Music matters
I got the petrol.*
I got the hat.
I haven’t missed any laboratory samples today.
I extruded another couple of pages of PEGASUS despite the fact that Peter’s daughter was here for lunch and I spent a certain amount of time discussing the iniquities of publishing with her.**
And now I’m back at the keyboard. No, I mean the piano keyboard.
Oisin said, of my D minor with no B flat, that I can perfectly well compose in Dorian–is it Dorian?–mode if I want to. And then ran through about seventeen other modes for me, their names, ranks, serial numbers, and overt and clandestine relations to the other sixteen. I caught maybe 1/657th of this. Maybe. But at least I can stop worrying about the B flat.
I’ve finally got most of Song II set–yes, it takes me forever. As I keep saying, it’s ALL a learning curve at the moment.*** And I’ll play the same three bars, let’s say–the one I’m poking with a pencil, and the ones on either side for continuity–twenty times, trying to decide if this is what I want, and then as soon as I change or add something I have to play it another twenty times. And I may have to do this all over again tomorrow, when it doesn’t sound right any more. And even when it sounds nice, there’s still the question of whether it’s the right nice. Is it the right nice for this particular poem? Life was easier with the Sonatina-ette, when I had only myself to please. I don’t mean Peter, I mean the poem. Adding the left hand changes everything so dramatically, and sometimes the right hand wants to thicken up a little too. You have to make all these decisions about which way you’re going (Dorian mode? D minor? –E minor? I slide around a bit. Composing as a game of snakes and ladders) and what you want your resonances to be.
When it isn’t what I want, then I have to try and figure out what is. I have at least started singing the notes I’m hearing in my head and can’t find on the keyboard. Oisin suggested this months ago. I’m slow. Well, yes, I am slow. That’s what this is about. But–with Oisin playing it–Song II did sound a lot more like what I think I have in mind than it did last week. Although it also occurred to me this week that there’s a question of playability. When your fingers end up plaited you may wish to reconsider. I asked Oisin about this but he said you can think about playability a little, but not very much: if it sounds good, there is a way to play it. If it’s impossible to play there may be something else you want to look at. He can play Song II. I . . . it also occurred to me this week if I’m going to play it it needs to be . . . what’s the polite word for ‘simpleminded’?
Oisin keeps saying, as we toil through my somewhat note-shaped smudges†, this is very interesting. It’s not what I would do, but . . . which rouses in me an almost irresistible desire to laugh. I realise he’s being encouraging–and he is being encouraging–but, pardon me, the man’s been a professional musician for thirty years or more, including composing music for TV and I think films occasionally . . . and I’m not doing what he would do? Well knock me down with a feather and call me cuckoo.
Meanwhile we still have this singing thing to master.†† I’ve widened my field of disaster and have started singing††† along when I play things like Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms and The Ash Grove. And yesterday I also took a deep breath and asked Oisin if he could bear it if I came in some week and played and sang let’s say, There Is a Tavern in the Town, which is arguably my signature tune till I learn Rondo alla Turca‡, all in the interests of getting used to this playing and singing thing. My bad self is having a crisis about the singing. I have enough trouble with the (*&^%$£”!!!!!! notes! My best interpretations with, like, dynamics, tend to be at midnight when I’ve had a glass or two of champagne and am feeling unwontedly loose and cheerful. The idea of loading singing onto the poor tired overburdened camel of daylight and sobriety . . . but I’m the one wants to set poems. And I’m the one thought it would be cute to set some of my husband’s poems. The rest follows with a horrible inevitability.
Oisin said yes way too quickly. All teachers have a sadistic streak, right? It’s how they cope.
Brief moment of contact with the real world: Hillary Clinton has conceded. I see that she has to, but I’m really sorry. I don’t like Obama; I like him less now than I did six months ago. I think he’s charmed by his own charm, and his self-satisfaction is growing like the Blob. And I don’t think he’s going to have a clue about running the country, if he gets that far, because he may not, especially if too many Democrats have thoughts similar to these. Oh, I’ll still vote for him‡‡; I’d vote for a water buffalo before I’d vote for a Republican. It’s not that Clinton is perfect or even Superwoman‡‡‡, but I think she’d make a better job of the presidency. And I also think way too much of this campaign was won and lost by media spin, and the media decided a long time ago not to like Clinton. They have some good reasons for this, but also some bad ones, and I cynically think the tipping point is that she doesn’t do warm and fuzzy. Obama does.
