Playing with myself.

 

Whoops! I need to be careful!

Preparation for 'Playing with myself' is going pretty well. I'm getting in practice on both instruments and I'm working on all 15 tunes. Remember that I have 5 double bass unaccompanied tunes and 10 violin unaccompanied tunes. I'll probably use 7 violin tunes and 5 bass tunes at my (slowly getting) planned first concert. That should make the performance about an hour long. I think that's long enough. Remember that the concert is tentatively planned for late August. Today is day 7 of my practice schedule.

No post from Robert this morning, but Peter wrote a very good post yesterday. Hey, I loved that porcupine joke! What Peter did showed a lot of guts. I'm proud of you, Peter!

My hero!

I think that people who need to speed in their car haven't got much happening in their lives. They should do something, like take up the violin. I see them racing along as I drive to work, speeding over the Nui hill. There are always dents in the road barriers that tell of drivers who didn't make it. Near the bottom of the Nui hill there are traffic lights. This causes a short delay and means that I catch up to lots of speeding drivers. Why do they bother? When I'm going somewhere, I always set off a bit too early. This means that I have no need to panic or rush. Peter obviously uses the same principal when he walks to Moore Wilson's. Remember how long we had to wait, last time, for the post that he promised to write on his return.

Well, that's about it from me. No coffee this morning. God, I love those coffees, but not the extra trip they cause.

Please don't worry about sinning and stay well away from Catholic confession.

Ciao tutti. Ehi, sto ancora pensando a quel caffè!

What if Jesus had been named Clive?

Clive Hoolihan?

Imagine saying that when you stubbed your toe!

"Clive Hoolihan!"

I'm off to do some practice soon. I'll start with the violin today because I actually did more double bass practice than violin practice yesterday. I guess I'm just trying to get my hours up on the bass. Doing an unaccompanied instrumental gig is going to be hard work. There are certainly many aspects of my playing to work on; some are quite subtle but important. 

Okay, I'm off to practise now.

Don't worry about sinning, AND there is no such place as Hell. Just like there wasn't actually an old lady who lived in a shoe.

Ciao tutti.

Sunday, good to not be at church, good to be back practising the double bass.

 

No coffee this morning. I think I might have learnt my lesson. I'll have to be satisfied with the water I get when I take my pills. 

I'm very itchy this morning. It's one of the conditions I have to suffer. Shelley sometimes calls me Itchy Richie. I'll put on some cream after I've finished this post. Itching, to my level, is no fun. I guess it's a bit like being in Purgatory. Boy! The nonsense that a Catholic upbringing can put into your head!

Yesterday was another good practice day, for both violin and double bass. I'm now two days down on my five month journey to 'Playing with myself'. Practice is built around my chosen 15 tunes, with all the important practice things being applied - long notes, tuning and tone, etc., etc., etc.

Okay, time to get this day underway.

Stay away from silly old churches.

Ciao tutti.

Saturday. Sinning is permissible today and you won't go to Hell. Richard 21:16

No post from Peter this morning. Robert has written a post in a language close to English.

Well, fairly close. I think it's called Robrite.

I set a new goal for myself yesterday and did 1 3/4 hours of practice, 1 hour on the violin and 45 minutes on the bass. Yesterday was the 20th. I set a goal that lasts for five months and finishes on the 20th of that month. It will involve me playing a solo concert. Just me. I will play unaccompanied pieces on the violin and the double bass. The concert will be titled 'Playing with myself'. I haven't worked out a venue yet. However, the repertoire for both instruments is set. The concert will be about an hour long, probably presenting five pieces on each instrument, though I do have more violin pieces if needed. Obviously, I will be stepping up the amount of practice that I do. I'll aim for at least 2 hours a day, one hour on each instrument.

I'm having a coffee as I write.

[Stand by, toilet.]

It's a cold morning in the Nui. I wouldn't mind betting that people have their raccoons inside in Raccoontown.

I wonder what Peter did with his preferred hat?

I hope, for his own safety, that he's not wearing it anywhere near his home. Remember that raccoons are a preferred pet around there.

I've finished my coffee, so it's probably a good time for me to go. Well, I'm sure it will be soon.

[Coffee gone.]

Remember that it's Saturday and a bit of sinning is okay. I'm sure that Robert will agree.

Ciao tutti.

On the job early.

 We have a plumber coming sometime around 8am, so I've been out moving my car onto the road, delivering my elderly neighbour's paper and taking out some extra rubbish - the rubbish man often shows up at about 7am or slightly after. In about an hour I need to drive a car to Seaview for my daughter. She's selling her pink Barbie car because she is heading to Melbourne in a month or so. 

Hey, Peter, no need to start calling me Ken. The car is going.

I practised for 30 minutes on the double bass yesterday. I've decided that it's time to get my double bass going again. I have five unaccompanied solo pieces that I will concentrate on. They are all originals.

• Sii Gentile
• Almost Blues
• Gypsy Feet
• My Gentle Giant
• Shelley, My Dear

Sii Gentile translates to Be Kind and is dedicated to our past prime minister who really coined that phrase. Almost Blues is a 14 bar blues. Gypsy Feet is an up tempo swing tune in the Gypsy Jazz style. My Gentle Giant is a piece I wrote for my double bass. Well, next to my violin, he/she IS a giant. I often refer to the last piece as SMD so as not to embarrass the person who bears its name. It is a piece, in the Bluegrass tradition, that I have played for many years.

Hopefully I'll get some quality violin practice done today.

Well, that's all from me this morning. 

No time to quote from the bible. Brian 7:22

That's for sure. Andy 19:4

Ciao tutti. Guida con prudenza. Alberto 2:47

Just after 7.15pm.

 

It has been a very busy day, but I have got some double bass practice done. 

Peter wrote a post yesterday and Robert wrote one this morning that needs proofreading.

I still need to do some violin practice. 

At present I teach violin at two schools. One is a state school and one is a 'private' school. No problems with the state school, but the private school is mucking me around. The private school has Presbyterian affiliations. I might tell them to go and look for violin lessons in that hall that Robert used to clean that is owned by a Presbyterian. Do you, who read Robert's blog posts, remember the Presbyterian's hall?

Okay, I've decided to give the violin practice a miss tonight because time is getting on a bit.

I think I'll lay on the couch and waste time on my phone.

Ciao tutti.

St. Patrick's Day.

 Forget Hairy Bert's Birthday, that was yesterday. Today is St. Patrick's Day!

St. Paddy evidently drove snakes out of Ireland.

Our secondary school ('our' refers to all the old bloggers around here) was named after the snake remover. 

Okay, enough about Paddy.

I didn't get any practice done yesterday. It was one of those days when things kept popping up. We had a plumber here for quite a while. It turns that things are more complicated than I thought. Evidently, the guy who put in our bathroom hand basin plumbing got it all wrong. The plumber is evidently coming back today to put it all back together. Also, the toby that controls water going to our property is broken. This needs to be fixed by the council before the leaks in our two hose pipes can be fixed. I'm glad I didn't try to fix those things myself.

I've got to touch up a few spots on our house with paint but, apart from that, I intend to put a lot of time into music practice today.

I asked Peter who won the golf yesterday and he replied, "God."

I can only assume that he meant God helped Rob win. Well done, Rob. I guess Peter has a lot more practice to do, even more than me on my violin.

Okay, that's it from me this morning.

Vai ad allenarti a golf.

Ciao.