Henrik Müller Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I became curious and found this (Gigablast search engine):http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/display_image.php?id=11163 /Henrik <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Do you know who is the artist? That is truly beautiful. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The artist is: John Everett Millais, British Pre-Raphaelite painter who died on 13 August 1896: http://www.safran-arts.com/42day/art/art4jun/art0608.html Search for 'The Blind girl'. I know this is not the same site as yesterday, but today I couldn't find it - weird. Head is spinning… /Henrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindizzy Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 [Personally, I have great difficulty singing and accompanying myself on the Anglo. I keep breathing in on the draw, thereby attempting to swallow my tongue and ending up in a spluttering heap! (not a pretty sight, I can tell you!) Any tips anyone? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I was going to start a thread on breathing with the bellows when playing concertina..(In my case EC) I wasn't even thinking of singing as well! It wasn't too bad with the concertina that I learnt on, it took a bit more air, but this one will play for ever before you need to change direction and I may pass out one day before I get to change direction and can breath in again! Chris J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 The breathing in and out to Anglo bellows direction has been talked about before and the general advice was to use the accidentals to smooth out the bellows action.This is also a situation that you can practice without the concertina.Breath as you would normally or sing as if you were accompanying yourself,if necessary move your hands as if you were playing the concertina and practice just breathing with hand action.This will help you relax and hopefully be able to sing normally. I must admit to having this problem in the early days and nearly passing out on a long pull passage of play. Will Duke when I played next to him in the band could tell jokes whilst he played,I have difficuly grunting at people as I play let alone talking.Perhaps I should practice what I preach. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I have difficuly grunting at people as I play let alone talking. Thank you Al! I'm there myself. Had a good long hard laugh reading that, am now a bit dizzy in fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Booth Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 As a much younger man I worked in the woods: falling timber, planting trees, thinning with a chain saw, burning the slash, climbing for cones... it was like this: I got thirty-two calluses on these two hands Sixteen and sixteen, left and right Hoe handle, axe handle, auger handle, saw grip. A chainsaw's a nasty squalling beasty, boy take your leg right off if you look away and it's adreniline that runs this show, make no mistake get you so ramped up it'll set your whiskers on fire Walk the line all day walk through camp all night shaking your stiff, white hands pushing the blood back where it belongs We would return to camp after six to eight hours of pushing a saw, our hands curled into claws the shape of the tool, ears ringing with the day-long roar of the saw. To come down off the cloud of violent activity we, my partner, Davy Coffin and I, would play music until supper was ready to come off the fire. Working our stiff fingers to shape the notes, letting the music wash out our battered ears was, finally the thing that kept me there through the rainy northwest winters and the hot Cascades summers. I don't think that I would have stayed as long as I did without the solace, physical and spiritual of the music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Not a job for me Robert,I had enough problems taking down a tree in my garden and burning out two chain saws in the process. I have a friend who is a landscape gardener and he and his wife joined us in a restaurant for a meal.He was promptly told off by the waitress for not washing his hands before the meal,they were stained brown by the trees he was felling.She was told off in a polite way by my friend and you never saw such service and the meal that we got that evening. Brown hands equals tree feller. Nimble fingers equals concertina fella Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Robert, I logged for 6 months while living in Glennville, North Carolina. It was all about tryin' to prove to my old dad that I was a "real man" for he told me that being a musician wasn't a "real" man's job. Great fellas I met and worked with. One afternoon "lapping" a felled oak coming up from under a large limb, the bar of my chainsaw bounced right down on my thigh. Right to the bone and I didn't feel a thing (for the first half hour). Wish I had had someone to make music with then. Folks would listen but I was alone. Have not touched a saw in 28 years. In those short 6 months I damaged the hearing in my right ear which just now is becoming a problem. Ah youth, how do we survive it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animaterra Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Great story, Robert- I've sent you an email re Davy Coffin (could we know the same one?). Singing while playing- that's a skill I'm working on! Simple chords is all I can manage, and it does seem to help keep me from breathing with the instrument! Helen, "tesser"' comes fromA Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle- one of my favorite books in childhood. A tesseract allows one to travel through space and time in an instant, with no ill effects. Wish I could do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Hi Allison, Thanks. I was doing a tongue in cheek reply and changing your word to fit a wonderful image of getting back at my old teacher - but only in fun. Wouldn't really want to zap her even though she mightily changed my musical life. Thanks for the reference. Helen now breathing and pretend playing the concertina with her hands I am really getting a workout with this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsqueezergeezer Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Will Duke when I played next to him in the band could tell jokes whilst he played,I have difficuly grunting at people as I play let alone talking.Al <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Perhaps its the degree of concentration. We can all talk while playing "Sheperds Hey" or similar, but the more difficult the piece gets, the more we have to concentrate. Derek (concentrating) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 We can all talk while playing "Sheperds Hey" or similar,...<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, no. Some of us can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Thank you Jim I was thinking that perhaps I was the only one.I could however give a good grunt between the chorus. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsqueezergeezer Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 My apologies, gentlemen, I was referring to playing it in a "morris band" where one might be talking to another player about an aspect of the dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 My apologies, gentlemen, I was referring to playing it in a "morris band" where one might be talking to another player about an aspect of the dance.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> If you mean that in a Morris band it's OK to stop playing for a while in order to talk, then you weren't clear. But if you mean that being in a band somehow makes it possible to converse -- or even just make brief remarks -- without adversely affecting ones playing, when one couldn't otherwise, I think that's nonsense. There are plenty of people who can't combine speech -- or even listening -- with playing, no matter what else is going on and no matter how simple the tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Evans Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Al, I like that grunting between the chorus. That I could manage. Had a colleague from work stop by to hear a session I was playing in. Already adjusted by several adult beverages, chere Renee walked up and started talkin' ta me. It's all I can do ta keep up with the other players! I grin an' raise me eyebrows (looking like I'm havin' an attack of heartburn I'm sure), but it doesn't wave him off. Grabs me by my chops like I was a pooch an' scrubbs up me short hair. By some sort of intervention from I don't know where, I didn't loose me place in a rather too quick version of Off To Califorina. Nobody said nuthin'...not even a grunt between the chorus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsqueezergeezer Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 I was referring to the informal nature of playing in a morris band rather than a stage performance. I am sure that the degree of concentration required varies from player to player and as you say there must be people at both extremes of the scale. One man's nonsense is another man's opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Well thats a sign of affection if ever I have heard it Mark.Nobody has done that to me.I think I just grin stupidly if someone is talking to me.It is a mixture of concentration on what you are playing and why dont you clear off I will talk to you later, that is going through your head.In the end I give up and stop and then annoyingly they apologise for stopping you. If ever I see you Mark I shall remember to give your chops a good tweek and thanks for a good laugh. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Goodness, Mark. Next time chomp on his hand. Helen Glad others can't play and talk at the same time. I am considering grunting though. I like that a lot. Thanks, Al. Helen practicing grunting while typing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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