text:
Submissions – Housing and Housing Finance Joint RBA-APRA Submission to the Inquiry into Home Lending Practices and Processes
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration
This submission brings together the factual material available to the Reserve Bank of Australia and APRA which is relevant to the four questions asked by the Committee. The material mainly relates to questions 1, 2 and 4. The information collected by the Reserve Bank and APRA in pursuit of their policy responsibilities does not extend in any great detail to the issues raised in question 3; we do, however, outline information on the extent to which households are accessing superannuation.
The main conclusions we draw from the material presented here are as follows:
Competition in the home loan market has increased markedly in recent years. This has reduced the cost, and increased the availability, of housing finance to households. Financial innovation has played a big role in this, with lenders introducing new products to cater for a wider range of potential borrowers and finding new ways to assess their borrowing capacity. Some of this innovation is often described as a 'reduction in lending standards', a term which has negative connotations. While it is true that some of the innovation has resulted in an increase in risk for both borrowers and lenders, its overwhelming effect has been to widen the range of households who can get access to finance.
The greater availability of credit means that, for a given level of unemployment and interest rates, a higher share of loans is likely to be in arrears than in the past. While arrears rates have risen somewhat recently, they remain low by historical and international standards.
Overall, the household sector remains in sound financial shape, supported by the ongoing strength in the economy. Notwithstanding this, there is a small proportion of borrowers whose finances are overextended.
Any impact on the stability of the Australian financial system from changes to lending standards and the increased availability of credit is likely, on current assessments, to be small. Various stress tests of the financial system over recent years have indicated its resilience to events that are well outside historical experience.
Question 1: To what extent have credit standards declined in recent years?
Before addressing this question, it may be useful to provide some background on developments in the home loan market. The key point is that competition in the housing finance market has increased considerably over the past decade. Competition was boosted in the mid 1990s by the entry of specialist mortgage lenders. More recently, the emergence of mortgage brokers, who act as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers and make it easier for borrowers to compare the costs and features of different loans, has heightened competition between lenders. Foreign banks have also become more active in the housing finance market during the past few years.
Interest margins (relative to the cash rate) on prime variable-rate housing loans have fallen from a peak of around 450 basis points in 1993 to an average 120 basis points at present (Graph 1). During the 1990s, most of the competition-induced decreases in the cost of housing finance were in the form of reductions in the margin between indicator lending rates and the cash rate. More recently, competition has manifested itself in increases in the size and availability of discounts being offered on housing loan indicator rates, rather than changes in indicator rates themselves. The average new borrower is now paying 60 basis points below the standard variable indicator rate.
As well as reductions in interest margins, establishment fees on housing loans have fallen, and are now regularly waived by lenders, particularly when the loan is part of a 'professional package' (which combines discounts on the housing loan interest rate and on other banking products in return for an annual fee of around $200–$300).
Competition has also led to various product innovations, many of which were first introduced by non-mainstream lenders but which are now widely available. For example, lenders have introduced home-equity loans, redraw facilities and reverse mortgages, all of which allow households to borrow against the equity they have built up in their homes. Lenders have allowed higher loan-to-valuation (LVR) loans and introduced interest-only loans and shared-equity loans, which make it easier for households, particularly first home buyers, to purchase their home.
On the specific question of lending standards, it is the case that authorised deposit taking institutions (ADIs) and other unregulated lending institutions have made a number of changes to their lending practices over recent years. These have included changes to their debt serviceability criteria; introducing a wider range of loan products; increasing their reliance on mortgage brokers to originate loans; and making greater use of alternative valuation methodologies.
Debt serviceability criteria
Until about the mid 1990s, a common rule-of-thumb was that lenders were willing to lend up to the amount where the debt-servicing ratio – the ratio of interest and principal repayments to gross income – was 30 per cent. It is difficult, however, to know the extent to which this was a constraint upon lending; it was not universally applied, and some borrowers took out a second mortgage that attracted a higher interest rate to finance their property purchase.
Over recent years, this rule-of-thumb has been relaxed. There has been a change in the way that lenders undertake their loan assessments from simple rules based on gross income to 'net-income surplus' models. These models require borrowers to have a minimum amount of after-tax income after taking account of debt-servicing requirements (including some allowance for an increase in interest rates) and a basic level of living expenses. Based on these models, lenders' online housing loan calculators suggest that lenders are now willing to provide loans with debt-servicing ratios up to around 50 per cent for higher income borrowers.[1]
While some borrowers utilise the higher allowable debt-servicing ratios, the majority of borrowers taking out new loans continue to have debt-servicing ratios significantly below the allowable limit. APRA survey data show that, in September 2006, the most common debt-servicing ratio for new borrowers was 21–25 per cent, and three-quarters of these borrowers had debt-servicing ratios of less than 30 per cent; only 9 per cent had ratios greater than 40 per cent (Graph 2). There are no historical data to allow a comparison of how these figures have changed over time, but it would not be surprising if the proportion of households with higher ratios had risen, reflecting a willingness by households to steer a greater proportion of their rising disposable income to housing. It is also important to note that, in aggregate, real household disposable income, after allowing for mortgage interest payments, is continuing to grow solidly, which indicates that households as a whole are doing well (Graph 3).
A wider range of loan products
Lenders have also introduced new loan products that better meet the needs of certain types of borrowers, such as those with irregular income streams or those who do not meet the standard lending criteria due to impaired credit histories. These products include: low-doc loans, high LVR loans, interest-only loans and non-conforming loans. As well as increasing their availability, lenders have also been reducing the interest rate premiums that they charge on these loans.
Low-doc loans, for which borrowers self-certify their income in the application process, have become more common over recent years. In 2006, 10 per cent of newly approved housing loans were low-doc, compared with less than ½ per cent in 2000 (see Table). Low-doc loans currently account for almost 7 per cent of all outstanding housing loans. These loans, designed mainly for the self-employed and those with irregular income who do not have the documentation required to obtain a conventional housing loan, have benefited borrowers who, in the past, would have been denied access to finance. However, the process may be more open to abuse by some who overstate their income to obtain a larger loan.
Per cent of approvals
Per cent of
outstandings
Prime loans
Full-doc
>99 96 88½ 88 92
Low-doc
<½ 3 10 10 7
Non-conforming loans
<½ 1 1½ 2 1
Sources: ABS; Banks' annual reports; RBA; Standard and Poor's
There has also been an increase in non-conforming loans for borrowers who do not meet the standard lending criteria of mainstream lenders. These borrowers typically have poor credit or payment histories. In 2006, non-conforming loans comprised 2 per cent of new loan approvals, compared with less than ½ per cent in 2000. Almost all non-conforming loans are provided by lenders that are not subject to prudential regulation. (The Attachment highlights the differences between non-conforming loans in Australia and sub-prime loans in the US.)
Maximum allowable LVRs on traditional prime, full-doc housing loans have risen, with low – including zero – deposit home loans now offered by a wide range of mainstream lenders. Survey data from APRA indicate that 15 per cent of loans approved in September 2006 had LVRs greater than 90 per cent, and that loans with LVRs in excess of 95 per cent have increased in recent years (Graph 4). Most lenders do not charge an interest rate premium for these high-LVR loans, though the lenders' typical requirement for borrowers to take out lenders' mortgage insurance pushes up the overall cost of these loans to borrowers.
A few specialist lenders offer loans with maximum LVRs of around 105 per cent. These loans allow borrowers with little or no deposit savings to purchase a house, and cover the associated costs such as legal fees, stamp duty and loan extension fees. These loans have higher interest rates than standard housing loans.
Interest-only loans have also become more common, particularly for investors. These loans do not require borrowers to make any repayments of principal for up to 10–15 years (after which the loan typically converts to a principal-and-interest loan), and hence have an initial repayment amount that is lower than on a principal-and-interest loan. We estimate that, in 2005, a little over 15 per cent of new owner-occupier loans were interest-only, up from 10 per cent in 2003.[2] The share of investor loans that are interest-only is much higher, at around 60 per cent in 2005. This presumably reflects the tax deductibility of interest payments on these loans. Overall, in 2005, interest-only loans accounted for around 30 per cent of new housing loans and a slightly lower share of outstanding loans.
Increased reliance on mortgage brokers
Lenders' reliance on brokers to originate loans has also risen. Mortgage brokers are heavily used by those lenders which have limited branch networks, such as the smaller regional banks or other ADIs. Broker-originated loans are estimated currently to account for a third of new housing loans, up from a quarter of new loans in 2003.[3] This is a potential source of risk for lenders, as the link between borrower and lender is weaker, and brokers' incentives may be aligned more closely with the volume of loans rather than their quality. (This has been an issue in the US sub-prime market.) In addition, APRA has found that some lenders were less diligent in verifying borrower information on broker-originated loans than they were on branch-originated loans and is addressing this issue through its routine supervision process.[4]
Greater use of alternative valuation methodologies
There has been a trend towards the use of lower cost alternative valuation methodologies in credit assessment. Traditionally, valuations were based on a full external and internal inspection of the property. But an APRA survey of approximately 100 lenders in December 2004 found that around one third of the valuations requested by lenders were based on only an external inspection, or were conducted off site using information from the contract of sale, Valuer General records, or desk-based electronic methods. There is anecdotal evidence that this share has risen further in recent years. These alternative valuation methodologies tend to be used by larger lenders for fully documented, low-LVR mortgages. The greater availability of data on housing prices in recent years may have been one factor reducing lenders' reliance on physical inspections.
Question 2: Have declining credit standards caused an increase in the number of loans in arrears and in the number of repossessions?
