zbd1960

Busy day today. I had my organ practice slot in one of the local churches this morning - trying to get my head around some Bach. Then it was the final rehearsal with the new community choir - we're singing some stuff at the weekend. Then I had my organ lesson.

I'm a very strong advocate of people joining a community orchestra/band as soon as they start playing. I did that with cello when I started in 2011 and also sax about little later.

@StingRayBoy42 have to approve the top hat, goggles etc... I hav ebeen known to be similarly attired...Although the solstice is the shortest day, the earliest sunrise is about a week before that because sunrises continue to get later until the first week of January or so. I encountered something along your lines at Lincoln some years ago....

There is technique to singing well with good tone and without strain. For most people, some or all of that has to be taught. Most untrained singers used 'tuned shouting' which tires the voice and can cause problems long term.

You have to be careful buying older saxophones and check to see if they are stamped LP or HP. Not an issue if you play on your own, but a big problem if you want to play with other people.

I am I suppose what you would call a classically trained singer. I'd never sing until my 30s and started to have singing lessons. I'm a baritone, although I probably should sing tenor). I don't do solo, but I have sung a huge range of the classical repertoire in hundreds of concerts over the last 30+ years. So what happens when I hear your archetypal Karaoke singer? A great deal of wincing. A lot of the classic American songbook stuff (Gershwin, Cole Porter etc) and the 'crooner' repertoire (Bing, Sinatra etc) was written for competent singers with at least a two octave range. Most (not all) untrained singers cannot cover that range. Which is why it often either varies wildly in pitch or it sounds as if the local feline population is being systematically strangled.... People 'think' that singing is easy. For most people, to sing musically, in tune, in rhythm, and conveying the words and sentiment is hard work.

Same here. My last company car was a BMW and I think I confused a lot of other road users.... To avoid confusing other road users, I drive a Skoda since I retired

Quite an old video of his... he can't keep a straight face after a short way in and calls 432Hz out for the nonsense it is. As he says later, pitch standards are essentially arbitrary and A=440Hz was sort of settled on in mid-C20th. As I said in my other post, when I play my viol with other period instruments, we tune to A=415 which is a lot less strain on gut strings.

Historically, tuning was 'local'. Tuning for singers would be whatever the church organ was. Whatever the local music teacher's tuning fork said etc. Pitch standardisation became more of a necessity once musicians are travelling and people from different areas have to play together.

Most songs in the classical repertoire, when you order the music you usually have a choice of high/medium/low voice. This means there are three editions in three keys to accommodate different voice types. So sopranos and tenors would opt for 'high' and altos and basses for 'low'. Some have the 'medium' option which can be useful if you're a baritone/second tenor/mezzo

Last night's gig in Carlisle included the Carol Symphony by Hely-Hutchinson which gets a fair amount of airtime usually on Classic FM at this time of year. The cello part is pretty tricky in some places with very complex rhythms. You can get an idea from this rolling score version on YT The last movement is a challenge to not get lost!

Tuning and temperaments are a very substantial set of rabbit holes you can fall into.... The history of tuning is complex... Ignoring a pile of history and complexity, essentially A=440Hz was 'settled' as a standard in the early to mid-C20th. If you look at the history of it, it has varied significantly - even from one town to another - from A=380 to A=460 and no doubt more besides. The idea that A=432Hz has some sort of universal harmonic resonance that harmonises with your crystals and chakras... is a heap of steaming ordure. The 'historically informed performance' movement has 'settled' on A=415Hz which is about a semi-tone down from concert A. This helps a lot with gut strings as the tension is a bit lower. It also makes singing the high notes a bit easier since as a bass those top F#s in Handel and Bach are down to being Fs. Whenever I've sung baroque repertoire with a period instrument orchestra it's always at A=415. I play the viol (viola da gamba) and that has gut strings. If I'm playing with say recorders which are A440 then I ahve to tune the viol up to that and it's always a worry about the possibility of strings snapping - which does happen. It's a serious issue with the higher stirngs as they tend to be plain gut, the lower strings are usually twisted gut which are stronger and the lowest strings may be wire wound as well (viols have a common ancestry with guitars and mostly have 6 strings)

Orchestra gig tonight in Carlisle with the cello. A première of a new work, Holst's Perfect Fool ballet suite then the Lieutenant Kijé suite by Prokofiev and the Carol Symphony by Hely-Hutchinson. Decent audience around 200. Survived despite the H-H being very tricky....

