...Izee's Thread

[Medi]

...Izee' is walking to her wagon, after a long...difficult day...of healing...Dugg had put something wrong in the children's morning cereal...and Izee' had spent all day healing the children.     Most of the time, it had been calming them down, pulling them off of the canopies of the wagons and off of the backs of bosks, and such, but she had had to treat many minor injuries.  Dugg had just shaken his head when Izee' asked about the morning meal, and offered her some of the cereal...she ate a couple spoonfulls, and then had glared at Dugg, and said..."You gave all a tha children a SUGAR HIGH!!! We be lucky that tha Camp STILL BE STANDIN!!!"    As she walked away, she was called over to a wagon by the children.  They said, "Listen to this new barbarian play that...that...thing she is holding."  Izee' stopped, and listened to the kajira, and had tiredly stepped forward, and taken the instrument from her, and said..."Go gather dung, I have heard this before, an ye be playin it WRONG!!!"

...https://youtu.be/1p2yzke_550

...I TOTALLY love listening to Itzak...but...IMHO...he is playing this wrong.  He is playing it in the 'Romantic' style...not in the 'Baroque' style that Bach lived in, and who composed this.  *S*  I have a transcription of this for cello...and I have worked on it, but have just given up for now...it is too difficult.  I have heard professional cellists play it...but it just doesn't work...playing this work on a cello is like trying to quickly navigate a shrub maze while riding on an elephant...the cello isn't as nimble as the violin.  I did have a wonderful experience with the work, once.  Someone transcribed the work for FOUR cellos playing at the same time...I was third cello...and we played it well...the counterpoint was mixed among us...and the 1st cellist was a World Class performer.     But, the violin is a much more nimble instrument than the cello...the Lutiers have to harvest large chunks of lumber to make a cello, and sawing the bow back and forth is harder with the cello...the bow just floats across the strings of a violin.

...Here is what I...IMHO...think is the work in the 'Baroque' style...

...https://youtu.be/zgLG93uGTN0 

...The counterpoint is amazing...you hear several voices.  At times, they argue and one tries to take over telling the story...and at other times...they sing a Hymn.   

[Medi]

...It is GOOD to be the JUDGE...

...https://youtu.be/ZKr6OyXTbK4

...This was kind of like the first trial I ever observed...

[Medi]

...Leonard Bernstein....

...Such an AMAZING MAN!!!!!!!!!!!    He is well known for some of the Musicals he wrote..."West Side Story'' is my favorite, but he is more recognized as the Conductor of the New York Philharmonic.  He also did a series of TV specials...back in the days when there was NO COLOR TV!!!     I had the pleasure of visiting with a man who was the Concertmaster of the NY Phil when Bernstein was the Conductor... ...I was driving the Concertmaster to a rehearsal with a Semi Professional orchestra I was playing in, he was going to perform the Tchaicovski with us.     (The Board of Directors told me to pick him up at the airport, and bring him to the town.)  He told me several wonderful tales of Bernstein.   

...The Orchestra did "Matinee" performances on Saturday afternoon, and the tickets were cheap.  Once, an 'Old Folks Home' brought several dozen residents to the performance, and they were all seated in the 1st row.  Partway through the 1st Movement of the Brahms 3rd, there was a smell of TUNAFISH from the audience.  Bernstein stopped, and looked, a number of the elderly gentlemen had opened their sack lunches, and were eating...   Bernstein waited until the Chaperones had gotten their charges to pack their lunches back up, and then resumed the symphony.  Part way through the 3rd Movement, the gentlemen started leaving their seats to go to the bathroom...Bernstein stopped, again, and announced..."Let's take a bathroom break"...and waited until all of the guests were back in their seats...and finished the symphony...

