7th. October. The day we remember the Whole Tone scale.

 

If 'enharmonic' is your thing, you've come to the right scale!

Look at the scale above and think C7#4#5. It is a six note scale (we don't count the octave C) and each note is a tone higher than the one just below it. All the spaces between notes are a tone - there are no semitones.

There are 12 notes in our tempered music system. There are only 6 that we haven't used:

C# D# E# Fx Gx B. This scale goes with the chord C#7#4#5.

We've used all the notes, so there are really ONLY TWO whole tone scales.

BUT...

We could start a whole tone scale on any note.

For example,

G A B C# D# F G   -  G7#4#5.

These are really the same notes that we used in the C# whole tone scale, except that some of the notes are written enharmonically.

G = Fx, A = Gx, B =B, C# = C#, D# = D#, F = E#.

We can actually start another whole tone scale on any note in these two scales. That's 12 scales from two scales!

We could just find one scale from each and then we wouldn't need to get too hung up on the enharmonic thing.

For example, on the violin, in first position, I could just use D E F# G# Bb C D (fingering 0 1 2 3 1 2 3).

Then, for the other scale, Eb F G A B C# D# (fingering 1 2 3 0 1 2 3).

Easy!

And you can enharmonically change the names of any notes you like.

Hey, this scale could sound good over a V7 chord that was heading to I.

So, on this day, 7th. October, why not give this scale a try?

Me waking up and reading Robert's latest blog post.

 

Richard thinks, "But whales can't swallow humans!"

Okay, I've gotten into this habit. I wake around 5am, after a lot of sleep, and the first thing I do is check for blog posts. I know there won't be anything from the 3P boy, so I check Rob's blog first.

Then I get up at about 5.30am, visit the bathroom, and then make a coffee. After that I head to my computer. Writing a post is a nice way to wake up. 

I think Rob was having a bit of fun with this morning's post, so maybe it shouldn't be taken too seriously. He does mention Jonah being swallowed by a whale, but I think we both know that is impossible. Check it out online (whales and their ability to swallow people) if you're not sure about this.

There are at least three grammatical mistakes, but I get mentioned in the post, as does the 3P boy. Well, at least, I got something to read after waking up. Thanks, Rob.

To be fair, the 3P boy did leave a comment on my blog offering help. 

"I would have left the 3P classroom door open for you back in the day but we who were numbered 1 to 10 were against the wall (where the windows and view were) at the opposite side of the door. I was number 5 and Tony was number 6 if that helps."

Actually, that was 59 years ago, and I don't possess a time machine. Thanks for thinking of me though.

I only got 2 1/2 hours of violin practice done yesterday, but it was good practice. I managed to sort out a few problems with The Orange Blossom Special, among other things. My best mate Harrison popped around in the morning, hence the lost practice time. You'll remember that I'm working towards playing two pieces at a concert next Sunday. Goals like this are good to keep you focused. I'm back at work tomorrow, so that'll make getting three hours done a bit hard, but I'll certainly do my best. At least, in my job, I've got a violin in my hands for most of the day. I try to pass on what I learn to my students. One thing is for sure, tone and intonation are everything. I'll stress this tomorrow. Okay, there ARE other important things too. A practice plan is certainly important. Maybe Rob should worry less about whales and more about doing some good practice. I know that the 3P boy won't be practising his bagpipes. "That's for damn sure." to quote Jack Reacher.

Two more days before the 3P boy finds out about his house sale. Let's hope it all goes well for him. Remember that he needs to be in Wellington in November for that RBB Tour he has booked.

Take Note.

It is slowly starting to get light in the Nui. I can hear birds chatting outside my window. My next four jobs are, have something to eat, take my pills, revisit the bathroom and deliver my elderly neighbour's paper to her door. I might also have to squeeze in a shower and a shave. 

Have a good day and try not to get swallowed by a whale.

"Boy! That's far too big to eat!"

Sii gentile.

