Thursday, January 18, 2007

Going nuts but there are things to be thankful for

A double bass bridge


Midnight ramblings:

I live in a world
Which isn't exactly meant for me
I don't wish to fit in
Ask not that the world change itself for me
I only ask that I be allowed
To co-exist with the people in this world
And find something worth living for


***
Wednesday, is a day to look forward to as there is usually double bass sectional and orchestra rehearsal. I have been practising from 6 p.m. to about 9.20 p.m. on the double bass, but the long hours on the double bass did not kill my interest in the double bass. I felt good over the fact that I didn't have to be the only double bassist playing for the rehearsal today. For several of the past orchestra rehearsal, I was one of the few around playing. Today, the double bass section has a commendable strength of four!

Maybe I am going nuts. At 11.50 p.m., I decided to start practising on the double bass. At such late hours of the night, the best way for yours truly to remain a fairly considerate neighbour while still being able to practise on the double bass is to use a practice mute. If you have no idea how it looks like, please click on this link. Basically, I would place the practice mute directly onto the bridge of the double bass. Doing so dampens the sound of the double bass by about half.

I was work out the fingerings for one of the passages from Faure's Sicilienne. Earlier today, Emily (who also plays the double bass) gave me some insights to the fingerings to that passage, and I was eager to try it out on the double bass. Hey, it felt good to have a better sense of how to play that particular passage. I stopped at about 12.15 a.m., since I figured it was getting late (and I was getting tired). I hope to work on that passage again for my double bass classes tomorrow.

Although my behaviours are now starting to manifest the many streaks of craziness in me (e.g. playing the double bass at wee hours of the night), there are things to be thankful for:
1) Emily showed me how to play that passage from Faure's Sicilienne.
2) Emily corrected and reminded me the more appropriate direction where I should draw my (down) bow towards.
3) My dear conductor gave me a DVD recording of the concert on 10 Jan 07. It is so kind of him. I felt very touched that he actually remembers my request to him.

Now, I have ask for my brother's permission to use his laptop (which has a DVD player, and recorder) to view the recording sometime soon.

The next task to do will be to find out how to edit away other segments and cut out that segment of our double bass quartet performance so as to put it up online. Emily also wants a screen-shot of the recording of the performers playing her Suicidal Tendencies.

Does anyone know how to do these? Please advise. I will be most grateful. Thanks in advance.

4) Another thing to be grateful of: The rain had stopped when I was about to leave for home after a night of rehearsal.

4 comments:

mistipurple said...

happy sleeping! nite nite.

Marc said...

Hmmm, I have all the necessary tools on my laptop to do that for you but if you possess a registered copy of Quicktime, it's a simple cut and paste job.

pinkie said...

I supposed having a streak of craziness in us once a while will help us differentiate when we are 'normal'?

Fun to be crazy sometimes!!

oceanskies79 said...

Misti: thanks...I am feeling so sleepy

M: How much with a registered copy of Quicktime Pro cost? I don't have one, but am trying to see if it is affordable and worthwhile to invest in one.

Pinkie: Ah...I hope.