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Post by Zi on Feb 14, 2023 18:43:07 GMT
pavane - We're hopeless! We laugh too easily at everything. I did 20 minutes on the harp today and so far zero on the clarinet. The harp went well. I plucked strings and tried to figure out which note was which and I played Ode to Joy by ear... one string at a time... This is a huge step forward. I can even read a couple of notes on the bass clef. I've also realised that the treble clef gives me issues because when I'm playing the recorder I don't think in notes, I think in fingering so in order to play treble clef on the harp I have to work out which note it is using the mnemonic. I'd noticed the same thing with the clarinet and the treble recorder. But the treble recorder is now in my head as fingerings. Maybe the clarinet will go that way. I'll still need to know both clefs for the harp! The music stand is really awkward - I can't get it in a position that is easy to read from. So, next task is to look at people playing small harps and seeing where they stick their music! However, 20 minutes on the harp is really calming. There's no sing-a-long collie and it sounds nice whatever I do. That isn't the same as sounding nice for anyone having to listen to it though... Onward and upward...
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Post by pavane on Feb 14, 2023 20:31:21 GMT
You've got to laugh! At pretty much everything, I think.
I have done zero on everything today - I have got yet another cold, and have spent the day self-medicating with lemsip and belgian beer. Sigh. I'm off to have my dinner in a moment, and then we're going to watch The Elixir of Love - it is Valley Day after all!
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Post by Zi on Feb 15, 2023 8:21:03 GMT
I hope the cold gets better soon! I didn't know that Belgian beer was a cure. Cherry Brandy is good for coughs!
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Post by pavane on Feb 15, 2023 11:06:05 GMT
I hope the cold gets better soon! Thank you! - it is a lot better today, presumably because... Well known. Of course, the cure for the Belgian beer is less well known. There used to be people (maybe still are) that reckoned you could get stoned (this was student days!) on cough mixture. I don't know if that is actually true or just an urban legend, but if cough mixture consists primarily of some kind of relaxant mixed with something sweet and sticky to make your throat feel better, maybe there's not much difference between the two. Talking of urban legends, remember Michael Foot? A leg-end in his own life time.
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Post by Zi on Feb 15, 2023 11:34:16 GMT
We always say 'leg-end' for 'legend'. Brian Bonsor wrote a piece called 'legend' for the recorder. It's nice! Re cure for Belgian beer - how about a cold? edit: I'm off to see if we have a 'feverish' emoticon... edit - how about this? Brilliant!
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Post by Zi on Feb 15, 2023 11:39:39 GMT
What this has to do with The Challenge, I don't know - I'll speak sternly to Zi in a bit - (you can't get the staff!) but here you are Brian Bonsor's Leg-end! On recorder.
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Post by pavane on Feb 15, 2023 12:20:46 GMT
We always say 'leg-end' for 'legend'. It's best to be as silly as possible at all times! That would probably do it Yes - brilliant! It is nice, I really must explore his material more, plus looking into his sight-reading books.
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Post by Zi on Feb 15, 2023 14:43:38 GMT
Brian Bonsor was brilliant at writing really nice pieces of real music for beginners. I love his compositions.
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Post by keff on Feb 20, 2023 14:21:35 GMT
I was somewhat pressed for time yesterday evening but still got fifteen minutes on violin. Do other members have any progress to report?
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Post by Zi on Feb 20, 2023 15:36:44 GMT
I was somewhat pressed for time yesterday evening but still got fifteen minutes on violin. Do other members have any progress to report? I have non-progress to report. Van Eyck has totally possessed me and I'm not sure that much has been achieved except I am better at that rhythm than I was! And the bass clef is much improved... However, I am intending to make a special effort this week ... edit I kind of wish I'd chosen different instruments - preferably one that has to be hand made and there's a long waiting list!
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Post by pavane on Feb 21, 2023 9:56:58 GMT
Do other members have any progress to report? The only progress I can report is that my lyre has been posted and is "in transit". It is scheduled to arrive any time from yesterday, so who knows? edit I kind of wish I'd chosen different instruments - preferably one that has to be hand made and there's a long waiting list! Simple: switch to Viennese clarinet. This authentic model has an earliest delivery date of 2030. Plenty of time to save up for it
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Post by Zi on Feb 21, 2023 11:06:31 GMT
And the added advantage that in 7 years' time I might actually be able to play 'When the Saints' etc... though I'm not banking on it... The cost is a bit steep. In all honesty, I don't think I could justify paying that for a clarinet for me. When I played yesterday, The Collie went to my husband's study with a sigh... I did record something though - it was a piece of the barcarolle from Offenbach. However, once again, I'd forgotten to check the mic was selected at a system's level. My husband said: That's a shame. I bet it was your best recording wasn't it? To which I replied: No, it was just as bad as usual... How goes things with you keff ?
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Post by keff on Feb 21, 2023 11:44:47 GMT
I missed my violin 10 mins yesterday evening as I was distracted by an episode of Endeavour on the box. (We are rather fond of Oxford. My wife spent her childhood not far away and I worked a few miles south of it as a post grad student.) I have put in some extra practice time this morning.
The violin playing seems to be improving, I do not bow two strings together quite as often. Playing a scale upwards is easier than descending because fingers go on the strings one after another. When descending however the first finger that goes on the string below the last open string is the third finger and I am not sure if I have to place all three fingers (1,2 and 3) at the same time or just the third on its own. The former is more difficult.
I am still looking at where my fingers go rather than the music.
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Post by pavane on Feb 21, 2023 12:15:14 GMT
The cost is a bit steep. In all honesty, I don't think I could justify paying that for a clarinet for me.
Absolutely, me neither, not even in roughly the same zone - difficult enough to justify the expense of what I have already! But I love looking at things like that and imagining I could be good enough to play them. I also think these have a beautiful simplicity to them, as well as being available in a range of woods. Not sure which I prefer, probably actually the basic grenadilla, but I think both the plumwood (num 3) and the yew (5) are nice. If you look at the front view you can really see how simple they are - no extra trill keys at the top (which I rarely use) and no LH4 trills keys (which I never use) - which of course also reduces the weight. However, also no F#/C# linkage that most German system clarinets have, so I would find these very difficult to play. (This is not relevant on a Boehm clarinet, so feel free to ignore this, but if interested, compare the Vienna style clarinet with the solista d'arte model. If you look at the front view, and the flat keys with the rollers that are operated by the 4th fingers of each hand, you can see that there is a little linkage that connects the very long key operated by the left hand with the upper key operated by the right hand. This latter key opens a pad that nestles under the long left hand levers, and the linkage is just below that. Whoever invented it was a genius! There are also a couple of extra little keys sprouting out of the LH flat keys cluster; these are the trills that I never use.)
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Post by Zi on Feb 22, 2023 9:06:04 GMT
The cost is a bit steep. In all honesty, I don't think I could justify paying that for a clarinet for me. Absolutely, me neither, not even in roughly the same zone - difficult enough to justify the expense of what I have already!
Those costs are totally justifiable. The tenor recorder was to deal with lockdown. Did you go on holiday? Take unnecessary trips to beauty spots to test your eye-sight? No. You stayed at home and played the recorder to the cows to keep them happy. I'm surprised it didn't attract a Government grant!
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