The level of loan arrears in Australia remains low by international standards, though it has increased over the past few years. To some extent, this increase reflects credit being made available to a broader range of borrowers. The vast bulk of these borrowers are meeting their loan obligations.
As at end March 2007, 0.38 per cent of the value of housing loans on the banks' domestic balance sheets were classified as non-performing. (Comparable figures for building societies and credit unions were slightly higher). While this has increased since the low point in 2003, it remains lower than was typical in the past (Graph 5). Of these non-performing loans, banks report that around three quarters are fully covered by collateral.
The arrears rate for housing loans underlying residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) has increased by more than those on banks' books. As at end April 2007, the 90-day arrears rate for all securitised loans (regardless of lender) stood at 0.47 per cent, up from 0.16 per cent in early 2004. (While this ratio is higher than in the mid 1990s, the RMBS market at that time was very small.)
The higher arrears rate for securitised loans partly reflects the larger share of low-doc loans in the pool of securitised loans: the 90-day arrears rate for securitised low-doc loans was 1.07 per cent in April 2007, compared to 0.40 per cent for securitised full-doc loans. The RMBS data also show that non-conforming loans represent a significant step up in risk, with 6½ per cent of these loans currently in arrears by more than 90 days.
The pattern is similar in terms of the numbers of loans in arrears. We estimate that in March 2007, roughly 12,000 of the 5½ million loans in Australia were in arrears by at least 90 days. This represented an arrears rate of 0.22 per cent, lower than the arrears rate by value, as loans that fall into arrears tend to have been taken out over the past few years (and so are larger). Consistent with the data on the value of loan arrears, arrears rates are higher for non-conforming and prime low-doc loans (Graph 6).
There is a noticeable geographical dispersion in housing loan performance. Data drawn from securitised full-doc loans show that arrears rates are higher in New South Wales than in other states (Graph 7).
The bulk of loans that go into arrears eventually get back on track, often with the lender's assistance. Even in those cases where the borrower is unable to remedy the arrears, it is more common for the loan to be refinanced with another lender (often a non-conforming lender) or for the property to be voluntarily sold, than for the lender to seek repossession.
The data available on property repossessions is relatively limited. The information available suggests a pick up in the number of court applications for property repossession in the past few years. Applications for repossessions are above their level in the 1990s even though arrears on loans are lower. This suggests there may have been some change in the behaviour of some lenders in terms of seeking repossession, which may in turn be associated with lenders moving into new loan products, such as non-conforming loans. There are anecdotal reports that some lenders, particularly non-traditional newer entrants to the market, are acting faster to obtain and execute repossession judgments.
The data on court applications for repossessions cover all types of property. They include residential properties – including properties used as security for small business loans – as well as some commercial properties. In New South Wales and Victoria, the number of applications increased by around 50 per cent in 2005 compared with the previous year, and by about 10 per cent in 2006 (Graph 8). Some more recent data are available for Victoria, and these suggest that there has not been a further increase in the number of applications in 2007.
It should be noted that the figures on court applications for repossession – 5,368 in New South Wales in 2006 and 2,720 in Victoria in the year to June 2007 – overstate the number of repossessions that eventually occur, as the borrower can still voluntarily choose to sell the property or refinance the loan with another lender before the existing lender has gone through all the remaining legal steps to take possession.
There has been an increase in the number of personal administrations (mainly bankruptcies and personal debt agreements) in the past couple of years. New South Wales has accounted for the bulk of the national increase. Caution needs to be exercised in interpreting these trends given that a reasonably large proportion of personal administrations probably relate to personal credit problems rather than mortgages directly.
In summary, while there has been an increase in housing loan arrears in recent years, the figures remain low by historical and international standards. Part of the rise is due to the fact that lenders have broadened the range of households to which they are prepared to extend credit. This is a structural change taking place in the housing loan market. The softness in economic conditions in some regions – for example Western Sydney – may also have contributed to the rise in arrears, but the vast majority of households are in a strong financial position with rising incomes (even after mortgage repayments), higher levels of confidence and solid growth in spending.
Question 3: Are borrowers in financial difficulty being treated appropriately by lenders?
As noted, the limited information available to the Reserve Bank and APRA does not allow us to form a clear view on this question. APRA does collect data on the extent to which households in distress are accessing their superannuation.[5] These data are shown in Graph 9. Superannuation members may apply to APRA for the early release of their benefits for a number of reasons, including helping to meet mortgage repayments to prevent a lender from taking possession of a member's principal place of residence. In 2006, APRA approved 13,871 applications in total for the release of $135 million, compared with 10,459 applications for the release of $77 million the previous year. The approvals in 2006 were equivalent to around 0.05 per cent of the number of superannuation accounts and about 0.01 per cent of the value of all superannuation assets.
Question 4: Are declining credit standards likely to have any long-term implications for the Australian financial system?
Housing lending has traditionally not been a source of significant risk for Australian ADIs. Nonetheless, APRA has been monitoring banks' risks carefully as greater competition among lenders over the past decade and the associated change in lending standards mean that the past may not be a particularly good guide to the future risks facing lenders. Analysis by APRA and the RBA suggests that developments to date do not pose a significant risk to the stability of the Australian financial system. This conclusion is based on a series of surveys, stress tests, and research projects which shed light on the potential for ADIs to suffer significant losses from their housing lending activities.
In 2002 and 2003, APRA conducted an extensive stress test covering most ADIs in the housing market.[6] Despite the fact that the stresses applied in this test were well beyond historical experience in Australia – including a fall of 30 per cent in property prices – no ADI would have failed as a result of this stress, although the capital bases of a small number of ADIs would have fallen below their APRA-mandated minimum.
In 2004 and 2005, APRA extended its stress testing to lenders' mortgage insurance companies (LMIs). These culminated in APRA adopting higher and more risk-based minimum prudential capital requirements for LMIs.
In 2005 and 2006, the International Monetary Fund, APRA, RBA and Treasury stress-tested the five largest Australian banks (which account for about 65 per cent of housing loans) as part of the Financial Sector Assessment Program. The exercise comprised a macroeconomic stress test involving a large fall in house prices (down 30 per cent), a marked rise in the unemployment rate (up 4 percentage points), and banks having to pay more for their funding. The stress tests confirmed the resilience of the Australian banking system; though bank profits dipped sharply, banks remained profitable and well capitalised.[7]
During 2005 and 2006, APRA also conducted two surveys which examined the extent to which ADIs have become more accepting of risk in their home lending. The first survey, which reviewed ADI lending policies, suggested ADIs would lend more money at higher debt servicing ratios than had typically been the case in the past. The second survey, which was based on a collection of ADI home loan approvals in September 2006, suggested an increase in the risk of mortgage portfolios, though this increase must be seen against the exceptionally low loss levels of past decades.
Data from a lenders' mortgage insurance provider show that annual losses on insured prime housing loans averaged 4 basis points between 1980 and 2000, with the highest loss in any one year being 10 basis points.[8] These remain easily covered by the average interest margin (relative to the cash rate) on prime housing loans (120 basis points in 2006). This interest margin needs to cover all of the costs of providing a housing loan, including the cost of originating and servicing the loan, not just the expected losses from default. Losses on non-conforming loans are significantly higher than for prime loans, at around 30 basis points in 2006, but so too is the average interest margin, at 290 basis points.
Attachment: US Sub-prime Loans and Australian Non-conforming Loans
The United States sub-prime market is markedly different from the Australian non-conforming loan market (Graph A1).
Non-conforming loans, the closest equivalent to sub-prime loans in Australia, accounted for only about 2 per cent of new loans in 2006. This was well below the 20 per cent share of sub-prime loans in total new loans approved in the United States.
Australian non-conforming housing loans have lower LVRs than sub-prime loans in the United States. The average LVR on newly-approved Australian non-conforming loans is around 75 per cent, much lower than the average LVR of about 95 per cent on United States sub-prime loans.
A feature of many US sub-prime loans is their use of low introductory or 'teaser' interest rates for a period before the rate reverts to a much higher standard rate. Also, high-risk repayment options such as negative amortisation periods have been common. These features can expose borrowers to payment shock – a large increase in their mortgage repayments – when the initial introductory interest rate period or negative amortisation period expires. Non-conforming loans in Australia do not have these features.
The arrears rate on non-conforming loans in Australia, at 6½ per cent, is well below the corresponding rate on sub-prime loans in the United States (Graph A2).
For further details on these calculations, see Box D: Estimates of Borrowing Capacity from Banks' Online Housing Loan Calculators, Reserve Bank of Australia Financial Stability Review , March 2005. [1]
Box B: Interest-only Housing Loans, Reserve Bank of Australia Financial Stability Review , September 2006. [2]
Box D: The Characteristics of Loans Originated by Mortgage Brokers, Reserve Bank of Australia Financial Stability Review , September 2004. [3]
Laker, J Credit Standards in Housing Lending – some further insights, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, 20 June 2007. [4]
Other than applying to APRA, people can also apply directly to their superannuation fund for early release of their benefits on the grounds of 'severe financial hardship'. No data are currently collected on these applications. [5]
See Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (2003), 'Stress Testing Housing Loan Portfolios', APRA Insight, 3rd Quarter. [6]
See Reserve Bank of Australia (2006), Financial Stability Review , September and International Monetary Fund (2006), Australia: Financial System Stability Assessment, including Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on the following topics: Banking Supervision, Insurance Regulation, Securities Regulation, and Payment Systems, October. [7]
The Performance of Australian Residential Mortgage-backed Securities, Reserve Bank of Australia Financial Stability Review , March 2006. [8]


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By DAS
April 8, 2012 in Ramble On
Location:Kansas, USA
I had to share this. I was going to post it in the Make Me Laugh thread but it's so good it deserves it's own thread. This is the best movie they (or anyone else) has ever made!
