I just awoke from a dream in which most of my family's goats developed the ability to speak. And the ability to sing.
The rendition of "Tainted Love" was especially disturbing.
The rendition of "Tainted Love" was especially disturbing.
So, I had this dream that we (where "we" means all of the usual suspects) were having a random Scottish/Irish/Contra music jam. Also, it was being held in my parents' greenhouse, which makes no sense at all, but hey, it's a dream and my subconscious can do whatever it wants.
At some point,![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
playfulfordian started into a tune that I'd never heard before. I thought it was really catchy and managed to pick it up fairly quickly, so once we were done playing, I asked her for its name. And I got a really weird/amused look in response, as she told me that I wrote it.
And then I woke up, which could've been annoying, except that my subconscious mind still retained the damned tune, along with fingerings. So I've spent the next hour or so frantically searching for paper and pen (and then, when the pen ran out of ink [dammit!!], a pencil [which was unsharpened, so I had to sharpen it with my pocketknife]) and then desperately writing down the whole tune while it simultaneously tried to flee from my mind.
I think I succeeded in getting most of it down the way it was in the dream. Now I just need to wait until actual morning to try playing it, since I don't think my housemates/neighbors would be appreciative of my getting out the violin at 5:30 AM. Preliminary plucking of strings seems positive, though. My greatest fear at this point is that I've managed to remember some tune that I heard once a while back, instead of coming up with something of my own. The B part of what I've written, in particular, sounds sort of like something Hanneke Cassel/Halali would play.
The whole experience has been rather surreal. Now I'm going back to sleep for another 2 hours, until I actually have to wake up.
At some point,
playfulfordian started into a tune that I'd never heard before. I thought it was really catchy and managed to pick it up fairly quickly, so once we were done playing, I asked her for its name. And I got a really weird/amused look in response, as she told me that I wrote it.And then I woke up, which could've been annoying, except that my subconscious mind still retained the damned tune, along with fingerings. So I've spent the next hour or so frantically searching for paper and pen (and then, when the pen ran out of ink [dammit!!], a pencil [which was unsharpened, so I had to sharpen it with my pocketknife]) and then desperately writing down the whole tune while it simultaneously tried to flee from my mind.
I think I succeeded in getting most of it down the way it was in the dream. Now I just need to wait until actual morning to try playing it, since I don't think my housemates/neighbors would be appreciative of my getting out the violin at 5:30 AM. Preliminary plucking of strings seems positive, though. My greatest fear at this point is that I've managed to remember some tune that I heard once a while back, instead of coming up with something of my own. The B part of what I've written, in particular, sounds sort of like something Hanneke Cassel/Halali would play.
The whole experience has been rather surreal. Now I'm going back to sleep for another 2 hours, until I actually have to wake up.
*Blink. Blink*
Mar. 4th, 2008 09:04 amI was stopped in a line of cars at a traffic light on the way to work this morning when a (presumably deranged) Canada Goose circled downwards, and landed on the hood of my car.
I was frozen in shock for a second. I stared at the goose. The goose stared at me through the windshield. Then I honked the horn, upon which Monsieur Branta canadensis realized where he was. He proceeded to freak out, claw his way upward into the air post-haste, and glide to a safe landing on the grass along the road, where he joined a few of his companions.
Then people behind me started beeping their horns at me to get moving, since the light had changed. And I had to do my best to drive for a few seconds while laughing hysterically at the whole situation.
Sometimes life is really, really weird.
(Also, this icon felt somewhat appropriate, even if Arthur's a duck and not a goose.)
I was frozen in shock for a second. I stared at the goose. The goose stared at me through the windshield. Then I honked the horn, upon which Monsieur Branta canadensis realized where he was. He proceeded to freak out, claw his way upward into the air post-haste, and glide to a safe landing on the grass along the road, where he joined a few of his companions.
Then people behind me started beeping their horns at me to get moving, since the light had changed. And I had to do my best to drive for a few seconds while laughing hysterically at the whole situation.
Sometimes life is really, really weird.
(Also, this icon felt somewhat appropriate, even if Arthur's a duck and not a goose.)
The Usual Violin Post (now with linkdump!)
Nov. 6th, 2007 03:02 pmI need to spend less time reading through the message boards at violinist.com, maestronet.com, and fiddleforum.com. (also thesession.org, but they seem to get slightly fewer threads.) If I did, I bet I'd get a lot more stuff done.
I'm a huge fan of these guys. Video/sound quality isn't hugely impressive, especially in the first one, and the fiddle tunes are occasionally painful, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. The sort of thing I could see myself doing, assuming I managed to find the time and motivation to learn all that stuff. And find another violinist with equal interest...
This guy is, um, batshit insane. He's actually a really good violinist, if you look him up. But I'd never seen anyone go quite this nuts before. Also, the 4-string thing during the second half is really cool. I'd actually heard of it before, but I'd forgotten. Now I'm sort of tempted to try, as long as I can find a piece that doesn't care about too many open G, D, A, or E strings played as harmony. I've got an old fiberglass bow that I don't care about, so no worries regarding doing really bad things to it.
Weird-ass Violin Patents Section:
Folding/collapsable violins:
http://www.google.com/patents?q=D249387
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1699384&id=1ZZgAAAAEBAJ&dq=1699384
Foldable violin bow: http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1027636&id=vlleAAAAEBAJ&dq=1027636
This one's even better. A motor-driven violin bow:
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT3138051&id=s4lnAAAAEBAJ&dq=3138051
Had some interesting ideas about bow hold (yes, I'm still trying to figure this out) that I want to try tonight, if I remember. It's also entirely possible that these won't work at all. Who knows?
I'm a huge fan of these guys. Video/sound quality isn't hugely impressive, especially in the first one, and the fiddle tunes are occasionally painful, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. The sort of thing I could see myself doing, assuming I managed to find the time and motivation to learn all that stuff. And find another violinist with equal interest...
This guy is, um, batshit insane. He's actually a really good violinist, if you look him up. But I'd never seen anyone go quite this nuts before. Also, the 4-string thing during the second half is really cool. I'd actually heard of it before, but I'd forgotten. Now I'm sort of tempted to try, as long as I can find a piece that doesn't care about too many open G, D, A, or E strings played as harmony. I've got an old fiberglass bow that I don't care about, so no worries regarding doing really bad things to it.
Weird-ass Violin Patents Section:
Folding/collapsable violins:
http://www.google.com/patents?q=D249387
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1699384&id=1ZZgAAAAEBAJ&dq=1699384
Foldable violin bow: http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1027636&id=vlleAAAAEBAJ&dq=1027636
This one's even better. A motor-driven violin bow:
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT3138051&id=s4lnAAAAEBAJ&dq=3138051
Had some interesting ideas about bow hold (yes, I'm still trying to figure this out) that I want to try tonight, if I remember. It's also entirely possible that these won't work at all. Who knows?