...This is a wonderful clip of one of his specials.  It is very educational, Leonard discusses how difficult it is to bring the 'lollypops' on the pages of the music to come to life.  He also demonstrates how accomplished Conductors can have different ideas of how a symphony should sound.  This clip also has Glenn Gould performing a Bach concerto for piano...and...it is ASTONISHING!     Watch his fingers as he plays...his 'pinky fingers' are VERY long...so he can really bring out the counterpoint...   Glenn was a virtuoso, but also suffered from a mental disorder.  He gave up public performances, because he wanted his music to be PERFECT...and that just doesn't happen in live performances...and did a lot of recording.  His Bach recordings are sensational...his fingers are so agile, and so precise.  You will see that in his performance here, the notes are shaped very well...and with precision.  Sometimes they are very short and angry...other times long and relaxed.

...This also has a Soprano...and...just watch and listen...how can a human sing so powerful and expressive.      And, there is a treat...Stravinski conducting His Composition, "The Firebird".     Look up the Ballet, it is very profound...The 'Firebird' is danced by a female in the Ballet, and she is very inspirational...She goes through harsh challenges...she is caged for a while...and she emerges and helps heal all of the others.   

...Please enjoy....https://youtu.be/9Nx09pigZRI

[Medi]

(23:43:50 )
[PIC]
Izee'
Healer
MTC

[ Personal Wagons ]
At Izee's wagon
says to ALL
: ...I am feeling very happy at this time. ALL of my Family, except Keagan, were with me. I got everyone to lift a flagon of mead towards Thassa...and we all shouted..."THIS BE FOR YOU, KEAGAN!" We then drank, and settled down. Tiveri was excited, but she wasn't being difficult...she just wanted to sit with everyone for a moment...

(23:47:13 )
[PIC]
Izee'
Healer
MTC

[ Personal Wagons ]
At Izee's wagon
says to ALL
: ...I had borrowed a couple of Camp kajira to serve, and they were doing well. They were filling mugs and glasses with beverages, and offering platters of food to all. I sat, drinking mead, and chewing on a roasted vulo, and paused, for a moment...Thinking...I then smile...

(23:50:40 )
[PIC]
Izee'
Healer
MTC

[ Personal Wagons ]
At Izee's wagon
says to ALL
: ...I looked up, and waved the half eaten vulo at the sky, and said..."This be fer ye, Marcus...ye lured me outta tha Forests...an then brought me here...an worked with me tae create all a these Hellions." I grin...I could just imagine Him looking down at me, and nodding, and saying..."I would have made more with you, but, I had to move on."

(23:54:42 )
[PIC]
Izee'
Healer
MTC

[ Personal Wagons ]
At Izee's wagon
says to ALL
: ...I then look down, and close my eyes...and say a Prayer, and finish..."Ye were such a Man, Marcus Hrolfson, I was blessed tae be with ye for so long." I then feel a comfortable arm around me...I am sitting alone...and I smile...and say..."Thank ye, Marcus, My Love...I will continue an keep yer Memory alive tae all."

(00:05:17 )
[PIC]
Izee'
Healer
MTC

[ Personal Wagons ]
At Izee's wagon
says to ALL
: ...I begin eating again, and look around. I see them all...Tristan with Isolt, and their new Son...Johanna with Tumen and their new babe...Katniss sitting with Johahn...Stefan sitting with Tavi and Gunnar...Aslaug sitting by herself, watching S'lene sitting with her new Companion, Bartu, and Tiveri just visiting with everyone, holding a half eaten sugar bun. I think..."We did verra well, I believe."

[Medi]

...Another cello piece that I could play...and I DID IT AS WELL!!!  Once, rehearsing with my accompanist to perform this...he stopped me...and held me for a while.  I wasn't just playing the notes, I was feeling what this work is about.  It is about death...and I felt the sadness, and then the anger and resentment and refusal...and I PLAYED IT!!!     I calmed down in his arms, and said..."Let's do it again...tomorrow."  We did perform it...and I went off the stage after we performed it...and I didn't come out for a bow...the audience was aupplauding so much at the end...but I was crying so hard...I probably would have fallen...I was wearing heels.     I just love music, it hits me in a part of my body that is hard to describe.  A few times, while performing...I have felt what was like an orgasm...but it wasn't messy...and I was able to keep playing the cello.     I just sat for a while, and left the stage...Please enjoy this...

