81
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James Tiberius Kirk
Captain
Federation Starship Enterprise
James Tiberius Kirk
Captain
Federation Starship Enterprise
Recent Posts
82
Webmaze General Discussions / Another passing
« Last post by jana on September 16, 2023, 03:53:18 PM »I don't know if anybody remembers Naee/Soul Reaper, nickname of Giant of the North. Anyways I got a a message about his passing this morning 9/16/2023. Confirmed by his rl brother.
83
MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread
« Last post by Izee on September 14, 2023, 05:20:27 AM »...Flirting with the Soloist... 
I was the Principal Cellist in a Semi-Professional Orchestra when I was younger, and we were going to perform a Violin Concerto. I forget which one, I think it was the Brahms, anyway, there was a very amusing exchange between me and the soloist during the performance.
There was a soft interlude in the First Movement that occurred after the Soloist had performed a really challenging and dramatic passage. He had a brief rest as the Orchestra calmed the situation down, and then the Principal Cellist, me, introduced a short new theme. It was just nine notes, they were 8th notes so they were quick, but very soft. The Soloist would repeat them, and the Cellist would play them again in a different register, and the Soloist would follow. This would occur six times, getting louder and more vibrant each time, and then the Soloist would take off and the Cellist would get back into the section.
I was very enamored of the Soloist, he was a very Handsome and Formidable Russian, and he played like a God! During the rehearsal, I was just focusing on getting the notes of my solo with him correct, and wasn't focused on expressing the music. Again, as I have said, ANYONE can play the notes of a musical score, but only an ARTIST can EXPRESS what the music is about. So, we got to the Performance.
When I perform, I make up a story in my mind at what the music is trying to say. I then try to shape my notes to get across real emotions, and not just musical notes. I can make my cellos sound angry, scared, demanding, or, well...intimate. During the Performance I was actually imagining a battle, an ancient battle where the men used swords and such. I was all worked up as the Soloist 'fought' during the fast and dramatic passage, and then we got to the calm passage. I then imagined that I was a Nurse who was 'caring' for a wounded Warrior, and was having an 'intimate' moment, and saying at the end, "OK, now get back out!"
The Soloist was just looking out at the audience as I played the first part, and then he softly replied. I repeated, and he actually turned towards me, and leaned down a bit and aimed the F-Holes of his violin at me, and spoke. We then did the repeats, getting louder and more animated, and then he turned away and got back into a dramatic section. I was actually 'glowing' a bit as we finished, and felt a little weak, but I got back into leading my section.
At the Reception after the Concert, some musicians and members of the Audience came up to me and said that they really enjoyed the part where the Soloist and I well, 'did it', and I did blush a bit. That is actually what was running through my mind as we played that part.
I was the Principal Cellist in a Semi-Professional Orchestra when I was younger, and we were going to perform a Violin Concerto. I forget which one, I think it was the Brahms, anyway, there was a very amusing exchange between me and the soloist during the performance.
There was a soft interlude in the First Movement that occurred after the Soloist had performed a really challenging and dramatic passage. He had a brief rest as the Orchestra calmed the situation down, and then the Principal Cellist, me, introduced a short new theme. It was just nine notes, they were 8th notes so they were quick, but very soft. The Soloist would repeat them, and the Cellist would play them again in a different register, and the Soloist would follow. This would occur six times, getting louder and more vibrant each time, and then the Soloist would take off and the Cellist would get back into the section.
I was very enamored of the Soloist, he was a very Handsome and Formidable Russian, and he played like a God! During the rehearsal, I was just focusing on getting the notes of my solo with him correct, and wasn't focused on expressing the music. Again, as I have said, ANYONE can play the notes of a musical score, but only an ARTIST can EXPRESS what the music is about. So, we got to the Performance.
When I perform, I make up a story in my mind at what the music is trying to say. I then try to shape my notes to get across real emotions, and not just musical notes. I can make my cellos sound angry, scared, demanding, or, well...intimate.
