Dorian Day.

 D E F G A B C D

The Dorian mode is my favourite minor scale. Here it is, popping up on the day that TC promises (well, almost promises) to write a new post. How many rooms in his house are still awaiting a description?

"Hey! Where's my raccoon hat?"

"Ah, that's better!"

Well, we know that he can't show pictures of his tennis court, and he has covered the Berhampore golf course. 

Robert has a go at Adam and Eve in his latest post. I guess he'll be attacking Lucifer next.

I did some work on six of my ten unaccompanied violin pieces yesterday, as well as working on 3/7 chords that work over a II V7 I progression and 6th and 5th double stops. I'll look at the other four unaccompanied pieces today and hopefully revisit some of the other six. I've learnt that, when you are memorizing pieces, you need to get away from having a written copy in front of you. That evidently slows down the process. 

Hey, I just had a thought. Maybe Peter could write a nostalgic post about these boots?

 We just have to hope the T.O.G. doesn't decide to work from home today. 

Okay, I'm off to work.

Let's hope that I'm reading a new post a bit later in the day.

Ciao tutti. 

Resting on couch.

 

The shortest blog post ever.

 They don't get much shorter than this.

I think the title might refer to tennis. The post drew four comments. Three comments just contain silly things but, in one comment, the author claims that it was a rather long post that mysteriously disappeared. 

I'm guessing that he might have upset the people who watch over blogs.

Here are some things that might have got the post censured:

• Playing tennis, and then a shot of the ball going into a toilet.
• A man playing tennis with no pants on (they evidently do that quite a bit in this suburb).
• People using toilet brushes instead of tennis rackets.
• The tennis court being the wrong shape (eg. a circle).
• An old man, known to the author, playing violin by the side of the court and distracting people working in buildings nearby.

I guess there might be a few embassies in that part of town, but I can't see a person whose surname ends with Donald being a threat to the identity of any country leader. I mean, who would think up Donald Putin or something similar? No, I'm going to go with the tennis court being the wrong shape.

The only way for any of us other bloggers to write a shorter post would obviously be to have a shorter title. "My Post' would do the trick, but a post titled "A" could only really be beaten by a post with no title at all. Well, I guess that's something to think about.

I'll watch with enthusiasm.

Lydian Mode Day.

 

Today celebrates the mode that contains a tritone (Others do too, but not right at the start.). In the very old days the tritone was known as the Devil's Interval. I'm talking about F to B, when the key is C major and the Lydian mode begins on F. It is also built around a major 7th chord. What a mode! The tritone is a popular sound in Jazz.

The old boys? What are they up to this morning?

I see that Peter has gotten rid of his picture of the US embassy. Maybe he thinks that Trump might invade Thorndon?

Robert, at the start of his latest post, says, "I wonder if RBB has lost his faith in the NZ Education system.." I don't know why he used two full stops instead of a question mark. He then mentions some woman who is up before the Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal. I think he's trying to point out that Catholic clergy aren't the only paedophiles around.

It is cold and wet in the Nui this morning. I guess that means there is more time for violin practice. I'd like to put in a good effort today to really kick my practice along.

I've decided to have some breakfast this morning, with coffee. That will probably add another activity to my morning.

Ah well, at least I'm at home today and that special room is free most of the time.

That's about it from me.

Stay warm.

Today's post is brought to you by the Mixolydian Mode.

 G A B C D E F G

The Mixolydian fits in with the three most common scale/chord forms found in Western Music.

Major - Minor - Dominant 7th.

1 3 5 7 in the dominant 7th scale consists of a major chord with a minor 7th. The scale I mentioned when I began this post is G7. In any key (with its 7 modes) there is only one dominant 7th chord. This gives the chord a lot of power to predict the coming of the 'I' chord. That sounds a bit religious.

The gig seemed to go well yesterday. I didn't get a lot of feedback, but I enjoyed the play and thought that I played well. As the old Metallica song says, "Nothing Else Matters."

Fulton might disagree with that.

Actually, I'd never heard of Fulton, before reading Rob's post, and really don't give two shits what he thinks, and, with me, there are a lot of shits to choose from.

I'm off to a 90th birthday party today and I need to make a trip to the supermarket. I think I'd better leave you there for today.

Have fun, if you can.

Ciao.

It's a bit like using a B Locrian mode over a C major chord.

 Robert said this in a comment on one of my recent posts.

"and tell them to turn of the speaker in the chapel when the school is learning Maori songs...."

That's like telling someone to, "Fuck of."

It just doesn't work.

And so Maori songs aren't welcome in a Catholic church?

Mary, mother of Christ!

I'll leave you lot to sort that one out.

Later.

Today's performance will be dedicated to the Locrian Mode.

