Chicken With Plums
I can Waltz jump! It means half a revolution, a 180 take off forwards and landing backwards. When I say I can jump, it means I can execute it easily and almost consistently. Almost, because I just got it.
I was trudging miserably because it doesn’t matter if my style is flamboyant and powerful if my leap is a washout. I was miserable for my skating future. My coach told me I almost got it. I told him I dared not jump on my own. I only practiced during class. He said that’s what he is here for. To give courage. After seeing my few attempts which is either I am minding my jumping leg or my swinging leg but not both. Or I am minding my arms so my legs don’t get to jump.
He said,’ Sheryl, you almost got it. You’ve got everything now, just the timing of when to toe off. It doesn’t require much thinking or effort now. The right timing of step off would spring you forward by itself. ‘
So I gave it another shot. Timing of toe off? No more other effort involved? No heavy great heave-ho? Hmm.
By golly I got it! I got it! Just like that.
It’s not about digging a hole in the ground and tripping oneself up. It’s about the right timing of spring off.
Wow. So I did it again and again. Consecutively.
Suddenly I am giddy with joy. Well I was somewhat giddy that day. Migraine like or something. I got a jump out of it!
The joy is like no other. Suddenly I want to continue on. The exhilaration of going at high speed and coordinating it with a jump. That feeling. Not that I have done the high speed jump yet. Still moving tentatively.
******
My guitar I am still playing. My teacher wants me on the power chords to play American Idiot by Greenday. I am loath to play a song with such a name but the music is the power kind, to get you in the mood.
He asked me if there is any song I want to play. I said not in particular. He said pick any. So I picked one which I thought would be simple. The Shirelles singing ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’.
It’s of F G Am C Em so it’s doable. I have to learn to sing the song first. Memorize the lyrics. I also learn about the capo. I bought one. It seems that if I played to Amy Winehouse singing then I wouldn’t need the capo. My ears are not that good yet. I can’t tell.
*****
My drums, my teacher picked a quarrel with me. I have a feeling it’s more about a pissing contest about territory. He wanted to play every song the other teacher did. I said no I want to learn the technicals or other songs. He wasn’t happy. I wasn’t that happy either.
But he did give me the technical stuff in the end. Fill ins. Ah, now I know. Rat tat rat
****
I went to watch a peculiar show ‘ Chicken with plums’. It is French set in Tehran. It is about a guy who decides to kill himself because his violin is broken. Now I do not care for suicides but because I am in the topic of music I decided to find out what it is about music that can drive someone to die just because his violin broke. I was pleasantly surprised. I want to watch it again. It is very artfully done. Stylized in some parts. Poetic too.
Strum
Here’s how I know my guitar is going somewhere. On top of learning the barre patterns easily, I have now actually dropped a glass of cold water and broke it. My fingers have have callused tips which feels little and has little traction. I used to hold my glasses by the tip of two or three fingers lightly. Now I have to hold mh glasses like a bloke drinking beer. Total grip.
I am not very keen on chord strumming because I prefer very clear single note sounds but it is more acceptable now using a pick. My teacher now emphasizes quick and efficient chord changing.
For my drums I am learning 16th note patterns. Really loud. I put on ear muffs.
For my ice skating, I was having a very hard time with the Waltz Jump just a simple change direction jump. I was concentrating so hard that I barked at any one that broke it.
I did get it finally.
Up and Down and Up and Down
It is hard to speak of my frustration.
My teachers tell me to listen to songs.
Yes, so I listen to songs. My ears pick up the drums, the guitar, the rhythms.
But that only serves to frustrate me for when I play my meager few notes, what’s it like compared to the Palace that feels like a sky away ?
I don’t actually like to listen to songs then sometimes. I don’t want to remember how far I have to reach to get to that place like what I hear on the radio. I would just prefer to plod on and suddenly be surprised one day at having arrived.
I only mention this because I bought a few cds today having walked past the cd station to get to some sushi and got recommended some cds. I told them I want to hear guitar, bass and drums. I bought an electronica, it is about the beats after all. But after getting home, they are still in the bag. I have had to practice my guitar first, and then the snare drum technique. Yes, that’s the right priority.
I took up drums again, this time with another teacher. Boy, he is technically demanding. And he should be. He loves the drums and he records. He has a studio where recording takes place and that’s where I take my lessons.
So I have guitar lessons from a teacher who love sthe guitar and drum lessons from a teacher who loves the drums.
I noticed myself spilling stuff quite often. I wondered why. And because they are sometimes sweet stuff, I do get a bit annoyed. Then the other day, my right hand reached for a bright yellow thick mango lassi , milkshake like, the whole thing just dumped itself on me. I was dripping yellow. I won’t speak of how long it took someone from the establishment to come to my aid. I won’t speak of when the lady arrived, I was offered two pieces of serviettes. I won’t mention that I got very helpful comment that I could take my remaining kebab away with me. All this while I was still dripping shirt and and pants and shoes with yellow.
