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opera-ghosts · 8 days ago

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Jenny Lind - THE "METHOD."

The voice was a brilliant and powerful Soprano, combining the volume and sonority of the true Soprano drammatico — to which class of voices it unquestionably belonged — with the lightness and flexibility peculiar to the more ductile and airy Soprano sfogato, with the characteristic tenuity of which it had, however, nothing in common.

Its compass extended from B below the stave, to G on the fourth line above it — in technical language, from b to G ; that is to say, a clear range of two octaves and a sixth.

The various registers of this extended compass were so skilfully blended into one, by the effect of art, that it was impossible for the most delicate or attentive ear to detect their points of junction. In fact, after the completion of its cultivation under the guidance of Signer Garcia, the entire voice became one homogeneous whole, so even in its calibre, that the notes were avowedly sung without a thought as to the best way of "placing" them.

Certain regions, however, possessed marked aesthetic qualities, very clearly distinguishable, though they could be modified, at will, in accordance with the demands of the passages into which they were introduced. For instance, three notes of the middle register, were invested, in piano passages, with a veiled tone of ravishing beauty — as in the long-drawn A, in the middle register, which forms the opening note of Casta diva. These three notes were more seriously iu jured than any other region of the voice, by the hard work and faulty method of production that had been forced upon Mdlle. Liud before her journey to Paris. It is well known to every experienced Maestro di Canto, that more voices are injured by the attempt to sing these three important notes in the lower instead of in the middle register, than by any other error of production whatever ; and there can be no doubt that it was this error that caused so much trouble to Mdlle. Lind, who, notwithstanding the beautiful tone by which the notes in question were afterwards characterised, assured Froken Signe Hebbe * that she believed that they " never became quite right."

Of the F# so much admired by Mendelssohn, the A above it, brought prominently forward in a syncopated passage in the same slow movement of Casta diva, and the same A, with the C above it, used as the first two notes in the Taitzlied aus Dalelcarlien, we have already spoken in former chapters.

It was remarkable that these exceptionally high notes, though brilliant beyond description, when used at their full power, could be reduced to a pianissimo as perfect as that of the veiled tones of the middle register. The pianissimo, indeed, was one of the most beautiful features of Mdlle. Lind's singing. It reached to the remotest corner of the largest theatre or concert-room in which she sang ; it was as rich and full as her mezzo forte ; yet it was so irnlj piano that it fell upon the ear with the charm of a whisper, only just strong- enough to be audible. The reader will not have forgotten that Her Majesty regarded this pianissimo as one of the most beautiful characteristics of Mdlle. Lind's singing, and that, in the letter , Chopin spoke of its " charm " as " indescribable."

A wholly different effect — though bearing a certain sort of analogy to this — was produced in the Koricef/ian Echo Song by a pecuhar tightening of the throat, which Madame Goldschmidt once tried to explain to the writer, though the process was so purely subjective that she said it was almost impossible to describe it in words. The effect produced so nearly resembled that of a natural echo, reverberated from the opposite wall, that it never failed to mystify an audience before which it was presented for the first time.

The notes, C, D, E, F, G, A, marked (g) in our diagram, were noticed by Mdlle. Lind, at a very early period, as the best notes of her voice. And judging, from their position in the scale, that her voice was intended by Nature to develope into a Soprano of exceptional height, she practised these notes, with the semitones between them, more diligently than any others, with the full determination to extend the process until the tone of the remaining portions of the voice became as rich, as pure, and as powerful, as that of the six notes which she regarded as forming the fundamental basis of the whole. How fully she succeeded in carrying out this intention we know already ; and it is scarcely too much to say, that it was to this firm resolve, and the clear foresight which prompted it, that her ultimate success is mainly to be attributed.

Mdlle. Lind's voice was not by nature a flexible one. The rich sustained tones of the soprano drammatico were far more congenial to it, than the rapid execution which usually characterises the lighter class of soprano voices. But this she attained also, by almost superhuman labour. Her perseverance was indefatigable. Among the Cadenze with which she was accustomed to embellish Jier favourite Airs was one adapted to a Movement from Beatrice di Tenda, introducing a scale passage ascending chromatically to the upper E flat, and then descending in the same manner. She once, while at the zenith of her career, told Froken

Signe Hebbe that she had practised this passage all her life, but that it was only quite lately that she had succeeded in satisfying herself with it ; adding, that she never allowed herself to indulge in singing such difficult passages before the public, until she had thoroughly mastered them, but preferred simplifying them to running the risk of an imperfect rendering of the notes.

Another remarkable feature in Mdlle. Lind's singing was the shake, which she delivered, at will, either with unapproachable brilliancy, or in the form of a whisper, more like the warbling of a bird than the utterance of a human voice.

Though it is necessary that a perfect shake should always begin with, and lay the metrical accent continuously upon, the written note, it is notorious that most shakes fail through want of attention on the part of the singer to the upper auxiliary or unwritten note. The general tendency is to let this note gradually flatten, until, in very bad cases, the distance between the two notes is diminished from a tone, to little more than a semitone. So well is this fact known, that the late Mr. Cipriani Potter once told the writer how he had been taught, in his youth, to separate the notes so widely that " a cocked hat could be thrown between them." Mdlle. Lind devised a cure for this corrupt delivery of the shake. In teaching, she legem by impressing the upjjer note upon the ear, as the most important, both as to strength and duration, at this early stage of the process ; leaning, as it were, upon it, and slurring up to it from the lower interval. She employed for this purpose, first, the leap of a fifth, then that of a fourth, and so on, until she reached the semitone, continuing the shake exercise between the two intervals, ivhatever their distance, for some time, before proceeding from the wider intervals to a lesser one ; always adhering to the upper note as the most important one ; and always making beginners practise it with extreme slowness.*

The following exemplification of this particular exercise, written, by herself, a few years ago, for the guidance of a young vocalist, has been found among her music : —

At a later period of instruction, the notes marked {a) and (b) were to be omitted, and the succession of intervals blended into one continuous exercise, thus : —

But it was not until after considerable advance had been made, that the exercise was allowed to be sung with any degree of quickness.

When, at last, after diligent practice, the perfect shake was attained, it was sung with the rhythmic accent on the real or written note, thus : —

not thus : —

The various effects we have here attempted to describe would have been impossible, but for that skilful management of the breath of which we have before had occasion to speak when treating of Mdlle. Lind's studies under the guidance of Signor Garcia. Her chest had not the natural capacity of Mdlle. Alboni's, or Signor Enbini's ; but she renewed her breath so rapidly, so quietly, so cleverly, that the closest observer could never detect the moment at which the lungs were replenished ; and, by the outside world, her extraordinary sustaining power was attributed to abnormal capacity of the lungs. The apparent ease with which she attained this difficult end was due to an artfully-studied combination of the processes technically termed "costal" and "clavicular" and " davicular * breathing " ; in the first of which — used only after the completion of a distinct phrase of the vocal melody — the lower part or " base " of the lungs, freed from the last remains of the previous breathy is refilled, to its utmost capacity, without undue precipitation, yet with sufficient rapidity to answer all practical purposes ; while in the second — used for the continuation of phrases too long for delivery within the limits of a single inspiration — the lungs are neither completely emjjtied, nor completely refilled^ but replenished only, by means of a gentle inhalation, confined to that portion of the organ which lies immediately beneath the davicuJce, or collar-bones. The skill wdth which these two widely different processes were interchanged, when circumstance demanded their alternate employment, was such as can only be acquired by long and unwearied practice, untrammelled by prejudice either for or against any special method W'hatever ; and it is not too much to say, that it was to the sustaining power, acquired by this careful management of the breath, that Mdlle. Lind owed her beautiful pianissimo, and that marvellous command of the messa di voce which enabled her to swell out a crescendo to its utmost limit, and follow it, without a break, by a diminuendo which died away to an imperceptible point, so completely covering the end of the note that no ear could detect the moment at which it faded into silence.

And no less complete was Mdlle. Lmd's command over the difficulties of articulation than over those of vocalisation pure and simple. Her delivery of the difficult — we had almost said, impossible — passage in the grand Scena from Der Freischiitz — Tduscht das Licht des Monds mich nicht ! f — though so clear and distinct that not a syllable lost its full meaning, was nevertheless so soft and smooth that it could scarcely have been surpassed in Italian. We do not hesitate to say that she was the only great singer by whom we have heard tliis famous crux surmounted without a trace of harshness in the delivery of the words. On one occasion Madame Birch-Pfeiffer left her, alone, practising the word zersplittre (" to shiver to pieces "), on a high B flat, in the opening Recitative in Norma; and, returning several hours afterwards, found her still practising the same word. And she continued to practise it, until she succeeded in pronouncing it quite perfectly on the high note, though few even of the best German vocalists attain a better pronunciation than zerspldttre. But she never erred in the delivery of even the most difficult word in any language whatsoever. So perfect was the mastery she exercised over larynx, throat, lips, tongue, teeth, soft palate, each and all, that never a syllable was stifled at its birth, never a vowel-sound corrupted in its passage through the longest groups of mingled leap, arpeggio, or scale. It was this high quality that lent so potent a charm to the complicated " divisions," the rapid passages of ftoritura of which Lablache, in describing them to Madame Grisi, said that " every note was a pearl." The purity of the vowel-sound, by which the pearls were strung together, secured their perfect equality of tone and timbre ; and, whether the most rapid notes were sung legato, or staccato, they either ran on velvet, or rang out sharply and clearly as the touch of a m.andolme. The tecJmique, in either case, was absolutely faultless, and its perfection was entirely the result of hard work, indefatigable practice, unwearying study. To the end of her career, she never sang in the evening without preparing for the performance by practising for . a long time, earlier in the day — generally, a mezza voce, to avoid fatiguing the voice unnecessarily, but, never sparing the time or trouble. And herein lay the secret of her victory over difficulties which tempt so many less courageous aspirants to despair.

