Le 2012-05-16 04:12, Invisible a écrit :
>>> As I say, I haven't played violin for about 20 years. So having one in
>>> my hands again, I'm struggling to remember what you're actually supposed
>>> to do with it... I guess the long and short of it is that I need to find
>>> a professional violin teacher.
>>
>> That probably would help, yes - even if just for a refresher. Maybe a
>> local school orchestra director would be willing to take a few hours and
>> sit down with you?
>
> Yeah, maybe.
>
> OTOH, last night I got my violin out, and found the D-string loose. When
> I tried to tighten it, it snapped in half. So /that/ should be cheap to
> fix... >_<

Amazon has them from $5.99 all the way to $75.99 for a 4 string set. 
I'm sure you'll be able to find something locally in the same price 
range, so you won't have to pay shipping from South Korea. :P

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

Post a reply to this message

Le 2012-05-15 15:41, Stephen a écrit :
> On 15/05/2012 2:06 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> For my punishment, I shall have to listen to all three pieces.
>>
>> Oh, damn.:)
>
> Maybe you all would like to do a musicality test.
>
> https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/musicality/
>
> Just to let you know, I scored low for everything. Hmm!
>

I had three lows and a medium.  And I consider myself a music enthusiast!

FWIW, I thought the test was biases towards musicians.  They should also 
have had follow-up questions.  Instead of just "How many hours per day 
do you play an instrument?" they should have asked "Why? ( ) No interest 
( ) Not enough time ( ) Too Expensive ( ) Wife won't let me install a 
pipe organ in the living room" etc...  Instead of simply assuming that 
there's no reason other than my lack of interest to explain why I don't 
play more than I do.

And there was no question where I could brag about the size of my...

...CD collection.


-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

Post a reply to this message

> ( ) Wife won't let me install a pipeorgan in the living room.

Well, you /say/ that...

http://www.die-orgelseite.de/kurioses_e.htm#hausorgel

(Alabama. I rest my case.)

Post a reply to this message

On 16/05/2012 1:52 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>
> I had three lows and a medium.  And I consider myself a music enthusiast!
>

So do I. I go to concerts occasionally but to the opera at least once a 
month.

> FWIW, I thought the test was biases towards musicians.

And people who can sing. I have no singing voice so a lot of my answers 
were "definitely not".

>  Wife won't let me install a
> pipe organ in the living room" etc...


I have the opposite problem. No not installing a pipe organ but 
installing the Hi Fi. She records a lot from the radio so muggins has to 
connect the DAT recorders, Naks, HDD recorder to the system. I have even 
been on the roof installing a FM radio.

>
> And there was no question where I could brag about the size of my...
>
> ....CD collection.

Oh! You have moved on to CDs. :-P

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

>> OTOH, last night I got my violin out, and found the D-string loose. When
>> I tried to tighten it, it snapped in half. So /that/ should be cheap to
>> fix... >_<
>
> Amazon has them from $5.99 all the way to $75.99 for a 4 string set. I'm
> sure you'll be able to find something locally in the same price range,
> so you won't have to pay shipping from South Korea. :P

You laugh - apparently the violin itself was made in Korea...

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 16 May 2012 10:40:49 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 16/05/2012 5:27 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I didn't do too bad - better than I thought for the memory test (only
>> missed one).  Classification was an interesting one - didn't get it
>> perfect for any of them, but was pretty close on most of them.
>>
>> Very interesting, thanks for sharing that.:)
> 
> I did not classify any correctly. My excuse is that I never listen to
> those groups of music. 

I don't routinely listen to any of them either.  I did best on Jazz, 
which isn't surprising since I do like the occasional bit of jazz.

Hip-Hop/R&B/Rock?  Not so much.

> Now if it had been Baroque, Classical and
> Romantic I might have done better. :-P The one test I did best at was
> beating time which is strange because I gave up playing a musical
> instrument because I cannot keep time.

Oddly, my violin teacher said I couldn't count my way out of a wet paper 
bag, but I did OK here.  He must be achieving high torque about now (he 
passed away a few years back).

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 16 May 2012 18:06:14 +0100, Stephen wrote:

>> FWIW, I thought the test was biases towards musicians.
> 
> And people who can sing. I have no singing voice so a lot of my answers
> were "definitely not".

Yeah, I had a problem with those questions too, because while I'm a 
musician (inactive, but I played for more than a decade and have formal 
music theory training as well as performance training), I can't sing 
worth a damn.  My voice has a range of maybe a minor fifth. :)

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 16 May 2012 09:12:00 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> As I say, I haven't played violin for about 20 years. So having one in
>>> my hands again, I'm struggling to remember what you're actually
>>> supposed to do with it... I guess the long and short of it is that I
>>> need to find a professional violin teacher.
>>
>> That probably would help, yes - even if just for a refresher.  Maybe a
>> local school orchestra director would be willing to take a few hours
>> and sit down with you?
> 
> Yeah, maybe.
> 
> OTOH, last night I got my violin out, and found the D-string loose. When
> I tried to tighten it, it snapped in half. So /that/ should be cheap to
> fix... >_<

I'd have that problem now with mine as well - and I need to get the D 
string peg replaced, because it's worn down to the point of not 
sticking.  I know you can get "peg dope" to make it stick better, but in 
the end I think a good fitting replacement is a better long-term strategy.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

> Yeah, I had a problem with those questions too, because while I'm a
> musician (inactive, but I played for more than a decade and have formal
> music theory training as well as performance training), I can't sing
> worth a damn.  My voice has a range of maybe a minor fifth. :)

My voice has a range of an octave and a half, maybe more if I use 
falsetto as well.

None of which compensates for the fact that I can't reliably sing in 
tune, my throat hurts after a minute or two, and I'm constantly out of 
breath. Also, my voice just sounds awful. :-P

Post a reply to this message

>> OTOH, last night I got my violin out, and found the D-string loose. When
>> I tried to tighten it, it snapped in half. So /that/ should be cheap to
>> fix...>_<
>
> I'd have that problem now with mine as well - and I need to get the D
> string peg replaced, because it's worn down to the point of not
> sticking.  I know you can get "peg dope" to make it stick better, but in
> the end I think a good fitting replacement is a better long-term strategy.

It took be about an hour to tune the violin when I first brought it 
home. As soon as I let go on the tuning peg, it would instantly go slack 
again. Took me ages to make it stick. Not sure if worn out or just 
poorly made in the first place...

I'm wondering whether I should pay to have the violin restringed, or 
just buy a decent-quality violin. Given my playing skills, probably the 
former...

Post a reply to this message