Bard Only Adventure Party!

[Artemis Prime]

#Back2Music22

 

Several weeks ago over on Ye Olde Discord, several people were interested in a get musical again pact. I'm going to tag those lovely folks here, but absolutely anyone brave enough to click on a thread advertising a Bard Only party can most certainly join in! If you are a rusty musician looking to get back to it, a newly-minted bard hoping to learn your first notes, or a seasoned troubadour who never leaves home without your trusty lute, all are welcome here!

 

@Starpuck  @Cheetah @obax @bigm141414

Very sorry if I missed anyone, tag whoever you think might be interested!

[Artemis Prime]

I think I'm going to focus on my trombone for now. I am very bad on alto sax, half decent on piano, and self taught a handful of guitar chords, whereas the trombone is the one that I actually confidently know how to play, so even though I barely touched it in 2021, it should be the path of least frustration to remembering how to play.

[starpuck]

Heck yeah!   I've got a shiny new 17 key kalimba to learn and a keyboard that got pulled out a week ago.  Complete with sheet music that looked like Russian to me.  Oof,!! LOL.    I am ready for this!  I also tried to toot a note out on my old trumpet and that was a hoot!  (And mostly a failure... lol, I got a squeaky ass terrible scale pulled off but ugh!)  Holy moly.     Anyway, I am super excited (nervous) for this and I think I even want to come up with a new shiny bard name to use as an alter ego here.

 

The only daughter of a noble household, Sidonie was supposed to take up magical lessons and train to become the next Lady of House Rubato.    After attending a show by one Scanlan Shorthalt, she realized that she had other aspirations and plotted to run away from home.     She'd learn to perform, earn some coin, and with luck, meet up with some fellow adventurers that would continue to inspire her!  

 

 

"Sidonie Rubato"

 

I chose the last name rubato for a very specific reason.  It's a musical term apparently -one that I only learned today while looking up a glossary of musical terms to help me find a name for this adventure:

 

Rubato (Italian: 'stolen').   -  An instruction to play with freedom. Rubato allows performers to deviate from strict tempo regularity, and can enhance expressive playing. In essence, by 'stealing' time, or borrowing it, it should be contrasted with strict time, in a musically correct method of atonement.

 

This is going to be a super challenge for me because I remember my skill level from YEARS ago.  I always struggle with perfectionism, and even more so when it's something I was previously very good at, and now am totally out of practice and kind of back to square one.  The idea of PLAYING WITH FREEDOM is going to be my mantra.  

 

I will probably start slow with the kalimba because it's small and easy to just pull out and play.   But the piano will be the easiest return.   Also - any ideas how to get your music reading game back?   I found myself often reverting to 'every good boy does fine' when trying to read some of my music.  LOL.

[Keladris]

OMG I am here!!! Recently got my violin fixed up and need to start playing again! Ideally daily practice would be the goal but I am not sure how achievable that is for me at the moment. Perhaps 2-3 times a week is a good starting point

Also would be super fun to post any little videos of stuff if folks fancy (doesn't have to be perfect!)
To new adventures!

[Cheetah]

I was wondering if anyone would remember this.  I'm in.  The only instrument I play is the ukulele, although I did start to teach myself guitar, I didn't get far with it.  My goal for this will be to get my uke down and play through 1 song every day.  I will report here each day which song I play.

 

Happy Challenge!

 

[Artemis Prime]

Just played "Be Our Guest" on my trombone. It looks like I'm going to have to start with one song/day until my lips get a little stronger. 

[Cheetah]

I just played "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley.  I'm rusty but it didn't sound too bad.

[Maggie-Miau]

I have a kalimba and a lyre, and would like to jump on the One Song A Day model  

[Artemis Prime]

21 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Rubato (Italian: 'stolen').   -  An instruction to play with freedom. Rubato allows performers to deviate from strict tempo regularity, and can enhance expressive playing. In essence, by 'stealing' time, or borrowing it, it should be contrasted with strict time, in a musically correct method of atonement.

 

If we're picking musical terms to characterize our challenges, I'm going with Poco a poco (Italian: 'little by little'). A term that can preface and instruction meaning to follow it 'little by little'. For example, 'poco a poco crescendo', meaning, getting louder gradually, little by little.

 

I've fallen into a pattern with my trombone where I go full bore trying to get my skills back for about 3 days and then don't touch it again for weeks. It's a bit frustrating because I remember how to play it perfectly, but my current skill level is nowhere near equal to my knowledge base, mostly due a loss of embouchure. But that means all that's needed to get it back is consistency. It's not going to happen in one monster session, but if I stick with it poco a poco, I'll get back to where I was.

[starpuck]

I don't have the bandwidth (lol) to do one song a day because I'm going to be rangering too hard.   But it's cool seeing you guys all jump right back in!     

 

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

mostly due a loss of embouchure.

Omg, my mouth has no clue what that word even means right now.   So, yes piano first!  LOL.

