mjzee Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Rice Takes to Stage to Aid Ailing Soprano By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic WriterSat Jun 11,10:31 PM ET A musician long before she became an academic and then a world-famous diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took to the Kennedy Center concert stage Saturday to accompany a young soprano battling an often-fatal disease. Rice's rare and unpublicized appearance at the piano marked a striking departure from her routine as America's No. 1 diplomat. A pianist from the age of 3 she played a half-dozen selections to accompany Charity Sunshine, a 21-year-old singer who was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension a little more than a year ago. The soprano is a granddaughter of Rep. Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., and his wife Annette, who Rice has known for years. The Pulmonary Hypertension Association, formed in 1990, presented the concert to draw attention to the disease from which more than 100,000 people are known to suffer. Largely unknown in the United States until about 10 years ago, it has no known cause or cure, but genetic studies and a search for treatment are under way. Sunshine has persisted in her career and performed with orchestras in Hungary, her grandparents' home before the Holocaust, Denmark and the United States. On Saturday, in a concert entitled, "An Evening of Music, Friendship and Awareness" and hosted by Lantos, she drew the secretary of state to play selections by Verdi, Mozart and Jerome Kern. Eileen Cornett, of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md., accompanied Sunshine on a half-dozen other pieces. Lantos introduced Rice as "a warm friend" and said the concert was her idea, describing how her eyes filled with tears as he told him about his granddaughter's illness. "We have to do something about this and enhance public consciousness," he quoted Rice as saying. "Let's have a concert and I will accompany her at the piano." Rice, whose first name is a variation on the Italian musical term "con dolcezza," which is a direction to play with sweetness, learned to read music at the age of 3. As a child she performed, won piano competitions and planned a career as a a concert pianist. But she switched her field of interest to international relations in her junior year at the University of Colorado and went on to be provost at Stanford University, then President Bush's assistant for national security, and now secretary of state. Despite her busy schedule, Rice finds time to enjoy classical music and plays occasionally and privately with friends in a string quartet. In February, on a trip to Europe, she visited a Parisian music school, Conservatoire Hector Berlioz, after a session with French political elite. Rice tapped her toes to keep time as a music teacher led a group of students age 7 to 9 through their scales. She told the youngsters, "It takes a lot of work to learn to read music. You have to practice and practice and practice." Among those in the Kennedy Center audience were U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, eight ambasssadors to the United States, Librarian of Congress James Billington, National Institutes of Health director Elias Zerhouni and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Rice tapped her toes to keep time as a music teacher led a group of students age 7 to 9 through their scales. She told the youngsters, "It takes a lot of work to learn to read music. You have to practice and practice and practice." That's pretty discouraging Condie. Why not tell them: make the effort, practice and you'll get there. But you aren't going to get there if you don't practice or make the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Maybe she can do a piano/guitar duet with Tony Blur next time she visits ol' London town.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Huh? Both statements are true. Or are you saying that presenting something as "work" is inherently bad? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Huh? Both statements are true. Or are you saying that presenting something as "work" is inherently bad? Mike ← Yes, both are true, but I think her statement is kind of negative and discouraging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 I completely disagree. I don't think saying that something takes work is negative at all. Too many children have been allowed to go through life without learning any sort of work ethic. Everything that is worthwhile requires work. I think it does students a disservice to pretend otherwise. I have seen many many students who go into learning an instrument with misconceptions, thinking that it's all just going to be fun - well, sorry, it's work too. Now, if we can instead instill the belief that work is good - enjoyable and rewarding, then I think that will help things tremendously. The single best indicator of student success is practice time. My students who put in the time (20 min/day - not a lot) succeed. Those who come in with blank practice sheets do not. And success is the best motivator. If you are successful at something, you will want to do it. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Eureka! I'm so glad we've found a job for Dr. Rice that's she's competent to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 I think it's a good thing what she have done did. I wish she'd go and do more stuff that was good like that, even if it means resigning from office and abstaining from all political and government activities for the rest of her life. Unprincipled powermongering deathwhores are a dime a dozen, but caring souls with a gift for music and a love of teaching aren't. Oh well, the choices we all make! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 I completely disagree. I don't think saying that something takes work is negative at all. Too many children have been allowed to go through life without learning any sort of work ethic. Everything that is worthwhile requires work. I think it does students a disservice to pretend otherwise. I have seen many many students who go into learning an instrument with misconceptions, thinking that it's all just going to be fun - well, sorry, it's work too. Now, if we can instead instill the belief that work is good - enjoyable and rewarding, then I think that will help things tremendously. The single best indicator of student success is practice time. My students who put in the time (20 min/day - not a lot) succeed. Those who come in with blank practice sheets do not. And success is the best motivator. If you are successful at something, you will want to do it. Mike ← They made the effort! It's all been fun for me, except for dealing with musicans who can't make an effort to get their act together. And if I didn't pick up the skills I needed, it's only because I was lazy. Mike, you and I are coming at this from two different places, you teach and I don't. You teach childern and I deal with grown musicans. Condi makes it sound difficult and it doesn't have to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Aren't "work" and "effort" synonymous? I'm still having trouble finding what's so objectionable about her statement. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Aren't "work" and "effort" synonymous? I'm still having trouble finding what's so objectionable about her statement. Mike ← She's talking about difficulty and I talking about motivation. She's saying it's hard and I'm saying, hang in there kids, it can be done, just stick with it. We're not discussing playing bebop here, this is about reading music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 It's where you put the emphasis - I have always found that there are some talking about hard work, and the others are talking more about the joy etc. you get along the way, although both are talking about the same process. But some students need the first approach, some the second. As far as my observations are over the years, the latter group is more relaxed ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Aren't "work" and "effort" synonymous? I'm still having trouble finding what's so objectionable about her statement. Mike ← It's a reflex with most people on this board. Anything a Republican does is instantly criticized and ridiculed, no matter what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 All this talk about "difficulty" - Rice never once used the word or expressed the idea of "difficulty". Just practice, practice, practice. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Did anyone else think from the title of the thread that this was going to have something to do with HBO? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 I was hoping it had to do with rice cakes. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Mike couldn't be more right about this. Doing anything well takes hard work, including practice. I don't see anything wrong with saying that. Let's pick her on when she's wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Ok. Maybe my distinction is a bit too fine, but I stand by my words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Aren't "work" and "effort" synonymous? I'm still having trouble finding what's so objectionable about her statement. Mike ← It's a reflex with most people on this board. Anything a Republican does is instantly criticized and ridiculed, no matter what it is. ← Welcome to the Miscellaneous – Non-Political Forum and thank you for making this thread political. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Let's pick her on when she's wrong. ← God knows she gives us plenty enough opportunities otherwise. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Aren't "work" and "effort" synonymous? I'm still having trouble finding what's so objectionable about her statement. Mike ← It's a reflex with most people on this board. Anything a Republican does is instantly criticized and ridiculed, no matter what it is. ← Welcome to the Miscellaneous – Non-Political Forum and thank you for making this thread political. ← Right....no one had uttered any political feelings at all prior to Greg... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Right....no one had uttered any political feelings at all prior to Greg... I didn't exactly call her a war criminal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny E Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Right....no one had uttered any political feelings at all prior to Greg... I didn't exactly call her a war criminal! ← Yeah, and I didn't call her a lying wench or a war profiteer. Get a grip Greg! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Well, I never called her a blind parrot for the administration, either, but where does that get us? Er...I mean... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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