"Aye I, me hearties!"

"Aye I!"

Let's take a look around the blogs.

Yesterday I made the mistake of pointing out to Rob that I have an honours degree in music. He hit me back with a huge comment explaining the history of western music. It was so long that I couldn't fit it all into a 'picture' to show you. You can see the entire thing as a comment on my last post.

Did I make him feel threatened? His rant comment has obviously been copied from somewhere. It could be AI because I know he's into that. There is no new information in his comment for me, Though, quite a few interesting points (tempering, serial composition) and composers (Karlheinz Stockhausen) didn't seem to get a mention - I did skim through it pretty quickly. 

His latest post on his blog talks a lot about faith. He tells us, "It's about genuine faith, even a small amount. It's about trusting in God's plan when it seems beyond our cognition. The desire to draw closer to God will nurture and increase our faith when watered with prayer and trust. Faith is active. It is not enough to believe, we must put our head on the block. We should let our faith guide our actions and choices. Faith transforms."

In my experience you may put faith in something that you have examined very closely. I have faith that my Nissan Note will get me to work because, so far that has been the case. It may not be the case next Tuesday, but it more likely will. 

Faith is different from fact. Faith involves trust and not necessarily logic. Faith is more like a guess.

* * *

Peter had to (for whatever reason) delete a serious post that he wrote. He replaced it with two silly posts. These pictures will give you the idea, if you can't be bothered going over to read them.

Rob evidently finds Peter a bit deranged at times. Well, the poor old bugger is waiting for big news next Wednesday. I can tell you that he has booked a RBB Tour and will be very excited about riding in a Nissan Tune. Rob will probably post a long comment about (music) tunes in the comments of this post. Good old AI!

* * *

The new chinrest is working out well. I only practised for two hours yesterday. Hey, but that's five hours in two days! Not bad. As I told you, I'm going to an 'open mic' concert next Sunday and will play Romance and The Orange Blossom Special. I want to put in a lot of work on each tune. I can see where a bit of work is required on both of them. I won't give you details or find an AI article on violin practice that I could copy to here. 

It's raining heavily (again) outside. Looks like most of the day will be spent at home. Ah well, that's good for getting practice done. 

That's about it from me for today. Just because I'm such a nice guy, I'll go over now and leave encouraging comments on the two old boys' blogs.*

Ciao. Sii gentile.

* I just wrote 'Great post!' on their latest efforts. Aren't I naughty!

It must be time for violin photos!

 

Peter's latest post has disappeared (Maybe he thought he was giving out too much information?) and Robert's latest post is full of shit about his god. He also put up a slightly dodgy image.

A tribute to Brother Benedict?

Anyway, I thought that lots of pictures of me playing the violin might cheer everyone up.

I completed my 3 hours yesterday. After completing the first hour, I headed into Wellington to Alistair's Music. I was very lucky that he had the chinrest that I was looking for.

I like my old chinrest, but this one pulls the violin a little to the left. Look how well it balances on my shoulder (no shoulder rest needed).

It is still early days, but it seems to make the fingerboard more accessible. It takes a little bit of pressure off the side of the first left hand finger.

It's a pity I didn't brush my hair before asking Shelley to take these pictures.

If you look at the very first picture on this post (before Brother Benedict) you'll see that the chinrest still crosses the tailpiece, but not as much as the old one.

The 'old' chinrest.

It's taking a little while to get as comfortable on the new chinrest. It just takes time, I guess.

Last week a friend came around and asked me to straighten the bridge on her violin. After completing the job, I tried her chinrest (no smutty remarks please, Peter) and it felt really good. I thought, "I've got to find one of these." I've discovered that I don't want my violin pointing too much to the right. It does put a bit of pressure on the side of the left hand first finger, as I told you earlier. With the new chinrest the bowing feels somehow nicer too, as does moving up the fingerboard. Yes, some of this could be my imagination but time will tell. Hey, vibrato seems easier too!

