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| Give me a C or is it an E?! |
As for Euphonix, we began working with Ben two weeks ago and I think it's going to be great. He's different - he seems to teach faster and we have our first concert coming up on Valentine's Day so we need a batch of new songs around the theme of love. The concert is in aid of a local charity and we will be joined by Hannah Rose's singing group. This week we had our photo taken outside The Rose Theatre as we sang a few chorus lines from All You Need Is Love! Ben seems to have got great sounds out of us very quickly.
Last time I was here (blogging) I said that I was starting an online course that was not to do with writing. In fact it is very different from anything I have ever done before and is a nice party conversation-stopper (should I ever go to a party!). The course is called Introduction to Forensic Science and is run by FutureLearn and Strathclyde University and it's free! Now when I tell you that my science skills (along with my maths skills) is about zero you might well ask why am I doing this. It was on impulse because when I was a very young teenager my parents took me and my brother to an open day at a local Police Station. For me it was the forensics I was fascinated with - how by applying some liquid they could tell whether the stain on a garment was blood etc. So just this brief interlude in life gets me onto a course with hundreds of others. I notice that there are some very knowledgeable folk on the course but some are like me, just have an interest. The course is run through video lectures with downloadable text file, message board and short quiz at then end of each week.
Me being me, I have found a lot of the lectures, which are mainly pictures, plans and bullet points, rather boring. I find myself drifting off. In the first week I printed out all the lectures because the information is dense and there was no way I would remember all that. There are a lot of procedures you need to know about, links to other sites to follow up. However, I have learnt quite a lot already and managed 100% score on both quizzes (not as difficult as it sounds!). However, because I only really want to know more about it I don't read all the supplementary stuff from scientific books in the USA and UK - just don't have time for that. It's not like I'm making a career out of it. I wondered what other uses doing this course would have......well, as a writer I guess if I wrote crime novels it could be most helpful! The course studies and follows a real case (slightly adapted) but so far we haven't done much on the case as all the background knowledge is needed first. But this week we have looked at fingerprinting which was quite fun. The course runs for six weeks and I'm about to go into the third week.
Another course I have taken up is Mosques, Palaces and Gardens of the Muslim World. This course is at Morley College in London - the one with the great cafe! As this course begins at 2pm I am planning to have lunch there at least once! You think I'm obsessed by food? Only because it does great veggi food and I don't have to cook it! It's my treat. Anyway, the course is fascinating. The first week we covered the early history of Islam, it's beginnings and the distinction between Islamic and Muslim art - yes, there is one! This course is filling in some gaps for me and since a friend recently came back from Istanbul and I've been looking at holiday brochures I want to go see these places.
My guitar playing has, I'm afraid, taken a back seat. I feel very guilty about that one. Having gone through the painful stage, I was at a point where I could play for longer. Now I'll have to start again....but perhaps in a little while! Meantime, I have decided to finally lick this reading music thing. I have to give it one last shot and overcome my fear of those blasted black dots that I seem to have a mental blank with (a bit like maths!). I have booked a one day workshop at Morley to learn the basics. They also do longer courses but I want to see how this goes before committing myself to a big outlay of money and time. Still, I have bought a book they recommend for their longer courses and am impressed. It's written at my level with lots of quick tips and info. My aim is to learn the basic notes by the time I attend the course because I need lots of time with this. I am learning one or two notes a day and so far, so good. If I can get to grips with this I see lots of fun possibilities. With learning it's about finding the right method for you and I'm hoping this time I'll get it. I need to be able to read and write the notes without thinking - like I do when type - not have to count the lines to place a dot on it! That's the aim. I just need a small head start before the workshop and then I'll get loads of practice and learn new things too.
I've been thinking back to my time growing up at home - a home full of music, a mother who could read music, played piano and sung; a father who sang (but could only play chopsticks on the piano, could not read music but who taught me to play banjo!) and my granddad who played piano in pubs and was a piano tuner to some famous people. Against that we didn't have the money for a piano and nowhere to put it and though I was taught musically notes at school it never sank in and my mother never offered to help. To be fair I never asked either. When I was 16 or so I bought my first guitar and taught myself the basic chords and began writing songs. My poor parents had to listen to my latest creation but my mum never actively encouraged my musical interest. She said it was because she didn't want me to be disappointed like she was (she wanted to be an opera singer, had won school awards for singing, then came the war and my granddad moved which meant my mum had to move school, something she never forgave my granddad for). I accept my mum had issues. They obviously ran deep. I've always tried to support my kids in their interests, even if they were not my interests so I find it hard to understand. Having said that it wasn't something that bothered me growing up, it's just now looking back I wonder.
I'm finding my own way with music. It's taken me a hell of a long time and I guess a real desire to learn needs to be present before you do anything about it, though sometimes things happen by chance and I'm a firm believer in things happening at the right time in your life. Now is right for me. Music has been so much in my life that to learn to read/write music will be the icing on the cake. For years I'd said I don't need to read music as I learn everything by ear. True, I could live without it, but it's always bugged me. So one last shot. If I fail this time it won't be for the lack of trying!
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