Worcester > City Information >Business Directory
Listed under Teachers > Music
11 Murray Ave: 1903, 1904
765 Main: 1905
5 Benefit: 1906, 1907

Listed under Orchestras
Alhambra String Quartette, Mrs. M.L. Childs, Director
11 Murray Ave: 1903, 1904, 1905

She is listed in the 1906 Cat Register book as owning a cat with one Mr. James H. Howland.  Maybe that had something to do with the divorce?

On the 1900 census for Worcester Mass, there is a listing for Hattie M.L. Childs, musician.  It's got to be her!  She lived at 11 Murray Ave (possibly in an apartment) with her husband Harry A. who was a bookkeeper in a Printing? shop. She was born in Apr 1870, as was her husband.  They had been married 5 years and had no children.

Searching marriage records by Harry's name, I found a listing for him and Hattie M Lynn Kittridge on 12 April 1895,  so I really do think it's her. However on the marriage record, she's listed as a bookkeeper, too.  I wonder if she just up and decided to play the harp one day...

Her parents on the 1900 census are listed as: Charles W Barker,​ Sarah E Barker, on her marriage license they are: Charles W, Sarah E Knapping. ???

And sadly, Harry is listed as divorced in the 1910 census and living back at home with his mom.

I'm continuing to cobble together different pieces of Prelude 2. 

The 2nd sequence of chords is out of tempo, even with the metronome!  And I'm not able to remove the metronome clicking because I've already deleted the sample areas I could have used.

I need to re-record the whole thing after I restring my harp.


I'm becoming more of a critical listener (I hope).

I can't really tell if the tension on my harp is less.  It sort of feels like it.  The harmonic overtones are completely different.  There are definitely different tones ringing longer.

I experimented with shifting my strings up one soundboard hole to compensate for the amount the strings are offset from the center of the tuning discs. There are so many variables that I need to sit down and list them tomorrow.

I can feel my heartbeat all the way into my fingertips and my joints are stiff. I think my hands would be so much stronger if I did this every day.

Also started combining the good parts of Prelude 2 into one file.

Audacity only lets you add one label track? That's a little inconvenient if you're wanting to make specific notes on specific tracks and have to keep scrolling up and down.

Tinnitus is a little loud today, so no Audacity work.

If you duplicate your track, then apply an effect, you can also adjust the gain (volume) of the effect. I believe the duplicated track would then be the original sound (dry signal) with effects, not just the effects. I think I could tease out different areas that need more or less work and then mix them back together! Cool stuff. Or even do a straight substitution.

"You can save a selection in a label. When you create a new label, the left selection edge determines the position of the label's flag. However, the right selection edge is also stored in the label, and when you click on it, the full original selection will be restored. " - Audacity I took a couple hours and started labeling good parts.

I worked a little Prelude 3 and my rt hand started to get shaky, so I switched to xmas carols. I get bored with those pretty quickly, though.

I recorded myself three times: the first a once-through, and other two playing Prelude 2 three times each.

Yesterday, on the first file, I played around with different Gverb settings based on the wiki page. The Quick Fix sounds ok all around, but the Small, Bright Hall makes the high plinky notes sing. It gets rid of most of the finger noise and makes my harp sound like what I think it should sound like.

Today, I went through the other two files and split out each repetition of the Prelude. As well as little bits I played here and there to try to correct dynamics, mistakes, and loud pedal changes. That took about 1.5 hours including a popcorn emergency. :)

In Audacity, if you open a sound file and save it as a project, then move the original file (ie, disconnect your Zoom microphone from your computer), the project will have no sound when you try to play it. Momentary panic averted with google search.

Playing with Audacity is fun!

I've recorded enough stuff I think I can do something with the bits and pieces. I hope. I will be doing some audacity tutorials, that's for sure.

Took out 3rd and 4th finger slides in (Flight) since my tendons allow my fingers to just bend backwards instead of sliding. Nice.

More exercising. Record one thing a month no matter the quality. Details close up, messy pieces further away. Try dresser.

Harold Budd: "Haru Spring" from 'In The Mist'

More exercising and remembering to bend my thumbs.

Flighty exercises.

Back to things I can play with harmonics in them. My free time has been eaten up so I will not be practicing as much.