Random thoughts or comments...

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 25 Apr 2014, 19:42

How about using the rest to move your thumb to the G from the previous LH chord and stretching down to find the bottom G from the first beat in bar 7?

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 25 Apr 2014, 19:43

Scratch that, it's an A, innit? But you could try it...

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 25 Apr 2014, 19:59

Tried that and it doesn't work at allegretto (or even slower) because I have to find the C# with RH thumb and get in the accaccitura at the same time as trying all that with the LH. So I make mistakes with either hand as they're both doing too much and I can't concentrate on all of it in split second timing. Whereas the RH part is easier than the LH (i.e finding the C# and the grace note), I have to use guesswork for the LH part. But when I'm playing with just one hand, I have more scope to concentrate and think where I am and so I can just about cope.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 25 Apr 2014, 20:02

I think LH alone practice very very slowly then gently speed it up, then slow hands together. Methodical ploddy stuff, but it works!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 25 Apr 2014, 20:17

Well, it's not as if I'm rushing to get it done Gill, if I'm still struggling on May 13th I can ask teach. I've nailed one of the pieces so that's a good thing, eh? So I'm not worrying. But it would be good to have the blessing of my wife rather than her constant condemnation and berating as I learn. I can however console myself in that whenever she's watching her celebrity hooligan sports, propped up by Rupert Murdoch and watched from the terraces by an army of tattooed thuggish manual workers with violent tendencies, mouths like cesspits, philosophies similar to those of Alf Garnett and a taste for alcohol and pap music, she gets it ALL back!!!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 26 Apr 2014, 06:24

From the preface to my Edition Peters sight reading exercise book:]

Good sightreading depends largely on mental alertness and good memory...
...so many sight readers correct their mistakes as they proceed, a fault which must be discouraged from the start as this habit can grow very quickly and the final result will be constant stammering and uneven playing......duet playing is to be highly recommended...

Some very valid true and relevant 'see what you mean'-ish points here, and those are just the highlights.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 26 Apr 2014, 06:50

....what an unfortunate name?

https://www.facebook.com/HelenJayneSheath

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 26 Apr 2014, 16:52

... a breakthrough with the German dance, the third line where the tune 'drifts' in to the dominant key of A is piddle easy with the 4th line as a repeat of the second. So apart from the issue I've explained, I can actually play this tune. That makes the water a little less deep!!

Plus it's been a bit brighter weatherwise. Why do I feel so terminal every time it is dark, wet and miserable (very often in the UK) If I could afford to, I'd move to Andalucia or Provence....

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 26 Apr 2014, 20:10

...but decided to abandon Blaenwern, much as I love the tune I just cannot follow those dots as there are just too darn many of them. Plus I keep hesitating and stopping to correct mistakes..and too many times I just 'guess' where I am and I don't always guess correctly, especially with those sixth chords. Which isn't good, is it? At least in the stuff in CTM 1 there are just enough dots for me to cope with.

And it's a Welsh tune as well. Maybe one day I WILL be able to play it at sight rather than trying to commit all the hand positions to memory because I can't follow the printed music. Mi fedrwn i regu yn Gymraeg fel dyn gwallgo.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 26 Apr 2014, 20:50

...It just makes things difficult. I have been playing some of the tunes I've been learning with Mabel over the past few months and played successfully on her piano. But now I am amking careless mistales like stretching sevenths and sometimes even ninths instead of octaves (on 'Russian Folk Song' for instance) - and I know why this is, because on Blaenwern I have been stretching sixths and sevenths so my hand is used to stretching sixths and sevenths when it needs to be stretching an octave for this different piece. And it's not because I am tired either!!

I think I need to take some more steps back...pity my teacher is in the Caribbean.....