* * *
* It cost fifty eight pounds to fill the tank. >insert manifestations of blinding outrage here< Words are failing me; I can’t think of any way of expressing myself that doesn’t involve blood. Thunder would be good too. Granted, it’s a diesel car, but I can remember screaming when we hit the thirty pound barrier.
** She’s a publisher.
*** The kind of learning curve with claws like a panther, a buck like a wild horse, and a sudden sideways sprint like a hellhound.
† Pentimento was never so pathetic
†† Well I don’t know about master. Make small lurching runs at, maybe.
††† Well . . . bellowing. I can sometimes convince myself to sing in head-voice when I’m out walking hellhounds. As soon as I get back to the piano it sinks into my chest and stays there. I sound like a bad amateur-theatrics version of a music-hall turn. On a rough night. Can you heckle yourself?
‡ Which has no lyrics
‡‡ Although I have a grim theory that nobody counts absentee ballots. They go straight into landfill.
‡‡‡ Or even Abigail Bartlet
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Please join the discussion at Robin McKinley's Web Forum.
I am so glad your day was successful. Glad that you returned from the Scillies and navigated past Calais :)
Why can’t politics be more like the West Wing? Mostly it seems more like Yes Minister…
Yes Minister would be an IMPROVEMENT on reality.
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sorry I’m anonymous – (southdowner here) my computer has had a nervous breakdown – or is that me? and I’m on a temporary 1970′s version with tape cassette… no, it just feels catapultingly backwards awful :(
I have now got pictures of “treats on paws” done in class today, plus some show pics – not Crufts but getting there :) so will let you know when technology speaks to me again and I can upload them.
So glad you’re riding again – get the hot bath and muscle soak ready – maybe also time for another Bowen massage ;p
… and what was that about a foal growing up in the midwest? Do tell us more…
get the hot bath and muscle soak ready – maybe also time for another Bowen massage ;p
******** Indeed. I have a (horsey) friend who says, nah, you’re plenty fit, you’ll be fine, just remember to RELAX. –HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
… and what was that about a foal growing up in the midwest? Do tell us more…
******** I have a rose planted in memory of his grandmum at the cottage. :)
You’ll not only be fine, you’ll have such fun that you’ll start wondering how to fit those extra hours in which you need for that riding you’ve remembered how much you enjoy:)
… but soaks and pummeling helps reduce several years gap to a one-day John Wayne waddle from a 3 day stiff as a board, can’t manage much at all because of aches in places you forgot even existed ;) (this is a university long gap, and much later a young daughter gap experience speaking here – but it WAS wonderful to be horsey again)
you’ll have such fun that you’ll start wondering how to fit those extra hours in which you need for that riding you’ve remembered how much you enjoy:)
***** That’s EXACTLY what I’m worrying about. :)
Mwahahahahaha!
Revenge is sweet – lurchers!
Trouble is now all that keeps popping into my brain is a deerhound body with a bullie face covered in grizzly hair, sort of Mr Jekyll… you are a BAD person McKinley!
Thank you! I do try!!!
Sounds like a decent day. Yay!
The rest follows with a horrible inevitability.
Isn’t that the way it always is? You decide to learn how to do this one simple (hah!) thing — piano for you, for example, and knitting for me — and suddenly you’re composing, singing, learning how to spin, and desperately trying to convince yourself that you don’t need to get involved in all these other things that are related to the original endeavor. But soon you’re thinking about even more expensive pianos and thousand dollar spinning wheels and dying fiber and…
I don’t know about you, but I call it research. ;)
Yup. Also Life Enrichment. :) It’s all the same thing really–it gives you something to WRITE about.
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Life Enrichment! That works!
So…Do you have piano books planned? ;)
But of course. And bell ringing. :)
*claps* Oooh, I can’t wait!
Go you with the singing! I’m sure it sounds much better to the listener than it does to the performer. Isn’t that always the way? I can see every little mistake, and malformed eyepin loop, and stitch I set wrong, and it looks fine to everybody else. No, no, I say, look, there’s a bit of glue showing there, and that’s crooked, and that’s not quite the right color…
I listened to Hillary’s speech this morning as The Husband and I were driving to Costa Mesa, and a fine troop-rallying speech it was too. She did good. She also cracked that glass ceiling (and I said that myself before she did, heh), and whoever the next woman who runs for president is, it’ll be that much easier because Hillary broke that first path through the brush. I think I’m mixing metaphors. Oh well.
