The music room

Terrible picture, it is not my composition, but neither is it a screenshot. It's a phone shot of my laptop screen. I've started an online course in classical music appreciation via Udemy ( a learning platform). The tutor is Giacomo Mura.

Why now? 
I'd been going to live music concerts in Nailsworth by the Bristol Ensemble,  once a month, for over a year, until lockdown began. When they stopped for the summer break, or a result of lockdown, I missed them greatly. We had talked in the car about hiring a WEA tutor to teach us music appreciation, but hadn't got around to actually searching for one.

Then the WEA classes went online, and I signed up for music appreciation, and Russian music appreciation, in the autumn, starting next month. This week, I got an email saying that the music appreciation class had been cancelled, for unspecified reasons. Uh-oh. I was surprised by how disappointed I felt, but decided to try looking for alternatives.

I stumbled across Udemy, and found a free taster course by Giacomo. The sample piece studied was from Fingal's Cave by Mendelsohn. Now I knew nothing about German Romanticism, but I do know Fingal's cave, on the Isle of Staffa, and have visited it twice, and heard the music played as we approached the cave mouth by boat (it's a sea cave). Thus I was drawn in, and signed up for the paid-for course.

It has four main sections: Timeline, Elements, Genre, and the Orchestra, of which I have now listened to the first two. There are concrete examples to listen to, and listen again. Giacomo is very gestural, so is a pleasure to watch, and his music room, in Vienna, is a visual delight. I shall certainly do more of his courses. And not being on Zoom, there is no cluttering up of the screen with other people listening in! I can listen any time I want. So that's what I've been doing on this Friday evening.

In other news, CleanSteve and I were both in the Shambles indoor market today. Sales weren't great, though I did do a little better than Friday two weeks ago. I also sorted out the music so that it was played from a playlist on my Spotify account on my laptop in the kitchen, and bluetoothed to Steve's new speaker, which is excellent. I did not have to keep changing the CDs all day. I also danced a lot.

At the end of the market day, my friend J came by, and we put on a disco CD and danced in the middle of the hall, because there is SO much space! Normally there are twelve stalls in the hall, but in this new post-lockdown era, there are only six, and a big empty space in the middle. People come into the hall and say 
"Oh, there's nothing here" or 
"where's the music man?" 

 I  feel like replying, 

"I am NOT nothing! I'm here! I turned up and did all the work needed to get here.  Please don't dismiss me out of hand".

Of course, I don't say that. I just reply that there's more room for dancing. 
And I make it my business to play some tunes that are catchy enough to wiggle to. Of course, the music must not be loud, because then people might have to raise their voices. Not everyone is wearing a mask.