zbd1960

In September 1985 I'd just switched career paths to IT, left home, was about to buy my first house. I had a new Mini Metro (yeah, I know....) which I had a better cassette player put in. I seem to remember it was chrome C90s? I seem to remember Mahler 2 was a regular then.... My Linn Sondek was 3 years old then (it'll be 40 soon). My main cassette deck was a Nagamichi - wish I'd kept it.

Agreed and I think the issue here is doesn't match his view of 'right', which is different to previous luthier's 'right'. I'll be cross of the sound isn't right as the issue I had with the cello originally is that the sound was very boxed in, which the previous luthier improved a lot. Cello won't be back for another week or so.

The previous luthier moved the bridge significantly south of the notches in the f holes. His view was that he f holes were in the wrong place... This guy measured the stop length etc and said it had moved too far... The bridge is warped though. I watched a YT video on bridges and the luthier talked about a very similar issue with the bridge curving - they can get a sort of 's' bend. You have to keep an eye on it sitting square on the body using a straight edge. Straighten the bridge if it's leaning back. You need ot use a straight-edge / square to do that. I've never done it and the bridge has been on for 6 years.

I think that is very much a part of the issue: he's only 20 miles away. It's either him or a double round trip to somewhere like Liverpool. I think he's also playing on the fact that he trained at WE Hill (must have been decades ago as he's not a youngster). When it's ready, I am going to be critical as his argument for moving the bridge and hence needing a new one, which also means a new sound post as it will be in a different place, is it was int he wrong place. If I don't think it's an improvement I'm going to have a lot to say about it.

Yeah last one I had made was about half that... I rather suspect my local luthier is at the more expensive end of the spectrum

The cello is German and dates to around 1900. It's overdue a check-up by a luthier - last done about 6 years ago. Apart from a general check-up I had a couple of issues to look at. The back got scratched a couple of weeks ago, and there looks to be a small crack on the belly under the fingerboard near the neck joint... It wasn't a good news day. He will try to disguise the scratch, but the only way to properly get rid of it is to have it re-varnished and re-polished - way too expensive. He's not worried about the crack - he thinks it's an old one and as it's not causing nay issues, leave it alone. The action seems to be on the high side and needs lowering, which at the least means re-cutting the bridge. However, the bridge has a bit of a bow in it towards the tailpiece. That means a new bridge. £500. That also means a new sound post as he's going to move the bridge a bit north of where it is. £130. Bow needs re-hairing. £80. A string has got a sort of kink in it, so new one - about £40. I wanted the bow re-hairing and I was aware of the A string being near due for replacement. I wasn't expecting major set-up changes like a new bridge, sound post, and lowering of the action. It'll be ready in about 3 weeks and about £800. 😭 Photo is me playing last week

To add to it all, I've been to two music summer schools one last week and one three weeks ago. Last week was fully residential, the first one I commuted in most days (it was near Ambleside). The Ambleside one was a sight-reading fest - there's no end of week concert, just playing a lot of repertoire. Last week I was in six different sessions each day which included chamber music, string orchestra, and orchestra, all on cello, plus wind band and big band playing both tenor and baritone sax. This group does involve recitals/performances. Photo is me playing cello for a Boccherini quartet in the chamber music recital. To say that I'm knackered would be an understatement. Here's the repertoire I played in the first week... Beethoven - overture - Leonora #3 Haydn - Symphony 100 Chabrier - Espana Rossini - ballet suite from William Tell Dvorak - Symphony #8 Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (that's strings only) Saint-Saëns - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Handel - orchestration of something I didn't recognise! Weber - overture - Die Freischutz Weber - overture - Oberon Brahms - Academic Festival Overture Hérold - overture - Zampa Bucalossi - The Grasshopper Dance Brahms - symphony 3 Mendelssohn - Symphony 4 (Italian) Mendelssohn - Symphony 3 (Scottish) Nicolai - overture 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' Auber - overture 'La Muette' Schubert - overture 'Alfonso' (never want to play that again!) Bach - concerto for two violins in D minor Mozart - Symphony 41 Puerner (?) "The Thistle" - Scottish folk songs

As a new resident of Penrith I can say I'm in for this as it looks to be an easy drive.

I'm a bit behind on reading as I've been dealing with the minor matter of moving house (by 150 miles...). So glad to hear the positive news after the traumas of last year. Great to hear the good news on the job front. I was fortunate to only ever work 'office hours' albeit the occasional overnighter when I was an on-call programmer and for the odd implementation, but they were fairly rare. I can confirm that removal costs are horrendous - mine has just cost ££££. It didn't help that it took them two days to pack my house contents and it involved an overnighter due to the distance/time.

It's been a right busy few weeks. First completion of my degree, then a series of exhibitions, then I graduated, and this week? Let's move house... The removal men arrived Monday to start packing, which continued Tuesday. Wednesday it was move day. Long chain and money didn't drop until 4pm: most of the van unload was on Thursday. Various rooms look like some sort of giant game of Tetris. It took 41 boxes to pack the books in my study and that's probably just over half - that didn't include all the music in the music room... (I live in my own so rooms get assigned labels like 'music room' instead of dining room).

I remained an amateur astronomer, but have been involved in admin of that up to national level... My degree is in digital imaging and photography.

