you are interested in being matched with other players, contact our music director, Deborah Booth, at: deborah@flute-recorder-deborahbooth.com explaining your thoughts, wishes, level, location, and years of experience.  Coaching is also available if desired. Deborah will attempt to put you in touch with others who match your skills. NYRG has had success with this program in starting consorts meeting in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Subscribe to the New York Recorder Guild Mailing List and get the latest news on NYRG happenings as well as keeping up to date on the Metro New York Recorder scene. Contact: newyorkrecorders@gmail.com

Visit our Events page for photos of recent playing meetings as well as listings of playing sessions of other local ARS Chapters, concerts and other early music and recorder events..

Visit our Archives Page to keep up with all of the music played at our Monthly Meetings. Music listings of workshops and other events will be added as they occur.

Our Workshops page has all the information on Recorder and Early Music Workshops taking place in the area.

Recorders need repairs; looking for music downloads? Visit our Resources page for information on everything recorder-related.

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The New York Recorder Guild is a member of the American Recorder Society