Rosie C

Oh I wouldn't say that, I only mentioned it to show [some] of us take recorder seriously - grade 4 only puts me in about the same league as 12 year old school kids. I do play recorder at gigs though - it works well for an instrumental verse, and I've mastered tucking it under my arm while playing mandolin. I usually ask the audience whether they played recorder at school - before playing mine through a PA. Muahahaha! I think this was the first video we made, and we're both a bit put off by the camera - I look like I'm reading the music from off-screen, though I'm not. We're working on material now to set up a proper YouTube channel over the next month or two.

Let's go back into the midsts of time to Pythagoras... he made an instrument with one single long string on it - much like a bass guitar. He played the open string - let's say it was a C. Then he had an assistant 'fret' it at the 2/3rd and it sounded a G. Then they did 2/3rd again and it played a D. They kept doing this and filled out the scale, and eventually when all 12 tones were played they arrived back at C. Except it didn't, because the octave of any note is 2x the frequency, whereas all those 2/3rd divisions added up to a very slightly different number. This error is called the Phythagorian comma and it's a largely unsolvable problem with musical tuning. Back in the days of Bach and co. they used different tuning systems such as "just intonation", which meant that each key had a different feel (Spinal Tap and "D minor is the saddest of keys" actually has a root in history), and a composer would choose a key for a particular mood. (I think this is why so many classical pieces make a point of including the key in the name - but don't quote me on that!) Skipping forward a little, Victorian factory owners mass producing pianos, they used a tuning called "Equal Temperament" where the tuning was an approximation with most notes a little bit out of tune. It meant you could play a tune in any key and it would sound OK, but you lost the idea of keys having different emotional qualities. Modern instruments that can't play any pitch such as an accordion, piano, organ play equal temperament. Some notes are reasonably in tune, others (as @zbd1960 says) can be quite out, particularly thirds. Instruments that can vary the pitch - violins & other strings, brass & woodwind with a decent player with embouchure, fretless bass. If you leave a group of these players to their own devices, they'll naturally drop into a tuning that is not equal temperament where the music sounds sweeter. If this is interesting I can recommend "How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony" by Ross Duffin: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0393334201/

I will, in the morning, after coffee.

Yep, I play recorder in our band, and currently working towards my grade 4 exam. Mostly descant but with an occasional bit of treble. I have a pair of Adri's Dream recorders which aren't cheap but aren't crazy-expensive either. Re. A# and G♭ etc., I went to a recorder weekend just before covid hit and the course leader explained about being aware if you're playing the third of a chord, and to play a little flat if it's a major chord, and a little sharp if it's a minor chord - which blew my mind musically. Anyway, here is me in our early days of recording music...

Agreed! I play a laminated bass - I think originally from Thomann. It's been dropped twice, has had various repairs, but is tough as old boots. Currently fitted with Innovation Rockabilly strings for bluegrass, and a Realist Lifeline pickup. That does feedback, but I run it through an EQ pedal with the lowest band wound right down which generally sorts it out.

A lovely problem to have! Sometimes at our church if you count up the priest, attendants, band and choir there are more of use than congregation

Lessons also make my learning quicker - it would take years to discover for myself the knowledge my bass teacher has.

I had exactly the same experience - it felt like the "D Dorian is C major just starting on D" was a back-to-front way of explaining it. As you say, thinking of D dorian in relation to other D scales, especially the D minor scales made so much more sense. I did learn them for my double bass teacher, but Dorian is the only mode I've actually used. Edit: this has been rattling around in my head since Sunday, and ended up writing out some scales and modes. It puzzles me that dorian clearly fits into the 3 minor scales, but is taught very differently.

Until a few weeks ago I'd been stuck on Boss pedals - loving the symmetry of them all lined up matching. But Christmas brought a Joyo "Oxford Sound" for my mandolin, and today I added a Donner "Harmonic Square" pitch shifter I've just bought from @Oldman. A nice pedal in a very neat little package compared to my Boss pedals.

I bought a Donner shift pedal from Brian. Great communications, the pedal arrived promptly - good condition and everything working.

It looks good from the back.

Good advice. I was offered £900 for a VW Fox by one of the big car-buying companies, but their attitude bugged me because it was in nice condition for its age and they were determined to run it down. I listed it on FB marketplace at £1500, sold within 12 hours and my inbox exploded with around 70 people enquiring. So likely I could have sold it for a chunk more.

No, for my parcels at least you get 3-4 days when the status is mysteriously "travelling to the border" which conjures up 1970s cold war spy dramas...

Lately it's been around a week for items to arrive for me, sometimes a little longer. I'd prefer not to use Thomann but for some things they're so much cheaper than anywhere else

Very true. My most recent was just before Christmas - guesting on piano accordion with our town brass band, and having learned a dozen carols from the Salvation Army carol book, which includes tunes in D♭ and G♭ key signatures. At the start of the second tune, an internal part attached by wax detached and that was my gig over. Of course if I'd been playing bass this would not have happened!

Ah, sorry, I was skimming through while waiting at the GP surgery and didn't see your reply. I managed to find a soft bag for my guitar-bodied mandolin at my local music shop but it had been on display years and was very dusty - but a run through the washing machine worked wonders.

Depending on the material, put it a washing machine?

I have Pro 17s for playing with our Morris band. I also have the Evolve Ambient IEMs which also have a 17 dB reduction.

Especially back in the day making round-backed lutes. I'd love to make something like this, but my woodworking skills extend only about as far as putting up a batten for a curtain rail!

Indeed, by Jarred Cooper!

It was not King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Nor was it King of Kings, the King of Glory Comes. In fact it was King of Kings, Majesty

'tis indeed! After services, as people are milling for coffee, our band leader has a habit of choosing one of the hymns and playing it again but in a different time signature, or swung, just to keep us on our toes! No jazz today though, we had violin and 'cello instead of cornet.

My own understanding is that in addition to repairs and setup of instruments, a luthier actually makes instruments too. I'm guessing the word comes from 'lute' in the deep and distant past?

Our three core band members (keys, cornet, bass) each have the organ/piano book of "Hymns Old and New" (the green book). The congregation have the book of words to go with so that's 80% of what we play. But there's a printed sheet for each week with the readings and a suggested hymn, and that's when it gets interesting. The three of us also play in a big band together, so we're reasonably good at improvising something together.

Oh Worship the King is the only one I already know. Our version of "Do Not Be Afraid" is in Kevin Mayhew's green "Hymns Old and New: Anglican Version". I'm taking a punt on "King of Kings" being King of Kings (Lord of Lords) from Kevin Mayhew's orange "Complete Anglican Hymns: Old and New". But there's a version in Graham Kendrick's "The Source" too.