jennyarntzen.music

Lynn Canyon - 2005 03 03 - the cool, late afternoon light of early spring glancing off cold stream tossed boulders  Entry - Taking the Plunge by Virginia Bowden Well into the afternoon, on the day of the concert, I was reviewing my lists and checking what was left to do. It occurred to me that I was going to need introductory words to set expectations and get us all on the same page. Where to start? Virginia brought this poem and shared it at our Neighbourhood Folk - First Sunday - September 2025. As soon as I thought of it, I knew it needed to be the cornerstone of my introductory words to set the stage for the house concert. Today it is the 30th of September. A full week since I started this writing. It has taken me days and many hours to prepare to write this short piece. I had an idea of bringing in interleaving stories, of swimming, over generations, of women. Of our creative works, both domestic and artistic, that mark the passing of our lifetimes into our collective history....

Tom is practicing the calliope intro and outro to Ferris Wheel, our first song in the program this evening. It came out perfectly.  It is 6:30 pm and we are getting ready to open the doors at 7 pm for our first Neighbourhood Folk house concert. It is Monday, September 22, 2025. We are gathered to inspire our efforts for the season ahead, to build strength and confidence enough to get us through to Winter Solstice. We presented a program of a poem written by a friend and neighbour, and eleven songs written and performed by myself, my family, and neighbourhood musician friends. We decluttered the livingroom and set up seating for 15 friends and neighbours. An ipad is up high on a stand for the Zoom attendees. A stationary camera is on a tripod to capture the performance. Tucked in the back corner of the living room Adele is in her crate with a bone to chew. She does not like the sound of camera beeps.  Final preparation - Matt is taping down the sound cable, Michel and Tom are f...

  View from my chair this morning. Musical instruments, recording equipment, broadcast equipment. Getting ready for Monday evening house concert. Trying not to check email for registrations. It takes courage to for a shy musician to make friends.  I was listening to my mom and dad sing folk songs before I could walk. I took piano lessons while I was in Grade 1 and 2. My dad gave me a second hand guitar from the Salvation Army when I was about 10 years old. I played double bass in my dad's elementary school band. I played double bass in the Vancouver Youth Orchestra, Junior and Senior level. I played clarinet in the North Van Youth Band while I was still in elementary school. I played my first 'show' at the Argyle Secondary High School Talent Show in 1969, singing folk songs with my sister. I played french horn in Mr. O'Malley's high school music program, switching to double bass in grade 10. I studied double bass with Ken Friedman, Principal Bassist with Vancouver S...

  2025 09 12 - morning view  - you can't hear them, but the leaves of the Lombardi Poplar are gently rustling in a light, cool breeze. The hollyhocks are going through a second blooming. The sunflowers reach for the sunlight, growing strong and tall. As usual, I am moving furniture and re-arranging the living/dining room for music. It is happening. I am going to host my first house concert on Monday, September 22, 2025. I need to get moving on the invite! I am going to be the feature artist, sharing a selection of songs written by me, my family, friends, and kindred spirits. The concept for this house concert is based on the 'tiny desk concert' format. We will perform for a small audience here in the house. No amplification for our voices and instruments. Floor mics will record the sound in the room. Two video cameras (one stationary, one steadycam) will capture audio and video of the event. A Zoom live feed will broadcast the event to the Interwebs for sharing across geogr...

  The house is ready to host another Sunday afternoon of Neighbourhood Folk. Every month I re-arrange the furniture to make sure there are enough places to sit, there are enough music stands, and the house is somewhat clean and presentable. Today was our 12th month of Neighbourhood Folk. There were 12 of us, which turns out to be about the right number of people. There are enough chairs for both instrumentalists and non-players, we were pretty comfortable. We are scheduled to start at 2 pm - that is, people start arriving at 2. Today we started playing at 2:20, after everyone got settled. We had some new people today, so we started with introductions, sharing our names and what brought us to this gathering. I made some introductory remarks, tracing my interest in Neighbourhood Folk back to my coming of age in the early 1970s and the back-to-the-land movement. The desire to be part of a community with a shared purpose, a trustworthy group, a place to share creative works that are le...

  The house is in disarray by late afternoon after the dogs have been hanging out. Adele is perched on the recliner and Eddy is sprawled on the couch. Everything has to have a cover. They love chewing and tearing up paper so I give them recycling to shred before I put it in the worm bins. In the front hall my two new accordions are waiting for me. I have my first collection of sheet music to learn from the Squeezebox Circle. I am here to tell you, as I tell myself, that it is never too late to learn something new. Perhaps this is our greatest hope in these dark days of authoritarianism and rampant corruption signalling the catastrophic system collapse of the failure of patriarchy, capitalism and religion. We can, and will, learn new ways to organize our human affairs to sustain our lives on earth.  For me, right now, learning to play the accordion is part of my contribution to the solution. Last night I went to my first session with the accordion players at the Squeezebox Circ...