Search found 238 matches

by gizzy
27 Aug 2012, 15:15
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Absent friends...
Replies: 22
Views: 27696

Re: Absent friends...

Awwww noooo Do you know Peter Grimes? I studies it for A level in 1963 and I've been mightily impressed with it ever since. Went to hear it at the proms on Friday, in a "slightly-staged" concert performance. Still wonderful after all this time. My only gripe - well, I have no truck with th...
by gizzy
23 Aug 2012, 22:04
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Things you didn't know about Elvis
Replies: 2
Views: 6951

Re: Things you didn't know about Elvis

It was a sh*t way to go, though, wasn't it?
by gizzy
23 Aug 2012, 21:59
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Absent friends...
Replies: 22
Views: 27696

Re: Absent friends...

Going to the other extreme, when my #2 daughter was at university most of her exams were marked out of 16 (yes, sixteen) and apparently the pass mark was 4. She says the only reasons she got 4 for New Testament Greek were that her tutor didn't want to have to set a resit paper and that he wanted to ...
by gizzy
27 Jul 2012, 22:34
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

Oh, absolutely torn between watching the opening ceremony and finishing our packing. We're off to Orkney early tomorrow morning (6am coach to Luton). Travel arrangements have been one huge cock-up all along the line, all my fault, as I'm the household travel agent. No sleeper trains, whcih we had co...
by gizzy
26 Jul 2012, 00:08
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: When did you start learning?
Replies: 83
Views: 127619

Re: When did you start learning?

Oh great, new blood (sorry, that made me sound like a vampire!) Welcome, Russell - I've not been around here all that long myself, but I've been made welcome. Slip over to the Non-piano, idel-chitacht section if you just want to natter. It's been a bit quiet recently, but we're crossing our fingers ...
by gizzy
21 Jul 2012, 00:58
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Absent friends...
Replies: 22
Views: 27696

Re: Absent friends...

That's fantastic news! He's broken his sound barrier! Well done, Dave. Is he going to go for 4? I have no idea. He's still lying low (that came out sounding sifferent from what I meant :shock: ) Maybe if we all got our voices in chorus and yelled he'd hear us and come back and tell us. So all toget...
by gizzy
20 Jul 2012, 11:40
Forum: Piano Advice
Topic: YUS1 Unstable Pitch
Replies: 13
Views: 18778

Re: YUS1 Unstable Pitch

don't get me started ..... (too late, best just to shut me up... or let me rant, i'll get bored and sleep soon) Nonono rant away, please! It's got to be said, over and over again. Every year we hear on the news about more money being poured into schools for music, or else it's "there's such a ...
by gizzy
16 Jul 2012, 22:59
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Absent friends...
Replies: 22
Views: 27696

Absent friends...

I know Dave Brum is no longer here, but I'm sure those of you who encouraged him will be delighted to hear that he passed grade 3 with a merit that was so nearly the distinction he was craving. He got 128. Excellent marks for pieces, pretty good for aural, and a very good mark for - dare I say it? -...
by gizzy
13 Jul 2012, 18:18
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Late beginner...
Replies: 31
Views: 35811

Re: Late beginner...

:lol: Well, you remember Dave Brum talking about making a "testicle bags in the air" of some piece or some s***t-r*****g. Do you suppose Ed thought "Oh, I''ve made a me-up"? :D
by gizzy
13 Jul 2012, 00:11
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Late beginner...
Replies: 31
Views: 35811

Late beginner...

Ed Balls took grade 1 piano today. It's true! He has said it went OK, but the sight-reading was in F major. :roll:

Come back Dave, all is forgiven :D
by gizzy
10 Jul 2012, 09:35
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Advice for a new learner please
Replies: 2
Views: 6335

Re: Advice for a new learner please

Endorsing what Colin says - there are players (not just pianists but other instruments as well) who are sometimes called "24-piece wonders" becasue they've only ever properly learned the three pieces necessary for each grade. With orchestral instruments this may not be so much of a drawbac...
by gizzy
09 Jul 2012, 08:23
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Is the phrase -Tempered Instrument - too vague?
Replies: 21
Views: 32388

Re: Is the phrase -Tempered Instrument - too vague?

