Shattered
I keep oversleeping. Sleep! Arrgh! Who needs it! Yes, well, that’s the problem. I’m sure the mend-and-restore features in standard wetware could have been better designed.* Meanwhile I keep waking up late and getting off on the hellhound hurtle late**, and so the day goes. . . . I try to get down to the mews early on Fridays because I want a final frantic smash at the piano before my lesson at 3. This week’s musical nadir was when, after about four hours’ work I managed to lose about the last two hours’ grind on Finale, trying to copy last week’s piece in: I mean I only lost the two hours, the music is safe, it’s just illegible–which is where we came in with wanting composing software.*** This was so infuriating I haven’t touched the wretched thing since . . . but it left me a bit short of something to take to Oisin, so I have been somewhat feverishly trying to bash out the second piece from last week, which, last week, was only a kind of beginning sketch. Well, it’s now a sort of middling sketch, although it’s got a lot longer. And I did, in fact, get to the mews early today, and had nearly two hours of noise† and anguish . . . and then it occurred to me, during a dazed moment while I was wandering around the kitchen making myself another cup of tea and stretching out the knots in my back and my fingers and poking cotton balls in my ears to stop my rapidly liquefying brains from leaking out, that maybe I ought to check my email just in case there was something urgent . . . and found a message from Oisin saying he’d been annexed for an unscheduled funeral and could we make it 4:15? And rather than having the sense the gods gave a marmoset, and thinking, okay, well, I need to get something done today besides walking hellhounds and composing superfluous music†† . . . I went back to the piano.
And there’s a problem with learning a new skill. It’s ruddy exhausting. Especially the reinventing-the-wheel method that I’m pursuing with this composing scam. Oisin does occasionally tentatively offer the odd explanation or concept of basic harmony–saying, but reinventing the wheel is working for you–and I do have a very basic book on musical notation, but mostly it’s just me and some fingers on a keyboard going, clink. No. Clink. No. Clink? Maybe. How about . . . clink? Okay, let’s try clink. And I write that down and then it’s clink . . . clink. No. Clink . . . clink. No. Clink . . . clink . . . The worst is when I can hear the wretched progression in my head and can’t find it on the piano. This, says Oisin, eyes gleaming maliciously, is where learning to sing would be very useful because then you can sing the interval you’re searching for. DOOO SHUT UP. He also has some really extreme fantasies about learning to compose silently in your head but I can recognise a teacher trying to ruin a student’s life when I see/hear it.
This week however I have promised to get back to Finale. I really do have to get back to Finale because I need to LEARN TO USE THE BEGGAR BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I HAVE IT FOR. Not to mention all you out there waiting breathlessly to find out if I really am writing music or whether it’s all an elaborate practical joke.††† It’s just the writing-music learning curve is so much more fun than the using-new-computer-programme learning curve. Sigh. . . .
* * *
* I am intensely and wholeheartedly jealous of the thingummy demon in SUNSHINE that gets as much sleep as it needs during the blinking of its eyes.^ I’m sure even the anti-demon prejudice would be worth putting up with for six or eight more hours in a day.
^ And no, its trains of thought roll right over the apparent fissures of sleep. But what are its dreams like?
** They’re out mucking the fields today: fertilizing with manure. Crumbs, the smell. We’d been walking along the ridge that begins above Jenny’s yard, and after a few miles of cows we turned left. About halfway down the slope back to the road where Wolfgang^ was waiting for us there was an Immense Tractor blocking the way, attendant muck cart attached behind, redolent of its prodigal load. The kind of tractor that fills the entire lane from hedgerow to hedgerow. We hung around at a wide place in the lane–a place where there was somewhere to jump to that didn’t involve death by nettles–but it just went on sitting there, so eventually we went cautiously toward it^^, contemplating how we were going to get round it. As we came abreast of the cab, the driver leaned out, and shouted over the roar of the engine, Have you seen a muck spreader?
What? You mean you’ve lost one?
^ With four functioning tyres
^^ hellhounds clustering behind my knees because they do not like large noisy vehicles. The problem is that they tend to pile up back there, so in situations like this I proceed in lurches, with reference to rebounding hellhounds. When we’re on the really narrow stretch of pavement on the main road that my little cul de sac opens off of and a bus or tractor or pantechnicon+ comes past us, I stop, so that hellhounds can pile up comfortably and I can shun perilously untrammelled lurches.