During the Performance I was actually imagining a battle, an ancient battle where the men used swords and such. I was all worked up as the Soloist 'fought' during the fast and dramatic passage, and then we got to the calm passage. I then imagined that I was a Nurse who was 'caring' for a wounded Warrior, and was having an 'intimate' moment, and saying at the end, "OK, now get back out!"The Soloist was just looking out at the audience as I played the first part, and then he softly replied. I repeated, and he actually turned towards me, and leaned down a bit and aimed the F-Holes of his violin at me, and spoke. We then did the repeats, getting louder and more animated, and then he turned away and got back into a dramatic section. I was actually 'glowing' a bit as we finished, and felt a little weak, but I got back into leading my section.
At the Reception after the Concert, some musicians and members of the Audience came up to me and said that they really enjoyed the part where the Soloist and I well, 'did it', and I did blush a bit. That is actually what was running through my mind as we played that part.
84
MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread
« Last post by Izee on September 13, 2023, 04:25:20 AM »Playing the cello...the Left Hand...
I have discussed bowing the cello with the right hand, now I will comment on the left hand. That poor appendage has a VERY DIFFICULT JOB!!!
There you are, sitting there, with your legs spread apart and a big hunk of lumber between your thighs, and you look down at about a yard of dark wood that has no frets or ANYTHING on it to mark anything, and the note you need to play is SOMEWHERE on it. So, your left hand has to know where the notes are...and it has to get RIGHT ON THE 'fingerboard' in the RIGHT PLACE!!! If you are even a fraction of an inch off the right place, the note is out of tune. Plus, the distance between the notes change as you move your hand down the neck of the cello to play higher pitched notes. The distance between whole note steps can be about an inch and a half in first position, so there is space between the fingers. But get into the higher positions, and the distance gets less and less, to where your fingers are right beside each other playing whole note steps further down the fingerboard, and you have to pivot your fingers and just lay down the tips in the higher positions. And, again, there are no markers so finding a note in the higher positions is quite a task. There was a famous asshole Conductor who, when he was auditioning violinists, would tell the person to play an E natural in 7th position, and if the person didn't just drop his finger in the right place on the first try...well...Adios...
So, there you are with your hand on the neck. The thumb is behind the neck, and the fingers are sitting above the strings, and you drop your fingers to hit the notes. So, that is why string players sound so bad at first, their fingers have to find a note and learn the distance between the notes, and that takes a LOT of practice for the muscle memory to kick in. PLUS, sometimes a note is marked to be sharp or flat, so you have to drop the finger above or below where the 'Natural' note is. Or, because of the Key Signature, you just have to know which notes are sharp or flat because they aren't marked.
Then, you have to condition your fingers and wrist...they get tired at first when you take up the cello, and can cramp. Also, you MUST develop thick calluses on the tips of your fingers, soft mushy fingers can't hold the note steady. You also, when you get advanced, develop a large callus on the outside edge of your thumb, because you lay your thumb across the strings in the upper positions to hold the hand steady, and to act as a 'nut' if you have to play a lot of notes. My calluses were so thick that I could pick up VERY HOT objects with my fingertips and not get burned or feel any pain. Also, it was HELL getting my daughters hamster off my left first finger when it bit me...it's long teeth got caught in my callus. I actually had to just tear the callus to pull the little rodent off of me!
Then, there is...VIBRATO!!! That is where the note gets very rich because the finger is rocking on the note, slightly varying the pitch. It looks like the cellist is wiggling her fingers, but that is NOT what is happening. Actually, the finger in planted on the note, and the HAND is moving up and down, parallel to the fingerboard. That takes a LOT of practice...to learn vibrato. Also, there are various sounds you can produce with vibrato. Holding the finger down and moving the hand slowly produces a very deep and dark sound, lightening the pressure and moving the hand quickly makes a more frivolous sound. And, you have to hold your hand and wrist steady, if the wrist gets loose the sounds get very interesting. As a beginning student, I actually strapped a ruler to the back of my hand and my forearm, so my hand wouldn't start something on it's own. That did work, the hand and wrist learned to stay together when playing the cello.
Then there is the pressure on the fingers. I was always inclined to stamp my fingers down hard, to settle the note. That works when playing slow, but you have to just lightly touch the string when playing fast. Like when you sprint, you don't stamp your feet, that slows you down.