Surely, though, the way it works on a violin is not so much to do with what key you're in as how you deploy the pitch within that tonality - how wide do you want your "semitone" or your "major 3rd"? Choirs are often told to make the major third in one particular chord sound "...
by gizzy
07 Jul 2012, 20:27
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

Well, we saw it, and I've watched the video, but the camera suddenly pulls away from just where we were as they went round the corner, so you can't distinguish anyone. Walked a mile to get there, everyone very good humoured, especially the police, and we resisted as long as possible accepting a pair...
by gizzy
07 Jul 2012, 10:59
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

All is revealed. All these floods and torrential rain are caused by gay people

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... shops.html#

It was in the paper, so it has to be true :D
by gizzy
07 Jul 2012, 09:21
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

Torch coming in to Cambridge around 6 this evening. I'll try and catch it where Brooks Road turns into Brookfields. You'll see me if you follow live, probably, as I will probably have Father Christmas with me (I'm married to him, you know, but the reindeer are only rented) I read that it's preceded ...
by gizzy
25 Jun 2012, 00:24
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: My project which I am excited about
Replies: 9
Views: 17099

My project which I am excited about

(Just in case there's anybody left here at all to see it!) :P It's not terribly piano-ey, though it will certainly involve me having to play the piano as part of it... I'm emerging from what has been a very difficult two months on the personal front not only for me but also for a close family member...
by gizzy
15 Jun 2012, 22:25
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What's Made You Happy Today???
Replies: 796
Views: 624009

Re: What's Made You Happy Today???

I don`t even now what pm is?! or how to disable it (excuse the pun) :sad: sorry if someone left perhaps I hit a nerve. Under the solid blue box a little way above here ^^^ you'll find a paler blue box, and on the left of that you'll find User Control Panel. In that, look for Board Preferences, and ...
by gizzy
13 Jun 2012, 16:26
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What's Made You Happy Today???
Replies: 796
Views: 624009

Re: What's Made You Happy Today???

he was claiming disabilitie benefit when he was mowing the lawn and such like Now, now, Doreen, I think you know that not all disability is physical. I'm going to say this as nicely as I can manage, and in a forum post only because you have conveniently got Private Message disabled - but PLEASE can...
by gizzy
12 Jun 2012, 12:48
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What's Made You Happy Today???
Replies: 796
Views: 624009

Re: What's Made You Happy Today???

I had to turn down a free ticket to the Garsington Opera dress rehearsals (Offenbach)on Wednesday because I have to play for choir rehearsal...:( Awww! :( :( What were they doing? (The opera, I mean, not the choir) On the (unmentionable other) forum they have an aaaaargh scream thread. Should we ha...
by gizzy
11 Jun 2012, 10:22
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What's touched you today?
Replies: 0
Views: 5353

What's touched you today?

I was going to post this on the What Made You Happy thread, but as the first thing that happened was that it made me cry, it didn't seem to fit. Then when I submitted the post, I got "access denied" for the link, so I'm trying again http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/577588_101...
by gizzy
10 Jun 2012, 16:09
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What's Made You Happy Today???
Replies: 796
Views: 624009

Re: What's Made You Happy Today???

##We're off to Glyndebourne!!!## No, we're not, not really, but for a tiny fraction of the cost of dressing up posh and sitting in an opera house with a lot of other people also dressed up posh, with surtitles whch I can't see to read, and singers whose faces I definitely can't see, and taking 2 hou...
by gizzy
08 Jun 2012, 15:02
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: My Frankenstein Thumb.
Replies: 57
Views: 103100

Re: My Frankenstein Thumb.

Butbutbut - Rachmaninov must have had more than just a long thumb. He must have had a good span betwen the fingers as well. There will be thngs in this big-hand music which can't be dealt with just by having one digit made longer? I work on my stretch (I can manage octaves but a 9th is really only p...
by gizzy
08 Jun 2012, 12:29
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What are we doing right now? (aside from being on the forum)
Replies: 59
Views: 52357

Re: What are we doing right now? (aside from being on the fo

Waiting for this persistent rain to stop so I can go out. That and the vocal version of La Maja y el Ruisenor by Granados which has come up at random on my iTunes, making me feel tearful. I used to sing that, it's a very powerful and emotional sing, and nowadays I can't even get my throat round roun...
by gizzy
08 Jun 2012, 08:47
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