I would’ve rather had Hillary, myself, at least until the last few months when her campaign fell apart and it became evident that she couldn’t control her own staff, let alone Bill. But I’ll take Obama. I suspect he’ll be less frantic (and I think that’s what the smug really was) now that he’s not fighting the other Democrats.
What I really want is Jed Bartlet for president, but that, alas, is not to be.
Best wishes on a successful disposal and analysis of your fine collection of canine, um, output, and I’m glad to hear (read?) that you’re producing Pegasus pages.
*Sends hugs and virtual treats human and canine*
until the last few months when her campaign fell apart and it became evident that she couldn’t control her own staff, let alone Bill
******** You have a point there. Peter thinks Bill lost her the campaign.
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Please, PLEASE don’t sing in your chest any higher than a middle E. Please. Anything higher and it MUST GO INTO THE HEAD. Unless you want to hurt your voice, which could be appealing for you, but PLEASE. Head voice is your FRIEND. I promise.
At least, it’s my friend, but that could be because I’m up on the high notes most of the time and sometimes it feels like I’m never coming down. Not that I want to. They don’t write songs too high for me, though I almost wish they’d try.
Okay, back on subject. Chest voice has its uses, but if you are singing anything higher than a middle E, it should not be used. At all. Ever. Unless Oisin tells you differently because I’m sure he knows more about all thigns music than I do.
Am I being redundant or what?
You don’t, surely, mean the E above middle C, do you? surely you mean the E above the C *above* middle C?
I used *almost* to be able to sing that high. But nobody would ever have stuck around to listen. :) And I don’t think I have a voice that CAN be destroyed. It sort of ARRIVED destroyed. :)
But I’ll keep it in mind. When I was complaining to Oisin about not being able to sing any more, he had me match notes with piano notes and was already trying to drag me out of chest voice. He’s obviously going to be on your side.
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I mean no chest voice above the E a third about middle C. Please. And, hooray! I have a supporter! I knew my choir director couldn’t be wrong. She’s fabulous.
Get more confidence in singing, okay? Join a choir. Because you obviously don’t have enough to do in your life ALREADY.
ARRRRRGH. No choir in its right mind would take me, fortunately.
There are definitely alternate theories. I had voice lessons (and also worked with a speech therapist) given by extremely qualified vocal teachers that told me to always use my head voice when I could use it, and some (including the medical professional) that said chest voice is healthy and natural and to stop going up to head voice so much. You should never ever tell someone whose range you don’t know a specific note to do something like switching to head or chest voice, since everyone’s voice is different, and they could hurt themselves trying.
Here is my advice, having taught quite a few people to sing better myself, in addition to taking lessons from some very good masters, and having experienced and completely healed from vocal nodes: If you ever find yourself in pain, stop doing that. Pay attention to what feels good and what doesn’t. Warming up your voice with stretches and keeping yourself as relaxed as possible will help you. Alcohol will make you sound better, but since it brings blood vessels to the surface and thins the blood, it makes it much more likely that when you bang your vocal folds together you will cause damage. If you are worried that you are pushing your chest voice too high, find your natural break and play around with it; spend some time moving your voice through it. Drink lots and lots of water. As long as it doesn’t feel like pushing to stay in your chest voice, you are not likely to be doing harm. I am a lyric soprano and when I started studying jazz I really had to unlearn the “chest voice is the devil” training. Listen to Toby Twining or Bobby McFerrin–the human voice is capable of much much more than a genre teacher is going to teach you.
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Sigh. This all makes total sense. Now all I need is a *voice.* Okay, I’ve got two octaves, not one and a half, but it’s still . . . well. But I *have* been fooling around with the break, kind of because I have to to sing at all. some of it is just that I *talk* in chest voice so it feels more familiar in this scary business of trying to sing.
I live in Oregon, where ALL balllots are absentee. :) It’s wonderful because you can go look up the candidates on whatever for each position, without having to make a snap decision.
Gosh. I might be a slightly more responsible voter if that were generally the case.
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it cost £63 to fill my tank the other day and it’s a petrol car :( I am merely very happy that we now (for the last two months) live 2 miles from work instead of 40.
£63??!?? I hope it’s a LARGE tank.
You changed jobs just in time.
