...Izee's Thread

[Izee]

...Just to describe the extent of my insanity...when I let it loose...I have struggled with Bipolar all of my life...but i was usually able to keep the 'high' phase under control...I only once considered suicide when i was in the 'low' side.  I put the gun away, and took a long bath.

...When I was a young child, I decided that my hands were 'alive'.     I noticed that they quickly went to the plate of food set in front of me, and sat on each side, looking at the food.  I figured that they were smelling it, and deciding if they would feed me with it.    So, I named them..."Sniffies:  They would grab the fork, and stuff my face full of food.

...When I began studying the cello, and piano, i would be AMAZED by them...and UPSET!!!  I would actually YELL AT THEM!  I would have a good practice session...and the next day...they couldn't remember what we had worked on.

...Good thing that i never named MY MOUTH!!! 

...I was usually very articulate in Court,,,and when i sat behind the Bench.

[MageNathaniel1]

why not return to law?

[Izee]

...I ALWAYS loved performing works by Vivaldi...on cello...or piano.  He was truly an inspired genius, and could get playful at times.  This is His description of 'Winter'.  When I played this, I imagined myself walking, wearing a parka and snow hat, through a village...and  THINGS HAPPENED!!!  At times, I would stop and stamp my feet to get the snow off of my boots. 

...I would get back to my lodge...and be happy.  Marcus Hrolfson was still alive...I would share my 'walk' with Him... and He would LAUGH.     Very UNUSUAL THINGS would occur when I took a 'walk'...Izee' probably has evil demons tracking her...

https://youtu.be/6El8B8hJ4Sg

[MageNathaniel1]

sounds like a truly passionate person which is a good thing.  I am sure you can return to any of those things you love like piano, cello, or law if you se desire.

[RAGNAR]

...I ALWAYS loved performing works by Vivaldi...on cello...or piano.  He was truly an inspired genius, and could get playful at times.  This is His description of 'Winter'.  When I played this, I imagined myself walking, wearing a parka and snow hat, through a village...and  THINGS HAPPENED!!!  At times, I would stop and stamp my feet to get the snow off of my boots. 

...I would get back to my lodge...and be happy.  Marcus Hrolfson was still alive...I would share my 'walk' with Him... and He would LAUGH.     Very UNUSUAL THINGS would occur when I took a 'walk'...Izee' probably has evil demons tracking her...

https://youtu.be/6El8B8hJ4Sg

Evil demons? Naw..... just "Danger Urts"!!!!!

 

[Izee]

...*JDL*  I remember the "Danger Urts"...Marcus and I would try to 'out do' each other over how much comontion we could cause in an evening in the House.  I think that 'Danger Urtess' won...   She brought ALL of her kits in...and they SWARMED the place.!  Men were trying to stomp on them, and the kits...and Danger Urtess, were eating all of the food on the tables.  Danger Urt was just sitting in a safe place...and laughing his ass off.   

[RAGNAR]

LOL

 

[Izee]

...Performing music...

...https://youtu.be/inGXqq2VoAQ

I performed this with a Community Orchestra.  I was TOTALLY EXHAUSTED at the end, and I was in very good physical condition.  I would go out, and jog for 30 minutes, and do other aerobics. The cello isn't an easy instrument to play, you have to use both arms, and hold the hunk of lumber between your legs...I would actually limp a bit when I had a long practice session.  But, as I got more experienced, I wouldn't just sit in one position.  I would sway, and move the cello into different positions, and lean forward.

...But, performing music takes something out of your body,,,at times...I can't explain it...but a few times...I just dragged my cello off of the stage.  The endpin was scratching the stage...and i just wanted to get back to my Apt...take a shower...eat something...and get to bed.

[RAGNAR]

If you have anything left in you after a gig sis... you did not give the fans what they paid for nor what they deserve being fans, be it orchestra, heavy metal, or a simple school concert.

Backstage hydrate, ingest caffeine, sugar, whatever it takes just to stay on your feet to meet those with passes and to get out of there.

Then, and only then, can you allow nature to take its course and lay you out.

Without fans, there is no show. As a musician, without a show, you have no purpose there. Make the music come from within, always, and you will always feel a passionate performance... be it on stage or in practice where you may only be heard by one. The "one" is your fan. Nothing short of 100% will do.

*Huggers*

[Izee]

...HUGS YOU BACK!!!!!

...I didn't have ANYTHING left in me when I performed this "Jewish Prayer'...and I am a lapsed Catholic.  But, as you know...performing music isn't just placing your fingers in the right place on the fingerboard.  To do it right, you need to understand the work...and what the Composer is trying to communicate.  At Conservatory, I composed a few works...and was always trying to 'say something'.  Once, though, I composed an Oratorio...and 'partially' stole the Title from a Composer.  I called it the 'Unasked Question'.     My 'Frisky Mind' was in FULL CONTROL...and i spent hours working on it!     I actually had kazoos...and wind players just blowing into their mouthpieces...in addition to a small string orchestra and piano.  There was even a short, romantic poem.     And several singers.

...I did get an 'A'...but the Professor told me to use my 'Talent' to compose a more 'Serious' work the next time.   

https://youtu.be/bKuC84EkEDI

[RAGNAR]

Tell your professor to kick rocks.

An artist puts out what they feel. If he wants it his way, tell him to go to Burger King.

Use your talents to the best of YOUR abilities. Be able to play anything, with commitment and an open mind, but pour yourself into your works be it a kazoo, or tracks from every instrument you can get a note from. Play and perform your heart out.