What really hacks me off is little old ladies knitting Olympic rings or little shops doing Olympic displays and some plank from the Olympic Committee coming round and telling them they can't do it because it infringes copyright. Arses. Amen I'm looking forward to watching on Sunday if I'm home. It ...
by gizzy
08 Jun 2012, 07:51
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What are we doing right now? (aside from being on the forum)
Replies: 59
Views: 52357

Re: What are we doing right now? (aside from being on the fo

Listening to r3 and eating cereal. Just had Chopin's have-a-banana polonaise. when I switched it on it was a blast from the past. Slow movement of Mendelssohn piano trio. I played in this when I was at school. not as a piano trio, but a wind quartet with piano. 1 flute and 3 clarinets. I was, and st...
by gizzy
07 Jun 2012, 23:25
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: My Frankenstein Thumb.
Replies: 57
Views: 103100

Re: My Frankenstein Thumb.

One of my friends when I was at university back in 1066 was the harpsichordist (well, he was an organist in those days) John Toll (the late) I now know someone who was a pupil of his, and he said that John had lost a thumb in an accident, and had a big toe removed and surgically sewn in the place wh...
by gizzy
07 Jun 2012, 19:54
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What are we doing right now? (aside from being on the forum)
Replies: 59
Views: 52357

Re: What are we doing right now? (aside from being on the fo

Listening to Angela Hewitt playing Couperin on a piano, not a giant harpiskord, unfortunately, but she's just about to launch into the B minor passacaglia. I have my left hand ready to reinforce the bottom F# (ffff#!) :D :twisted: :D :piano; Mysterious Barricades first. I seem to remember from Compo...
by gizzy
07 Jun 2012, 14:11
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: My Frankenstein Thumb.
Replies: 57
Views: 103100

Re: My Frankenstein Thumb.

Yeth, marthter! :D (apologies to Terry Pratchett)
by gizzy
06 Jun 2012, 23:28
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: My Frankenstein Thumb.
Replies: 57
Views: 103100

Re: My Frankenstein Thumb.

Isn't it more awkward to pass under a finger when playng scale passages? I would have thought that the altered ratio between the fist and second joint would feel a bit odd, since you haven't moved the knuckle. Still, you're the one who's doing the playing; keep us posted how it's progressing. I have...
by gizzy
06 Jun 2012, 23:23
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

My mum always said if you played with fire you'd wet the bed...! Now, I hadn't heard that one. Daughter#1 went through a pyromaniac phase. She was the one who used to wet the bed (a bit) when she and her sister were in bunks. Being the bigger one, she was in the top bunk. And the answer is yes :win...
by gizzy
06 Jun 2012, 15:01
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

It's the only way we could afford to host them. why on earth we wanted to (that's for some value of "we" of course) in the first place, when we saw what happened to Greece, I don't know. We went on holiday there while they were still building the stuff ready for the Olympics, and many peop...
by gizzy
04 Jun 2012, 20:09
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

I think it's a Man Thng :lol:
by gizzy
03 Jun 2012, 21:57
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

Wasn't it difficult to light? :D
by gizzy
03 Jun 2012, 10:48
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

SIXTY YEARS OF REIGN!!!
:D :D :D :D :D
I was in THE London (as my daughter who works there proudly calls it) yesterday on the south bank. The Eye was all decked out in its red white and blue lights at night. Looked great.
by gizzy
01 Jun 2012, 19:13
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

Aerial view of Liverpool on BBC torch cam now. It is, as they say, looking stunning. It's one of the several places I'm "from". I thought it was frightful when we first moved up there (I was almost dragged kicking and screaming, didn't want to leave Somerset) but that sight this evening is...
by gizzy
01 Jun 2012, 12:56
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

Re: The Olympic Torch

Gill the Piano wrote:waste of time and money just to watch people run round in vests.
D
Don't forget the shorts, though :P
by gizzy
01 Jun 2012, 09:23
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: The Olympic Torch
Replies: 14
Views: 17929

The Olympic Torch

So it's a new month, a new picture comes up on the four calendars hanging around my house, and I can actually get the torch live relay on my screen for a change. I'm finding the whole thing very uplifting. It comes through my own city on July 8, but it'll be in Formby, Lancs very soon. I have to wat...
by gizzy
24 May 2012, 15:48
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Englebert and Eurovision
Replies: 6
Views: 10658

