Musical ravings...
Accordion is going pretty well. Playing upside down does not hinder my use of bass buttons as I'd feared, and I can in fact hash through stuff like the Tarentella and Dark Eyes with the bass (I haven't worked out the bass bits for the things I'm learning by ear).
I went to look at an accordion Monday - both of the ones I have have small issues that would make using them for gigs a little questionable. It had started as a $30 listing, but there were a lot of responses, so I offered $100 pending inspection. It was actually a really nice instrument - 6 treble voices including the melodeon and 3 bass. The bellows looked good, but there were several leaking reeds, which rendered it completely unplayable without repair. Since the two I have are playable for practice as is, I let it go. I'm wondering if I'll regret this, because that was a lot of voices, but realistically, I don't need or want voices right now, it's just gear lust or something.
They've started a chamber music group one town over. I think I will go as an excuse to practice without practicing. They seemed open to the idea of my bringing things I wasn't 100% proficient in (ie: cello rather than violin) provided they were reasonably period. Someone is already bringing a mandolin, although I think that's on the outside of acceptable.
They're also going to do a monthly singing group.
I wish they'd start a gypsy group, because I don't really have any interest in chamber music - I grew up with it, but I never listen to it. It might as well be death metal (except then i could probably bring my accordion, come to think of it) - it's just making noise 'ensemble.'
I showed my father the bandura again and he pointed out that if I put the new zither pins in from the front, rather than from the back as it was done originally, I wouldn't have to drill out the tuning holes - I could just use the key from the facing side. I've had this thing for three years and that never occurred to me, can you believe it?
I've also been thinking about my recorder efforts. My father gave me a bass recorder (or maybe it's a tenor - it's like three feet long) to learn a few years ago, and I dutifully brought it to the park, but I always ran out of air before I made any progress with the fingerings. Fork fingering is completely counter intuitive as far as I can tell. It was completely awful. It occurred to me the other day that I should borrow Caileen's soprano, which must take less air, and learn that first. The fingerings are not the same, but if I can get the concept on something easier, maybe I can try the big one again. Not that I really want to play bass recorder - I want to play tarogato and crumhorn - and I don't even want to play them, I want to play with them, but I think I'm the only one daft enough to play them, so I'll have to learn.
I have these moments while playing the accordion, when I think - boy, I wish I had a violinist - and then I'm like "oh yes, but I'm the violinist..." I wish I could do both because it would be really fun to play them together! I suppose on the upside, we get other violinists who are vastly better than I am, so I'll probably get to have both.
What I really need - and I know I won't learn how to do this one - is some brass players. Trumpet and tarogato are kind of interchangeable, but I have a new appreciation for tubas of late.
I went to look at an accordion Monday - both of the ones I have have small issues that would make using them for gigs a little questionable. It had started as a $30 listing, but there were a lot of responses, so I offered $100 pending inspection. It was actually a really nice instrument - 6 treble voices including the melodeon and 3 bass. The bellows looked good, but there were several leaking reeds, which rendered it completely unplayable without repair. Since the two I have are playable for practice as is, I let it go. I'm wondering if I'll regret this, because that was a lot of voices, but realistically, I don't need or want voices right now, it's just gear lust or something.
They've started a chamber music group one town over. I think I will go as an excuse to practice without practicing. They seemed open to the idea of my bringing things I wasn't 100% proficient in (ie: cello rather than violin) provided they were reasonably period. Someone is already bringing a mandolin, although I think that's on the outside of acceptable.
They're also going to do a monthly singing group.
I wish they'd start a gypsy group, because I don't really have any interest in chamber music - I grew up with it, but I never listen to it. It might as well be death metal (except then i could probably bring my accordion, come to think of it) - it's just making noise 'ensemble.'
I showed my father the bandura again and he pointed out that if I put the new zither pins in from the front, rather than from the back as it was done originally, I wouldn't have to drill out the tuning holes - I could just use the key from the facing side. I've had this thing for three years and that never occurred to me, can you believe it?
I've also been thinking about my recorder efforts. My father gave me a bass recorder (or maybe it's a tenor - it's like three feet long) to learn a few years ago, and I dutifully brought it to the park, but I always ran out of air before I made any progress with the fingerings. Fork fingering is completely counter intuitive as far as I can tell. It was completely awful. It occurred to me the other day that I should borrow Caileen's soprano, which must take less air, and learn that first. The fingerings are not the same, but if I can get the concept on something easier, maybe I can try the big one again. Not that I really want to play bass recorder - I want to play tarogato and crumhorn - and I don't even want to play them, I want to play with them, but I think I'm the only one daft enough to play them, so I'll have to learn.
I have these moments while playing the accordion, when I think - boy, I wish I had a violinist - and then I'm like "oh yes, but I'm the violinist..." I wish I could do both because it would be really fun to play them together! I suppose on the upside, we get other violinists who are vastly better than I am, so I'll probably get to have both.
What I really need - and I know I won't learn how to do this one - is some brass players. Trumpet and tarogato are kind of interchangeable, but I have a new appreciation for tubas of late.