Santorini is our 18th JumpStart, and we think that this is a nice "coming of age" number. To celebrate, we're going to give CMX JumpStart Santorini away for free. We are also going to hold a JumpStart contest so that designers can submit adaptations from any of our 18 JumpStarts to a panel of CMX judges. You can download Santorini and also read all of the contest rules at Community MX,

The first prize is a free year subscription to Community MX. The winner and a runner up will also have their designs featured on the front page of CMX. The contest is open to everyone - non-subscribers who do not own commercial JumpStarts can use one of our two free ones. These include Santorini and North Pole..

All entries must be submitted by Nov. 3, 2006. CMX will announce the winner on Nov. 9, 2006.

The battery in the video camera is charged. The white shirt is pressed. The black bow tie is out and next to the polished black dress shoes. The big event is almost here.

After final rehearsals and a sound check on stage, the young musicians of the Summer String Institute will present their chamber music concert. It will include everything from Mendelssohn's Octet to Beethoven's String Quartet op. 135 to Brahms Quintet op. 88...as well as Hadyn, Mozart, and Schubert. Then in the evening, the kids do their orchestra concert, and that is when they wear their formal attire. We really will be able to march with the penquins.

It has been an intense week (not to mention a daily adventure on the area roads - ah, D.C. traffic!). Each SSI day started with either a sectional or full orchestra rehearsal. Then the kids had a rhythm class with a very entertaining percussionist. After that, each chamber group got together by themselves to work through ideas about their music.

The first break of the day came with a half hour lunch, and then came a private lesson for each kid. Next up was a coaching session for each chamber group, and as the final event of the day, a full orchestra rehearsal. After hours of music making (with a few quick card games thrown in between rehearsals), I assumed my son would be dead tired. He says he was not - that has to be either youth or a lack of knowledge about musician union rules!

The week went by too quickly, but now we can look forward to the upcoming season of the Howard County High School GT Orchestra with selections by Rossini, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky.

Tomorrow is the first day of the high school National Philharmonic String Institute 2006. For one week my son will spend the day in chamber music rehearsals, orchestra rehearsals, and private lessons. He has been working hard to prepare his music, especially the Brahms Quintet in F major, Opus 88 and Tchaikosvky Serenade for Strings in C major

The National Philharmonic has a program called All Kids, All Free, All the Time that allows all kids from 7-17 to attend their classical music concerts for free. These concerts, as well as the summer institutes for middle and high school kids, are an opportunity to nurture the next generation of classical music lovers. Regardless of whether these kids choose to make music their vocation - and most won't because it's a hard way to make a living - one can hope that they will recognize music of quality as being one of the few remaining miracles left in an increasingly consumer-driven world.

On this day - Jan. 27 - in 1756 the man many musicologists call the most natural musical genius who ever lived was born. Today the whole world celebrates, and even a city such as Nashville, where country music is the genre of choice, will acknowledge Mozart's staggering contribution to music by playing his Piano Concerto #21. Vienna and Salzburg are celebrating with lots of parties and events, and have a Web site dedicated to Mozart 2006. Even as I type, I am listening to Mozart's 1st Violin Concerto over the Internet on WGMS.

What do I prefer most in Mozart's oeuvre? His operas. There are other composers I love as least as much, but no composer, none at all, wrote as gloriously for the human voice.

Several years ago when we decided to take the kids to their first opera, it was Mozart's Magic Flute that we chose. Not openly opposed, but probably not overly enthusiastic accomplices in this idea either (our son was no doubt calculating how many video games he could have purchased for the price of his ticket alone), the kids nonetheless tagged along with us to the Baltimore Lyric Opera House where our son's viola teacher was playing in the orchestra pit. What a wonderful experience it turned out to be! The kids had to agree with The Baltimore Lyric Opera House's recent radio ad campaign that ended with the tagline "Opera: better than you think - it has to be..." The Lyric went all out to make the opera accessible to kids, right down to a big, comical, purple dragon. There was the excitement of the opening overture, the anticipation over whether the Queen of the Night was going to make her high C's or not (well, she mostly made them), and the sheer fun of the interactions between Papageno and Papagena. And through it all was the most divine music.

Do something to celebrate Mozart's birthday today - even if you prefer some other kind of music. Join in the fun by taking The Mozart Quiz. Listen to 10 musical exerpts and decide which were written by Mozart. Post here and let me know how you did. You'll do better than you think - you have to. ;-)

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mozart!

