Three Chairs!

 

Just a quick post to remind you that Peter will be posting today.

"My new computer chair arrived today. I assembled it and have positioned it in the study. Lynn was impressed and made me a cup of tea. She came down from the top floor and made my tea on the middle floor, then she brought it down to the ground floor. That's enough to make me want to write a post."

Oh, and Robert is back too with a post about sewerage and sin.

"Have fun but don't sin..." For it is from within that evil intentions emerge: Sewerage problems, bloody cycle lanes and all the rest." Mark 7:14"

Well, I'd say that those two old boys have blog posting covered today, so I'm off to work. I'll go in early and do some violin practice before the students arrive. 

Ciao tutti.

Wednesday Morning.

 Okay, okay, I made that up!

Well, after all, Jesus does wear makeup.

Pictures don't lie.

Okay, it's actually Tuesday evening.

Peter is promising a new post tomorrow because his new computer chair has arrived. Bear in mind his old chair, and Lynn's chair, and it's three chairs for Peter!

Evidently, according to Peter, Robert's blog has been wiped clean again. Does anyone really give a fuck?

Okay, I'll leave it there for today. It has been a busy day and I'm a bit tired.

Ciao tutti.

Back to work.

 There'll be no violin this morning because I'm going back to work.

Hang on! My job is to teach violin.*

Yes! My violin comes to work too!

Well, it's a better job than cleaning the Presbyterian Hall or ringing someone to bring you a cup of tea.

AND I don't have to go to a chapel and say the bloody rosary.

Catholics can keep these!

I guess I'd better get going. Work calls.

Ciao tutti.

* I also have a viola student.

Today is the feast day of Brent of Borneo.

 Who is Brent of Borneo, I hear you ask?

Actually, I just made that up because I needed a catchy title for today's blog post.

Sorry.

Yesterday I only got 30 minutes of practice done and I didn't get to cut the lawns. At the last minute I got a grandson sitting gig and then, a little later, a friend of Shelley's popped by. I finished up going to bed quite early. Still, today is another day and I've already got Brent of Borneo out of the way. 

Yesterday Peter did a post on his telephone system. It wasn't a long post. The short story is that they have a telephone system in their house and Peter made a bit of a nuisance of himself by ringing Lynn and asking for a cup of tea. 

This morning Robert's post was even shorter. He simply said, "Good morning." That was it. 

I guess that whatever I write will outdo those two dreamers.

I think I'm going to risk a cup of coffee. Hold on a sec.

Okay, I'm back.

Yesterday I bought a book that I know Rob has been listening to. Yes, listening to.

I needed something to read in the evening and I'm a bit over action stories at the moment. I was having trouble finding something when I spotted Rob's book and decided to give it a go. I've started reading it and so far I'm not really impressed, but I will read on. It has to be better than looking at Facebook. I think I might go and read a bit now, while I'm waiting for the coffee to call out, "Bathroom!" I'll keep you informed on how it turns out. At least it is something to put in a blog post that is more interesting than using a telephone to ask for a cup of tea or just saying, "Good morning."

That's it for this morning.

Ciao tutti.

Metronome Day.

 

I thought I'd play through most of my 30 tune repertoire this morning with a backing track. That's like practising with a metronome. Playing those tunes like that is also good tone practice. I can't really start playing until after 9am, so I might as well write a post. It's a sunny morning in the Nui. I plan to tidy up a bit of the section later today. "Softly, softly catchee monkey." as my dad used to say. 

For those of you who don't know what day it is, it's Sunday. Also known as God Botherer Day. There'll be a fair bit of transubstantiation happening in Catholic churches today. Church shops will be making a few bucks too. Money, money, money!

I was about to practise my scales yesterday and I thought, "Wouldn't it be a good idea to take one of my repertoire pieces and practise the scales that go with that?" It makes sense really. Like killing two birds with one stone.

I guess that, as I go through my repertoire today, there'll be chances to run a few scales, and arpeggios.

Wow, it's getting close to 9am. That's practice time. 

No new post from TC yet this morning. I doubt that his new computer chair will arrive on a Sunday. I did read Robert's post. "I here you say but I thought you said your destination was Feilding." No Rob, I was more concerned about your grammar. 

Ciao tutti. Hey, it might be a good day for a sin or two.

Try the tritone.

 'Diabolus in musica' is what silly religious people once called the tritone because it was associated with dissonance and, therefore, bad things.

It was said that the devil in music surrounded the three tones of the Holy Trinity. What bullshit!

In Jazz the #4 has become a very special sound and is probably my personal favourite sound of all time. It just adds a lovely bit of tension to a solo line. 

