(no subject)
Thursday
My alarm failed to go off so I woke up at 10am. And I had a singing lesson in Pittsmoor at 11.15. Arse. So I called my dad, who very kindly drove me into Sheffield so I'd actually manage to get there.
The lesson itself went well, Pete says there's nothing wrong with my voice and it sounds nice, but can be improved as all the (small) things I'm doing wrong are because I haven't had lessons. Like I don't breathe as well as I should, or support the sound in the right way. But my pitch is spot on, and I have a good range as I could potentially sing most tenor and soprano parts as well as my usual alto. He says he wants us to work on extending the natural rich resonance I have in my lower range up into the other notes too. It was hard work, but I could hear the difference even after an hour. £18 well spent I think.
Then we went straight to carol singing at the union (fun), then I went home to change and get ready for another carol singing pub crawl. The traffic was so bad I was over an hour late, but the singing was good, and we went to Pizza Volante afterwards to eat Italian food. I had salmon tagliatelli and vegetables which was really nice, and me, Susan, Sarah and Matt shared two large bottles of wine and became somewhat drunk. So afterwards some of us tried to find somewhere else to get drinks from but loads of places were closed or charging to get in. In the end we did some very bad singing out on the streets of Sheffield. I'm pretty sure me and Rob sounded okay and probably Harriet was too, but Luci and Pippa... well the less said the better really! Drunken soprano = bad. And then we walked to Rob's flat and talked crap for a bit then went home. I got a taxi, which cost me £25.
And when I got home I woke Michael up and.... actually that's probably too much information already. ;)
But yeah, fun night.
Friday
Woke up with no hangover. Yay. Went into uni again for the final lunchtime carol singing session - not suprisingly the turnout wasn't great, after considerable drunkeness the night before! But it was good and we gave out free mince pies and I included the word "monkey" in at least a third of the carols. It was kind of sad when we'd finished though, as we probably won't sing together again until February.
Went to the roleplaying club and created a character for Ric's upcoming Dark Sun game. I'm playing a Thri-Kreen ranger - I'm basically a huge carnivorous insecty mantis thing that doesn't need to sleep and has a poisonous bite. Fun. Except I was knackered. I really wish I didn't need to sleep.
Saturday
Woke up really late - like about 2.30pm, and spent some time watching a squirrel collect peanuts that had falled by the bird table when one of the feeders blew off, and burying them in my rockery and in some plant pots. Cute little thing, was lovely to watch him. Also lots of bird activity, bluetooths backwards and forwards and the usual sparrows and dunnocks and blackbirds and collared doves but also visits by a rook and a jackdaw. There are quite a lot of black-headed gulls around too, but they don't venture into the garden usually.
Then food shopping. I also picked up a new coat. Brown suede-effect, long, with a furry collar. £36, reduced from £55. It's really nice.
And we watched Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest which was a bit disappointing. Nowhere near as good as the first one. But still, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, what else can a girl ask for?
Sunday
We'd planned some house cleaning but Michael wasn't feeling well so we had an easy day instead. Watched birds for a while again. Star of today was a tiny wren - they are pretty shy and we don't see them often. I heard them a lot over the summer, I think there was a nest in the hedge by the orchard, but I hardly saw them. I just recognised their scolding "you're near my nest!" call and some noise from chicks. So it was nice to see one. Little buggers move fast though, so getting a photo of them is somewhat difficult.
Not much else today really. I downloaded aprgram called EarMaster Pro, which is for ear training. It will help my sight reading no end - I already feel more confident. For the uninitiated, sight singing is mostly about recognising and knowing intervals (the distance between the notes) and rhythms. This program will help me with both.
To sort of explain what I mean... a very simple example. The interval between a C and the G above it is called a perfect fifth. It's the interval between the first two words in Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Once I can recognise that two notes are a perfect fifth apart, I can simply remember what the interval should sound like and I'll know how to sing the second note, providing I've got the first.
Similarly, a perfect fourth (C to the F above it) is the beginning of Amazing Grace or Away in a Manger. And so on. Learning the intervals is very helpful.
And we watched the first part of The Hogfather. I do rather like Terry Pratchett, and having read the book i was interested to see how well a TV adaptation would work. And So far I'm enjoying it, although Teatime speaks far too much like Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp, not Gene Wilder) which is quite annoying. Susan and Death are both really good, and I'm even liking David Jason as Albert even though I can't stand the man normally. The second part is tomorrow, I'm looing forward to it.
I have another singing lesson tomorrow. I haven't practiced as much as I'd like, but never mind.