+ this is the loveliest word, and it’s almost completely dropped out of common use, except by the elderly~ and/or romantic foreigners. Bring Back Pantechnicon.
~ All right, whoever you are, I apologise for calling you elderly
*** Wanting. Software. Gods, I’m ill.
† I have got to make myself sing regularly. I have absolutely no excuse for failing at this simple task. I have two flaming hours of hellhound flaming walking every flaming day, and while the last half hour is often in earshot of other people, the first hour and a half usually isn’t.^ Somebody remind me to learn more lyrics, especially to songs that I don’t have to kill myself if someone catches me singing them. There Is a Tavern in the Town is borderline, but Battle Hymn of the Republic is definitely over.
^ This morning nobody could have heard me over the tractors.
†† And failing to locate missing muck spreaders
††† Note: I don’t do practical jokes. Or impractical ones, for that matter.
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Keep whacking away at FINALE, Robin, you’ll get there! Remember what you’ve posted about recent exploits with bell ringing! You can do it.
Alas, I can’t suggest any songs for you to learn.
I’ve started my second, lovely trip through Chalice. A keeper indeed.
Thank you! :)
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****** And rather than having the sense the gods gave a marmoset
Snork! I’m going to the Marmoset union, because I’m pretty sure gerbils have fewer ;)
Yes, well, gerbils would probably have gone back to the piano too. :)
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Robin, get off that piano wheel! Stop going round in circles :)
Oh, is THAT my problem???? :)
pantechnicon
That necessitated a trip to dictionary.com for me–and I’m not often stymied! Excellent word. :)
Somebody remind me to learn more lyrics, especially to songs that I don’t have to kill myself if someone catches me singing them.
With all those operas you listen to, you’re not loaded with lyric choices? :) I recommend show tunes, myself–they lend themselves to spontaneous singing without too much embarrassment.
I CAN’T SING *OPERA*. Good grief. Actually I know most of the lyrics to SWEENEY TODD but it’s mostly too hard for me to sing too.
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How about ‘Come Live With Me’ by Christopher Marlowe, and then just to the pernicious ‘The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd’ by Sir Walter Raleigh ;p The tune is easy to learn, and it doesn’t jump up and down the registers so much.
I CAN’T SING *OPERA*. Good grief.
:) Well, have you TRIED? How hard could it be? (Yes, OK, pretty freakin’ hard…)
Actually I know most of the lyrics to SWEENEY TODD but it’s mostly too hard for me to sing too.
Sondheim’s never easy. I can do a fair bit of Into the Woods, but I’m not sure I’d say I do it WELL.
I’ve been sort of vaguely humming SWEENEY for the last half hour or so . . . emphasis on the ‘vaguely’ . . . :)
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I’ve been sort of vaguely humming SWEENEY for the last half hour or so . . . emphasis on the ‘vaguely’ . . . :)
Vaguely humming is a solid start! Then whistling–can you whistle? :)
I have to admit I’m not clear on why singing will help you figure out your intervals while composing in the first place… But musical composition is an UTTER MYSTERY to me; my admiration for your efforts knows no bounds, as it sounds really pretty damn challenging!
No, I CANNOT whistle. Not. At. All. :) I’m stuck with singing. :(
Well, because if you can sing, you’ll learn to sing intervals. And then you can reproduce the intervals at will. At least that’s the theory. . . .
No, I CANNOT whistle. Not. At. All. :)
That’s a shame! It’s my main form of musical expression. :) I do quite a lot of it, it’s less embarrassing than getting caught out singing…
Well, because if you can sing, you’ll learn to sing intervals. And then you can reproduce the intervals at will. At least that’s the theory. . . .