In the key of C it shows up between the notes F and B. The Lydian (IV) mode starts with it and it appears on the violin as four stretched fingers.

I'd better leave the tritone there. My readers aren't into music theory.

[I'm going to risk it and have a coffee]

Gosh, I'm living dangerously this morning!

First sip of coffee - lovely!

On the blog front, we got a post from Peter yesterday and a post from Robert this morning. I'm not sure if Peter has his new computer chair yet. Robert said of me, "Mea noa givea damn." I think he was referring to his trip up to Cricket Town today and what I would say about it. Ah well, mea noa givea damn. That'll make him feel fulfilled, silly Catholic.

My elder grandson might pop around today with his dad. He'll be three years old at the end of next month. Nearly as old as me! He's into bubbles big time at the moment, so we bought him a bubble maker yesterday.  He really had no need for a new computer chair. He writes less posts than Peter. 

I practised violin for 1 1/2 hours yesterday. I spent a lot of time on scales, arpeggios and 6th. and 5th. double stops. I think it was time well spent. I also listened a lot to my tone. I put a video up on Facebook the other day. A silly old folkie left a comment, "Your tone is certainly improving. Congratulations." I removed his comment and unfriended him. I don't respect his opinion, but the negative comment did unsettle me.

[Oops, might be bathroom time soon!]

It really is silly to worry about what other people say or think because they quite frequently don't know what they are talking about. I think that Rob's listening to a book on this topic at present. Listening to a book? I thought you were supposed to read them. 

When I was a young violinist, I was lazy and didn't do much practice. I was more interested in getting a girlfriend. Maybe that time would have been better spent practising the violin? At university I don't remember the teacher saying anything nice about my playing. To be fair, though, I did tell him I was doing about four hours of practice a day. Liar! Perhaps it was my fault, though I did scrape through violin with a pass. Now I am a violin teacher. I put a lot of effort into building up my students' confidence. I tell them that their ears work wonderfully and just need to be used. I tell them that they can certainly be successful with their violin playing. I am not lying to them. I have done quite a lot of study in this field. People like to confer talent onto certain people and, while there is often a good reason for this, a lot of their success comes down to hard work. Maybe they were good at getting girlfriends too?

[Coffee finished. Still waiting for a result. Shouldn't be too far away.] 

[Oops, the time has arrived! Back soon.]

[The coffee has moved on.]

Now, where was I?

Oh yes, I was talking about tritones.

In the modes of the major scale there is only one tritone, though it pops up in each mode.

• C D E F G A B C
• D E F G A B C D
• E F G A B C D E
• F G A B C D E F
• G A B C D E F G
• A B C D E F G A
• B C D E F G A B

Obviously, you can place a #4 anywhere by simply raising the second note by a semitone. C F to C F#, G C to G C#, B E to B E#, etc.

Oops, sorry, I said I'd finished with tritones.

I'm running out of things to tell you. Maybe I'll go and take my tablets. Then I could do some violin practice.

"Don't forget to take the tablets!"

Ciao tutti.

Good morning.

 Waitangi Day.

Today we remember the signing of a treaty. A treaty that hopefully has united our people. Let's show respect for everyone and their cultures and let's learn from each other. In the words of our great former prime minister, "Be kind."

In a very touching gesture, my neighbour Jim contacted me this morning. He said, "Hey Richard, please feel free to practise that violin inside your house today." What a touching gesture!

Confession: I only practised for half an hour yesterday. Sorry. I intend to make up time today. It'll be nice to be able to practise inside the house. A treat. 

I didn't get any feedback on the scale information I shared with you in my last post. Actually, I only know of one violinist who reads this blog and I think he might have buggered off to Cricket Town.

Anyway, I'll run through those scales today.

My son and his family are moving shortly. They've bought a townhouse in the Nui. A two minute drive away. It's easier to get carparks near his place than it is in Thorndon. Hey, speaking of Thorndon, Peter wrote a new post yesterday! Yes, I know it is quite hard to believe. It tells us about buying computer chair mats. Interesting. Well, maybe 'interesting' is too strong a word. Peter got stuck with the camouflage mat. 

That's Peter's mat on the left.

It'll be good to have if he ever joins the army. His final bit of information is that he has bought a new computer chair. For some reason he can't write another post until the new chair arrives. For some reason, comments have been a bit slow coming in on his post. I wonder why?

Though, to be fair, sharing valuable information about violin scales doesn't pull in heaps of comments either. 

I guess I'll leave it there for today. I'll go and do some violin practice.

Enjoy your Waitangi Day.

Ciao.