When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about the new movie coming out on April 13th, which I have no intentions of going to see.
At any rate, you're right DAS, Malice In The Palace is one of the stooges best. I think my favorite bit starts at 2:30 when Shemp does the old hand waving gesture & makes Moe conk his head on the floor. LOL!
I also like when Larry picks up a dish that isn't broken, then smashes it on the floor & puts it with the rest of the broken dishes...
As a fellow Stooges fan I also have no desire whatsoever to see the new movie. I'd probably be thrown out of the theater anyways for complaining at the screen. lol
The one above is my favorite but being in the field I love the ones where they're doing construction work. They actually made a pilot episode for a TV show where they would be painters but none of the networks wanted to air the show so it never happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9wYKyEI908
I heard that ABC was actually going to pick up the pilot for the Three Stooges tv show, but Columbia put the kibosh on it, their logic being that the tv show would somehow interfere with the production of their short subjects.
Location:A Buddhist Retreat
got a new three stooges scratch ticket from the lottery here.....but in doing a search i found several states have had them in the past
think i'll pass
slave to zep
i love the stooges. whats this about a new movie?
Location:Down By The Seaside
LOVE Three Stooges! I'll check this movie out when it's on HBO in about July....
SteveAJones
Recently I was doing some research on Larry. Come to find out his birthplace in Philadelphia is now a bar which pays homage to him. Cool!
http://www.jonsbarandgrille.com/
ledded1
Location:Central England
I prefer the Marx Brothers. Give me A day at the Races over the 3 stooges films anyday.
Now this is classic.
http://youtu.be/RviRADnyFPs
Location:New Hampshire, USA
Me too, but they're 2 very different things..
Most 3 Stooges shorts are good, very funny and quick.. Their feature films were terrible.
I love bits and pcs of most Marx Brothers features..
But, sitting through a whole feature film by them takes some commitment.
With The Stooges, you're in and out in 20 minutes.
oh, they are my favourite of all time, but i do love the stooges, too.
edited to add :
I guess i have the commitment for the marx brothers. You are right about the shorter stooges films. Theres only so much stupidity and slapstick you can take in a feature length film.
The Three Stooges feature films from 1959-60s are a mixed bag. A few I would call terrible, a few I would say are pretty good, but they don't compare to the short films that made them legends. It's fun to think what could have been if Columbia would've allowed the stooges to make starring features when they were in their prime with Curly or Shemp.
Under those circumstances, I think they would have made a few classics....
Location:Enumclaw, WA--USA
I guess i have the commitment for the marx brothers.
Last night we watched 'Animal Crackers'----'And now that I've swept you off my feet!'
My feelings on the Stooges are that their early ones were the best.
The Marx Brothers movies to me usually follow this format ...
A classic bit.. then a Chico piano solo for 5-10 minutes..
Then 5 minutes later another great bit, then Groucho sings for a few minutes...
Then 5 minutes later another great bit .... then a Harpo harp solo for 5-10 minutes..
I do love them, think they were brilliant and that their comedy has aged well ... much better than Abbott and Costello have..
But it's hard for me to get through a feature film of theirs in one sitting.
The Stooges are "lowbrow" and slapstick.. and that's why they were great..
They were the warm up act for the feature film... like watching a Warner Brothers cartoon before the main feature..
One thing that's pretty sobering is when you're watching a 3 Stooges episode with Joe Besser as the 3rd Stooge (which were for the most part awful) Curly and Shemp Howard are both deceased.
Curly's classic moves.
apantherfrommd
Great find. In color at that. I've never seen color footage of them from the 30's. Thanks redrum.
I was shocked to see it too.
Location:The Air Above the Din
Bong-Man
Location:The Motor City
Lol....classic !

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are very excited to announce that Acton Academy of Washington, DC has found a home in the Foggy Bottom historic district, a lovely residential neighborhood in the heart of Washington, DC!
Acton students will embark on their entrepreneurial journey in the Carwithen House, a fully-renovated historic row house on the campus of St. Paul's Parish and within walking distance of The Kennedy Center, Potomac River, Lincoln Memorial, and many other historic and cultural sites.
Located on K Street and just steps from the Foggy Bottom-GWU metro, Acton's location is convenient for families who commute to downtown DC.
We'd love to show you Acton's new location! Join us for an open house at St. Paul's Parish or sign up for a tour.


text:
Architecture is the stage on which human stories are lived out.
My work begins with and remains close to the deep human need to have purpose, refuge, and social engagement. It speaks through details; details that foster intimacy and variety, sensory and spatial. It is where makers engage with hand and mind to produce objects they are proud of, where they transform simple materials with care and intelligence into purposeful structures, where they are challenged to do more with less, and where they routinely exceed all expectations including their own.
My work is about the innovation and socio-economic abundance that results from research and investment in materials and building techniques. The act of building produces knowledge just as much as the resulting knowledge produces buildings. Each lesson learned and each incremental improvement drives micro-decisions that, over time, produce the disproportionate and cumulative increases that we call abundance.
The future is unknowable, human needs change, and the facts on the ground rarely cooperate with intentions on paper. For these reasons, I prefer fluidity and imprecision over prescriptive purity. Makers and users are invited to adapt creatively in service of themselves and their communities.
As passionate as I am about my work, my work is not about me.
My buildings have too much to do already – providing purpose, refuge, and engagement for all stakeholders — without also having to accommodate an Anupama Kundoo signature style.
RIBA Charles Jencks Award 2021
2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award Lecture: Anupama Kundoo (architecture.com)
Auguste Perret Prize 2021 for architectural technology
for her innovative use of local building techniques, material sourcing and construction principles, all the while being acutely responsive to the environment, climate and culture."
Recent Exhibition:
ANUPAMA KUNDOO: TAKING TIME
LOUISIANA Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
8 Oct 2020 to 16 May 2021
Anupama Kundoo – Louisiana Museum of Modern Art https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/65127655/anupama-kundoo-taking-time
Recent Publication:
Anupama Kundoo. The Architect's Studio
Anupama Kundoo | Lars Müller Publishers (lars-mueller-publishers.com)


text:
NEH Activities History
NEH Activities History 2
College Teaching Evaluations
Performance Resume
Recording Reviews
Acting and Speech
Voice Analysis
Piano for Singers
Student Recitals
Private Teaching Evaluations
Workshop Clients
Sample Workshop Titles
Workshop Evaluations
Monthly Tip
Websites for Singers
Going On in Music
Robert Shaw's Techniques
Music and the Child's Brain
Representational Singing
Keeping Yourself Heard
Why Can't I Carry a Tune
Lullabye Thesis
Vowel and Consonant Modification
Robert Shaw, In His Own Words
(To read the document in full, page down within the text ather than using the scroll bar)
(To read entire document without format distortion, Page Down within document rather than using the scroll bar.)
The Application and Adaptation of the Robert Shaw Method:
A Personal and Practical Strategy (c)
Nancy E. Harris. M.H.
Conclusions, Observations, and Musical Discussion Based upon Notes from
The Robert Shaw Choral Institute at Furman University, Greenville, SC, June 14-28, 1998
Introduction..........................................................................................................3
A. Personal
B. The Institute
I. Timbre & Balance.............................................................................................5
A. Theory
B. Exercises
II. Rhythm & Tempo............................................................................................7
III. Language........................................................................................................8
IV. Musical Interpretation...................................................................................9
A. Phrasing
B. Dynamics & Expression
V. Metaphors & Miscellaneous Thoughts.......................................................10
VI. Specific Musical References......................................................................11
VII. Closing........................................................................................................12
Although my undergraduate degree was K-12 Music Education, I am not directing a choir at this time. However, I do sing in a semi-professional choir in Denver, the Cherry Creek Chorale, under Brian Leatherman, who has sung with Mr. Shaw several times. My main focus is that of a soloist in choral, operatic, art-song, or musical-comedy settings.
I attended this workshop based on an experience 35 years ago. When I first saw Mr. Shaw and his chorale on tour in Tampa as a sophomore at the University of South Florida, I went into a kind of shock that such amazing things could be done with a vocal group. They were standing three or four feet apart in totally mixed formation, were obviously all solo voices, and yet they blended with such accuracy and purity that I was astounded! Ever since then, Mr. Shaw has been a idol of mine, an epitome that no one else could touch. Hence, the opportunity to study under such a great man was incredibly exciting to me.
After a long career as a professional church soloist and choral member, singing in a chorus under Sir Malcolm Sargeant with the Royal Philharmonic in Royal Albert Hall, doing a stint with the Schola Cantorum in California, and doing masters work under Dr. Barbara Doscher at the University of Colorado, my focus turned away from choral music to teaching private voice. Many of the techniques that Mr. Shaw espouses, I recognize as important and similar to those one uses in training young voices and coaching older singers for performance. (As an example, the advance use of the consonant is particularly important in German and English art songs.)
I've never completely left choral music, and have always attended the summer choral reading sessions put on by a prominent music conservatory in Denver under Dr. John Kuzma, based at the Montview Presbyterian Church. Dr. Kuzma brings in regional directors for each of the sessions, and when I worked under Brian Leatherman for one evening, I knew I could learn a lot from him, a feeling I'd not had for many years. So I joined his chorale in 1997, and have learned what I'd hoped to learn, the Shaw technique.
