https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog daily 0.75 2024-12-22 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/three-conductor-films-reviewed monthly 0.5 2024-12-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/6f5f46dc-12dd-414a-ba0a-83332c582439/Leonard_and_Felicia_Bernstein_leaving_for_Israel%2C_1957._Photographer_Unknown._The_Library_of_Congress.jpg Blog - Three “Conductor Films,” Reviewed - Make it stand out Leonard and Felicia Bernstein, 1957 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/synopsis-till-eulenspiegels-merry-pranks monthly 0.5 2024-07-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/a336eec9-a1ed-4924-86b4-e0289b08d87a/1.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - (mm. 14-19) The restatement of Till Eulenspiegel’s theme in the horn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/d85df628-3c8c-466f-822b-cae4168b8086/2.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - (mm. 50-56) The jaunty “skipping” theme in the strings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/8623a98c-8ec9-42d4-a588-e42270cc7401/3.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - (mm. 97-101) One of Till’s frightened victims scurries away, as depicted in the first flute. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/901a8d2a-bb62-4d59-8247-b23caa4890f7/4.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - Make it stand out (mm. 179-186) Till Eulenspiegel in the monastery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/5605ef80-40e1-461a-a41b-1aff52a7e004/5.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - Make it stand out (mm. 229-237) The love theme. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/fcc4a911-9366-4fd1-ab4b-babacf865a74/6.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - Make it stand out (mm. 271-280) Till Eulenspiegel’s rage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/371966f6-4cdd-403d-b475-957d7ab8464e/7.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - Make it stand out (mm. 292-300) The motif of the academics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/2e807426-ac24-4847-9c48-2603f814e246/8.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - Make it stand out (mm. 489-494) The soaring variation of the horn call motif. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/f913e292-a9c7-42fa-a5da-94b32980a7db/9.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - (mm. 576-581) Till Eulenspiegel is caught by the authorities, as evidenced by the strong, ominous brass chords. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/5de52fad-7d71-44ee-a27b-76fe715e6d7c/10.png Blog - Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks - Make it stand out (mm. 632-642) The return of “Once Upon a Time” in the epilogue. https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/film-music-and-the-classical-canon monthly 0.5 2021-03-10 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/i4mpdvf2iyf6lzknikhlpzppligfzv monthly 0.5 2020-09-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1600797910262-3X6DV36XFEAXLEO2UWDQ/Chapel_Hill_Sundial_Carmichael.jpg Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - Horizontal sundial, at the Chapel Hill College of Nursing. A horizontal sundial, at the Chapel Hill College of Nursing. Credit: John Carmichael, Wikimedia Commons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1600799379066-250TNSDMHGNU967IP9FH/armillary1.jpg Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - My armillary sundial. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1600806138159-W1K4UZBIY8K2V537V6M8/armillarydiagram.jpg Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - Armillary diagram 1- Gnomon- a straight rod that is inclined to the observer’s latitude, and pointed true north (or directly at Polaris, the North Star). It casts the timekeeping shadow onto the number ring. Huntsville, where I currently live, is at about 34 degrees north latitude, so the gnomon of my sundial is inclined to a 34 degree angle with the ground. I used a protractor and a level to get this precise. The gnomon of an armillary (or any equatorial sundial) is parallel to Earth’s axis of rotation. 2- Equatorial ring (sometimes called the equinoctial)- this ring, the largest on the sundial, is where the numbers are printed. It is parallel to the celestial equator, or Earth’s equator projected into space, hence its name. Imagine again a mini-Earth suspended in the middle of this sundial, with the gnomon serving as Earth’s axis of rotation, running from pole to pole. The equatorial ring would be wrapped around the equator of this miniature Earth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1600895366690-KXKODZ9BQHJNV800N5NH/solarnoon.jpg Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - 3- Local meridian- this ring represents your line of longitude. On a solstice, it represents the solstitial colure, a line on the celestial sphere that runs from pole to pole and passes through both solstice points (the points where the Sun is on the summer and winter solstices). Notice in the diagram that there is a larger shadow to the left of the gnomon’s shadow on the number ring; this is produced by the local meridian ring. These two shadows overlap at solar noon, which is when the Sun is at its highest point in the sky during the day, and due south (i.e. directly behind the sundial). This is shown in the bottom photo. 4- Equinoctial colure- not to be confused with the equatorial ring’s alternate name, this ring represents the line on the celestial sphere which runs from pole to pole and passes through both equinox points. It merely serves a representative function and does not cast any useful shadow pattern onto the sundial. