: Randomly walking alone
The last few weeks in summary:
* Performed You'll Never Walk Alone in karaoke. Courtesy of an accompaniment that was in an unexpectedly high key - and don't forget, this is a song without an instrumental introduction. Coupled with my near-total inability to hear myself singing into the microphone, it was a true disaster, and instilled performance anxiety where none existed before - doubly bad as gaining confidence from performing was the very reason for me singing karaoke in the first place. Oh, and Gemma was there. But she noted how my problems were situation-dependent.
* And in the next lesson I had with her, a life-changing moment. A substantial number of specialists have tried to help me deal with my autistic spectrum disorder, but none have done so as effectively as Gemma - remarkable, as her specialism is not dealing with autism. She did, however, pin down my communication problems on the way I tended to use my voice - keeping the sound too far back, not projecting properly, generally not sounding confident. Gemma briefly spoke in this manner, and the contrast with her normal clarity of speech was striking. As she quite rightly suggested, my misuse of my voice was acting as a barrier to communication. Now, why did nobody else pick up on this?
* In to-day's mathematically-inclined Economics lectures, we covered the topic of 'random walks'. Genuinely fascinating, both in terms of its economic applications... and for another use.
* Assume that note n = note n-1 + interval. The interval is treated as a random variable; I'm currently working on the exact probabilities associated with a given interval. I've tried generating 100-note sequences, but these invariably tend to wander a little too much - I've yet to have one stay within a two-octave range, and I've had one soar three octaves above middle C, as part of a 30-note sequence at least two octaves above. Not even Mariah Scary would want to try that. I'm probably going to try sequences of maybe 10 notes, which could be a good way of generating opening lines and firing my creativity.
* Which could be necessary as I'm now planning a recital consisting partly of my own compositions. I will appear as a vocalist, but the majority of the singing will be done by first-year music student Sarah. I am also tentatively hoping to set this recital in the lecture theatre designed for performing arts productions, and add some atmospheric lighting of some description - perhaps little more than dark blue spotlights on the performers could work, although there's a certain influence on that design that is probably all too clear to the reader of this blog.
The last few weeks in summary:
* Performed You'll Never Walk Alone in karaoke. Courtesy of an accompaniment that was in an unexpectedly high key - and don't forget, this is a song without an instrumental introduction. Coupled with my near-total inability to hear myself singing into the microphone, it was a true disaster, and instilled performance anxiety where none existed before - doubly bad as gaining confidence from performing was the very reason for me singing karaoke in the first place. Oh, and Gemma was there. But she noted how my problems were situation-dependent.
* And in the next lesson I had with her, a life-changing moment. A substantial number of specialists have tried to help me deal with my autistic spectrum disorder, but none have done so as effectively as Gemma - remarkable, as her specialism is not dealing with autism. She did, however, pin down my communication problems on the way I tended to use my voice - keeping the sound too far back, not projecting properly, generally not sounding confident. Gemma briefly spoke in this manner, and the contrast with her normal clarity of speech was striking. As she quite rightly suggested, my misuse of my voice was acting as a barrier to communication. Now, why did nobody else pick up on this?
* In to-day's mathematically-inclined Economics lectures, we covered the topic of 'random walks'. Genuinely fascinating, both in terms of its economic applications... and for another use.
* Assume that note n = note n-1 + interval. The interval is treated as a random variable; I'm currently working on the exact probabilities associated with a given interval. I've tried generating 100-note sequences, but these invariably tend to wander a little too much - I've yet to have one stay within a two-octave range, and I've had one soar three octaves above middle C, as part of a 30-note sequence at least two octaves above. Not even Mariah Scary would want to try that. I'm probably going to try sequences of maybe 10 notes, which could be a good way of generating opening lines and firing my creativity.
* Which could be necessary as I'm now planning a recital consisting partly of my own compositions. I will appear as a vocalist, but the majority of the singing will be done by first-year music student Sarah. I am also tentatively hoping to set this recital in the lecture theatre designed for performing arts productions, and add some atmospheric lighting of some description - perhaps little more than dark blue spotlights on the performers could work, although there's a certain influence on that design that is probably all too clear to the reader of this blog.