Thanks for all of the compliments!!
quote:
Originally posted by Sandy:
And the Trombone (is it that?) looks hard to play. Looks like exercise to me. Is it?
I was thinking about this… hard is relative.
I think that drum set is the hardest… the music is a nightmare for me to look at and to do 4 different things with all four limbs. Drummers are like the ultimate multi-taskers.
I also think piano very hard… reading music in two clefs… Doing one thing with your right hand and something different with your left. Feet are involved. I'm not too good with the multi-tasking thing.
The things I struggle with on trombone… I struggle on ALL instruments. If I read English like I do music… I’d never finish book. I’d read like:
The……..do-g….ra---nnnn (oh crap, hold that “n” too long… you’ll drag) be----fore, (no wait, not before… that isn‘t right) af <stare at the first syllable of after for a while… come out of trance in a panic that I‘m on the verge of getting lost> -ter the (oh look, “the”, I saw that word earlier… wait don’t go looking for it… stay on task here, keep looking ahead) b-a-llllll (oh crap, you held that “l” a little long. Push the tempo… ).
I also have some double vision… and it doesn’t bother me reading English… but it really bothers me reading music. But all of these problems are problems on all instruments for me.
Physically… the hard thing is a flute player has to move his/her fingers a quarter of an inch to change notes and I have to move 22 inches sometimes (we drag a lot
). But I have an “F trigger” and with alternate positions… I have about 4 different ways to play every note… but that is a problem sometimes… where my neurons are rapidly firing, “1st position!, no wait!… 4 w/ the trigger would be easier!, no 1st, no 4th, no 1st, no 4th. And there just isn’t time to stand there and think about it and decide which is the easier way to play it. I have to practice a lot… WAY more than the other guys. There is one section of Mambo that I practiced at least 500 times… and I ended up crossing notes out because I was never going to get it fast enough. Give me a bottle of white out and I can play anything. In this trombone section, I am the weakest link.
Except when it comes to hits… if I don’t have to move my arm and just have to play a little “POP!” someplace… I’m good to go! Wayne is the Japanese guy on my left and he said one time, “You can’t read it… you just have to feel it.” The only problem is that there are 5 of us… and between us, we are “feeling it” twelve ways… and I play what is on the page.
And physically… it is just a pain to hold. It is heavy and awkward. Wayne has damaged his left wrist over the years. I was whining about how heavy it was. And Jeff, who is on my right, sent me this link for an “ErgoBone” as a joke… and I actually bought one. It REALLY helps. The band dir said, “Isn’t it sort of a crutch.” “No Morry… not sort of… it IS a crutch!”
http://www.ergobone.com/mainpage.htmlWith rehearsals and this performance… I played about 7 hours in 3 days and my elbows are still aching a little. (But Wayne has commented, “You aren’t supposed to hold it in a death grip, you know!”) Jeff had some uncontrollable tremors in his right hand by the end of Saturday… But all instruments have the risk of repetitive motion or stress injuries if you play a lot… or for many years.
quote:
Originally posted by MaryJo:
I always wanted to play an instrument.
Ralph, (the African American guy in front of me) learned as an adult. And the key board player with the hat is a veterinarian in real life and learned to play as an adult. I learned trombone when I was 42
(but I could read music and played a similar instrument before). But Greg and Ralph learned in their 30's and 40's.
quote:
Originally posted by Lori4squaremom:
You look awesome! Now have you gone lighter on your hair or have you been spending more time in the sun? I don't remember your hair being THAT blond before? It looks fantastic!
Thanks!!! But Ughhhh! My hair!!! I dye it and it gets really blond really fast. It is pretty gray underneath. And what used to be brown is now mousy. I can’t decide if I should cut it short again. Blech! But if my hair is my worst problem right now, that is a pretty good life, right?
Denise
Summer Challenge:
Keep dining room table clutter free.
Log food on Fitday.com
