The building of de fence.

There will soon be a new fence going up between these two houses. Our neighbours have done an amazing job so far and I will try to help them today. I believe we're starting work at 8am.

Because of the building of de fence it is going to be a challenge to fit in 3 hours of violin practice today. Tomorrow will be a challenge too because we have a celebration for my daughter's birthday. Some of her friends are coming around. My two best friends, Harrison and Henry are coming too. Don't worry, no matter how these two days turn out, the 3 hour violin practice regime will continue on Monday. Though I'm still going to do my best over the weekend to get as much practice done as possible. Robert would be better off doing some decent practice than worrying about parabolas (see his comment on my last post). Perhaps God should give him a sine sign?

"For my sake get some practice
done Rob. Leave the sorting out
of mathematical diagrams to me.
That I command you!"

Okay, God has spoken.

Daylight is coming early in the Nui. As I write (it has just reached 6am) the sun is up. Tomorrow clocks go forward and we lose an hour. I think that means that the new 6am will be darker. So, when I'm about to get up at 5.30am, as I normally do, it'll really be 6.30am. So, I'll get to sleep in? I think I got that right. I think I might have got that back to front. Ah well, the clock on my phone will sort me out.

Okay, I'm off to sort out some music charts, have a little something to eat, visit the bathroom (once or twice), take my pills, get dressed (no Peter, I am NOT naked) and hopefully do a bit of violin practice.

Remember that nothing is important because it lasts forever.

Nothing lasts forever.

Sii gentile.

Twenty-one.

This last week (19/9 to 25/9) I have done 21 hours of violin practice. In my entire life it is the most music practice I have done in one week. I must point out too that it has been serious, concentrated practice and not just watching the clock.

I'm not interested in practising what they call Classical music. Music that allows a chance for improvisation is my thing. Many years ago (think 1970s) I studied Serial music that was written by guys like Anton Webern. The idea was to use tone rows that contained every note, for example, C  Ab  B  C#  D#  A  G  F  Bb  G# D  E. Hey, I just made that one up to show you. The music was 'way out there' and had little chance of becoming pop music (ha, ha), like John Cage's 4'33, but it was pushing the boundaries. 

Think of the curved structure at the top of this post. 

Imagine that, at the highest part (in the middle), we have pop music and other popular styles that most people are comfortable with. Right out at the bottom ends we have more 'crazy' stuff, music that may even annoy a lot of people, like those two 'husbands' I talked about in my last post. Let's call them Dave and Tony.* Whatever happens at both ends is pushing the boundaries and may even affect what is happening in the middle (over a period of time). I believe that what happens at those bottom ends are important - that's often where change starts.

The music I love to play generally gives space to use all 12 tempered musical notes. If you're playing in a major or minor key, seven of them are going to be pretty safe choices. The other five may provide various levels of 'tension'. Used in the right place, a bit of tension can make music more interesting. Hey, that's why a lot of Classical music has a development section. If you don't know, a Classical sonata normally is made up of three sections - Exposition, Development, Recapitulation. The three words really speak for themselves. 

Yes, I'm really talking about a bell curve.

It really applies to a lot of things in life. For example, it could apply to people going to church and how committed they really are. Do they have nudging doubts? Well, they won't be in the middle. It could apply to the best type of ship to build. I'm sure that the list of examples goes on, and on.

As usual, I read Robert's post when I woke up. There is almost never a new post, in the morning, on Peter's blog. Robert's new post? Same shit, different day? Hey, I wouldn't be that mean! He can write whatever he likes.

Well, that's my lot for this morning.

Sii gentile.

* That's their real names. 

I wonder if Tent Horn has ever studied or played the violin?

 

I'm up early again and have read Robert's latest post. He tells us that some guy named Tent likes the contingency argument, whatever that is. I read on. "I doubt that proofs work with the non-material. If God had wanted to be sentient to our minds He could easily have done so. Nobody doubts His creation. But He has chosen to keep Himself, the Creator, behind a veil. He wants faith."

I'm not sure whether this next bit is Rob or Tent talking. "There are many good reasons to believe in the one God, as witnessed in the Bible. The main reason for not doing so is pride. We have all-consuming egos that yearn for first place. There is just not room for God and the subdication (I'm not sure that's a known word) it requires. To put ourselves in the place of the loser or think of ourselves as sinners and failures causes too much pain. In truth none of us doe (I don't think he meant to mention a female deer) anything on our own. But we like to think that we won the victory or earned the applause".

Well, that certainly doesn't sound like proof of anything.

Back to the violin.

