The GOAT Reunion Orchestra rehearsal on Sunday led me back to that eternal question: just what is music?
How do we define a sound as being either musical or a racket? Does the context matter or is it all really just noise? I'm reading a book at the moment which investigates and explains sounds found in the natural landscape, animal kingdom and man-made world. It also includes a little on how to listen. When I've finished reading it I'll talk more about that but here is one example. My robin has taken to singing at night and the book explores the theory that there is so much noise pollution in urban areas that some birds and animals are adapting their ways to cope. Robins sing at night simply because it is the only time they can be heard. He's not loud but I can hear him as I nod off to sleep. Last time I heard birdsong while trying to drop off to sleep was the morning of an assignment deadline at college but that's going back a few years now.
With noise and sound on my mind at the moment this appropriately popped up on the social media today:
http://aporee.org/maps/
I started off listening to the waves on the beach of an island just off the coast of China, then I went to Brazil to hear some Carnival and a spot of the rainforest, stopped by Cambridge to hear the church bells on a Sunday morning, heard some screechy birds in Australia and street sellers in Nairobi. Half an hour later I got distracted by a descending minor third chime (the door bell) and I went to let my pupil in for their clarinet lesson.
I'm currently listening to some street musicians in Georgia. Fortunately I did my harp practise before discovering this website and managed a good 40 minutes. The tempo marking for 'Showing Off' is quite quick and way beyond me at the moment. I don't think it needs to go that fast all the time as showing off involves lots of deliberate extravagent movements to attract attention, at least that's how I understand it! Anyway I will probably need to get a move on for some of the phrases. So it is slow but because the chord sequence is quite straight forward and it's not too long this one is almost from memory. Even if my fingers don't know what they're doing my brain can see what notes they should be finding. The Scarlatti is going the same sort of way. The four bar phrases follow established patterns and there is a lot of repetition making it easy to remember. I'll keep plodding on with these for now focussing on a few bars in a bit more detail each time. I also ran through the Bach C major Prelude which is partly for fun and partly for a family wedding I will be playing at in the summer. This one is almost there as I did an abridged version last summer but it has a lot of lever changes so I'm keen to get those mastered.
Still no sponsors but I have had a few pledges and I've not pushed my campaign into all the places it could go so that will be an aim for the next few days. Any donation, large or small, or the purchase of a concert ticket will guarantee the dedication of a practise session and a mention on the blog and will ensure my continued improvement both for helping my team to victory at Clueless in Concert and for reaching the right standard for Grade 6! The link is
https://www.justgiving.com/Stephanie-Reeve1/
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