This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

One of the things I love about the collaborations between famous musicians and Sesame Street (aside from that it was my first introduction to people like Yo-Yo Ma [click here for the Beethoven Quartet for Two Honkers, Dinger, and Cello] and Itzhak Perlman [click here for a lesson on easy and hard – one of my most vivid Sesame Street memories from childhood] is that the song adaptations are generally extremely silly, but also maintain the correct style for that musician (in a way that makes the whole thing even more silly!).  Like, when Melissa Etheridge sings "Like the Way U Does," she sings with exactly the appropriate level of earnestness and angst :). Today, however, I would particularly like to thank whichever genius at Sesame Street realized that Steven Tyler needed to do a cover of "I Love Trash." Press play below.

There's a post I want to write about cellos and my revision (as I've mentioned); there's a post I want to write with many, many cello recommendations; but this post is refusing to be either of those posts and insisting on being a post about one song. Thanks to Yo-Yo Ma's Vevo, I can share it with you here.

Below is the track "Here and Heaven," from The Goat Rodeo Sessions, which is a... part bluegrass, part classical?... collaboration by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. Singer/songwriter Aoife O'Donovan joins those four fellows on this track, too, cowriting and adding her gorgeous vocals.



Really, I don't have a lot to say about it, because the song itself is the point. But I will briefly explain how I listen to this song, in the hopes that this will express somehow the reasons why I love it.

The song contains eight instruments. Two gambas, played by Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer – and I don't really know my gambas, so for the p…

I promise I won't use my Bitterblue cover as my post picture for the rest of all time, but for now, I just can't help myself. I've been working on Bitterblue for almost four years, and haven't really been able to express how it's made me feel. Now that I finally have a cover to express things for me, I find I keep reaching for it. :o)

So, there's this piece of music by the Hungarian composer Bartók called Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin. If you're curious, you can listen to part of it here. I theorize that there's a relatively high potential for disaster when an orchestra attempts to perform this piece, seeing as even when it's played well, it sounds kind of shrieky and discordant. Imagine how it would sound played badly!

Yesterday, I listened to the Boston Youth Symphony play it magnificently. The whole concert was beautiful and I was SO IMPRESSED with these fine young musicians. It was kind of a delightful crowd, too, younger than the average sym…

I grew up in a house where a lot of classical music was played, and a lot of SesameStreet was watched. I bet I heard the traditional Shaker tune "Simple Gifts" before I could even talk, thanks to Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring;" I've kind of idolized violinist Itzhak Perlman ever since I saw him on my black-and-white TV; and, well, I've posted before about what I think of Yo-Yo Ma. So, aside from the actual fact of Barack Obama becoming President (and George Bush going away), can you guess what part of Tuesday's inauguration I liked best? That's right, even more than Aretha Franklin's hat, or Joe Biden's smileyoucouldseefromthemoon, or even Obama saying stuff like, "We will restore science to its rightful place," and, "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- AND NON-BELIEVERS!" (Okay, no, he didn't actually scream that last part, but my non-believing soul screamed out "THANK YOU&…

I am determined not to yammer about the election in today's post.
But I am also extremely nervous about... um... the thing I'm not going to yammer about.
Therefore, the order of the day is: DISTRACTION.
First, my recent interview with the Shelf Elf. The Elf Herself asks some great questions. If you could live inside the world of any book, which one would you choose? Please distract me by telling me in a comment!
Next, a must-see. If you only watch one of the videos in this post, make it this one. Posted in honor of all teachers (especially, you, Mom). (And ganked from Melissa Marr, who had it first!)


And now, ladies and gents: I give you Beethoven.


Finally, an awesome, um, prairie dog moment. (You can tell things are getting desperate around here...)


Yep. So, doesn't that prairie dog make you feel like going out and voting for BARACK OBAMA? Especially if you live in, oh, say, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohi…

(This is my new battle cry, invented by my publicist, Sarah. Do you find, as we do, that it is immensely satisfying when bellowed?)
Trying to lay low these days, not work too much, not get too crazy. I spent last week proofreading Graceling for the UK edition and doing a couple of interview things. This week I'm settling down with my Fire revisions -- which, I'm pleased to say, are not nearly as terrifying as I'd feared they would be. SNOOD, BE DAMNED.
Great news: I have a Brazilian deal for Graceling and Fire. Thank you to my new publisher, Editora Rocco!
I have been listening to the album Classic Yo-Yo, which I probably don't have to tell you is all Yo-Yo, all the time. Well, mostly Yo-Yo. He performs "Simple Gifts" with singer Alison Krauss, whose voice is impossibly sweet, delicate, and clear -- three adjectives chosen haphazardly because really there are no words. Want to come up with your own adjectives? Well, luckily, this fine fellow on youtube …