Amid the news of Sharon returning to the operating room and the one surviving miner still in a coma, the tragedy of classical music doesn't seem like much of a story. Still, when I turned to WGMS on my car radio the other day, the Washington D.C. metropolitan area's only commercial classical station was no longer there. It had been replaced with an all news station, WTOP. The Washington Post carried the story on the next day's front page: WGMS is still breathing, but barely. Bonneville, the company that owns it (along with its replacement WTOP), moved it to a weaker signal that most listeners outside the city proper itself will have trouble getting. We can all guess what will happen next unless another company buys it.

I posted here last year when WETA, the NPR station that used to carry classical music, switched to an all-talk format. (The reports suggest that this has not been wildly popular-not that I am gloating too much.) I am now left with one NPR station, WBJC in Baltimore, that carries classical music with a signal strong enough for me to hear it. Think of it: a major metropolitan area cannot support classical music. What does that suggest for less urban localities?

As we drove to New Jersey during the Thanksgiving holidays, we heard a discussion with a pianist about the state of classical music. The pianist talked about "the tragedy of classical music" and how it is something that is perpetuated in part by well-meaning music teachers. They convey the idea that one needs special knowledge and training in order to appreciate classical music, when all you really need is feeling.

Do I listen to classical music and blurt out "Aha! An augmented sixth chord! Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen!" On occasion. But usually I am just trying to absorb the emotional meaning of a piece, something that is available to anyone with an open mind and a little sensitivity to beauty through sound.

Though I wish the unfortunate misconceptions about classical music would abate, I doubt anything much will stem the trend towards abolishing anything that is not part of mass pop culture. Now even our NPR stations, which originally were intended to take up where the Darwinism of capitalism left off, are abdicating their role.

Now all I can do is pray that WBJC hangs in there.

When we drove to my parents' house in New Jersey for the Thanksgiving holiday, we hit many dead spots for radio stations with classical music. Finally we arrived in the Philadelphia area and got the frequency for a public radio station that was at that moment playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto.

It's sad to say, but finding classical music stations gets harder and harder. We mourned last year's demise of classical music on WETA, a public radio station that decided to move to an all talk format.

What is a classical music lover to do?

Go to the Internet!

This Sunday (Dec. 11), after about ten minutes of news (in French!), at 11:00 AM EST, Andy Hardy (the son of our luthier), will play a concert that will be broadcast live on the Brussels radio station Musique 3, RTBF. Want to hear a wonderful violinist and practice your French too? Just follow the directions below:

Go to http://www.musiq3.be and click on Ecouter en Direct, and then 128K.

The program is as follows:
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonate N° 1 en Ré Majeur, Op. 12, N° 1,
Guy Ropartz, Sonate N° 1 en ré mineur (1907),
Gustav Samazeuilh, Sonate en si mineur (1902-03).

Our son is getting more serious about the viola, and his teacher decided he needed a better instrument. Scotty has been borrowing a 16 inch viola from his teacher, but has longed for a 16 and a half inch of fine quality to call his own. (Bigger viola, bigger sound-that kid likes to play BIG.) Last July we set our luthier, Ray Hardy, on the task of finding a really special viola. He warned us that it could take a while because finding good violas is not easy. Finally, after months of waiting, Ray sent us an email saying he thought he had something that would be just right. He did some additional "violin making" work on it- further graduation of the plates, new bass bar, carving of the neck, etc.

My piano teacher used to tell me you have to "earn the music" - sweat over it, investigate it, try to get to the heart of its meaning. Well, we sure earned this viola. The months of waiting were not *quite* over. We had an appointment at 4:30 on Friday afternoon to try it out. We left our house in a state of enormous excitement at 4:00 to make the 10-15 minute journey to Ray's workshop. We pulled onto Interstate I-95 and STOPPED. It turns out that there had just been a very serious truck and car accident that closed down all four lanes. I tried to use my cell phone to call Ray, but got mysterious messages about not finding service. To make a long story short, after sitting for one and a half nerve-wracking hours (with Scotty pleading please don't turn around!), we finally pulled up to Ray's place and hoped he would still see us. He let us in!

