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Tenor Viol's musings

nigeld said:
. . . and very nice too. :thumb::thumb::thumb:

Bari and sop in quick succession.
It's good to see the GAS flame burning brightly in the Cafe. >:)

So I'm wondering whether the next one will be a bass or a sopranino?
Or maybe the elusive alto in F.
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Well, I did decide a while ago that as retirement gets nearer, I will upgrade my saxes to 'good' ones. I have no intention.... of buying a bass or a sopranino... Upgrading the cello is on the agenda though... that will be very expensive as likely to cost around £10k

I did try a Yani tenor yesterday, but I didn't think it was that big a step up from the Hanson LX - but to be honest, I need to be in better playing condition to make a proper assessment I think. Also needs more time.

For alto, I'm thinking possibly vintage, or maybe a Yamaha 62? Currently I have the Elkart 100AS - which although basic, does play well, although a little heavy.

I should be retired by this time next year...
 
tenorviol said:
The mouthpiece is the marbled original ebonite (same that @nickh has I think). The sax is a WO10 so interchangeable straight/curved necks - I prefer curved. I would have gone for the bronze version, but that was just pushing the costs too far!

Original Ebonite | Morgan Fry Mouthpieces
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Nice purchases Ron!

I have the Ebonite. Must be good as i've not even thought of a new mouthpiece for 2 years.

Well except the MF vintage slant 7 I played at Sax.co on our london trip :eek:
 
Just home from a few days away in Wales. Had a chance to do some serious landscape photography with my new camera (well, new middle of last year) and had a go at both HDR (high dynamic range) photography and also my first attempt at astrophotography with a digital camera (I last did any astro-photography around early 1990s...)

First up is an attempt at HDR taken in Barmouth looking towards Cader Idris.

Then we have a 30 second pic of Perseus, the Double Cluster, Milky Way, and M31 the galaxy in Andromeda... it's not perfect as there is a bit of drift - I think a slightly shorter exposure would fix that...

_DSC1561_edited-1.jpg


_DSC1811_edited-1.jpg
 
OK time for some sax related updates...

I've been trying to put in a little practice - I even took the tenor with me to Wales last week. Going to take some work to get back in form... just not playing enough. I don't usually have pitch issues, but there were some sour notes, especially the top A. I think some of it is the sax needing a service as the side Bb issue (sometimes sounds the harmonic 12th) is probably a leak. I'm going to see if I can get it into Curly Woodwind for a check over. I could get a freebie if I took it to Hanson's in Marsden, but that's an entire day off work.

Not had much time on the sop yet. I'm backing off on the reed strength. Tried a Vandoren 2.5 to start - too much. Tried a 2 this morning, still a big ask... Time for a 1.5 I think...

Anyway, off to orchestra now with cello to rehearse Sibelius symphony #5.

EDIT
Meant to say... trying various reeds. I bought a Bari plastic reed for the tenor and so far I don't like it. Tried the D'Addario Select Jazz reeds in Liverpool last week - quite liked the 2H, so bought some to see how I get on with them. Also bought a Legere Classic reed 2.5 - not as expensive as the Signature (which I liked, but it wore out (split) rather quickly).

Will provide updates.
 
tenorviol said:
Just home from a few days away in Wales. Had a chance to do some serious landscape photography with my new camera (well, new middle of last year) and had a go at both HDR (high dynamic range) photography and also my first attempt at astrophotography with a digital camera (I last did any astro-photography around early 1990s...)

First up is an attempt at HDR taken in Barmouth looking towards Cader Idris.

Then we have a 30 second pic of Perseus, the Double Cluster, Milky Way, and M31 the galaxy in Andromeda... it's not perfect as there is a bit of drift - I think a slightly shorter exposure would fix that...

View attachment 12449

View attachment 12448
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We had a lovely weeks stay in Dolgellau last Year. We hired some bikes and rode down the trail of the now disused rail route and over the bridge to Barmouth.

We didn't get the chance to get up Cader Idris, but would love to go back.
 
Halfers said:
We had a lovely weeks stay in Dolgellau last Year. We hired some bikes and rode down the trail of the now disused rail route and over the bridge to Barmouth.

We didn't get the chance to get up Cader Idris, but would love to go back.
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Did you visit any stately homes? There’s one called Plas Teg, which I really want to visit.
 