Undoubtedly, the " method " thus diligently cultivated was, in many points, subjective. Mdlle. Lind felt, but could not always explain, the principles upon which she worked. We possess, however, a letter written by her to Fraulein von Jaeger, which enters into some particulars connected with our present subject of consideration, so curiously interesting, that we cannot refrain from publishing them, though the communication bears a date far later than that at which the purely narrative portion of our work comes to a close.

" Ems, June 8, 1855. " And what is my good Gusti doing ? Is she working as industriously as ever at her singing ? " The chief thing that I have to say, today, concerns that part of Friedrich Schmitt's ' Singing-school ' of which you wish for an explanation.*

" I do not think you have rightly understood the point. Eead the paragraph again, and it will surely become clearer to you.

" Naturally, he does not mean that you are to attack a note twice ; but that, before you sound the note, the larynx must be properly prepared in the position in which the forthcoming sound lies, whether high or low. The result of this is a firm attack ; and, as soon as you have sounded one note, you must spring so nimbly on all those above — or below it — that no rift can be detected between the sounds ; and, in this way, the completion of the phrase is accomplished without a break. For instance, the notes

must so hang together that they make one whole ; and this results from binding and striking them, at one and the same time — ^if I may so express myself — though it is almost impossible to explain this clearly in words. But I have often spoken to my Ousti about this, and shown it to her. It lies in the flexibility of the larynx, and must therefore be practised. Sing your exercise, then, so that this flexibility of the throat may be quickly developed. The attack of the single notes will thus be improved ; and the string of notes will follow."

Madame Goldschmidt is quite right, when she says that " it is almost impossible to explain this clearly, in words." No one knew, better than she did, that the best ' Singing-schools ' that ever were published are useless without the aid of a teacher ; for until she found a teacher in Signer Garcia, she wandered daily farther and farther from the true path, until, in the end, her voice but narrowly escaped from utter destruction. When once the truth was pointed out to her, her quick perception and unerring musical instinct enabled her to grasp it at a glance ; and, when once she began to practise upon true principles, the difficulties she had formerly experienced with regard to the method of voice-production were at an end.

On one point she always insisted very strongly. She had an innate hatred of the contortions with which so many vocalists of inferior order disfigure their features when delivering the passages they wish to render most impressive. She was never satisfied with a song, unless the singer " looked pleasant." She regarded singing as a beautiful gift of Nature ; a gift for which those who possess it should feel truly thanlvf ul, and proclaim their thankfulness by the expression of their features. She had a horror of careless articulation, even in speaking. And she felt firmly persuaded that the practice of singing, on the true " method," tended to the invigoration of the body, and especially of a weak chest. She even thought that the lives of many persons with a tendency to consumption might have been prolonged, if they had learned to breathe, and sing, in the right way — an opinion which is held by many medical authorities of highest reputation, and the correctness of which is undoubtedly proved by recorded facts.

So deeply penetrated was Madame Goldschmidt with love for her Art, and faith in its ennobling influence, that, to the end of her life, she took the keenest interest in promoting its instruction, upon the true and well-tried principles of the pure Italian School.

The following letter to the late Mr. H. C. Deacon, in whose method of instruction she felt great confidence, is one of the last she wrote upon the subject : —

" Wynd's Point, Colwall, Malvern, July 31st, 1885. " Dear Mr. Deacox, " It was very kind of you to let me know about the Examinations.* I am glad to hear that my sheep did not badly. If would put her mind into her work she might become a singer. " I can but do my best ; and, with my enormous experience, and a life's study, I ought to be able to bring out singers. " Singing is as much moral and mental as it is mechanical. It is the combination of those qualities which alone can form the master and pupil. " I hope you and Mrs. Deacon are better, and that you will now have some rest. " Yours sincerely, " J. L. GOLDSCHMIDT."

We can scarcely close our present chapter more profitably than by presenting our readers with a summary of the work performed by Mdlle. Lind, in connection with the Operatic Stage, between her first appearance in Der Freiscliutz, on the 7th of March, 1838, and her last, in Rolerto il Diavolo, on the 10th of May, 1849 — a period of little more than eleven years, during which she appeared in 30 Operas, 677 times.

Jenny Lind the artist, 1820-1851 : a memoir of Madame Jenny Lind Goldschmidt, her art-life and dramatic career, from original documents, letters, MS. diaries, &c., collected by Mr. Otto Goldschmidt by Holland, Henry Scott, 1847-1918; Rockstro, W. S. (William Smyth), 1823-1895

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duckymcdoorknob · 1 year ago

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𝓣𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓸𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓭𝓪𝔂 9: 𝓛𝓲𝓮

Head empty zero thoughts.

I shall get caught up I swear to da LORD above.

Im planning on cranking out like 3 tonight

Stream Say It, Just Say It by The Mowglis.

Tags: Pour one out for @chrimsss

—This do have tickles below the cut ngl—

Nagisa was one to say that he proudly tries anything new. It may terrify the life out of him, but he tries anyways. This particular “try” was one that he was having great trouble with…

“So, whatcha up to?”

A certain redhead’s voice makes the latter jump. “Karma!”

“What? Just askin’ a question.” The Akabane boy sat backwards in the desk chair in front of him.

The classroom was empty, save for the blue-haired student. He was fiddling with something small between his fingers, invisible to Karma’s eye.

“Whatcha’ got there? Hmm?”

“Nothing!” Nagisa yelped in reply as he buried his head atop of his arms, hoping to hide the item.

“Fine. Wanna play this the hard way? Sure.”

With a whine of protest, Nagisa held his breath as he felt Karma’s fingers prod at his sides. He just had to hold out…

“Just show me what you’ve got, dear Nagisa.” Karma chimed as he pinched a bit.

The blue-haired boy tried his best, but little giggles dared to slip out. He jumped to his feet, cradling the little items in his hands and holding them over his head

“Oh, that’s- IT!”

The Akabane was soon scaling him like a mountain, yet somehow was managing to miss grabbing the object. “I don’t know how I overlooked what was right in front of me…”

Nagisa looked at his friend with confusion, eyes widening as he saw the boy hovering over him with clawed hands.

“Any last words?” Karma chimed, smiling evilly.

He sighed. “Do your worst.”

Karma’s fingers descended on the boy’s torso, playing his ribs like a piano. Nagisa’s arms lowered a bit, instinctively protecting the sensitive spot.

“Yohohohoull nehehever gehehehet ihihihit!”

“But what is the “it” I’ll never get, hmm?”

“Nahahat tehehehellihihihing.”

“Suit yourself.” The redhead shrugged as he moved down to pinch Nagisa’s stomach.

“Wahahai-hyehehahaha! Kahaharmahaha!”

“Just tell me!”

“Nohohoho! Eep! Nehehever!”

“You’re so annoying!”

“It dohohohoesnt mahahatter! Ihihill nehehever tehehell!”

The game continued for a good amount of time. Damn Nagisa and his stupid endurance. Karma tried everywhere. Knees, neck, tummy, sides, ears, ribs. No reaction. Except until he realized that he was a complete moron and the answer was right in front of his eyes the whole time.

“Won’t you just give up and tell me already?”

“Nohohoho!”

“Why? You love it? Huh? Do you want my attention that bad, or do you want me to just tickle you that bad?”

“NGH- N-Neheheheither!” he lied with a red face.

“Then tell me what you have!” Karma yelled as he moved his hands up under his friend’s arms.

“NAHAHA- KAHAHARMAHAHA!”

“Ahh, bingo! There it is!”

“DOHOHOHONT!”

“But I thought you had such great endurance?”

“NAHAHAT IHIHIHIN THAHAHAT SPOHO- OHOHO GOHOHOHOD”

The blue-haired boy’s arms dropped lower and lower, instinctively protecting the sensitive spot. He giggled helplessly as he fought like hell to keep his arms up. Suddenly, Karma stopped his attack and grabbed Nagisa’s closed hand.

The two fought like cat and mouse until the redhead managed to pry his friend’s hand open.

In a flash, a small pot of ink went flying to the floor, painting both boys and miscellaneous parts of the classroom.

Before either could speak, their teacher appeared before them. Almost like he had some kind of sixth sense…

“Do you two want to explain yourselves?”

“He did it!” Nagisa blurted in panic, pointing to Karma as he panted a bit.

“What- no! He did it!”

Koro-Sensei glared at the two of them as the two boys did the same. “I don’t care who did it, I want to know what happened, and how you two plan on cleaning it up.”

