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Musical instruments and models

  • Thread starter Red Knight of Vienna
  • Start date

DeletedUser38037

I do not play an instrument, although I remember my great uncle (a Master of Fox Hounds) challenging me to play a hunting horn. It surprised him when I did make a sound come out of it...sort of resembling a despondent beagle ;). I can draw at the draftsman level, electronically. When I founded Der Meistersingers' Guild I was very annoyed to discover that the only emblem resembling a musical instrument was a similar horn...Definitely NOT suited for a singing performer. So in hopes of gaining sufficient privileges to post them to Proposals, I am attaching some examples of ones a singer can play, here.
Tambor10.png Lute10.png KinnorDavid10.png Harp.png RandyJackson10.png Concertina10.png
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
I used to play piano years ago.... but I just didn't have the time/patience to keep up with it and dropped it after 8-10 years of playing. Now I can barely play a song without music. (I used to have 'em memorized. Those were the good old days. Just sitting down and playing a bunch of songs from memory. ) And even with sheet music, I've lost most of my really good sightreading ability that comes in handy when playing more complicated songs.

I might pick it up again someday... who knows?
 

Super Catanian

Well-Known Member
I used to play piano years ago.... but I just didn't have the time/patience to keep up with it and dropped it after 8-10 years of playing. Now I can barely play a song without music. (I used to have 'em memorized. Those were the good old days. Just sitting down and playing a bunch of songs from memory. ) And even with sheet music, I've lost most of my really good sightreading ability that comes in handy when playing more complicated songs.

I might pick it up again someday... who knows?
I can't sight read, yet! Sort of, depends on how slow the pieces are.
I can play Chopin's Nocturne No. 2, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (1st movement), and Mozart's Turkish March all from memory. I never took the time to learn that one bit in Fur Elise (the first one, not that hard bit). I am learning La Campanella by Liszt (with INSANE jumps; Liszt had massive hands), and Mozart's Twelve Variations in C (basically Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but WAY more elite).

Been playing for almost 5 years, starting when I was 11 years of age. Never took actual lessons. Very interesting story on how I learned it, and pretty long, too...

My first experience in music was in my school's orchestra, where I learned how to play the violin (and luckily, I still remember how to play). This is where I learned how to read sheet music, and all that fancy stuff.
There was a piano in the orchestra room, and I was fascinated! I told myself I wanted to learn the piano.
On my tablet, I got a piano app, which was just the keyboard so I could fool around on it. I somehow developed perfect pitch while I was in the orchestra, and after trial and error, I learned the first bit of Fur Elise.
I liked it so much that I got a cheap electric keyboard for $80. After searching for videos on how to play that piece, I practiced a lot. And I mean a lot. I eventually learned the majority of it.
I played for more time, printing sheet music occasionally, and getting better and better.

EDIT: I might record myself playing something and upload it here.
 
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UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
I can't sight read, yet! Sort of, depends on how slow the pieces are.
I can play Chopin's Nocturne No. 2, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (1st movement), and Mozart's Turkish March all from memory. I never took the time to learn that one bit in Fur Elise (the first one, not that hard bit). I am learning La Campanella by Liszt (with INSANE jumps; Liszt had massive hands), and Mozart's Twelve Variations in C (basically Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but WAY more elite).

Been playing for almost 5 years, starting when I was 11 years of age. Never took actual lessons. Very interesting story on how I learned it, and pretty long, too...