The BIGGEST challenge is deciding how to 'finger' a passage...that is...which finger do you use to play a note? You have four of them, and ANY finger can play a note. In difficult passages, I would actually write a number above a note to remind me which finger to use. Usually, I would just write the number '1' to show that I needed to play the note with my first finger, but often I would write the numbers 1 through 4 to mark a complex passage so each finger knew what to do. I picked that up from the Private Teacher I had when I re-started the cello when I hadn't played for years due to my work requirements. He was an Englishman who had a terminal case of OCD, and he would always mark EACH NOTE with the finger he wanted, and whether he wanted to do an up-bow or a down-bow. When we were stand partners in an orchestra or a musical, I would spend a few hours carefully erasing ALL of the fingerings and bowings he marked in the part before returning the part to the Librarian. Once, I didn't do that, and I got a HUGE scolding from the Librarian AND the Conductor, and went to the office during a lunch hour with a truly humongous eraser and fixed the problem.
So, there you are, with a cello between your legs, and each hand is doing a totally DIFFERENT THING, and they have to do it TOGETHER!!!
And 'Lefty' has to find the notes on the blank fingerboard...
I have discussed bowing the cello with the right hand, now I will comment on the left hand. That poor appendage has a VERY DIFFICULT JOB!!!
There you are, sitting there, with your legs spread apart and a big hunk of lumber between your thighs, and you look down at about a yard of dark wood that has no frets or ANYTHING on it to mark anything, and the note you need to play is SOMEWHERE on it. So, your left hand has to know where the notes are...and it has to get RIGHT ON THE 'fingerboard' in the RIGHT PLACE!!! If you are even a fraction of an inch off the right place, the note is out of tune. Plus, the distance between the notes change as you move your hand down the neck of the cello to play higher pitched notes. The distance between whole note steps can be about an inch and a half in first position, so there is space between the fingers. But get into the higher positions, and the distance gets less and less, to where your fingers are right beside each other playing whole note steps further down the fingerboard, and you have to pivot your fingers and just lay down the tips in the higher positions. And, again, there are no markers so finding a note in the higher positions is quite a task. There was a famous asshole Conductor who, when he was auditioning violinists, would tell the person to play an E natural in 7th position, and if the person didn't just drop his finger in the right place on the first try...well...Adios...
So, there you are with your hand on the neck. The thumb is behind the neck, and the fingers are sitting above the strings, and you drop your fingers to hit the notes. So, that is why string players sound so bad at first, their fingers have to find a note and learn the distance between the notes, and that takes a LOT of practice for the muscle memory to kick in. PLUS, sometimes a note is marked to be sharp or flat, so you have to drop the finger above or below where the 'Natural' note is. Or, because of the Key Signature, you just have to know which notes are sharp or flat because they aren't marked.
Then, you have to condition your fingers and wrist...they get tired at first when you take up the cello, and can cramp. Also, you MUST develop thick calluses on the tips of your fingers, soft mushy fingers can't hold the note steady. You also, when you get advanced, develop a large callus on the outside edge of your thumb, because you lay your thumb across the strings in the upper positions to hold the hand steady, and to act as a 'nut' if you have to play a lot of notes. My calluses were so thick that I could pick up VERY HOT objects with my fingertips and not get burned or feel any pain. Also, it was HELL getting my daughters hamster off my left first finger when it bit me...it's long teeth got caught in my callus. I actually had to just tear the callus to pull the little rodent off of me!
Then, there is...VIBRATO!!!
That is where the note gets very rich because the finger is rocking on the note, slightly varying the pitch. It looks like the cellist is wiggling her fingers, but that is NOT what is happening. Actually, the finger in planted on the note, and the HAND is moving up and down, parallel to the fingerboard. That takes a LOT of practice...to learn vibrato. Also, there are various sounds you can produce with vibrato. Holding the finger down and moving the hand slowly produces a very deep and dark sound, lightening the pressure and moving the hand quickly makes a more frivolous sound. And, you have to hold your hand and wrist steady, if the wrist gets loose the sounds get very interesting. As a beginning student, I actually strapped a ruler to the back of my hand and my forearm, so my hand wouldn't start something on it's own. That did work, the hand and wrist learned to stay together when playing the cello.Then there is the pressure on the fingers. I was always inclined to stamp my fingers down hard, to settle the note. That works when playing slow, but you have to just lightly touch the string when playing fast. Like when you sprint, you don't stamp your feet, that slows you down.