...https://youtu.be/5kpPq0ITOs0

[Medi]

...Tavi and Gunnar get loose in Turia...Izee' had to chase them down and haul them down a back alley to avoid the 'Administers'...

...https://youtu.be/3yUx6Dn8yi0

[Medi]

...Tristan sings at a ceremony to honor the Warriors lost in the last battle.  Other Warriors join, and the Women of the Tuchuk add their voices.  After more honor...all Tuchuk descend on the Main Fires for a feast...there is plenty of food and drink...and Tiveri and the other young Free female children dance and sing a playful song of hope and gratitude.  They retreat when they are finished, and sit together and eat sweet rolls and roasted vulo, and drink fruit juice, and chatter about the boys...the boys are sitting well away from the girls...they had been told of Panthers... ...

...https://youtu.be/7WvHDrcA084

...((I just love this composition...especially this movement.  The cellos are a 'heartbeat'...they pluck the strings during the work...and get very soft at times, and intense at others.  When I performed this in the cello section in college...I was staring at the Bass/Baritone during this...I was going with Him...and I just LOVED His voice.   ))

[Medi]

...Such a WONDERFUL work...'Pavane'...by Faure...

...My newer cello is named 'Pavane'...the name is on his label pasted inside.     My older cello is over 120 years old...I named her 'Katherine'...just 'cause I like the name...and it fitted her.  I took Katherine to a Cello Congress in Arizona years ago, and we had a blast!     We played in small ensambles, and in a small cello orchestra.  I also spent time visiting with the vendors, and bought music and such...and went to very nice restaurants and PIGGED OUT!!!  I was alone, my H wasn't interested in such an event. 

...One morning, I was walking with a Lebanese woman to breakfast, and she said that she was a Luthier, and had a cello she had made for sale.  We ate breakfast, and I questioned her about just how you make a cello.  She explained the details, as we ate eggs, bacon, toast, and drank coffee. I went to where she was later in the day, and watched Janos Starker try out her cello, and He said that He would recommend that His students buy her instruments. I stood for a while, and told her..."I would like to try out your cello."  She let me take the cello back to my Home, and said, "If you don't like it, just kick the soundpost down, and ship it back to me"...She lived in South Africa.

...I played the cello for a month...and called her...and said..."I will buy Pavane."  I did a wire transfer...I had only done that a few times...this was for $25K.     I really wasn't used to spending that much money.     But, I never regretted it...Pavane and I sat Principal cello many times in orchestras, and we did very well in quartets, and such.  During my private lessons, my Teacher would take Pavane from me, and play the piece we were working on, to show me how it should sound.  Once, I just sat, and stared at him as he finished, and said..."OMG...the lovely overtones I am hearing..."   Pavane was ALIVE!!!  Pavane just wasn't singing the note...he was adding so much more!!!  The Teacher nodded, and said..."This is a very good cello, work with it...it will come even more alive."  I did...I sawed the bow back and forth...and even bought a very expensive bow for him...He came even more alive, and said to me..."That is better".     Bows are very important to a cello...for some reason...they can wake up the instrument .  Once, the frog of my bow broke before a recital, and I borrowed a very expensive bow from my Teacher.  I was astonished...I played as I usually did...but I sounded SO MUCH BETTER...    Pavane liked the bow.  I asked to buy it, but my Teacher said..."No". 

...So, just what it is like to play a cello...

https://youtu.be/iTzEtJxo_N4

[Medi]

...Izee' is sitting on the beach of Thassa, watching as Stefan and Katniss, her twins, try to catch fish, with some success, and do gather shellfish, eating about as many as they place in a basket.  She smiles, they are both very unique persons.  They each have her copper colored skin, and dark hair...but they have their Fathers green eyes and are built like Torvies.  They are each very large, Stefan is over 7'6", and Katniss is almost as tall.  Izee' briefly groans as she recalls carrying them in her womb...Izee' is a slender Red Savage who stands 5'6", and the two had been very heavy as she had brought them into the world.  At the later stages of her pregnancy, Izee' had become very difficult, but insisted that she be left alone to handle her affairs, even though she could barely walk because of the size and weight of her belly.  Her delivery had been talked about for a long time...she had shrieked and cussed Marcus out when he tried to comfort her while she was in labor...and he had finally just left her with the midwife. The next morning, he had simply held out a bouquet of flowers in her doorway...and had entered only after she insisted that she was sane, again.

