Voice 2

Along with the pitch problem, there are 2 staffs; a treble clef and bass clef.  These are right above each other (treble on top).  You might think that they are an octave apart (at least I might think that), but they aren't.  The sopranos use the treble staff but tenors and basses (one of which I usually am) usually use the bottom one, but sometimes we use the top.  To top that off, sometimes we switch during the song!  Plus there are flats and sharps, most times these are hidden in the start of the staffs, but sometimes they put them on individual notes.

Along with dynamics, there is duration.  The left hand picture on the bottom has the note durations in order; whole note, half, quarter, eight, 1/16th. and 1/32nd. notes.  1/16th notes are usually very fast, they are so quick that they are usually gone before I can look at them; this means that I am behind everyone else and it is not that easy (for me) to figure out where I should be in Swedish. To add to the confusion (for me) they sometimes put little dots next to notes to add 1/2 of the duration.  Then there is 4/4, 3/4,2/2,2/4 etc. time which tell (some people) how many notes of what duration per measure.

So I look at the (especially) Swedish word, try to figure out how to pronounce it, then I look at the note (pitch) and try to figure out where that note is (how high or low), then I look at the duration (this process takes some time for me) and the dynamic (they use > and < or cresc or dim or who knows what else to increase or decrease the volume) then go forth with song!

Singing use to be simpler when I knew less!  Just sing along with the majority of people and follow the melody (don't get me started on how easy the sopranos usually have it, they usually sing the melody!). 

It might be hard to recognize from this rant but I really do enjoy singing with the Swedisg Glee Club!

Voice

Since we have our Swedish Glee Club Spring Concert coming up (5/20 at St. Marks Lutheran Church at Delaney & Yotkhouse in Waukegan, IL at 1500 [3PM for non-military types]), I have been worrying about my pitch; if I have a strong singer next to me I can usually hone in on the correct notes, but if not I am sometimes not so good!

So I took to the internet to see if I could find some help!


Instructions
 Release any tension from the muscles in your face and neck.
 Open your mouth in a relaxed manner by dropping your jaw and slightly tilting your chin inward toward your chest.
 Hum an "oooo" sound at a pitch that seems natural. Don't even plan the pitch. Just produce an extended tone at a comfortable volume level.
 Inhale and produce the same pitch. This time, as you produce the pitch, begin to slide upward with your voice so that your sound becomes high. Don't strain your voice, but imagine that you are creating a child's "oooo" sound, as if the child has just seen something amazing.
 Inhale again if necessary and slide your voice back down. This time try to go lower than your original pitch.
Record yourself changing your vocal pitches. Review the recording to see if you can hear the changes in pitch.
Play any key near the center of a piano or keyboard. Hum that note. Play the next five to eight notes to the right of the original note and hum along. This will cause you to raise your pitch. Go back to the original note and play the next five to eight keys to the left of the original note in order to lower your pitch. (http://www.ehow.com/how_8492758_change-vocal-pitch.html)

Now, there are 2 distinctly different scenarios having to do with singing off pitch.

The first is a question of hearing, where the singer cannot hear the music, either the accompaniment if there is one, or the music inside him/herself, and therefore sings approximately near the note he/she's going for, but not THE note. This mostly occurs when the singer is singing a cappella, which means without a musical accompaniment. This problem with pitch is cured with ear training exercises that re-program the body's muscle memory to literally "remember" where the notes are in the body's internal keyboard. Matching pitch, playing a mouth instrument like a recorder or flute, and consistent practice are very helpful in curing ear difficulties.

The second scenario has to do with breath and support. Simply said, when you don't take in enough air, and you don't support the emission of the sound from your body, you can sing off pitch, and whether or not you sing flat or sharp depends on the resonation placement. No breath and no support tends to make the head voice go sharp, and the full voice go flat.   ...

When a pianist wants to learn how to play the piano, he practices a lot, but also listens to piano music to get ideas for how to interpret the music. The same goes for a guitar player. How many young boys, (my own included), spent hours listening to Eddie Van Halen, just to learn his licks?

Well, I believe that when your chosen "instrument" is the voice, you learn your songs by listening to them sung by the artists who sing them on the radio. You sing along with a song whenever it comes on and to you, you may sound great!

Well, what happens when you sing the song in the shower, without the radio, and without any music at all? You sing off key! Why? Because you can't hear the music in the your head. Why is that? Because when you learned the song, you were listening ONLY to the singer, and not to musical accompaniment. And when you sing a cappella, there is nothing to guide you. You didn't "learn" that part. You only learned the words and maybe the melody, but you never learned the Harmony!

It shouldn't amaze us then when singers audition with no accompaniment and think they sounded fine, when they didn't, should it?

