Tag: Arizona

Tucson Needs Evening and Weekend Classes

Since 2023, I’ve been teaching in-person classical composer music courses in Tucson. I’ve had to do all the work myself (preparation, venue, recruitment, publicity, etc.) because none of the existing continuing education organizations in the Tucson metro area offer evening and weekend classes. Moreover, the primary organization providing continuing education courses in Greater Tucson, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute—University of Arizona (OLLI-UA) adds the additional restriction that their advertised target audience includes no one under the age of 50. Since my music courses are expressly intended for anyone interested in learning more about classical music, high-school age and older, I have had to set about on my own with no organizational support whatsoever. It has not been easy.

Anyone who has attended a symphony or chamber music concert over the last few years will notice that audiences are generally dwindling and the vast majority that do attend these concerts are folks in their 60s, 70s, or older. In my own small but determined way, I am attempting to help reverse these trends by helping folks—especially younger folks—to see that classical music can be as exciting, meaningful, and inspirational as the best of whatever other kinds of music they’ve been listening to—even more so. I am teaching the kind of music classes that I wish someone had taught me when I was a young adult. Since my interest and expertise is in building audiences for classical music, both live performances and recorded music (because, let’s face it, there is a lot of great music that most of us will never have the opportunity to hear in live performance, no matter where we live), I focus mostly on listening enjoyment and the “life and times” of each composer rather than on music theory. Even though my courses are entitled Music for Listeners, I have no doubt that professional and amateur musicians will also enjoy the meticulously-researched “deep dive” into the life and music of each composer while at the same time helping them expand their repertoire.

Attracting younger music listeners to the courses I teach requires choosing a class time that is least likely to conflict with a prospective participant’s work schedule or—in the case of students—class schedule. For the courses I teach, I have generally settled on Saturdays from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

Trying to reach the people in the Tucson metro area that would most benefit from my music courses has proved exceedingly difficult. So far, almost all of my students have comes from a Meetup group I started (also in 2023) and the Tucson Masterworks Chorale, where I am a member of the tenor section. Ideally, I would like to reach Classical 90.5 listeners (AZPM) and those that attend Tucson Symphony Orchestra concerts, but neither AZPM nor TSO offer public service announcements for non-profit community music events, and the cost of advertising with them is prohibitively expensive for an individual of modest means. I charge $20 per person for each music course I teach, and that covers my cost of renting the venue and little more. I want my courses to be affordable to all. Yes, it is a labor of love, but how to reach those that would most benefit from what I am doing?

I spend about half a year preparing each course that I teach, working on it each and every day (except when I am out of town which happens much less frequently than I would like). Given the enormous amount of time I invest in preparing each course, it would be a shame if I never had the opportunity to further refine and teach these courses again. At the time of this writing, I am currently teaching a course on Gustav Holst with twelve participants, and I have four other courses ready to be taught again at any time: Johannes Brahms, Sergei Prokofiev, Antonín Dvořák, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Here’s a link for an up-to-date list of past, present, and future courses that I will be teaching:

Music for Listeners – Tucson

I am sure there must be others in the Tucson metro area who would like to teach for an organization that offers evening and weekend classes and thus is inclusive of both non-retired as well as retired folks. Right now, this is one of many unmet needs we have here in Southern Arizona.

Ending Spring Forward, Fall Back

On March 15, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to end the twice annual switch between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time. So far so good. That leaves us now with two choices: standard time year round or daylight saving time year round. Unfortunately, they have chosen the latter. The fact that there was no debate on this point suggests the esteemed senators collectively have little understanding of science—or, at least, biology and astronomy.

Most astronomers (those that actually observe) and astronomy educators don’t like daylight saving time because it delays the onset of darkness by an hour: most of us observe in the evening and not right before dawn. Cruelly, daylight saving time prevents many young people from experiencing the wonders of the night sky because it gets dark around or after their bedtime during the warmer months of the year.