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Yay for you, Robin. High, as predicted, in the 90′s today. I did a couple of errands before the max was reached, but it was already hot. I won’t claim it was me who helped you through today, only be glad for you it went so well.
=) Yes, it is dorian mode if you start on d, and only use the white keys. The modes are all about patterns formed using halfsteps an wholesteps while played between an octave anywhere on a keyboard. (I am a music theory geek =)
So, if one starts on c, and plays only the white keys up to the next c, that is a major scale, or ionian mode.
on d, it’s dorian
on e, it’s phrygian
on f, it’s lydian
on g, it’s mixolydian
on a, it’s aolean, or the natural minor scale
on b, it’s this funky mode called locrian, which most of music teachers try to dissuade their students from using for whatever reason, but we do anyway.
I love to use modes. Especially lydian, because of the crazy tritone.
Ah. Thank you. I’ve been thinking I’m going to break the no-books rule about this–a list of the modes won’t hurt, and Oisin gave them to me anyway, although he may have been counting on my not remembering. For me there’s a critical difference between ‘this is what this is’ and ‘this is what you SHOULD DO with it’. Why is locrian too funky?
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I swear the “this is what you should do with it” depends on who you’re talking to at the time, what day of the week it is, what phase the moon is in, and what said person ate for breakfast. I’ve had 2 theory teachers in the past year completely contradict each other…. I think what the gist of it is if it sounds good to you. =P
Locrian is funky because you can’t create the most basic progression from it, the I- V- I. For instance, if you start on B, and use only the white keys, your V of the scale would be F, instead of F#. By having a tritone as the V instead of the most closely related harmonic, the F#, it just creates tonal instability, which is not only hard to manipulate, it throws all of your other progressions off.
OH, *cool.* Both paragraphs. Did you cheekily point out to either theory teacher that the other one said the opposite?
And I will definitely have to try locrian. It sounds like just my sort of thing. (Part of the steepness of my learning curve is my own fault.)
Thank you.
No problem. =) I’m glad I could sort of make it make sense. It’s very encouraging for my career as a music educator.
I did point this out to my most recent teacher, and had to duck the resulting drumstick that flew across the room. He said he was preparing us for the real world. *shakes head* Whatev.
Please. The real world will get you anyway, what you want is lots of escape routes. :)
My understanding is that you are partly right about absentee ballots; they don’t count them unless the election is a close one, as they assume the absentees generally reflect on-site voting trends within a few % points.
Are you still registered as voting in a particular state, or is there some sort of ex-pat limbo status for folks who really truly have left the country more or less permanently?
I do like your use of the word extruded, in context of writing–I often feel like that verb applies to the documents I produce at work. (“I’ve extruded another 6 labels on the basics of economic theory for 6-year-olds, can I stop now?”)
Alto? Mezzo soprano? Contralto? Or should I ask?
I still vote in/from/to Maine. Although things seem to Go Wrong in the way that things do so I may have gone straight to landfill even earlier than everybody else.
Extruded is EXACTLY how it feels.
Alto? Mezzo soprano? Contralto? Or should I ask?
******** When I took voice lessons (!) for a year in college, strictly for laughs, I think she had me down as a mezzo. When I was younger I had kind of a lot of notes on either end, even though none of them sounded at all nice, so I got stuck in where they were short of numbers, anywhere from high soprano to (high) baritone. Most of that’s disappeared and I have about an octave and a half left, I think, in the alto/mezzo range. And they sound even LESS nice. . . . Worse yet I got *caught*, out walking hellhounds today. . . .
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In the morning, when all I’ve had is coffee and am still a bit growly, I am rather a baritone. But my ability to hit the low notes fades as the day passes… I am, however, frequently mistaken for a man on the phone (or in the drive-thru) for some reason. Must be a timbre thing. I have no clue whether my voice sounds at all nice or not, because the choir director at my high school was an utter terror of a man and I stopped singing in front of people from 7th grade onwards.
But what did you get caught with? Something respectable and staid, like “The Lost Chord,” or “Danny Boy?” Or were you rockin’ the Pink Floyd or Jim Morrison. out in the wilds of Hampshire…?
You consider the Lost Chord RESPECTABLE?? How many centuries old did you say you were???