Lesson? Well, when you learn a song, listen to the instruments as well as the voice. Spend some time committing the orchestration to your cell memory so that when you are called upon to sing a cappella, you can call it up in your head and stay on key!! (

http://singyourlife.com/articles/techniques/singing_and_pitch.html)

I also found a computer program that records you as you sing notes and compares it to the real note/s. 

(http://onpitchsinging.com/) So got only $67 (regularly $97), I could improve my singing by singing into my computer.

Next comes voice dynamics, i.e., how loud/soft!  Will it never end?

6 Commandments

“Thou shalt not edit” is not among the famous list of God’s Laws from the Bible, but a U.S. District Judge has suggested that reducing the Ten Commandments to just six would help solve a dispute between the ACLU and the Giles County, Va., School District.
The school district does not want them removed and the case remains in U.S. District Court.
Now federal Judge Michael Urbanski has offered a compromise. He suggested scrapping the first four commandments and leaving just the final six. Urbanski suggested that could resolve the dispute since the first four commandments directly refer to mankind’s relationship to God and the final six concern mankind’s relationship to creation, other people, and things.
“You can’t have a display or discussion of American history and law without reading about, or mentioning God,” Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel told WND. “It’s just part of who we are, it’s what shaped our Western Civilization.”
Liberty Counsel, which is representing the school district in court,  rejects the judge’s proposal and so is the parent, who is allied with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.(http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/judge-slice-10-commandments-to-just-6/)


For those of you who don't remember the first 4 are (from Exodus):


You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Compromise is not always a good thing.  Sometimes you have to stand up for your beliefs!

Happy Birthday to my Love

Today is the birthday of my Lovely Wife, she is xy years old.  I'm pretty sure she is over 21 years old since we have adult children over 30.

Here are some pictures of her from various years (isn't she pretty?)

More Obama Admin

Obama's Mother's Day proclamation:

He (President Obama) also issued a statement regarding Mother’s Day. But the result, according to Independent Women’s Forum chief Sabrina Schaeffer, was a “pretty lousy Mother’s Day greeting.”
That’s because it was politicized, she said.
At the White House website, visitors had the option of sending out Mother’s Day e-cards to, according to the site, “help you show some appreciation for the mom in your life.”
Two templates were offered to be sent through email, Twitter, or Facebook. One touted Obama’s Affordable Care Act with the caption “Being a mom isn’t a pre-existing condition”  ...

But starting last year, Obama became the first president to cite his own political achievements in the document. The proclamations were reviewed at UC-Santa Barbara’s “The American presidency Project.”

In his 2011 proclamation, Obama wrote in a 625-word document, “We are striving to help mothers in the workplace by enforcing equal pay laws and addressing workplace flexibility as families balance the demands of work, child and elder care, and education.”

Most

 Mother’s Day proclamations pay homage to mothers and their importance in shaping the nation, such as Ronald Reagan’s 1981 address when he wrote of mothers: “They shape the character of our people through the love and nurture of their children. It is the strength they give their families that keeps our nation strong.” 

(http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/how-obama-politicizes-even-mothers-day/)


Must he always be running for office, Mothers are not just a voting block!

WND reported last month that the federal government was creating obstacles for Tombstone, Ariz., to restore its water supplies following last year’s forest fire and monsoon-triggered floods in the nearby mountains. The federal government said crews could not use machinery to rebuild pipelines and spring-water collection systems.
Now, a letter contradicting longstanding federal practice asserts a claim to water in arid Western states, such as Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and others, that supersedes all other authorities, including decisions by state water courts.  ...

Decker’s letter said water is not “legally” available for some users who may want to develop property in the area, because “the expressed federal reserved water right created by Congress is senior to all junior water users who initiate uses after the date of the establishment of the reservation.”
Nick Dranias, who holds the Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan Chair for Constitutional Government and is director of the Joseph and Dorothy Donnelly Moller Center for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute, called it an “existential threat to the Western states.” (http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/existential-threat-to-western-u-s-states/)


I wonder if the founders of the country would have joined in the union of states; if they knew how the federal government has become, commanding ALL the issues are federal against the states.


(Bill of Rights)
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Alpha Male

We conservatives like to think we are alpha males (the ones that are male at least).  It is interesting that the new "Idol" is what we use to call "Wimpy"or girly.  Of course, we are all combinations of many types.  The above video gave me something to think about, hopefully, it is interesting to you!  Many of the references are to shows that are no longer on, so the younger genration might not get them.

The alpha male was needed when the country was first started since it was wilderness and needed taming.  We tend to think that we don't need that type any more, maybe that is why things are going to H*** in a handbasket!