“But I didn’t even-“ the shorter boy dared to argue.

“I’m waiting.”

“Uhhh…. It was all Karma’s idea! He tricked me!”

“Hey!”

“It’s the truth!”

“No it’s not and you know it!”

“Nope! You’re just trying to stay out of trouble!”

“Boys…” his voice overlapped their arguing. “Booys… BOYS!”

The two whipped towards their Sensei, whom was now holding two rags. “Figure out how to clean it. I expect it finished by the time I’m here.”

Karma scoffed as he wet the rag and squatted, swiping at the ink.

“Wait- uh… use… use hand sanitizer.” Nagisa offered sheepishly.

“I don’t need anymore help from you.” the boy hissed.

“I’m sorry I just- here.” Nagisa held open his hand and revealed what the big deal was: a hack-job wooden stamp of Koro-Sensei. “I didn’t want him to see it, so I had to get him out of here somehow.”

Karma’s eyes darted back and forth between the item and his friend’s bashful expression. He wanted to be nice… so badly… but he couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the poor attempt.

“PFFFF- That’s all? I thought you were hiding contraband or something!”

“Hey!” The blue-haired boy cried, a smile tugging at his lips. “I tried my best!”

“Welp, we can add woodworking to your list of “do not let Nagisa attempt again” activities.”

Nagisa snorted as he looked at the item fondly.

“Seems I’m a Jack of all trades…” he mused with a smile, placing the botched stamp on his teacher’s desk. “And a master of none.”

—————♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎—————

#t content #augtickletober2023 #assassination classroom #assclass #ass class #karma Akabane #nagisa shiota #shiota nagisa #akabane karma #ansatsu kyoushitsu #assassination classroom tickle #assclass tickle #lee!nagisa #ler!karma #ticklish!nagisa

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child-of-hurin · 1 year ago

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I was thinking about two passages in LPM tome 1 that I love, that set the part comedic, part tragic tone of the novel's current civilization's complete loss of touch with the one that came before: first, the christian cathedral with stained glass and (classic? renaissance?) statues representing... the norse gods; second, an opera about Tristan and Isolde where the latter is in... a gondola, rowed by a gondolier with a huge hat.

But just to be sure I decided to look up Tristan and Isolde and Gondolas, and found this bit on information [in this website]:

With its distinctively dissonant “Tristan chord,” [Wagner's Tristan und Isolde] is music which, for many theorists, marked the beginning of the “dissolution of tonality” and opened the door to the tone rows of the twentieth century.

Franz Liszt’s haunting solo piano work, La lugubre gondola (“The Black Gondola”), is filled with intimations of “Tristan.” It opens with a solitary, searching line which suggests a dreamy remembrance of the rising sixth of Tristan und Isolde‘s “longing motif.” There are echoes of the tritone, one of the fundamental building blocks of Wagner’s “Tristan chord.” Drifting off into silence, this wandering, increasingly chromatic line is filled with harmonic ambiguity. As the music unfolds, it “finds itself” with a soaring and passionate statement. Yet, this evaporates into ominous parallel chords which sink five notes down the chromatic scale before rising again. The final bars seem to eviscerate tonality, gently outlining the whole tone scale before fading away.

While in Venice in December, 1882, Liszt saw a procession of black-draped funeral gondolas. He claimed to have felt an instant premonition of Wagner’s death. The experience was the inspiration for The Black Gondola, music in which the 6/8 swing of the gondolier’s barcarolle song becomes shrouded in ghostly shadows. Two months later, Wagner died in Venice.

Impossible to know, but obviously now I'm wondering if that jarring addition of a gondolier was, besides a funny way of portraying how disconnected these people are, a nod to this connection. We know the opera being performed can't be Wagner's original score, as there are only two male parts, but it clearly is a nod to it; might even be a modified version of it that survived, somehow...

#it would also not be the first nod to cultural references not immediately familiar to the intended target audience either #makes me wonder how many more I'm missing!#xenowlsome i would never have had any idea that sans-peur-et-presque-sans-reproche was a reference without u pointing it out btw #so my eternal thanks :*#la passe miroir #the mirror visitor #book 1

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thisworldisablackhole · 9 months ago

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The Requiem A Cure To Poison The World

🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

More than just a nostalgia act?

The Requiem, formerly known as L'exquisite Douler (a name which has since been relegated to a 53 second piano interlude), broke onto the scene in 2020 with a simple mission statement; make rock music sloppy again. Feeling disenchanted by the current state of highly processed and autotuned alternative music, this young trio yearned for the early-to-mid aughts when young emotional rock bands gained notoriety by letting their voices crack over the jagged edge of minor scales and double stacks - the way god intended.

Debut album A Cure To Poison The World brings that mission statement to life with a short and sweet love letter to the MySpace era of post-hardcore and emo bands. Damien Douleur is an absolute powerhouse of a frontperson and quickly steals the show by transporting the listener back in time with an immediately familiar sense of desperation and dramatic flair. First track "This Is How The World Ends" is the perfect introduction to the band, swinging out the gates at full speed with a drum roll straight into dark sustained power chords and a grim, violent look into how this world is going to end (spoiler alert: with a moment of silence, death staring into you). It quickly showcases what the band has to offer, and is very polite in the fact that it doesn't waste the listeners time. You'll know in the first 15 seconds if this band is for you or not.

The run of songs from the intro to about the mid way point of the album doesn't miss a beat, and I really appreciate the bands effort to switch things up with the subtlety required when pulling influences from a relatively small pool. Even when the song structures begin to feel repetitive or trite, the hooks are passionate and catchy enough to pull you back in. Third track "Less Than Zero" in particular sticks out to me as a refreshing diversion from smudged eyeliner worship to a more melodic punk offering full of chanted backing vocals, "whoah whoah's" and riffs that would sound right at home on Rise Against's The Sufferer and the Witness. Meanwhile, sixth track "Cursed" brings the tempo way down for one of the best slow dance rock ballads I've heard since MCR's "The Ghost of You". This song builds up into an epic swan dive moment as Damien sings, "as the years go by, I hope that there's a smile on my face when I die" before crash landing back into the chorus like Altaïr into a haystack. It's a simple, yet universal sentiment that is nothing short of beautiful in it's expression.

Where this album loses steam and begins to show it's cracks for me is with seventh song "Two Lovers Left Alive". This song strips away the drums, bass and electric guitar and leaves Damien alone with an acoustic guitar, wisped along by the soft winds of a synthesizer as he sings about (if my hypothesis is correct) some kind of immortal vampire searching for a long lost lover, separated by an infinite amount of space and time? The story is cute, but being unshrouded by loudness, this song just illuminates the reliance on cliché emo tropes that are spattered all over this album like defiant scrawls on the inside of your high school locker; coffins, corpses, and chemicals galore. The lyrics on the album are mostly fine - covering themes of suicidal ideation, apocalyptic doom and the macabre - but the hints of emo vampire romanticism come off as a little too campy for me.

Thankfully the energy picks back up with the next three tracks before closing out with another crooner which gracefully avoids the same pitfalls of "Two Lovers Left Alive" by beefing up the arrangement of instruments to provide a more apt backdrop for Damien's voice. "Before I Go…" also features a few creative spins like a Spanish influenced acoustic bridge, a triumphant electric solo, and a short spoken word poem which culminates in a satisfying bookend to the journey. As good as the closer is, the pinnacle of this last chunk of songs is definitely "Diary Of A Masochist". This was my favourite of the singles released in 2023 and remains one of the strongest and most engaging tracks on the record. A majority of this album, whilst enjoyable, doesn't deviate far from the formula displayed in the first few minutes, but "Diary Of A Masochist" pulls out all the little hooks and daggers to crank that formula to it's most potent form, creating a song riddled with dynamic twists and one of the most intense vocal performances to back it all up. The attention to detail here is just on another level, and it makes me wish that same labour of love was applied more liberally throughout the 36 minutes runtime.

So, now we return to the original question. Is The Requiem more than just a nostalgia act, doomed to eat their own tail? The short answer is… it's too soon to tell. No, they aren't doing anything new, but it's done with such a high standard of quality and reverence for their predecessors that it doesn't even matter. They aren't beating a dead horse; they are resuscitating that motherfucker with 10,000 volts of electricity, and to speculate any further would just soak the fun out of listening. Whether or not the formula will hold up on subsequent releases is another question, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there (and I hope we do). In the meantime, I'm just gonna enjoy the gift that is A Cure To Poison The World; an imperfect, yet highly enjoyable chunk of third wave emo worhsip that resonates just loud enough to pump some fresh blood into your tired heart.

#the requiem #my chemical romance #the used #afi #rise against #fearless records #post hardcore #2000s emo #2000s post hardcore #a cure to poison the world #music

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i-was-bored-so-this-happened · 11 months ago

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Rae Writes!

Indeed she does! She writes on Tumblr, she writes on AO3, she takes requests on occasion! And here she'll link you to all of the fics she's done, with accompanying hashtags and playlists where applicable!