Choral singing has both advantages and disadvantages for the solo voice. The advantages are covering new literature, recapturing lost speedy sight-reading skills (not really required of the soloist), and the joy of the immersion in beautiful "surround sound". The primary disadvantage is potential warping of the voice when there are less-than-the-best voices in the group (especially if you have an excellent "blending" ear that forces you to sound like others around you). Many teachers of the solo voice frown upon their students' involvement with choirs for this reason. (My personal solution is to sit in the back row, where I can attempt to influence others positively without them influencing me negatively.) How nice for its members to have the opportunity to be free of that worry in Mr. Shaw's group!
As Mr. Leatherman uses as many of Mr. Shaw's techniques as possible with our choir, I feel quite at home with count-singing, dropping dots, placing consonants on the next rest, etc. My pleasure and learning in this workshop have come more from listening to Mr. Shaw's comments and metaphors as he explains musical energy and such concepts. I believe these to be applicable to both choral and solo singing, which is how I will use them.
When chosen to sing for this Institute, participants were told to learn their parts before arriving. After arriving, they were required to transfer Mr. Shaw's editing marks from prepared music to their own music, so that he would not have to take rehearsal time doing it. So this group was already far beyond the stage a normal choir would be in, to start with, to say nothing of their knowledge and skills as musicians.
Before rehearsals began, Mr. Shaw had the choir members vocalize for his assistants individually. They then assigned each a number, based on the weight of the voices. His assistants placed those numbers and names on the chairs each day in different orders, according to the type of work Mr. Shaw wished to do.
I feel that Mr. Shaw's comment, "I find it easier not to do everything at once," to be the primary focus of his rehearsals. After seating the group in two large concentric circles, he began with:
Timbre & Balance
Sing within the "sleeve" of the group, i.e. no individual voices should stick out. (I overheard two singers saying, "Singing out of the 'sleeve' is cause for a 'phone call,'" apparently something to be highly dreaded!)
"Sing very softly, as if you were on a bus and didn't want the person next to you to hear your singing. Choral sound begins from a piano sound and can then increase from there."
"Have the feeling that you are beginning with falsetto. Even basses in all registers use a quasi-falsetto."
"Try for the sound of boys' voices."
Mr. Shaw is looking for the overtone series, when the sound is at its best: "That's a lovely sound. I can hear the 12th above the octave."
"I don't like the word 'blend'. If you sing at the right pitch, right vowel, and right dynamics, one should be able to pick out what is wrong."
"Don't break over into another production."
"Gentlemen, don't try to high jump with your feet encased in cement blocks!You're carrying too much weight."
Not all of the following exercises are done at every rehearsal.This is a compilation.
Sing "oo" going down 5, moving up the scale.
Do an 8-beat crescendo on "ee" from p<f.
Sing "nee-aw, nee-aw" alternating.
Sing "noo-aw, noo-aw, noo" (beats 12, 34, 1234);same thing in 3/4 (1, 23, 1, 23, 123); pitch goes 1-m3rd,1-m3rd,1; 1-M3,1-M3rd,1, etc., chromatically up, usually to the 7th; and coming down in whole steps.
Split into octaves; sing "nee-aw" on minor 3rd, 4th, etc., starting on b flat.
On "ee" in a minor 3rd, crescendo and brighten from pp<ff to a brassy sound without vibrato; then confuse the pitch with too much vibrato; then color with vibrato, but don't confuse the pitch.
On one note: "ee ih ah eh".
On one note: "noo eh awe".
On one note: "oh-ah".
On one note: "me oh awe".
On one note: "noo oh ah" but change from one to the other imperceptibly;
Do the same as the prior exercise with the choir split into 2nds, then 3rds, 4ths, etc.
Take 16 beats to get to the crescendo on "noo ee ah" (increase to an ugly bright "ee").
Take 16 pulsed beats to move from f to f#; then reverse the process; men go down 1/2 step, women up; reverse the process.
After the second rehearsal, Mr. Shaw had the singers facing each other, turning around, circling the room, and doing other movements while singing and maintaining an even, blended tone with the rest of the group.(As mentioned before, he despises the word "blend". It is my usage, only.)
Each time he changed formation, even if during the same rehearsal period, he vocalized them on "noo ay aw" to orient them to the new positions.
At the fifth rehearsal, the group was in one giant circle, based on the numbering system. He then went through pieces very slowly, explaining his markings of 10 S, +1A, etc. He moved voices between parts based on the goal of perfect balance in the overtones, sometimes for only one note. Mr. Shaw is concerned that he not destroy the original voice leading of the composer, but moves the voices in such a way that it isn't known by the audience. The purpose is to keep the voices in the "sleeve" and easy, while strengthening specific chord structures.
While working on double-choir pieces, Mr. Shaw had each of the sections form a circle out of their large single circle, so that they could hear each other better. I noticed that, within each of the eight circles, the singers began to sway with the movement of their parts, something they'd not done when facing front.
Rhythm & Tempo
Before worrying about words or dynamics, Mr. Shaw is concerned that the group be exactly on count and understand the importance of time.I feel it is safe to say that, at least with this special group, it was his main concern.
"Music is the only true time art."
"There is no transference of discipline without accurate tempo."
"Saying 'How would he have written it to sound like I'm saying it?' is great for soloists, but to sing together, we have to get the rhythm first and add the nuances later."
"Count-sing everything first, because you can't tune if you are off even 1/100th of a second apart (1+2+T+4+).Use 'T' rather than 'three' because the 'thr' takes too long."
"Commas are always borrowed from the value you are leaving, not the one you're starting. You have to take the breath before the beat and come in on tempo."
"All quarter notes are not equal. Ending notes are shorter. You'll kill your entrances by holding the long note in the prior measure because the tones still float in the air. It always depends on the resonance of the performance hall."
"Sing poco staccato for accuracy."
"We have to be careful (on running 8ths) not to do like instrumentalists do and lean so hard into the first 8th, which delays the second."
"Even little notes get to vote! Meter energy is nondivisible; it is only multipliable, so put the energy of missing notes into the remaining ones (in this case, 16th notes)."
"Don't sing the dots...get off them."
"Forget line and focus only on the rhythm, as if you were a percussion instrument."
"Every time you breathe, you don't have the right to stop the tempo; our most elemental communication is rhythmic."
"Don't get behind the beat! You sound as if you're in a voice studio and expecting the accompanist to set the tempo, as if you have no responsibility for it!"
"I sense you're listening too much for someone to set the tempo. Make the tempo; don't wait for someone else to do it."
"I don't want to tell you to follow me, I want you to follow one another. Those are the little things that can't be conducted."
"If a piece is too complicated (such as the A.M.D.G. by Britten), there is no point in count singing. Do it on 'dah dah'."
"Use 'dah dah' on the 16ths (runs) to cut through the orchestra. 'Lah lah' takes too long; 'tah tah' cuts through too much; the soft 'dah dah' works."
"In a diminuendo, use a bit more staccato to maintain tempo."
"If you get momentum, it's hard to ritard, so select a place to begin a slower tempo and maintain it."
On legato passages in rehearsal, Mr. Shaw has his accompanist play quarter notes as four 16ths to help maintain tempo to the end, to continue the feeling of finality and forward motion.
"The tempo, or at least the final ten percent of it, depends upon the sonority of the room."
"Allargando comes out of the melodic significance," (so don't do it during choral speech).
"It's not only where the silence begins, but how you let the sound finish before that silence. Allow it to complete."
To check the rhythm of the singers against the piano, Mr. Shaw once had them sing only the vowels of the piece ("ee-eh-eh-oh-ee" instead of "misere nobis").
Sing on vowels such as "doc". Invent language that uses lots of vowel sounds ('dee-ah, doo-ah") to avoid becoming tense.
Odd-numbered singers sing the text; even, sing the numbers; reverse.
Odd numbers sing "tee tee"; even, sing text; reverse.
Do the piece on "chick chick"; then "tee tee'; then double-time "tee tee"; then "teedle eedle eedle eee".
On difficult rhythms, sing "doo doo" staccato first, then legato.
Split into a chord (e g# d f#) and do the correct rhythm with the words; occasionally move the chord up or down a step for variety; then use the proper pitches and move a little faster.
"Stand up when you have the subject, sit down when you don't (on Bach). This time, when you have the fugue subject, bring it up to mp; if you don't, sing p."
Before dealing with expression and long phrases, Mr. Shaw wants the individual syllables to have character and identity:
"We're responsible for the sound and sense of each word. Accumulatively, we probably have a thousand years of bad habits to overcome!"
However: "We must allow the music to have its commentary on the text. Don't let the text slow us down."
"The problem is to get every sound of every word but not lose the metric flow."
"Each note is important. The consonants must be slightly ahead, so that the vowel is on the beat. Give the consonant an identity of its own. Each consonant sound has a beginning of its own; it isn't just stopping a sound. Think of each syllable as nonsense and separate to get this accurately."
"Each syllable has to have a beginning, a middle, and an ending."
"We have to compensate for reverberation by making even better definition of consonants and off-beat notes."
"In phrase endings, shorten the vowel and put the consonant (s, t, etc.) on the second beat (if a rest)."
"If it's so beautiful on 'doo', why do we need the text? It gives the composer an incredible kaleidoscope of color. You will lose a little line in the changes of the vowels."
"Put a 'd' in front of each note you sing."
"Make this an exercise in teaching a 2-year-old how to pronounce things."
"Final consonants have a schwa (International Phonetic Alphabet = uh) after them. Pronounce "concord" as "conuhcorduh". That clarifies it and allows it to cut through the orchestra."
