Rod S
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Posts posted by Rod S
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For some odd reason halloween caught on here. (mostly in the rich area gated communities). We did our first house decorating ever - had about 15-20 waves of kids coming through (on Saturday). My daughter loves it. Weather was nice, it was about 24C / 75F, but we did have some fierce winds around noon and most of the houses had to fix the decorations. i call my house Wuthering Heights, we get some fierce winds since we're on a hill.
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I thought this was never released... is it a prototype?
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My suggestion is don't consider overhead space. A lot of these short routes in Central America are done in those tiny planes (1 seat on one side / 2 seats on the other) that have no overhead bins (IIRC). Be prepared to check in at the gate even if you were able to put in overhead bin on the flight from the US.
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3 hours ago, cedar said:
Quote from article - "Educators lament that, as with other courses, band can frequently fall prey to “teaching to the test” — in this case, teaching to the holiday concert. A class that by definition is meant to be a creative endeavor winds up emphasizing rigid reading and rote memorization, in service of a single performance. We need to abandon that approach and bring play back into the classroom by instructing students how to hear a melody on the radio and learn to play it back by ear, and encouraging students to write their own simple songs using a few chords. (The dirty secret of pop music, as Ed Sheeran has explained, is that most chart-topping songs can be played by using only four chords: G, C, D and E minor.) So start with just one chord, a funky beat and let it rip — and, voilà, you’re making music."
I want to discuss this one. I think BOTH are needed. I think the exploring is important, promotes a positive learning experience and I think is critical to a long time attachment to learning and playing an instrument. However, I do think the short-term objective of a performance helps focus, team play (if it's a group performance), and gives a clear objective - as long as it's not treated a test but part of the learning. Alone, as the sole focus, I agree it can be detrimental. My interests have always been sciences, graduated as an engineer, but I always say a lot of my personal growth in my teens came from the arts (music and theater). Did a lot of high school plays (my school has an extraordinary drama programa), and the drive, focus, group work needed to get to a presentation was something very different from regular academics.
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On 9/9/2023 at 10:18 AM, PianoMan51 said:
This would be 50 times as interesting if the silk-screened labels on the escutcheon were instead small single line backlit displays. So the ‘meaning’ of each knob could change with each application, and the user wouldn’t have to create cheat sheets for the mapping.
Not quite what you mentioned, but figured I'd drop this in this thread. I've had this bookmarked forever, I think I saw it in a loopop video. Definitely looks interesting, unfortunately no way this would ever arrive in Brazil....
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Went to university in the early 90s in the US. Nostalgic about the music in parties (a lot of 70s and 80s stuff), and some classic rock that I got into (Although the classic radio stations seem to rotate the same songs, that's you WCMF in Rochester), but I disliked most of what got airplay at the time (Nirvana, RHCP, Alice in Chains,soundgarden, Pearl Jam). Some of the bands may be mid 90s as I stayed in the US a few years after.
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The video got tons of airplay on the late 80s down here ,if my timing is right. They were huge here in Brazil, filling large stadium in their concerts.
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I have a modular rack that I can install additional supports as needed. I'm still modifying it, but this is roughly what is looks like.
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On 8/20/2023 at 12:10 AM, Jim Alfredson said:
They lie and they try to character assassinate reviewers who give their products bad reviews. The latest example is just a few weeks ago. On their social media, they claimed that loopop (a highly respected synth reviewer on YouTube) doesn't review their synths because they don't give out freebies. He replied saying that wasn't true at all, that he had reviewed their synths before but decided not to review them anymore due to his own ethical concerns about the company, and that he has emails from them offering him free synths.
The loopop ordeal was pretty ridiculous. I would give him the benefit of the doubt anytime over Behringer.
I've made a decision to stop buying behringer gear (I still have one piece I need to integrate out of my setup). As someone who worked for several years in companies where intellectual property was critical aspect of the business, I can't turn a blind eye to their practices. YMMV and to each their own. I do understand, specially in Brazil where purchasing power is much less than Europe in the US (and other similar economics) cheapest gear is critical.
