Elettaria

An old friend of mine, whom I met on a music camp in Israel when we were fifteen, has written a really lovely piece called "Rising" which you can read about and listen to here. As well as being hauntingly beautiful, it does interesting things with interfaith ideas. Nissim is always looking for more people to perform his music, so if you can get together a group of two sopranos, a contralto, a baritone and a violinist (though apparently any sustaining instrument will do), do get in touch with him.

Janitor's Piano Talent Revealed

This isn't Good Will Hunting (a film I hated, by the way). This isn't a discovery of untutored genius. This is a man who studied at the Akademia Muzyczna and was a professional musician in his own country, having to take a low-paid, unskilled job because of the way immigrants are treated in this country.

[title:] Adams 4.3 oct marimba MCPV
[category: Musical instruments > Percussion > Xylophones/Glockenspiels]

Adams 4.3 octave Concert series marimba, model MCPV, serial no. 9616040. This is Adams’ best-selling model, suitable for professionals, students or schools. The bars are graduated African padouk, a very good sounding wood with a clear pitch. The height is adjustable, and the instrument breaks down for easy transport and will fit into a car. To find out more, visit the manufacturer’s website at http://www.adams-music.com/products/marimbas/concert.htm.

( Rest of ad and pictures )

ETA: It's up! Let me know if you think anything needs tweaking. It's very slightly different from what I put above. This is what I'm competing with. I decided it was better to advertise while that auction was still in progress.

Does anyone have advice on how to deal with the financial side of things, considering that it will most likely be a private sale? Cheque or bank transfer and wait for the funds to go through?

I've also got a few concerns about the condition which I've posted about here.

( Here's the proposed ad )

Could some kind person with Photoshop or similar do a version of that picture which doesn't have the background, without distorting the picture of the marimba?

I've just made what should feel like more of a decision than it is. I've decided to sell my marimba (MCPV, in the Concert range). I was a keen percussionist at school, getting thrown into the orchestra at 11 and having percussion lessons from 16-18, and so I spent the summer between school and university temping in order to buy a marimba, which I did. Five months into university I got ME/CFIDS, and it hasn't gone away, nor does it show any signs of doing so. My muscle strength is crap, I can't stand for long, I haven't played in an orchestra for nine years, and I've finally accepted that the poor beast just isn't going to get played. It's 207 cm long and 90 cm wide at the low end, and I think I'd be better off with the space, not to mention the money (they're £2400 new, same as ten years ago, and people are generally advising me to ask for half as it's in very good nick). I've started asking around music colleges and percussion teachers, with any luck I'll be able to find a buyer, and I might even try eBay, although I don't know how many people in the Edinburgh area are searching for one there (and it's far too big to throw in the post).

So now I'm getting excited planning what I can do with the space it currently occupies, apart from tidying hell out of it before I can even show the marimba to prospective sellers (papers on top of it, boxes underneath...) I've been yearning after a sewing machine for some time, but never had the space for it before. I reckon I could get a desk in there on the right and make a general sewing corner of it, and another bookcase on the left if I needed it. I may even use the desk from my bedroom, I hate using the computer in there and it just ends up clogged up with stuff (too near the wardrobe), so perhaps I could have an armchair in my room (though is there really any point when it's a one-bedroom flat and there's a sofa which is the most comfortable reading spot?). I'm also going through the flat calculating which bits of furniture could be replaced with better storage, in the no doubt vain belief that the place wouldn't be such a tip if I had more storage. This place really needs blitzing, I've accumulated a ridiculous amount of junk over the years.

I expected the idea to hurt, but I think it got past that stage years ago. I got ill so soon after getting the marimba that I never even got a chance to bond with it. I'm actually finding the idea liberating (which seems faintly blasphemous), though it could just be an attack of nestiness, wanting to change the flat round a bit. Of course, if anyone suggested that I sold my beloved piano (1924 Bluthner boudoir grand in rosewood), I'd bite their arm off!

I decided to transcribe another Dowland song which I have on CD. You may listen to the song here (it's on YouSendIt, so if you plan to listen more than once, save the file as it will expire after a while).

( Here's my transcription, does it look correct to you? )

New CD of Brahms symphonies, Berlin Philharmoniker conducted by Karajan (the 60s recording, which is fabulous). Look at this:

Number of photos of Brahms: 0
Number of photos of Berlin Phil: 0
Number of photos of Karajan: 18

( Further details and the obligatory Karajan joke )

ETA: Since I'm feeling rather proud of this, here's the result of a slightly tangential conversation that started up when I remarked that if you're going to plagiarise, Mr Brahms, pinching a bit of something incredibly famous such as Beethoven 9 is not clever. I then had a moan about Beethoven's never-ending cadences (friend of a friend of a friend's father reckoned that Beethoven just couldn't come). elfbystarlight, who can't read music, was naturally rather puzzled.

elettaria: A cadence is like saying "That's it," at the end of a story; or of a paragraph, in a smaller way. They're often used for ending phrases, and used importantly for ending movements. "That's it" is two words, right?
elfbystarlight: What's a movement? [Digression to explain what a movement is.]
elettaria: Beethoven does the equivalent of this:
That's it! That's it! That that that that's it, that's it, that's it, THAT'S IT, THAT'S - IT. It itty-itty-itty-itty-itty-IT.
(multiply by about ten)

In other news, I managed to get round the Gyle shopping centre in a wheelchair on Monday, and haven't been too shattered since. When borrowing the wheelchair from the information point, I enquired whether there was a curfew, since Shopmobility had wanted their wheelchairs back by 4.45. "Yes," the (fairly old and unattractive) security guard said, absolutely deadpan, "I want you in bed by seven." I don't think he had any idea what we'd said, and CM and I managed to get a discreet distance away before gettting the giggles. I decided not to say, "Best offer I've had in years," to the guy, just in case.

rymenhild, puzzled by the traditional Passover song Chad Gadya, has challenged her readers to interpret it. It really got me thinking, so here's my answer. Go first to this post, in which she gives the translation and also an intriguing recording of the song. (There's another version available here, the Israeli version; sung by kindergarten children, I'm afraid, but this is the version I've always heard sung.) For those who are less familiar with Passover, it is a Jewish festival which celebrates the Exodus, the escape from slavery in Egypt and journey to the Promised Land, under the leadership of Moses, and there is a preoccupation with lists and hierarchies in the songs and in the spoken text. Here's a basic guide to Passover rituals.

( On reflection, this song is pretty grim )

And now I challenge you all to interpret my interpretation.

I will not read Billy Budd until I have finished Vanity Fair.
I will not read Billy Budd until I have finished Vanity Fair.
I will not read Billy Budd until I have finished Vanity Fair.

The library was shut by the time I'd dropped into JW's office to natter about the use of Beethoven in Forster and just about everything else, but on the way back I nipped into the bookshop formerly known as MacFeely's and found a copy of the Melville. It's scribbled on, but for 50p who cares. I acquired Sedgwick's The Epistemology of the Closet earlier this afternoon since it was being quoted every other page in Queering the Pitch, and she turns out to have an entire chapter on it, so between that and my interest in the Britten opera, it was high time. I wonder if it'll be as screamingly queer as I expect? Closets in the nineteenth century seem to be very strange affairs, just look at Ben Hur. Here's what's on the back of this edition:

( Spoiler ahead - don't blame me, blame Penguin Popular Classics )

In this case, Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology. It is sad to announce that queer musicology is in its infancy, and rather puzzling too, since, let's face it, the music world is positively swarming with gay men. So this book is rather a mixed bag, but it's very exciting and provided a tremendous amount of food for thought.

( So, the epiphany )