My first experience in music was in my school's orchestra, where I learned how to play the violin (and luckily, I still remember how to play). This is where I learned how to read sheet music, and all that fancy stuff.
There was a piano in the orchestra room, and I was fascinated! I told myself I wanted to learn the piano.
On my tablet, I got a piano app, which was just the keyboard so I could fool around on it. I somehow developed perfect pitch while I was in the orchestra, and after trial and error, I learned the first bit of Fur Elise.
I liked it so much that I got a cheap electric keyboard for $80. After searching for videos on how to play that piece, I practiced a lot. And I mean a lot. I eventually learned the majority of it.
I played for more time, printing sheet music occasionally, and getting better and better.
Nice! For me, I got into it in kindergarten, when I literally came home and said "I want to do piano." My parents were just like 'ok' and off I went! Played all the way through seventh or eighth grade.
So, in seventh grade the school play was western themed, and I was cast as the saloon piano player.... well guess what? There was a song that took place in the saloon and they knew I played piano, so I played that song! It was like 4 pages long and the piano was waaaay too high up compared to my seat height, but that was one of the best things ever.

Also, I went through piano teachers. 5 was the total, I think, with 3 of them being traditional and the other two being this other method where you learn to play before read.... ah. Good memories. I really should pick piano back up again. I might start looking into it. On my own, not lessons, but idk. We'll see what happens.
 

Super Catanian

Well-Known Member
Nice! For me, I got into it in kindergarten, when I literally came home and said "I want to do piano." My parents were just like 'ok' and off I went! Played all the way through seventh or eighth grade.
So, in seventh grade the school play was western themed, and I was cast as the saloon piano player.... well guess what? There was a song that took place in the saloon and they knew I played piano, so I played that song! It was like 4 pages long and the piano was waaaay too high up compared to my seat height, but that was one of the best things ever.

Also, I went through piano teachers. 5 was the total, I think, with 3 of them being traditional and the other two being this other method where you learn to play before read.... ah. Good memories. I really should pick piano back up again. I might start looking into it. On my own, not lessons, but idk. We'll see what happens.
Very nice!! I played for my school's talent show, surprisingly also in the seventh grade, playing Turkish March, which I had memorized in the summer (this was when watching Synthesia videos was my main way of learning).
Also, somewhat recently, I played in a competition (it was a post on my profile), in which I had a month to learn the piece (3 pages, and I had already known the first page from before), but had procrastinated until the last week to learn the other two pages.
It sucks that nowadays, modern piano pieces are very similar to each other and are very simplistic, not to mention that it is used mainly for beats rather than the melody (don't know if you've heard of the term "4-chord pop song in the key of C").
This one kid in my class right now wants me to teach him the piano, so I accepted. He immediately wants to jump in straight to the Moonlight Sonata (which, for context, is of medium difficulty because of its length and memorization required to learn it).
The next week, he calls me up to the practice room, tells me that he's "been working on this song", and proceeds to mash random black keys.
This dude, not only calls it a "song" (IT'S A PIECE, YA UNCULTURED SWINE), but doesn't even know how to play scales and dares call himself a composer!
 

Graviton

Well-Known Member
I found a brief clip of my band Greta Speaks playing in downtown Indianapolis back in 2012 when the city hosted the Super Bowl. I'm the guy with the bass in the Colts hat on the far left.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

DeletedUser38037

SPOILER="Current Story; basically a rant"
This one kid in my class right now wants me to teach him the piano, so I accepted. He immediately wants to jump in straight to the Moonlight Sonata (which, for context, is of medium difficulty because of its length and memorization required to learn it).
The next week, he calls me up to the practice room, tells me that he's "been working on this song", and proceeds to mash random black keys.
This dude, not only calls it a "song" (IT'S A PIECE, YA UNCULTURED SWINE), but doesn't even know how to play scales and dares call himself a composer!
Ya gotta understand that people were stringing together notes 2½ thousand years ago in Aeolia, Greece. Even if it is only a "piece" it qualifies as a composition. Now all he has to do is fit lyrics to the notes, even "la-la-la-la" will do, and he will have a song. You can teach him about chords and four-part harmony later.
Please be careful to shape his zeal and talent. Do not, I beg you, force him into a mold of your choosing. Salt in some of the technical methods and jargon along the way, and suggest more appropriate pieces to learn whenever he "hits the wall" on Moonlight Sonata, or whatever the latest overreach happens to be.
Most important of all, acknowledge him (and in the back of your mind, yourself) whenever progress is made. This is when both master and student win!
 