...Marcus Hrolfson had been the most loved person in her life when they Companioned.  He had lured her out of the Jungle, and she had told the members of her Lair to leave him alone, no matter what happened.  They traveled together for some time...she told everyone that she was a Merchant, and that he was her Guard.  Then, at Scagnar, they Companioned, and many people showed up to celebrate with them.  They had several years together...but...he didn't return after a voyage.  His body was on his ship when the crew returned...and he stayed on it...and sailed away in his last voyage, alone, and with the Fires of Scagnar burning on the ship, honoring him.  Izee' had coped for a while, and then had brought her Family to the Tuchuk, who had treated her well when she visited.  She still had warm memories of Scagnar...she had been well treated there. 

...Music runs through her head as she gazes at Thassa, and watches her children...a barbarian had sung the tune to her...and Izee's mind had made a complex creation of how the tune could Honor Marcus, and the Tuchuk and Scagnar.

...https://youtu.be/NhnMd1Jl7SA

[Medi]

...Izee', her Daughters, and several other Tuchuk FW enter the Battlefield after the Tuchuk Warriors had slaughtered the Kataii...and go through the enemy remains looking for any valuables...

...https://youtu.be/xeRwBiu4wfQ

[Medi]

...I just love this work....I did play in the Orchestra...I played the cello solos...and sweat was dropping off of my nose at the end of the work.  I was a bit stressed over my solos...but I was more concerned over the soloist...*S*  I was going with Him.  We sat together, after his performance, and drank some wine...and I asked Him.  "How did the Composer create this?"  We discussed it...and I got angry and stomped off to my apt...I did make it up to him the day after...I brought him some strawberries and whipped cream.  We ate, and...made up. 

...Still...just how does a human create such a work?  I have composed songs, and wrote some easy works for piano and string instruments...but none of them will remain.  *S*  (I stole the melody on several that I wrote...but I thought I recognized one I composed in a Movie I watched...the Composer had been a classmate....and I had made up the melody...but I didn't think of suing Him...*S*...I probably would have lost...and it wasn't a big movie) 

...But, just how does a human imagine such a complex work...and write it down?  To those who say that there is no God...I say that all of the religious writings say that we humans are somehow connected to a Higher Power.  I like to think that some of us are Blessed to achieve amazing things, to demonstrate that we are all connected to God.  The 'amazing things' can be quite different.  A complex Symphony is one thing...a Nurse who saves a patient...a Warrior who gives up his life to save a squad...a person who simply tells another what he or she needs to hear...is all the same...in the eyes of God.

...Please enjoy this...

https://youtu.be/HsFsBNAmCd0

[Medi]

...Gunnar and Tavi return from a Voyage to Earth...it had been the first time that they had been PARTIALLY in command...Izee' had told Tristan that if He was going to command her Flagship, the 'Hrolfson, on the voyage...that her two younger Sons would command the 'Away Team'.  Tristan had grabbed a bunch of beautiful young barbarian women who would make pleasing kajira...Tristan told Gunnar and Tavi to find and capture some cultured musicians, their Mother, Izee' enjoyed listening to complex and subtle music. 

...Gunnar and Tavi returned with these...smiling...Tristan had just shrugged...and brought them all back...

...Izee' had listened...excited...wearing a Gown that had alternating colors; Red, Purple, Yellow, Blue, Chartruse, and Green stripes, her hair piled high on her head, with green, yellow, and purple flowers and feathers stuck into, what she thought, was an elaborate hairdo, at various places, eating dried beans that had been popped, and drinking fruit juice that had some paga in it...in a gourd that had three little umbrellas hanging over the side...she ALWAYS prepared, dressed, and acted in what she thought was a 'Cultured Way' when listening to good music.