 

I wonder if Robert or Peter have thought about the Locrian mode this morning? The 1 3 5 7 notes from the Locrian mode make a m7b5 chord. It's a very handy chord and I'll be using it in quite a few of the tunes that I play at my lunchtime background music gig today. I don't think that Neil Diamond used it much. His call, I guess.

"I didn't use it much at all. My call, really."

It's a cold, sunny morning in Wainuiomata. I'd like to do a nice, slow violin warmup this morning. I also need to change the batteries in my little backing track amp. That won't take long. I won't be taking any sheet music with me. I can play at least 90% of my music by ear. I'll probably only have to play for about an hour, but I can certainly play longer. That's enough about this silly gig.

* * *

Obviously, there is no post from Peter this morning. Robert wrote something. I'll have a read.

[Won't be long.]

He tells us that changes are opportunities in disguise, but he spells 'opportunities' incorrectly. We get a reminder from Moses not to forget to 'take the tablets'. I'll take mine after I've finished this post. Rob then goes on about space and time for a while. He finishes off with something about Russians becoming Catholics and peaceful people. Evidently, if you have fun, you will be saved. 

Thanks Rob. At least you haven't got a new computer chair and mat that are being wasted.

That's it.

I'm off.

The pope speaks out.

 

"Si', e io sono il papa." said the pope. "Our churches are too packed. Too much talking and not enough praying. The plan for the future is for every Catholic to have their own church."

The Catholic's church.

Around Lower Hutt there are not many people who have their own hall, or church.

 

For many months now Robert (an old blogger) has mentioned having to clean a Presbyterian's hall. He has mentioned that he has passed this job on to someone named K. Now he is mentioning a Presbyterian's church. Does this church belong to the same guy?

Nigel Thomas Simpson is a successful businessman who lives in Lower Hutt. He has a very nice home up on the Western Hills. He is a devoted Christian, a Presbyterian, but he doesn't like crowds. 

About a year ago he set up his own Presbyterian hall. He put a crucifix on the wall and took his immediate family there to pray and worship God. Then he had a thought, "Why not get my own church?" He called his church simply the Presbyterian's church. He felt no need to explain the name as God would know it was his church. The word 'his' relates to Nigel and not God.

Okay, okay, if Rob knew how to use possessive apostrophes, we could have avoided this little story.

* * *

Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. For me reciting those seven modes is like Rob reciting the rosary. Isn't it amazing that all these modes come off just four fingerings! I have my big weirdo gig on Saturday. Will I get told to shut up after a couple of tunes? Will Neil Diamond be called for? Only time will tell. Ah well, it is what it is, as some people like to say. At least this event is being held in a private house and not the Presbyterian's hall.

That's it.

So long.

Hey, guess where I'm going soon!

 

Okay, I'll give you a clue. I'm sipping a cup of coffee as I write. I'm anticipating movement from one room in our house to another, sometime fairly soon.

I like Thursday because I don't have to go to work. Hey, I'm even a bit late writing this post because I'm not that long out of bed (The same size, actually.). Both Robert and Peter will have finished their posts much earlier this morning. I'll pop over and have a read of them both right now!

Whoops! Nothing from either of them!

Peter seems to have wasted money on that computer chair, and four computer chair mats. 

This picture only shows the latest two computer 
chair mats.

Isn't it a pity that he couldn't find two matching chairs!

I don't know why Robert hasn't posted this morning. I know he gets up very early. I just hope, for his neighbours' sake, he wasn't practising that bloody Haydn cello concerto.

[It might nearly be time]

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes "aah".

In a band I played in, quite a few years ago, we used to call this song, "The Girl From Ipana."

For you young ones, Ipana was a popular toothpaste, back in the day. We had a few 'humorous' names for other tunes too. We certainly knew how to have a good time back then!

[Still hanging in there]

While it is a song that got a bit overplayed in those 'background music' bands, I think it is a bloody good piece of music, and it is included in my repertoire. Jazz musicians play it in F, but it was originally performed in Db. Here is a comparison of the chords (A section and B section) in both keys. I haven't put in the duration of the chords.

* * *

F

Fmaj7 G7 Gm7 Gb7 Fmaj7 Gb7

F#maj7 B7 F#m7 D7 Gm7 Eb7 Am7 D7b9 Gm7 C7b9

* * *

Db

Dbmaj7 Eb7 Ebm7 D7 Dbmaj7 D7

D7 F#7 Dm7 Bb7 Ebm7 B7 Fm7 Bb7b9 Ebm7 Ab7b9

* * *

[The coffee cycle is complete]

Well, there's a few chords to play around with. No need for thanks.

Hey, it's really worth having a listen to the original version of The Girl From Ipana with Astrud Gilberto singing. A great sound! A great song! Great singing!

Okay, I'm off. A little lighter, but off.

There are jobs to be done.

Ciao tutti.

I have a gig.