Ray had five glistening violas lined up in a row. My son picked up each in turn and played. He was dazzled by so much choice, so Ray said, OK. Now turn your back and close your eyes and just LISTEN to them while I play. After listening to the five, we all knew immediately which was The One. Ray let us take it, along with another one, to play for a week and show his teacher. Over the course of the week, we have fallen in love. His teacher corroborated. Buy it! he said.

But that was not all. And buy a new BOW of commensurate quality his teacher ordered. I hadn't even told my husband how much this viola is going to cost yet LOL. Now I am conniving and plotting and trying to figure out how I am going to explain the bow. Shrug. A bow, you say. Well, his cheap student bow had cost us $200. Ray explained our options for a new one: nickel silver, silver, and professional silver. We're talking about a lot of money for the quality we want.

Conversation in our house last night:

Me: Scotty needs a new bow.

Him: So, what will that cost? About two hundred?

Me: (inwardly choking): What? His OLD bow cost that!

Him: So, how much then?

Me (Thinking, Sheri, you've got some 'splaining to do): I am not *quite* sure. I will let you know after we test them out.

Typically a luthier will let you look at a dozen or more bows and then settle on a few to take home to try out.

So. Is it worth it? What's in a bow? Yesterday my son had his first lesson on the new viola. His teacher let him use one of his fine German bows. I was sitting in the teacher's living room and didn't know about the swap. I heard Scotty start to play. It was quite miraculous. The bow, the bow, the bow made a huge difference.

So here's the plan. We'll just bring home a few bows and let my husband hear how Scotty sounds. I am quite positive he will hand over that check without a word.

The first rehearsal of Howard Regional Youth Orchestra (HRYO) took place last night. My son spent three happy years in the Howard County GT Middle School orchestra, but has now entered 9th grade. The new orchestra is a huge change, and something of a jump into the deep end of the pool. Where the middle school orchestra had been strings only, HRYO is a full orchestra. Where much of the music the middle school orchestra played was simplified adaptation, HRYO plays the original scores of standard orchestra repertoire - and at concert speed!

My son and another viola playing friend were the new kids in the viola section last night. Both boys are good about practicing and had thoroughly prepared their music - or so they thought. In middle school orchestra, the kids first rehearsed pieces at a slower speed, cleaned them up, and gradually increased the tempo. At HRYO there was no such coddling. The group started out right at the suggested metronome markings. I could see my son and his friend valiantly attempting to keep up and giving each other eye-rolling glances throughout.

These directors aren't kidding around. Here's what's up for the fall concert:

• Holst's Jupiter from his famous work The Planets. This is a great one for high schoolers. Kids identify easily with the dissonance and unpredictability of 20th century music.
• Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, oh my. Imagine Shakespeare's tragedy married to Tchaikovsky's height-of-romanticism music in the hands of kids. The constant key changes, top speed runs, and high drama make this a treacherous piece to pull off. I can't wait to see what the kids make of this masterpiece of incredible beauty.
• Beethoven's Fifth: (Sotto voce for this God of music.) So often Beethoven's music takes listeners through a deep psychological experience. He sets up the struggle, then travels through the depths of suffering, and finally emerges in a final movement of triumphant resurrection. The kids will never need to save Beethoven because he will save them...may they learn to revere him.

We are so excited by the great new CSS tools in Dreamweaver 8 that we just had to create a CSS layout template that takes advantage of them. CMX JumpStart Machu Picchu is a centered, fixed-width, two-column CSS layout that includes screen, print, and handheld style sheets. With the new drop down media type menu in the Attach External Style Sheet dialog box, it is easy to add the correct style sheet links to your documents. You'll also be able to see how the page looks with each style sheet right from Design view in Dreamweaver 8 by using the new Style Rendering Toolbar. Finally, the new Unified CSS panel and div visualization make it easier than ever to understand how a JumpStart was constucted.

Like all CMX JumpStarts, the pages are constructed using valid XHTML and CSS. Machu Picchu also follows the WAI and Section 508 accessibility guidelines to provide you with a solid foundation for your work and give your users the best experience possible.

If you haven't seen the Carlton Draught Big Ad yet, you won't want to miss it. Very clever, and what makes it particularly affecting is the music, which is not an original ditty composed by a writer of music for commercials.

In fact, it's another classical music rip off, this time Carl Orff's chorus "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana. My husband tells me that years ago another beer company used the same music in its ads. Well, why not? Carmina Burana is probably the most famous piece of vocal music of the twentieth century. It is very dramatic and stirring, and it does what all commercials seek to do: gets your attention.