The BIGGEST challenge is deciding how to 'finger' a passage...that is...which finger do you use to play a note? You have four of them, and ANY finger can play a note. In difficult passages, I would actually write a number above a note to remind me which finger to use. Usually, I would just write the number '1' to show that I needed to play the note with my first finger, but often I would write the numbers 1 through 4 to mark a complex passage so each finger knew what to do. I picked that up from the Private Teacher I had when I re-started the cello when I hadn't played for years due to my work requirements. He was an Englishman who had a terminal case of OCD, and he would always mark EACH NOTE with the finger he wanted, and whether he wanted to do an up-bow or a down-bow. When we were stand partners in an orchestra or a musical, I would spend a few hours carefully erasing ALL of the fingerings and bowings he marked in the part before returning the part to the Librarian. Once, I didn't do that, and I got a HUGE scolding from the Librarian AND the Conductor, and went to the office during a lunch hour with a truly humongous eraser and fixed the problem.
So, there you are, with a cello between your legs, and each hand is doing a totally DIFFERENT THING, and they have to do it TOGETHER!!!
And 'Lefty' has to find the notes on the blank fingerboard...
85
Webmaze General Discussions / Re: Ragnar update and Gathering
« Last post by kemma on September 08, 2023, 03:42:18 PM »Hi Bro!
Ready to feel old?? My teen is a freshman in high school!!!! Hard to believe, I know. I feel old but also grateful, as this milestone was a hard fought one. I pray your fights are successful too!
Kemma
Ready to feel old?? My teen is a freshman in high school!!!! Hard to believe, I know. I feel old but also grateful, as this milestone was a hard fought one. I pray your fights are successful too!
Kemma
86
MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread
« Last post by Izee on September 05, 2023, 06:13:58 AM »Another one of my MOST FAVORITE movements of a String Quartet. It is the third movement of Haydn's 'Emperor Quartet'. Everyone will recognize the theme, Germany adopted the Theme as their National Anthem, 'Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alise', and it was sung a lot during WWII. If one can put aside any linkage of this to WWII, it is one of the most beautiful and subline works IMHO. The work is divided into 'Variations', and what is truly wonderful about it is that each player gets to play the theme during a variation. This is a work that I recall the first time I played it. There was an elderly German Jewish Man who was an MD who lived in the city where I lived, and when my technique developed to where I could play difficult music, he invited me to join his personal social quartet. We rarely performed in public, but we got together every Tuesday evening at his house, and his wife would prepare a dinner for all four of us. We would eat, and I was introduced to many German dishes that I had only heard about, and then we would play music for three hours. We would take a few breaks to rest and drink some wine...and eat any leftovers...He did speak about this work the first time we played it. I was sitting, my head a bit unfocused when we finished, I didn't know that Haydn had written the theme decades before Nazi Germany, and playing the theme was a very emotional experience for me. Again, it was one of those works that just captured me, and performing it took a LOT of focus and attention to what was going on. You can hear just how soft and introspective it is, and watching the performers, you can see how much attention they focus on each other. In playing quartets, you HAVE to listen to the others, and fit the volume of your playing with everyone else. If you are playing a supporting part too loud, you destroy the performance because the theme is covered up. The MD mentioned that he had to shut his mind down to be able to play this work, he had been in Germany before WWII started, and his family moved before the genocide of the Jewish people had started, and sometimes he would just sit out this movement of the work, but play the others.
Here it is, please enjoy.
https://youtu.be/mBmCcSz6HWw?si=7rbU_uUdkoO5Hr6f
Here it is, please enjoy.
https://youtu.be/mBmCcSz6HWw?si=7rbU_uUdkoO5Hr6f
87
MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread
« Last post by Izee on September 01, 2023, 06:57:01 AM »...Amazing...CA Democrats are TOTAL MORONS!!!!