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 27 Apr 2014, 07:23

After doing some reading up and methodical studies, apparently it's the arrangement and not the tune that's at fault. The hymn tunes contained in 'Hymn tunes for the reluctant organist' only have one part missing, so they've been arranged in three part harmony instead of four. The title of the book would certainly have you believe that they were 'easy play' arrangements but in fact it's just for people who can play confidently to grade 2-3 standard but fear that telephone call from the vicar 'just two hymns today as our regular organist is in hospital[/i']'. Reluctant organists indeed.

I know there are arrangements of hymns in some of my library books that just contain the two parts (treble and bass) that would be more suited to people who have only been going to lessons for 6 weeks.

Post by **Feg** » 27 Apr 2014, 11:16

dave brum wrote:After doing some reading up and methodical studies, apparently it's the arrangement and not the tune that's at fault. The hymn tunes contained in 'Hymn tunes for the reluctant organist' only have one part missing, so they've been arranged in three part harmony instead of four. The title of the book would certainly have you believe that they were 'easy play' arrangements but in fact it's just for people who can play confidently to grade 2-3 standard but fear that telephone call from the vicar 'just two hymns today as our regular organist is in hospital[/i']'. Reluctant organists indeed.

I know there are arrangements of hymns in some of my library books that just contain the two parts (treble and bass) that would be more suited to people who have only been going to lessons for 6 weeks.

Exactly this, Dave Melodies are rarely difficult. It is arrangement of the harmonic stuff that causes problems.

I have a couple of books from when I was child which have very easy two part arrangments of carols but I've never found similar for hymns or psalms.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 27 Apr 2014, 16:22

Yes, there are loads of easy play Christmas carol books, I think every single commercially available music book series has them and I indeed have one. However we choose not to acknowledge Christmas in our household so they'd be no use to me. This is why there should be a two part hymn series available for learners (and prospective church organists in a climate of chronic organist shortages in English churches).

Post by **Feg** » 27 Apr 2014, 16:49

If I get a chance this week, I'll have a go at doing a two-part arrangement of the two hymns previously mentioned. They might sound a bit bare harmonically but they should be playable. Can you cope with handwritten manuscript or would you prefer it to look like something from a proper book?

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 27 Apr 2014, 17:08

Do one of Jerusalem for me, Feg - someone's requested it for a funeral on Wednesday and I never feel I have enough fingers!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 27 Apr 2014, 17:09

You probably will not have time Fiona....and in any case it'll give me a chance to have a proper look around for hymns I can play. I could even ask Mabels' advice as she herself is a Director of Music in a church and plays every Sunday and otherwise.

The 'Its Easy To Play: Hymns' is mostly in three part also. But in any case, it was just a little whim of mine to want to play some Welsh hymns. Will teach me to want things I cannot have and let my imagination take the place of reality. So I am PLAYING the piano. So what???

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 27 Apr 2014, 17:14

Gill the Piano wrote:Do one of Jerusalem for me, Feg - someone's requested it for a funeral on Wednesday and I never feel I have enough fingers!

'Till we have built Jerusalem in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's green and pleasant land.....' as England has not existed since the 1707 Act of Union!!

Hymn Tunes for the reluctant Organist has Jerusalem as the most difficult tune in the book, three pages of illegible squiggle that would make a reluctant organist an ex-organist.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 27 Apr 2014, 21:50

Just thought of something else to ask Mabel. Just what is it that these SR courses mean by 'look at the shape of the tune'. Paul Harris asks it as does the thing I'm doing now. OK, so I've looked at the shape of the tune, is something supposed to jump out at me or something?? All I see is a grand stave with dots on it, what 'shapes' should I be looking out for??

Post by **Feg** » 27 Apr 2014, 23:10

Oh, this one I can answer

. I'm sure I've waffled on about this before but that may have been during your 'blue' period.