Hmmm. I figure, I can whistle (or sing) “On the Street Where You Live” because I know what it sounds like in my head; but I’ve got no clue of the intervals and if I were trying to pick it out on the piano it would still be a “*plink*–no, that’s not it–*plunk*–no, wait–*plank*–ahh there!” for every other note. Music theory eludes me. :)
No, you’d sit there singing each note *long* enough till the key you hit on the piano was the same note. You need good breath control however if you’re not very musical. :)
OK, so I’m surfing around trying to find stuff to help you with intervals, and I come across this: http://www.hansenb.pdx.edu/pdf/AuralSkill.pdf
which is a bit impenetrable, admittedly, but he makes an interesting point farther in: “In taking melodic dictation students should group pitches into recognizable patterns and focus on identifying the pitches as scale degrees in the key.” So, he thinks it’s more important to consider the intervals relative to the key you are in (which might be hard if you’re changing keys). This is probably what I do, so I guess I agree with him…that’s what solfege does, put things in terms of a specific key.
THIS is what I was actually hoping to find:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_training
(scroll down to “Interval Recognition, there’s a chart)
This gives popular songs which have specific intervals as their opening notes, and is often used as a crib sheet for aural training in music theory classes. I noted in another comment that this didn’t help me much, but then the Greek orthodox monk had already been in my head with solfege, so…
I agree also with singing Christmas Carols…yay for Christmas in October!
Smiles,
JM
Somebody remind me to learn more lyrics, especially to songs that I don’t have to kill myself if someone catches me singing them.
Hmmmm. Niece and Nephew (5 & 4) lurrrrrve their Mary Poppins CD. After hours and hours of playing THAT I find I can remember the words … *sigh*
Easy to learn though. ;)
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even though the sound of it is something quite precocious.
I had Mary Poppins on reel to reel tapes and Peter Pan too. I hadn’t seen the movies but was word-perfect as to the Disney soundtrack. I am also pathetically able to recall, and sing out of tune, large segments of Rogers and Hammerstein and Noel Coward lyrics and try to hum the music and sing in low tones when walking in the less populated streets of Athens. When someone overhears I get the “mad foreigner” looks. Greek songs rarely make good marching music.
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Of course there is always Monty Python to learn the lyrics of…. The Meaning of Life had some great songs (esp. the one “dedicated’ to Noel Coward! LMAO)
Noel Coward’s a thought. He’s another one with a three-note range. :)
“Noel Coward’s a thought. He’s another one with a three-note range. :)”
Repeat after me in a staccato tone:
‘Here you see
the pick of us
you may be
heartily sick of us
but still with sense
we’re all imbued.”
*****And rather than having the sense the gods gave a marmoset, and thinking, okay, well, I need to get something done today besides walking hellhounds and composing superfluous music . . . I went back to the piano.*****
WOMAN!! HOLD YOUR TONGUE!! There’s no such thing as superfluous music.
*****redolent of its prodigal load*****
Gods, that’s a beautiful phrase. Redolent of its prodigal load. Redolent of its prodigal load. You should find a way to set it to music. Think about it.
*****This, says Oisin, eyes gleaming maliciously, is where learning to sing would be very useful because then you can sing the interval you’re searching for. … I have got to make myself sing regularly. I have absolutely no excuse for failing at this simple task.*****
You should hang out with conductors. They are usually TERRIBLE singers, but they MUST sing to convey their ideas to their players. They are completely unselfconscious about their poor voices and even their flatness. They get the point across, and that’s all that matters, and no one ever cares. See if you can manage to sit in on some symphonic rehearsals with some great name conductor — it will do you a world of good to see some awe-inspiring name shamelessly singing “Doo de DOO de DEEE DEEE DEEE” in a flat, raspy voice, and dancing to it, and watch 120 well-paid professionals nod solemnly and do exactly as he says.
Judith
*****And rather than having the sense the gods gave a marmoset, and thinking, okay, well, I need to get something done today besides walking hellhounds and composing superfluous music . . . I went back to the piano.*****
WOMAN!! HOLD YOUR TONGUE!! There’s no such thing as superfluous music.
&&&&&&&&&&&& Well. If it IS music. :)
*****redolent of its prodigal load*****
Gods, that’s a beautiful phrase. Redolent of its prodigal load. Redolent of its prodigal load. You should find a way to set it to music. Think about it.
&&&&&&& Snork. I’m worried . . . I KNOW what you mean . . .
