Today we should find out.

 Free zing this morning. Hey, at least it's free!

Thinking about this guy this morning.

Has his house gone unconditional?

He could be a Wellington boy
again soon!

I'll be catching a train today. The Orange Blossom Special.

Remember, I'm playing at a concert on Sunday evening - Romance and The Orange Blossom Special. Time is running out to fix any problems with these two tunes. With my little 'adventure' lately my practice is down a bit. I only did two hours yesterday. Today I might try to do an hour on each piece. Probably in half hour segments.

It was very cold in bed this morning, so it is good to be sitting by the heater. I really don't need any more zinging. 

I read Rob's blog quickly, just after 5am. Jonah is still getting a whale of attention. I think, from memory, Rob mentioned a turkey in something to do with Jonah. It might have been in an earlier post. In reality, I think Jonah might have been swallowed by a giant turkey.

He also said that Jeez made up a prayer. It starts, "Our Father, who farts in Heaven..."

Peter has already commented on Rob's post. I guess he's up early for his special day. Let's hope it all goes well.

Sii gentile, and try not to fart in Heaven.

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.