You all need to learn to play the theorbo.... no frets on the diapason strings.... lots on the others....

I agree - it's going to be similar to cello bows. Go to a string dealer/shop/luthier and try some out - including secondhand ones. Avoid Amazon, E-bay etc. Get a wooden one, do not get fibreglass type ones as they're awful. Also avoid the dirt cheap carbon fibre ones as they're also usually rubbish. Decent carbon fibre are the same price as equivalent wooden bows. My spare cello bow was £80 from the local luthier and is secondhand. Perfectly serviceable. Only used when main bow which cost £450 is in for a re-hair.

Hi, welcome.

Thanks. That failed as well, which indicates that the Apple ecosphere has got itself misaligned... I used the 'reset password' option and that seems to have resolved it...

For a while I have been unable to access BC through iPhone 13 as it says credentials not recognised. I have checked with what I'm using to login on the MacBook - bear in mind the Apple eco-system shares stuff - and it doesn't work.

I live on a new estate and it won't be fully complete until next year, although my part is now fully occupied. The house numbering is very 'creative'. The community FB group has endless 'anyone know where this is' for a parcel delivered who knows where. We did have an issue with Evri with one delivery person, but others, including the current ones, have been OK. I think that's down to them living locally, they're on the FB group, and are contactable. I've had no issues with RM. I get random issues with the big ones like DPD, DHL etc - most of the time they're OK but they'll suddenly go off piste. I have a parcel box by the door which helps I think.

Sorry to hear this but unfortunately it happens, including in amateur choirs and orchestras, in fact in any club/society/group, which is where my experience mostly sits. I could regale you with tales going back decades… but even in the last few months I’ve walked away from a group due to stupid behaviour. At 64 I’ve zero tolerance of stupid behaviour and I won’t waste my time on such stuff. The word ‘empathy’ is over-used, but it is what is lacking here. To mix metaphors, some people are just tone deaf. Ultimately, it’s selfishness (people are too quick to use the word ‘narcissist’ these days, which is more extreme) they’ve seen what they think is an ‘opportunity’ and jumped to make it happen without thinking through the issues and consequences. Unfortunately, this kind of stuff happens, which can shake you as it causes you to lose trust in people. I’ve had two very bad experiences over the years as well as all the small things that happen. The two big ones were very upsetting as I’d given years of my time to both groups. All we can do is try to learn from it and move on. As someone who has only discovered in the last three years that they are mildly autistic, it does explain some of my difficulties in understanding the behaviour of others. Doesn’t justify it though. Hopefully other things will come along. On the plus side, the world of any specialist activity is small and word gets around… Good luck.

Ok, what music am I up to at the moment? Quite a lot really. The cello gets a weekly outing to orchestra rehearsals and this term's concert includes works by Prokofiev and Holst. I've joined the local choral society singing baritone and they're working on parts 1,2,3, and 6 of the Bach Christmas Oratorio. I've joined a brand new community choir that meets in a nearby village. It's doing rock/pop/musical theatre stuff... not my cup of tea, but we'll see how it goes... The baritone sax is getting a monthly outing to a local jazz improv group. This is well outside of my comfort zone.... I haven't found anywhere yet to get the bass out 🙁. I've started having organ lessons and I have a weekly rehearsal slot in a local church which has a three manual instrument. I'm having an instrument built for use at home which will use Hauptwerk - software that runs what is known as VPO - virtual pipe organ - I will be buying some Neumann monitors to provide the sound... My instrument is unlikely to be ready until next spring.

This term I'm in a jazz improv group, choir, a community choir, and an orchestra... Main choir rehearsal was last night going through the tricky bits (it's Bach - it's all tricky!). Orchestra was Tuesday evening and it was string sectional working on Prokofiev and Holst. Concerts for both of those coming up in December.

Same....

String players and pianists number fingers differently.... Piano fingering has thumb as 1, whereas string players index finger is 1