30 days meme: Day 4, "Music"

[devoken]

Today's prompt is annoyingly vague. The words "Your Music" just don't offer nearly enough direction. What part of "my music?" My likes and dislikes? My musical abilities? What music means emotionally/philosophically/spiritually to me? How many gigs of it I have on my hard drive

Comments

[caulay]

I invoke the 5th.

Oh come now, it's not that bad. You know how big mine was earlier this year. If you want to have dinner some time, you can even update you copy.

As for the songs themselves, I don't know all of them but I know a good number. I'm not really surprised at any of them.

*hugs*

(And now I have "Lose Your Way" stuck in my head.)

[devoken]

Yes, yours was impressive. My original collection was almost as bad. Imagine yours, doubled. :)

[caulay]

Of course, that's only what's ripped. I really need to get more systematic about that.

[crazybone]

When I think about music recently, I'm reminded of the movie August Rush.
It's magical realism and veers heavily toward the tugging-at-heartstrings side of things but the music is great. See it in a place with a decent sounds system or you'll miss half the impact.

[devoken]

Hmmm. I've never heard of August Rush, but it sounds good. Besides, you're certainly someone I'll take recommendations from. I'll have to grab it sometime when I know I'll be around excellent speakers.

[laurion]

I too am a recorder player. I have a full set (not matching, but maybe someday...) including sopranino (but not a garklein. I'm not sadistic). I've mostly played Alto and Tenor, but as you know, that outfits you to play the whole family.

[devoken]

I do love that recorders are only tuned in C and F. It makes it so much easier.

Although, a friend who just got her Master's in recorders and early music (I have no idea what the official title was, only that she had to move to Germany to get it) claims that historically there were a bunch of recorders that were tuned differently, and that these days such recorders are still occasionally made. I mostly pretend they aren't, though, because I'm never going to play one. :)

[laurion]

Oh, absolutely the case. One of the most interesting things I saw once was a flute with interchangeable segments in the middle to adjust it to play in tune with various local centers of pitch. And I once played a recorder in G. The 20th century revival of the instrument did somewhat standardize things, although there's still two different fingerings needed depending on where and when your instrument was made, and every handmade one needs an extra pinky here and there on some notes. *grin*

It's enough to make one want to go back to stringed instruments where you can tune it to what you damn well want it to be tuned to. Mostly anyhow.

[devoken]

That is a really cool flute! As to recorders, they do seem to resist standardization. They're like German - standard enough, except when they're not.

I've never played a stringed instrument, so that level of flexibility seems almost scary to me. :)

[devoken]

Why would it be important for people to hear your instrument? ;)

I love the sound of a tenor, and I do wish I could reliably play one. Sadly, I have a hard time with any pieces that require the bottom hole, even with the cover extension.

Do let me know about the recorder ensemble. I only have my soprano now, as my other recorders kept getting borrowed/given away to people who needed them more. It's a nice soprano, though.

[laurion]

Is that so much an issue with the Yamaha model? It's templated right off an actual instrument (moeck, maybe?) so is actually rather nice for a plastic model. The real thing is to make sure all your instruments are either straight bore or conical bore, and straight windway or curved windway. Match those and you'll have instruments with similar enough voicings to make an ensemble.

[devoken]

You're right about the plastic Yamaha alto. They're very cheap, too, so maybe I'll have to pick one up.