Gypsy Rover. I was trying to remember the rest of the last verse, the one that ends ‘and I will stay till my dying day with my whistling Gypsy Rooover.’ (Don’t all rush at once . . . )
I don’t rock. My idea of rocking is the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I can at least *guess* at singing Che Faro Eurydice; Nine Inch Nails–and Led Zep–defeat me.
Julia here-
LYRICS FOR GYPSY ROVER!!! just took a quick google search. here’s the link, which has the song there too, so you can listen to it.
http://www.thebards.net/music/lyrics/Gypsy_Rover.shtml
words and music traditional
A gypsy rover came over the hill
Down through the valley so shady.
He whistled and he sang ’til the green woods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.
Ah-dee-doo-ah-dee-doo-dah-day
Ah-dee-doo-ah-dee-day-dee
He whistled and he sang ’til the green woods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.
She left her father’s castle gate.
She left her own fine lover.
She left her servants and her state
To follow her gypsy rover.
She left behind her velvet gown
And shoes of Spanish leather
They whistled and they sang ’till the green woods rang
As they rode off together
Last night, she slept on a goose feather bed
With silken sheets for cover
Tonight she’ll sleep on the cold, cold ground
Beside her gyspy lover
Her father saddled up his fastest stead
And roamed the valley all over.
Sought his daughter at great speed
And the whistlin’ gypsy rover.
He came at last to a mansion fine
Down by the river Claydee.
And there was music and there was wine
For the gypsy and his lady.
“Have you forsaken your house and home?
Have you forsaken your baby?
Have you forsaken your husband dear
For a whistling gypsy rover?”
“He is no gypsy, my Father,” she cried
“but Lord of these lands all over.
And I shall stay ’til my dying day
with my whistlin’ gypsy rover.”
KEY G
verse/chorus:
G D G D
G D G D
G D G C
G C G C G D
Background: Popular Childe Ballad. Also known as The Whistling Gypsy Rover
The other one’s closer. And I don’t much like songs where people run off and leave their babies behind, so I’ll take the other one. :)
me again.
I was trying to remember WHY the lyrics looked so familiar– I thought perhaps they were in a book I read or something…
it wasn’t until I went back to the google search and clicked
http://ingeb.org/songs/thegypsy.html
and listened to the song and read THOSE lyrics, which are slightly different, that I remembered! I actually sang this song in my chorus class junior or senior year of high school!
So, I thought I ought to provide the alternative link, just in case the song you sing is closer to THIS version than the other one I found for you a few minutes ago…..
:)
–Julia
Yes, that’s it! This is the one I know. Although there are a few words different (she left her own fond lover, for example) and I never knew the verse about the velvet gown and the shoes. But this is IT. Although I always hated it that he’s lord of these lands all over–what a cheat!–which is probably why I forgot that last verse (I forgot the one before it too).
I think the verse you mean is:
“He is no gypsy, my father, she said,
But lord of these lands all over,
And I will stay till my dying day
With my whistling gypsy rover.”
HURRAH! Yes, that’s EXACTLY it. Thank you!!
I admire your storming new boundaries and setting new challenges for yourself. That’s the best way to do Life, I think.
I’m also sorry about Clinton. She has her issues, but I thought she’d make the best president out of this 2008 bunch. Obama is too much of of an unknown quantity — I fear that he’s more style than substance. Like you, I’ll vote for him regardless. But if he does such a crappy job that the Republicans are guaranteed the White House for another 8-16 years, I will be *seriously* ticked off.
Yes. My feeling exactly.
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She gave an incredible speech. At the moment it leaves me more inclined to support her than I was before. Obama, on the other hand, needs to come up with something I can be in favor of. Besides not being McCain, I mean.
I’ll likely end up voting for him, possibly while holding my nose. But dear God he is not “a different kind of politician”. Given that the electoral college is winner take all by state, possibly if my state ends up a certainty I can write her in anyway. If only I didn’t have this suspicion that she would be displeased by that….
Who are you, please?
I’m about as politically feeble as someone who can walk and chew gum at the same time can be but my instinct would be that she would NOT be displeased. She’s not too old to have one more shot at it, is she?
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I am Kit. Kitmf on LJ. I have had a computer die on me and the new one doesn’t know all my input info yet. Sorry not to have caught that.
Do people who are written in even get told? Unlike Maine, Virginia is one of the majority of states where the electoral college is all or nothing. We have been a reliable republican state since Lyndon Johnson. So – if this election is as usual, Obama will have no chance here at all and I can do what I like. Perhaps, if so, I’ll write her in. Talk is we may be “in play” this time. I am entirely positive that she would be furious if I voted for her in a close race. We’ll see.