The CA Legislature is going to vote on a Bill that would make Owners of Businesses subject to an $!8,000 Fine if they try to protect their Stores. One provision of the Law is that Owners CANNOT try to stop or confront shoplifters!!!!
The Owner must just call the police and stand aside as a thief walks in, picks up some valuable stuff, and walks out. The Morons say that it is to protect employees from having to confront potentially violent thieves. Well, nowdays, a thief who tries to steal goods that are valued under $950 will just be told by a Police Officer to set it down, and will then receive a citation to appear in Court a year later. When this new Law is passed, an Owner must just let the thief walk out without being confronted, or, the OWNER gets fined $18,000!!!!
Well, here in CA stores are closing up, because they just can't afford the huge theft losses that are happening, and that includes the Big Box Stores! Shopping Malls in CA are starting to close down because they have no Merchants. This really hurts the Public, especially elderly people who rely on the large Drug Stores near them to get their medicines. The Dems say that such a Law is necessary because Minorities are singled out for observation when they enter stores, and are harrassed as they leave, and so they feel 'uncomfortable'. A local TV News Station sent a team to interview a small convenience store about theft, and as they spoke to the Owner, THREE THIEVES walked out with stuff!!!!
Well, shit decisions like this is a major reason why people are fleeing CA. But, we ELECT THOSE ASSHOLES to govern us!!!!
From my own personal experience, the people I knew who have left CA were very upstanding people, and were as upset with the people who Govern us as I am. But, I am sure that many Californians will leave because of economic reasons who are weak minded people who are very liberal. They can't be reasoned with... I had an amusing argument with a Liberal who moaned and asked why couldn't the USA just be 'another country' and not the most powerful Nation on Earth. I asked her if she would like China or Russia to rule us, because if they became powerful, they would seek to impose their will on us, and take everything that wasn't nailed down. She had no rational reason for her desires, she just thought that the World would be a calmer place.
The CA Legislature is going to vote on a Bill that would make Owners of Businesses subject to an $!8,000 Fine if they try to protect their Stores. One provision of the Law is that Owners CANNOT try to stop or confront shoplifters!!!!
The Owner must just call the police and stand aside as a thief walks in, picks up some valuable stuff, and walks out. The Morons say that it is to protect employees from having to confront potentially violent thieves. Well, nowdays, a thief who tries to steal goods that are valued under $950 will just be told by a Police Officer to set it down, and will then receive a citation to appear in Court a year later. When this new Law is passed, an Owner must just let the thief walk out without being confronted, or, the OWNER gets fined $18,000!!!! Well, here in CA stores are closing up, because they just can't afford the huge theft losses that are happening, and that includes the Big Box Stores! Shopping Malls in CA are starting to close down because they have no Merchants. This really hurts the Public, especially elderly people who rely on the large Drug Stores near them to get their medicines. The Dems say that such a Law is necessary because Minorities are singled out for observation when they enter stores, and are harrassed as they leave, and so they feel 'uncomfortable'. A local TV News Station sent a team to interview a small convenience store about theft, and as they spoke to the Owner, THREE THIEVES walked out with stuff!!!!
Well, shit decisions like this is a major reason why people are fleeing CA. But, we ELECT THOSE ASSHOLES to govern us!!!!
From my own personal experience, the people I knew who have left CA were very upstanding people, and were as upset with the people who Govern us as I am. But, I am sure that many Californians will leave because of economic reasons who are weak minded people who are very liberal. They can't be reasoned with...
I had an amusing argument with a Liberal who moaned and asked why couldn't the USA just be 'another country' and not the most powerful Nation on Earth. I asked her if she would like China or Russia to rule us, because if they became powerful, they would seek to impose their will on us, and take everything that wasn't nailed down. She had no rational reason for her desires, she just thought that the World would be a calmer place.88
MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread
« Last post by Izee on August 22, 2023, 04:05:23 AM »I attract animals...REALLY...I do! Anything with fur or feathers wants to get close to me. And, I am CERTAIN that it is because they know that I have a heavy allergy to them...and they want to KILL ME!!!! When I visit people in their homes, their cats and dogs want to sit on my lap. The people comment, "That's interesting, Fluffy doesn't like strangers." I think I mentioned the time a kitten came into our Spanish class and walked around the entire room, and then it jumped into my lap!