I have been doing three hours of violin practice every day. Yesterday I devoted over two hours to changing my chinrest to a more conventional one (more to the left) and using an expensive shoulder rest that I bought at the Rock Shop some time back. I tried it at different angles and heights. After a while I put my center chinrest back on and it seemed to work better. However, somehow the shoulder rest made me feel restricted and, in the end, I took it off. FREEDOM!

I watched some videos about the use of shoulder rests, and no real conclusions were reached. However, it was interesting listening to one guy (he doesn't use a shoulder rest) who talked about the difference of holding a violin with or without a shoulder rest. With a shoulder rest the violin is held in place by the neck and chin. Without one it is held in place by the collar bone and the thumb and first finger of the left hand. That second option is the way I've been playing for the last five years, and I like it!

Did I finish in first place with this violin decision? Will I earn victory and applause? In reality, I'm not driven by either. Lately I've had some nice feedback about my playing, but I also have a couple of acquaintances who I am sure don't like my playing or what I choose to play. Every year, around January, we go and stay at places with Shelley's old friends and their husbands. These two guys I mentioned are husbands. Neither of them really knows much about music, but they seem to have very strong views. One is a Neil Diamond fan and often suggests things that I should add to my repertoire. The other one seems not to like too many notes. One night, as we all sat around, I played some background music - not me playing but Spotify. I played quite a mixture. Then I put on John Cage's 4'33. Check it out, if you don't know it. The guy got very upset. Naughty me!

Well, I'll leave you there for today.

Sii gentile.

Can God make a rock so big that even he can't lift it?

 

Well, after five years I'm back using a shoulder rest on my violin. It has taken a few hours to get things settled, but now we're back in business, my violin and me. I won't bore you with the details. 

Here's a question that priests (teachers) used to ask, when some of them weren't trying to fiddle with boys (nothing to do with playing the violin), at a Catholic secondary school I attended. "Can God make a rock so big that even he can't lift it?"

What were they trying to prove? Obviously, that steps out of the bounds of logic, just like faith in a god does. Hey, Catholics like to offer proof of their beliefs. I just haven't seen or heard any yet - and I am getting old, but not as old as Peter.

That's it. I'm off.

Sii gentile.

FOOTNOTE...

I practised for a long time with the shoulder rest and it has gone again. Better without, methinks.

It's the little things that count.

 

The children say, "One, two, three,
four, five, six..."

It appears that, when you practise violin for three hours daily, little things come to you. I've been fortunate to pick up two very important points.

• When you are crossing strings, think about where your right hand arm (or hand) is placed. It's obvious really, but the hand goes up and down to line the bow up with the new string. This really helps precision in Hokum bowing (think Orange Blossom Special chorus). I also found that it helped when playing The Irish Washerwoman.
• I've gone back, from my central chin rest, to one more towards the left of the violin. See the picture below. I found that the center chin rest tends to pull the scroll to the right and puts pressure on your left hand. I've found that it is good to be able to have a bit of space, at least at times, between your left hand and the neck of the violin.

Hey, what's this thing about Lucifer (aka Satan)? 

When I wake up, I've gotten into the habit of checking my phone to see if Robert has written a post. I don't bother with Peter because I know he'll still be in his fart sack (or Dutch oven, as it is also called). 

Here's a quote from his post because you never know when Rob's posts will disappear.

"Lewis* indicates that Satan brought disease into his world. Yes, the earth is his world. Remember how God banished him to earth. So where you have demonic activity you will find unwellness and physical distress too. Remember how Satan hates us because God promised to put his elect over him? Satan wants us to loose our inheritance which is the kingdom of heaven." (I suspect that 'loose' should be 'lose'.)

Okay, here are a few 'facts' that people have told me about the Christian god over the years.

• God knows everything and he knows what is in the future.
• God can do anything. For example, he could stop a war just like that.
• God made 'Satan' while knowing what would happen if he did. 

Yes, God gave us all free will. In some ways that's a bit of a cop out for him. So, God made his arch rival, fully knowing what the result would be. All he had to think was, "I won't do that!" It becomes obvious that he wanted, or needed, an enemy. A bad guy. Hey, that's not very loving. I've often heard him described as an all loving god. Remember that, if you upset this all loving god, you are likely going to pay forever. Just like poor old Lucifer. Remember that forever is a very long time. All loving god? My foot!

Hey, it's not raining this morning! It's my know-it-all neighbour's birthday today. I think he's 81 - older than Peter! He's the guy who doesn't listen and said to me that violin should be practised in a shed. I often play Happy Birthday for my aging neighbours but I'll give Ben a miss today. Hey, we did give him a present. 