Non-astronomers (which, let’s face it, includes most of us) that rise early in the morning will spend even more of their year getting up while it is still dark out. In the northern U.S. at least that means that during the winter months, many school children will be going to school in the dark when it is still bitterly cold.

I have written previously on this topic.

As for biology, unless all of us also start our work days and school days an hour later, year-round daylight saving time will further mess with our already-damaged circadian rhythms—and most of us don’t get enough sleep as it is. As many studies have shown, this leads to a number of negative consequences affecting our health and well being.

The answer is, of course, to adopt standard time year-round as Arizona currently does. Even that is now in jeopardy as Arizona is likely to join the bandwagon and go to permanent daylight saving time, if this legislation is enacted.

This legislation now goes to the U.S. House of Representatives and, if it passes there, on to President Biden’s desk to sign into law. If that happens, most/all? of the U.S. will be going to permanent daylight saving time beginning officially November 5, 2023 (actually, March 12, 2023).

Is anyone pushing for year-round standard time instead? You bet.

SAVE STANDARD TIME
Quickest, healthiest, most economical way to end DST’s clock changes.

I encourage you to support this organization, Save Standard Time, a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization.

Classical Music Link List – Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas

Here is a list of all things classical-music-related in Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. If you have additional links to add or see an existing link that needs to be changed or removed, please post a comment!

The two abiding interests in my life have been astronomy and classical music. I guess you could call me a professional listener, although I do have a pretty decent tenor voice and would love to sing in a secular mixed choir again. I have aspirations of hosting my own classical music program at a public radio station, or at least providing recordings and commentary. I served several years on the board of the Ames International Orchestra Festival Association (AIOFA), including two terms as board president. It was a great experience bringing fine orchestras from all over the world to C.Y. Stephens Auditorium in Ames, Iowa and hosting them during their stay. I love symphony orchestras (chamber music, too!), and would be very happy to serve in a similar capacity during my active retirement years. Or volunteering at a university music department that has a symphony orchestra. While living in Ames, I had the opportunity to attend many wonderful faculty and student recitals.

I have family in West Texas, so am looking to relocate to be closer to them. Would love to connect with the classical music scene somewhere in this tri-state area, so if you know of any good volunteer opportunities, please let me know!

Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra
Providing the Albuquerque Community free concerts since 1972.
American General Media Foundation – Albuquerque, NM
Volunteer Opportunity: Share your Love of Classical Music and Public Radio Broadcasting
Arizona Friends of Chamber Music
Keep chamber music vibrant in Tucson. Please donate to the Year-End Campaign before December 31st.
Arizona Musicfest
Presenting top artists of classical, chamber, jazz, Broadway, country, blues, opera, bluegrass, and pop music in Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona.
Arizona Opera | Bold. Brave. Brilliant.
Arizona Philharmonic
We are a regional professional orchestra serving the Prescott community with locally-produced concerts. Arizona Philharmonic draws auditioned, professional musicians from Prescott, Phoenix, Flagstaff, and other areas within driving distance.
Chandler Symphony Orchestra
The Chandler Symphony Orchestra serves the greater Chandler community by providing a series of classical concerts, free of charge to the general public, performed by professionally trained musicians who volunteer their time and talents.
Civic Orchestra of Tucson
Founded in 1975, the Civic Orchestra of Tucson is a 75-piece community orchestra presenting free concerts to residents of Tucson and Southern Arizona. Our accessible concerts enrich the cultural life of the greater Tucson area. Soloists are well-known musicians from Tucson and across the country as well as winners of our Young Artists’ Competition.
El Paso Symphony Orchestra
The El Paso Symphony Orchestra’s mission is to assure that concert music is made available to entertain and educate the multicultural community of the greater El Paso region.
Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra

Mission: To enrich, engage, and inspire our community through the performance of orchestral music.

