draco @draco@sonomu.club

#introduction Hello SoNoMu! I'm looking forward to talking music with y'all.

I'm a classical mezzosoprano and musicologist by training. I love #classicalmusic, #metal (mostly progressive), #ebm and a random assortment of other stuff.

I'm exploring creating my own music through challenges like #fawm and 50/90. I'm still in search of my own style.

I sing #choralmusic and play #classicalguitar as well as singer-songwriter style acoustic #guitar.

I have a similar feeling like in the beginning of the pandemic. I itch to do something, to connect, to bring some color and joy into both my life and that of other people by sharing creative work.

But this time, I am booked with work and because the wife is teaching from home (and our space doesn't have much privacy), I have too little of that precious quiet time alone.

Good thing #fawm is less than 2 weeks away.

I'm more consistent with my vocal practice again, even if there are a lot of days where I only manage to sing for 10-15 minutes. Still, that's better than nothing :)

#myLittlePracticeDiary

Today's #workoutmusic: metal covers of Disney + pop songs.

#myLittlePracticeDiary some more singing today. Dug out "In darkness let me dwell" by John Dowland and tried to wrap my head around a small part of a very long recitativo by Monteverdi.

Having a light migraine, my brain is a mess, but perhaps I will be able to pull off some scales on the piano.

My injured shoulder is getting better slowly, I'm thinking about taking up the guitar again soon, if only for a few minutes per day.

I guess I can justify spending a little bit on this, bu I kinda don't want it to go too far into the 3-digit price range

So because both humans in this household are doing a lot of video conferences and teaching via video, I'm looking to improve our lighting situation. I'm currently undecided between a ring light and LED panels.

Does anyone have advice about one or the other? If we get LED panels, is one enough or should we go with two?

I enjoyed "Juvenile Hyperobject" by @jjbbllkk@twitter.com as my #workoutmusic today: https://soundvision.bandcamp.com/album/juvenile-hyperobject-deluxe-edition

#myLittlePracticeDiary singing: just a quick warmup and some belting practice. Highest belting note today: B4. I guess next time I want to record myself just to get feedback if what comes out actually sounds like belting.

keyboard practice: trying to put the two hands together in Bach's Invention #1. My left shoulder is so badly messed up that I can barely stand 10 min. of practice.

Ugh I am currently not getting around to much in the way of music :/ Work keeps getting in the way.

(Also the wife is on vacation and we're enjoying having time for each other for a change.)

thanks everyone who replied! Schumann's "Album für die Jugend" was mentioned several times, I downloaded that & will look at it.

More sound design sketches for the piece I'm currently working on. A bell-like FM instrument, played at random pitches and durations through JPverb.

https://open.audio/library/tracks/103223/

@PatchNotes #patchnotes #supercollider

So there's a software called "Just Intonation", which is a program that can play MIDI input with adaptive just tuning and a bunch of historic tunings. It can also play stuff in those tunings statically, and it has pretty OK cembalo and organ sounds.

I fooled around with it tonight and I didn't know how much fun it is to try to find cadences that sound like utter garbage in, say, quarter-comma meantone tuning.

The frustrating bit is that I had about 6 years of lessons in my life. Two of my five teachers were useless and achieved nothing but making me go into mental blockade (but I had to go on because in one case, I was stuck in a contract, and in the other, it was part of music school and I didn't get to request a different teacher until the end of the year).

Interestingly, both of my horrible teachers were guys with huge hands.

(I want to up my piano game so I can teach theory better; however, trying to get better at sight-reading is frustrating when I have the feeling that my lacking piano skills slow me down to a standstill every time.)

Any #piano players who read this: Do you have recommendations for practice pieces for someone who has had a few years of lessons, but forgot a lot again and always felt a little awkward and nervous around the piano? I don't know if "beginner to intermediate" describes my skill level accurately...

Public domain stuff that I can find on ISMLP preferred.

Some days I just want to play something fun and motivating.

#myLittlePracticeDiary keyboard practice: a few measures of Bach's Invention #1. I am getting a little bit more fluid, and putting two hands together starts getting easier.

I ought to write down fingerings.

#myLittlePracticeDiary First longer singing practice in a while. Voice still works, but having no current project isn't good for my motivation.

I'n also practicing Bach's inventions a little bit. Polyphony is still killing me.

I have spent the last weeks behind my computer keyboard, typing. I spent too little time doing music.

I need to bring that into some better balance.

ok, it's not going to happen. Not this week at least. I have migraine and I haven't set up anything, and my time planning was off tonight.

Because of space and time constraints, Tuesday night is the only time I could use for streaming.

But the thought is here. For tonight, I'm just going to sit down and continue working on that composition.

I'm thinking about trying out streaming tonight. Not sure if it's going to work because my internet connection has a kinda puny upstream rate.