thank you!

Thanks to all who wrote comments and sent me lovely emails after that last post. If you emailed me, I will respond eventually, but be patient. I don't always have a lot of computer time! I know you all realize I am not in dire straights here, just having an adjustment period to having two chilluns at home in the Wisconsin winter and no piano gigs in the near future. It feels like a long adjustment, but I know that come spring, the time will pass much more easily. (If spring ever gets here.) Still, your support means a lot.

By the way, I could be playing if I wanted to. I've had a few requests for accompanying - nothing real exciting - and I've turned them down. The main reason for this is that finding childcare for a toddler and a wee babe is almost more trouble than it's worth. I'm breastfeeding Anya, and while I'm fortunate that she takes a bottle (not all breastfed babies will accept drinking from a bottle, even if there's breastmilk in it), it's a huge pain to pump milk to have ready for a sitter, so I do the bare minimum. When Anya's eating solid food in a few months, having a sitter will be a lot easier. As it is, I have a sitter come for two hours on Thursday afternoon so I can teach piano lessons, and it feels like it takes almost that long to prepare for her to come over. You know, making sure there is plenty of milk for the baby and food for the Danimal and a change of clothes in case of diaper leakage and getting supper ready ahead of time for the rest of us...I love my piano students, so it's worth it, but I can't really handle it more than once a week. And accompanying means finding practice time and I really don't know when that would happen right now.

As for starting a music blog? I don't want to start another blog just for that because I don't have enough to write about, especially now that I'm on a bit of a break from active playing. However, I like writing about music and about my experiences as a musician, and I know that several musicians read this blog, so I would like to make a point of writing about music on a regular basis. Let's say I try to do a music post of some sort at least once a week. I think personal blogs are more interesting when they cover a variety of topics anyway. (I know I have a separate knitting blog, but that's because knitbloggers are a special breed of people who like to talk and write about things that would bore the store-bought socks off the general public. Of course, anyone's welcome to go read it, but I just figure if I'm going to go on and on about knitting, I should do it in somewhere other than here.) Also, I most enjoy trying to write about music in a way that's readable to a general audience. I would venture to say that even parts of my dissertation would be interesting to someone with only a casual musical education (Steph, you read it. Would you agree?)

I hear my daughter waking up and she sounds hungry (like always!), so let me just put this question out there quick: What do you want to hear about from me? Singers are an easy topic (or shall I say, target), but there's a whole host of things I could write about, from music education to teaching piano to accompanying to why I love the harpsichord to why I like music I like and why I hate music I hate...anything goes. Comments welcome! Fire away!

Comments

ann said…
why I hate music I hate sounds good
Strangeite said…
I would like to see a post on the evolution of your musical tastes as your level of education increased. I know of an individual that got his Phd in some obsure area of American literature (he told me but it didn't make much of impact at the time), but found himself only able to read for enjoyment "bad" science fiction and comic books after he was awarded his degree. Have you had a similar experience or the opposite.
Anonymous said…
I have been reading your blog for awhile, as a PhD student and piano teacher, and now I find out you're a knitter too?? I've got to check that out!
I would like to see a post about your favorite period of classical music (if you have one) and which classical composer you think wrote total sh*t, even though other musicians may rave about them (gee, I guess that would fall under the "music I hate" category, wouldn't it?)

I also would like to read a post about music you secretly love, but would freak if any of your professors found out about it (any secret love for cheesy boy-band pop piano arrangements?). LOL
Strangeite said…
It appears that there is a subconscience desire on the part of your readers for you to secretly enjoy the nuances of music like Banana Phone.

The Musical Genius of the Banana Phone
Steph said…
I think there are a number of parts to your dissertation that a more general, educated audience would enjoy. I learned a lot about E. E. Cummings and poetry in general from reading your diss that I didn't know before.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with your training (probably more to do with mine) but theme music to television shows and movies and how that works/doesn't is an endlessly intriguing topic in my universe. Like, the theme music for the first season of Battlestar Galactica? Eerie, modal, spooky, good. Second season? Weird, melodically constipated, totally off. Haven't watched further than season 2 yet. Anyway. I'm getting on to my own rant. (In ethno people go on rants like this but disguise them as academic papers. It's fun.) I'd be interested in your opinions on such matters.
Animal said…
One thing I will DEFINITELY not miss about Roslyn's milk days is washing all that frickin' breast-pump stuff. Gah! It's only fair, really, since Miss Tessmacher does all the REAL work of expressing, so I feel like I ought to chip in and wash the little flaps, and the shields, and on & on...hey, this kind of explains my dishpan hands this winter! Anyway, we do a LOT of pumping here, and I'll be glad to see it go.

As for music: I'm interested to know whether or not modern-day harpsichordists are still taught to realize figured bass. I'm in the position of writing for harpsichord in the near future, so how do I tackle it: same way I would piano music, or can I do a bass line & figuration and assume that just about everyone could realize it?

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