Vision: Orchestral music is essential to the cultural life of our community.
Gilbert Symphony Orchestra
Gilbert, Arizona
KANW | New Mexico Public Radio
Public Radio from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Your source for news and music.
KBAQ 89.5 FM
KBACH 89.5 FM is a listener-supported public radio station broadcasting to the Phoenix metropolitan area. KBACH is the only radio station in Phoenix that plays classical music 24/7, reaching listeners around the world who stream KBACH online.
KENW | Public Radio and Television for Eastern New Mexico and West Texas, coming to you from Eastern New Mexico University.
Public Broadcasting for Eastern New Mexico and West Texas from Eastern New Mexico University.
KGLP 91.7 FM: Gallup Public Radio
KGLP, 91.7 FM, Gallup Public Radio, Broadcasts from Studios located at the University of New Mexico Gallup branch campus, with a variety of news, music & more!
KHFM 95.5 FM
KHFM is the only dedicated Classical music station broadcasting and streaming 24/7 in New Mexico and beyond. For many years, KHFM partnered with our symphonies, opera companies and other arts groups. Now, as a non-profit, we are proud to partner with our local arts organizations so that our arts community can flourish. Our rich arts scene is one of the reasons we love New Mexico so much!
KNAU Arizona Public Radio
Northern Arizona’s source for NPR news and talk, classical music and regional news.
KRWG | Public Media for Southwestern New Mexico And Far West Texas
PBS, NPR, and local news and music for Las Cruces, El Paso, Silver City, and all of southwestern New Mexico and far west Texas.
KSFR
KSFR exemplifies diversity in the music we play. Nearly every musical genre is represented in the course of our broadcast week. We pay special attention to local New Mexico musicians whose talent often finds an appreciative audience among KSFR listeners.
KSJE 90.9 FM
The Information and Cultural Beacon of the Four Corners
KTEP
KTEP’s mission is to inform, educate, and entertain the public and to increase knowledge of the world, appreciation of the arts, and understanding of the human condition.