Well, there you go.

Sii gentile.

New chinrest.

 I hunted this one and found it!

It pulls the violin a little more to the left, which I like.

Let's see how it goes.

Sii gentile.

Violin update.

 

Okay, I was worried that readers might worry about why I haven't had time to mention my violin practice. So, I'm writing this so that you can relax.

I did two hours of practice yesterday. Yes, I know, one hour short, but it was good practice. I'm planning to go to an 'open mic' on the October 12th. I plan to play Romance (a tune of mine) and The Orange Blossom Special. I'll also have Manha de Carnaval up my sleeve just in case.

Just in case.

[toilet time]

[Done - I also delivered my elderly neighbour's newspaper to her door and took my pills.]

Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Remember that I'm playing solo. Unaccompanied. I approach it like a solo jazz guitarist might. I drop in chords, and other things, as well as the tune. I guess you could say that building up for a concert spot is like getting ready for a rugby test match. Obviously there will not be a ball but you are preparing so that you hopefully will not make any major mistakes, like forgetting the chord progression. You don't need to wear rugby boots either.

Okay, it's a little bit different. The first half hour is important and can set the pace for a successful day. Always start with long bows and maybe different types of bowing. How is your intonation? I like to play a few arpeggios up and down the fingerboard. Maybe it is time to do some sort of scale or repetition exercise now. Slow repetition is ALWAYS good - with lots of repetitions. 

Well, I think I've covered everything, except the couch.

A little bonus joke for you there.

Sii gentile.

Please be clear, I am not talking about a new religion here.

Richard 3:1 I am not talking about a new religion here. I was joking when I told you to pray to me in the comments. In my experience religion does not handle humour very well. Let me stress that Scientia IS NOT A GOD. Scientia is a name for how our universe started. It is time to replace the word religion with empathy. Religion started in times when people were trying to find answers for things that they didn't understand. Remember The Sun God? Do I really need to explain further?

Richard 3:2 I have noticed that commenters like to quote class names that were used in a Catholic school in the 1960s and what they might have learnt in those classes. It is time to let those thoughts go. It is time to let the Catholic church go. It is time to find your own balance in this life and stop looking for a crutch. Morals do not come from a god. They come from practising things that do the most good for the most amount of people. Things that can ease unnecessary suffering. If I dent my neighbour's car, I take responsibility for my mistake. I don't shoot guns at other people, even if I dislike what they preach. 

Ah women and men.

In the beginning there was Scientia.

Richard 2:1 In the beginning there was Scientia. Scientia said, "Let there be light." and there was light. Scientia said, "Let the be stars and planets." and there were stars and planets. Scientia said, "Let there be lots of other things." and there were lots of other things. Scientia let other things evolve and eventually there were men and women human beings. An activity called bonking was responsible for the huge number of humans who showed up.  I am charged with writing the Whole Gospel. This will clear up a lot of nonsense.

Richard 2:2 Beware of AI. If there is one truly evil thing in this world, it is AI. AI is when thinking stops. AI is when things are approximated so that anything can sound true. We have already seen this with attempts at finding and proving the existence of many gods. Scientia implies the statement, "Please do not put false gods before me." The idea of a god is that the proposed entity would be perfect in every way. Some would say, "Who am I to judge god?" but that is like saying, "Can god build a rock so big that even he can't lift it?" Playing with words is what the founders of many religions try to pass off as proof, but their choice of the word faith gives this all away.

Ah women and men.

The Whole Gospel according to Richard (of RBB).

Richard 1:1 So, who has been chosen to disperse the word? Was there a list of chosen people? Is the word for all people? I, Richard, am here to answer these questions and many others. Is there one true god? No. According to people around the world there are many true gods. If you stand by one god, as many people do, how do you know yours is the one true god? Actually, you don't, but I am here to help you with this puzzle. Quite a few religions have their own sacred books. All inspired by some godly figure. Relax, I am here to sort this out for you. Just read my gospel, that's all you have to do.