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Ah. Gotcha. Yes, you’re right, she *really* wants a Democrat, ie Obama, in the White house.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comments about Clinton and Obama. That’s exactly how I feel. I’ve started calling him Barak Dubya Obama, because he’s being elected for the same reasons, and overall will have about the same results (but with Stupid Democratic handlers instead of Stupid Republican handlers – who will all be equally surprised to find he’s as stubborn as a pig and won’t listen to what they want, or to reason.) I’ll be voting against McCain – but it’s turning my stomach.
Oh dear. I was hoping I was wrong. Although I do think Obama has a brain. Dubya manifestly has no such organ.
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I’m glad you got some of the things done yesterday you really wanted to do, as well as those that just had to be done.
Now, I’m not one – as you know – to recommned online or digital resources generally ( :-D ), but there was a nice article re online shopping sites for good food in the ‘Indie’ yesterday. So as a way of taking your mind off recalcitrant bits of music, sky-high fuel prices, and…er…plastic bags, here’s a link for when you want to be distracted: http://independent.net-genie.co.uk/Food_Drink/63871/the_50_best_online_food_shops.html . I rather like the look of the spice shop one, myself.
*****Oisin said, of my D minor with no B flat, that I can perfectly well compose in Dorian–is it Dorian?–mode if I want to. And then ran through about seventeen other modes for me, their names, ranks, serial numbers, and overt and clandestine relations to the other sixteen. I caught maybe 1/657th of this. Maybe. But at least I can stop worrying about the B flat.*****
Maybe he can recommend a book or three — good ones — on music theory? Or, perhaps he’s afraid that too much actual knowledge will stunt your creativity? He DID say he likes watching you re-invent the wheel…. I’d go crazy without books on the subject, but you and I are quite different in many ways.
*****Oisin keeps saying, as we toil through my somewhat note-shaped smudges†, this is very interesting. It’s not what I would do, but . . . which rouses in me an almost irresistible desire to laugh. I realise he’s being encouraging–and he is being encouraging–but, pardon me, the man’s been a professional musician for thirty years or more, including composing music for TV and I think films occasionally . . . and I’m not doing what he would do? Well knock me down with a feather and call me cuckoo.*****
To me, it sounds like he’s giving you a very, very high compliment. He’s considering you almost a colleague by saying that. Be happy. :-)
Judith
Ordinarily–or historically–or traditionally–I’m a go-home-and-read-six-books-about-it person. I learned, effortfully, *not* to do this when I started going to a homeopath. Most homeopathy is very straightforward to get hold of–unlike a lot of doctor stuff–but generally speaking a homeopath would rather you did NOT rush home and read up on your remedy, but just experience what happens without any expectations. (Some homeopaths won’t tell you what remedy you’re on. I’m enough of a control freak that I wouldn’t put up with this.) What I’m doing with Oisin is partly based on the fact that I took ‘harmony’ in college and it nearly killed me–and it did wreck my grade point average. I think, from present perspective, that my composing is enough like my writing that I’m better off doing it the hard way without all the nice helpful rules and guidelines that generations of musicians have produced, at least for a little while. Just like I dropped out of every creative writing course I ever attended, and still get a trifle wall-eyed about people who graduate with PhDs in creative writing. The large ugly difference however is that I have proper story-writing talent and a sort of strange gnome of music-writing ability. But my personality is my personality.
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It cost fifty eight pounds to fill the tank. >insert manifestations of blinding outrage here<
…….
If it makes you feel any better, some of my friends are spending 90 and even 100 dollars at the pump. Ugh.
I don’t drive far- usually just six minutes down the road to work, twenty minutes to my grandmother’s house… so I don’t use too much gas. But my mother– driving my brother and sister around all day [now that I am home and helping her, I am beginning to see how she feels, driving all around creation, as she puts it!]
Sympathy. Hugs. Chocolate.
Yay for the hat. And for being able to work on Pegasus. And for piano/composing!
And for you. Yay.