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16 hours ago, brenner13 said:
Currently no stand-alone function. Gotta run them inside a host / DAW.
Can you use an ipad as an effects box for external gear with this plugin, in a fairly straighforward manner?
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Well, we had the case of "Tiao the monkey" here in Brazil in the 80s. He was a ill tempered chimpazee from the Rio zoo. As a joke, a parody magazine put forward his candidacy for mayor. It is estimated he reached 3o place in number of votes, although his candidacy was never (obviously) validated. Soon after that the votes became eletronic and it wasn't possible to vote for non registered candidates (I think you still can in the US in some elections...) Folks my age and up still remember this story.
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I'll include two in the discussion.
Lilya 4-Ever - Roughly based on true story of a Lithuanian girl brutally exploited after going to Sweden Horrific and imcomprehensible.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300140/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_q_forever%20lilya
As If I was not there - Based on a book based on testimony of women taken prisoner during the Bosnian War. Shocking movie on the brutality of war focused on the viewpoint of one person caught on it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1456477/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_8_nm_0_q_as%20if%20I%20wasn't%20there
there's a few others that I vaguely remember that I have to try to remember the name.
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No...installed a few months ago a 130" screen with a Samsung laser projector at home, Yamaha ATMOS receiver. Went to see little mermaid with my daughter about 2 months ago, totally underwhelming experience now, specially after loosing the habit of going more regularly during the pandemic.
No more annoying people (either younger folks using their cell phones or older people who think it's an appropriate place to catch up on conversation), audio is clearer and better defined, the snacks are better, seating infinitely more comfortable and I can put the temperature that I can. And I can explain the movie to my daughter without bothering other people (I need to convey to her movie better movie watching etiquette... 🤭)
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On 7/3/2023 at 9:20 AM, CEB said:
The Hammond is not the be all, end all organ. Organs are just cool.
I beg to differ. 😁 Starting learning in my teens in a home organ that was popular in Brazil in the 80s. They sound awful in hindsight, and the way they were taught was cheesy. Something like this. Didn't help that the quality of brazilian built instruments was terrible (lots of import restrictions at the time).
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36 minutes ago, Iconoclast said:
I have a full up functioning DX9 in mint condition and I couldn't give the thing away. Can't bring myself to throw it in the garbage. But I've advertised it for 100$ obo and got zero responses.
So yeah, good luck!You could probably snatch USD 250 - 300 on it in Brazil.... Scarcity makes the used gear market here insane sometimes.
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Yep, that was my thought after my initial post. I guess it's aging then (not a differerent series.. LOL... feel kind of stupid now). The equipment looks in good shape, though. Everything checks out.
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Yes, Proteus 2000. Not one of the other modules in the series. (orbit, xtreme, mophatt...)
Or they are just fade to this color with time? (long shot) 🤪
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Friend of mine just picked an Emu Proteus 2000. I thought it was odd that the controls are an odd yellow/ light brown color, first I wondered if a previous owner had modded it somehow (I recall them being a light grey).
Doing a search I found a few pictures that had this module with the controls in this color (but the majority being the light grey / offwhite I remember), but I couldn't find any specific information. Is it a different version from the 'standard' proteus? Anyone recall?
Thanks!
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On 8/6/2023 at 11:07 AM, surfergirl said:
Show her this.
Thanks - she enjoys this. We often tune in to the Voice Kids show and it certainly draws her attention.
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On 8/6/2023 at 11:39 PM, Steve Nathan said:
My wife's Painting Professor always said, if your kid likes to paint, buy them paint and shut the f*ck up! You don't teach them how to "properly" hold the brush, or how to stipple, you just let them have fun. We're taking about a 5 year old. As Maria Montessori would say, "Follow the child".