DeletedUser

Ya gotta understand that people were stringing together notes 2½ thousand years ago in Aeolia, Greece. Even if it is only a "piece" it qualifies as a composition. Now all he has to do is fit lyrics to the notes, even "la-la-la-la" will do, and he will have a song. You can teach him about chords and four-part harmony later.
Please be careful to shape his zeal and talent. Do not, I beg you, force him into a mold of your choosing. Salt in some of the technical methods and jargon along the way, and suggest more appropriate pieces to learn whenever he "hits the wall" on Moonlight Sonata, or whatever the latest overreach happens to be.
Most important of all, acknowledge him (and in the back of your mind, yourself) whenever progress is made. This is when both master and student win!
With all due respect, this is participation award hogwash. If he was a prodigy (which is extremely rare) you might...might have a point. But to take this approach with the average student or worse yet someone who shows no sign of innate talent is just setting them up for failure. All these reality talent shows are full of people who were "encouraged" and "affirmed" by people with your outlook, and then savaged by the show judges when their lack of actual training and/or talent is exposed to the harsh light of reality.
 

Super Catanian

Well-Known Member
Ya gotta understand that people were stringing together notes 2½ thousand years ago in Aeolia, Greece. Even if it is only a "piece" it qualifies as a composition. Now all he has to do is fit lyrics to the notes, even "la-la-la-la" will do, and he will have a song. You can teach him about chords and four-part harmony later.
Please be careful to shape his zeal and talent. Do not, I beg you, force him into a mold of your choosing. Salt in some of the technical methods and jargon along the way, and suggest more appropriate pieces to learn whenever he "hits the wall" on Moonlight Sonata, or whatever the latest overreach happens to be.
Most important of all, acknowledge him (and in the back of your mind, yourself) whenever progress is made. This is when both master and student win!
I am not trying to fit him into any mold. I know what progress is. For the past weeks, he has insisted on learning how to play the Moonlight Sonata, and I kept obliging, despite telling him that he should focus on easier pieces. The result? He still can’t even play the first measure correctly, although I will acknowledge that he knows the actual notes for that measure. That I can praise him for. I can’t praise him for the fact that the notes are still off-beat, his fingers are still stiff, wrists not relaxed the way they are supposed to, and notes played are way too accented. Also he can’t really hit octaves well (in the pianist community, that would confine you to the easiest of pieces), whereas I can reach 10ths on the keyboard (in short, my hands are bigger and much more flexible. Perhaps the phrase “born a natural” is true).

Quoting @Stephen Longshanks above, I don’t want to set up this dude for failure. If he can’t play the piano due to his extreme lack of finger dexterity (which I greatly possess, qualifying me as a prodigy, I guess...), at least he has a great voice. Now that indeed I can praise him for.
 
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BlacksmithJim

New Member
Thank you all for your replies. I've played guitar, and bass for over thirty years. I make guitars, and also I make furniture, and jewelry too. I can fix anything, and I can do small electrical repairs to simple circuits on guitars, and household appliances. I don't play as much as I used to, and I'm going to school now so it takes a lot of my personal time. However, I just inherited a small kitten last June 8th of last year. He was in the neighbors' yard crying for his mommy when I heard him. I went outside to see where he was after going to the window the first time thinking it was catbird. Anyway, I took him in after going around the yard, then wrapping him in my shirt. I fed him with cows milk at first, at least in a pinch until my mother came home, and I could go to petsmart, and get the correct kitten formula. He grew quickly, in the meantime I saw his mother a few days later in the same spot of the yard which is strange since she wasn't around when I found the baby. It's still a mystery how he got there for sure. She was laying in the sun with the other kittens playing with her. I then saw her beside the shed the next day, and then I saw a couple of kittens coming out of seemingly nowhere. I didn't know it at the time, but there was a hole rotted in the side of the shed (as it's made of wood) just big enough for the cat to get through. We figured that she had the babies in there on the cold, hard concrete floor. To make a long story short - she took off with one of the kittens and never returned. I figured that she was someones' pet because when I put a Tommy Stinkfinger shirt in there for her to lay on she hissed at me, but didn't move a single muscle. She used it because when I went back in to feed them again I looked in the shed she was gone, and the shirt was covered in hair! We tried to get the last two kittens out since I was going back to give them fresh water, and food twice a day.We though that it wasn't a good idea to keep them in there during the hottest part of the year closed in with urine, and feces odors. I was feeding the mommy religiously, but I figured that she would forage, or go back home to where she lived. I would say "Momma Kittty - come get it!" while I shook the bag as I left. The father kitty would come into the yard, and look for things to eat since we have a lot of wild life coming to the yard to feed.

