Finally!
At last, I've got enough money in gift cards to download albums off of iTunes! Naturally, this means that I immediately go and spend this money on three albums of jazz and one of comedy. Specifically, I'm currently downloading three albums by the Dudley Moore Trio and one comedy album of some of Peter and Dudley's sketches - including an audio file of the art gallery, which is probably not something I should listen to in public because people will wonder why I'm alternately cracking up and grinning like an idiot. The problem is that explaining that I can visualize the entire sketch in my head, corpsing included, may not make sense to some people. They'll just think I'm weird.
In all honesty, though, I could listen to Dud playing the piano forever. I really could. He was just so incredibly talented.
In other news from the little clavier universe I seem to dwell in, my attempts to teach myself how to play the piano are still failing, although not as miserably as I thought they would be. It turns out I play better by ear than by sight. I can hear something and play it back reasonably well, but when I look at it and start reading the sheet music I get confused. I'm trying to learn to use the sheet music, though, by printing out sheet music of pieces I know and comparing them to what I can play (Für Elise, which I can play the opening melody with reasonably accurately, is one of those pieces). I also managed to play something that sounded remotely like a really slow Rondo Alla Turca with the assistance of sheet music, but it was really bad and didn't bear much resemblance to the actual piece. (I owe Dustin an apology, as that's one of his favorite pieces to play on the piano. He even plays it in Book Three to prove to the financial giants of London that he can play more than just popular music.)
Speaking of Dustin's (almost non-existent) musical career, I was reading a great reference book called What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, and it said that in the mid-nineteenth century the required instruments for a ball were a cornet, piano, violin and cello. The cornet was sometimes omitted if the event wasn't all that big and was more private, but the piano trio was mandatory. (In Mamucium and Book Three, Dustin plays with a violinist and a cellist, who he becomes friends with and eventually forms a piano trio with.) I'm so glad it actually confirmed that information for me - I needed a valid source to make sure I was right, and since this book was written using a number of primary sources I can trust it more than just a website. (The one exception to that rule is VictorianLondon.org, which is a website comprised entirely of primary sources. I turn to this website on a regular basis, and I suggest you do, too. Whilst you're there, check out Lee Jackson's blog. It's pretty interesting.)
I apologize for yet another piano-based entry from someone who can barely play. It's really almost hypocritical, isn't it?
In all honesty, though, I could listen to Dud playing the piano forever. I really could. He was just so incredibly talented.
In other news from the little clavier universe I seem to dwell in, my attempts to teach myself how to play the piano are still failing, although not as miserably as I thought they would be. It turns out I play better by ear than by sight. I can hear something and play it back reasonably well, but when I look at it and start reading the sheet music I get confused. I'm trying to learn to use the sheet music, though, by printing out sheet music of pieces I know and comparing them to what I can play (Für Elise, which I can play the opening melody with reasonably accurately, is one of those pieces). I also managed to play something that sounded remotely like a really slow Rondo Alla Turca with the assistance of sheet music, but it was really bad and didn't bear much resemblance to the actual piece. (I owe Dustin an apology, as that's one of his favorite pieces to play on the piano. He even plays it in Book Three to prove to the financial giants of London that he can play more than just popular music.)
Speaking of Dustin's (almost non-existent) musical career, I was reading a great reference book called What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, and it said that in the mid-nineteenth century the required instruments for a ball were a cornet, piano, violin and cello. The cornet was sometimes omitted if the event wasn't all that big and was more private, but the piano trio was mandatory. (In Mamucium and Book Three, Dustin plays with a violinist and a cellist, who he becomes friends with and eventually forms a piano trio with.) I'm so glad it actually confirmed that information for me - I needed a valid source to make sure I was right, and since this book was written using a number of primary sources I can trust it more than just a website. (The one exception to that rule is VictorianLondon.org, which is a website comprised entirely of primary sources. I turn to this website on a regular basis, and I suggest you do, too. Whilst you're there, check out Lee Jackson's blog. It's pretty interesting.)
I apologize for yet another piano-based entry from someone who can barely play. It's really almost hypocritical, isn't it?