Author: James Feiszli

MusikHaus

Summer Doldrums

In many ways, I am no longer the person I was. I was a visionary, administrator, choral conductor, and teacher. Now I am a budding sommelier, wine retailer, genealogist, and amateur musicologist who is dealing with the onset of old age.

Arthritis is a gift from both my parents, who I never realized were working through a lot of daily pain. Before I left South Dakota arthritic conditions showed up in spinal stenosis – for which I had surgery in 2017 – and also in the knuckle joints of my hands, probably the result of years of pounding the piano during choral rehearsals.

Monday I go into surgery for a rotator cuff repair. At this moment I cannot lift my right arm more than to a horizontal plane (I never realized how ridiculously right-handed I was until now). I could not conduct nor teach conducting at this moment if my life depended on it.

This condition can be blamed on many factors – 1) my work at Total Wine, which entails lifting/pushing many cases of wine; 2) my own yardwork/housework, which is quite strenuous, 3) working and playing with the Doberdork, which is active and arduous, although one would never know that from the image to the right, and 4) from degenerative arthritis growth in my shoulder.

It has been almost three months that my shoulder has not been right. I have not been able to do things without tremendous pain. And after the surgery I am likely to be even less that person until physical rehabilitation is completed. Those of you who know me will understand that this situation is not something with which I will happily comply. I will not be able  to  1) drive my sports car, 2) pilot my boat, 3) work at Total Wine, 3) do yardwork and gardening, 4) clean the house and do laundry, 5) go to the store, etc., etc.  I am hopeful that my desk can be configured in such a way that I can at least access the computer and work on such things as my wine professional study, Isaac motets, website, and genealogy. I will be in a sling that immobilizes my shoulder.

Ah well, perhaps God is telling me to take some downtime. It’ll make me appreciate what I do have.  It is annoying that it happens as the summer begins. It is the time of year when all the speed restrictions on the Caloosahatchee River are lifted because the manatees are far out in the Gulf. That means we can easily go by boat to downtown Ft. Myers (35 minutes) or all the way down to the Gulf, Ft. Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva, St. James City and other cool spots within 90 minutes. <sigh> Maybe Michelle will finally consent to learn how to pilot the boat (ha!) Can’t wait to see her reaction when she reads this.

Seriously, this will place a huge burden on Michelle because she leaves for her job around 6:30-7:00am and gets home about 6:30pm. And she’ll have to do many of the things around here that I usually do in addition to driving me to physical therapy. Here’s hoping that I recover quickly and can at least drive the automatic transmission car within a short period. It will be a fun experiment learning to do things with my left arm.

Here’s hoping you’re all doing well. Drop me a line or a call if you get a chance. I’ll probably be available!  🙂

MusikHaus

Counting Blessings

I work Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays for a total of sixteen hours a week at Total Wine, the largest retailer of wine and spirits in the USA with 208 stores in 24 states. We stock over 8000 different wines in our store. I am one of about 800 wine specialists working for Total Wine across the country. I don’t work because I need the money. I have plenty to keep me busy with the house, yard, Heinrich Isaac editions, and family genealogy. But I do enjoy the atmosphere of working with my colleagues. It is very reminiscent of graduate school. We’re all wine geeks who love talking and learning about wine.  I’m the odd guy there because I’m part-time but they keep me around because I know just enough to be valuable and they appreciate that I always want to learn more.

So, today I get a call from the wine manager. Quick organizational chart: 2 store managers, 3 asst. managers, 1 wine manager, 1 wine supervisor. I consider the wine manager to be my mentor in wine; although he is probably 20 years my junior, he has sommelier knowledge. Anyway he called me today and asked if I would be interested in being part of a wine tasting next Tuesday with Tony Biagi – Napa Valley’s Winemaker of the Year for 2020. This guy has been behind some of the best-known wines in Napa for decades. OK, so let me get this straight: They want to PAY me to spend two hours tasting wines with one of the best winemakers in California on my day off. Gee…..

That call got me thinking about how fortunate I am.