On another note (hah I did it again) - I looked up the going rate for my Bach Student level trumpet and holy shit I am glad I was into music in the 90s and not now!! O.O  They go for $1400 new now??!?!

 

[Aquarii]

Well, I don't really identify as a bard...but I did go to college for music, and have unfortunately barely touched it since then. I want to get back into some stuff this year though. So, if you will accept a non-bard-but-kinda-bard, I am in! 

[Artemis Prime]

18 hours ago, Maggie-Miau said:

and a lyre

I had no idea people still played these. That's awesome! I feel like the only proper way to do it is to recite epic poetry while you play, however.

 

40 minutes ago, Aquarii said:

So, if you will accept a non-bard-but-kinda-bard, I am in! 

*Ahem* I will refer you to the opening post of this thread:

On 12/27/2021 at 12:25 PM, Artemis Prime said:

absolutely anyone brave enough to click on a thread advertising a Bard Only party can most certainly join in!

 

[Artemis Prime]

2 hours ago, Starpuck said:

On another note (hah I did it again) - I looked up the going rate for my Bach Student level trumpet and holy shit I am glad I was into music in the 90s and not now!! O.O  They go for $1400 new now??!?!

You made me curious enough to look up my trombone and it's $1,500!?!?! 

I've thought about replacing my horn because after going through school with me and my brother, including 9 years of marching band, the old girl's got some miles on her and has the dents to show for it. But it's hard to justify when I'm only playing very intermittently at home and also, I have a problem with getting very sentimentally attached to my things. My trombone's name is Petunia and she and I have been through a lot together.

[Aquarii]

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

*Ahem* I will refer you to the opening post of this thread:

On 12/27/2021 at 12:25 PM, Artemis Prime said:

absolutely anyone brave enough to click on a thread advertising a Bard Only party can most certainly join in!

 

 

The title and the content were sending me mixed signals 😂

[Artemis Prime]

10 minutes ago, Aquarii said:

 

The title and the content were sending me mixed signals 😂

Hmmm...might have to think about renaming this...

[starpuck]

3 hours ago, Aquarii said:

 

The title and the content were sending me mixed signals 😂

Isn't that exactly what bards do best?  Send mixed signals?

 

[Jarric]

I don't know that I'm up to much of a challenge for this, but I'll lurk around here for inspiration if no-one minds? My guitar has been sorely neglected over the last few years, so even if I just pick it up to strum a couple of chords I'd be happy.

[bigm141414]

Oh hey. I'm in for this. I'll try to play something more than chopsticks on my keyboard thus year XD

[Artemis Prime]

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

I don't know that I'm up to much of a challenge for this, but I'll lurk around here for inspiration if no-one minds? My guitar has been sorely neglected over the last few years, so even if I just pick it up to strum a couple of chords I'd be happy.

Bards certainly don't mind lurkers! Throw in a bit of applause now and then and we officially have an audience.

 

1 hour ago, bigm141414 said:

Oh hey. I'm in for this. I'll try to play something more than chopsticks on my keyboard thus year XD

Nothing wrong with chopsticks - it's a timeless classic!

[starpuck]

6 hours ago, Jarric said:

but I'll lurk around here for inspiration if no-one minds?

A lurking Jarric?  Color me inspired!

 

If I were a humble bard, hopping the taverns of the UK, and spotted Jarric watching me in the corner???  I'd be all....

 

If it was @Mr_Willes that spotted a lurking Jarric, then it would play out more like ...

 

BWUAHAHAHA.

 

 

[Mr_Willes]

So i get this notification.

 

"Mentioned in the topic about Bards"

 

 

Me...

 

Mr. Struggle-to-come-up-with-wording-except-when-i-have-my-keyboard-to-hide-behind

 

Next thing i see is buttshaking, and i'm like

 

(i think i'm actually slowly starting to win Starpack over)

 

 

Just don't expect anything more out of this from me than said moving pictures. You can't comprehend what you are getting yourself into...

[Cheetah]

Today I played two songs.  "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis, and "Dead Chicken", by Me.

[Artemis Prime]

Played "I'll Be There For You" on my trombone last night. Seemed to fit the end of 2021: "when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year." 

 

I actually recorded it for you guys, then discovered that I can't post audio files here, so you've been spared for now.

[TiogaGirl]

Ooh, I’m in! I don’t play anything super badass like the lyre or the sax, but I do play piano, and more accountability and camaraderie can only help. I’ll post a video of the boogie woogie song I’m working on, every couple of weeks. 🎶 

[Artemis Prime]

4 hours ago, Drakandar said:

Picking up on the violin again after an intensive year of DIY'ing on our new home.

 

I started playing the acoustic violing a couple of years ago, mostly classical stuff...

But who got me inspired in the first place was Lindsey Stirling.

So maybe up the stakes a bit and make my first goal for 2022  'We are giants' - (simplified version :D)

 

 

She came to Pittsburgh last month and I really wanted to go see her, but tickets were out of my price range.