Imagine the notes are dots that you can join up with a pencil. If the notes move by steps, the line will be a smooth curve, if the notes jump upnor down, you will get peaks and troughs. This is what they mean by the shape of the phrase.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 28 Apr 2014, 19:14

Oh, I see! It's easy for me to just draw a line through the dots even in my head, though I could just copy a piece of SR exercises and just take a pencil and ruler to them as a practical exercise. Thank you Fiona. I look out for things like runs of neighbouring notes, tonic 1-3-5 patterns, black notes etc. but I've never been sure of the precise meaning of the term in the context.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 28 Apr 2014, 21:21

Just turned the negative of giving Blaenwern up into a positive of learning a twelfth piece from CTM 1 and making some real headway on the Haydn 'German Dance'. I'll be needing More CTM 1 very soon!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 29 Apr 2014, 19:16

I heard 'It's Too Late' by Carole King in Wilko on Sunday, in Costa Coffee on Monday, and in Sainsburys just now (Tuesday). Carole didn't write and play these songs in the 70s for them to be used as muzak, I'm sure.

Post by **Feg** » 29 Apr 2014, 21:44

First 16 bars of Blaenwern done! 10 mins to do the arrangement sans piano - 45 mins to put it into the score writing software

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 30 Apr 2014, 08:05

Feg wrote:First 16 bars of Blaenwern done! 10 mins to do the arrangement sans piano - 45 mins to put it into the score writing software

I wonder how Gill will get on with 'and did those feet.....'etc. today? Maybe you should do Jerusalem for me, Fiona. I've always fancied dressing up as a woman and joining the WI as the poor ladies are forced to sing it acapella these days since Mrs Truscott had her haemorrhage.....

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 30 Apr 2014, 19:32

Bogged it up here and there, but people were busy filing out so I don't think they noticed!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 01 May 2014, 06:21

Gill the Piano wrote:Bogged it up here and there, but people were busy filing out so I don't think they noticed!

Did you have to play it during the coffinary (followed by congregation) exit or summat?

You know on those Ancient and Modern four parters - which part is usually played with the feet? Don't tell me you play all four with the hands - ore are the feet an excuse for a little bit of 'jamming'?

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 01 May 2014, 09:44

Exercise 25 in 'Beginners' Tunes' by Thomas A Johnson is a stonker. Played it 3 times and still cannot get it right. Normally these ones are mostly played correctly first time after preparation and answering all the questions that accompany the exercise, with only a few with one mistake. And this exercise asks us to notice the shape of the tune, which I did but it still got me. I'll scan and post it:

scan0003.pdf: (547.4 KiB) Downloaded 503 times

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 01 May 2014, 19:44

Never use my feet; too much like running and I get stupidly out of breath. I don't think people appreciate how hard PROPER organists work, it must be like a marathon on some pieces. Yes, I played as the coffin and then the people exited.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 01 May 2014, 20:05

one bloke I used to know in Wales whose MS got the better of him a couple of years ago had 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd played at his funeral, but not on an organ.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 02 May 2014, 19:37

I want 'Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye' at mine...

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 02 May 2014, 21:58

Gracie Fields would have been extremely proud of you, Gill.

I don't think the local authority plays music or does special wishes for lonely poor people whom they have to grudgingly dispose of on the council tax post Grim Reaper, so I cannot have a selection of quotes from Withnail at mine. Pity.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 04 May 2014, 11:39

If you leave a list of wishes I believe they have to be honoured, withing reason. If anyone plays 'The Lord's My Shepherd at mine, I'll haunt 'em.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 04 May 2014, 12:38

You've just given me an idea. I'll decree that the presiding officer says the c word or something

The popular tune for TLMS (as I don't know its tune title) is in It's Easy To Play Hymns in three part harmony.

Oh and a very happy International Star Wars Day to all. 'May the 4th' be with you!

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 05 May 2014, 18:00

dave brum wrote: The popular tune for TLMS (as I don't know its tune title) is in It's Easy To Play Hymns in three part harmony.

Nothing against it per se, just that I've played it at nearly every funeral I've been organist for and if the congregation sing at all, they ruin it by sliding from the first note to the second in a truly offensive way...

