Musical Notes, Miles Away, and Buzz
Nov. 10th, 2006 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianI have Justin's transcription of Davy Jones Theme written out, I just have to send it off to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tewok. I brought it into work, because I wasn't taking the time to write up things in advance at home; work is busy, though, so I haven't had a chance to type it in. Soon.
I'm remembering it now, because I'm writing this at home, Thursday night. And, of course, I'm remembering it because the paper is thirtysomething miles away.
Oy.
Those thirty miles are starting to take a toll on the Contour. It's down from 400 miles to a full tank to 300 miles, and it has been through the past three oil changes. Usually the oil change would rejuvenate it's poor ol' carcass, but something is Wrong, and the bozos I've been taking it to can't seem to fix it. This is our third garage since we've been here, and I'm just not convinced that anyone in this part of the state is capable of simple automotive repair. Then again, the Taurus seemed to have some repeat problems back in Watertown, so maybe it's Ford, or cars in general. If I had more spare time, I'd get an older car that I could maintain. Probably be able to tune it to get better mileage than these idiots have been doing.
Back to a musical notation, as it were. Justin and I had a jam session earlier. Started off as a demonstration to Brandon of a variety of instruments.
He's been requesting for me to play the guitar, or, more accurately, for me to play the acoustic, which I let him strum and pluck and tap. We moved from there to my dad's flute from his days in the high school marching band - he gave it to me back in 1993, and I reached the virtuoso level where I could play a pretty weak rendition of Pop goes the Weasel, however I'm nowhere near that good now. That, and I keep overblowing and hitting the octave - which is allegedly harder - five or six notes in.
After the flute, came the recorder - an alto, I believe - and I can play that nearly as well as the flute, which is to say, nearly well enough to kill at close range and injure everyone within 100 yards. Perhaps more accurately, it would be like the hit song I wrote with Rachel the other day in the car - in that case, if people heard me singing the song, they'd hit me.
I actually managed to play the chanter nearly as well, although that takes a helluvalotta lung, and I think two of the reeds three reeds (haven't tried the third, it's in a container, maybe unused?) are worse for the wear. They tend to close up easily, and look like they've been in a wind tunnel. The sound was clear - but much more quiet than I was expecting. I'll have to work on the fingering, as it's not a straight peelback from having all the holes covered. But, hey, I was able to play a quick little melody before I passed out from lack of wind... =)
Justin joined us and gave all the wind instruments a go and then he went and brought in his trumpet. Been a while since he's played, so it took a bit to get a decent note. For the first time in all my attempts over the years, I was able to get a half-way decent note out of it - my lips are still buzzed. Brandon played a bit on the recorder, surprising himself everytime he stopped humming and managed to actually sound a note.
After Mr. B headed downstairs for some juice, we pulled out the dulcimer - alas, the hammers are likely packed with my desk stuff, and, as I don't have a desk anymore, they're still in a box somewhere. That is one instrument that sounds beautiful just being in the room with another music instrument playing. The dulcimer accompanied Justin, echoing harmoniously when he would stop playing, as he worked through Davy Jones and the Kraken themes. I tried to find something to hammer it with, and a few things almost worked, but they were single items and none of them could really get the flippityness of the real thing (flippityness is critical to play fast, and to get that gen-u-wine hammered dulcimer sound.) As Brandon gets a little older, or if I rearrange the bedroom, I should be able to set it back up on the stand my dad built for it, and then it's much more accessible for playing.
I'm thinking of doing an acoustic music jam for one of the cookouts next year - would be great if we could gettewok and his wife there; noone234 plays the sax; any other musicians out there - talent welcome, enthusiasm required!
tewok. I brought it into work, because I wasn't taking the time to write up things in advance at home; work is busy, though, so I haven't had a chance to type it in. Soon.I'm remembering it now, because I'm writing this at home, Thursday night. And, of course, I'm remembering it because the paper is thirtysomething miles away.
Oy.
Those thirty miles are starting to take a toll on the Contour. It's down from 400 miles to a full tank to 300 miles, and it has been through the past three oil changes. Usually the oil change would rejuvenate it's poor ol' carcass, but something is Wrong, and the bozos I've been taking it to can't seem to fix it. This is our third garage since we've been here, and I'm just not convinced that anyone in this part of the state is capable of simple automotive repair. Then again, the Taurus seemed to have some repeat problems back in Watertown, so maybe it's Ford, or cars in general. If I had more spare time, I'd get an older car that I could maintain. Probably be able to tune it to get better mileage than these idiots have been doing.
Back to a musical notation, as it were. Justin and I had a jam session earlier. Started off as a demonstration to Brandon of a variety of instruments.
