This turned into a lot about music when all I wanted to do was complain about journalism
It's been raining all day, I just finished Guns of Avalon which ended on a cliffhanger (also WAT), and this is the most obtuse, un-illuminating article I've ever had the dubious pleasure of reading: More is More and The Art of Perfection - Master Piano Technician Peter Salisbury Turns a Steinway Into Two, an article from Piano News, which I'm still inexplicably subscribed to. I believe the pertinent points--indeed, all the points--can be summarized as follows: "I'm not going to tell you anything substantive or explain the article's title because I am a professional (way better than youuuuu!) and know better." Honestly, what on earth is "an action"?
I mean, is it me? It can't just be me. Flist, validate me!
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I think I've gotten over my temporary insanity of the last few weeks when I only craved really loud heavy music (this is a technical term) which led to mainlining Top 40 hits like Taio Cruz's songs and Macklemore and Lady Gaga's back catalogue and ANYWAY the exciting news is twofold:
a) I've come round to Choir #2's pieces and
b) I FOUND A PIANO TO PRACTICE ON.
Number a) is not exactly all that flattering. I was tired and grumpy when a lot of them were introduced (sleep is most definitely correlated to mood, and it's alarming) but I do actually like the stuff we're doing now! There's a lot of folk songs (e.g. "To Cecila", [drink to me only with thine eyes, and I will pledge with mine--the Ben Jonson poem], "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening", which is a TTBB piece so the altos get to do the tenor bits! Low but wonderfully expressive). And also Queen's "Somebody to Love". I'm not sure how I feel about it. I like some of Queen's stuff, but this one isn't really clicking for me. On the other hand, we got to hear the conductor sing it, and it was fantastic. You know, my conductor is a classically-trained tenor soloist, who I would seriously pay money to hear in concert (asdfjkl;). But he always is ready to belt the weirdest things (including the sopranos' lines in their octave), so the choir got to hear his rendition of Mercury's solo lines. And scat singing, too, when we were doing "In the Mood", which you should listen to because it is swingy and everything fun about big band music. Here is the original instrumental version by Glenn Miller:
According to the list of music we're doing, we're doing Loch Lomond, which is also one of my favourite songs (out of a very long list, I suck at making favourites) and I. can't. wait.
The second bullet point is more personal but I FOUND A PIANO TO PRACTICE ON. Five actually. More specifically I found a 'music club' that will allow me to practice. I am over the moon about this. I also have a big spreadsheet thing to track technique. What I've learned: E-flat minor arpeggios are STILL OF THE DEVIL. It is the worst ever.
Possibly the spreadsheet is a wee optimistic. I think my wrists would kill me if I tried to do all the major and minor scales in octaves, but I can always hope!
Crosspost: http://silverflight8.dreamwidth.org/132414.html.
I mean, is it me? It can't just be me. Flist, validate me!
*
I think I've gotten over my temporary insanity of the last few weeks when I only craved really loud heavy music (this is a technical term) which led to mainlining Top 40 hits like Taio Cruz's songs and Macklemore and Lady Gaga's back catalogue and ANYWAY the exciting news is twofold:
a) I've come round to Choir #2's pieces and
b) I FOUND A PIANO TO PRACTICE ON.
Number a) is not exactly all that flattering. I was tired and grumpy when a lot of them were introduced (sleep is most definitely correlated to mood, and it's alarming) but I do actually like the stuff we're doing now! There's a lot of folk songs (e.g. "To Cecila", [drink to me only with thine eyes, and I will pledge with mine--the Ben Jonson poem], "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening", which is a TTBB piece so the altos get to do the tenor bits! Low but wonderfully expressive). And also Queen's "Somebody to Love". I'm not sure how I feel about it. I like some of Queen's stuff, but this one isn't really clicking for me. On the other hand, we got to hear the conductor sing it, and it was fantastic. You know, my conductor is a classically-trained tenor soloist, who I would seriously pay money to hear in concert (asdfjkl;). But he always is ready to belt the weirdest things (including the sopranos' lines in their octave), so the choir got to hear his rendition of Mercury's solo lines. And scat singing, too, when we were doing "In the Mood", which you should listen to because it is swingy and everything fun about big band music. Here is the original instrumental version by Glenn Miller:
Click to viewAccording to the list of music we're doing, we're doing Loch Lomond, which is also one of my favourite songs (out of a very long list, I suck at making favourites) and I. can't. wait.
The second bullet point is more personal but I FOUND A PIANO TO PRACTICE ON. Five actually. More specifically I found a 'music club' that will allow me to practice. I am over the moon about this. I also have a big spreadsheet thing to track technique. What I've learned: E-flat minor arpeggios are STILL OF THE DEVIL. It is the worst ever.
Possibly the spreadsheet is a wee optimistic. I think my wrists would kill me if I tried to do all the major and minor scales in octaves, but I can always hope!
Crosspost: http://silverflight8.dreamwidth.org/132414.html.