learning is, like... tough
i brought my practice bagpipes over here to keep some semblance of problem-solving ability crashing around in my head. but it is tough. it's not so tough in learning the fingering (hah - i can't help it), because it is much like the saxophone and i've played that before.
the hard part is blowing that son-of-a-bitch. good lord. you'd think i was a smoker by the time i'm done trying them out. all light-headed and dizzy. i'm still learning the pressure on the bag (again hah). you have to compensate on the pressure on the bag by your arm depending on whether you are blowing or breathing. it's a simple fluid flow problem. calculations... no problem; practical, real-life application... sounds like i'm making a goose breathe out the wrong end.
then i'm reading up on the fingering and all these "hotshot" bagpipe players say this is one of the toughest instruments to learn without an instructor. GREAT! one site talks about people driving 3-4 hours once a week for practice lessons and how much they enjoyed it. there MAY be bagpipe instructors in india, but i'm guessing that is one of the less popular jobs around here. and i don't think the website is suggesting i FLY several hours to a country that at least doesn't mistake roman lettering for another one of their hybrid god symbols. i guess i'll just have to be bad and save some money to buy earplugs for my audience.
also, in my boredom, i saw a violin for a couple bones, so i bought it. it is amazingly easy to make very nice sounds out of it even though it is a crappy indian piece. i surprised even myself. the hard part is (1) chords and (2) no frets, so it is kinda like a trombone where you just have to "know" how YOUR particular body part (in this case, hand) has to be shaped to get a particular sound. but it sounds better making a couple notes. i just play the same note real fast and act like i'm playing "the devil went down to georgia"
i have more haiku on the insight of life by big C, but they are buried on my other e-mail server which is running slow today so i'll post them here in a few days.
oh btw, i added a picture on blogspot as to the prison country i'm in. when i get MY computer back, i'll try to get a better picture (that is from the CIA worldbook) and then i'll try to figure out how to do it on myblogsite.
hope all is well. so, what is new with you...
the hard part is blowing that son-of-a-bitch. good lord. you'd think i was a smoker by the time i'm done trying them out. all light-headed and dizzy. i'm still learning the pressure on the bag (again hah). you have to compensate on the pressure on the bag by your arm depending on whether you are blowing or breathing. it's a simple fluid flow problem. calculations... no problem; practical, real-life application... sounds like i'm making a goose breathe out the wrong end.
then i'm reading up on the fingering and all these "hotshot" bagpipe players say this is one of the toughest instruments to learn without an instructor. GREAT! one site talks about people driving 3-4 hours once a week for practice lessons and how much they enjoyed it. there MAY be bagpipe instructors in india, but i'm guessing that is one of the less popular jobs around here. and i don't think the website is suggesting i FLY several hours to a country that at least doesn't mistake roman lettering for another one of their hybrid god symbols. i guess i'll just have to be bad and save some money to buy earplugs for my audience.
also, in my boredom, i saw a violin for a couple bones, so i bought it. it is amazingly easy to make very nice sounds out of it even though it is a crappy indian piece. i surprised even myself. the hard part is (1) chords and (2) no frets, so it is kinda like a trombone where you just have to "know" how YOUR particular body part (in this case, hand) has to be shaped to get a particular sound. but it sounds better making a couple notes. i just play the same note real fast and act like i'm playing "the devil went down to georgia"
i have more haiku on the insight of life by big C, but they are buried on my other e-mail server which is running slow today so i'll post them here in a few days.
oh btw, i added a picture on blogspot as to the prison country i'm in. when i get MY computer back, i'll try to get a better picture (that is from the CIA worldbook) and then i'll try to figure out how to do it on myblogsite.
hope all is well. so, what is new with you...
posted by slyght at 5/17/2005 07:00:00 AM
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