Being a good little proselytizer for classical music, this kind of thing delights me. If you read my last "saving series" blog piece, you'll remember that I talked about movies and classical music rip offs. Commercials are another great source of getting good music into the collective conscious. I'll take it any way I can get it. How many kids now know Aaron Copland's "Hoe Down" from Rodeo because of the "Beef: it's what for dinner" commercials?

And don't forget cartoons. An entire generation of kids learned the classics by watching cartoons. I remember a particular favorite: Bugs Bunny playing Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" while a mouse inside the piano ducked the hammers LOL.

Though not as many kids' cartoons feature classical music these days, I was amused to see a "Hey Arnold" episode that featured Bizet's Carmen.

I love irony, and this is the ultimate one: pop American culture saving classical music...

Ha. Ha. I couldn't resist using that "saving" word in my title. But isn't that what we all do? Save our MM schwag? Especially since it will soon be a collector's item?

Having joined the Macromedia Education Leader program just this year, I don't have a long list of schwag, though I do have a huge stack of Macromedia educational materials: lots of thick binders with exercises and lessons.

Then there are my polo shirts - four royal blue short sleeved shirts just perfect for wearing on days I teach Dreamweaver over at the Government Printing Office, my college, or the Washington Apple Pi.

I have a nice little pin, too.

That's it for now, but I hope to collect more stuff over the next year while there's still a chance.

Now for my victims:

• Zoe Gillenwater
• John Gallant
• Holly Bergevin
• Tom Pletcher
• Danny Patterson

Sorry. Nothing can save you now.

After reading my blog piece called Saving Schoenberg, my daughter asked me what composer I was going to try to save next. So, I thought, it's a series now, is it? Why then, let's spin a series within a series! With the recent release of yet another Star Wars movie, what better composer to save than the English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934)?

If you're wondering what Holst has to do with Star Wars, you may not know that he wrote a piece called The Planets that saw a lot of heavy lifting from the Star War movie's sound track composer, John Williams. You can read all about it at A Young Person's Guide to Holst's Planets - Mars <http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/holst_mars_000309.html> Here's a paragraph from that page:

"Gustav Holst's "Mars: Bringer of War" will sound familiar to science fiction buffs, as much of the score of Star Wars consists of John William’s variations. In particular, compare the climax of this movement to the music accompanying the destruction of the Death Star."

Sneaky, huh? Someone's been tricking you into listening to classical music.

This brings me to an important point for anyone who would like to like classical music, but is at a loss while listening to hardcore composers. It really makes sense, especially for young people: start from what you know. Movie scores are a good bridge between classical music and what you know. Indeed, much movie music borrows heavily from classical music.

If you like the Star Wars music, first listen to Mars, the Bringer of War from The Planets. It is full of percussion, brass, and dare I say it? It gets going like heavy metal. From parents who want to give their children a little music education to anyone who wants something exciting to crank up on the car stereo while speeding down the Interstate, The Planets is a great segue into classical music. (I have an "audiophile sound system" in my car, and I am always sure to turn up the bass while listening to this piece, and to never let my ear stray too far from the fantastic orchestration for the percussion instruments.)

After you listen to Mars, you can move on to the other movements:

• Venus, the Bringer of Peace
• Mercury, the Winged Messenger
• Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
• Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
• Uranus, the Magician
• Neptune, the Mystic

Yes, Earth and Pluto are missing. The piece was written before Pluto was discovered in 1930, and you might want to speculate why Holst did not translate the planet Earth into sound. If you want to know about Holst's interest in astrology during the time he was composing this piece, or how Stravinsky influenced this work, you can read all about it at http://www.gustavholst.info/compositions/listing.php?piece_id=18

In spite of what you may have heard, however, you don't have to know what dissonance is, or what period in music history this piece is from, or what key signature it's in, or anything else in order to "get it" and fall in love with the music. Just enjoy. And who knows? You may very well save Holst...

Community MX is proud to announce another in its series of Dreamweaver CSS templates, CMX JumpStart Vienna. CMX partner John Gallant (also of positioniseverything.net) added a revolutionary new technique called Jello Mold to the layout.