My mother took the white kitty that resembled her mother, but got bitten. I took her to the ASPCA to be adopted out. The lady there took her right out of the cage, and held her, and the kitty didn't resist - at first. But then she squirmed around until it was time for her to go back to the animal carrier. Or at least the ASPCA employee decided that it was. This was a good sign that she would be able to be socialized. I think the girl who does this kept her since I haven't seen her (kitty) at the building, or in the ads normally show in the paper since that day. We kept the second one another girl kitty (calico) that I found between the shingles, and an air conditioner. This was about two inches wide! I wore heavy work gloves, but she bit straight through it into my thumb! I put her into the cat carrier then I took her inside. I put her in front of a fan, and gave her cold water, and cat food. I left her there for an hour while her brother (yellow tiger striped) decided to bat at her through the breathing holes in the side of the carrier. As soon as I let her out she ran under the coffee table. He of course, now knowing that he had a new playpal wasn't going to leave her alone. He chased her from the table to the easy chair, and back again. She would come out at night when it was quiet and I would take to her. She got used to being around me, so I was the first one to actually touch her without having her run away. I would touch her once in a while, and play with her, and feed her by hand so that she would trust me. Now we just had the boy neutered, but too late - he got his sister pregnant! Now we have a miniature version of her (female), and a tiny version of him also female. A gray tiger striped boy, and a very tiny black tiger striped girl which I now call "weepy baby" since she cries for her mother all the time! She's a third the size that the others are, and sleeps a lot to make up for the lack of nutrition from the mother, so we now feed her the milk re-placer. She'll lay on me, and sleep on my arms, between the back of my neck and the chair, or between me, and the chair arm. This takes all my time now, and I was hoping to get some crochet in to finish an afghan for my sister for Christmas this year. It's a kit that has small parts in it, and any type of knitting, or crochet will inevitably attract the attention of the locals.

I'm in the process of making a couple guitars for friends. This is my bread, and butter. In the meantime between all this insanity I'm making models for sale to the public for Star Wars fans on the modeling forums. I wish I could get back into playing with a band again, but our drummer left, and I don't know what happened to our lead singer. We were doing our own original music, but now our guitarist is playing with Green Jello now, or at least he was one of the stage characters while playing guitar with them, and is seeking to become an official band member. From what he said that Green Jello is in the Guiness book of world records for being the biggest band in the world with over 300 members. The lead singer goes from town to town with the local musicians so that he doesn't have to worry about anyone leaving the band, or other usual antics. I'll go see him when he plays with a few other local musicians in the meantime. We both have our own amps, and guitars, and other assorted instruments. I play piano on his keyboard, and bass when we record. He and I take turns playing drums, but I record myself playing them when we cut a track since I'm a lot more advanced that he is. We've had a LOT of time to figure out luthery, and painting, and all associated ins, and outs of musical instrument making, and making our own specialty tools. I adapted what I know about both model making, and musical instruments to get to the point of professional quality. Now when we need something we either build it from manufactured parts, or make it ourselves. If we're allowed maybe I'll post some pictures of what I've made here in this thread. IF anyone else here feels to do the same, please do share with the rest of us. Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