This will be updated as time goes on, but for now I'll be starting with my bigger fics <3

Banner by @late2000shistoricalreenactment i love youuuu

Fandoms

Primeval

The Mandalorian [Star Wars]

His Dark Materials

Baldur's Gate 3

Key

👤Original Character Fic

📄One Shot

📑One Shot Compilation

📚 Multi-Chapter

🪐Alternate Universe

🔀Crossover

Primeval

Alexandra's Evolution 👤📚

Alex Hart just wants to pass her exams. That's all she wants. To pass her exams and [eventually] get her doctorate. And she should have some advantage in that, given that her uncle is her professor’s partner. But then Connor Temple turns up with a suspicious newspaper and convinces Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart to follow him to the Forest of Dean, where a government official called Oliver Leek is waiting for them. Him, a dinosaur, and a portal to the past.

- Tumblr Links (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-?) - AO3 Link - #alex hart - General Playlist - Linear Playlist

The Anomaly Detection Device 📑

Collection of short works written with the help of a random generator I made!

- AO3 Link - Random Generator Link

His Dark Materials

Sanchez & Scoresby 👤📚

A hot-air balloon is on its way North, to Trollesund. Far below them, on the sea, a Gyptian boat sails in the same direction. On the boat is a girl who will change the world and in the sky are two adults who will guide her to her destiny. Their paths haven’t crossed yet, but they soon will, and once they have they’ll never diverge.

- Tumblr Links (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-?) - AO3 Link - #kit sanchez - Playlist

Opus Number One 📄

Just. Soft, chill times with Will and Lyra. Also me being a music nerd and a big fan of Will knowing how to play the piano

- AO3 Link

The Mandalorian

Second Star 👤📚

The Mandalorian finds himself in need of help. Shortly after finding the Child, he realises he isn't exactly cut out for care-taking, but he needs to keep the Child alive until he can deliver him. Luckily for him, he's found an ally in Kuiil the Ugnaught, who knows someone that might be able to help.

- Tumblr Links (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-?) - AO3 Link - #okan the unknown - Playlist

Baldur's Gate 3

Greensleeves 👤📚

Xaph has come crashing to earth with a mind flayer tadpole embedded in her skull. She must find allies, forge friendships and brave the wilds to find a cure for the parasite, a journey which will prove even more perilous than initially expected

- Tumblr Links (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-?) - AO3 Link - #xaph [tav] - Playlist

The Yawning Grave 👤📄

On the sixth anniversary of the defeat of the Absolute, the party - minus one - gathers in Baldur's Gate to celebrate. Xaph [Tav] introduces her firstborn child to Karlach

- AO3 Link

Necromancin' Dancin' 👤📄

Dana can't sleep, and finds Wyll dancing by the campfire. He invites her to join him and inadvertently sparks memories of Dana's love-life pre-tadpole

- AO3 Link

It Will Come Back 👤📚

Gortash has a safehouse in the Outer City where he conducted most of his business before he began to slide up the scale of Baldurian aristocracy. A window on the second floor can no longer be locked because acid had melted the latch away to nothing years ago. He refuses to fix it. It's how Dana likes to let herself in

- Tumblr Links (1-2-3-4-5) - AO3 Link - #dana [durge] - Playlist

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sweettoothedtrickster13 · 10 months ago

Photo

[Image ID: A series of tweets by Pine Barrens at Quiet Pine Trees. The first one reads:

The forest wanted to beg for mercy but knew precious little about us. Pine trees roared like chainsaws, hoping this was the language of man.

The second tweet reads:

Galaxies were mere tide pools. The empty space between them was a killing field of dark-matter predators and electromagnetic anglerfish.

The third tweet reads:

Countless confessions of love were made during the near-apocalypse. Everyone agreed to ignore “les amours finales,” but none were forgotten.

The fourth tweet reads:

“Sorry, but your parts are worth a mint.” She drew her gun on the android. “Every snowflake is special, until you need to make a snowball.”

The fifth tweet reads:

“You can date a girl with mind control powers,” he said sagely, “but stay alert. Make sure she’s saying ‘I love you,’ not ‘you love me.’”

The sixth tweet reads:

The android led him to the cliff. At 8:43 PM, it removed his blindfold. The indigo sky filled his vision. “Make my eyes that color,” it said.

The seventh tweet reads:

The autumn of the galaxy arrived. The Lyman-alpha forest went through redshift, and golden asteroids fell in droves onto nearby planets.

The eighth tweet reads:

“This is the one true star-map,” he whispered. “Time fluctuates wildly beyond our solar system. Everything we know about distance is wrong.”

The ninth tweet reads:

He slipped her the inkwell. “This one is full of forbidden, outlawed words,” he whispered. “Make sure you clean your pen when you’re done.”

The tenth tweet reads:

Journalists from the future would appear as history was made. He got nervous as a crowd of them filmed his blind date from outside the cafe.

The eleventh tweet reads:

The manor house creaked with joy to have someone inside it again. It let a floorboard give way just to feel him brush against its walls.

The twelfth tweet reads:

Keeping a song stuck in his head didn’t block telepaths, but he knew who had been snooping in his brain when they started humming the tune.

The thirteenth tweet reads:

“Muscle memory? No,” she said. “We practice scales to load the piano with notes. It’s an artillery piece, not some magical music-generator.”

The fourteenth tweet reads:

For years, he filled a journal with beautiful lies and impossible hopes. When he found a genie, he simply said, “I wish it was all true.”

The fifteenth tweet reads:

Every time she looked at him she triggered his fight-or-flight response. He’d never been in love before, and it was an easy mistake to make.

The sixteenth tweet reads:

Humans were installed as lighthouses throughout the galaxy, their flaring emotions serving to warn ships away from pockets of linear time.

The seventeenth tweet reads:

The wind grew cold. The leaves turned red. The bark turned red. The soil turned red. The stars turned red. Something was wrong with October.

The eighteenth, and final, tweet reads:

The panels of her corset were portals to deep space. With every waltz, her dance partner circled the galaxy, but he only looked at her eyes.

End Image ID]

#transcribed

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nonbeas · 26 days ago

Text

Tarot is Actually Kind of Helping Me

Wednesday, October 16th, 2024

It could also be confirmation bias, but who knows. I'm woo woo enough for this.

I have a crystal deck that I bought (I know, I know) a long time ago. I don't even remember when I bought it, but it was sometime in college, either during or right before COVID. I got mainly into witchtok during Covid, and that's when I started practicing.

Practicing is a really generous term. I'm generally very much lost, and any practice that I did was just re-purposed Catholicism.

I have devotion candles to Hades, because I like the guy. I don't know if he likes me, but I like him.

In modern times, I light my green candle with the pluto/hades signs to keep me company while I do chores, or while I do some kind of ritual for myself/others. But I don't do it a lot.

I collected a fair number of crystals, I have a pendulum- it's rose quartz. I also recently discovered a goldstone pendulum that I don't recall buying and no one knows where it came from. So, that's cool???? (I probably did buy it and just don't remember doing it. I find that a little hard to believe though because I generally don't buy things that I already own.)

I always loved the idea of tarot but always had a hard time actually doing tarot. I can't read the cards, I have a hard time remembering what each one means without a guide.

So, something randomly motivated me to start doing tarot with my journals, and just like, writing it down and looking up what it means. You know, for fun. But now I'm suddenly more into it.

The tarot reading before the wedding was not for the wedding, I found out. it was a precursor for the whole shit that was going on with the cafe. That let me be in a shit mood for the whole wedding. But I also recognize that it's just pushing me further towards a feeling I was already beginning to feel - identity crisis/feeling lost in general. Not to mention financial stress. I haven't been particularly frugal because I wasn't aware that my idle-ness was going to be followed by real unemployment.

I had a tarot reading today before I went to teach piano. Just being in a room with a piano with time to kill - a piano not a marimba, made me just practice scales and modes, and try to memorize the formula for the modes without relying on thinking of playing each mode in a different key signature.

Like which modes are based on major or minor, and what modification has to be done.

Like, the major modes are ionian (regular major), lydian (major with a sharp fourth), mixolydian (major with a flat seventh, like a dominant chord!) and the minor modes are dorian (minor with a sharp sixth) Phrygian (minor with a flat second, although there's definitely a different version of a Phrygian that has a major third also...) aeolian (regular minor) and locrian ( flat second, flat fifth... the hardest for my head to wrap around using just the rule and not justing thinking about playing it in the key of whatever the second note is instead.)

And I remembered that when I actually apply myself, I rock at music. I rock at music theory. I re-took music theory 3 for fun and did fantastic. (It's the hardest level of theory???? Turns out it's not that hard when it's the only thing you're focusing on.)

I looked up what being a musicologist is - remembering that I do like ethnomusicology. it think that shit is the bomb. Real music is varied. I'm good at the western stuff but that's not even all that music is. Being a percussionist gives a small bit of insight of what it can be like, but even then it's still generally in a western lens.

My student also did not cancel on me, like what I thought death could've been predicting. On the contrary, it's true they didn't really practice. Half their reason is valid - some life trauma was going on. (They still could've practiced... they had a whole month. I'm generally noticing a trend in primary and secondary school dealing with time management skills...) But even when they could've practiced more, they generally hit the mark of the goal through last minute practice in the hour the lesson takes (which means they could get that shit perfect in a month, and we could do a lot more. But we'll go at their pace, there's not a rush for most of this stuff... yet.)