You have heard the phrase marching to a different drummer? Just hang with percussionists. They have such a wide range of different yet same instruments, they can put on their own show absent any other section and rock the house. A woodwind may not like it. Brass may cringe. Strings may grit their teeth, and vocalists may shudder and run off stage, but guess what sis... percussionists don't give a damn. They march to their own beat and their full physical being is used up, their mental faculties are blurred, and their soul went into what they played.

If they make a mistake, they make it a big one and make sure it is known they MEANT to do that!!!!! It takes a special kind of person to be a percussionist. Not a drummer... they are everywhere, but a true percussionist, they embody pride, emotion, and dedication to their craft. A good many of them are hard of hearing, and eventually go deaf, but they wouldn't trade it for the world. They don't have to hear it, they can feel it as if it were their own beating heart.

Anyone can strike a triangle and make a sound. Only a percussionist can strike it to coax out the sweetest, softest tone.

Anyone can strike a bass. THUD. But only a percussionist can strike it and draw out the rich tone of it.

Anyone can crash cymbals, but only a percussionist can do it in such a way as to raise and lower the tone and vibrato where they wish it to go with a single crash.

Anyone that can hold at least two mallets can learn to hammer out a technically perfect score on a keyboard. But a percussionist can make it sing and project exactly what feeling they wish it to bring.

Watch a true percussionist at work when you can. Watch their body language. Note their facial expression. Feel the passion they push out in all directions. They even breathe differently.

When practicing just to warm up, watch and smile when a percussionist moves his hands separate from his feet, how he counts while talking and chewing gum at the same time. Each part of his body can work independently of the others seemingly without effort. If they can do this warming up, imagine what they are capable of when they narrow down their focus and their very being into their score. It HAS to make the Gods smile!!!!!

[Izee]

...Very well explained, Brother, there IS a difference between a 'Drummer' and a 'Percussionist'.   

...I started playing in full orchestras in Grammer School...and would get accepted into Community Orchestras whenever we moved to a new city.  And, the percussion section was usually as you described.  They just banged on their instruments, and stayed at the same volume.     Once, one of the members couldn't get the beat right on a set of castanets, and the Conductor stopped the rehearsal, and kept working with him...and wasn't having much effect.  My stand partner leaned over to me, and whispered, "My God, a percussionist without a sense of rhythym...he has NO REASON TO BE ALIVE!"     I started laughing.

...But, when I joined the Semi-Professional Orchestra, I heard what real 'Percussionists' sounded like.  We performed a Suite based on the music from a movie...I can't recall the title...but it was an Action Movie...and expressed a lot of moods.  We strings played the romantic themes, and other groups played other themes.   

...And then the Percussion Section had a solo, and the Composer used ALL of the instruments.     I was mesmerized as they performed!!!     It was as you described, Rags, they varied the volume, and the sounds of the instruments.  I had no idea that the cymbals could make so many different sounds!  And their facial expressions and body movements were very expressive.  There were five men, and one woman...and she kept up with them!     She was playing the tymphany, and the sounds from it varied a lot.

...Nothing like performing music, as you know, Brother...HUGS!!!   

[Izee]

...How NOT to share!!!   

...I am living with my elderly Mother, thankfully, she doesn't need any extensive care.  She is grateful, she didn't want to sell her house and move into a Facility.  So, I do all of the shopping, and pay half of the bills.  I live upstairs, she lives downstairs, so we have some privacy from each other.

...We both like to eat nuts, and so I buy those tins of Planters Mixed Nuts, figuring that it would be good that we eat different types.  I will open one, and set it on the small table that is between the couch and the recliner.  I take the couch, she takes the recliner. 

...I haven't been feeling well the last week, and haven't been eating much...maybe an egg, or two...during the day.  I am feeling better today, so I opened the can...and the only type of nut left were the ALMONDS!!!     She had eaten ALL of the cashews and other types!!!     Good thing that I like almonds.

...So, next time I shop, I will buy her a few cans of cashews...*JDL*

...Now that I am improving, I will see if I can get back into the r/p...I have missed all of you so much.

[RAGNAR]

Will be watching for you sis!!!!! We set sail for IOS tomorrow night, join us. Its all good. The lodge I built you awaits.

 

[Izee]

...I am sorry, but I just have to speak of what is going on in the SF Bay Area,   

...We are all under lockdown...in an attempt to also stop the looting and crime.  You have all probably seen coverage of what is going on in SF, and Oakland.  But...it has spread into the smaller communities.     The small town of Walnut Creek has been ransacked by 'Protestors'.  Its' Main Street has been sacked...businesses broken into, and looted.  The same thing has happened to Pleasant Hill, another small town.  Walnut Creek is right next to the town that I live in, and it was one of my friends and my favorite places in HS.  We would go there after school, or on a weekend, and have ice cream, or sodas, and talk about music, or other classes.  There was a Luthier on Main Street...an elderly Armenian man...and I would take my cello in for servicing, and my bows in to be rehaired.

...Now, at night...there are roving gangs of vehicles driving through the Bay Area...after the curfew...and they pick out businesses to target...and break in and loot.  They even tried to break into the Sun Valley Mall, where there are a lot of expensive shops...but the police drove them away.

...But...(Look of disbelief on my face)...the Liberals and politicians make excuses for what the thugs are doing...and I suspect that the police are being told to stand down.  So, of course, the thugs figure that there is no risk to looting.

...The scary part is...on social media...the thugs are talking about moving into the suburbs...to loot private residences.