Sour Faces

I was thinking of sour/serious faces and how prevalent they can be.

There are the politicians who pretend to be serious/unhappy when revealing something bad about their opponents (while concealing the happy smile underneath).

There are the joggers on the bike trail who feel that jogging is a horrible way to get exercise with their sour faces as they strive to get yet another step further.

There are the bell choir members who feel if they smile they may miss the next note (I think bell choirs could recruit more members if at least one of them was allowed to smile).

My LW smiles when she sings and is a great advertisement to get others to join her choruses; others frown like "why are we here, singing is so hard" and "why are we singing this Swedish stuff in this Swedish Women's Chorus."

When I was in operator licensing and giving exams, we had to not give away how well or bad the operators were doing; so there we had to have a blank/semi-serious faces.

Mother's Day Gift

My mother's day gift to my NOT my mother (i.e., my LW) was Pumpkin Waffles.

The recipe is:
Pumpkin Waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
Set up the waffle iron on a countertop or table within easy reach of the cook. Plug in the iron to preheat it. (Remind your child never to touch the surface of the iron; she should touch only the handle and always cook with adult supervision.)
In a medium-size mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter, and pumpkin. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture and stir just until combined.
Coat the preheated waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour the waffle batter onto the center of each section of the iron. (You will need 1/4 to 3/4 cup of batter for each waffle.) [I used 1/2 cup.]
Cook the waffles for about 4 to 5 minutes or until they are crispy and light brown. (Read the manufacturer's directions for details about how long you should cook the waffles in your particular waffle iron.) Serve immediately with maple syrup and butter. Serves 4. (It made 6+ [one small one plus 6 others].)

My LW really likes waffles but it takes awhile to make, so I thought it was a nice (if cheap) gift to the mother of our children.

Mishmash Articles

Socialists want others to live as common folks (some pigs are more equal than others):


France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.
Francois Hollande, 57, who “dislikes the rich” and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers, is in fact hugely wealthy himself. 
His assets were published today in the Official Journal, the gazette which contains verified information about France’s government.
To the undoubted embarrassment of the most Left-wing leader in Europe, and a man who styles himself as “Mr Normal”, they are valued at almost £1 million.
It will also reinforce accusations that Hollande is a “gauche caviar”, or “Left-wing caviar” — the Gallic equivalent of a champagne Socialist.
Among his other assets are three current accounts in French banks — two with global giant Société Générale and one with the Postal Bank.
But it is the fabulous property portfolio which is causing the greatest stir among millions of ordinary French people who voted for Hollande over the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy last Sunday.(http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/world/socialist-hollande-owns-three-homes-on-the-riviera-7737519.html)



The catholics "catholic" Nancy Pelosi (i.e., for abortion):
Nancy Pelosi: My Catholic Faith "Compels Me" to Support Same-Sex Marriage (YouTube video)(http://youtu.be/xjo03WLTl3Y)

Giving up citizenship to avoid taxes:


Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill
Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for an Internet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the website whoownsfacebook.com. At the high end of the proposed IPO market capitalization, that would be worth about $3.84 billion. His holdings aren’t listed in Facebook’s regulatory filings.
Saverin, 30, joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship ahead of a possible increase in tax rates for top earners. The Brazilian-born resident of Singapore is one of several people who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook in a Harvard University dormitory and stand to reap billions of dollars after the world’s largest social network holds its IPO. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-11/facebook-co-founder-saverin-gives-up-u-s-citizenship-before-ipo.html)

Mother's Day Gift

I sent my mother some chocolate candy for Mother's Day(MD), but I think a better gift will be calling her which I will do later today.  When we first had kids, I celebrated more MD with my wife since the kids were too young to do much.  Now I don't since as my brother said "She's not my mother."  So it is up to the grown kids to call her!

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I found this article, in my opinion very inappropriate for MD:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, has a great idea for you when it comes to honoring your other for Mother’s Day. She thinks the best thing you can do is make a donation to one of the wealthiest pro-abortion groups in the country.
In an email she sent this afternoon, Gillibrand primes the pump for donations for Emily’s List, a leading pro-abortion political action committee, using Mother’s Day as he reason for supporting them.
“This Mother’s Day, I can’t think of a better way to honor all the mothers in the country — past and present — than with a contribution to EMILY’s List,” Gillibrand writes. “They’re the ones working tirelessly to elect the pro-choice Democratic women who are making sure that our freedoms are protected for generations to come.”(http://www.lifenews.com/2012/05/11/gillibrand-honor-mothers-day-by-funding-pro-abortion-group/).

Celebrating abortion on MD is very crass at best!

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When I mentioned that we drink pop on Fridays, I forgot to mention that it is diet pop!