He's been requesting for me to play the guitar, or, more accurately, for me to play the acoustic, which I let him strum and pluck and tap. We moved from there to my dad's flute from his days in the high school marching band - he gave it to me back in 1993, and I reached the virtuoso level where I could play a pretty weak rendition of Pop goes the Weasel, however I'm nowhere near that good now. That, and I keep overblowing and hitting the octave - which is allegedly harder - five or six notes in.
After the flute, came the recorder - an alto, I believe - and I can play that nearly as well as the flute, which is to say, nearly well enough to kill at close range and injure everyone within 100 yards. Perhaps more accurately, it would be like the hit song I wrote with Rachel the other day in the car - in that case, if people heard me singing the song, they'd hit me.
I actually managed to play the chanter nearly as well, although that takes a helluvalotta lung, and I think two of the reeds three reeds (haven't tried the third, it's in a container, maybe unused?) are worse for the wear. They tend to close up easily, and look like they've been in a wind tunnel. The sound was clear - but much more quiet than I was expecting. I'll have to work on the fingering, as it's not a straight peelback from having all the holes covered. But, hey, I was able to play a quick little melody before I passed out from lack of wind... =)
Justin joined us and gave all the wind instruments a go and then he went and brought in his trumpet. Been a while since he's played, so it took a bit to get a decent note. For the first time in all my attempts over the years, I was able to get a half-way decent note out of it - my lips are still buzzed. Brandon played a bit on the recorder, surprising himself everytime he stopped humming and managed to actually sound a note.
After Mr. B headed downstairs for some juice, we pulled out the dulcimer - alas, the hammers are likely packed with my desk stuff, and, as I don't have a desk anymore, they're still in a box somewhere. That is one instrument that sounds beautiful just being in the room with another music instrument playing. The dulcimer accompanied Justin, echoing harmoniously when he would stop playing, as he worked through Davy Jones and the Kraken themes. I tried to find something to hammer it with, and a few things almost worked, but they were single items and none of them could really get the flippityness of the real thing (flippityness is critical to play fast, and to get that gen-u-wine hammered dulcimer sound.) As Brandon gets a little older, or if I rearrange the bedroom, I should be able to set it back up on the stand my dad built for it, and then it's much more accessible for playing.
I'm thinking of doing an acoustic music jam for one of the cookouts next year - would be great if we could get
tewok and his wife there; noone234 plays the sax; any other musicians out there - talent welcome, enthusiasm required!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-10 05:01 pm (UTC)Not to mention that Cruiser has never heard me play and I imagine he wouldn't like it....
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-11 07:04 pm (UTC)It wasn't clear whether you'd be emailing or posting it. If you have emailed it already, then I haven't seen it. Send to tewok@portrigh.com or tewok@storm-monkeys.com, as we're having email problems at tislabs.com.
> I actually managed to play the chanter nearly as well...
Is that a bagpipe practice chanter? If so, be sure not to curl your fingers to use the fingertips. Your fingers should be roughly flat and using the finger pads. Kinda hard to explain over email. If you want, I could take a photo and email it to you.
If it's a Highland bagpipe chanter -- not practice chanter -- then you're going to kill yourself trying to blow the thing outside of a bag.
> I'm thinking of doing an acoustic music jam for one of the cookouts next year
> - would be great if we could get [info]tewok and his wife there;
Sounds neat, I hope we can be there for it. (As if we're essential to this, I'll add that...) Our March, July, and lots of August are already scheduled out the wazoo, so we're pretty much unavailable those months. Whenever it is, I hope we can come!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-11 07:17 pm (UTC)As to Highland vs. practice, I'm not sure - I can check when I get home. The top does look like it can be fit to something else.
I think I was curling, so I'll pay attention to that next time - comes from the guitar, where you want to curl so you avoid the other strings.
Still haven't transcribed the tune - will get to it Monday!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-11 08:29 pm (UTC)With the chanter, if you put the reed directly into your mouth and the chanter body has two non-finger-covered holes towards the bottom, then it's a pipe chanter. You *can* play it directly by mouth, but it isn't intended to be played that way for long.
There's some natural finger-curl when playing the pipe or practice chanter, but you really can't use your fingertips. To get a reasonable placement of fingers, put your right little finger pad on the bottom hole and right index finger pad on the fourth hole from the bottom. Let the middle and ring finger flop down on the chanter, held relatively straight. Depending on your own personal hand, these two middle fingers might hit somewhere around the first joint from the end. That's okay, and fairly common. DON'T curl them to get those finger pads on the holes. Just let 'em be wherever they hit.
No problemo about the tune. Wasn't sure I was understanding your original posting and didn't want to miss it if you'd emailed it to me.