Designed and coded by Sheri German, Vienna uses unordered lists for navigation, a search field, and a footer and header. It includes both a two-column and and a three-column layout, each in a fluid-fixed combination. With its use of Jello Mold technique, however, Vienna resolves the arguments in the fixed versus fluid debate. By devising a way to allow margins to adjust depending on the width of the window, and by including implied minimum and maximum widths, even in Internet Explorer, and even without Javascript, Jello Mold creates a win-win situation for users and web designers alike. Originally created by Michael J. Purvis, Jello Mold was expanded upon by our very own John Gallant and Holly Bergevin, whose hands we see behind-the-scenes as they apply the technique to Vienna.

Like all of the CMX JumpStarts, the pages are constructed using valid XHTML 1.0 markup and formatted using valid CSS 2.1 styling. Vienna also follows the WAI and Section 508 accessibility guidelines to provide you with a solid foundation for your work.

Perhaps saving Mozart is not so impossible. At least most young people have heard of him. And now, with the 250th anniversary of his birth set for celebration in the summer of 2006, his name will again gain prominence in the media--well, at least as much prominence as one can expect for an "old master."

But what about Arnold Schoenberg? Never heard of him? Don't feel bad. Most people haven't. And if they have, and they have heard some of his music, they probably don't like him. Schoenberg is the father of 12 tone (or atonal or serial) music. You know: random notes and beeps and senselessness. Or so it seems. Actually, such music is elaborately planned construction. Schoenberg devoted a lot of time to chess. Does that tell you something about his organizational skills?

Last summer, on a trip to Austria and Germany with my son's orchestra director, we spent a day in Vienna. Upon disembarking from the bus, my teenaged daughter and I trekked to the Schoenberg Center. Even in Vienna, we had some trouble locating it. When we asked passersby, we got "Schoenbrunn Palace?" "No. Schoenberg Center. Arnold Schoenberg." Shrug. Don't know.

Finally we did locate it. We walked into a small, office-like lobby on an obscure floor in an obscure building. There was a young woman at the desk. No one else was there. We asked in our American English if we could visit the exhibit. The young woman looked at us-especially my teenaged daughter- incredulously. She seemed to think we had stumbled into the wrong place. When we convinced her we hadn't, she gave us each a headset with music clips and commentary to listen to as we went from exhibit to exhibit. She warned us that it was very cold in the exhibit rooms because the scores were kept in archive conditions. We assured her we didn't care.

Then for a glorious couple of hours, my daughter and I looked at original scores (under glass) and listened to examples of the music, as well as analysis on its meaning. We heard examples of every genre, from opera to chamber music to piano pieces. We heard the voice of Schoenberg, and then the voices of his children as they explained the passion in their father's music.

Passion? In 12 tone music? Yes. And clearly the ardent young woman and other curators of the Schoenberg Center felt passion for keeping his music alive, even for Americans. As we were leaving, I asked if the center sold a CD of the audio on the headsets. The young woman sadly shook her head no. We started to leave. A look of inspiration came over her face and she told us to wait. She got on the phone and engaged in a conversation in German. When she put down the phone, she told us to come back in about 20 minutes. The center's engineer was going to burn a CD for us!

And so he did. And that is how we came by a most original souvenir of Vienna, Austria. It will belong to my daughter one day. I will pass it on to her, along with a love of 20th century music, and along with an expectation that she will do her best to save Schoenberg.

Designed by Fireworks expert Linda Rathgeber-Stewart and coded by CSS guru Stephanie Sullivan, the new CMX JumpStart Vegas is sure to please with its long list of features, including sIFR and a Flash Slide Show. Originally created for TODcon attendees at the recent conference in Las Vegas, we are now making it available to CMX subscribers, as well as for independent purchase.

Having just attended TODcon in Vegas, I think I can accurately call Vegas a paragon of excess and glitz. Keeping that in mind, we created a JumpStart that is crammed with features: Flash slideshow, FlashObjects, sIFR, a complex form, the glitter of a golden design--it's all there, ready for you to adapt for your own sites. You can see my own adaption of the template for the redesign of the Stein Opera site, which follows and catalogs the creation of an opera based on the life of Gertrude Stein. "Gertrude Stein Gets a Jump Early On" premieres in New York City this month. Stein Opera Images

Like all of the CMX JumpStarts, the pages are constructed using valid XHTML 1.0 markup and formatted using valid CSS 2.1 styling. Vegas also follows the WAI and Section 508 accessibility guidelines to provide you with a solid foundation for your work.