I realized I could probably try to be a private lessons teacher, like, in general. And I might not be total shit at it. Maybe I'd like it, maybe I won't, but I can at least try.

Something I thought about a lot when I tried to teach elementary school is I feel like I can teach the individual student. Kids by themselves are amazing creatures. Kids in a classroom... is a completely different story. Social learning and social constructs, and social perceptions, and personalities, they are the death of learning, because they're not focused on their individual learning when they're in a group. They're focused on social learning. Those are two completely different things. People are different when they're with their friends. People are different when they're with their enemies. People are different when they're being perceived in a group. A classroom is the worst combination of all three of these things. And public school is only trending towards larger class sizes for no reason.

Kids like to learn. But you can't force them to learn what you want them to learn sometimes. Only kids who really really like school will forgo the constant social learning by really engaging with individual learning. And there's a reason "nerds" are seen as socially awkward. Because it's really hard to fully commit to both types of learning at once.

People who do are seen as crazy or psychopaths. Think of someone who is incredibly smart, did well and school and were charismatic, well liked, and invited to parties? If you know someone like this, truly ask yourself if you see them as sane. Do you have a positive perception of them?

The people I know from high school who are even remotely kind of like this... tended to also be bullies. There was something left out in their learning - maybe emotional? It might've been there but was pushed aside because they didn't have the bandwidth.

I'm not saying they're all bullies, but that's who comes to mind.

Back to my original point. I'm starting to think I could realistic try teaching music again - but in a private setting. if this goes well... that opens up a new door of consideration. Performance majors often have private studios or teach in college. That's not something I'm totally against.

If not performance, then musicology of some sort. Most of music learning is theory after all, just applying technique to it.

I'm still stressed, and a little depressed, but I'm in a much better headspace. And it's kind of what the tarot cards told me this morning?

More to come,

Bea

#Journal #Tarot #school #music #teaching #the future #career

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sheetmusiclibrarypdf · 4 months ago

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Basic elements of music

Basic elements of music Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you! Best Sheet Music download from our Library.· Tonality. · The Organization of Duration. · Meter. · Tempo. · Melody Harmony Tonality Texture

Basic elements of music

The four components of tone constitute the basic elements of music. These elements have been organized in music in the following manner: The Organization of Pitch. There are many pitches that exist in nature, but one really does not hear distinct pitches. In Western Music, from which we derive our pitch, the “pitch spectrum” is limited to a total of 12 different pitches. Because of pitch, it is possible to construct musical scales. A scale is a series of consecutive tones. These tones of different pitches may move in ascending order, from tones of lower pitch to higher ones, or in descending order, from higher to lower pitches in the same way that one goes up in a staircase. Without the scale, the organization of sounds into what we call music would be impossible. Although there are many different scale patterns to be found in music, the most commonly used are the major scale and the minor scale. Every major and minor scale is a pattern of whole steps (alternate keys on the piano, including the black keys) and half steps (adjacent keys on the piano). For example, the C major scale has half steps between E and F and between B and the upper C, and all other scale degrees are a whole step apart:

The minor scale in its natural form has the following pattern of half steps between the second and third scale degrees and between the fifth and sixth scale degrees. One can construct all the scales, major and minor, by using the key signature chart in the appendix, or by beginning with any tone and applying the pattern of half and whole steps.

The words whole and half refer to the distance between the successive steps in the scale. Thus, the fact that there is a whole step between the first and the second pitch indicates that one of the 12 tones, a tone between these two pitches, is omitted from this scale. There are five such whole steps, indicating that five pitches have been omitted. The two half steps (between the third and fourth tones and the seventh and eighth tones), however, are adjacent pitches in the total fund of 12 pitches, and thus, no pitches have been omitted between them. The eighth tone in the scale is not a new pitch, it is the same pitch as the first, but placed one octave higher. The entire scale can now be repeated up through the next octave. · Tonality. This is an element of music into which one should have a clear insight for a better understanding of it. In almost any melody, one tone can be found that seems more important more final, than any of the others used in making the melody. Tonality is the key or tonal center. Here, one particular pitch receives more emphasis than the others. Most music is written in a key. This means that all its harmony is related to a single tone known as the tonic. The central pitch is the tonic. Thus, a composition which uses the C major scale and treats C as a tonic is said to be in the tonality (or in the key) of C major; and a composition which used the C minor scale, again treating C as a tonic, is said to be in C minor. The tonality or key of a musical composition is indicated by a key signature, which as mentioned earlier, is placed at the beginning of the piece. The key signature is determined by the scale which forms the basis of the piece being studied. Music in which two or more keys are combined simultaneously in a single composition is polytonal. A practice of the 20th century composers is shifting rapidly from one key center to another. This is referred to as multitonality or displaced tonality. It should be noted that a scale is an abstract arrangement of the pitches in stepwise order forming the basis of a composition (Dudley and Faricy, 1961). The first and last notes of a scale are always the tonic, or central pitch. Thus, if one looks back at the example, (C major scale), it will be noted that the tonic C is the first and last note. · The Organization of Duration. Sounds can be made to last for a longer or shorter period of time because sounds have duration. Thus, it is possible to organize sounds rhythmically. The aspect of music which has to do with the organization of duration is referred to as rhythm, Rhythm is usually considered the most basic musical element. Any combination of notes of different duration produces rhythm: e.g. alternating long and short notes, two short note and a lone one, or a long note and several short ones. Rhythm, in original Greek, means flow. A movement that surges and recedes in intensity. The flow or rhythm assumes many forms in music. Not only the contrast of strong and weak impulses, but also that of long and short note values, and tones of lower and higher pitch, as well as the flow of consonant and dissonant harmonies are experienced as movement which gains or loses intensity. · Meter. As the term implies, it is a way of measuring durations on a fixed, regular pattern, so that the listener becomes aware of the basic pulse or beat. It is by the yard stick that we judge rapid or slow events, by the extent of their departure from the tempo. Our music most commonly assigns the quarter note as the symbol of the metric unit. There are also note values which are shorter than the metric pulse, and those which are longer. Our note values are binary; each may be divided into two of the next smaller unit, and two together comprise the length of the next larger unit.

