Working on new fingerings for Prelude 1 that will help with hand-crampage.  Also working on getting new fingering memorized over old fingering.

Tried doing more string calcs today, but need either the density of material (google turned up a range of 1276-1360 kg/m³ for gut and 1000-1140 kg/m³ for nylon) or the weight in lbs/in.  I am NOT weighing all 45 of my harp strings individually with a vintage post office scale from Goodwill.  Will call Vanderbilt and/or L&H tomorrow during open hours - the left coast is so behind everyone else.

Worked more on technique today and building up muscles to record Prelude 1. Prelude 3 is equally challenging.

Insónia is up!

http://www.motorharp.com/tiago-sousa-insonia.html

Finished up Insónia today and going to post it later.  There's a lot of finger noise, but I'm pretty impressed with how well I played it.

Played more than practiced today, but did work on technique with Prelude 1 to see if I could adjust anything so my hands don't cramp up after more than one playing.  I found my right thumb needs to move differently - 2nd knuckle of thumb aimed towards 1st knuckle of 1st finger in the upper registers is the best I can describe it. This means my hand is at a different angle, too.

Recorded Insónia today on a whim.
Need to:
+ listen to all 4 or 5 takes
+ pick out best one or parts
+ stitch together (in progress)
+ make reverse intro
+ post to site
+ apply reverb and filters

ETA: + and rest delts. or stretch them or something.

Finished up the string meas, the diameter is .01" less stretched.  Made a few charts to double check my numbers were right. Next up, calculations!

I feel like I learned nothing yesterday!  Need more work on percussion.

Still trying to record Prelude 1. It's hard to get any useful takes because my hands cramp up playing it after one time through.

Working on Prelude 3 and trying to coordinate soundboard taps. I'm definitely not a percussionist and they're easier to play faster.

Measured some string lengths, but had to stop because I was bending and craning my neck repeatedly.  String lengths may vary by up to 1/8" because I don't have sn accurate tool to measure them. What would you use?

Noisy construction work!

I always forget when I'm sick how exhausting it is to hold up my arms to play.

Improv to Colin Stetson.

"When silencing parts between vocal lines, please keep in mind that a sudden drop in background ambiance can have an bad effect, so at the very least fade the area around the silenced part, to minimize that effect. Rules to start with are, fade in quickly and fade out slowly. Alternately, use the envelope tool to lower the volume in that area. That way, you can comfortably change it later." - Audacity  The envelope tool doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Yet.

"When you're satisfied, fade out the last two thirds of the overlapping upper part of the track, and fade in the first two thirds of the lower overlapping audio." - Audacity  - emphasis mine.

I've been exercising, adjusting my harp, and letting it settle.

Today, I started work on Prelude 2, and had just decided to try to record again, when it started (loudly) pouring rain.  Another day then.

Urg. This - http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/File_Management_Tips#Avoiding_loss_of_project_audio_due_to_missing_dependent_file - is what happened.  Usually, I plug the Zoom into my computer and it's no problem, but now it's saying it's plugged into F: instead of G:.  How do I fix that?  By doing the workaround found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297694. But does it work...  Yes! 

Now on to practicing...

Harp is finally restrung AND almost settled and string gauges measured.  I think I will measure the string gauges under tension, too, but after my harp has really settled. Maybe in a month? Or a couple weeks since then it will be next month.  This year is already flying by.

I exercised mostly today because Audacity was not playing my file properly so I couldn't hear what I wanted to work on.

Harp is finally restrung "properly" after having been strung "more properly" - moving the strings up one hole in the soundboard centered the strings in the discs up to 1st octave G!  I would expect harps normally only have this happen in the 7th - 4th octaves, and my soundboard is really not bowed out by much at all.

I'm also measuring string diameters as I'm cutting off the ends in prep for calculating tension/length/pitch.

This also means I could start recording again.

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).