:)
–Julia
:)
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Here is where the wind and brass and violin players have a performance advantage: in NO WAY can they be asked to play and sing at the same time. Having an interesting and challenging teacher is good except when it’s bad, right? :)
I’m sorry that Hillary didn’t make it, because I think she would do a better job, but it’s been looking like Obama’s year for some time. She gave a good speech yesterday and hopefully her supporters will pay attention to her and come out for Obama. He had a big rally here in St. Paul the night of the last primaries, in the arena where the Republicans will have their convention; 40,000 people came out and the place only holds 20,000 something, so there’s no doubt he attracts voters.
so there’s no doubt he attracts voters.
******** Because he’s *charming.* Which is what worries me. Although I admit I have a total blind spot about charm. I may be missing some of his virtues because his charm is so in my face. (I had some trouble with Hillary’s husband on these lines, but less severe.) I *hope* I’m missing some of his virtues.
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Oisin might not approve (i.e. wants you to play and record it yourself) but if you like when things have somewhat musically settled in any of the Songs, I can transcribe them into Finale if you like. Finale is a music publishing software so I can make you a pretty copy but it can also export the score as a music file that you play (mp3 for example). I’m sure the last thing you want is another computer program but they make a free version as well. Could be good for letting the computer play your variations for you. :)
Also on the subject of head voice, I would disagree on the exact note Q mentioned (and yes the E right above middle C is the E in question) for an alto/mezzo type but not much higher than that. Belting (taking the chest voice up like Broadway singers do) needs training to do properly without hurting the cords. Head will feel funny, particularly the transition between chest and head, but it’s worth it. Also keep in mind that the transition does not have to happen on the same note all the time. I normally switch between chest and head over about a third depending on the piece and whether I’m singing an ascending or descending line.
Oisin gave me a free music-writing programme WEEKS ago which will play back to you too . . . which I haven’t yet tried to figure out how to use . . . sigh.
. . . Head voice feels VERY funny. And very interesting about the break happening different places. So it’s not just that I’m hopeless. :) I think the basic truth is that I will have to try to sing for Oisin so, once he stops laughing, he can give me some advice. (He sings. Of course.)
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I can get head down to middle C although I have no volume. I can get chest up to maybe a 5th or a 6th above that although my control suffers. I do best to switch around E-F but say you’ve got just one note that pops up or down out of the range. Then sometimes I try to stay in whatever voice I’m in to make the line sound more continuous. That works particularly well (staying in head voice lower than normal) when singing in a chorus and individual volume isn’t as much of an issue.
Now like Q, I’m also a tippy top soprano so I have 2 more shifts beyond this one. One’s about an octave above this (around 2 G’s above middle C). I think of that as the head voice of head voice. And then a final flip to whistle register WAY up there, which is really a useless register for singing but fun to say “hey, I hit a what?”.
Oh! I’m not crazy! There IS another gear! I used to have it. It’s gone now. But I’m glad to know it’s actually a Known Thing. Never made it to the Bat Register however. :)
Yes, I was sad about Hillary, although I had predicted a year ago that she could not make it, partly for the reasons you mentioned.
Fortunately we don’t have lily beetles here. Probably the late frosts that regularly kill some of the lilies also prevent lily beetles. Most of my lilies are now too tall to be covered at night, so we should be getting a killing freeze sometime in the next two weeks.
“And yesterday I also took a deep breath and asked Oisin if he could bear it if I came in some week and played and sang…”
Yay!! :-)
“My best interpretations with, like, dynamics, tend to be at midnight when I’ve had a glass or two of champagne and am feeling unwontedly loose and cheerful.”
Exactly. Have a glass before your next lesson! You can wash down some chocolate with it, and be thoroughly relaxed when you sing!
And, i agree with Oisin and others – sing in head voice most of the time!! But, mostly, relax. If you relax, your voice will quite naturally want to be in head voice when it’s supposed to be…thus, champagne before lessons!
Smiles and much encouragement,
Jeanne Marie in KC
I *knew* I’d hear from you, the Singing Nut. :) Oh, you and your *relaxation.* Tonight bell ringing we’d got through our first go of Stedman rather well, and our ringing master was praising us and Vicky said, yes, and now Robin just has to learn to *enjoy* it. VERY FUNNY, VICKY, VERY FUNNY.
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“And I also think way too much of this campaign was won and lost by media spin, and the media decided a long time ago not to like Clinton.”
Yes, this was so annoying. I know some people might prefer one over the other, but… Just about every article I came across was so in favor of him and totally snippy about her. It drove me crazy. And they were eagerly predicting her loss for ages before it was anything like definite.