Ouch

[treeskin]

I wasn't as careful lifting stuff yesterday morning as I should have been, and now I'm paying for it.

Courtney and I were moving 3-cubic foot bags of pine mulch (for flowerbeds) from the barn to the truck. Problem was, the pallet we were unloading off of was stacked too high--a bit over 6', and the mulch had moisture int he bags, so they were heavy, 50-60 lbs. First four came down ok. My gloves slippd on the fifth one, I half-dropped it on myself, then caught it at a bad angle. Woops. Courtney did most of the lifting after that yesterday.

Didn't get many of the bulbs planted--my flower beds still look decent, so I'm leaving them a little longer. Watch it frost this weekend, then rain all next week, so I can't pull and plant.

Rehearsal last night was different from my first two nights there. Betty, the leader of the group, was there for the first time since I started with them, and wow, that made a difference. Still fun, still lively, but she'd stop us and we'd redo things until they were right. She also firmly believes that if you play more than one instrument, you shouldn't sit on the same one all through rehearsal. So, we'd finish a piece, turn the page, and she'd call out switch, and we'd all fumble for something else. It's very good practice, and I need to do this on my own, because I found myself trying to play C-fingerings on the alto (in F), and vice versa, which sounded a little weird.

Betty seems pretty forgiving about general mistakes, and also understanding about the fact that I haven't played much since I got out of school (so, since Dec '96). She also seemed impressed by my knitting--I'd worn one of my triangle shawls last night, and the blue star socks, which went on display after I declared that yes, I had knitted the shawl, and my socks, too.


By got the kit harp strung last night, and made the first attempt at tuning it. The lowest octave was way out of tune by the time he got to the upper strings, but that's normal, I'm told.

draco_kc: do you have a "harp for dummies" book you'd recommend? I've looked at Sylvia Wood's offerings, and didn't know what to start with.


The UnSock Report: put the live stitches of the Lopi sweater on a pair of long circulars last night, and tried it on. Yup, it is shorter through the body than I'd intended. So, decision time. The easy thing would be to simply pull out the one round joining body and sleeves, and do another 4 inches of the dark blue. But, that'd make the color blocks on the sleeves much shorter than the color blocks on the body. The right way to fix it is probably to rip out all the blue, do another 4 inches in grey (I think I have that much grey), and then pick the colorwork up again.

I think I've just talked myself into ripping tonight. *sigh* But it will be much cooler when it's all done right.


The Sock Report: started the second section of the modular sock. One thing I definitely don't like about this pattern--way too much purling. And I'm concerned that all the lines where I've picked up stitches will make hard spots in the socks. But I'm not far enough along to try it on and tell.


Annual Show Countdown: 13 days

Comments

[draco-kc.livejournal.com]

By got the kit harp strung last night, and made the first attempt at tuning it. The lowest octave was way out of tune by the time he got to the upper strings, but that's normal, I'm told.

That's very normal. Typically one shouldn't bring a new string set immediately up to pitch, though. I usually try to start them several steps to an octave flat and then gradually bring them to pitch over a few days. Less shock on the instrument and strings that way. It's best to do that with replacement strings, too, but that's not always an option if one needs to perform.

It will probably take a while for the instrument to settle into a consistent pitch. It might not get to that point before the show. Try to tune it at least two or three times a day.

What is the pitch range (top note, bottom note, number of strings) of the instrument? I should probably think about what would be appropriate for the instrument during the show.

Speaking of the show, I should probably talk to byronsart about what outfit to wear for the occasion. We had discussed the possibility of my wearing chaps, but I was thinking about a pair of leather pants I've got that have red "racing stripes" up each leg that might be more appropriate.

I'm headed to Wichita this afternoon, but should be back by Sunday evening. I'll try to call when I get back.

do you have a "harp for dummies" book you'd recommend? I've looked at Sylvia Wood's offerings, and didn't know what to start with.

Sylvia's Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp is probably the gold standard. It might be a little on the basic side for you, but I'd still recommend it as a good place to start.

As far as music goes, I'd strongly recommend all of Deborah Friou's books of early to renaissance music. Her stuff ranges from beginner to advanced intermediate skill levels, and she's got good taste in the pieces she picks. Her Harp Exercises for Agility and Speed is also very good, once one has gotten some familiarity with the instrument.

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Well, considering By did the initial tuning, and he's not that musical.....

I think he tuned it a bit high to start. I was going to work on it tonight (he was working on it last night while I was at rehearsal).

It's a 29 string harp, not very fancy. All we got from Brenda on this one was harp itself, no info on what the range should be. I think he was reading the descriptions from the Musicmaker's Kits catalog, and basing it on their 29-string harps. If you think I ought to be aiming for a certain lowest pitch and working from there, let me know.

We do have an electric tuner for setting pitch, that helps. I'm too out of practice to mess with a pitch pipe these days.

Thanks for the book recommendations.

[draco-kc.livejournal.com]

The lowest note on most folk harps i've seen is a C and the instrument is usually tuned to the key of C. On a twenty-nine string harp, that'd put the bottom note as the C two octaves below middle C, and the top note as the C two octaves above middle C.

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Ok, that's what I was aiming for. Thanks for your help.