"'Where' was originally spelled with the 'h' and 'w' reversed, which is how we pronounce it (hoowear)."
"Sing it slightly detached now; it won't be for performance."
"Don't seek for line now; seek for articulation. We'll get line, tomorrow."
"You need to feel the diphthong, as if we had time (which we won't), so practice 'time' as 'taheemuh'." "Pronounce 'life' as 'lah i eef' with long 'I'."
"On the 'm' of 'pacem', close to the hum one row at a time. Watch my fingers--first finger, first row; second finger, second row; third finger, third row; and fourth finger, fourth row."
"Consonants are only about 1/10 as loud as voiwels."
Musical Interpretation
As the singers show comfort and accuracy with the rhythm and syllables, Mr. Shaw begins to add interpretation of the music, not necessarily in this order, but as needed.
"When two notes are of the same pitch and duration, emphasize the first--the first note long, the second note short.'
"When in a run, groups of two are emphasized the same way (as the prior example)."
"In longer runs, do as groups of 3 + 3." (Depends on meter.)
"Everyone sing staccato at the rallentando, not for performance, but to identify the rallentando."
"In the Bach, do not fear overphrasing because other parts are continuing, or fear interrupting a word."
"16th notes at a beginning are emphasized, but afterward are leading to subsequent notes."
"There are only two or three possibilities for purposes of note groupings; for example: Departing-->Arriving; or Departing-->Passing Through-->Arriving. This has to do with articulation versus slurring. The longer notes (dots, ties) are Arrival or resting. Shorter notes tend to lead to them, and the notes that follow are beginnings (such as anacrusis). Sequence implies Arrival or a comma, as do interruption of adjacency and change of pitch direction."
DYNAMICS & EXPRESSION
"Almost never does the loudest part of a sound start at the beginning of the syllable, unless it is marked sf. It must grow for expressiveness, even if only an 1/8 note. Don't leave any tone 'unstirred'. Always, in every note and every phrase, either crescendo or decrescendo. The middle of a held note is the loudest (<>)."(called "bloom")
"In the first instant of a diminuendo, you can have 1/16 to 1/8 note worth of 'bloom' before the descrescendo."
"Save vibrato for expressive reasons. Casals always thought that vibration should be used for expression, using wide or narrow, fast or slow."
"Draw the sound; don't jump on it and push it!"
"No two milliseconds should have the same dynamics; the sound should crescendo or decrescendo through time and is constantly in motion in vibrato. It is never a given (static position)."
"Don't break over into a brilliant sound on a crescendo. See how far you can take this falsetto or head-tone quality. Crescendo within the "sleeve" of the group."
"They write it pp but you never get to sing it when with an orchestra. Get very dark, but sing mp instead of pp, as if scaring a bunch of cub scouts with a ghost story."
"Precision starts from piano; add dynamics gradually.
On an a cappella piece: "Go after the forte sound that doesn't sound fractured. Don't push into the 20th-century sound that has to carry over lots of instruments. Maintain the same tone color you had on the piano section."
"If you only use dynamics instead of numbering (the members of the choir according to voice type), you never get the same sound twice. This method saves the voices; no one is pushed. It also doesn't disturb the intonation as much and you can maintain that sweetness of sound."
Mr. Shaw is incredibly meticulous about each note and its emphasis and importance in every voice part: "More expressive there." "Increase the dynamic." "Be late on the emphasis, as if you had a 16th rest." He does all of the expression and intonation work at first on "doo" so that he can hear the balance and the overtones.
"There's enough cresc. when the pitch goes up. You don't have to increase and break over. Did you hear the basses crack over into legitimate voice as we went up there for a moment?"
"Almost never does the loudest part of a note start at the beginning. Don't pounce unless a sf is written by the composer."
Metaphors & Miscellaneous Thoughts
To foster understanding of the music, Mr. Shaw not only leads the group through exercises, but also uses metaphors, not necessarily last, but mixed in with the prior activities. And, finally, some of his thoughts that weren't easily categorized have been included.
"Those parts of meaning that are 'unspeakable' respond to musicality, not a simple definition of the text."
"Music rests upon a false supposition, which is that time is divisible. That is reinforced by the cyclical nature of the world, such as the growing seasons, the rising and setting of the sun, etc. When you are sitting holding the hand of someone who is dying, you don't know when they pass on, nor does science, nor does law. One instant is not equal to another."
In a split choir piece, start with everyone singing the first choir part, then everyone singing the second choir part. If time, everyone should sing everyone else's parts.
"If we have a little less singing and more listening, then we'll have Bach."
"Your responsibilities as a singer are first technical and then emotional. Singers must learn to play, and instrumentalists must learn to sing."
"You'll notice from the exercise (16-beat sharping, 16-beat flatting) that it's much easier to go sharp than it is to go flat."
"Don't make it (Amazing Grace) sound like an arrangement!"
"The good, no, even the great chorus is a mucilaginous entity.You have to work hard to defeat the mucilagineity of it." Another time he said, "It sounds stickier, a little gummier than a week ago."
"Unlike drama, music requires the audience to have imagination, to become involved."
"One can change the way an audience breathes. You should care more about communication with the composer, and screw the back row. A ticket to a concert doesn't entitle one to understand it."
"Good, good, good! If you were Hindemith, you could begin to take it in dictation."
To the basses: "Your singing is more pleasing to your ear than it may be to others'."
A soloist from Mr. Shaw's Atlanta Symphony chorus said that he changes things continually. He is always open to re-interpretation based on continuing study. Even if they've already recorded a piece, it will be different the next time, so it stays interesting to work with him.
Another long-time singer with him says that he sleeps little, that he gets so excited about the music that he stays up, poring over it for new thoughts about it. His markings, therefore, are often changed in rehearsal.
"To do this tempi, we have to have the horses. We have that. Next we need size. This group (72 people) is a good size for a chamber chorus with orchestra."
'Bipedalism is terribly important to music."
"The orchestra parts are marked pp to mp; it'll never happen!"
"Because the chords begin to weaken as you hold a note (muscle exhaustion), they will tend to flat. If you have a note that holds that long, you can continually sharp it ever so slightly to maintain pitch."
If you get the two outer voices in tune, you've got it made. It would be better to sit alto, soprano, bass, tenor."
Specific Musical References
In addition to the editing of the scores, Mr. Shaw provides additional notes that may not be on the music, of which these are a sample.He also may change his mind when he hears the singers do what he'd originally marked.
Bach's Singet…:
"Make the syncopation a little bit sinful. The way you do it is to bear down on 'a gnus' and use poco staccato on 'de i'."
"Take the pitch from the oboes when the orchestra tunes up."
R.V. Williams' Mass in G Minor:
"Use a Gregorian sound, mysterious, not bright like the Haydn or Mozart."
"I haven't been able to find any recordings of this made in his lifetime. Today the Sanctus is recorded so slowly."
"This is surprisingly slow (Osanna)."
"On 'miserere', put a stop before the second 're'. It's too much in here, but not in the chapel."
"On 'patrem', to eliminate too much plosive on the 'p', use a 'b' or even an 'm'."
"I shocked myself when I looked up largamente in a dictionary. It means 'broadly sustain without a change in tempo.' Elgar used it for slowing down, so Ralph Vaughan Williams probably did, too."
Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass
"It is very emotional."
"On 'eleison', make 'son' into 'sauna'."
"On 'kyrie', say 'eh' on the end, not the 'aaee' diphthong."
"We have to remember that Mozart and Haydn were writing symphonies, and the voices are but a part. If we expect to hear the same thing here (in the concert hall with full orchestra) as we heard in rehearsal, we'd be emasculating the composition."
Mozart's Coronation Mass:
"The Haydn reminds me of the Vietnam War. Then, when I open the Mozart, there is no other mind."
"On Ky ri e, the emotional and psychological point is Ky. It is establishing the Almighty in contrast to the pathetic nature of man (kids shooting other kids in school), so use f on Ky and p on the remaining syllables."
"Add a 'd' in front of the ri on both Ky dri e and Glo dri a."
"On 'misere', use something between an 's' and a 'z'."
"On 'amen', make sure the 'ah' ends so 'm' can come before the beat."
"We need more 'v' on 'voluntatis', so add a little 'f' with more lip. I've never used it before (foluntatis) but it almost works! "
"Get off the 'mus' in 'agimus'."
"Mozart was not like Beethoven. He wasn't fulfilling the text, but almost hoping the text will fulfill the music."
Howell's Requiem:
"Sweet piece, isn't it? So that you don't have more fun listening than singing, get the sonorities out."
Britten's A.M.D.G.:
"It may not be a great piece, but it's a departure, extraordinarily creative. It's as if he's making up a new music."
"I want a drumming quality from the men. Be percussion instruments, but more sostenuto when you take the verse in the middle."
Britten's Sacred & Profane:
There are some very tricky and dissonant chord movements for which Mr. Shaw had to split out parts and add them back one at a time or work as duets. It was the only time in the entire two weeks he was required to do so.
"Basses, think bass clarinet."
The title of this paper demands a personal strategy in the use of Robert Shaw's methods of working with music. As I stated in the Introduction, I will not be using these techniques to instruct a choir. Rather, I will use them myself when singing in a choir, when preparing and performing solo works (as appropriate), and for teaching my vocal students how to analyze and practice a work before performance. I already teach light lyricism (per Dr. Doscher), but will add some of his exercises to warmup periods for both myself and my students. I will also, if Mr. Leatherman wishes, give a report to our choir on my experiences here and provide copies of this paper to its members.