If we wish to divide our notes into three units rather than two, we use dotted notes; a dot adds one half of its value to a note. Thus, a dotted half note is equal in duration to three-quarter notes instead of two, and the dotted quarter note to three eighth notes instead of two, and so on. Meter, which may be defined as the pattern of strong and weak beats in a measure, is indicated by a time signature which is placed at the beginning of the piece, just after the key signature. The numerator tells us how many beats there are in each measure, and the denominator tells us which kind of note (quarter, half, or whatever) will receive one beat. Thus, if the time signature is 3/4, this means that there are three beats in one measure and every quarter note will receive one beat. If the time signature is 4/4, there are four beats in one measure and every quarter note will receive one beat. Beats can be equated with the footsteps of a soldier marching. If we think of the command -“Mark time, march!” given to CAT or CMT students, and they react immediately by marching, one-two, one-two note that the regularity of the steps is emphasized and that “one” is stressed or accented whereas “two” is not, that is, unaccented or unstressed. Here, we can note a pattern of two beats, the first accented, the second unaccented. This is called duple meter. · Tempo. This is an Italian word which literally means time. In music it refers to speed. Music may move at a fast, moderate or slow speed, and in varying degrees. Customarily, tempo is indicated by such general terms as allegro (fast), vivace (lively), moderato (moderate speed), andante (moderately slow), adagio (slower than andante), lento (slow), largo (very slow), and so on. These terms are still employed, but today, tempo is more accurately indicated in musical scores by metronome designations, which show the number of beats per minute. For example, = 60, which means that there are 60 quarter notes in a minute (thus each quarter note would equal one second). · Melody Melody is that element of music which makes the most direct appeal. It is generally what we remember and whistle or hum. By melody, we mean an orderly succession of tones or musical sounds. It consists of a series of pitches and durations. It displays an overall balance between ascending and descending motions. Leaps in a melody are generally filled in immediately after the leap occurs. The most fundamental feature of melody is continuity. It appeals to the emotion. Oftentimes we say that a melody is either sad or melancholy or gay and happy. A melody may be compared to a spoken sentence in which words have been arranged in certain relationships to one another, and then spoken with varying pauses and inflections. (Ortiz et al., 1976). We notice that the melody divides itself into two halves. Such symmetry is frequently found in melodies dating from the 18th century. Each half is called a phrase. In music, as in language, a phrase denotes a unit of meaning within a larger structure. Two phrases together form a sentence, a musical period. The smallest melodic unit is the motif which expands into a phrase, a succession of tones easily encompassed in one breath. The phrase usually rises to a high point, from which it falls to a point of rest or cadence. A “cadence” in music means a closing phrase. An entire melody is formed out of repeated and contrasting phrases. Melody has four other characteristics or properties: dimension, progression, direction, and register. · Dimension. Melody has two dimensions: (1) length and (2) range. Some melodies are characterized by being short and fragmentary. Such melodic fragments are called motives. Other melodies are long and extended. Many melodies are neither extremely short nor unusually long. The length of the melody is relative to the number of measures which compose it. Generally speaking, popular songs consist of one, two, or more melodies which are repeated several times. This means that the entire song is not only one melody from its beginning to its end. The second dimension of melody is range. The range of a melody is the pitch distance from its lowest to its highest tone. Some melodies are wide in range; other melodies may be narrow in range; and many melodies have only a moderate range. · Register. Register is the relative highness or lowness of the aggregate tones of a melody. A melody may have a high, medium, or low register. In a given composition, the same melody may shift from one register to another. In any case, register affects the quality of a melody. · Direction. Melody moves in two directions of pitch: (1) upwards and (2) downwards. Either direction may predominate in a melody. Moreover, a melody may move rapidly or gradually in either direction: rapidly ascending, rapidly descending, gradually ascending, or gradually descending. A melody which remains at a given pitch level, moving neither up nor down any appreciable distance, is called a static melody. Usually, a melodic line moves towards a high point which is the climax of the melody: A melodic climax may appear near the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the line. Observation of melodic contours will greatly increase your perception and enjoyment of the world’s great melodies. · Progression. Melodic progression refers to the intervals (pitch distance) between the tones as a melody moves from one tone to the next. A melody may move mostly stepwise; that is, it progresses to adjacent notes of the scale or adjacent keys of the piano. · Function of Melody. Melody is the element of music that arouses interest. It is what most listeners can easily identify. It is the musical idea around which a composition is constructed. This melodic idea or basic tune of the composition is called a theme. The theme is of paramount importance to a composition, and it provides one of the most important approaches to intelligent listening. The ability to recognize one or more themes, when they recur in a composition, is a clear indication that you are moving toward full appreciation. Harmony Another element of music is harmony. It is the simultaneous sounding of two or more tones. Harmony is apparent when a singer accompanies his melody with chords on the guitar, or when the pianist plays the melody with his right hand while the left strikes the chords. We are jolted if the wrong chord is sounded, for at that point, we become aware that the necessary unity of melody and harmony has been broken. A chord is two or more notes or tones sounded at the same time and conceived as an entity. The most common chord in our music is a certain combination of three tones known as triad. Such a chord may be built by combining the first, third, and fifth degrees of the C-D-E-F-G-A-B (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do) scale: C-E-G (do-mi-sol). Chord Progression. Chords are not only constructed in a variety of ways, but also progress from one to another according to many different plans. The scheme by which chords change is called chord progression. Harmony, like melody, has rhythm; that is, chord changes may come at regular or irregular intervals of time, thus producing a harmonic rhythm. Sometimes harmonic rhythm is independent of melodic rhythm, which means that it is not determined by melodic rhythm; sometimes it is dependent on it. Harmonic rhythm is static when a given chord is maintained for a number of measures, or chord changes may come frequently, producing a more energetic and exciting effect. Consonance and Dissonance. The distinction between consonance and dissonance is necessary in the discussion of harmony. Certain combinations of tones produce a quality of repose or relaxation, called consonance. Certain other combinations of tones produce a quality of unrest or tension, which is called dissonance. The dissonant chord creates tension. The consonant chord resolves it. What suspense and conflict are to drama, dissonance is to music. It creates the area of tension without which the areas of relaxation would have no meaning. Each complements the other: both are a necessary part of the artistic whole. One who hears much 20th century music will develop a greater tolerance for dissonance than he who limits his exposure to Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Tone combinations regarded as dissonant in their own time come to be accepted by later generations as consonant. One’s capacity to tolerate novel chords has grown steadily. The leader in this development is always the composer, whose imagination grasped the possibilities of new combinations while they were still unacceptable to his fellows; who dared break the tradition, only to be roundly abused; who by sheer force of will impose his vision on the world; and who, after having expanded the artistic horizon of his time, became in his turn the venerated founder of a new tradition that had a new set of rules set forth by disciples who would attack the next innovator as zealously as once their idol had been attacked. Diatonic and Chromatic Harmony. A diatonic harmony is one in which there are very few altered tones (i.e. sharps, flats, and natural signs). Tonality One of the qualities of music which is closely related to and dependent upon harmony is tonality. It is an element of music which is difficult to define, but for our purposes, we shall define tonality as a musical property which creates a sense of gravitation toward a key or tonal center. Here, one tone assumes greater importance than the rest. Most music is written in a key. That means all its harmony is related to a single tone known as the tonic. The key of C, for example, will have as its tonal center do (C) because this is the first and last tone in the scale of C. When the tonic is F, the key is F, and so forth. Most music is written in a single key, and this is the reason an accompanist of a guitarist or a pianist usually asks the soloist in what key he wishes to sing. Once a key is given, he can construct chords to provide harmonic accompaniment to the song. · Polytonality. Music in which two or more keys are combined simultaneously in a single composition is polytonal. Polytonality is used to bring out the different levels or planes of the harmony. Piano music especially lends itself to this usage, the right and left hands playing in different keys. · Multitonality. This is sometimes called displaced tonality. Here the composer rapidly shifts from one key center to another so that the entire key feeling is disturbed. · Atonal music is an innovation of Schoenberg. It is music that rejects the framework of key. Here, the composer avoids any feeling of key at all times. The technique is named as “the method of composing with 12 tones.” Atonality and polytonality are characteristics of modern music, a great contrast to the tonal music composed in previous centuries. · Dynamics. When intensity is applied to a piece of music, rather than to a single tone, it is referred to as dynamics. The term refers to force or percussive effects: degrees of loudness and softness, and the process involved in changing from one to the other. Certain Italian words are used to indicate dynamics. The most important are forte (loud), piano (soft), fortissimo (very loud), pianissimo (very soft), mezzo forte (moderately loud), and messo piano (moderately soft). As to the directions to change the dynamic, the most common are crescendo (becoming louder), diminuendo (becoming softer), and sudden stress (sforzando) accent on a single note or chord. A number of terms embrace both tempo and dynamics. Andante maestoso (fairly slow and majestic) implies a stately pace and full sonority. Morendo (dying away indicates that the music is to become slower and softer). Scherzando (playful) requires a light tone and brisk movement. Con brio (with vigor) suggests an energetic pace and vibrant sonority. Tempo refers to the rate of speed, the pace of the music. It determines the speed of the beats in the measure, their duration in actual time. There is a close connection between tempo and mood; tempo markings indicate the character of the music as well as the pace. Like dynamics, the terms used to indicate tempo and those that indicate changes in it, from fast to slow and vice versa, are generally in Italian. Most frequently encountered are the following:

Music does not always move along at an even, regular pace. It may speed up or slow down gradually or abruptly. Gradual increase of speed is called accelerando; gradual decrease of tempo is called ritardando. When tempo becomes faster, the music is in general more tense and exciting; when the music slows down, relaxation usually takes place. A ritardando is often employed in the concluding measures of a composition. Timbre is tone quality. Every musical medium has its own distinctive quality of tone. The tone quality of each of the following instruments a piano, an organ, an orchestra, a band, a voice, and the like can be easily identified by anyone who has heard these instruments. The same can be stated of the human voice. Read the full article

#SMLPDF #sheetmusicdownload #sheetmusicscoredownloadpartiturapartitionspartitinoten楽譜망할음악ноты

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eremosjournal · 1 year ago

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touching the door

by Elise Letrondo

i touch the door you hold for me

to say “thank you”,

this heavy kindness our mutual friend.

i touch the door you hold for me

to show i am willing to bear its weight with you.

is this what you need?

a weight bearer? a pain sharer?

what could i lose to be like you?

do you enjoy the cloying fear of

eagerness you’ve put in me?

follow my lead:

uncook the steak, unsee my shape,

unlearn that sickening sixth sense,

sit squarely there on the piano bench.

don’t hold the door for me

but take my word for the

abundance of its other side:

unbroken slumber under a newly laundered sheet;

a tower of a thousand towels that i folded in your sleep;

a charming space warmer for the far side of the couch;

this small mouth.

don’t hold the door for me

but speak that grand profanity,

that expletive oath not to mishandle me,

that pregnant “you’re welcome”;

unsend your twenty dollars and unhinge that

magic backdrop we never let come undone;

relearn that forgotten tongue.

i touch the door you hold for me

to say “come in with me, please.”

you pedant of affection, you missed connection,

i’ve scaled all walls of this blackened room: 1, 2, 3, 4.

i’ve called for you and echo-located that deadweight door.

if i hold it for you,

won’t you touch it when you walk through?

#deconstruction #exvangelical #deconvert #ex catholic #excatholic #exchristian #post christian #ex christian #catholic #post catholic #profane #profanity

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jihyokang00 · 2 years ago

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Assignment 1.2

Non-visual prototyping - Add sounds to enhance your paper prototype

Introduction

The second assignment is to further develop the first fitness tracker and put various sounds into it. There are at least six functions that need to be made sound, such as start and stop of a running, go faster and go slower to give feedback on speed, and halfway there and exercise complete to indicate status. I made sounds on the start, stop, and feedback for speed of running, and exercise complete, but in my prototype there is no screen that indicates halfway function, so 'check results' can replace this function.