Agree - Thankfully I'm in a house now with plenty of play space that she can try different things (huge leap from the apartment), alone and with friends. Interestingly enough, my mother in law is a pretty good painter (she could have made some money if she wanted, just stuck with giving lessons), so my daughter picked it up and enjoys it.
I like to see her explore her creating side. One of the things she does exceptionally well (a lot of teachers comment) is story telling - she can start making up stories on a whim which sometimes get pretty complex and you have to pay attention to follow through.
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On 8/7/2023 at 12:04 AM, JazzPiano88 said:
I don't think there is a unique answer. We have examples of nature and nurture and combinations of both.
For me it was a combination of both. I thank my parents for not letting me quit piano lessons before the age of 14, even though I played most everything by ear. It allowed me to become literate and eventually sight read and learn from better players.
It also allowed me to be able to tell the non-educated musicians in the band (guitarists) which chords and notes to play.
I agree... for now I wanted to pick everyone's brains, so a big THANK YOU to everyone that chimed in. I have a few ideas moving forward.
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15 hours ago, Docbop said:
I like the Victor Wooten thoughts on this topic and that is to leave the kid alone with whatever instrument they think they'd like to play. Get them an instrument and show them just enough of here's how to blow, pluck, strum and people kind of hold it like this, just the bare essentials. Then leave the kid alone for a month or so and see if they start bonding with the instrument. Are they trying to make sound on it, are they trying to imitate things they hear, are they doing this on a regular basis bonding with the instrument. If they do seems to be bonding then think about give them some lessons. The key is they are show real interest in playing that instrument. They might not bond with that instrument, but are still showing interest in music so time to try and find what instrument they do bond with, or maybe they decided something else if more interesting for now. Key is let them show interest first by trying to play it on their own.
She already has a bit of this general music lessons - the teacher show different instruments and lets them play. More than I could at home (either I don't have the instrument or probably don't have much knowledge. But it's a difficult concept to follow unless you rent different instruments and have someone to show them. But let me try a few things.
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On 8/4/2023 at 5:22 PM, MathOfInsects said:
It's always hard to find the balance between "helping kids sound cool," which is a huge motivator both personally and socially, and "properly" teaching the instrument so that if they do turn out to keep playing, the foundations are solid. You can't specifically teach for the drop-outs, you have to teach in some ways as if all your green-belts are going to go on to be blackbelts. So a careful balance between the method books--which work, and benefit from years of crowd-sourced refinement, but can be boring AF--and "fun" stuff is the sweet spot.
But IMO the real weak link is parents. You can make most anything fun for kids if you're good with that age. They don't usually care what songs they are playing; the reductions never sound like "real" music anyway. They're almost always just happy to play anything that seems like a song, and that everyone seems proud of them for.
It's the parents who do the "If you don't practice piano you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't practice piano!?!?!" thing every day that turns the lessons into a punishment. The same ones always want to know why their 6-year-old isn't playing Rach 2 yet. They convey that sense of disappointment to their kids, and the whole endeavor starts to be a nervous-system crisis for the kids every day.
So I always try to encourage parents to think of piano or music lessons how they think of soccer practice (or what you non-Americans adorably and incorrectly call "football," even though that's already the name of a sport that hardly anyone on the team uses their feet for), or how a grown-up might think of a personal training session (or what you non-Americans might call a "personal training session"). On a soccer team, your 6-year-old shows up on Tuesday afternoon, runs around like caffeinated rabbit for an hour, then goes home, and that's it until either next Tuesday or their next "game," which is a cute way to describe Lord of the Flies clusters of screaming maniacs.Or if you go to the personal trainer, you do your hour of weirdly intimate socially acceptable BDSM, and then nothing else like that until the next session. In both cases, you *might" kick the soccer ball around in between practices, and *might* do some of the stuff you do in your personal training session, in between meetings, but also, you completely might not, and that's totally fine and expected.