A summarizing note I wrote to myself states, "Standard practice procedure: light warmups, "dah, dah" or count-sing music, do words evenly but heavily pronounced, check dynamics and emphasis, and finally put it all together to perform."It is incomplete. To this group, Mr. Shaw said, "I don't worry about interpretation with you." However, in a less professional environment, obviously, more work must be done on interpretation. The ideas he has given us on ways to approach music are very logical and are broken down into enough small steps to enable anyone serious about a work to truly study it for the best way to present it, whether it be for a choir, or for a soloist.
PERSONAL NOTES ABOUT MR. SHAW:
Mr. Shaw always wears navy blue pants and shirts, and black fringed loafers. He has silver hair and glasses to read music with. The first week, he sweated a lot, more in the afternoon, when his hair became soaked...he had a towel handy, so I presume this is normal for him. He once offered a free kidney to anyone who needed it: "never been used!"
Sometimes he conducts with his elbows high as UPbeats, rather like he was trying to lift the sound. In fact, he uses the word "lift" occasionally. He quietly and breathlessly sings for rhythm keeping along (not necessarily on pitch), occasionally checking his electronic metronome on the podium for tempo accuracy. He talks over the warm-ups and the music. When first directing for expressiveness (after all of the scut work), Mr. Shaw bent over, almost squatting, and began swinging his body into the wave of sound.
When he tires, his normally large and resonant voice begins to sound like Garrison Keillor at the end of "Lake Wobegon".
One of his regular singers said that his second wife died about two years after they renovated an old inn in Southern France. She was quite a bit younger than he. He'd complained about how much money she spent on the renovation. I imagine he was sorry later that he had.
He has a son at Yale (Harvard?) who is apparently a brilliant actor, landing a lead in his freshman year, and who will probably become a playwright.
His Stories, most of which were for laughter's sake:
RE Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky: "'I cannot write a note until I've decided on the tempo,' was Stravinsky's claim. Hindemith made fun of him by saying, 'He sat down at the piano and fooled around until he found an idea that he'd like to write on... One day he found the minor 3rd and wrote the entire piece!'"
"The poetry came from the goliards. Even when the poems are in German, their schools existed only in Italy, so use Italian Latin, not German Latin, in 'Carmina Burana'."
"After a B Minor Mass concert in Rocamadur (sp?), I was walking out with a priest, who said, 'You know, Mr. Shaw, when the angels want to do something for God, they do only Bach. When they want to do something for themselves, they only do Mozart...and God kneels at the keyhole and eavesdrops!'"
"Give me a popular song and I cannot make a mistake with it."
"It's always a problem on Sunday afternoons to get the church out of the voice and the religion back in." (re Sunday afternoon rehearsal)
"Interrupt me, but do it very subtly, so I don't realize it's an interruption."
While fumbling to change glasses once, he said, "I have glasses for this and glasses for that...and none for the other thing. Some things you can memorize!" Apparently this is an old saying of his, for the story goes that, after the birth of his son when he was over 60, someone congratulated him by saying "Hell of a memory, Bob!"
"The basses can stick with "doo" because they make more than everybody else."
"I only have two musical jokes, and this is one of them: Two summers ago we were on tour in Israel with Jesse Norman and Zubin Meta, conducting. We traveled by bus, even got bullet holes through the windows. Anyway, we were the first group to sing German in Israel, Bach's 'Christ tod in…' and Brahms' 'Liebeslieder Valses.'Worse than that, we performed in the only auditorium left standing…the YMCA! The audience wouldn't leave, and stubbornly stayed in their seats after each encore. So, finally Meta pushed Jesse out on stage and said, 'Sing anything!' So she did. The first thing that came to her mind was 'Were you there when they crucified my Lord?'"
"The fourth year of my tours, using mostly Julliard students who'd rather make a buck that way than working retail, I asked Columbia, our major supporter, to allow us to do Bach's B Minor Mass. They said, 'No, the crowds won't buy it.' I told them just to announce it. They did, and the tour was sold out by phone in four days! We traveled 200-500 miles a day, doing 40 concerts in 42 days. When we got back, the singers were so much better that their professors were wondering where they took lessons during the summer. Bach had been 'teaching' them voice for six weeks! They had to learn intellectually, emotionally, and vocally how to handle that kind of pressure well, without hurting themselves."
"On tour, the sections would rehearse four hours each, separately, so I had to conduct 16-20 hours a day."
He asked his mom, who was quite elderly and in her 90s: "Mom, what's the greatest change you've seen in this century?" Her answer? "My skin."
"When Truman was President, I spent three nights at the White House…and it didn't cost a cent! Truman was a wonderful sweet man."
"After an outdoor 'Messiah' I did for Humphrey once, I ran over and climbed on a chair to shake his hand across a fence around the dais, and suddenly the Secret Service were swarming around me. I could've just pulled him off, over the fence!"
"I saw Roosevelt once, using his crutches. He moved very slowly, was so tall you could see his head above everyone else's. And then there was Teddy Roosevelt…It was a rough ride that night..thought we'd never get out of Nevada!"
"At a religious gathering, I said, 'If there is a God, he is, by definition, good. The question is whether we're down here doing our best for that sick child.' My mistake there was using the 'F' word...IF! That's not allowed!"
"Smile...and get it over with!" (said at the start of a rehearsal)
"I always accept what he says (Norman, his accompanist) because it's easier than making up my own mind. I have to go searching for it before I can do that!"
"George Szell had trouble with beats...I don't think he ever tried the Rites of Spring, while for Lenny, it was falling off a log. Anyway, Szell was angry at the orchestra (No need--they were already afraid of him!) over a piece which went against the natural emphasis (5/4). He lost the beat and was so angry, he dismissed the chorus and orchestra for a break. As they filed out, I overheard a cellist saying, 'I've seen 2+3, 3+2, 4+1,and 1+4, but it's the first time in my #!* life I ever saw 6 take away 1!'"
During a spiritual: "It's right to be late on that p attack. I asked the concertmaster for the Boston Symphony when it was under Serge Koussevitsky (sp?) how he brought the violins in on very soft passages. The concertmaster said, 'I bring them in when he presses the button in the middle of his vest!'"
"I'm from a fourth generation of chaplains...my brother was a chaplain in W.W. I and left his body in the Pacific. Anyway, one day I was asked at church to pray for a sick woman, and I'd never prayed for anything specific except a bicycle. So I was very nervous, and didn't know what to say, so I got up there and started talking about the quality of care she deserved and so on, and people started bowing their heads because it said 'Pastoral prayer' in the program. They figured I was praying, and after a while, someone said 'Amen', so I stopped! Right after we left the church, her son drove up, hopped out of his car, and said, 'She got better right at 11:37!" which was about the time we'd been praying. So I left the church and never went back! I didn't want that kind of responsibility...the next week they had the whole list of everyone in the congregation who was sick!"
"I keep retranslating (music). Pulled out the one (Creation) I did 30 years ago, and it's so much better than the one I did yesterday!"
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On Choosing The Right Job « Eric Anthony Grollman, Ph.D.
Yes, you read that appropriately. This post is about the process of choosing a job once one has finished graduate school.
In the years leading up to my job search, I heard all sorts of warnings about how difficult the job market would be. The scariest, yet most sound advice was to acknowledge that at least 80 percent of what occurs during one's job search is beyond one's control. At the start, even deciding to go on the market is a negotiation with one's committee and department. But, I stress that this, and subsequent decisions, should also involve the other committee members in one's life: family and one's gut. And, ultimately, where you take a position should be an informed choice.
Say you only land one job offer, and it is something short of perfect or your dream job. You can choose not to accept it. Sure, others will probably say you are foolish to give up a job "in this market!?!" If you have any reason to hesitate in accepting a job at that institution, it is worth really asking yourself — is there a chance you will need to look for a new job within a few years, or even immediately? I know of some folks who have chosen this route, but I cannot fathom taking a position knowing I will need to go through the stress of a job search again.
So, what other options are there? There are a number of good reasons not to accept a visiting position. But, the alternative may be staying in graduate school another year, maybe even two or more if subsequent job searches do not go well. With another year in hell grad school as an option, I went on the job market with fairly open preferences for a job; you couldn't pay me (ha!) enough to stay longer than I did.
To be completely honest, the "oh no, I'll never get a tenure-track job!" fear stayed at a tolerable level because I eventually decided that academic jobs were just one type of job. Yes, I am make the blasphemous statement that there are jobs outside of academia, as well as some within it other than faculty positions. I told myself that if I received no offers, I would continue my job search but in applied and non-profit positions. I know that leaving academia immediately after graduate school would come with the possible feeling that I am better off, but also with other academics' assumptions that I was less committed. (Oh, there are so many ways we jump from life decision — get married, have a baby, take something other than an R1 job — to assumptions about one's commitment to the academy.) Though I have seen some return to academia after some years working outside of it, the myth is that one will never be able to return (probably because of the aforementioned assumptions about commitment).
All of this is to say that I am troubled by the pressure to accept the sole tenure-track job offer one receives. It is a job then, but it may mean a few unhappy years. It is important to think about the long-term consequences of something that seems "better" today.
What if you have two or more offers? Good for you! Having one, or even none, is still no signal that one is not competent, or ready, or worthy of a job. But, for the job search itself, it is nice to have two or more to choose from. The aforementioned advice about considering alternative careers, or not even accepting a job, still apply here — even if you have 10 offers. If/when you accept an academic position, it should be because you are absolutely certain that you want it, not because it is the expected outcome of graduate school.
Below, I offer some tips that may be useful as you weigh your options — even if you only have one offer.
