and thought about my sheet-music shopping list: thinking Telemann solo Fantasias, Poulenc Sonata, Chaminade Concertino, the Roussel Jouers de flute – and maybe a little Bach? That ought to keep me occupied for a while 
Oh and I cleared a hole in my to-do list too – no more overdues!!
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After 5 years without one, and 4 years of saying I’d buy one, today it finally happened! Found a great flute – a second-hand Miyazawa 95SE – at a good price and brought it home. Huzzah!
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Well, it won’t be delivered until next week, most likely, but it’s chosen and ordered and considering it’s taken about two years to get to this point, I’m thinking this is a huge leap forward. Looking forward to some focused photos for a change!
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Well not just harmony – Jane Piper Clendinning & Elizabeth West Marvin’s The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis to be precise. (And not just a book either – a book, 3 CDs plus anthology of scores.) It’s sort of a jaunt from ‘this is a treble clef’ through harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, form and so on all the way through to ‘this is total serialism and how to write it’. So it’s not like a traditional harmony text, like the dreaded Aldwell & Schachter I had at uni and kept on my shelf for years (now in a box in storage, although I nearly brought it with me – decided to bring Adler on Orchestration instead, which was a sensible move) in the hopes that the data inside it would somehow seep into me like damp without my having to actually open it. I like the look of this new one because it’s not just endless chords, it’s looking at all the elements of musical theory, putting them into context with one another and with recordings and scores of real music. All in all, it feels more composery and less dry. It’s structured as a series of graded lessons, which I’m hoping will make it easier for me to create and stick to a programme of self-guided learning. And best of all, it’s the first step to overcoming a fear I’ve had since first-year uni. The day I understand about Neapolitan 6ths will be the day I conquer that fear entirely. Bring it on!
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I’ve been ‘drawing’ my own manuscript lines for little fragments of idea while working on the Whitman piece. I bought myself a manuscript nib a little while back and it works well – but I’m finding that drawing them in black ink means I have to make my noteheads fairly enormous if they’re to be seen easily – very unlike my usual anorexic noteheads, so I wove my way up to the Atlantis art shop which is just round the corner from my office and bought an assortment of coloured inks which I plan to experiment with: Burnt Orange in the Dr Ph. Martin’s Radiant Concentrated Water Colour (absolutely gorgeous – might have to get some more of these…), Red in the Dr Ph. Martin’s Bombay India Ink (a lovely rich red, feels very Erik Satie), and the Apple Green Winsor & Newton (a lovely colour, but felt a bit flat after the other two).
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I actually felt OK at the end of the day so I did a bit of a detour on the way home – I’ve been going nuts being at home so much and really wanting to get out to the shops. I didn’t get to all of the ones I wanted (Foyle’s for a harmony text and Fortnum & Mason for writing paper will have to wait) but I did get to Muji to investigate their filing options (not what I wanted for composition files but at least now I do know what I want) and to the remnants of the HMV sale, where I pounced on the 22-CD set I’ve been thinking about ever since I saw it there before Christmas – 22 CDs of composers performing or conducting their own works. All sorts of people – Stravinsky, Roussel, Britten, Holst, Elgar, Bartok, Hindemith – and a bunch more, and a whole heap of repertoire, much of which I’m not familar with… yet. And of course, this week I actually have the stereo entirely to myself. Wheeeee!
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I’ve been putting off upgrading for far too long – 2006 has been driving me nuts – it gets the note-spacing all wrong and crashes every time I close it, and sometimes when I’m not – so nuts that I avoid using it, which of course is a bit of a limitation when I’m trying to compose. But no more! The order is in and the upgrade should arrive on Tuesday. Yay!
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Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life which I’ve been salivating over on Amazon for quite some time, and which has made it to my house at long last thanks to an Amazon gift voucher Christmas present from a lovely friend (also Wii Fit Plus which I can’t wait to go on once the wretched sprained ankle is fixed!). First thoughts: Ooh, nice typography!
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and some other stuff. But the woolly socks were the funnest. A bit splurgey but everyone says both the Isle of Man and Blackpool will be bitterly cold this time of year – and I just discovered that my new (very ugly but ankle-supportive) sneakers are ‘breathable’ = freezing wet feet in rain or snow!
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to knit a hat and scarf for djelibeybi. Sage green hat and the scarf is going to be sage with a sort of pale silvery-wheaty colour stripe. Should be fun!
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