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eubEating oatmeal breakfast, reading the Stranger, noticed that Laura Veirs has a concert tonight -- should go.
To Ruth Goddard's "Singing for Non-Singers" workshop. I got there a few minutes late, was expecting to be the last one in to a crowd of a dozen people -- asked the ~13-year-old at the front desk of the music store about the singing lesson, was directed into the back storage room, was the only person there (besides Ruth Goddard, and the store person shifting inventory). I helped shove flattened boxes to clear some space; another person was preregistered, and who knows who might drop in. But no, I was the only one. Good thing I didn't know that in advance.
Bits and pieces: Singing as play, not performance. Vocal noises to loosen up -- reminds me of Pomona emusic class. Imagine the next note before you sing it. Tone from the head, rhythm from the body. Says I have a good ear, can hit notes when I imagine ahead. Breathing -- diaphragm in didj "gut-slap" technique -- suggested she try jaw-drop for circular breathing instead of cheeks. Working on top end of my range, where the notes break. Open mouth relaxedly to get the higher notes. Pull crown cowlick upward to balance the head on the neck. Relax. Imagine ahead for the timing of the note start, too. Don't worry about doing it right even in a group, since you're not signed up to perform. Sing to yourself, why not? Talking about cadences, why they work, ethnomusicology. Anthony Storr, Music and the Mind.
Trying to make queso fresco. It is in the book's soft-cheese chapter but appears to be using hard-cheese techniques? Unclear. Which whey-draining technique is "drain the whey" referring to? I am failing to get a "clean break". (Next time I would try adding some Ca++, which the hard-cheese chapter mentions you sometimes need to do to commercial milk to get it to set well.)
To Laura Veirs concert. Karl Blau is her band's bassist, and his opening set was good fun. He used a looper, so for a lot of songs he'd start by beatboxing a few bars and then looped it for his beat; some of the nicest bits were him harmonizing against loops of himself. It's pretty sad, but I can't stand for three hours without hurting myself -- for a little bit I managed to be rising taller, almost lifting off the floor, and balanced, tensionless -- but most of the night I was standing very not-tensionless, and my shoulders started to hurt dully like they'd been injected all over, distractingly. I learned a new skill, to hold a beer cup, a lipped plastic cup, in my teeth to clap with my hands. Great Lake Swimmers was a guy with a guitar, and singing, but he didn't sound much like he wanted to, and -- technique note -- didn't open his mouth very wide, ever. Laura Veirs turns out to look rather like a blond-haired![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shoebox_bird less inclined to smile. Besides Karl, the band had a keyboardist, and a drummer who was deeply cutely enthusiastic especially when interacting by glance with another band member. The show was darn good. I especially noticed the instrumental and wordless choral sections, which I hadn't on the CD; don't remember if they're much on this album. I forget the set list, but anyway. I think I like the Carbon Glacier songs best, but I'll pick up the new album and make the comparison fair. "Up In The Air" as final encore song, singing along in my head. Guy asked immediately after the show if the show was over, and if it was good, because he'd just come in. Yes, yes, sorry.
Curd is still not breaking cleanly, but it is breaking dirtily. Tried cutting it and heating, hotter than the recipe, to maybe tense some moisture out, which I think worked. Pressed it in a mold overnight.
Today: it has the form of a cheese. Sloped roof, since I'm not sure how to use this mold quite right.
To Ruth Goddard's "Singing for Non-Singers" workshop. I got there a few minutes late, was expecting to be the last one in to a crowd of a dozen people -- asked the ~13-year-old at the front desk of the music store about the singing lesson, was directed into the back storage room, was the only person there (besides Ruth Goddard, and the store person shifting inventory). I helped shove flattened boxes to clear some space; another person was preregistered, and who knows who might drop in. But no, I was the only one. Good thing I didn't know that in advance.
Bits and pieces: Singing as play, not performance. Vocal noises to loosen up -- reminds me of Pomona emusic class. Imagine the next note before you sing it. Tone from the head, rhythm from the body. Says I have a good ear, can hit notes when I imagine ahead. Breathing -- diaphragm in didj "gut-slap" technique -- suggested she try jaw-drop for circular breathing instead of cheeks. Working on top end of my range, where the notes break. Open mouth relaxedly to get the higher notes. Pull crown cowlick upward to balance the head on the neck. Relax. Imagine ahead for the timing of the note start, too. Don't worry about doing it right even in a group, since you're not signed up to perform. Sing to yourself, why not? Talking about cadences, why they work, ethnomusicology. Anthony Storr, Music and the Mind.
Trying to make queso fresco. It is in the book's soft-cheese chapter but appears to be using hard-cheese techniques? Unclear. Which whey-draining technique is "drain the whey" referring to? I am failing to get a "clean break". (Next time I would try adding some Ca++, which the hard-cheese chapter mentions you sometimes need to do to commercial milk to get it to set well.)
To Laura Veirs concert. Karl Blau is her band's bassist, and his opening set was good fun. He used a looper, so for a lot of songs he'd start by beatboxing a few bars and then looped it for his beat; some of the nicest bits were him harmonizing against loops of himself. It's pretty sad, but I can't stand for three hours without hurting myself -- for a little bit I managed to be rising taller, almost lifting off the floor, and balanced, tensionless -- but most of the night I was standing very not-tensionless, and my shoulders started to hurt dully like they'd been injected all over, distractingly. I learned a new skill, to hold a beer cup, a lipped plastic cup, in my teeth to clap with my hands. Great Lake Swimmers was a guy with a guitar, and singing, but he didn't sound much like he wanted to, and -- technique note -- didn't open his mouth very wide, ever. Laura Veirs turns out to look rather like a blond-haired
shoebox_bird less inclined to smile. Besides Karl, the band had a keyboardist, and a drummer who was deeply cutely enthusiastic especially when interacting by glance with another band member. The show was darn good. I especially noticed the instrumental and wordless choral sections, which I hadn't on the CD; don't remember if they're much on this album. I forget the set list, but anyway. I think I like the Carbon Glacier songs best, but I'll pick up the new album and make the comparison fair. "Up In The Air" as final encore song, singing along in my head. Guy asked immediately after the show if the show was over, and if it was good, because he'd just come in. Yes, yes, sorry.Curd is still not breaking cleanly, but it is breaking dirtily. Tried cutting it and heating, hotter than the recipe, to maybe tense some moisture out, which I think worked. Pressed it in a mold overnight.
Today: it has the form of a cheese. Sloped roof, since I'm not sure how to use this mold quite right.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-23 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 02:31 am (UTC)I'm sorry I didn't know about the workshop. Something I've wanted to do. Was it fun being the only one, though? After the initial horror?
Enthusiastic drummers, yay! That is what they are there for.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 08:25 am (UTC)Yeah, it certainly meant more focused time. This workshop happens something like monthly, so there'll be another one.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 08:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 07:33 am (UTC)Who was it who said "never give a grater a clean break"? (You can curdle 10% of the milk 90% of the time, and you can curdle 90% of the milk 10% of the time ... )
no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 07:47 am (UTC)Is it weird to think cheese is pretty?
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 04:14 am (UTC)(quite pretty cheese, eli!)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 06:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 07:16 am (UTC)Please tell that to my small intestine. Or maybe the large one. I'm not sure, one or both of them don't like cheese, and penalize me for eating it.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-23 06:21 pm (UTC)