If you have yet to sit down with yourself to make a job wish list — what are your wants and what are your must-haves in a job — do so before you accept an offer. And, even if you have at earlier stages in the job search, I would encourage doing so again.
When I began receiving advice that was so far afield of my interests, passions, and personal needs, I felt as though I wanted to shut my eyes and close my ears to concentrate on what my internal adviser was telling me. This is not to say that others' advice was bad or even malicious. But, I had to remind myself that much of it was based either on an inaccurate or incomplete picture of who I am, and some is either standard advice ("go R1!") or self-centered advice.
Unfortunately, so much advice presumes a certain commitment to academia, one that is uncomplicated when you are not disadvantaged in some way. For example, telling people to take a job in North Dakota, either because it is a great school or one's only offer, ignores that some people — especially queer people, people of color — may be miserable in such a place.
While most who will offer advice have good intentions, the onus to make an informed decision falls on you. The most work I had to do was to figure out what the heck liberal arts jobs really were. Funny, most of the people telling me to "go R1!" have only been at research-intensive universities. Thus, they are not really in a position to tell me what liberal arts jobs would be like. I had to contact friends and colleagues who were actually in faculty positions at liberal arts colleges, and scour the internet for information and personal reflections on the differences from positions at research universities. One of the most helpful reflections I read was "Are You A SLACer?" over at Memoirs of a SLACer.
On my interview with UR, my future colleagues were honest, yet positive about faculty life. But, I supplemented those conversations with some investigative work. I looked through the student newspaper, documented history of the university, and students' personal reflections and ratings on the university (e.g., U.S. News & World Report). I looked for specific things — the campus climate and institutional support for people of color and queer people. Like any place, I saw a few concerning events in the not-so-distant past, and grumblings about the historical lack of racial and ethnic diversity. But, I was impressed by the recent, intense shift toward greater inclusion. For my other options, I saw enough of a concern that I had major reservations about accepting a position there.
I was particularly impressed with UR because parts of the visit were clearly tailored to my interests — namely meeting with staff/faculty involved with diversity programming on campus, and community-based research and teaching. Not only were my future colleagues showing me that I could fit (resources, initiatives, climate), but that they also cared and celebrated the unique aspects of my scholarship. Once I started, and slowly let down my guard, I have found they think quite highly of my blogging. Hello, perfect job!
As an academic, you have skills to observe, critique, listen, connect dots, etc. In your hunger for a job, do not turn off these skills during the interview and negotiation phases. Observe interactions among faculty, especially across power lines: senior to junior faculty, privileged faculty to marginalized faculty (e.g., whites to colleagues of color), and vice versa. Observe how faculty and administrators interact, or at least how they seem to talk about one another. Observe how faculty interact with staff, especially the department's administrative staff. Observe how faculty interact, or talk about one another, across departments and colleges. And, observe student-faculty interaction.
Of course, try to treat how students, staff, faculty, and administrators interact with you as participant observation. Do not rush to either demonize or justify unusual interactions — at least until once you have enough information to assess the whole university and department.
Red Flags: On one campus interview, there were several red flags for me. A few off-handed remarks were made by faculty that suggested they thought little of their students. And, I was told outright community service was for post-tenure. But, the sirens really went off when faculty either noted first-hand experience, or hearing about others' experiences, with discrimination and exclusion. I do not know if they assumed they were doing what is right by being completely honest, or maybe figured I could understand given my own research on discrimination.
In interactions with another school, faculty stressed so hard how diverse and accepting the college is — but it felt as though they were trying to convince themselves more than me. Via a phone interview for a joint position, it was quite obvious the two departments had different visions of what the job entailed, and there seemed to be little connection across departmental lines. Whether the departments themselves saw these as problems is important, too; but, that these problems exist was enough for me to be wary of taking job in these departments.
Personal Fit: I also noticed varying levels of closeness among faculty. On one visit, there were strong friendships among the faculty, but mostly among junior faculty; it seemed the senior faculty were on the margins of the department. Ironically, the appeal for UR was that faculty have strong professional relationships, but have their independent lives after hours. As the chair described it, the department is more like family than friends. I was surprised that this was appealing to me, but now realize it was the promise of not having colleagues in my personal business. I am free to make personal connections as I wish, and share the personal aspects of my life I feel comfortable sharing at work. The supposed collegial, yet high-school-like microcosm that was graduate school has led me to appreciate leaving work at work and home at home.
Also, I took note of how relaxed or stressed faculty seemed. Some of the most wound-up academics I know can easily dissolve into a monologue rant about all of their upcoming deadlines. The flip-side is being carefree because one is working at a leisurely pace. The strength for UR over my other options was that my future colleagues appeared to work hard, but at a pace and within a climate that did not mandate 24/7 stress and anxiety.
Remember, this is just a job. You should chose one that serves your goals. I am well aware that this is simply my perspective and experience speaking, so you may find others' advice useful, too.
By Dr. Eric Anthony Grollman in Discrimination and Bias, Diversity and Inclusion, graduate school, Health and Self-Care, job market, Research and Writing, tenure-track on November 1, 2013 .
Yes, yes, a THOUSAND TIMES YES! Thank you for once again saying the words that SO MANY folks need to hear. We have AGENCY in this process, and being happy and fulfilled at work and at home is possible if you prioritize what you want in a job. Can't thank you enough for writing this and sharing it.


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Indiana doctor who provided abortion services to 10-year-old rape victim drops lawsuit against state AG
AMANDA ANDRADE-RHOADES/The New Y
Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The New York Times/Redux
Attorneys for Dr. Caitlin Bernard
By Lauren del Valle and Christina Maxouris, CNN
Attorneys for Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the Indiana doctor who provided abortion services to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio, and her medical partner dropped their lawsuit against the state attorney general Thursday.
In July, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced an investigation into Bernard's potential failure to report the abortion and child abuse.
The doctors' lawsuit had alleged Rokita's office used illegitimate consumer complaints to seek patient records and pursue that probe, and it asked a court to prevent the official from using those complaints to continue the investigation.
An Indiana judge last week denied the doctors' emergency motion, saying the jurisdiction of that matter fell under the state's medical license board.
But the judge also found that Rokita had unlawfully breached confidentiality of his office's investigation by publicly discussing the case in the media before filing a complaint with the medical licensing board.
(The attorney general filed the complaint with the board last Wednesday, alleging Bernard violated federal and state law related to patient privacy and the reporting of child abuse and requested the board take "appropriate disciplinary action.")
In a statement Thursday, Bernard's attorney said that with the voluntary dismissal, "we preserve our victory in court proving that the Attorney General violated Indiana law by publicly discussing the details of an investigation into Dr. Bernard which he was statutorily required to keep confidential at that stage."
"While the motion for emergency relief was pending, AG Rokita dropped his investigation of (Bernard's medical partner) altogether," Attorney Kathleen DeLaney's statement added.
A spokesperson for the state's attorney general told CNN in a statement that the withdrawal decision "less than a week after our win in court is further confirmation that she was putting her political agenda above the privacy and safety of her 10 year old patient."
"At the same time any of the court's extraneous verbiage about the attorney general's comments didn't have legal value as the court itself acknowledged," the statement added.
The case first garnered national attention over the summer, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the federal right to abortion.
Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist, helped the 10-year-old rape victim following Ohio's ban of almost all abortions after six weeks of gestation.
Under Indiana law, an abortion performed on a person younger than 16 years of age must be reported to the state's Department of Health and also to the Department of Child Services within three days of the abortion.
Bernard reported the abortion procedure to the Indiana Department of Health on July 2 — two days after it was performed — as required by the department, according to agency documents obtained by CNN.
Bernard's employer, Indiana University Health, has concluded she was "in compliance with privacy laws."


This book provides foreigners with a head start to understand Brazil and Brazilians. When thinking about Brazil what comes to mind is Rio de Janeiro, Carnival parades, beaches, forests, women in bikinis and soccer players. But Brazil is much more. This will help you get past those "selling" images and get to know a more about the real country and its people, both the bright and dark side.
It is not my purpose in this book to convince you one way or the other. Simply to present facts about Islam so that the reality of what Islam is and stands for is before you. The rest is up to you.
Written by a prominent and respected firearms instructor. Learn about weapon selection, safe handling, storage, transporting, practice and the responsibilities of carrying a self-protection weapon. A must read for anyone preparing to obtain a concealed carry permit. Contains information applicable to all states, with specific information for the state of Missouri.
There are recipes in this eBook to suit all tastes and pockets, from the simple to the elaborate, from the well tried to the rashly 'experimental'. Many of the recipes are simple and easy to cook using ready prepared tinned ingredients or frozen pastry and you can experiment and change ingredients somewhat, don't be afraid to try something new.
A former recruiter discusses what it really takes to get a job in this down economy. Topics covered include why a resume objective may be deadly, buzzwords that should be included in online resumes,where to meet potential employers, how to behave at a networking event, the benefits of interning—even for adults long out of school, and finding work as an independent consultant until you get a job.
I will try to present most of what you need to know here; types of firearms, loading, firing, casualties, and tactics, so you can write your story.
Six ugly truths about motherhood explain why I think motherhood is probably overrated and is not the be-all end-all, bee's knees, and cat's pajamas that some (but not all) mothers claim it to be.
My writing method is a focus on writing short, high quality books that bring value to readers. Most of my methods are for nonfiction, but many examples and ideas work well for fiction books, too.
An informative and entertaining guide to the 73 LGBTQ persons featured on United States postage, from the first postage stamp issued in 1847 through the year 2016.