I turn 68 this year. The ravages of age have indeed begun creeping up on me. I have a rotator cuff problem right now with my right shoulder. It is probably akin to the other health issues I have had such as the spinal stenosis (for which I had surgery in 2017) and arthritic knuckles which prevent me from any keyboard work. I have been afraid to try playing my tuba or euphonium because of the condition of my right middle finger.

Waa, waa. 

I am continually told that I do not look my age.  A (younger) co-worker was shocked to discover my age yesterday. I see the differences but evidently others do not.

I walk my Doberdork about five miles daily on the days I do not go into Total Wine. And when I am at Total Wine I probably walk ten miles in addition to climbing ladders and hoisting cases of wine up and down.

I go to my doctor, dentist, dermatologist, ophthalmologist appointments regularly and they invariable send me away with nothing more than cautionary warnings (“eat more veggies”, “don’t drink too much”, wear a hat”)

I live where it does not snow. It doesn’t even frost! I have a swimming pool and hot tub right outside my 24-foot glass patio door – which most months is wide open, making the pool area (called a “lanai” here) part of my living room. There is a 25-foot boat on a lift on the canal at the edge of my property. Said canal leads to the Caloosahatchee river and right down past downtown Fort Myers to the Gulf of Mexico.

My beautiful wife, Michelle, turns 50 next Tuesday. She continues to amaze me with her intelligence and dedication to her chosen career. She is considered a rising star in her field, but those people do not even begin to grasp her breadth and depth of knowledge in things like music history and performance, cooking, or craftsmanship. Two days ago, she whipped up a seafood pasta from leftovers that was worthy of any restaurant. The next day she designed and executed an undercarriage for a beautiful desk that we bought on Craigslist that allows it to be wheeled around. That same day, she went out to the lanai and made two black iron trellises for bougainvillea look amazing by painting portions of them (see image at top).

Every day I thank God that I get to spend my life with her.

There are other blessings. The afore-mentioned Doberdork – Loki – continues to grow and annoy and amaze. He is definitely a challenge – one we did not anticipate. I figured we could handle any dog with our combined backgrounds in psychology, education, veterinary technology, and dog ownership. WRONG! Despite previous dogs such as Bassett Hounds Collies, Springers, Cockers, mutts of all types: Loki is the smartest and most stubborn animal we have dealt with. He is also the most loving and dedicated.  When Michelle comes home, his ears go to his shoulders and he cannot wag his tail enough. I mean, really, how do you beat that?

There are my ongoing friendships and work with Markus Utz and Harold Lischkowitsch. Both live in Konstanz, Germany and both are central to my current life.

Markus is truly one of the finest musicians in Europe. One of the last students of Eric Ericsson, he has risen to be the professor of choral studies at the Zurich School of the Arts – where Hindemith once worked. His work at the Konstanz Munster caused our paths to cross and while his star has continued to rise; he has allowed me to tag along by creating editions of music for his groups to sing.  He keeps me in the game and challenges me to keep working in the research that I began way back in 1982. Markus is invited to Yale University again this fall as a visiting professor for their Sacred Music program. We have been collaborating on his presentation there where he will use portions of my presentation material from the 2010 Isaac conference at Indiana University and music from my editions from the Choralis Constantinus. His planned project to record an entire CD of my editions is still on track, but keeps getting pushed back due to Covid-19 problems.

Harold and I spoke just last Saturday. We miss each other. He has been one of my best friends ever since we set eyes on each other the day after German reunification  (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) in 1990. We were in Vienna – neither of us had slept the night before. But both recognized a kindred spirit. And it was our good fortune that we both had a connection to Konstanz. I was on that trip only for the chance to see Konstanz, the focus of my doctoral research. He was there as a native Konstanzer to introduce the city to a group of Americans. I cannot speak for him, but I can say with confidence that he has changed my life for the good. It will remain a great regret that Covid-19 forced the cancellation of our planned family visit to Konstanz because I so wanted to show my family all the things that makes the city so appealing.

I have two children. Neither is my biological child, but both call me “dad”. I am proud of both. They have chosen their paths in life and are pursuing them. They call me daily and I am always glad to hear from them. They are a blessing.

