Bad Start to the Day

We have to try some services to see which ones work @Decadian

But talking about them and knowing whats available online .. may help another person ... connect up with a better one for them ...

Hope the day improves .. my son is playing some Chopin Preludes at the moment. which is nice ... when he plays loud things and practises it over and over again .. I get jittery ... and I love my son playing .. but that is the reality for me .. drives me nuts.

Ah yes @Appleblossom

It must be a mixed blessing to have a musical child - I was such a one - and Gran would be ordering me to practise before my father came home from work

And my mother got demented when Dad gave us a record to play on an ancient gramaphone - and we played that record until Mum charged in with her eyes blazing and her hair all over the place and yelling - grabbed our record and smashed it

I understand her now - I have had kids of my own - ah - weep - my bro and I stood their holding the broken bits of record - good vinyl - the best record we had

Back to the callers from Red Cross

The service is called Telecross and they have someone ring in the morning - and I don't fall asleep easily and having the phone ring for a few minutes chat when I am still asleep isn't working

I'm not running it down - it's not working for me -

But if anyone is interested then the Red Cross runs this - and if a person doesn't answer their phone after two or three calls there will be an intervention - and I do not want that to happen

But it would be very good for someone to have that service if they do not have access to neighbours or family - and as I said - I have a Medical Alarm Service - between 6.00am and 9.00am I need to press the red button - otherwise there will be an intervention - but if I don't do that - and it is easy to forget - they send a reminder though the service and I can press the button - no conversation required

If I need help I press the button on my wrist band - and if I press that accidently - they call me and I can talk to them on the radio - part of the system - and tell them that was a mistake

So these are two ways of having help when I do fall at times and need the paramedics to get me up

The Medical Alarm works for me - unfortunately - Telecross doesn't

So there are two services I have used

So I am gradually feeling better - and I hope your son stays with the Chopin and not the loud stuff - over and over

My piano has so many apps - I wonder if I will use them - but it does have a volume control - I can play it at night - no one (neighbours) would hear it

Decadian

Thats right you said you were musical .. do you play now?

Sorry but Beethoven and Chopin live in the house can have a lot of crashing chords .. its not just heavy metal .. thats why one of my recent sayings is that there is metal in Beethoven.

I can understand not wanting to be disturbed .. my son and I have a lot of sleep issues .. but we are slowly and methodically working through things.

I almost smiled when you mentioned about your mother and the gramaphone until you mentioned she smashed it up.

My mother controlled the sounds in the house ... and we didnt get a record player til about 1974.

One of the other lovely things my brother and I did .. which ties into your earlier discussions is

... He wanted to make an electronic keyboard for her ... Yay modern technology ... and I spent hours and hours doing it with him ... colour coding resistors and learning about solder and welding ...

We actually did love her a lot and she tried to be a good mother ... but her pride was dreadfully HIGH .. and she bitched about all the loud horrible Australian or European mothers ... and only lost it twice at me ... that I remember .. but both times were physical.

And she got my father to warn me about endless spankings with the wooden spoon ... so I have no idea how much we got that treatment before the abandonment.

I always forgave her the abandonment, but the truth is that she didnt forgive being alive.

Hope things get better noise wise. Dec

Hi Again @Appleblossom

I learned to play the piano very young - and after I accepted the first few lessons is was really pretty easy for me - my Gran taught me and my mother gave me her piano when I was not long in my first house - but it did need a lot of work and I could not afford to have to moved to an upstairs unit so I had to leave it behind

So I did not have a piano again until recently - and I am picking it up - but I am far short of my Bach and Handel - but still have an easy ride with block chords and the melody in old chord organ books I had

I can just hold the melody and improvise the bass chords - and play riffs a bit here and there - it is gradually becoming unconcious - 25 years with no piano - that was a hardship for me

But I could play the guitar - and I had to stop because of my arthritic hands and my damaged shoulder - I was a muso at church and played in the youth group and we did gigs at other church concerts or fetes - always a muso at camps - it was a huge part of my life

But here's the thing - the interesting thing - I can play my own compositions - never written down - and I can write music onto a score - it is brilliant to play these little numbers - no name - no words - not even the essentials in written music