I wondered about all these spilling business. I don’t do things like that. I haven’t done things like that for a long time. So why are they happening so often and a full splash on me, that’s a bit much. Then I realized to my sadness, I had lost the feelings at the end of my fingers. My left hand and my right too. That is really sad. I love to touch, I love to feel. I love texture.
But I am not stopping my guitar playing am I? Perhaps with the use of the pick, I could retain more sensitivity in my finger tips. But if I wanted to play classical like, or latin american like, I would have to pluck the strings wouldn’t I ? I think I better play more with the pick. Be a good girl. I had told that I love to feel the strings and pluck them. But I will have to do much more pick playing.
My guitar teacher is teaching me ‘slide’ and ‘pullout’. Neat tricks. But what’s difficult at the moment is he is telling me to play the pick downside and upside. That’s a new thing again. Not just having to feel for the strings and pick only to strings to strum on, but also to remember to up and down and up and down. I don’t exactly feel like I am playing the guitar. Just doing this and that on it. Not smooth enough to call it a song.
I like my new drum teacher. It was unexpected. I have had two before him and he is the most technically demanding and I love it.
I have a whole lifetime to go before I get to performance level. So I will be so busy and therefore be out of trouble. I can no longer say ‘I am so bored’. I have no time to be bored.
For my ice skating, my coach is really pushing me. Every lesson I learn something new. I get to use new muscles. I can jump now. The waltz jump they call it, King and I style. Be thrown in the air and land on the other side. I don’t jump these days. I don’t have a reason to. I actually forget how to do it. Like how do you just jump high in the air? Not to mention spinning halfway and land on the other side. So I went running. Well striding, throwing my knee forward in big strides. One knee lifts, the other pushes. All the while the chest is out and forwards. My coach wants me to do continuous jumps one after another. Wow.
Oh I forgot to mention that he had me spinning so much that I was sea sick for the whole day. I got to the point where I wanted to puke and my stomach churned and I had cold sweats. Geez. Then I went to see some homes and almost got the heatstroke. The hot sun on my head, the glare of the air in the sun. Not nice at all.
Doing this other 3-turn gracefully makes me feel all the different parts of my body one atop the other. That’s because I can feel something or many parts out of places all trying to stay in that equilibrium where I can stay upright and move from one to another position.
Along with house hunting, I am keeping quite busy. House hunting has now been relegated to weekend activity. Not the prime focus. A curious thing is how suicide is such a common thing. One can hardly find an area where there are no ‘incidents’.
A Band Already?
I really like this WP android on my Galaxy Note. It is so simple and straightforward. I restarted my drum lessons again. My teacher told me to start thinking about putting a band together.
Woah!
A band?
Wow. Really? I told him I didn’t know anybody and besides me being part of a band, at my level?
He said I have to start thinking about it.
I have hope. I thought my drumming could pass for it.
As for my guitar, I wonder when my fingers would stop hurting. My teacher had added bass to the melody of a song. I am coordinating to it. It becomes easier and the resultant sounds are deeper and richer. I guess I could be part of a band as a drummer first before being a guitarist and later bass guitarist.
It sounds great.
I Laugh
What an incredible day. I had signed up for bass guitar and drum lessons as well. Today, I took my first drum class, and immediately after that I met an owner of a live band bar with international bands coming in. There is going to be a workshop tomorrow and I just got invited. lol…I am just a beginner, this is my first lesson but see where I am heading? Lol.. I laugh because life for me is on a roll. Whoppee !
lol…from beginner of 1st lesson to being on stage playing live !
I laugh.
And the other laughing matter? The fight class that I got into, after I graduated from the first grade, the second was horrible, all I wanted to do was technical skills and have fun, but there was all this ego and competition and nobody wanted to play with me because I didn’t know anything of the grade 2 stuff. I mean I was left standing in the class and I felt like a little girl going into class and not being welcomed and not being invited and stood there like a stupid fool. I wanted to cry. Actually I did, all those memories of the little girl. lol……
But I found a way out and the good thing about the school is that there are many avenues to learning and they welcome you to learn how it suits you. Phew. I wanted to quit or take a month’s holiday, but in the end, I came back after a week ! Coz I attended Sunday, that has a more serene teacher, more boring activity of the standing art form, for hours just doing the art form and I asked that teacher how to do that grade 2 stuff. he showed me exactly how to do it, I got it. Yay ! I found a partner in case I was singled out in class again. Freddie the skeleton ! And I had asked the other teachers to teach me the form of the wooden dummy because I said, I don’t want my learning to be dependent on the availability of training partners. If there is nobody around and the seniors are too snobby to partner with me, then I want to be training something. The wooden dummy is not in the formal syllabus. Hehe, and they said yes, okay to have me learn it ! Yay ! Always something to learn! They were willing to teach me because I had the initiative and the ability as a quick study and I work very very hard.
See how much I laugh?
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