..."This be REAL CULTURE" she had exclaimed..."Let tha Karians have their elegant Dancers, an such..."...and had sent out for more 'popped beans'...and more 'fortified' fruit juice.

...https://youtu.be/pLgJ7pk0X-s

[Medi]

...This stuff was actually a lot of fun...when I was in H.S.  *S* I was the 'weird girl'...kinda mousy looking, walking around with different things in my arms...or strapped to my back.  The thing on my back was usually my cello, and I had various items in my arms.  Once, I walked into the chemistry class holding a small rocket engine I had bought...I got sent to the Principal, and He carefully explained that the prohibition against explosives included rocket engines.  I stayed after school for a week and cleaned up the Biology Lab as a punishment...I was relieved when my Parents just laughed.  *G*  I was one of the founding members of our school 'Rocketry Club'.  We did it very well, the Higher Math Teacher was our Advisor...(He said that he got paid an extra fee for doing that...cause he never knew what we would show up with when we had a 'launch day')  A few times, despite us arguing that the 'center of gravity' and 'center of pressure' were in the right places....he would just say..."You are NOT going to launch that on school grounds."  We would leave...and drive out into the county, find a field, and launch it.  Usually, all went fine.  A few times we had to search for parts of it...a few times we just watched as it flew in a different direction than just vertical...and left...we really couldn't start a fire, we used solid fuel...but I suspect that a few homeowners were surprised at what they found in their yards.  *S*

...*S*  That is where I learned to respect 'higher math'.  We made crude tracking stations, we would track the degrees that the the rocket flew from three different places, each an equal distance from the launch pad, and spaced out 120 degrees from each other, and we would use triganometry to calculate how high it went.  Being the 'nerd'...I looked into how it was possible to calculate how high a rocket would fly...using its weight...cross section...engine size...and a number of other factors...and had my first introduction to CALCULUS.  (For ALL you youngsters...we DIDN'T have hand calculators...we got our pencils and paper...and wrote EVERYTHING DOWN....it could take multiple pages to resolve a math problem.)  I got pretty good at it.  someone could bring a rocket to me, and I would measure, weigh, check the balance and cross section of it, find out what engine they were going to use...and predict how high it would fly, with 100' accuracy...unless the wind was bad.

...I was one of those who just didn't assemble the kits...I would get the basic parts, and carve my own fins and nose cone, and sometimes add small pieces of lead to the nosecone to get it into balance.  I also liked to experiment.  I made a couple that flew like a rocket going up, and then sprouted wings and glided back down.  I got really excited one afternoon in math class...I would make a 'ROCKET INSIDE A ROCKET'.    I sketched out my idea and showed it to the teacher, and he just shook his head, and said...'Look up the effects when a rocket engine goes off in an enclosed space.'  I did...and it seemed to show that the rocket inside wouldn't get out...and that the rockets launched from submarines and underground sites had assistance...but I just said...NAW...   (I seem to recall that it was the 'Venturi Effect')...and I built the rocket, anyway...I wasn't going to let science tell me what would work, or not work.  I had imagined the nose cone of the outside rocket splitting up and falling aside...but it just didn't work.  So, I decided to have the inside share the nose cone of the larger rocket.   

...I labored long evenings at my desk in my room, cutting cardboard tubing and carving and shaping fins...and getting one rocket to fit inside the other.  That was hard...the rocket inside was the hardest...it needed large fins in order to keep the 'center of pressure' in the right place...and the outside rocket just couldn't be too fat...I was limited by local statute just how large it could be.  So, I made folding fins for the inside rocket that popped out...and ended up with the STUPIDIST LOOKING MODEL ROCKET I EVER SAW!!!     It had the HUGE nose cone of the Outside 'carrier rocket'...a VERY SLENDER body...and medium sized fins...after they extended.  I painted the outside rocket so that it looked impressive...it was silver with a black nose cone...and it even had four vents at the top to get air inside, to help the smaller rocket.  The smaller rocket looked stupid...I painted it yellow, and the fins silver...and put all kinds of impressive decals on it so I would look like I knew what I was doing.  I checked the balance and pressure points on each...and just shrugged..."The Venturi Effect just doesn't apply here...I have it figured out."

