and on the DR table...I covered it with a rug...
that left me with "mixed emotions...
'cause I know my kitties...
when I came home, planning to practice my music...
it was covered with cats...the rug , not the keyboard...
[bet you saw that coming...]
there were 4 [count'em, 4...] felines reclining on the rug...
which they had pulled off the "lumpy keyboard"...
and onto the smoother table...
leaving the keyboard uncovered...
[NOT a good long term plan around here...]
I shooed them away..2 didn't "shoo" so well...
[Sneaky Pie believes that everything is hers...
Mackie saw a "petting" opportunity...]
I kept shooing & turned the keyboard around to find the AC plug-in...
this finally succeeded in removing felines from the table...
albeit, only temporarily...
I turned on the keyboard...wasting time trying to figure out...
how to turn off the chords in the lower octaves...
the annoying "re-verb"...
[a shimmering effect...NOT very Renaissance...]
and the gross "Reggae" beat that wanted to accompany me...
I finally found the setting for "acoustic piano"...
which was not bad...& totally sans chords & "beat"...
I got out my music, found the first place I wanted to work on...
shooed away Molly, who was by now aware that I was "available"...
it took a while also to convince Sneaky Pie...
that she could NOT recline on the keyboard...
while I was playing it...
finally, I was ready to begin...
I do NOT play keyboard...chords or music beyond one line...
are a real trial... so at first I was just playing my part...
I get it in my ear then start figuring out...
who I get my entrance note from, intervals, key centers...
dissonances, crossing parts, patterns...
normal singer stuff for me...
then I start singing...
if the text is tricky or the music/rhythm is hard...
I "la-la" for most of the time...
I find it's much easier to add the text...
to the right notes in the right rhythms...
than to fumble along doing several things wrong at once...
& hope I eventually get it...
as soon as I started singing though...
there was a definite "new wrinkle"...
whereas Molly didn't like the trumpet...
she likes to sing...& wanted to join in...
I also re-attracted Sneaky Pie, as well as a couple of others...
I was using a light head voice, with a forward focus...
and it was like when the announcer at the roller rink...
would announce,"All Skate, All Skate"...
everybody wanted to "sing-a-long"...
one of the songs we sing is the "Animal Madrigal"...
a non-sense bass line...
with a coo-coo, an owl, a cat & a dog...
[I have inherited the cat part from MM, who was purr-fect...
but who has become wise & is now, the owl...]
singing a counterpoint of animal sounds above the non-sense bass...
I wish I'd had a recorder at hand, but I didn't...
so this will have to do...
me: "la, la-ah, la, la, lah...[shoo...] la, laaah [GO AWAY !]"
Sneaky Pie:"me-ow...mow, mo-w..."[chasing my fingers on the keys...]
Molly : "Yow, yip, yip...WHINE !"[poking her nose in my back & other places]
Thomas : "Marr-ooow, Miaoooow !" [glaring at SPie...]
Lucyfur : "mow,mow,mow"[walking between me & the music...]
eventually...they got tired of "sing-a-long" time...
[aka, "drive your mother crazy" time...]
when I was finally finished...
they were all laying around the room...
tired of "practicing"...
I put my music away & covered up the keyboard...
bet it has cats on it when I get home...
[post script...it did...2 to be exact...]
2 comments:
Maybe you could cut down the box it came in to make a sort of rigid "keyboard cozy" to sit over it while not in use. You could upholster or cover it to match your house. At least then the animals won't be lying directly on the instrument and it would cut down fur infiltration, which does no electronics any good!
The animal incursions that happen while you're practicing, though - I got nothin'.
I have played piano since I was a child, although I don't play a lot now. I borrowed an electronic keyboard from a friend some years ago and found it absolute addictive. The best part was you could plug in the earphones and noodle around without feeling you sounded ridiculous to the rest of the household. But, running on 8 out of 10 it might not be so easy.
Cute finger cozy - hopefully by Pentecost you won't need a green one. Glad to hear it's doing better. When are you "de-pinned"?
...I THINK the pin comes out on March 5...that's my next dr's appointment...
I am NOT the crafty type...also catly depredations to anything cardboard, covered or not...tend to be terminal...
I only got the keyboard to practice with...with , at best, 9.5 fingers...
playing for fun is not my goal...
sooner or later, I'll find the right cover & they'll get bored...
they it will be safe...
I LOVE my snuggy warm finger cozy...
it has done everything & more that I'd hoped it would..[warming...etc]
I would imagine that having it for "after physical therapy" will be a good thing... as UnklePhil pointed out on Sunday[he's a medical professional] I should be out of the "keep it dry, keep it straight"
mode soon...well before Eastertide
[red] or "after Pentecost" [green]
though if I have any lingering arthritis issues/pain...I'll keep using it...
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