When you are doing lots of violin practice, exercising your fingers, arms and body is important. Breathing exercises are good too. My favourite breathing exercise is called box breathing. You start by breathing in to a count (that can be 1 2 3 4 or whatever you choose), then you hold your breath for the same amount of time, then you breath out to the same count, then you hold for the same count. I find that about four of these, in a row, is enough. 

Well, that's me for this morning.

Have a quick sin, if you feel like it, but nothing too serious.

Sii gentile.

* C. S. Lewis, an author who Robert likes.

The coming of the real savior.

 This story will sound hard to believe, but it is true - I have thoroughly researched it. It starts around a man named Stan Tiation, who was known in his time as 'train sub Stan Tiation' because his job was to fill in for train drivers who were unavailable, due to sickness or other reasons. 

Stan Tiation

Stan grew up in Foxton which, in those days (well, a little later really), was known as New Zealand's own fox town.  There he married a lady named Betty and in 1952 they had a son who they named Stay, mainly because it seemed to fit in nicely with his surname, Tiation. The unusual thing was that Stan knew he had not contributed to Betty's pregnancy, due to various reasons. Betty told him that it was a virgin birth that was helped out by a god she had been praying to. What could Stan do but accept her story?  

Naturally Stan was curious about this god. Betty told him that, in time, many people would turn to this god and that his son was really the son of God. She told him that this god was known as Pen15 and that he was the one really responsible for the existence of all humans. He had even written a book called 'It's All In Here'. Later he had renamed it, for simplicity, The Inere.

Stay was born in a sheep shed. As he grew up, he felt a deep sense to preach about his actual father, Pen15, and decided to move to a more populated place. He moved to Taihape.

To be continued.

You might notice that the picture of my violin looks a bit different. I have new strings, that have been on for a while now, and I've gone back to my old chin rest because I think I need my violin pointing more to the left. The strings are called Pirastro Violino and I'm happy with them. 

Hey, you're lucky because you got two posts today.

Just one more hour of my three hours of violin practice to go.

Sii gentile.

The Three Hour Guy Returns.

 

So, is practising three hours a day paying off? Yes, I think so. I noticed a little bowing thing that I wasn't doing that well yesterday. I got to work on it. It's sounding better, but I'll keep working on it daily. My regular practice now contains 30 tunes (though only 20 are really in my unaccompanied repertoire) so it takes a while to run over them all. When I say 'run over' (no Peter, nothing to do with being hit by a car) I try to pick out little bits that might need the most work. Good practice MUST go hand in hand with good planning and thinking.

Tree fellers turned up in heavy rain to cut down some trees at the back of our section and turn them into wood chips.

A chip off the old block.

I've probably already told you that the previous bloke who lived in that house behind use was a bit of a dick and planted ivy that grew all over the fence and, over the years, destroyed it. The new people in the house (they've been there for about 10 years now) are great. They've already dealt to the worst part of the ivy and have started putting new fence posts in. Where the ivy is growing from needs to be covered with black plastic for about two years. This starves it of sunlight and stops it growing back. 

[Richard (of RBB) gets up quite quickly and goes to another room - he returns after a short while.] I got up at 5.30am this morning. I think I'll have to cut out that early morning coffee because it seems to go straight through me.

We've had constant rain for two days now. That makes it impossible for me to tidy up our section. Ah well. Such is life. Peter's post about Charlie Kirk was interesting. A New York cardinal evidently wants him canonized as a saint. I wonder how Robert really feels about that? As well as being a strong supporter of gun rights, he had it in for gay and transgender people. Have a read of Peter's post, [If right wing Republicans in USA get their way...] if you haven't already done so. 

I did read Robert's latest (and short) post too. 

I think this AI picture is of him and Mary.

Here's the whole post: "The mother and brothers of Jesus came looking for him...he said "my mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice".  Of course Jesus was an only child, and Mary remained a Virgin. The Hebrews had no word for cousin so everyone was a bro. Bit like our Maori culture."

Short, eh! 

Well, it'll soon be time to get into that violin practice. As usual, I'll start with long bows. It's in my head to polish up the tune for 'Take a 'The' train'. Oops, sorry, I meant 'Take the 'A' train'. A little jazz joke there. Just like saying, "The girl from Ipana." 

Can you guess what tune that joke is about?

Ah well, it's time to move onto my next task.

Enjoy your day, and good luck with the house sale, Peter.

Sii gentile.