If you are called upon to offer a eulogy, introduce a speaker or make any special occasion speech, this book will guide you with tips and valuable direction. Sections on content and delivery in public speaking show how to connect well with your listeners. Includes 24 readings, stories and scriptures for use with eulogies.


Flared cut and print depicting a PIN UP with Liu Jo personalisation and ROSES.
FEISTY print that makes this garment SPECIAL and perfect when paired with DENIM.
To wear throughout the day, whether for the OFFICE or for a day of SHOPPING with friends.


text:
Q: How to escape from the bracket when writing Objective-C with Xcode? I find writing Objective-C with Xcode sometimes could be painful when trying to escape from the bracket,
like I have to use the mouse or the direction key  Right to continue after entering [UIView alloc].
Is there another way? Tab is not working :(

A: I assume Xcode is inserting the close bracket (]) for you, after your cursor. That happens because you have "Enable type-over completions" turned on in Xcode's preferences:

One way to handle this is by typing a close bracket when your cursor is at the close bracket. Because "Enable type-over completions" is turned on, Xcode will not insert another close bracket. It will just move the cursor past the existing close bracket. Try it! When you want to "escape from the bracket", just type the bracket.
Another way to handle this is by turning off the "Enable type-over completions" setting. If you turn it off, Xcode will not insert the close bracket for you, so you'll have to type the close bracket, but you won't have to "escape from the bracket" because there's no bracket to escape from.

A: No way around this as the autocomplete feature puts the cursor behind the close bracket to continue typing the method call. If this feature is turned off you can just type the closed bracket to finish the method call.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
London sights and attractions
Marylebone High Street
Venue Hire near Marylebone High Street
Marylebone High Street, 0 Marylebone, London W1U 5HD
All The Best Art Galleries Business Faculties Conference Facilities Event Organisers Exhibition Centres New Hotels Venue Hire
Hertford House, Manchester Square, Marylebone, London W1U | 5 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
28 Portland Place
28 Portland Place, Fitzrovia, London W1B | 6 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
One Mayfair
London > Business
13A North Audley Street, W1K | 11 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Built in 1825, One Mayfair opened in 2009 and quickly became one of London's hottest venue hire destinations. The Grade I listed building... More
Claridge's
Brook Street, Mayfair, Mayfair, London W1K | 12 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The Sanderson Hotel
50 Berners Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T | 13 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The Rathbone Hotel
30 Rathbone Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T | 14 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Centrally located in Fitzrovia, it's a short walk from The Rathbone to Oxford Street, Soho and London's theatre district. With high speed wireless broadband available... More
London > Business > Art Galleries
16-18 Marshall Street, Soho, London W1F | 15 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The Vinyl Factory event space in Soho comprises of a main gallery space and smaller studio area, both of which are available for hire. It... More
Friends House
173-177 Euston Road, Bloomsbury, London NW1 | 17 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The historic headquarters of Quakers in Britain, Friends House in Euston has 23 function rooms including a large Meeting Hall which seats up to 1,100... More
Six Storeys
11 Soho Square, W1D | 17 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
A stylish, towering building overlooking Soho Square, Six Storeys is a bar, restaurant and events space in an 18th... More
Dartmouth House (English-Speaking Union)
37 Charles Street, The English-Speaking Union - Dartmouth House, Mayfair, Mayfair, London W1J | 18 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The Dorchester Hotel
54 Park Lane, Mayfair, London W1K | 19 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
One of the most famous hotels in England, The Dorchester is a stunning Art Deco curve, overlooking the expanses of the Royal Parks. This is... More
Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J | 19 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Lord Burlington's spectacular London palace is home to the Royal Academy of Arts, a set of galleries that houses the country's premier art school and... More
68 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D | 19 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
This stylish private house in Soho is suitable for photo shoots, meetings, press events, filming and for a limited range of social events such as... More
Dover Street Restaurant and Bar
8-10 Dover Street, Mayfair, Mayfair, London W1S | 19 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
This long established night spot in Mayfair's Dover Street has been providing Londoners with a sophisticated setting to enjoy food, drink and live entertainment for... More
Logan Hall
Level 1 Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, Bloomsbury, London WC1H | 19 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Part of the Institute of Education, Logan Hall is an imposing auditorium with seating in tiers, good acoustics and excellent sight lines with capacity to... More
The May Fair
Stratton Street, Mayfair, London W1J | 20 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Senate House Venue Hire
Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E | 20 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Commissioned as the first purpose-built home and central headquarters of the University of London, Senate House has ten rooms available for private hire, all named... More
The Congress Centre
23-28 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1B | 20 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Based at Congress House, the headquarters of the Trades Union Congress, the Congress Centre offers several meeting and conference rooms for hire within an architecturally-renowned... More
195 Piccadilly (BAFTA)
195 Piccadilly, St James's, London W1J | 21 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The home of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is also available to hire for your own event. The iconic building at... More
The Ritz Hotel
World famous luxury hotel, right on Piccadilly, with a roof terrace looking across Green Park. The fine food (particularly the Afternoon Tea) at the Ritz... More
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury, London WC1B | 21 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
If you wanted to thoroughly explore the British Museum, it would take months, if not years. Over seven millions objects from all over the world... More
Spencer House
27 St James's Place, St James's, London SW1A | 23 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Spencer family's 18th London residence. The ancestral home of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Spencer family hasn't lived in this, their London residence, since 1926.... More
The Francis Crick Institute
Ossulston Street, NW1 | 23 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The Francis Crick Institute, a centre of biomedical research and innovation, is what happens when six of the UK's most successful scientific and... More
British Library Conference Centre
96 Euston Road, King's Cross, London NW1 | 24 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
As the national library of the United Kingdom the British Library is renowned for its world class collection of books but its Conference Centre is... More
Odeon, Leicester Square
24-26 Leicester Square, Soho, London WC2H | 24 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
One of London's biggest cinemas, the Odeon Leicester Square regularly plays host to premieres and awards ceremonies as well as screening the week's big releases.... More
Yeomanry House
Handel Street, WC1N | 24 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
An army careers centre, Yeomanry House is home to AFCO London. If you want to chat to someone about whether joining the... More
1 Suffolk Place, St James's, London SW1Y | 24 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
A hip designer hotel by Tim and Kit Kemp in a grand building on the prestigious Haymarket, the broad boulevard street making for an impressive... More
Institute of Directors - IOD
116 Pall Mall, St James's, London SW1Y | 25 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The Lanesborough London
Hyde Park Corner, Westminster, Belgravia, London SW1X | 25 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Capturing the style of an exquisite early 19th-century residence, this esteemed establishment is wonderfully elegant and upmarket. Offering an exclusive personalised service, every guest... More
St Martins Lane Hotel
45 St. Martin's Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2N | 25 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
To enter the stunning St Martins Lane Hotel in the heart of London's Theatreland you pass through the tallest revolving door in London, a luminescent... More
Near Marylebone High Street
25 Years Of Atlas Gallery
Exhibitions | Until 31st August 2019
Atlas 4 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Civilised Sundays at Jikoni
Jikoni 4 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Running on one Sunday a month from April to July, Civilised Sundays at Jikoni welcomes a broad line-up of guest ...More
An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik
Exhibitions | Until 1st September 2019
Wallace Collection 5 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Put your best foot forward and hot step it to the Wallace Collection where luxury shoe designer Manolo Blahnik gives ...More
An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik At The Wallace Collection
The venture juxtaposes an icon from the world of contemporary fashion with Wallace's outstanding collection of art....More
Playing the Picturesque
RIBA Architecture Gallery 6 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Architectural design studio You+Pea has created Playing the Picturesque, an interactive installation exploring the boundaries between virtual and physical space. ...More
Concerts | On 16th July 2019
Wigmore Hall 7 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
The pianist plays Mozart's Piano Sonata In F, Philip Herschkowitz's Klavierstuck In 4 Satzen, Mozart's Piano Sonatas In A Minor ...More
Catch Your Breath
Royal College Of Physicians 8 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Running throughout the summer, Catch Your Breath at the Royal College of Physicians explores respiration and how breathing is far ...More
Selfridges Art Block: Marco Miehling
Selfridges 9 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Exhibitions & Art, Installation....More
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park 9 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Get fully immersed in Shakespeare's mythical forest this summer with A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Regent's Park Open Air ...More
Regent's Park 9 minutes walk from Marylebone High Street
Frieze Sculpture returns to the English Gardens of Regent's Park for 2019, once again running for three months from July ...More
From cheap budget places to stay to luxury 5 star suites see our discounts for Marylebone High Street hotels, including Grange White Hall Hotel London from 60% off.
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text:
« Rocky Graziano
Joe Frazier »
The American two times heavyweight world champion "Big George" Foreman was the oldest man ever who have won the heavyweight crown. He started his career at the age of 19, in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics he attracted the public interest by winning the gold medal. Between 1969 and 1971 his growth as a fighter was remarkable. In all his fights Foreman was unbeatable. In 1970 he won memorably against George Chuvalo and this presented him as one of the toughest knockout boxers in the world history. In 1973 Foreman won in the ring against the heavyweight champion Joe Frazier by knockout in two rounds with knocking him down. Unfortunately, Foreman lost his crown to Muhammad Ali in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in 1974.
However, this was not the end of Foreman who continued boxing and winning. His durability as a boxer was remarkable and in 1994 at the age of 45, he stunned world-wide boxing fans by defeating in the tenth round Michael Moorer and became for the second time a heavyweight champion. He retired from boxing at last in 1998 and in 2003 he was nominated to the International Boxing Hall of Fame and named by Ring Magazine as the 9th greatest boxer of all time.
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Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
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