First prototype of sounds

The first sound is ‘start running’. This sound indicates the start of running and was created using an application called garage band. Among them, a piano was used to make the sound, and I thought that a bright and clear sound was suitable to indicate the beginning of running, so I made a piano called 'whirly' among the types of piano.

The second sound is ‘stop running’. This sound represents the stop, the opposite of the start of running, and this sound also used the garage band application. Although start/stop running are opposite elements, I thought they were sounds included in the same category, so I used the same piano called ‘whirly’. I made the sound gradually lower in the lower scale to contrast with the start running sound.

The third sound is ‘go faster’. This sound is a function that allows the user to recognize that the user needs to run faster to achieve the goal by playing this sound in the middle after the user set a goal and that goal will not be reached. This sound was produced using a garage band, and an 'electric piano' was used to express a fast and cheerful sound.

The fourth sound is ‘go slower’. This sound is a function that allows the user to recognize that it is okay to take a slow break and run by playing this sound when the user has already reached the goal after setting the goal, or when it is judged that the user is running too much. This sound was also made using the ‘electric piano’ of the garage band, and was produced only by changing the sound from a scale such as ‘go faster’ to a slowly descending sound.

The fifth sound is ‘check results’. This sound is the sound produced when the user presses the button to check his/her result after completing the running. This sound was made using the 'glockenspiel', one of the garage band's piano types, and the characteristic of this instrument is that it has a very clear sound. I created a short and simple sound considering the characteristics of ‘check results’.

The sixth sound is ‘exercise complete’. This sound is made when the user presses the ‘stop’ button after the user finished running, checked his results, and exits the running function with the 'end' button. This sound was also expressed using 'glockenspiel' of 'garage band', and it was produced by changing the order of scale so that the sound opposite to the check results could be heard. This sound created the sense that the mission was accomplished.

Testing Protocol

Based on these sounds, the test was conducted. The testers consisted of closer people around me. The task I gave to the testers was divided into three parts. The first was a test on whether start/stop running could be distinguished, and the second was a test on the speed part, go faster/slower. Lastly, I checked whether the tester could differentiate between check results and exercise complete. When I did this testing, I used my laptop and camera for record the results.

As you can see in above my protocol instruction, my main research question was like this. 'What criteria do people use to hear sounds when they distinguish between sounds?'. And I gave introduction for testers briefly and let them know about the tasks that testers should do during the testing. Also, I explained about the feedback questions that testers could say about the functionalities of sounds.

Results and feedback

The results were here. In general, the distinction between start/stop running was perfect for all except for one tester. In the second task, except for one tester, the sound for speed was distinguished. For the third test, three testers gave incorrect answers, except for two. This seems to have confused the testers because the two sounds have the same beat but have opposite sounds.

The feedback I received after the testing was, when I asked which sounds were the easiest to understand and which were the most confused one, the easiest sounds were start running and go faster, and the most confused sounds were complete exercise, check result, and go slower. Some testers said that 'stop running' sound was too long and slow, so it didn't sound like ‘stop’. So, testers said I need to make a more concise and clear sound for stop running sound. Also, for go slower sound, testers said that it would be good to change it to a shorter and clearer sound. Furthermore, some testers confused the sound of check result with the sound of exercise complete, so I thought about whether to supplement this part, but these two sounds consist of opposite flows and the sound progressed concisely, so I decided to keep the original sound.

Insights

After I did this testing, I found that when users are hearing notifications about something through sound, most users want a concise sound. In addition, I realized that users remember bright and cheerful sounds better than low notes and focus on listening to them while thinking about whether they are the right sounds for each situation.

Conclusion

These are the two sounds I changed. Based on the testers' feedback, I changed the two sounds that should be changed the most. I made these two sounds more concise and clear.

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serialjune · 3 years ago

Audio

Time trapezing along the steel girder of the retrofix 9, idioemphatically chewing horoscopes that cast no semblance, such reveries along the spectrum of the Human Self while listless acres of Bristol soil mound atop any real deep need for self-improvement when shaving, homeowner’s insurance and homeland security that overwrite the Quidditch endgame to reinstate identity’s reclamation as sands of Patagonia dream on by the confessionary Sphinx, now a cathexis of Cat Stevens. Nominal appeal of neckties so tight fitting they constrict one’s breath to their own form, catching swagger like Light Yagami or Magnus Carlson: caught cheating as if public masturbation. We are victims of Romans 3:8, yet we never did know what it is the Right stood for/or what it is we are gatekeeping. And so what better way to lose The Game than by remembering where it started in the midst of a song like Le Blue De Ciel?

Bearing only a facile resemblance to the Japa-Francophile ephemeral pop mainstays, nightchannel-worthy Kanno Takeshi, K. Yoshimatsu, sheik outsider art that blemishes with the soul’s unmistakable imprint like Hannah Khiler’s face on Snuff’s Self Titled. For naught, likely. The supernova levels of grand epiphany, scaling the individualist conscious enclosure into collectivized and speciest awakening, the sixth circuit of Tim Leary’s theory bending over for the weaponized fem-monophony that comes skirted in an anthemicism (like all good Zeuhl should) of achingly beautiful operatics, sublime, life-affirming, peak-experiential, the superlative lottery, the revolution of the Lainion’s public reveal, the sentiment of sentiment, a challenge to the inanimate sky.

When Transfigured Night by Schoenberg set to substantiate the importance of its own highly charged critical voicing--transfiguration (in orchestration), it’s from now to the Sufi masters or to even Peter Kember, that we see there is no more resoundingly vocal of a means to spirituality for what is truly a heightened musical expression. What heavenly threads, spun in Spinozan sea silk, to have descended, much like, ‘the piano over Strausborg which articulates God's lucidity in the sweep of the hour's rehearsal', Theresa Hak Kyung Cha articulates in just one moment of quicksilver henosis, the messagerial agent transcribes for the Seraphim with burning tongues as if Marathon made it happen. The absolute, the total contract, the ineffable form of divine (Plutonic/Lumerian) proceeding from only but an enhanced visible shroud. That unspeakable funk of certainty riled with no explicable causes: defiant, righteous, the bliss of sinlessness and knowing this unapologetically, the saboteur among the schoolgirls takes her solo number with all the words in the Armenian dictionary to describe the moment of knowing one is “uplifted”.

Like TouHou or Eddie Marcon, the unexpected reveille of power which illuminates the female's inspiration, from artists who would seem fragile and dainty, also makes this track the ultimate irony to that end, my favorite rendition of the strophic meter in its responsibility to say something important in three minutes or less is enacted wholeheartedly in what should be unrealistic, even for Dionysian altitudes.

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floggingink · 4 years ago

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OH HERE WE GO LADIES IT’S RIVERDALE, CHAPTER EIGHTY: “Purgatorio”

I’m tuning in to be VERY entertained on the grounds that I missed almost the entirety of S4 and will not understand anything

we open with an incredible analogue comparing the football team to the Army, as men do construct rituals: football players get blown into the sky, etc., in a heartrending mash-up of Archie’s innocence + the American ideal/expectations/pipeline of masculinity

Archie Company is decked out appropriately to storm Hürtgen Forest

that art direction trope where a character’s hearing goes EEEEEEEEEEEEEE after an explosion……...delightful

the Vixens and friends cheering him on from the sidelines as if Archie can only process his unprocessable present through the lens of his past………...hits the spot

distressingly wood-based rifles for our purposes

Archie > Dawson: I don’t mind telling you I felt emotion upon Archie hoisting his war buddy over his shoulders to that quadruple-toned “Chivalric Archie Using His Strength for Good” tune, like when he broke his whole hand busting Cheryl out of Sweetwater River

WHEN HE SAW HIRAM LODGE, I’M TELLING YOU!

Hiram’s dragon-scale gloves? absolutely savory; he would

“Yonkers” is one of those New York place names I don’t totally buy is real (Poughkeepsie is another)

the sepia-toned light in this hospital room rings true judging by all the Captain America fanfiction I’ve read; I also like the mint-colored hand towels draped on Archie’s bedframe bought, one assumes, using the Department of Defense’s Kohl’s Cash

Archie made Sergeant, which is the best ranking for a fictional character: important enough that they can be a leader, get into trouble; low-profile enough that you don’t have to write them in the room making terrible decisions; probably won’t die immediately, as a Captain or Private might be

Fifth period is AP English: Archie reads A Farewell to Arms to Corporal Jackson, a WWI novel by Hemingway that Jug definitely turned him onto

Christ, Archie looks good in that on-leave jacket thing

I like Jackson’s subtle graph paper-print hospital gown

Gay?!: was Jackson in love with Archie? is he gonna bus to Riverdale once he’s off his pain meds? RAS, is that you in there?

God you know I love that haunted-ass Exorcist wooden bench bus light lighting

how long has the WW been relocated under Pop’s??? I do NOT know what happened to La Bonne Nuit

Sexy, aesthetic Southside: Fangs’ hair? his Tony Stark glasses? the girls’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” Burmese pythons? Toni’s headdress and immaculate glossed lip?

