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Post by Zi on Apr 22, 2023 8:29:17 GMT
If I don't hit Christmas 2023, I'll aim for 2024! The Folk Festival sounds like serious fun! And arthritis is literally a pain. My husband has it in his thumb and sometimes it really gets to him. Some of the very old carols are gorgeous. Some of the really old tunes are wonderful too and the recorder absolutely loves them! I bet the harp does too.
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Post by pavane on Apr 22, 2023 8:35:07 GMT
I'm still intending to start earlier than November - maybe! It's amazing how the time whizzes by though: last Christmas was barely over when I ordered a couple of carols books, whereas a third of the year has now passed, almost to the day. I don't have as much time now summer is here either, so I don't suppose I'll actually get around to starting before September-ish. I will try though; carols might be a bit of light relief on days when I'm tired or don't have much time.
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Post by Zi on Apr 22, 2023 15:40:00 GMT
Yes it does. That's because life is a Sim-like simulation and the 'player' has got fed up with us and has put us on 'fast' as we're not amusing them any more... I really ought to start on carols right now so as to give myself any kind of chance of hitting that goal!
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Post by pavane on May 26, 2023 14:35:05 GMT
Less than 7 months to go now!
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Post by Zi on May 27, 2023 8:29:52 GMT
I have this under control. I'm working on the principle that a miracle will occur... How goes it for everyone else?
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Post by keff on May 27, 2023 10:23:16 GMT
I intend to take up violin again for the Christmas carol so long as a few of us are doing the same.
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Post by pavane on May 27, 2023 10:53:34 GMT
I don't suppose I will get started till autumn now, but it is still my plan to learn (or, in the case of the recorder, re-learn) a jazzy carol or two on clarinet and recorder, and something more straightforward on lyre. I'm very pleased with the latter instrument and Mrs P thinks it sounds great, but by the time it arrived I was busier with other things and didn't do a great deal with it. Actually, I will try to get started over summer - it's not that long now till next Christmas is closer than last. Eek!
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Post by Zi on May 27, 2023 11:42:06 GMT
I've never thought about which Christmas is closer. It's a really intriguing thought. I like that. I am still determined to have a carol of some sort on at least one of the instruments I'll probably have to learn or re-learn... I'm not sure how much fingering on either recorder I remember... I've definitely forgotten the clarinet and I never knew the harp in the first place... Things are calming down here. Health scare has/is being resolved (not mine BTW - I'm just the concerned on-looker!) The other things currently demanding most of my time will cease to do that either because they have been resolved, the slugs/rabbits etc etc have eaten them or whatever... I'm very much looking forward to hearing how the lyre and the violin come along!
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Post by pavane on May 27, 2023 15:10:54 GMT
I'm not sure how much fingering on either recorder I remember... I've definitely forgotten the clarinet
One drawback of the recorder is that the fingering isn't logical in the way that it is with most woodwinds (ie, putting all fingers down gives you the lowest note of some scale or other and lifting fingers off one by one gives the the ascending notes of the scale). Clarinet has the overblowing a twelfth thing that means you get a different scale in each register, but the basic rule still applies, so playing anything in the home key should be simple. That's only "sort of" the case with the recorder.
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Post by Zi on May 27, 2023 19:54:05 GMT
Do the stringed instruments have any logic to the fingering?I know the harp does but I haven't really thought about the others.
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Post by pavane on May 28, 2023 12:56:59 GMT
I think there is some logic to the tuning of string instruments - a cello is tuned in fifths, strings (from lowest) C-G-D-A; a viola is an octave higher and a violin a fifth higher again. I believe you can choose to tune the strings perfect fifths apart or use equal temperament and thus get slightly different tonal qualities. Double bass is in fourths though - as keff recently pointed out, some people say the double bass is really a member of the viol family.
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Post by Zi on May 29, 2023 7:38:40 GMT
That's interesting. It's not something I'd really considered.
So are the brass instruments like the recorder and throw logic to the wind - so to speak?
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Post by pavane on May 29, 2023 8:25:32 GMT
I have no knowledge or experience of brass instruments whatsoever. I believe the valves add in extra bits of tubing to fill the gaps between natural harmonics but, as these get progressively closer together, it does not seem logical that the same number of valve combinations are needed between different harmonics. But then, maybe they aren't. I don't know why but I've never had any interest whatsoever in trying any brass instrument apart from a didgeridoo!
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Post by keff on May 29, 2023 14:24:32 GMT
The trusted Observer's Book of Music says that the first valve of a French horn or trumpet adds a semitone to the note being played, the second valve two semitones and the third three semitones. Operation of all three valves presumably lifting the note by six semitones.
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Post by Zi on May 30, 2023 10:47:29 GMT
@pavanne - @keff - Thank you! Must admit I'd like to have a go at a brass instrument. I just know it would be a disaster but it would be a fun disaster I bet.
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