*****This, says Oisin, eyes gleaming maliciously, is where learning to sing would be very useful because then you can sing the interval you’re searching for. … I have got to make myself sing regularly. I have absolutely no excuse for failing at this simple task.*****
You should hang out with conductors. They are usually TERRIBLE singers, but they MUST sing to convey their ideas to their players. They are completely unselfconscious about their poor voices and even their flatness. They get the point across, and that’s all that matters, and no one ever cares. See if you can manage to sit in on some symphonic rehearsals with some great name conductor — it will do you a world of good to see some awe-inspiring name shamelessly singing “Doo de DOO de DEEE DEEE DEEE” in a flat, raspy voice, and dancing to it, and watch 120 well-paid professionals nod solemnly and do exactly as he says
&&&&&&&&&& LOL! As a ‘friend’ of the ENO I’m eligible for rehearsals. Their conductors are pretty good. :)
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Ode to a Manure Spreader… I shudder at the thought.
***Somebody remind me to learn more lyrics, especially to songs that I don’t have to kill myself if someone catches me singing them.
There’s always chants (like Om Namah Shiva), which you are *supposed* to repeat over ad infinitum. I don’t know where that falls on the kill-yourself-if-overheard spectrum, but around here I find them a useful antidote for an overdose of hymns and/or Christian rock. (Which, admittedly, I have a limited capacity for. YMMV.)
Yes, OMMMMMMM can be quite . . . resonant. :)
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*****There’s always chants (like Om Namah Shiva), which you are *supposed* to repeat over ad infinitum.*****
Gustav Holst set a bunch of these to music. They’re in English, but they might work….
Judith
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Oh, gosh, Holst in his Eastern spirituality hat! Yes, I’ll have to look those up!
****And there’s a problem with learning a new skill. It’s ruddy exhausting. Especially the reinventing-the-wheel method that I’m pursuing with this composing scam.****
Interestingly enough, MPR’s “Fresh Air” tonight replayed an interview with Oliver Sacks because his latest book, MUSICOPHILIA, has just come out in PB. He said that in general, while the brains of writers/artists/scientists etc. don’t look any different from the brains of anyone else or each other, musicians’ brains are frequently identifiable because of specific changes in brain structure, even after as little as a year of musical training. No wonder you find this learning process exhausting! :)
****They’re out mucking the fields today: fertilizing with manure. Crumbs, the smell. ****
I can relate–but think how interesting for the hellhounds! If they weren’t on lead they’d probably be out in the fields ROLLING.
****Somebody remind me to learn more lyrics, especially to songs that I don’t have to kill myself if someone catches me singing them.****
So how about Flanders and Swann?
The interesting thing though is the parts that are SIMILAR to the story-writing process. It’s a bit like trying to squash your own familiar functioning feet into a pair of shoes that DO NOT FIT. I’ve been thinking I’ll blog about this one night. . . .
Flanders and Swann! Another EXCELLENT suggestion! I’m so glad I asked! :)
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**He said that in general, while the brains of writers/artists/scientists etc. don’t look any different from the brains of anyone else or each other, musicians’ brains are frequently identifiable because of specific changes in brain structure, even after as little as a year of musical training. No wonder you find this learning process exhausting! :)**
That’s really interesting! I wonder why…
I was thinking about ‘pantechnicon’ the other day – not sure why it popped in to my head, but it was a word my dad used (he would be 85 now, so yes, a word of the elderly).
Another favourite of mine is ‘discombobulated’, which is how I suspect I would feel at the idea of someone losing an entire muck spreader.
Even without demonic advantage brains have been better designed (or evolved, as you prefer). Dolphins sleep by turning off half their brain at a time and using the other half exclusively. Since I usually feel like half my brain is filled with sludge anyway this seems like a good solution.
*** I am intensely and wholeheartedly jealous of the thingummy demon in SUNSHINE that gets as much sleep as it needs during the blinking of its eyes.^ I’m sure even the anti-demon prejudice would be worth putting up with for six or eight more hours in a day.
^ And no, its trains of thought roll right over the apparent fissures of sleep. But what are its dreams like?***
Huh? I thought you created the Hildy demon simply for everyone to envy? (I don’t have enough to read, with the result that one of my pastimes is, when a line from Sunshine occurs to me, I stop and figure out the context. ‘S fun.)
“+ this is the loveliest word, and it’s almost completely dropped out of common use, except by the elderly~ and/or romantic foreigners. Bring Back Pantechnicon.”