Alice said:
Did you visit any stately homes? There’s one called Plas Teg, which I really want to visit.
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No. That is a bit of a drive from where we were staying. We were pretty lucky in that we had two weeks in Wales (a week in Dolgellau and a week in Pembrokeshire), with about 20 minutes rain for the entire period. So plenty of outdoor stuff.

The sad thing is it wasn't last Year, it was 2017! Where's it all going (the time and my memory!)
 
As you will have seen it was ensemble day on Sunday. Due to absences, I was mostly playing tenor, with some soprano. Some of the time sop was OK but struggled with some higher notes. Reflecting on various comments from people, going to try it with an ‘easier’ mpc and I bought an assortment of softish reeds to try. Obviously going to take a while to sort.

Tenor needs a service, but not sure when I can schedule that in...

And in other news! I have a ‘significant’ birthday next year, so planning ahead, I’ve booked a holiday for this time next year, which will be about a month after my birthday. It should also mean I’m retired... D minus 340 and counting...
 
Had the stress of dealing with various domestic techie items. I was not happy with the proposed hike in the price of my Sky (satellite TV for those to in the UK) subscription. So rang them up and changed my package. This has halved the price and today I've had new dish installed (the old one had been there 20 years) and upgraded to a 2Tb Sky Q box, which is also connected to my wi-fi.

Just as well that yesterday my upgraded broadband service started...

Let's hope all this tech works...
 
The orchestra that I play in on Thursday evenings is what is known as a 'rehearsal' orchestra, which just means we don't give concerts. Loosely speaking, we play three works - usually an overture, a symphony, and some other piece or pieces. Tonight was the last run of the current music:Beethoven's Coriolan overture; Brahms Symphony #2; Ravel Pavan. The second movement of the Brahms opens with a tune for the cellos... which is a tad tricky...

12560
 
Yesterday was the BGSO Spring concert. Programme was Copland Fanfare for the Common Man; Ibert Cello Concerto; Adagietto from Mahler 5; Warlock Capriol Suite; Sibelius Symphony 5...

drive.google.com

IMG_0700.MOV

drive.google.com drive.google.com

The video clip is from the Ibert.

The venue is St. Paul's in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, which is a Baroque church from C18th.

12570
 
tenorviol said:
Yesterday was the BGSO Spring concert. Programme was Copland Fanfare for the Common Man; Ibert Cello Concerto; Adagietto from Mahler 5; Warlock Capriol Suite; Sibelius Symphony 5...

drive.google.com

IMG_0700.MOV

drive.google.com drive.google.com

The video clip is from the Ibert.

The venue is St. Paul's in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, which is a Baroque church from C18th.

View attachment 12570
Click to expand...


Quite a dapper cellist!
 
OK - this is a MAJOR post...

As regular readers know, I started my musical life in my 30s when I started singing lessons. My teacher decided I was a'light baritone' which means I am an upper bass singer. I have sung in many groups and choirs since then and performed in many concerts. In the quarter century since then I have had some amazing experiences, the height of which was probably singing Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony with the RLPO in the Royal Albert Hall in a BBC Proms concert, although singing Mahler 2, also with RLPO, in Chester Cathedral was probably a close second. Several of the events I've sung in were broadcast - the Prom Concert was on BBC 4 and another item was on BBC2.

I've always had a powerful upper voice - I can hammer nails into doors with top Ds and Es (that's D and E above middle C). My lower voice is resonant until down to around Bb, but fades quickly and bottom F is basically on or off - can't do anything with it.

I went on a Kodály singing workshop this last weekend. Kodály was a C20th Hungarian composer who developed methods for training and teaching people musicianship and singing.

There were some scary aspects. My musicianship group of 8 people being introduced to Kodály solfège (singing using solfa), using the hand gestures and rhythm names. This included vocal improvisation... which finally led to all 8 of us improvising simultaneously to a given rhythm and tone set...

We were also introduced to Alexander Technique.

One of the tutors, Allan Hubert-Wright, is a 'voice scientist' who as well as being a singer and a teacher, specialises in the study of the voice and teaches and trains leading opera singers.

I had a private lesson with him. I explained the challenges with my voice and he did some work on it. Because I was 'voicing' as a baritone, it was 'hiding' my real voice... It seems I should have been a tenor, and not just a low tenor, but a high tenor - he had me pinging top C#...

So, now I need to find a singing teacher... I've not had singing lessons since I moved house in 1999...

More info here
 

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