birds and strings
Jan. 1st, 2013 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thanateThere are about a dozen robins flitting through the oak outside the bedroom window. I guess they must have come down from New England or somesuch and don't see any point in heading farther south yet. Twenty years ago, I spent many Northern VA winters being frustrated by snow that mostly happened somewhere in the middle of rain/sleet/slush storms; at the time, Baltimore was above the line where people got actual snow rather than intermittent ick. Now the snow line has pushed on northwards, leaving me in the sleet and freezing rain. Stupid global warming.
Grauwulf got me another six foot tall yard stake with hanging hooks for Christmas, so I put a bird feeder back up outside the living room window; the backyard is a much better place for a feeder (being overhung with tree branches and thus providing a little theoretical safety from the hawks) but there's a carolina wren who has discovered the bounty of peanuts and is working on single-beakedly cleaning it out, much to the entertainment of the cat.
Last night I got the chance to poke at a tromba marina (this particular one, in fact, for which I was apparently the instigator-- there's a video of Allesondrea playing it); it was very cool-- not exactly a solo instrument, and the gut string will need to settle out before it'll be clear whether it will be able to muster the volume needed for ensemble playing, but it makes excellent moosely gronking noises. Hee! (Allesondrea also brought a very simple early bow-- the kind you hold upside down and tension with your fingers-- which I could totally make one of, even though I have Nothing to play with it... Come to think of it, the last time I was at a party at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ballistabob's house, I ended up buying a marvelous early 1600s costume book for the glove patterns I may never actually make up partly because of Allesondrea going on about it. I mean, it was belfebe's book, but Allesondrea was the one who brought out her ipad and ordered copies at the party. Hm...)
In any case, the part of my brain that covets all stringed instruments ever (particularly bowed strings) didn't actually kick in and work out what I'd do with a tromba marina until about 5:30 this morning, at which point it occurred to me that obviously it's the perfect accompaniment instrument to something dismal and modal like the selkie's lament (which I still ought to record at some point to share with the lyricists... and of course it being 5:30 in the morning I then went off on a tangent of re-working the lost lullaby for the exposed child which ought properly to be accompanied by cheap penny whistle. It may come as no surprise to those of you who know my taste in songs that I *may* sing some slightly disturbing things to my pre-vocal child.) I also think it would work better on a less smooth floor than the hardwoods from last night, as when you have to prop the end with your feet to keep it from escaping you can't reach the higher harmonics without hitting yourself in the head with the bow-- I think with the 3/4 size it might actually work best to rest the scroll against one's chest rather than trying to work with over-the-shoulder at all.
Xposty from dreamwidth.
Grauwulf got me another six foot tall yard stake with hanging hooks for Christmas, so I put a bird feeder back up outside the living room window; the backyard is a much better place for a feeder (being overhung with tree branches and thus providing a little theoretical safety from the hawks) but there's a carolina wren who has discovered the bounty of peanuts and is working on single-beakedly cleaning it out, much to the entertainment of the cat.
Last night I got the chance to poke at a tromba marina (this particular one, in fact, for which I was apparently the instigator-- there's a video of Allesondrea playing it); it was very cool-- not exactly a solo instrument, and the gut string will need to settle out before it'll be clear whether it will be able to muster the volume needed for ensemble playing, but it makes excellent moosely gronking noises. Hee! (Allesondrea also brought a very simple early bow-- the kind you hold upside down and tension with your fingers-- which I could totally make one of, even though I have Nothing to play with it... Come to think of it, the last time I was at a party at
ballistabob's house, I ended up buying a marvelous early 1600s costume book for the glove patterns I may never actually make up partly because of Allesondrea going on about it. I mean, it was belfebe's book, but Allesondrea was the one who brought out her ipad and ordered copies at the party. Hm...)In any case, the part of my brain that covets all stringed instruments ever (particularly bowed strings) didn't actually kick in and work out what I'd do with a tromba marina until about 5:30 this morning, at which point it occurred to me that obviously it's the perfect accompaniment instrument to something dismal and modal like the selkie's lament (which I still ought to record at some point to share with the lyricists... and of course it being 5:30 in the morning I then went off on a tangent of re-working the lost lullaby for the exposed child which ought properly to be accompanied by cheap penny whistle. It may come as no surprise to those of you who know my taste in songs that I *may* sing some slightly disturbing things to my pre-vocal child.) I also think it would work better on a less smooth floor than the hardwoods from last night, as when you have to prop the end with your feet to keep it from escaping you can't reach the higher harmonics without hitting yourself in the head with the bow-- I think with the 3/4 size it might actually work best to rest the scroll against one's chest rather than trying to work with over-the-shoulder at all.
Xposty from dreamwidth.