Richard 1:2 If there was a god who made man (and let's not forget woman) he'd be like a father and hopefully would act like a good father. Such a god would not be handing out harsh, everlasting punishments. That's not what a good parent would do. A competent god would not be making angels who would finish up trying to take over and need eternal punishment. A competent, kind god would have more sense and empathy. Remember that this god would have the power to see how everything would turn out.

Richard 1:3 Move away from your twisted religions and their faulty god. I am here to show you the way. What will happen to you when you die? Probably the same that will happen to everybody else. That is not for you to worry about right now. What you need to concentrate on is a constructive plan on how to live a good life. Follow the Whole Gospel according to Richard (of RBB) and I will introduce you to these skills. 

Ah women and men.

New post.

 

Very old joke.

This is the blog that only one person reads or comments on. So, why do I bother? Actually, I write for myself because I like waking up this way. It's a cold morning in the Nui but it's nice to be sitting near my heater. I know, I know, you're waiting to hear about my violin practice. Okay, I'll get onto it.

I only practised for one hour because I wasn't feeling very well yesterday. However, I did quite a lot of music study, really about diminished and whole tone scales. Actually, there are only two whole tone scales and three diminished scales. I won't go into detail because I know that my reader isn't interested but both these types of scales contain quite a few notes that can be written enharmonically. I suggest that settling on one name for each note makes it all a lot clearer to understand. For example, take the chord notes of Cdim7. I use them as C  Eb  F#  A. Now, technically, one could argue that the correct spelling would be C  Eb  Gb  Bbb and they would be correct, but these four notes spell out 4 diminished chords - Cdim, Ebdim, F#dim and Adim. F#dim, for example, would contain the notes F# A  C  Eb but it could also be defined as Gbdim. That would produce enharmonic names for the same notes. I prefer to always write each series of four notes with the same names. It is easier to see the big picture. You'll have to trust me on that one, Peter.

I wonder if Peter (my one reader) bothered to read that?

The doctor I saw yesterday asked me to get a stool sample. The only stools we have are in our shed, but I'll take one in today, as requested.

Ah, the good jokes are rolling out this morning!

I slept for ten hours last night. I'm good at sleeping. I can do it with my eyes closed.

What is the opposite to a croissant? A happy uncle.

What is an astronaut's favourite key on a keyboard? The space bar.

Okay, that's probably enough jokes for this morning.

Well, I suppose that's enough for my one reader.

Sii gentile.

D Eb F Gb Ab Bb C D

 

I know that my one regular reader and commenter will not be interested in this, but the title to this post is a diminished whole tone scale. Daryl came around yesterday, and we played quite a lot of music. The diminished whole tone scale came up in conversation. This is one reason why I enjoy Daryl's company, because we are both interested in jazz theory. If we started that scale on Eb, we would get a melodic minor in its rising form. Eb F Gb Ab Bb C D Eb. This is quite an easy scale to remember and play if you are playing over a V7 chord that is going to I. It gives you the notes that will make you sound 'out' and that will resolve nicely when you play the I chord notes. Obviously, this particular scale would work over D7, going to Gmaj7. 

I only managed 1 1/2 hours of practice yesterday, but playing with Daryl is always good for my playing. We spent some time playing random tunes that Daryl called. Some Beatles tunes were called, among others. My practice at playing like a singer really paid off. It was fun.

The good news is that my sore left hand finger is feeling quite a bit better

Again, no rude sign intended.

I bought a special covering from the chemist and have been putting it on, like a plaster, when I play. I might continue doing this for another day or so. We'll see. [toilet break]

Well, there's really not much else to tell you. I hope that all is going well with my one reader and his potential house sale. I have booked him in for a Richard's Bass Bag Tour in November.

Lucky guy!

Actually, bookings are filling up fast for November, so he was lucky to get in!

That's it from me for this morning.

Sii gentile.