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.

I forget. I remember. PART 2.

 

Unfortunately, I can never forget this picture! 

Or this one!

But I'm here today to talk about memorising music.

Thanks go to Rob for introducing the word 'mnemonic'. Memorising music is all about getting it into long term memory and being able to retrieve it. I have been successful and unsuccessful with this process. In my latest attempt (yesterday) I even tried using the mnemonic process. It did help with memorising chord progressions. For example, for A7 Dm7 G7 C, I thought of the strings on a viola. I also had three dominant 7th chords that led into key changes after sections of the piece - D7, A7 and G7. I thought of the word 'dag'. That did help. Then I thought of how I never forget names of family and old friends and how I never forget the times tables I learnt in primary school, yes, that same time when I looked up a girl's skirt. 

I spent half an hour working on an easy piece that just contained a tune, in three different keys, and chords that are not complicated. Obviously repetition plays an important role. I didn't put much effort into learning my brothers' names. I guess that a lot of repetition was involved but not noticed. When memorising 'Peter' maybe, without much thought, I used a mnemonic for the male organ? 

Okay, this music memorisation thing is still a work in progress. I'll push on with it today.

Maybe there will be a PART 3 to this project?

Maybe Peter will write another post before Christmas?

Time will tell.

Ciao tutti.

Make sure you get your music practice done.

I forget. I remember.

I've been sick for the last couple of weeks and it has been rather unpleasant. Among other things, I have been low on energy.

?

Before you start panicking, I have kept my instrument practice up and, at the time of writing, I am sitting on 186 1/2 hours for the year so far.

However, the 'low on energy' thing does mean that I have spent quite a bit of time laying on the couch and looking at my phone.* I always seem to finish up scrolling through Facebook. Facebook is full of SO MUCH SHIT! I have only got myself to blame, I know. However, one thing that caught my attention was people writing about how to memorise music for performance. There have been quite a lot of people who have written on this topic. They go on for quite a while and, when it's time for some helpful answers, they tell you that they want money before they will tell you anything more. This pisses me off. If I had the answers to this 'problem', I'd just tell everyone. Why do so many things always have to be about making money?

I have been thinking about memorisation quite a bit lately. Evidently there are three steps involved in the memory process: Encoding (short term memory), Consolidation (long term memory) and Retrieval (recalling).

As you know, I have 30 pieces in my solo violin repertoire and they are all memorised to a degree. I can play all the pieces in this repertoire by memory, but some could use a bit more work to really lock them into my memory. Hence I think quite a bit about memorisation. I also continue to work on these particular pieces.

I had a thought the other day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not as old as Peter, but I have noticed that I have a tendency to forget names of people who I haven't seen for a while or I don't know well. I have little tricks that I use to recall these names or to not forget them. One thing I do is make up an association. I know a guy called Cory, so when I think of him I think of an apple core.

I needed to remember the name of a lady named Denise at work. I think of Dennis the Menace.

Now, don't get me wrong, this lady is nothing like the comic character. It's just that a bit of humour seems to help the connection and is easier to remember. In these situations I never tell people how I remember their names.

When my first grandson was born I found his name hard to remember. The name Harrison was not a name that I had much experience with. Then I put his father's name in front of it. George Harrison. We all know who George Harrison was!

There are some names I just never forget and they don't need prompting - parents, brothers, children, very old friends, the list goes on. I mean, I don't have to say, "Peter McDonald Trump." to remember Peter's name. I just use that one because it is fun!

I'm going to leave you there for today, but this topic is not finished.

To be continued.

* That thing that Peter keeps dropping into his bath.

Here we go again...

 Happy as can be,

All good friends and

Jolly good company.

Another cold morning. Our heat pump has decided to stop working. Peter has already left a comment on Rob's latest post. He thinks that Rob has got his facts wrong. 

"Quintilis. In 44 BC the Romans change it to July in honour of Julius Caesar; though I doubt TC would accept that as he thinks everything back then was myth. Around that time Luke had written the first account of the life of Jesus or was it Mark?"

No doubt the boys will fight over this for a while. Ah well, it keeps them busy on a very cold morning. It's evidently 2 degrees in the Nui. It'll be warmer in Thorndon because it is considered a posh suburb. I think they have heat pumps on the side of Peter's street. 

