zbd1960

Most of us are self-deprecating by nature, especially Brits... When I changed career paths at age of 25 and went from being a bank clerk to a mainframe assembler programmer, I struggled to call myself a 'computer programmer' for quite a while. Later, when I started singing lessons and started perfroming in concerts regularly, I struggled with calling myself even an 'amateur musician' and definitely not 'musician'. I think the terms musician and artist get tangled up with various layers of meaning. Those terms apply at many different levels and often people use the terms solely for what you might call the 'elite' levels, whereas as they apply to all/most of us at any level. I play or sing then I'm a musician - doesn't mean I get gigs at prestigious venues. I'm a serious amateur photographer and I have had work in exhibitions, so yes in that context I'm definitely an 'artist'. Do I make a living out of music or photography? No. And perhaps that's what people are thinking when they use the terms - they are applying them to professionals who make a living from their activities.

Backm from hols and I attend a workshop yesterday run by a local music charity (Drum and Brass) aimed at getting more people of all ages involved in music making. We were asked to bring instruments along (I took a tenor sax) and the session was about conducting. Groups and ensembles of all kinds need conductors and without them groups either don't happen or fold... so this is aimed at getting people started on that road. I have ended up having to conduct at times, e.g. the conductor is stuck in traffic, or is ill. Some of the session was about organisation/admin such as rehearsal room layout, repertoire selection, rehearsal planning, etc. I think following yesterday I am going to be asked to help out with one group... I will report more in due course.

Agree, your browser auto-completed the password. G4M are still going - I ordered some bits from them a few weeks ago.

Singing last night in Patterdale in a concert with the community choir. Mostly American Song Book stuff and musical theatre.

Hi, welcome

Hi, welcome

Interesting word salad. Do they even know what words like 'triptych' actually mean?

Yesterday, I had the first of what should now be regular singing lessons. It was only a short one due to temporary issues around a teaching venue. That will be resolved once the teacher has got a new house. I also went to my first rehearsal with a new choir. First impressions are favourable. I have about six months or so to go of not being able to play sax owing to the bone graft and tooth implant. In a random fit of wanting to do something different, I had a go at playing a brass instrument for the first time (I did clear it with the dentist first). I went to a local group that was having a 'have-a-go' session for newcomers. I opted to have a got at a euphonium and got some noises out of it, some might even have born resemblance to a note. The euphonium is the same pitch as both my cello and baritone sax - it starts on the Bb below bass clef and cello and sax both start on the C. An annoying aspect is that in band repertoire, the euphonium is regarded as a transposing instrument in Bb and is written for in treble clef. This is so that a player of another instrument can just play it if needed as the fingerings are then the same. Away from bands, it is treated as being chromatic, non-transposing, and the music is at concert pitch in bass clef. If you want to play both, you need to learn two sets of fingerings. Saxes have the same issue. They have always been fully chromatic as they were invented in the mid-C19th and did not develop from a more primitive instrument. Nevertheless they are treated as transposing to avoid having two sets of fingerings for Eb and Bb instruments.

Definitely if you get the chance sign-up for a play day somewhere. The UK Amateur Orchestras FB page regularly has adverts from groups organising them - and there is a specific page as well for play days (UK Orchestra Play Days). These are ad-hoc events with no commitment beyond the day.

Community choir rehearsals have resumed... we have a concert at the end of the month.

Hi, welcome

Hi, welcome.

I think the simplest way is best - just say as others have indicated that it's not working for you and move on.

I'm back from a week at music summer school near Stafford. This year I'd signed up for a different set of classes to the past. I did conducting, solo singing, string orchestra, chamber orchestra, and choir. I even managed to overcome my dread/fear of singing solo in public and sang in the solo singing recital. I chose "Where'er you walk" by Handel. The YT video is sung by a counter tenor, so an octave higher than I sang it. The venue is a grand country pile which is now used to run arts activities, mostly for schools.

What would sort it out - but they won't do it - is to go and book a hearing test. These are easily available on the high street. Then they might understand that they've got a problem, or will have one soon... That would determine frequency range and sensitivity.