 

I've been asked, by a friend of Shelley's, to play for about six people at a lunch. Well, a gig's a gig. My first job will be to replace my batteries in the little amp that I use for backing tracks. Backing tracks work well at the gig like this because it makes me sound more like a band, the sound that people are used to. I don't know how long I'm supposed to play for, but that's no problem. I have a big repertoire. A more relevant question is, will they like Jazz? Hey, that's not my problem. I just play what I play. 

Peter will be out walking up Mount Victoria today, but Robert will not be cleaning that Presbyterian's hall. Maybe the fella will have to clean it himself. It shouldn't be very dirty if he's the only one using it.

Peter is planning to write his next post about the Mount Victoria walk. He's actually running out of rooms in his house to tell us about. Yes, before you ask, he has actually mentioned the garage. Remember that it is getting new shelves. Maybe he could do a post about finding a car park in Hobson Street? Something like this...

"As I've told you, Hobson Street is a busy street that caters for parking for two girls' schools and is also a short walk from town. We've decided to set up some exercise machines in the garage. This means that I had to pay for a resident's car park. Yes, I know, Richard will be grumbling about whether I should have used resident's or residents' - bloody grammar Nazi! Well, old Nui boy, there is only one of me and I'm only planning to use one car park. I had a good walk up Mount Victoria on Wednesday*. I took my new water bottle. It is bigger than the old one and doesn't leak. As the old boy will want me to tell you, I wore shorts and a t-shirt. I also wore a new pair of walking shoes that I found in a very good little shoe shop on Lambton Quay. They were reduced from $165 to $45. What a find! They are very comfortable and they match my preferred shorts. They also go well with my racoon hat, which I am wearing quite regularly as the Wellington weather becomes colder. I'd better end there. I need to tidy up my half of the computer room before The Old Girl gets home."

Well, I'm off to work. 

Ciao tutti.

* This post will have been written a wee while after the event.

The downside of having grandchildren.

 

The bloggers have given you a quiet day today.

 No mention of Day 6 of lent yet. TC posted yesterday, so you won't hear from him for a while.

Maybe those two old bloggers just slept in?

At Richard's Bass Bag* we show more responsibility.

I had a pretty good practice on my violin yesterday and will try to put in some good time today as I have quite a few gigs coming up. Actually, I have no gigs coming up. I lied. Sort of like God creating a devil for himself. 

"You ought to drink more water. It'll make you taller, not shorter." Wise words from Tony. I'll try to drink some soon. Well, as soon as I've finished this post.

Okay, okay, I'm filling in a bit today because I don't have much to tell you. I'll do what Peter would do and post some pictures.

Or perhaps I should do a Robert and quote some old biblical guy?

Graham 7:11 And God the Father told the other two members of his trinity, "Look, we need a bad guy that we can play off. It would make us look righteous. I'll create one. I'll name him Lucifer. It'll be a new concept. I'll call him The Devil. He'll try to challenge me, and I'll beat him and send him to a very hot place for eternity. Hey, we could also use an event called Lent. I'll sort that out too."

That's it for this morning.

Ciao.

* the original bass bagging site

The Holy Bible according to Richard (of RBB)

 

In the beginning there could have been absolutely nothing, or maybe something already existed. No one really knowns, though humans like to make up stories. As far as we know, there were no perfect beings taking care of everything. There were no devils or demons. At some point humans evolved. 

Some early male humans had funny beards.

Quite a few humans had funny ways of filling in time.

Someone worked out that, if you had some sort of organisation that claimed to know how everything started and how it will end, you could make a lot of money. They formed a church and made up lots of stories. They had to kill a lot of people, but they did make lots of money. Their church is still going strong and they call the people who work for the church paedophiles.

To be continued.*

* Or, maybe not.

The one true religion.

 On comments on my last post Rob is busy denying what he said in his second to last post.

"Did I really say pain is good? I did say that happiness requires struggle!"

I'm pretty damn sure that he did say that pain is good, but the post in question has disappeared. 

Is that the way that the one true religion does its business and tidies up its mistakes? Now there's something that Rob could bring up at confession! Lying and concealing.

Is the Catholic Church the one true religion? Does having a large number of priests and Marist brothers who are paedophiles help? Hey, there are a lot of religions out there, though probably with far fewer paedophiles involved with them. 

Please believe me when I say, "Stay away from the Roman Catholic Church and its silly ideas."

* * *

Now, where was I?

I ran through seven of my ten unaccompanied solo violin tunes yesterday. I'll certainly go over the other three today, while Peter is putting up storage shelves in his loft. The three pieces waiting attention are my three originals - The Accordion Lady, The Immigrants and Romance. 

