zbd1960

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.

If you're wearing protection and it is that loud, then that is seriously wrong. People need to take this more seriously. I'm extremely wary of loud environments, which is why I have an app with an SPL meter on it. OK it's not 'accurate' since a proper reading requires measuring distances etc., but it's a useful guide.

Yamaha have been making musical instrument since 1887 and pianos in 1900, which is why their logo is three tuning forks.

It's a thing in the cello world as well "antiqued" - no, if I'm buying a new instrument I want is to look nice, not as if someone has thrashed it with branches off a holly tree

Five of us cellists from orchestra got together yesterday for a pleasant lunch followed by playing music arranged for cello quartets and quintets. Event was hosted by one of the cellists in a rather nice house with stunning views.

One of the things that happens as you get older, you realise that time is precious and you lose the willingness to waste it trying to sort people/organisations out. I have wasted years being a part of clubs/groups, where I should have walked away. I wasted 15 years or more on several groups where I was heavily involved in the organisation and running. You eventually realise they don't care - they plug you in, use you, throw you away, like a disposable battery.

'ok, I suffer from "white coat syndrome" when it comes to making recordings of me playing anything... I started organ lessons September last year. Here's a rather splashy recording with assorted errors using my Hauptwerk organ using the Hereford Cathedral sample set... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LomcMKJeDjRNR1i1UzkGShtLJsqOCKrL/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R-DqKlYMf_UOcd2jfmYxpgxsIujQgguP/view?usp=sharing

Interesting piece by Henry Mancini with an ostinato bass line - very 1950s/60s. Fantastic graphics.

Back in my 30s, I started having singing lessons - until then I'd never sung a note. From there, I started to sing in choirs of various types and sizes - I've never sung solo. The problem with not doing this stuff as a youngster (and being told you can't sing) is you tend to be horrendously self-conscious (well, I am anyway). I tend to lose the plot if I try to sing solo. The ridiculous thing is that I am fine singing complex stuff like Bach or Bernstein, even with relatively few voices to a part... In a fit of insanity, for the summer school I will be going to in a few weeks time, one of the sessions I have signed up for is solo singing... I haven't had proper singing songs type singing lessons since I moved to Shropshire in 1999. Just before Covid hit, I started having some very technical lessons to do with voice production. A mix of Covid and the teacher moving 50 miles away put a stop to those lessons. I bit the bullet this week and had my first 'proper' singing lesson this week in 26 years.

I've taken my cello the train - which is a real PITA as the only realistic solution is to have it on a seat and pray the train isn't too busy.

Ignoring deficiencies in eyesight is not sensible, and in the case of driving, illegal. You need an eye test to determine what is going on and what the options are. I was 16 when I realised my distance vision had 'issues', so I had to wear glasses for distance and owing to a weak left eye, I needed to wear them all the time. As is common with most people over 40, reading became affected and I had to switch to varifocals. There are different qualities of lenses and inevitably the more expensive ones are better. I never had any issues wearing varifocals, some people do. I opted for lenses typically costing around £400 plus frames. Then in my mid-50s I discovered I had sudden onset cataracts. I had replacement lens surgery in both eyes and the new lenses in my eyes corrected my distance vision, so I now only really need glasses for reading. I use 'occupational lenses' which are so I have a mix of reading and intermediate reading - so I cna read music etc. They have a greater depth of field so things farther away remain in focus. Your eyesight sounds like it is opposite way around to mine, but there will be solutions, probably not cheap ones if you want good results. Ignoring eyesight issues is storing up future problems.

A rather more staid event as it was the first concert given by the two new community choirs (same MD for both). So, the more sedate environs of the local Methodist church. Rep was essentially a mix of music form shows, American Song Book etc. As we're new groups, we don't have enough rep to fill a full concert so some 'filler' provided by a couple of precocious youngsters aged around 8 or 9. Whilst both were extremely good (the young pianist was scarily good) I could have done with that tbh. One of the stalwarts of the local music scene provided some very different stuff with a mix of folk/jazz improv type stuff - duets on various combinations of piano, flute, violin, tin whistle, and later on a small Gamelan set-up... And the issue is when you have 'guests' they tend to do too much.... However, the two choirs did well.

I was going to say teak is heavy.

Things you didn't think you'd need to do: remote login to the organ from the Macbook... I have a 24" monitor built into the music desk so that I can play from PDFs. There is a spare USB socket near ground level around the back where I could connect a USB stick or portable drive. I'm thinking that rather than that, I could try remotely connecting the Mac to the organ's PC and do it that way. So, some online searches pulls up that MS makes the Remote Desktop app for Mac. I did need to run a script on the organ's PC to alter some permissions (again an online search sorted that out). I then remoted into the PC from the Mac and copied across assorted PDFs. I have encountered one issue that I've not definitely resolved yet. When you load a PDF (enScore) page forward stops working after the initial scroll to the start of the music. It might resolve when I next power up as I didn't do a re-boot after the changes to the PC. If not, the next thing to check will be drivers I suppose... (a big reason why I switched to Mac at home 8 years ago).

My cello case is a Hiscox. I've had mine about 15 years now and it was £300 then. It's bomb proof, but not light.