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 05 May 2014, 19:21

Try playing it a semitone higher just to get back at 'em.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 06 May 2014, 19:16

In my experience it doesn't matter WHAT key you play in at a funeral, most of 'em grunt along at their own pitch.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 06 May 2014, 20:06

So, to change the subject, I started the huge task of cataloguing every one of my classical CDs. I'm sick of trying to remember which Naxos CDs I already have every time I go shopping.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 07 May 2014, 09:13

As a relative topic to the most overexposed person in Britain at the moment Nigel Farage, I was thinking about age/idge words and it reminded me of porridge. However, a certain well known brand spells it porage, and for as long as I can remember has spelled it porage! (the picture of the burly Scotsman?)

There's also the Birmingham born former sports presenter Fred Dinenage (who once said tarts when he meant to say darts) and on musicteachers.co.uk, there's a Worcestershire piano teacher called Caroline Paridge. Could be parage!!

Sossidges!!! In Tom Kerage's pub!!!

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 07 May 2014, 16:00

dave brum wrote:Sossidges!!! In Tom Kerage's pub!!!

Not at twenty quid a pop and having to sit with ar$es who park their Ferraris diagonally across the pavement.

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 07 May 2014, 16:51

Gill the Piano wrote:
dave brum wrote:Sossidges!!! In Tom Kerage's pub!!!
Not at twenty quid a pop and having to sit with ar$es who park their Ferraris diagonally across the pavement.

You'd just get your keyboard-adorned bubblecar in between the supercars quite neatly. I want to drive a Reliant into there.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 08 May 2014, 17:51

I want to drive a pantechnicon into there...

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 09 May 2014, 19:06

Gill the Piano wrote:I want to drive a pantechnicon into there...

And I'll drive the Reliant into here:

http://www.thepantechnicon.com/

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 09 May 2014, 20:29

Looks a bit posh to me. I like places where there's plasma on draught and the sawdust on the floor is last night's furniture...

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 09 May 2014, 20:31

In a way, I wish I was a young music student as I could bandy words around such as counterpoint plainsong and cadence that I've no idea what they mean or how to look for them in pieces of music.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 09 May 2014, 20:35

Counterpoint is basically two tunes playing tag. Cadence is a shift from one chord to another. Plainsong is early music singing church words in mediaeval modes. It's just jargon - every trade has it!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 09 May 2014, 20:45

I still don't know what to look for though in a piece of music, but I hear these words used on the radio and sometimes on Youtube recitals and I haven't got a scooby what they mean. It's like those grace notes acacciatura and apoggiatura. No idea which is which and one of my previous piano teachers (THAT one) rabbited on about them thinking I did!

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 10 May 2014, 03:48

dave brum wrote: acacciatura and apoggiatura. No idea which is which

No, I always have to go and look 'em up!

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 10 May 2014, 07:24

I wish my cats were called that instead of Sophie and Sarah.

I love the Italian language, it's so musical (like Welsh or maybe Jamaican patois). I remember one time being in a certain local Establishment church and during the notices there was a plug for a concert by a group called Bella Voce, only the reader mispronounced it....only to be corrected by a voice from behind the organ whose head top I could just about see bobbing up and down during the gradual hymn!

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 10 May 2014, 16:46

dave brum wrote:I wish my cats were called that instead of Sophie and Sarah.

No you don't. Can you imagine shouting that out of the back door at gone 11 after several Bishops Fingers??

dave brum · Post by **dave brum** » 10 May 2014, 18:07

Gill the Piano wrote:
dave brum wrote:I wish my cats were called that instead of Sophie and Sarah.
No you don't. Can you imagine shouting that out of the back door at gone 11 after several Bishops Fingers??

Have you a commercial arrangement with the manufacturers of Bishops' Finger then??

Talking of ecclesiastical things, does the vicar/priest/pastor give you a bell on Saturday night and tell you which hymns have been chosen for the Sunday service??