Way back in 1978, I was supposed to go to uni and was being pushed to do a degree in chemistry. I really wanted to do astronomy... but at the time, I wasn't good enough at maths (and an astronomy/astrophysics degree is a lot of maths and some physics). So, I became a bank clerk... I worked on the international side so I was dealing with import/export documents and payments. Nowadays if you were unsure about what you wanted to you would take a gap year, or defer a year or two, but they weren't options back then. Fortunately in the bank a few years later I had a decent boss who recognised I was more 'techie' and didn't really fit in and he pushed me to apply for a role in IT and handed me a leaflet showing internal applicants sought. So, I sat the IBM computer programmer's aptitude test, passed it, and a couple of months later was on the graduate intake course as a trainee programmer. That was 1985 and the start of a 36 year career in IT. At 60 I initially took a sabbatical year for travel, which Covid wrecked, so I retired and became a full-time student. Yesterday, I attended my graduation ceremony where I was awarded a BA (Hons) 1st class.

I'm not aware of any premium Japanese cellos. There is good stuff from Eastern Europe, but you really need to know what you're looking for. A high percentage were mass produced as school and basic student instruments. Unfortunately, unlike me, instruments like cellos (well good ones) improve with age. One of the reasons I won't commission the making of a cello is once made, it can take years and years (possibly decades) for the sound to develop. In addition, a good luthier might have a 3 year waiting list, a year to make the instrument and prices around £12k upwards

I know, even more expensive

Yes, but we can't afford it! There are some strings I'd like to try, but at around £300 a set, you can't really experiment. My cello is German, dates to around 1900. If I had the money, I'd like a nice C19th English / German / French / Italian instrument. Unless you are very lucky, you'd be looking at prices of £15k and upwards - nice English cellos are very expensive. Forget an C18th instrument, I don't have enough gold bricks for that. My bow is a basic German pernambuco one cost £450 back in 2011. I've tried bows costing up to £1,500 but not felt there to be much improvement. I've been told I need to spend a lot more than that to see 'real' improvements... I have had a discussion with my cello teacher about once I've moved house, I might treat myself... but not rushing

Cello strings haven't moved much... still about £300 to replace mine. Fortunately, the lower strings don't have to be replaced very often, tends to be the top A string about every 3 years.

... I have a practice chanter.... 🙂They're not expensive if you'd like to learn?

It's a bit random at the moment as to how expeditiously items get through customs. I've had things sail through in no time at all and others go nowhere for a week. Unfortunately, things are not as seamless as they were...

Covid etc made a huge mess of the amateur orchestra scene, so it was good to have a gig on Sunday afternoon with the small community orchestra I play cello with. We played one of Dvorak's Slavonic dances, an arrangement of Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, and Schubert symphony #5. The venue was a little C13th church in Shropshire. As bribery to get an audience, orchestra members made cakes. I made lemon drizzle cake....

I realised I never put up an image of the exhibition in Liverpool last month. In the end it was a subset of about 20 or so images, printed 600mm high as a single print 10m long...

For anyone who happens to wander into Chester from now until (probably) end of August, I have an exhibition of some images from a project "Being our authentic selves" on display in the Rainbow Tea Rooms, Bridge Street, Chester.

Evidently, I'm a weirdo... When I was about 10, so over 50 years ago 😱, my gran started to teach me to read music (she had a piano). I went to a grammar school and we had two music lessons a week all the way from 1st to 5th form (err years 7 to 11 in modern speak??). One of those lessons was music theory / reading music. I started playing cello at school (that was a second form option, so age 12/13) so had to read bass clef. Sadly, I only had the one year of peri lessons as my parents didn't know how the system worked... I took music O level as an optional subject studied in lunchtimes in 6th form. Roll forwards to my mid-30s and I start singing lessons. I soon end up singing bass/baritone in various choirs and regularly performing in concerts - some quite major. In my 40s I do the OU music theory course, which gets you to around grade 7/8 equivalent. I started learning playing the bass viol - you have to have lessons as the techniques are very different to cello. The viol uses bass clef and alto clef (C3) when it goes higher. Some music is notated in octave treble (sounds octave lower than written). Then I bought a tenor viol, which is all written in alto clef (treble when higher). Roll forward to my early fifties and I start playing sax and buy my first cello. Cello uses bass, tenor clef(C4), and treble. I am well aware of how easy it is to acquire bad habits that can really hold you back, so it's find-a-teacher time again... So... it should be no surprise that starting bass, I found a teacher. Lessons currently in abeyance pending a house move. So yes, I always get a teacher to help me to get good technique. Online can help with some stuff, but you do need a teacher that can point out exactly what you need to do/change/fix. I can read all four of the 'standard' clefs - bass, tenor, alto, and treble. There are other clefs, which at various music summer schools have been thrown at me to read - baritone or soprano clef anyone? I'm a bit out of practice on the alto clef as I've not played viol for a while. At some point I'd like to take G8 theory just for fun... (I know, I'm weird). Bagpipes anyone?

Apparently, it was some sort of protest poke at Putin...

Well... I broke a habit of not watching it since the mid-70s out of curiosity. I had to mute the sound after a while as I just found it hard going. One or two good singers amongst the less good ones. The French singer was a little like an update on Edith Piaf in terms of sound style. Germany seemed to be something like glam rock meets death metal (in appearance anyway). I've no idea what Croatia was doing

Thanks for the comments. No, I tune my basses as standard in 4ths and leave the 5ths to the cello.