OK, my daughter said that if I was going to name her in the revenge of the music baton, I was going to have to let her answer in my blog. So, gentle readers, here is Jenn German, my teen daughter, who has very eclectic tastes...

Here's Jenn...

Greetings. I could, as my mom said, simply put this in a reply to her music entry. However, as I consider a non-CMX partner to be unarmed and defenseless, passing on the baton to me is cheating. Therefore, I am instead hijacking her blog. Nyah!

Total Volume

I try not to look. I'm extremely paranoid about hard drive space, and I only check how much space is left in total.

Last CD Bought

Russian Favourites (a whole lot of Missourgsky, with some Borodin and similar composers thrown in

Song Playing Right Now

Nothing at the current moment, but I had "Kovanschina" by Missourgsky on my iPod a few minutes ago.

Five Songs I Listen to a Lot (at the moment)

• "At the Great Gates of Kiev" from Pictures at an Exhibition by Missourgsky
• "Kovanschina," by Missourgsky
• "Habit," by Jump, Little Children
• "Paperboy," by Mycroft Holmes
• "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues," by EELS

Five People To Whom I Am Passing this Baton

• Meredith Collier
• Danielle Trucano
• Bob Jones
• Nicole Harris
• Jana Piotrowsky

OK, I am gonna get Tom Muck for this--passing me the music baton LOL. Or perhaps you, my gentle readers, should. I know what you're thinking: "Oh, no! That ranting classical music person again. Not her!"

Total Volume

Zero when I am working. Here's my little secret: I can't listen to music when I am working because soon I am NOT working. Music is a snake charmer and it makes me want to get up and dance. I do have a Bose Wave radio with CD player in my work area, but that is silent during the day unless there is a big, breaking news story.

In the car is a completely different story. I spend hours a week in my car. I turn the volume up loud. In fact, we're in the market for a new car, and we're looking at one with an upgraded sound system. I could care less what color, make, or model the car is. I will even live without air conditioning and heat--but I can't live without a CD player and great sound system. What do I listen to there? I toggle between WBJC and WGMS, our two remaining local classical music stations, and my CD player. I just bought Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony from the Apple Music Store, and have been wearing a groove in that of late.

Oh, wait. You mean my HD volume LOL? Very little. I burn my tunes to CDs with my SuperDrive.

Last CD Bought

The above mentioned Benjamin Britten Simple Symphony

Song Playing Right Now

None, but like Tom, I am listening in my head--and it's the fourth movement of the Simple Symphony.

Five Songs I Listen to a Lot (at the moment)

• Shostakovich Piano Trio in e minor
• Hindemith Four Temperments
• Benjamin Britten Simple Symphony
• Camille Saint-Saens Samson and Deliah
• Prokofiev Second Violin Concerto

Five People To Whom I Am Passing this Baton

• Jenn German
• Rebekah Herbold
• Elizabeth Bateman
• Laurie Casolino
• John Gallant

After three years of sitting in on the Howard County Middle School Gifted Talented Orchestra, it's all over. My son joined the viola section in 6th grade, and I stayed for rehearsals partly because we live a half hour away and driving home, then back again made no sense. I also stayed, however, because I liked watching the music evolve from the first sight-read train wreck to a finished, polished gem. I liked watching the director, a master teacher who handled the children with skill and humor, mold pieces in the shortest time possible, as the bird flies. I fell into creating and managing the orchestra web site, helping with chairs, and organizing parent volunteers.

It's all over now. My son is graduating from eighth grade. He probably didn't always like having me there. I probably won't be able to sit in on the equivalent high school orchestra, Howard Regional Youth Orchestra, that he hopes to join. So it is with a great deal of melancholy that I attended the final HCMSGTO concert of the year. I sat amazed, as always, at the quality of an orchestra that auditioned and accepted only children who played at a high level because they were willing to practice diligently. Still, even among these children, few will become professional musicians. There are just too few spots for professional classical musicians, coupled with ever dwindling audiences.