~ Red​
i love all guitars and have played for decades. really centuries but that is another story. i have a custom made carvin that prompted me to sell my les paul custom and custom shop gold explorer that had the most beautiful pattern on the neck i have ever seen on a gibson. both guitars went to worthy random players much like hank williams martin went to neil young and he will in turn pay it forward to the next worthy player. now, after that backstory i read about you building guitars and it sounds like you have the passion necessary to be very good at it. i am think of a guitar that is linked to my cherokee heritage and while i don't want something wierd or gaudy like a tomahawk or something obvious a connection back to that is what i'm thinking. an album cover i would like to use someday is a starship say the enterprise from the old show cause i'm old school. it is steaming toward the earth. plenty of those pics could be lifted right off of star trek. then the fun part is inside the starship at the bridge where captain quirk would be is an indian chief in full garb ready to lead charge point his eagle feather adorned war spear at the earth. yikes. the name of the album is payback is a mf'r. a little hard on the edges but it is mostly a shock value statement. the indians i run with don't kill indiscriminately. the is the white man's gig. so, back to the guitar. i will keep thinking of possible designs and you can email me to say if you are interested. jimmy
 

BlacksmithJim

New Member
Ya gotta understand that people were stringing together notes 2½ thousand years ago in Aeolia, Greece. Even if it is only a "piece" it qualifies as a composition. Now all he has to do is fit lyrics to the notes, even "la-la-la-la" will do, and he will have a song. You can teach him about chords and four-part harmony later.
Please be careful to shape his zeal and talent. Do not, I beg you, force him into a mold of your choosing. Salt in some of the technical methods and jargon along the way, and suggest more appropriate pieces to learn whenever he "hits the wall" on Moonlight Sonata, or whatever the latest overreach happens to be.
Most important of all, acknowledge him (and in the back of your mind, yourself) whenever progress is made. This is when both master and student win!
well and songbirds. they been singing lots longer than that with a pea sized brain. mockingbirds are the sampler of today's toys. i listened to one for 4 hours while he/she? went through every animal imaginable even loud noises like car doors slamming. and a train whistle. at the end of loop the bird brain resets and starts the playback again. wow. i heard the mockingbird song, and loved gregory peck in the movie but had never heard what one of them critters pulls off. surprised some thrifty ravens weren't out there trying to sell tickets or birdseed to the audience. so human always take credit where nature has long been dominant and music. well think of whales, dolphins. i like to go out and howl at wolves, wild dogs, bigsneaker or i mean bigfoot and any other nightime woodsy deal. they all have really intense interesting dialog after dark. nothing to be scared of really. just have the smell of gunpowder, iron filings, and fat from whatever animal you fear smeared on piece of deerskin. this will make said predator think about his friend and when they last dropped a sick elk and had a good lunch together. well, he knows his friend was no slouch so whatever turned him into the fat smell is probably stalking him right now. darwin kicks in.fight or flee. if im smell'n those smells and im him im history. exit stage right as snaggletooth used to say. sorry got off the trajectory but i am a guitar player mostly but also fluent in everything else. strings, wind, percussion. all the same. only 11 total notes. 7 happy 2 kinda unhappy 2 really unhappy. making the 7 happy notes connect to the other 2 groups in a coherent productive fashion will always yield good melody. wow what a bunch of mularkey. oh not really though. jimmy
 

The Lady Redneck

Well-Known Member
I play a little piano and guitar both by ear as I cannot read music. Like to sing folk music with friends and listen to classical music on my own. Write poetry when the mood takes me. I also love all sorts of needlework, Main creative hobby is photography and Photoshop and earn a little money doing pet photography.

But here is a question within a question about the question.. Do you regard FoE as a creative hobby? After all we do put our time, and mental effort, and often cash into creating our cities in a way that pleases us and furthers our interest. Each city is unique and perhaps says a little about its creator. And we come together with like minded individuals to discus our creations.
 
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