I don't think that is the case in Moera. Evidently the temperature here is 4 degrees now. Both our car windows are covered in ice. At least it's not raining. That means that Peter won't have to drive Lynn to work. Though I suppose he still could. He could wear his new pants.

It'll make it look like Lynn is being driven to 
work by a tradesman. Cool!

I'm off work today, which is good because it takes the rush out of my morning when one is not feeling 100%. I was offered a break today because I am going in to assess performances tomorrow. 

I have a new routine in my practice. Every week day (Monday to Friday) I play 6 of my 30 repertoire tunes so that, over five days I've played every tune. I still practise on the weekend and it doesn't mean that I won't do extra practice on tunes that need it. It's just a way to make sure that no tunes are neglected. Peter will be pleased to hear that. I also MUST get some double bass practice done.

Well, that should do for today. 

Oggi la mia pratica inizia con la melodia numero tredici e arriva alla numero diciotto.

Ciao tutti.

Richard's Bass Bag* WET SATURDAY QUIZ.

 

Welcome to our WET SATURDAY QUIZ. This quiz is open to anyone who happens to read this blog. Good luck to all the competitors. Anyone who was in 3P in 1966 should find this quiz easy! Anyone who attended music lessons at St. Mary's College in the 1960s should do well too.

Here we go...

1. Mount Victoria in Wellington is named after which of these people? a) Donald Trump b) Father Bliss c) an English queen d) Victoria Tucker.

2. Richard (of RBB) is carrying his violin to a gig (yes, he does have one). How many violin strings are in his violin case?

3. Which one of these people has never played or practised the violin? a) Robert Prowse b) Itzhak Perlman c) Peter McDonald d) Hilary Hahn.

4. Which one of these people was not in 3P at St. Patrick's College in 1966? a) Peter McDonald b) Noel Kidson c) Danny Cotteral d) Ferruccio Baldas.

5. What are the four notes that make up the chord C#dim7?

6. Who taught the standard four boys at Marist Thorndon in 1963? a) Brother Benedict b) Father Woodcock c) Mrs. Carr d) Brother Leon.

7. One of these boys has the nickname Prowsey but has never played in the Prowse Brothers Band. Which one? a) Daryl Prowse b) Rodney Prowse c) Henry Prowse d) Robert Prowse.

8. On the violin I put my first finger on Eb on the D string, my second finger on C on the A string and my third finger on A on the E string. Then I rock my bow over these strings. Then I move each finger up a minor third, then another minor third and then another minor third. Which of these chords am I playing over? a) Ebm7 b) D7b9 c) Cmaj7 d) C7#9.

9. Which blog in this little community also runs a sightseeing extravaganza in the Wellington region? a) The Wine Guy b) The The The Guy c) Richard's Bass Bag* d) The Food Curmudgeon.

10. An Italian looks at The Curmudgeon's latest attempt at a quiz and says, "Che stronzata!" Which answer best sums up his feeling about the quiz? a) Fantastic! b) Silly questions! c) It's good that he never took up the violin! d) What a load of bullshit!

Well, wasn't that fun! Get your answers in, quick!

Ciao.

* the original bass bagging site

Tickle my arse with a feather.*

 

Excuse me, but I think you misheard me.

I said, "Particularly nasty weather."

There will be no golf or tennis for Peter today. At least Robert will still be able to clean the shit off toilets. I guess Shelley and I will wait and see what happens to the weather around lunchtime. I've just been out delivering our elderly neighbour's paper. I also put the lids back on a couple of neighbours' rubbish bins and pushed another couple up tight against a fence. It's rubbish day in the Nui today. The wind has been very strong and the rain is pissing down.

Like this but much worse.

If we do make it to Greytown, I've been asked to play some violin. I know the people at dinner are not really keen on jazz. As Peter remembers, one guy is a big Neil Diamond fan and he'll no doubt want to play tunes from Hot August Night. He's not a musician but will want to run his phone through my little amp. I've dug up my charts for 24 Irish tunes. The guy running the dinner is Irish, so that will win him over. 

I spent a lot of time playing through those Irish tunes yesterday and will do the same this morning. 

Well, that's enough from me for this morning.

Fai il solletico al mio sedere con una piuma.

Ciao tutti.

* A very old joke. Peter may remember it.