Same with an instrument. Of course you'll progress faster if you practice. But you know who doesn't progress? Kids who quit because they can't take the constant stress of feeling like they are not doing well enough. So if it has to be that you leave today's lesson a half-hour better, and next week's a little better than that, and so on, and that's all it is...f*cking awesome. There is no bad way to experience the addition of music in your life. There are only bad ways to parent that addition.I really take it light on the pressure (almost none for music), and only in the beginning. and carefully with any awards. We have been able to work around any pushback from her on new activities just talking to her. Fortunately, due to both us having been much older when we had her (mid 40s), we have more free time with her than we would have 10-15 years ago.
I have no inclination of going the classical route with her (as I didn't either), unless she shows some interest. Right now I want to see what sparks her interest in just the reductions as you said. Surprisingly, her school is pretty strong on teaching violin to young kids (starting at around age 6).
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On 8/4/2023 at 6:02 PM, RandyFF said:
Excellent!
You might also consider guitar. To get to a beginners level with piano takes years, with guitar it’s more like months.
Or, find a teacher for piano that is good at playing/conveying the love for rock/pop/jazz, music that has some built-in excitement to it and most of which is simple chords for the beginner. Simply learning chords and some scales can bring a type of proficiency that is much more easily acquired. Once she has the bug, switching to more serious studies will be easier.
Try singing around the piano. That worked for me, I actually asked for lessons and practiced without being told to because of the great times we had singing together around the piano.
Go to concerts with her! Have salons at your house where people are singing, playing, dancing! Get a karaoke setup so that the whole family can have fun singing known songs. Do a duet with her, perhaps 4 handed piano?
I envy you- I never did have a family and realized too late that I am well-suited for encouraging/fostering creativity in youngsters!
You touched on some good points.
I do want to find things that spark her interest. singing around the piano works well with her. She is very keen on participating, which is really cool but also means I have to pick a bit where to go.
I can play basic chords on the guitar, but my brother is a good player. I'll get in him in the house and see her reaction.
I haven't tried the concerts yet, but she managed to sit through two Broadway/West End style musicals which I was impressed. What I've noticed that she needs something visual that relates too. I tried some videos (carefully picked) on youtube, and what worked were the ones that had some cool visuals to them - Some Lindsey Stirling one worked well. Just videos of people playing didn't spark her interest yet, and I'm wondering how she would do with performances, but my wife is eager on testing it out.
As I said, she likes performing (as do a lot of kids this age). We had family over early July, and she did a sing along to Let it Go on the stairs, and then near the pool.
[Somewhat OT] Did people loose a grip of what normal listening levels are?
in The Keyboard Corner
Posted
I think we've topics on this in the past, but more specific on concerts and shows. But the problem seems to be broad, at least here in Brazil.
I frequently go to places where music is too loud.
- My daughter, and more recently my wife, take dance lessons with the same teacher. I frequently take my daughter, and twice I asked the teacher to keep the music at a more comfortable level, which worked. More recently my wife starts taking lessons with the same teacher, same place, and my wife also complains but decides to wear ear plugs as most of the class think the level is OK. The teacher (Late 20s), talking to my wife after class, en passant, complains that she can never get the volume level on electronic devices high enough while wearing headphones...
- Outdoor events at my kid's school
- Weddings - last 3 I could not stay on the dance floor.
- Investment symposium last week. They had music playing before the presentation started. I stood outside waiting for the presentation to start.
- Theaters in general - not unbearable, but getting in the threshold.
- Music in restaurants.
The funny thing as I talk to people, a lot of older people (40+) agree that it's too loud, but shrug it off as "that's just the way it is"
Maybe part of it is my own grumpiness, but I think there's a generalized problem that nobody want to talk about. I watched my father's overall health and well-being decline because of hearing loss. I want to delay this as much as possible.
I started keeping disposable earplugs in my car, bag, and whenever I travel.
Your thoughts?