Why don't young people like classical music? Or is it just that they think they don't like classical music because of all the misconceptions out there? Even those with the best of intentions write things like "to become relaxed before bed, listen to classical music." No wonder young people don't give it a chance. I don't like deadly dull, soporific music either. And classical music. is. not. dull. Nothing beats the savagery of Stravinksy's Rite of Spring cranked up loud while you're driving 70 on the Interstate. Shostakovich's Piano Trio in e minor would give any heavy metal piece a run for its money, written as it was on the theme of Jews being forced to dance before being shot by the Nazis. Or how about this? Last summer we drove through the Austrian Alps with Wagner Overtures blasting from the bus CD player. Everyone--young and old--got a rush from that. Classical music appeals to my Dionysian side, not my meek and mild side.

So how do we save Mozart? A lot rests with our music educators, many of whom are confined to teaching in janitor's closets, like our daughter's string orchestra teacher was for her first couple years of high school. Engaged in an underground movement of sorts (competing as they are for dollars that many parents would prefer to see put into sports), the dedicated music teachers of Howard County are answering the challenge. At the final orchestra concert, the superintendent of music took the mike and told the audience that Howard County had just been named one of the top school systems in the country for music.

It helps that our county is within spitting distance of Peabody Conservatory (a division of John Hopkins), and is awash with the highest quality teachers, both private and in our schools. It helps that we have educated families who recognize the value of music lessons and are willing to see that their children get them. But what will save Mozart is the dedication of our music teachers as they give time to all the extracurricular orchestras, bands, and festivals that the county hosts. Yes, most of the children in these groups will not become professionals, but they will become audiences.

And as wonderful as it is to have YoYo Ma and Joshua Bell and Wynton Marsalis, in the end only audiences - head over heels in love with the music - can save Mozart.

After years of playing the violin, our daughter decided she wanted to learn the cello. Adventure-bound, we loaded up the car one day with my husband, son (who needed a new viola chin rest), daughter, and two of her fellow string player friends.

Ray Hardy is our Strings guy. I've known him for years, and we have spent many hours together working on his Mac (many musicians love the Mac.) On this particular day, however, we were there for "business." Ray was ready with several cellos in our price range. With our large audience gathered around, Ray took out the first cello and played a scale. No Bach Cello Suite played by Yo-Yo Ma was every more attentively listened to.

And so it went, as Ray demoed cellos with his beautiful, Peabody-graduate vibrato. Finally he went in the back room and pulled out a last cello. All ears leaned towards the "C" string as its low growl began a two-octave scale. Such primal beauty! No mating call was ever more seductive.

This was the one. It was a little more expensive, but what is money for anyway?

And so it came to be that another cat came into our house that already holds a population of Birman, Siamese, and Ragdoll. This, a Royal Bengal Tiger of cats, low "C" growling and announcing its supremacy over the others, had to have a name too. We dubbed him "Richard Parker" after the tiger in Yann Martel's book "Life of Pi."

And just as a character in the book claimed of its story, "it might make you believe in God," so too does this cello invite the wonder of the universe through sound.

Dreamweaver's appeal for many people is its visual tools. Macromedia has included many one-click features that are meant to expedite production and ease the learning curve of some of web development's more difficult steps. Some of these features create their own problems, however. For instance, the Properties inspector has text formating buttons that can add seemingly endless inline styles: style1, style2, style3, ad infinitum.

I try to teach my students to use Web Standards and Dreamweaver "best practices." Unless I can replace the MM quick and dirty tools with something equally appealing, though, it's a hard sell. The students fall into the bad habit of adding those styles--among other things--and allowing them to conflict with the external style sheets we painstakingly constructed.

Through my work in promoting the Community MX JumpStarts Dreamweaver CSS templates, I have developed quite a few bits of reusable CSS code. I started adding them to my Snippets panel, a Dreamweaver feature with enormous potential that is still largely untapped. Community MX is extremely pleased to offer two sets of CSS snippet collections, easily installed into the Snippet Panel with extensions created by Danilo Celic.

Set one includes 15 handy hacks such as the Tan Hack, the Caio and Anti-Caio Hacks, the Holly Hack, and various permutations of IE conditional comments. Set two includes 17 helpers and fixes such as centered layout starter code, IE fixes for bugs such as missing images and double float margins, and zeroing out multiple margins code. We invite you to check them out.

I would like to note that this project was not developed in a vacuum. I had the help of some of the best CSS gurus in the business. Big John of Position is Everything and CMX, Holly Bergevin, Zoe Gillenwater, Adrian Senior, and Stephanie Sullivan all contributed valuable suggestions. We sincerely hope that these collections speed up your CSS development as well as spare you some head scratching.