Sixth period is Intro to Film: the only part of From Dusk till Dawn I’ve seen is Salma Hayek putting her toe in Quentin Tarantino’s mouth but judging from that I figure I’d like the rest

The female gaze: Jesus Sweet Pea still looks good

Toni’s stage is flanked by twin pillars of melting candles and I would like someone to track those down for my bathroom

if they lay one hand on Pop Tate…

Betty appears to be, on her own, running the FBI training course. Betty is such a freak

Betty’s FBI-appointed psychologist is “Dr. Starling,” wears a great yellow blouse; Betty eats what appears to be a mini-sized Milky Way

her blond FBI trainer-boyfriend (uh) Glen appears to be an unholy fusion of Jimmi Simpson and that one actor with brown hair and really sharp light eyes whose acting credits I can’t think of right now, you know who I’m talking about (not the guy from Vampire Diaries)

I quite like her patterned blouse and I hate his yellow (gold?!) and blue tie

Please protect Betty: obviously we stan the Silence of the Lambs shit even as it remains infuriating Bryan Fuller couldn’t get his hands in it

Betty’s cat’s crying was so disturbingly baby-like that I had to leave the room once I realized it was in fact a cat

I’ve watched the Elisa Lam tape too many times in recent hours to handle this hallway shot

REALLY GROSS LICKING NOISES

the Trash Bag Killer coming at her was scary :(

Betty’s lovely blue knit cardi with the puffed sleeves!

50 Shades of Betty: clearing her throat before the doctor quite finishes her sentence—Lili Reinhart continues to be great at conveying “slightly perturbing subterranean tension”

was Charles a serial killer too??? oh damn!

Betty has been successfully holding off giving Glen a key to her place until now, an era that must come to a close

fellas, “Do I at least get a kiss?” is a bad move

Veronica was rich: Veronica’s new digs: exposed brick, bougiely avant-garde chandelier; possibly an elevator door right there behind the dude?

Veronica has married Hiram, to no one’s surprise

Chadwick looks like Jimmi Simpson and brunet Evan Peters plus a jaw

Veronica’s single-puffled-sleeved gown…..madamn (she has absolutely been taking secret birth control pills)

Summer + Blair = Veronica: of course Veronica would be great at Howard Ratner’s job; I MUST know what “specialty showcase haute couture offense” Vinnie has committed

T-Dubbs’ green jacket

Veronica pretended she was working at like, a department store? but she MISSED the EDGE post-day-trading

their apartment is so expensive that their bedroom is totally exposed

oh my god, Hermione

Best costume bit: please get me these satiny green high-waisted slacks?! and ugh her blouse has shoulder tassels……..she’s flourishing

“That’s threatening to an alpha like Chad.”

yes, they have a private elevator. fine.

Glen and Chad get their ties from the same Men’s Warehouse

“When that helicopter went down on the way to Martha’s Vineyard…”

you know kissing is 4-real when one person cups their hand to the back of the other person’s neck all close

I don’t understand the drop of the Glamergé egg but I appreciate that there is one and that Veronica is like, get this the fuck out of my house

Veronica’s shiny cropped tweed two-piece, Yvonne’s weird feathery coat that matches her bf’s shirt (you know she’s supposed to be “too much” because she’s got big hoop earrings)

God, Jughead is next and I’m not gonna be able to handle it

OH GOD IT’S SO MUCH WORSE THAN I THOUGHT

Alphabet City?! the piano?? the fucking East Coast Beat typewriter shit—the day robe? I’m—READING CLUBMASTERS? FORSYTHE???

OH GOD HE’S DATING ANOTHER WRITER (she has nice pants)

Jughead eats: “that place you like” is a HOT DOG STAND in the middle of SOME GRASS

I’ve seen Brick like thirty times: Jughead wears high-ankle light blue jeans, grey socks, and spectators that blend to create the illusion of wading boots. I’m going to commit a crime

Jughead doubts it: “So did Kerouac. And Hemingway. And Fitzgerald.”

fuck yes I love Floundering Jughead, and his Pushy Agent who pronounces “career” like “Korea,” and the continuing tradition of Jughead getting kicked out of his house

I like Literary Grifter’s sweater

the Brat Pack, and most of the Rat Pack for that matter, were actors, but I assume RAS couldn’t resist the rhyme

I was 100% afraid we were about to learn Cora was an uncomfortably-young undergrad

the musical cue as she reaches into her bag is absolutely as if she’s taking out a gun, and it might as well be! it’s the scariest thing in NYC: an unpublished manuscript

showrunners doing a classic I Love Lucy job partially concealing Vanessa Morgan’s pregnancy via medium close-ups, draping black clothes

Cheryl slowly turning to ask if doesn’t she look okay 10/10 icon

Cheryl’s pins: she has either a tiny spider or maybe a tick

Cheryl’s sheaths: the lacy red thing, amazing

why is Cheryl’s left hand gloved?

Cheryl’s a chaos angel from hell: Cheryl’s going to forge a Rembrandt, which unfortunately means she’s my favorite person on the planet (she does not look happy about doing this)

btw is Nana Rose an Immortal?

please tell me about Toni’s eyelashes

EXTREMELY HAUNTED DOLL?!

“Damn good coffee”: Archie’s earnest “Where are people gonna sit for the bus?” slayed me

fuck YEAH Ghoulies party house! terrible music but really good skull spray paint art

Jug looks LOW lol

Veronica’s blouse + buttons, impeccable

I’m writing a scene where it’s gay.: Tabitha/Squeaky

the hellscape semi’s red backlighting and its skeleton’s red eyes

I like Linette’s glossy bomber!

the trucker who’s about to kill her can’t also be the Trash Bag Killer….truckers have to stick to too much of a schedule….but he could be Betty’s meandering serial

I loved this episode

NEXT WEEK: Archie brings the FBI down on some people paying their rent :(

#riverdale #i say #commentary #tropes

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writerthreads · 4 years ago

Text

Writing pianist characters

By Writerthreads on Instagram

Note: By “pianist”, I mean somebody who is proficient at the piano or someone who practices it regularly. If any pianist want to add anything, go ahead! My experience of playing the piano could be different from yours, and I’m a grade 8 pianist and have been playing for 10 years. When I talk about “grades”, it’ll be the ABRSM grades.

Reading the music

A typical sheet of piano music has two staves, one in treble clef and one in bass clef. Usually, the left hand plays the bass and the right hand plays the treble.

When we learn a new piece, we have to sight read it. We either do both hands at once or right hand first as the melody is usually in the right hand. My piano teacher told me that people who have played for a longer time go straight to both hands, and I’ve been doing that since grade 5.

Sight reading is harder (or even the hardest) on the piano because we have two lines to read at the same time, and we have (usually) a melody and an accompaniment line, with harder composers/pieces (LISZT!!) having four or more melodic lines at the same time.

Playing the piano

We make music by tapping on the keys. We put our hands in what I call the “hamburger position” where it looks like I’m holding two hamburgers. Stretches require a flatter hand shape, and I can only do up to 9 notes (an octave and one more lol). There are three pedals on a pedal, and they work differently on upright pianos or grand pianos.

Left (una corda/soft pedal):

UPRIGHT: changes the touch of the piano and makes it harder to play loud

GRAND: literally shifts the piano keyboard to the right and makes a softer sound

Middle (sostenuto pedal):

UPRIGHT: softens piano’s volume, used for practicing late at night lmao

GRAND: only holds notes that are already being played at the moment when the pedal is pressed down

Right (sustaining pedal)

Sustains the sounds, creating a blurry effect

Practicing the piano

I learn pieces by chunking the piece into sections the learning the section’s right hand then adding in the left hand. I do the same thing for the other sections until I learn the whole piece, then I use a metronome to get the rhythm perfect, then add in the dynamics and expression.

If I’m stuck on a session, I “chunk” it, meaning I will literally play the same few bars until I get it perfect 10 times in a row. If I can’t, I slow the metronome down because IF YOU CAN PLAY IT SLOW, YOU CAN PLAY IT FAST.

How often do I practice? Once a week when I had exams, but now that I’m done with the ABRSM grades, like once a month for fun. (*laughs in IGCSE mock solo tomorrow*) Ling Ling does 40 hours a day but I can never.

Scales and arpeggios

Hell on Earth. There are major scales and minor scales for every key: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, plus the sharps and flats (the black keys)

There are also scales a third apart and a sixth apart, legato scales in thirds, chrimatic scales, chromatic scales a minor third apart, chromatic scales in minor thirds and the whole tone scale in grade 8. Idk about 6 and 7 because I skipped them.

It’s hard to explain arpeggios but it’s like um parts of the regular scale that sounds nice idk search it up. Oh yeah and in grade 8 there’s the root position as well as first and second inversions. (Eg. The C major arpeggio can start on C, E or G and end in those notes)

Dominant sevenths and diminished sevenths. HELL. SEARCH IT UP

Pieces that non-musicians tell us to play

Fur Elise

Piano pieces non-musicians can probably recognise

Beautiful Blue Danube

Canon on D but on the piano

Mariage D’amour

Ah Clair de la Lune

Auld Lang Syne

Flight of the Bumblebee

Things non-musicians should know when writing pianists

Good performances can take months to perfect

Sight reading is a pain in the arse

Scales are hell

We can play while doing something else (most pianists I know can play scales/pieces while talking or watching Netflix lmao)

FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE IS OVERRATED

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