Absolutely! Hear hear!
Another one I like is salmagundi. I made this, once. Took a lot longer to make, with all the arranging, than to eat!
And I finished CHALICE last night. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR WRITING IT! I loved lots of little things about it – such as the bit where the flame comes into the Master’s hand and settles itself down comfortably, and…and…well, lots! :)
Thank you! (You just think it’s a *cat* reference . . . :))
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“You just think it’s a *cat* reference . . . :)”
Well, would I be entirely wrong if I thought that that little element might have been inspired by small(ish)-furry-animal-of-choice? :)
Out of interest, does it feel strange coming out of a character and world that you have imagined so intensely, when the writing for a particular story comes to its natural end? I wondered if the everyday world might feel a bit strange and two-dimensional for a while.
My desire to be ABLE to write sequels has nothing to do with possible commercial success. It’s ALL about wanting to go BACK there.
*raises hand*
How ’bout Christmas carols? At least seasonally. Which is approaching. I find it dismaying how many there are for which I remember not just the first, but sometimes the second & third verses.
Now wait. GraceNotes, upthread, is on her second read-through of Chalice. I ordered mine some time ago, and it’s not here yet!
*is annoyed*
Oh, Christmas carols! Yes! I know REAMS of them! They do stick in the mind, don’t they? I don’t know what it is–I don’t think I ever LEARNT any.
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“How ’bout Christmas carols? At least seasonally. Which is approaching. I find it dismaying how many there are for which I remember not just the first, but sometimes the second & third verses.”
—– I often like the later verses even better. Many people only since the first one or two, but often the later ones say more; it almost makes me wonder if the authors used the first verse as a warm-up while figuring out what they really wanted to say (or as a way to get across the basic theme of the song which they then proceeded to expand in greater depth in later verses).
danceswithpahis
******The worst is when I can hear the wretched progression in my head and can’t find it on the piano.
I have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. Brings me back to High School Music Theory, where we had to compose music…on software! Oh boy…ours was called ‘Sibelius’* and I could NEVER figure out how to put down on the program what it was that I heard in my head, which would usually result in a half-finished product that I was shamed to listen to along with the rest of the class. I guess Oisin is right, learning to sing probably would help…don’t know when I’ll ever get around to that, though. You have much more drive to learn how to do these things than I do. :)
*I never could figure out why it was named after Jean Sibelius and not someone else? Oh well, might as well pick someone slightly more obscure. He did have some pretty good stuff. Yes, I am the kind of musician who uses technical terms like “stuff.”
Jeanne Marie has Sibelius and LIKES it. :) So obviously there’s a detente to be had. I’m still looking for mine with Finale, but Oisin has found it so IT exists too. I dunno about drive. It’s just when I’ve had the on switch flipped about something it’s like I’M GONNA DO THIS. STAND BACK. :)
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Yay! That’s definitely the best attitude to have. :) I only ever seem to get that way about *playing* music: when my cello teacher tells me how to play a certain part (which was previously unintelligible to me) and I become determined to do it (despite all the sweat and anguish that goes into learning how to do so), or when I pick up on a new trick in handbells. Speaking of handbells, I’ve been wondering how much similarity there is to the bell ringing you do and the little handbells I ring at my church? *ponders*
Probably not much. Remember I’m ringing English change-ringing patterns on my handbells–not melodies.
(back from Portland, and catching up on entries!)
Yes, I do indeed like Sibelius, but then I am (usually, not always) able to hear the intervals in my head *ducks thrown objects* :-) I think part of why I do hear them is because I learned solfege (“DO, a deer, a female deer, RE a drop of golden sun…”) at the tender age of 9 from a large Greek Orthodox monk who was teaching music that year. (the funny thing is that while I remember the monk, I didn’t remember that he had taught us solfege – mom had to remind me of that when I was in college, and solfege seemed so much easier for me than for everyone else).
I have a 52 year old student who couldn’t match pitch three years ago, and I used solfege with her, and it has helped her immensely – but, another student, it didn’t help at all. We did have a whole chart of famous songs to help us remember intervals in theory class, but I don’t ever remember those…if I find it (perhaps google?), I’ll send it along, maybe that would help?
