Sligo Maids and fingerpainting

My latest Corel Painter experiment. Click on image for a bigger version and details.

I very much enjoyed reading all your answers to my instrumental music poll in my Livejournal message board and Blatherchat, especially your individual approaches to vocal vs instrumental music. Really, REALLY wish we all lived closer together...think of the fun instrumental jams and ensembles we could have!

Speaking of music, looks like I finally slugged The Sligo Maid into submission. Learning Drowsy Maggie now. The big interval leaps back and forth make it a challenge, but I actually do recognize this tune so I'm excited about learning it. According to the comments about the song in thesession.org, sounds like this tune is supposed to go pretty fast.

I figure I'm playing ALL the tunes way too slow right now, but plan to gradually speed them up and add some twiddles as I get to know them better. Sure wish I knew someone in Toronto who was learning these tunes at the same time; it would be fun to be playing them with someone. Anyway, I'm up my seventh tune in five days. The first three were pretty straightforward since I already knew how to play them from sheet music. Now I'm getting into uncharted territory so it's going to be slower. But still fun. :-)

I'm continuing to experiment with Corel Painter and my Wacom Artpad. I will never be pro at this (though I have had the occasional person want to pay for me for my doodles, which always is a shock), but I get SO much satisfaction out of doodling. For me, it's the equivalent of fingerpainting as a child, except with not nearly as much mess to clean up after.

In addition to photos, I'm going to be gradually uploading some of my experiments to my Flickr page, if you're interested.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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poll: instrumental music

Me and Beckett at OVFF. Photo by Allison. Some of you have already seen this pic on Allison's LJ but I liked it so much I wanted to re-post it.


Interesting to see all the feedback from you slow and fast readers out there.

Still stuck on learning "The Sligo Maid" on penny whistle. The tune isn't as intuitive (at least for me) as the others so I'm having more trouble getting it stuck in my head. Halfway through, though.

So great to be learning new music. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy purely instrumental music; I usually focus so much on Urban Tapestry songs. I find both equally satisfying, but in different ways. I'm learning the tunes by first reading the music and listening to the tape (can't wait for my CDs to arrive, which will make repeated practice and listening much easier!) until I know the tune, then practising without the music, relying more on playing by ear. Seems to be working well. I might try this with some Urban Tapestry stuff to see if I can't get some of our repertoire memorized, we'll see.

Also looking forward to sitting in on some live sessions (I saw your Blatherchat post, David, and would love to go to a pub session with you sometime!) but am impatiently waiting for this nagging cold to go away first.




Doing "Math" with Rand & Adam at our OVFF kids' concert. Adam did the illustration.

Photo by Paul Kwinn on Allison's camera.


I know I just posted a poll but can't resist posting another one because I'm curious: How many of you play purely instrumental music for fun? Either piano or whistle or other instruments? Also, how many of you enjoy LISTENING to purely instrumental music, classical or more modern?


I enjoy both. I used to listen to classical much more in the past, especially when I was working on my ARCT in Piano (I practised 2-3 hours every day, can you believe it?). My favourites: Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Debussy, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn. I tended to focus on listening to music that featured piano, and would sometimes try to learn the ones I liked the most on my own.

After my brother died, it took me a while before I could play piano at all without crying. Jim loved playing so much.




Jodi, Allison and I performing "The Lady" at the Pegasus Nominees' Concert.
Photo by Anthony Creech. I'm still wearing my "New to Filk? Talk to Me?"
volunteer shirt from the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
Egads, that t-shirt makes me look like a bloated tomato.


When I'm writing fiction, I find I can't listen to anything with words, or even any instrumental music that's too attention-grabbing for whatever reason (like the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, or a Bach fugue I've played in the past). I either listen to silence, one of the albums produced by our friends Dan and Gord Gibson at Solitudes, or an Italian progressive rock CD given to me by Parki.

In another life (a life where I had acres more time to do everything I've always wanted to do), I would LOVE to do regular instrumental ensemble work with other musicians. Y'know, sightread through sheet music just for the heck of it. Perhaps occasionally perform in public, but mainly just do it for fun.

Playing on my own is enjoyable, but I've always gotten so much more of a rush making music with other people. It's one reason I feel so very lucky to have discovered the filking community, and to be part of Urban Tapestry.




Our kids' concert at OVFF. From left to right:
Jodi, Allison, me, Rand & Adam.
Photo by Paul Kwinn on Allison's camera.

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slow reading

Rand performing in the Ookla The Mok concert at OVFF.
Photo by Jim Leonard.


I used to be proud of how quickly I could read fiction books.