((More Below))

[Medi]

...(Finish of the Tale)

...I then got out my 'sliderule' (Look those up, you younger people...they were the sign that you were a 'Genius' in H.S. Some 'nerds' carried them in holsters at their belt...Those sliderules were very long, and very thick, and had more than one sliding part.  I was one of the first to have a 'circular slide rule'....I just stashed it in my purse.  (Hey, that sounds REALLY BAD...*LOL*... ..)  So, I spun the rims, and moved the display thing, and wrote down the numbers as I worked.  (That sounds EVEN WORSE!!!!    ) 

...Anyway...back to the tale...I double checked my calculation several times...and couldn't believe it!  I had made the rockets, and made sure that the fins were shaped well...and in my mind...the 1st would go up about 100'...stage...and the inside rocket would fly another 500'.  CALCULUS told me that the rocket would travel 12'...stage...and the inside rocket would travel 90' feet...and THAT would be it!!!  I muttered...and said..."That is just PAPER...and I am no mathemetician...but I have been building rockets for years...and have been the 'Range Mistress' several times...and I know when a rocket can fly..." So, I brought it to the Range....rockets there always traveled over 2,000 feet...we always laughed when some dork brought one that only went a few hundred feet.

...The Range Master looked it over...raised his eyebrows...and I glared at him...and I said..."I got this all figured out...it will only go 600 feet or so...but it is unusual...people will like it."  He just shrugged, he was used to me and my 'posse' showing up with homemade rockets that looked strange but flew well...and let me place it on the launch pad.  We did a countdown...I pressed the button on the console...and...and...and...

...It started moving very slow...and staged before it got off of the launch lug.  The inside rocket was slow...BUT IN BALANCE...it reached about 50 feet...and the engine ran out.  It fell to the ground, and the recovery parachute popped out.  A very small grass fire started...and the Range Master and I ran over and kicked the fire out before the safety guy with the fire extinguisher arrived.     I picked up the remains of my rocket...all of the parts...and told the Range Master.  "I guess that I had better believe what science and math tell me, before I believe my brain."  He told me, "Don't do that again, your rocket powered swing-wing gliders are one thing...but I don't want this on my Range again."  He did laugh, and I just slunk away...my posse' were laughing their asses off.  I just told them..."I didn't believe my own calculations...guess I better listen to my 'smart self' in the future...

...I was still teased by that the following years.  At our meetings of the Rocketry Club, members would ask..."What new idea do you have, now? Please show us."  At the launching pad, the Range Master would look over my rocket, heft it, and ask..."How many inside?"  I would just glare, and say..."Let me press the launch button, so that you can find out."

...Good thing I didn't go on to major in Engineering...I might have found myself in charge of designing current rockets.  The next Men launched to the moon might have found themselves landing in a pond in Point Reyes...CA   *LOL*

...Oh, last tale of the 'Rocketry Club'.  In H.S,  at Homeroom, there would be a reading of the announcements for the day, which included club meetings.  Our Homeroom Teacher was a very snobbish, always proper man.  He would chuckle whenever he read announcements of the meeting of the Rocketry Club...and say..."OK, all you Rockets, meet after school."  I got a bit pissed...we were a s SERIOUS group...we were learning a lot about Trig and Calculus...and were having fun building the rockets...seeing who could make the best looking and most powerful ones, etc...and he was making FUN of us!     So, once, after he smirked at the announcement, two friends and I jumped out of our seats, put our arms around each other, and did a short, somewhat highkicking dance, and got back into our chairs and said..."We 'ROCKETTES' just had our meeting...that announcement was for the Rocketry Club...future scientists and engineers are there...be nice to them."  He did apologize, and was more serious after that when he mentioned the Club.  He even came out once, on 'launch day', and I showed him how we tracked them, and he did launch a few of our rockets.  He told me as he left, that he just thought we were buying premade rockets, and were just shooting them off.   

[Medi]

https://youtu.be/6JVMAh2U6kM

...Here is the activity I was talking about...