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1601056750055-85XIB86X1E0TUTFCTHZW/armillary7.jpg Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - 10:30 solar time, taken on 21 June 2020 at 11:19 a.m. Notice the dots on the number ring, underneath the numbers and midway between them. These are placed at 30 minute, or 7.5 degree, intervals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1601060796489-L03957X1JSJIRCQTCDVF/EoT.png Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - The equation of time. The day of year is plotted on the horizontal x-axis, and the discrepancy between sundial and clock time is plotted in minutes on the vertical y-axis. For positive values on the y-axis, the sundial will run faster than clock time; for negative values, it will run slower. Image credit: user:Drini, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5 Generic https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1601099113955-7BWDS93TXXMNXHV25BSV/equinox.jpg Blog - Sundials & Backyard Astronomy: A Nerd’s Rant - The 2020 autumnal equinox, on 22 September, as shown on my armillary sundial. The inside of the equatorial ring, including the numbers, are in complete shadow, because the Sun is directly overhead Earth’s equator and hence directly behind the sundial’s equatorial ring. When I took this photo, I was evidently too excited to notice the result of one particular bird’s contempt towards my quest for scientific erudition. I suspect the bird was a flat-earther, because this sundial would not work on a flat Earth. https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/my-experience-with-focal-dystonia monthly 0.5 2020-08-30 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/can-music-be-perfect monthly 0.5 2020-07-26 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/blog-post-title-three-48k6t monthly 0.5 2020-05-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590078137194-R5ETSAKX6E2XHIJ2U2QL/ratios.png Blog - The “Music of the Spheres” in Greece and Beyond Harmonic ratios on a string https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590087853075-1VKQYNK56OFO9EZ389NH/greeksolarsystem.png Blog - The “Music of the Spheres” in Greece and Beyond The Greek geocentric solar system (cred. University of Connecticut) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590078294316-CDY5OYV6HUC01IM2UEAG/scale.png Blog - The “Music of the Spheres” in Greece and Beyond Solar system “scale” developed by Pythagoras https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590078643640-VUQMIVGIW2TFH0EXDKSW/orbit.png Blog - The “Music of the Spheres” in Greece and Beyond Kepler acknowledged that planets orbit not in a circle, but in an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. (Wikimedia Commons) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590078863378-X5DED1TXHXFC4GX9DA46/dione_enceladus.png Blog - The “Music of the Spheres” in Greece and Beyond Dione (front) and Enceladus (upper right) with Saturn and rings in background. Taken by NASA’s Cassini probe https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/category/Off-topic monthly 0.5 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/category/Music monthly 0.5 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/category/Astronomy monthly 0.5 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/blog/tag/music monthly 0.5 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/home daily 1.0 2025-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/be7c12f8-28eb-4b7e-8b8d-e4816217a799/john+s+5.jpg Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/bio daily 0.75 2024-12-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1614716574057-U5HUGYL1IY66XR6Q0JMF/processed_John+South-6.jpg Bio - Biography John J. South, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Liberal Arts focus, with a minor in history. He earned a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Western Kentucky University in 2023. As a performer, John played trumpet in the Huntsville Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Joseph Lee for nine years, and served as a collegiate trumpet intern at the Tennessee Valley Music Festival in 2016 and 2017. He was also a member of the UAH Wind Ensemble under Dr. David Ragsdale, and studied trumpet with Dr. Carolyn Sanders. Although having maintained a lifelong interest in conducting, John turned his attention to it completely after losing his ability to play trumpet due to focal dystonia, forcing him to retire from trumpet playing indefinitely after graduating college. Ever since that experience, he has made it a goal to spread dystonia awareness and encourage further research in both the musical and medical communities. As a conductor, John has been passionate about helping to enrich his local community. From 2017 to 2019, he participated in the Summer Band and Summer Orchestra programs at UAH, and has also conducted the UAH Wind Ensemble. In 2019, he became a member of the Opera Huntsville family. He served as music director for Cosi fan Tutte in March 2020, Gilbert & Sullivan in Rocket City in April 2021, Die Fledermaus in May 2023, and Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 2024. For Gilbert & Sullivan, he transcribed five Gilbert & Sullivan pieces for reduced orchestration, including the show’s overture. John also served as Assistant Conductor of the WKU Symphony Orchestra from 2021 to 2023, and the Bowling Green Youth Orchestra in 2022. John is also an avid history and amateur astronomy enthusiast, and often combines these interests with music to form a unique, diverse brand of musicology. He has researched and written about the relationship between music and astronomy, from both a historical and scientific perspective. In 2018, his essay “An Art Corrupted: Classical Music and Musicians in the Third Reich” was published in UAHuntsville’s Perpetua Journal of Undergraduate Research. He has contributed two biographical sports articles, “Willie McCovey” and “Terrell Owens,” to the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s Encyclopedia of Alabama. John has been mentored and influenced as a conductor by Dr. David Ragsdale, Dr. Brian St. John, Joseph Lee, Erin Huelskamp-Bohn, and Gregory Vajda. As an instrumentalist, his mentors include Dr. Carolyn Sanders and Bruce Zeiger (trumpet), Ingrid von Spakovsky-Weaver (piano), and Phil Weaver (classical guitar). Aside from music, John’s hobbies and interests include amateur astronomy, baseball, gaming, and writing, and he is a self-described root beer enthusiast. He currently lives in Huntsville, Alabama. https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/contact daily 0.75 2025-01-12 https://www.conductinggonesouth.net/performances daily 0.75 2022-07-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590086809598-4M1CQUFO42E5YDVTH6XK/us1.jpg Performances Cosi fan tutte, March 2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/2f6226bd-cb1a-49fc-9a9b-6ec071c5669e/john+s+4.png Performances WKU Symphony, Mar. 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590086866375-0V7AL3Q9N69YX7ZGCC6U/windensemble.jpg Performances https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590087071455-SFI9BY0VEQ3UKK0S7ABZ/us2.jpg Performances https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590087148460-BYFY54XKQ90UO8K7GCQT/us3.jpg Performances https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec57f8abf60052391606c06/1590087348810-BXZ0EGA55TEV5O1D4LG6/me1.jpg Performances