Additionally it is our mission to train and educate students at the University of Texas at El Paso in the art of broadcasting.
KUAT: Classical 90.5 in Southern Arizona
Classical 90.5 is a 24-hour radio station in Southern Arizona that broadcasts classical music, opera productions, interviews with musicians and composers, and more. Listen live online.
KUNM
National Public Radio affiliate. Alternative radio from the University of New Mexico campus.
Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra
To present and promote music of the highest artistic quality for the region’s enrichment and serve our community as a musical, cultural, and educational resource.
Marfa Public Radio
KRTS 93.5 FM, Marfa, TX
MusicaNova Orchestra
MusicaNova enriches the Phoenix community by playing new, neglected, and familiar classical music.
New Mexico Philharmonic
Build the Future With Us!
New Mexico State University: Music
If you are looking for a wonderful place to obtain your music education, this is the place to be. The NMSU Department of Music is among the finest in the southwest at preparing student musicians for a future in teaching, performing, or a wide variety of other musical careers.
North Valley Symphony Orchestra
This is the home of the North Valley Symphony Orchestra in Phoenix, Arizona.
Northern Arizona University: School of Music
The School of Music at NAU offers many undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as ensembles, led by a faculty of award-winning musicians. Learn more now!
Orchestra Northern Arizona
Home page for Orchestra Northern Arizona and Youth Orchestra Northern Arizona, Flagstaff’s community orchestras. Join the classical fun!
Phoenix Symphony
The Phoenix Symphony is Arizona’s largest performing arts organization. Founded in 1947 as a part-time orchestra in a city of fewer than 100,000 people, The Symphony has grown to become Arizona’s only full-time symphony orchestra.
ProMusica Arizona Chorale and Orchestra in North Phoenix & Anthem AZ
ProMusica Arizona’s choir and symphony orchestra perform affordable, family-friendly music concerts & events in North Phoenix & Anthem, AZ.
Roswell Symphony Orchestra
The mission of the Roswell Symphony Orchestra (RSO) is to provide the people of Roswell and Southeast New Mexico with the best of orchestral literature by providing an annual concert season and music education programs for children and young adults.
San Antonio Philharmonic
Professional orchestra concerts with musicians from the former San Antonio Symphony.
San Juan College: Music
Set the course for a creative and vibrant future!
San Juan Symphony
The San Juan Symphony performs regularly at Henderson Fine Arts Center at San Juan College in Farmington, NM, at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, and has performed at the Bayfield Performing Arts Center in Bayfield, CO, the Michael D. Palm Theater in Telluride, CO, and Montezuma-Cortez High School in Cortez, CO.
Santa Fe Opera
The official website of the Santa Fe Opera. A varied repertoire of new, rarely performed, and standard works, inspiring performers and audiences alike.
The Santa Fe Symphony
The Symphony is a bold and successful collaboration between musicians and all who appreciate live performance. Our legacy of musical excellence goes hand-in-hand with our longstanding commitment to providing no-cost cultural outreach programs for the greater Santa Fe community.
The Scottsdale Philharmonic – Arizona’s Premiere Philharmonic
The mission of the Scottsdale Philharmonic is to provide the City of Scottsdale and surrounding communities with a professional symphony orchestra performing a series of traditional classical music concerts without charge to the public, making classical music available to audiences of all ages.
Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra
A community orchestra performing classical music in Tucson and surrounding communities.
Symphony of the Southwest
Symphony of the Southwest presents orchestra concerts to classical music fans of all ages in Mesa, Arizona.
Tucson Repertory Orchestra
Tucson Repertory Orchestra’s Website
Tucson Symphony Orchestra
The TSO is the oldest continuing professional performing arts organization in the state of Arizona. We celebrate the excitement and joy of live classical music as part of everyday life.
University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
Our nationally and internationally recognized faculty members are dedicated to the development of your talents. They are equally at home in the classroom, studio, or on the performance stage. Along with one-on-one teaching and mentoring, our performance faculty members regularly appear in solo recitals and/or as guest artists with major opera companies, symphony orchestras, chamber groups, and many other ensembles. In addition, our academic faculty members author books that are published by the finest scholarly publishing houses, write articles that appear in major music journals, and regularly present papers and other scholarly lectures at significant international conferences.
The University of New Mexico Department of Music – College of Fine Arts
The University of New Mexico Department of Music aims to provide the highest quality musical education, under the guidance of our dynamic artist faculty, and a well-balanced program among the disciplines of performance, music education, theory and composition, jazz studies, string pedagogy, conducti…
University of Texas at El Paso Department of Music
As you explore our website, you will find that the UTEP Department of Music has an outstanding faculty, an active student body and innovative programs designed to prepare students for careers in music in the 21st Century.

The department is particularly proud of our diverse ensemble offerings, our faculty’s high profile and eclectic creative activities, and the newly created Center for Arts Entrepreneurship, under the Artistic Direction of Grammy-winning artist, Zuill Bailey.
West Texas Symphony
“Enriching Lives Through Music!”
West Valley Symphony – Surprise AZ
The West Valley Symphony Association believes that everyone deserves to live in a culturally rich and diverse community with access to a great variety of arts.
Our mission is to provide opportunities for all residents to experience classical music.

Earliest Sunset, Latest Sunrise

Why does the Earliest Sunset come before the Winter Solstice and the Latest Sunrise after?


Why does the Earliest Sunrise come before the Summer Solstice and the Latest Sunset after?

Ever wonder? I have. And aside from some hand-wavy explanations, I’ve never been able to explain this very well. Here’s the best explanation I have seen yet, provided in the December 2007 issue of Sky & Telescope, p. 55:

You’d think the earliest sunset would come on the shortest day (or longest night) of the year, at the winter solstice. But in fact, the day-night cycle shifts back and forth a little with the seasons, due to the tilt of Earth’s axis and the ellipticity of Earth’s orbit. At the beginning of December, sunrise, midday, and sunset all happen a little earlier than they “should”, and in January they run a little late. So the earliest sunset ends up being two or three weeks before the solstice, and the latest sunrise is two or three weeks afterward. The exact dates depend on your latitude.