In conclusion, I could complain about what is wrong with the country, with politics, the world, but I have decided to focus on what is going well. I truly believe that much of this appreciation comes from cutting ties to social media. My Facebook account remains active because Messenger is helpful for sending information to others. But Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are all gone. I ignore most emails from Academia.edu – the majority of which seem intent on getting me to pay them to discover who might be reading about me (seriously?).

My wish for all reading this is that you see the beauty around you and seek happiness in the little things. Happy Eastertide.

MusikHaus

Musikhaus News …. or non-news

It’s been a while since I posted. No worries, just lots to do. Rachel is now an official resident of Florida. We’ve all voted (guess how!) and I took the ballots down to the main government building for drop-off rather than trust the Trump-impaired Postal Service. I’ll never understand how so many people have just gone along with the Nazification of the once-proud US government.

In gentler, but still political, mood as Election Day looms, I offer these links to well-written and researched articles:

Yes, I know, NPR is a socialist entity designed to bring down all right-thinking (i.e., non-thinking) Americans.

I am actually a little dismayed that CNN is now viewed as a leftist news agency when it used to be the one news source one could trust to be unbiased.

And yet another obviously suspect leftist/socialist article from that (obviously) biased NPR that echoes what I’ve been saying since 2015 – Trump is a Hitler wannabe.  Wake up, all you supposed patriots! Trump is letting Russia and China take over the world while we are fighting each other!

Meanwhile, Rachel is doing well, has applied for a couple of jobs, and is getting healthy. Michelle has become officially licensed as a mental health counselor in the state of Florida, which 1) gets her a substantial raise and 2) creates all sorts of job opportunities for her if she wants to pursue them. I took my first Total Wine Professional exam today and failed it miserably – as expected. We are allowed to take it unlimited times with no penalty and I was advised by my wine supervisor to take it as soon as it was allowed. So  I did. Now I know what to study.

I’m still working on Isaac motets in preparation for next year. Almost done with the Propers for Christmas Day.  The sequence is the difficult one. It is a mini-concert from the liturgy of the late Middle Ages, set in early Renaissance polyphony by a composer that is now being recognized as perhaps the premier composer of that age. The more I work with this music, the more I realize his greatness.

And the garden is going in. Southwest Florida is backwards from the rest of the continental US in terms of the growing season. We plant in October after night-time temperatures drop to below 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the rains become a little less torrential. I grow mainly herbs – and actually managed to maintain basil and rosemary throughout the summer. Thyme. chives, and sage struggled but are now doing well. Today I placed two tomato plants in the ground and hope to get a third over the weekend. Good bedding tomato plants appear to be at a premium.

Hope you’re all healthy and happy. Floridians, for the most part, have begun to wear masks in public – except for the rabid few who make it a political protest to NOT wear one – and people like that are obvious and easily avoided. We’re all good here and hope to remain so.

MusikHaus

MusikHaus redux

As I type this, the first blog in my new location, I have few hopes that anyone will read it. For those who do, thank you for visiting!

We are currently mid-Covid-19 crisis [Trump on Jan. 22, “We have it totally under control.”  Yeah.  (sarcasm intended) About that…], and mid-election year chaos.

Some time ago I joined the Facebook boycott and that included Messenger. My justifications are backed up by writers from both the left and right sides of the political bias such as The Guardian and  Forbes, I have not deleted my account (yet), but don’t visit much. Apologies to those whose birthdays and other important dates I have missed. Also great apologies for ignoring Messenger posts.

I’m not doing much anywhere on social media, unless you count LinkedIn, Academia, and my dog Loki’s Instagram page.

My energies have been here with the creation of this website. It is just a start. Not pretty or fancy yet because I wanted to make certain it functioned correctly before I announced it. If you interested in being connected hopefully we can stay in touch here rather than on those sites that exist for profit. I have grown weary of those that profit on our need to connect.

As the website becomes more fully formed, I’ll try to drop a daily blog to keep everyone informed of my doings. For now, it will more likely be weekly.