It was just there - waiting for me - in my own head all those years

About my mother and that record - it must have driven her mad - my bro had this ancient gramaphone - one of those with a big loud speaker - and we had to wind the handle so it would work - and shove a cap down the speaker to lower the volume a bit

And we had a lot of jazz and Tin Pan Alley records that came with it - second hand - and we loved this

But that record - it was Gene Autry singing "Lonely River" and the lonely river ran through that song -

"Lonely river -------- lonely river.......lonely river"

So Apple - we drove our mother crackers -

That was great you and your brother making your Mum an electronic keyboard - that's what I have now - and your Mum did her best - so did mine I guess

But there were two of us - and she never got a handle on it - I am really sorry her life was so stunted - but there are some good memories

Dec

Great you have a keyboard now @Decadian

Adult students are becoming more of a thing these days .. as it is so good to do and we can all do it at home ... and we are an aging population ... so its no longer held that you to be the proverbial child prodigy to make playing the peeeanah worth while.

I had a teacher with arthritis once .. who said they'd have to carry him out of the house in a box .. piano is easier than the grip on a guitar .. for old hands ...

I did African drumming and singing to get back in touch with my music after all the neck, carpal tunnel and dystonia.

Now I am pretty ego detached about the whole scene... really too many years of pain ... and my mother said that me playing Ravel or Bach while renovating with small kids ... wasnt a labour of love.... hhhhmmm .. she just pushed and pushed and pushed .. and didnt realise the destructiveness of it.

Glad you can improvise ... my son was good at it for a while ... but is heavily into the classics now .. I hope he goes back to it ... I am hopeless but did play keys on a couple of garage studio records.

let me know if you want to talk repertoire ... the Russian composers have lots of easy play good short mood pieces that you can download from IMSLP etc

Certainly @Appleblossom

We can talk music -

One piece I really enjoy for a while is the Rach 3 - Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto but it is a strain listening to it for long

But I prefer, Hayden, Mozart, Handel and various members of the Bach families.

I enjoy the classics of my time (1760,70s ) - when it comes to playing they are easier - but now I am expanding my interests into the music my daughter likes as she has been learning guitar from a couple of friends of hers - and I hope they get into gigs - I would be totally wrapped in that. I never thought she would take up music - if they need a female lead singer I could do that - I am about the same age as Mick Jagger after all (if he is still with us) and Ringo Starr - I am not over the hill yet

So I might get into Heavy Metal in my old age - Head Banging could be therapeuitic - especially when we stop

Improvisations are good - it is easy to do a riff in most keys - I never could do it on my guitar - but I have a better grip on a piano than the guitar frets - there were some keys I could never get my fingers to do

As for singing - my daughter really can't - of all the good stuff she could have inherited from her father she had to be tone-deaf - and I was in so many choirs until my late 50s - given or take - I find I sing a lot

But in spite of her not singing well - I am just glad my daughter is playing guitar now

Decadian

I only downloaded the Rach 3 recently .. my internet life is fairly recent. Loved it from "Shine" fame .. for so many reasons I know you can really understand.

Yeah I am open to style .. aparently the new Euro thing is symphonic and Folk metal ... one day when I have nothing better to do .. I'll look more at it.

I bought music for my daughter's favourite pop pieces ... but she said that was intrusive .. it is very sad .. my daughter has gone the way she has .. though she is "very successful" in her way.

Glad your daughter is finding her own music.

I was playing more Beethoven (my mum's favourite) than Hadyn. Discovered it when I was trying for Associate.

Has the rachet settled? @Decadian

Hi @Decadian

hope today started better.

The Rach 3 talk brought back all the memories of visiting my father in mental hospitals in 1970-71. I just loved the movie so much becasue I saw so many scenes from childhood. My mother always found the piano in the ward and we usually talked to the patient tinkering at it.

The memories were very peaceful. Another odd response to the movie ... was that it made me appreciate my father more .. in that he didnt behave like a sexual grown up child ... but had a lot more quiet dignity.

I only listen to the music my son puts on.

The Rach 3 I meant was the score version for 2 pianos .. cant play it all yet .. manyana

It is so fantastic you have all those musical structures prepared in your brain .. for creativity now ...

I know a lady who began a late career in art .. she said the same thing .. she could just do it and the output was prolific.

I saw her art hanging up in the new consulting suite rooms I visited yesterday .. about 6 pics .. so she did well.

Just a HI!