"You ought to drink more water. It'll make you taller, not shorter." Those were the immortal words of Tony Clear, many years ago when he was at a party while trying to cut down on alcohol. I need to drink more water, but my present condition makes it quite hard because I always seem to finish up in the bathroom, and not just for a pee. I've decided to get serious about water drinking today because I know I must be a bit dehydrated. So here goes!

I will drink more water. It'll make me taller, not shorter.

Drinking water from my bottle as I write.

I really can't think of anything else to tell you. I'm not exactly sure what today holds for me. Hopefully I'll get some good violin practice done.

I might leave you there for today. That water might be passing through soon.

Remember: Ognuno pensa che la propria religione sia quella giusta.

Ciao.

Sabato.

 

Sabre

toe

A busy day ahead. I'll be looking after my elder grandson this morning, though I will have help from Aunty Steph and Grandma. I think that Aunty Steph is his favourite, so she may do most of the work. We plan on taking him to a playground. That little guy has a lot of energy to burn.

Even ahead of a busy day, I make time to post. Peter doesn't do that. Robert has posted. He's cleaning a hall that belongs to a Presbyterian for the last time. The Presbyterian's hall. He also tells us that pain is good. I personally disagree with that. Hey, I don't want to be nailed to a cross. I'd rather not practise my violin if that was necessary.

Jesus says, "I wish I had never
touched that bloody violin now!"

I might shoot out now and pick up some nappies, just in case one is needed.

I'll also try to fit in a violin warmup, with no pain. Just gentle and relaxing.

Ciao tutti.

Practice makes better.

Gods need to be the best at everything. they need a reputation of being perfect. You never hear, of a god, "Hey, he's doing his best."

"Me almighty! I've done it again."

We humans tend to aim for perfection in many things that we do.

• Who is the best rugby player in Aotearoa?
• Who is the best cellist in Taihape?
• Who is the smartest person working at The Warehouse in Petone?
• Who can drive the fastest up the Wainuiomata hill?
• Who is the absolute best toilet cleaner in Moera?
• Who is the best at fixing laundry doors in Hobson Street, Thorndon?
• Which Catholic priest gives the best sermons in Upper Hutt?
• Which world religion has got it all right?

I honestly don't know if I'm the best violinist in Wainuiomata. For a start, I don't know all the violinists in Wainuiomata or how good they all are. Does it really matter who is the best? Maybe having your own style is more important? Maybe it's what you can express? I really don't know.

I do know that practising makes you feel better, as well as more comfortable with the instrument.

I'd better go - another busy day!

Ciao.

No rest for the wicked, no rest for the shoulder.

 

Robert is back (big surprise) and tells us we're into day two of Lent.

"Today we continue 40 days of penance and cultivate a spirit of gratitude, recognizing God's gifts in our life." he tells us. He also left a comment on my last post saying, "Actually I found the laundry post more interesting than the shoulder rest bit...strange." Well, he is a cleaner and spends more time practising cleaning things, like toilets, than he does practising his violin.

Unless you're Robert, or (probably) Peter, the idea of whether or not you should use a shoulder rest when playing the violin is quite an interesting one. Probably a lot more interesting than hearing what some Catholic drongo gave up for lent. Chewing gum? Sex? Doughnuts? Using toilet paper? 

Anyway, I think I'll continue on without a shoulder rest, though I can see advantages in both ways of playing. Ah, but no one is interested around here. Though, actually, I don't write these posts for silly old Catholics who stop using deodorant for forty days or people who post about the rooms in their house. Hey, I'm not that interested in what brand of toilet paper people choose, or what they store in their garage. Personally, I find the shoulder rest concept more interesting.

Ah well, there you go. 

No work for me today, though I will be looking after my elder grandson later in the day. I might also get to help out with grandson number two. 

Addio, lettori noiosi.

The Laundry.

 I'm waiting with much anticipation to read TC's laundry post!

The clothes dryer that Peter brought down from up north was getting a bit past the use by date. Peter did some research and found a very good model for $735. Unfortunately these dryers were all sold out when he got to the shop. No problem, he found more of them at Laundry Needs Ltd. on Thorndon Quay at the same price. He had one delivered yesterday. It fitted nicely into the gap next to his washing machine.

This is just a sample of what you can expect in this very exciting post!

A little while back I bought a very expensive shoulder rest, but I have never used it. As you know, I play without a shoulder rest. Yesterday I decided that I might give a shoulder rest a go again, so I got it out and made some adjustments to it. Shoulder rests can be made to be higher or lower. Today I'm going to try it out. Who knows, it might not work for me, but I'll give it a go. I'll let you know how it goes.

Work today. I'll head off in just over half an hour. I'm dropping my daughter off at the station on the way. She works in Wellington, in the opposite direction to me. I'm off to Upper Hutt.

Robert's blog has gone again. No big surprise there. Hey, I'm sure he'll be back to read TC's laundry post.

That's it from me.

Ciao.