I didn't skim or use any of the fancy shortcuts you hear about in speed-reading courses. I actually did READ and enjoy the books, and still do read some types of mass market paperbacks that way (often referred to as "beach reads") when I'm looking for pure distraction and nothing else.

But I'm starting to changing my reading style for most other types of books, particularly ones with writing styles I especially enjoy. I'm purposely slowing down, savouring the shape and flow of the words, the imagery and character dialogue. I'm taking out books I've already read and enjoyed in the past and reading them more carefully.

In a way, it's like going food shopping. There are the "get in, get out" expeditions where I know exactly what I want, pay for it, spend as little time in the store as possible. But sometimes I also go to the grocery store or local market when I don't really have anything in particular I need to buy: I go for experience itself, enjoying the colours and scents, lingering over favourite aisles, luxuriating in choice.

I approach books the same way. There are certain types of books now that I could never read quickly. Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, for example. I read that book much more differently as an adult than I did as a child; it means more to me, and I appreciate Bradbury's lyrical style much more now.

I'm also enjoying poetry, something I never did when I was younger. Except for one poetry collection I read in school (I Am A Sensation), I never found poems appealing at all. Started actively disliking poetry when we studied William Carlos Williams's The Red Wheelbarrow; we analyzed and rehashed and dissected these eight lines until I felt like jumping up and screaming "IT'S JUST A STUPID WHEELBARROW, FOR PETE'S SAKE!!"

Ok, so I don't hate it quite so much now. I did experience that sort of thing quite a bit in school, by the way: enjoying something the first time I came across it but ending up loathing it by the time we were finished cutting apart and examining its entrails for the millionth time. But I'll save that rant for another Blathering.

I thank my friend Rand for getting me to enjoy poetry again. And in German, too! :-) Rand gave me his copy of Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Robert Bly) a while back, by the way, which includes an English and German translation of every poem. Bly somehow manages to translate the poems so that the line lengths end up being pretty similar to the original...something of a feat considering the German language, I'd think.

Anyway, a poll for all of you.

Are you a "slow reader" or "fast reader" or both?
Do you enjoy poetry?

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scaryvoice

Cold still hanging on. Mostly a sore and froggy throat in mornings and evenings, daytime seems to be ok. Doesn't really affect my work since I generally don't talk to anyone all day anyway. Jeff says my froggy voice alternates between sounding sexy and kind of scary. :-)

Novel rewrite's going well; I'm up to 20,000 words (averaging between 1000-1500 words/day right now), still aiming to have it finished and sent off by the end of the year. No, I was not tempted at all by Nanowrimo this year, no sirree, no way, uh-uh. (shaddup, Parki!)

A sprained elbow and accompanying tendinitis flare-up earlier in the year set me back in my schedule, but I'm back on track again. Found writing gigs through Guru.com and Craigslist.com recently while researching for Inkygirl.com, have another article due soon.

Don't think I'm going to take up any new sports this year, or go skating in the winter. I would really, REALLY like to get my right arm fully healed.

Penny whistle update ... So far I've learned:

The Swallow Tail
The Donegal Reel
The Galway Rambler
Cooley's Reel
The Boyne Hunt

Next up: The Sligo Maid!

Jim Leonard has his OVFF photos up, for those interested.

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sandpaper

Great photo of Adam English from Ookla the Mok, taken at OVFF.
Photo by Jim Leonard.


I've added some more pics to the Flickr Filking Photo page.

Still sick. Throat feels like I've eaten a bowl of sandpaper. Jeff's sick now, too. From the timing, looks like it was something I brought home with me from OVFF.

Yesterday I felt a bit better and went out and saw The Incredibles yesterday with Parki after brunch at Milestones. Wow. Really, really loved this movie. I came out wanting to see it again right away. Won't say more about it until more of you have had a chance to see it except that I adored all the characters, but especially Edna.

Looks like I'm going to be AN AUNT AGAIN; Jeff's sister Larkin is pregnant! Our trip to Italy has been postponed a year so that we can all be around for the happy event in May.

re: Irish session stuff. Just found out that at least one of the people on the message boards I'm reading knows over two thousand tunes from memory. Most of the experienced session-types seem to know several hundred. Holy toledo, I have a long way to go. I also received e-mail from someone in the Toronto area who saw my posting, letting me know about the Toronto sessions, said I'd be welcome to sit in. Woohoo! And Mary Bertke said that if she's able to make GAfilk, she could do a practice session with me. Double woohoo! I finished learning Cooley's Reel on the weekend. Next up: The Boyne Hunt.

Must go find throat lozenges now. Ugh.

November 2004 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments