The three instruments that I practise.

 

Violin, double bass and guitar.

Day 200 of 2026 today. 203 hours so far this year.

The taste of success.

 Okay, I might not be going to Heaven, to spend eternity with Robert and Mr. Linford, but I have just received an award.

I suspect that it might be from McDonald Trump himself because it has American spelling on it. I can see that The Curmudgeon is mentioned on the certificate, AND The Music Curmudgeon! 

"HAS COMPLETED MUSIC PRACTICE WITH FLYING COLORS!" I think that 'FLYING COLORS' is referring to my study of m7b5, 7b9 and m6 chords. These are indeed colourful (sorry, English spelling) chords! 

It is fitting that today is day 200 of 2026 and, before doing today's practice, I am sitting on 202 hours of practice! That has got to be better than regularly going to mass and saying the rosary!

Robert at confession this week. "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. Both my cello and violin practice have been very erratic. I'm too embarrassed to tell you how much concentrated practice I have done. Needless to say, not much. Should I offer my place in Heaven to my brother Richard?"

* * *

Well, what more can I say? I'm going to be celebrating today. Pies for lunch, I think. I'm also wearing my favourite (sorry, English spelling again) slippers. 

Ciao tutti e fai la tua pratica!

Chi va piano va sano e va lontano.

 Day 199 of 2026.

"He who goes slowly goes healthy and goes a long way."

This is an old Italian saying. Rob seems to have got confused by it and left a comment asking if it came from the Bible (or something to that effect). No, it's just an old Italian saying, the part, "e arriva in ritardo" was added by someone as a joke. "And arrives late." Bloody Catholics! Imagine Rob at confession. "Bless me Father for I have sinned. I also have no sense of humour."

Well, I'm up and have delivered my elderly neighbour's paper. I'll hopefully get some music practice done this morning. I'm enjoying playing my guitar. I'm working on four tunes - Autumn Leaves, Manha De Carnival, Sweet Georgia Brown and Nature Boy. I have been working out nice chord voicings for chords like Bm7b5 and E7b9. It is interesting that Bm7b5 contains the same notes as Dm6 (B D F A / D F A B) and E7b9 contains a diminished chord with its E root (G# B D F). I knew my fellow bloggers would find that interesting.

Well, that's it from me.

Vai a leggere merda nella Bibbia.

Ciao.

Today is day number 198 of 2026 and...

I have just completed 200 hours of music practice!

148 1/2 hours of violin.

29 1/2 hours of double bass.

22 hours of guitar. 

These are concentrated hours of serious practice. They don't include gigs, band rehearsals or jams.

200 hours.

You'll notice that the violin gets priority.

I keep the double bass going for old time's sake and the guitar is a bit of a hobby.

The violin gets priority treatment.

I had my first violin lesson in 1961 when I was eight years old. My mother bought two violins at a local school fair. She brought them home and asked her three sons (the younger two were still a way off being born) who would like to learn to play them. My younger brother and I were quick to put our hands up. We attended lessons with a Catholic nun named Sister Joachim. I think she was a good teacher. I stayed with her until I attended Victoria University and studied with a guy named Gavin Saunders. I didn't do much practice because I spent more time trying to get a girlfriend. I did scrape through level one but then turned to musical composition as my major. I did gain a B.Mus(hons) degree. I failed at getting girlfriends.

I got into playing the bass guitar and, a short time after, started studying the double bass. A bit earlier, around when I was fourteen, I had started fooling around on the guitar. 

The bass guitar and double bass became my main instruments for most of my life. 

In 2012 I started practising the violin again.

At present I teach violin (and a bit of double bass and viola) at two secondary schools, but my main efforts go into picking up my elder grandson, feeding my younger grandson and music practice. In the practice department the violin comes first. In the greater scheme of things my grandsons (and my wife and children) come first. 

Well, there you have it.

At some point I hope to get out and play my 30 tune solo violin repertoire. 

I guess we'll have to see how that unfolds.

Ah well, chi va piano va sano e va lontano, e arriva in ritardo.

Ciao.

When's Wednesday?

 It's today!

AKA Badgrammarday.
Actually, the opening of the speech marks
just got cut off at the top of the picture.

Peter will be busy trying to get rid of his plates and stuff.

Robert offered to take them. Robert who said, in his latest post, "I wonder if blogging has run its course." Well, not if you're trying to scrounge cups and plates, Rob.

Today, Wednesday, the day when my younger grandson has been around for 15 months, is day number 196 of 2026. 

At present my practice stands as:

Double Bass 29 hours.

Guitar 20 1/2 hours.

Violin 146 1/2 hours.

Total = 196 hours.

Not a bad effort.

Better than trying to sell old crockery. 

I'll get into some violin practice soon. I might take the time to play through my entire repertoire from memory, That should take about 2 1/2 hours. I'll have to get onto it soon. The double bass comes next, but maybe tomorrow. 

I'll see Henry this afternoon, after picking up his elder brother from childcare. For those who don't know, Henry is the guy who is 15 months old today. 

Well, that's it from me for this Wednesday.

Ciao tutti.

Sabato.

Oggi, poco dopo le cinque, guarderò la partita della nazionale italiana di rugby contro gli All Blacks.

In the style of 'third person' Rob I got rid of my four very short blog posts. I'll leave that style of blog writing to Peter. Talking of Rob, his blog posts have disappeared again. No big surprise there.

Peter's latest blogging attempts seem to be all about his bloody computer. Boring. Though The Whine Guy did go on about how wine is packaged. I had to speed read that one!

Shelley and I have had a long period of not feeling very well. Fortunately, though, our computer seems to be working okay. I have kept my practice up through this time, doing an hour of violin practice every day. Unfortunately the guitar and double bass have been missing out. I'll get them back up to speed when my energy levels rise. 

I've been working on memorisation. I've also been working on the four dominant 7th scale fingerings. For those who haven't been paying enough attention to what I've written in previous posts, let me regurgitate. There are four possible ways to finger a major scale on the violin. Each major scale (there are 12 different keys) contains seven modes. These are called Ionian (another name for the major scale), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. These modes all contain the notes in the major scale but starting on a different note. For example, the Dorian mode in C major is D E F G A B C D. All these modes are very useful in Jazz, but the 'main' three are the Ionian (major), Dorian (minor with a #6) and the Mixolydian (also known as the dominant 7th). 

Because these modes are all derived from the major scale, they will derive four fingerings from the major scale. They just start in different places. These 'main' three scales form a progression known as the II - V - I (or II - V7 - I). There is also a minor version of this progression but we won't go into that today. 

Anyway, I'm working through the four Mixolydian forms and the four Dorian forms. 

There you go.

That's all I have to tell you for today. 

Stay warm and enjoy the rugby. 

Go the All Blacks!

I forget. I remember. Final.

 Wednesday 8th of July.

Feast of Saint Duncan of Taihape. "Every good boy deserves fruit? Most would probably prefer an ice cream or even a glass of wine."

I see that Robert is now into Acrostic Mnemonics. I blame Sister Joachim for that.

"Chris Can't Eat Eggs
Alan Ate Dead Dogs
Everyone Eats Ants Already
Dead Dogs Dread God"

Wouldn't he be better off just learning the chords to All Of Me?

Cmaj7    E7    A7    Dm7    || E7    Am7    D7    Dm7 G7    || etc.

Notice how these chords are either major 7, dominant 7 or minor 7. To know this is very important when improvising over the chords. I don't see how Chris not being able to eat eggs is really going to help here. No, better just to memorise the chords. It probably wouldn't take much longer than learning those silly words.

Anyway, moving on.

Still no new post from Peter. That's nothing this week. What is he doing on these incredibly wet days that takes up all of his time?

I know he's not practising the violin NOR the bagpipes. He certainly won't be worrying about Acrostic Mnemonics. Okay, I know, I know, he did have to drive Lynn to work but that would only take about half an hour, at most. Come on Peter! Get your A into G!

I might as well leave it there for today. I've started making preparations for going to Hell. I won't be packing warm clothes. A pair of togs might be handy. I'll take my water bottle too.

Ciao tutti.