Englebert and Eurovision

Well, I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but that song Englebert is singing for the UK on Saturday is touching and beautiful, And he doesn't make a bad fist of it either. It's a slightly unusual sentiment. I couldn't stick him at any price when he was younger. I thought he was smarmy, a gr...
by gizzy
24 May 2012, 08:00
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Just started, so I need to ask 3 questions
Replies: 5
Views: 6914

Re: Just started, so I need to ask 3 questions

I don't think you can do better than this, if you really are in the very early stages: http://pianoadventures.com/publications/mainLibraries/pa/adult.html There are other courses available (I use the Accelerated Piano Adventures with a lot of older beginners) but I think a lot of the American course...
by gizzy
23 May 2012, 15:29
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Is the phrase -Tempered Instrument - too vague?
Replies: 21
Views: 32388

Re: Is the phrase -Tempered Instrument - too vague?

Is there a jealousy smiley? Not that I've got room for one anyway, and I have to confess that the kind I really like are the ones which I think I read somewhere never really existed when it was in common use: the gynormous Wanda Landowska-type instruments with a tone to rival that of a grand piano. ...
by gizzy
23 May 2012, 12:51
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Just started, so I need to ask 3 questions
Replies: 5
Views: 6914

Re: Just started, so I need to ask 3 questions

The obvious answer is (and I bet you saw this coming) get yourself a teacher. Some people don't really want to take lessons, some can't afford it, some find it awkward to fit in the time. But you might just find a teacher who is prepared to fit you in on a very sporadic basis, as loing as they know ...
by gizzy
22 May 2012, 19:09
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Is the phrase -Tempered Instrument - too vague?
Replies: 21
Views: 32388

Re: Is the phrase -Tempered Instrument - too vague?

I wonder of people who want to use that kind of temperament tend to do their own tuning as well? I know it's true of a couple of harpsichord players I've known
by gizzy
22 May 2012, 08:46
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Cost of living versus the cost of learning
Replies: 40
Views: 41536

Re: Cost of living versus the cost of learning

Ah, Gill, you and I are definitely sisters under the skin! :D
by gizzy
19 May 2012, 15:35
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Cost of living versus the cost of learning
Replies: 40
Views: 41536

Re: Cost of living versus the cost of learning

I did a search and found a Doreen Dangle living in Grand Junction. Colorado

She's 85

Shame on you, madam, you should know better at your age. :D
by gizzy
18 May 2012, 21:58
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Practise strategies for oldies
Replies: 6
Views: 9899

Re: Practise strategies for oldies

Feg wrote:
Oh, for a 'LIKE' button as per FB for this post, Gizzy!
<curtsey> :D
G in C
by gizzy
18 May 2012, 10:31
Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
Topic: Practise strategies for oldies
Replies: 6
Views: 9899

Re: Practise strategies for oldies

I'm not quite sure why you call it practice. You are Playing, which is what you want to do. I would have said practice was a preparation for something - a lesson, and exam, a performance. If you're doing it for nobody but yourself, you don't relly need a strategy as such - just enjoy! At the other e...
by gizzy
16 May 2012, 14:01
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Cost of living versus the cost of learning
Replies: 40
Views: 41536

Re: Cost of living versus the cost of learning

but then davebrum comes back with a different name! <snip> and maybe he is not even called dave or from brimingham. just ban his IP address thats best :mrgreen: Well, now, what could have brought on such an offensive, ad hominem attack more than two weeks after a person has unsubbed? (and definitel...
by gizzy
15 May 2012, 23:31
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

Rhinitis? Retina? Raffle ticket? Rasputin? Ragbag? Rent book? Armpit? Give up... Rumplestiltskin... Thunder and hailstones at 2.30 this afternoon. Five day forecast says dry dry dry dry and dry. Sunny by day and moony by night. (Just about sums me up) :) Gizzy in Cambridge, only just finished writi...
by gizzy
14 May 2012, 18:45
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?
Replies: 58
Views: 83744

Re: What Is The Weather Like Where You Are?

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with R

again
by gizzy
14 May 2012, 17:23
Forum: Idle Chitchat
Topic: Stupid question...
Replies: 8
Views: 11320

Re: Stupid question...

My ex is a tenor in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. They often have special services on Saturday afternoons, and once a few years ago they held one for the Guide Dogs Association, and the place was full of blind people with their well-behaved dogs. Well-behaved, that is, until one of the choir started...