My alarm failed to go off so I woke up at 10am. And I had a singing lesson in Pittsmoor at 11.15. Arse. So I called my dad, who very kindly drove me into Sheffield so I'd actually manage to get there.
The lesson itself went well, Pete says there's nothing wrong with my voice and it sounds nice, but can be improved as all the (small) things I'm doing wrong are because I haven't had lessons. Like I don't breathe as well as I should, or support the sound in the right way. But my pitch is spot on, and I have a good range as I could potentially sing most tenor and soprano parts as well as my usual alto. He says he wants us to work on extending the natural rich resonance I have in my lower range up into the other notes too. It was hard work, but I could hear the difference even after an hour. £18 well spent I think.
Then we went straight to carol singing at the union (fun), then I went home to change and get ready for another carol singing pub crawl. The traffic was so bad I was over an hour late, but the singing was good, and we went to Pizza Volante afterwards to eat Italian food. I had salmon tagliatelli and vegetables which was really nice, and me, Susan, Sarah and Matt shared two large bottles of wine and became somewhat drunk. So afterwards some of us tried to find somewhere else to get drinks from but loads of places were closed or charging to get in. In the end we did some very bad singing out on the streets of Sheffield. I'm pretty sure me and Rob sounded okay and probably Harriet was too, but Luci and Pippa... well the less said the better really! Drunken soprano = bad. And then we walked to Rob's flat and talked crap for a bit then went home. I got a taxi, which cost me £25.
And when I got home I woke Michael up and.... actually that's probably too much information already. ;)
But yeah, fun night.
Friday
Woke up with no hangover. Yay. Went into uni again for the final lunchtime carol singing session - not suprisingly the turnout wasn't great, after considerable drunkeness the night before! But it was good and we gave out free mince pies and I included the word "monkey" in at least a third of the carols. It was kind of sad when we'd finished though, as we probably won't sing together again until February.
Went to the roleplaying club and created a character for Ric's upcoming Dark Sun game. I'm playing a Thri-Kreen ranger - I'm basically a huge carnivorous insecty mantis thing that doesn't need to sleep and has a poisonous bite. Fun. Except I was knackered. I really wish I didn't need to sleep.
Saturday
Woke up really late - like about 2.30pm, and spent some time watching a squirrel collect peanuts that had falled by the bird table when one of the feeders blew off, and burying them in my rockery and in some plant pots. Cute little thing, was lovely to watch him. Also lots of bird activity, bluetooths backwards and forwards and the usual sparrows and dunnocks and blackbirds and collared doves but also visits by a rook and a jackdaw. There are quite a lot of black-headed gulls around too, but they don't venture into the garden usually.
Then food shopping. I also picked up a new coat. Brown suede-effect, long, with a furry collar. £36, reduced from £55. It's really nice.
And we watched Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest which was a bit disappointing. Nowhere near as good as the first one. But still, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, what else can a girl ask for?
Sunday
We'd planned some house cleaning but Michael wasn't feeling well so we had an easy day instead. Watched birds for a while again. Star of today was a tiny wren - they are pretty shy and we don't see them often. I heard them a lot over the summer, I think there was a nest in the hedge by the orchard, but I hardly saw them. I just recognised their scolding "you're near my nest!" call and some noise from chicks. So it was nice to see one. Little buggers move fast though, so getting a photo of them is somewhat difficult.
Not much else today really. I downloaded aprgram called EarMaster Pro, which is for ear training. It will help my sight reading no end - I already feel more confident. For the uninitiated, sight singing is mostly about recognising and knowing intervals (the distance between the notes) and rhythms. This program will help me with both.
To sort of explain what I mean... a very simple example. The interval between a C and the G above it is called a perfect fifth. It's the interval between the first two words in Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Once I can recognise that two notes are a perfect fifth apart, I can simply remember what the interval should sound like and I'll know how to sing the second note, providing I've got the first.
Similarly, a perfect fourth (C to the F above it) is the beginning of Amazing Grace or Away in a Manger. And so on. Learning the intervals is very helpful.
And we watched the first part of The Hogfather. I do rather like Terry Pratchett, and having read the book i was interested to see how well a TV adaptation would work. And So far I'm enjoying it, although Teatime speaks far too much like Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp, not Gene Wilder) which is quite annoying. Susan and Death are both really good, and I'm even liking David Jason as Albert even though I can't stand the man normally. The second part is tomorrow, I'm looing forward to it.
I have another singing lesson tomorrow. I haven't practiced as much as I'd like, but never mind.