Smiles,
JM
I’d LOVE your interval chart. And you’re a professional–I don’t begrudge you hearing intervals in your head–it would be like begrudging me being able to hear stories in my head! :) And the truth is that while I still can’t DO any of this . . . there’s still a learning process and a thinning-fog process going on. The most amusing thing I’ve noticed is that I’m *beginning* to be able to what I call ‘noodle’ . . . sit down at the piano and let your fingers wander over the keys and produce something that sounds something like music. :) Niall, who is very musical, does this well. I do it badly. But it comes from all those hours I’m now spending going, Clink? No. Clink? No . . . :)
*****I think part of why I do hear them is because I learned solfege*****
Solfege is HARD, That said, if you can do it, it definitely makes hearing intervals in your head the easiest thing in the world.
I found that learning piano was what helped me learn intervals. i never took a formal theory class, but I learned intervals by visualizing what they would be on a keyboard; those visual patterns and the sounds correlated in my head. Knowing what the intervals are CALLED is an IMMENSE help; learning just that much theory would be a big step to making the composing process faster and would reduce the plinking around.
Judith
I’ll get there eventually. . . .
You found the other comment with the link buried in it, yes?
I’m glad you are beginning to noodle – I can’t actually noodle, it is a Very Advanced Skill as far as I’m concerned! :-)
JM
Eeep. Did I? I Have No Memory. Maybe you could send it again–?
I’m only BEGINNING to noodle.
You could sing “The Jabberwocky” to the tune of Greensleeves; it does work. I learned a bunch of filksongs (mostly science fiction/fantasy lyrics set to known tunes) – “That’s Science Fiction” to the tune of “That’s Entertainment,” and things like that. I also love Paul Simon songs. A lot of the songs I sing for myself are songs I learned from listening to them a lot on the radio when I was in my teens – hence the Paul Simon lyrics. I also know a lot of Jimmy Buffet songs – my husband plays a lot of Jimmy Buffet when we go on road trips.
Oh, ancient Simon and Garfunkel! Yes! And I will DEFINITELY have to try Jabberwocky to Greensleeves. LOL! –I’ve been thinking I need to learn a few more Leonard Cohen songs, after Suzanne, which I don’t think you can be my age and American and NOT know. But Cohen has less voice than I do and his songs usually hum along on about three notes. :) *And* the lyrics are to die for. (Even if I think his attitude toward women needs work.)
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“ancient Simon and Garfunkel!”
oh yes, love those.
“a few more Leonard Cohen songs”
That’s the attitude: first we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin!
I personally also have a love of ABBA (**ducks to avoid the stones being thrown**). Hey, the first record I ever bought was ABBA’s Greatest Hits ON CASSETTE! You can get up quite a sweat to Dancing Queen and Money Money Money!
ABBA lovers unite! Heehee…I’ve got an ABBA Gold CD which I regularly listen to… :)
And the idea of singing the lyrics of songs to the tunes of more familiar ones is amazing!!! Ahaha, I’ve gotta try that!
It does help to add lyrics when you’re composing, because it really does help you chase down notes. Been there, done that, only on guitar. And it’s not like you’ll be singing out in public. Or you could just hum. I don’t know. I think as long as you don’t give up, you’ll do alright. Especially if plinking away makes you happy.
Had the last surgery on Friday. I have to totally stay off the leg. I have road rash from hell where they took the graft. But hey, it’s a start, right? Now I can start with the healing–about time. Thanks again for your kind thoughts and all the candle lighting.
Candles still burning. Lots where these came from. :) In your enforced idleness . . . maybe you can write a song or three. :)
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Oh I forgot–maybe you NEED to sleep a bit more?
An unwelcome thought. :)
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****But Cohen has less voice than I do and his songs usually hum along on about three notes. :) *And* the lyrics are to die for. (Even if I think his attitude toward women needs work.)****
He’s occasionally a lazy poet, but generally a good one. Some of his songs sound to me like Muse poems, where the Muse is like Graves’s White Goddess; this could certainly color his attitude towards women. :)
He’s also a genuine sex fiend I gather. Men who are QUITE that led by their, ahem, members, often have attitudes like his. But anyone who can write lines like ‘reaching for the sky just to surrender’ is worth it on my list. Some of his best songs (Hallelujah) are also his worst, if you follow me.
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