But, the funniest one was when I was signing up for some Summer School classes. I drove to the J.C Campus, and parked my car and walked to where the Admin Building was. There was a VERY long line of students outside, all waiting to be let in to sign up. Well, I got in line, and got ready to practice patience until I got to the front. There was a pond nearby, and a HUGE grey goose swam over, and got out and shook itself dry, and then it waddled over and STOOD BY ME!!! I ignored it, but it stayed beside me, and followed me as the line crept forward. People would ask me if it was my pet, and I would say, "No, he is signing up for Chorus and Calculus." I then proceeded to talk to it as if it was human...about the weather, sports, movies, restaurants, people I knew. It would just look up at me at times, but it didn't honk. It stayed with me the entire 40 minutes that it took me to get to the building, and wanted to follow me in, but people shooed it back into the pond.
I looked for it after I signed up, I had bought some crackers from a vending machine inside, but it gotten back into the pond, and I couldn't tell it from the others. I just fed the crackers to the geese that came over to me.
Anything with fur or feathers wants to get close to me. And, I am CERTAIN that it is because they know that I have a heavy allergy to them...and they want to KILL ME!!!! When I visit people in their homes, their cats and dogs want to sit on my lap. The people comment, "That's interesting, Fluffy doesn't like strangers." I think I mentioned the time a kitten came into our Spanish class and walked around the entire room, and then it jumped into my lap!But, the funniest one was when I was signing up for some Summer School classes. I drove to the J.C Campus, and parked my car and walked to where the Admin Building was. There was a VERY long line of students outside, all waiting to be let in to sign up. Well, I got in line, and got ready to practice patience until I got to the front. There was a pond nearby, and a HUGE grey goose swam over, and got out and shook itself dry, and then it waddled over and STOOD BY ME!!! I ignored it, but it stayed beside me, and followed me as the line crept forward. People would ask me if it was my pet, and I would say, "No, he is signing up for Chorus and Calculus." I then proceeded to talk to it as if it was human...about the weather, sports, movies, restaurants, people I knew. It would just look up at me at times, but it didn't honk. It stayed with me the entire 40 minutes that it took me to get to the building, and wanted to follow me in, but people shooed it back into the pond.
I looked for it after I signed up, I had bought some crackers from a vending machine inside, but it gotten back into the pond, and I couldn't tell it from the others. I just fed the crackers to the geese that came over to me.
89
MTC OOC / Re: ...Izee's Thread
« Last post by Izee on August 21, 2023, 10:59:46 PM »We played this work in H.S., and I 'persuaded' the Conductor at Conservatory to include it in a Concert. (And I didn't have to go into a FULL BLOWN POUT!!!...just a 'minor' low key pout). It is a BLAST to perform, the last movement is simple INSANITY, it is so quick and there is so much going on.
But, what I loved most was the Sarabande. It is what I really visualize a Sarabande to be. It has such a barren, longing theme at first...then there is a brief "RAGE" against the World...and then back to acceptance.
Please enjoy...
https://youtu.be/gIAV4eUO7C0
(And I didn't have to go into a FULL BLOWN POUT!!!...just a 'minor' low key pout). It is a BLAST to perform, the last movement is simple INSANITY, it is so quick and there is so much going on. But, what I loved most was the Sarabande. It is what I really visualize a Sarabande to be. It has such a barren, longing theme at first...then there is a brief "RAGE" against the World...and then back to acceptance.
Please enjoy...
https://youtu.be/gIAV4eUO7C0
90
Webmaze General Discussions / Re: Ragnar update and Gathering
« Last post by kemma on August 19, 2023, 05:38:04 PM »Hi Bro,
I respect that your world has grown smaller than it was in the past but I want you to know - you're still have a place in mine. You live in the unforgettable memories in my head and in an irreplaceable place in my heart.
Kemma
I respect that your world has grown smaller than it was in the past but I want you to know - you're still have a place in mine. You live in the unforgettable memories in my head and in an irreplaceable place in my heart.
Kemma