Continuing along that same line of thought…

At the beginning of June, sunrise, midday, and sunset all happen a little later than they “should” and in July they run a little earlier. So the earliest sunrise ends up being about a week before the solstice, and the latest sunset is about a week afterwards. The exact dates depend on your latitude.

I know, I know. You still have a question. “Why are the dates of earliest sunrise and latest sunset closer to the summer solstice than the dates of earliest sunset and latest sunrise to the winter solstice?” Good question. I think it has everything to do with the fact that the Earth is near aphelion at the time of the summer solstice, and thus moving most slowly in its orbit around the Sun (the Earth’s orbit is slightly elliptical and not circular). That means that the Sun is moving slowest against the background stars and thus the accumulated difference between the sidereal day and solar day is the smallest at that time of year. That means the spread of days between earliest sunrise and latest sunset is less. Conversely, at the winter solstice, Earth is near perihelion, and therefore it is moving most quickly in its orbit around the Sun. That means that the Sun is moving fastest against the background stars and thus the accumulated difference between the sidereal day and solar day is largest at that time of year. That means the spread of days between earliest sunset and latest sunrise is more.

Here in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, where the latitude is just shy of 43˚ N and the longitude is just a tad over 90˚ W, the earliest sunset this year is today, Tuesday, December 8, 2020, at 4:25:49 p.m.

Latest sunrise in 2021 will be on both Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3 at 7:31:51 a.m.

Pause to consider that if we were on year-round daylight saving time, latest sunrise wouldn’t be until 8:31:51 a.m.

My preference would be to stay on standard time year-round, as Arizona does.

An Astronomy Retirement Community

Are any of you nearing retirement (as I am) or already retired who might be interested in moving to an astronomy-oriented retirement community? If you are, I encourage you to join the moderated Groups.io discussion group Dark-Sky Communities at

https://groups.io/g/Dark-Sky-Communities

I am working to establish such a community and would value your input and assistance. That work involves extensive research, networking, writing articles in various publications to reach a wider audience, finding a suitable developer, and seeking benefactors.

Some characteristics of the community I envision include:

  1. Rural location with a dark night sky, but not too far from a city with decent medical facilities, preferably to the northeast or northwest;
  2. Location with an abundance of clear nights and mild winters, probably in Arizona, New Mexico, or West Texas;
  3. Lighting within the community that does not interfere with astronomical activities, strictly enforced;
  4. Community is owned and operated by a benefit corporation or cooperative that will rent a house or apartment to each resident;
  5. Observatories will be available for rental by interested residents who will equip them;
  6. Pro-am collaborative research opportunities will be developed and nurtured;
  7. A community observatory and a public observatory for astronomy outreach will be constructed and maintained;
  8. Lodging will be available for visitors and guests;
  9. There will be opportunities for on-site income operating and maintaining the community or, alternatively, a reduction in monthly rental fees.

Many of us have spent a significant amount of time and energy over the years trying to rein in light pollution in our respective communities and in the wider world, with varying degrees of success. Those efforts should continue, but the grim reality is that light pollution is continuing to get worse almost everywhere.

The opportunity to live in a community of varied interests but with a common appreciation for the night sky and a natural nighttime environment will appeal to many of us. Furthermore, a dark-sky community will afford us opportunities to show the world at large a better way to live.

Traditionally, in the United States at least, if one wants to live under a dark and starry night sky, your only options are to purchase land and build a house on it, or purchase an existing rural home. Not only is buying and maintaining rural real estate unaffordable or impractical for many, many would prefer to live in a rural community, provided that the night sky and nighttime environment are vigorously protected. Rental will also make it easier to move into and out of the community as circumstances change.