oh me oh my, there's a light in the sky - A quick update before I go to bed

A quick update before I go to bed

Mar. 17th, 2011 at 10:32 PM

I'm exhausted, but decided to post to a) update you with my progress and b) prove that I am still alive.

The Sponsorship

Sponsors: 28
Sponsorship Total: £92.50
Money Owed: £63.50
Money Paid: £29
Page Count: 98

Proof I'm Still Alive

I dunno. Throw a peanut at me or something!

Anyway, writing the sponsored novel has been stressful. I'm just about managing 30 pages a day but god, it's difficult. I think of a storyline to keep myself occupied and then it just disintegrates into babble. I'm starting to just write a series of unrelated bits and pieces. If I'm really struggling, I'm writing bits from 'The Chronicles of Stan' or 'The Great Couch Happening of '69' to boost my page count, or ranting pointlessly when times aren't quite that hard.

Also, I got my guitar and clarinet! I managed to totally ruin the G and high E strings on the guitar (they were worn as it was, then I played for a good two hours yesterday) and I'm finding the clarinet impossible to get any sound out of. I fill my lungs with air, blow, blow, blow harder and then get a high squeak just as I'm going blue in the face. And Dad took it upon himself to put it together while I was doing something else yesterday - forgetting to grease the cork bits. Now I can't take the damn thing apart. Thanks, Dad.

I seriously didn't think the clarinet would be so difficult. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I will get it to work. I'm not spending £90 on an instrument so that it can gather dust on my desk.

Music:Oik (Reprise) - Caravan

Comments

( Leave a comment )

saxsequential.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 17th, 2011 10:41 pm (UTC)

Clarinet is really difficult so don't be disheartened. What number reed are you using? Also, start with the lower notes first since they'll probably be the easiest. Make sure your mouth position is correct too :)

Link | Reply | Thread

chibikelzafox.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 26th, 2011 11:04 am (UTC)

This is going to sound mad, but I don't even know what number reed I'm using. Can't remember if I mentioned it in the post (I'm replying to a whole bunch of comments quite late) but my Dad sort of took it upon himself to assemble my clarinet - without greasing the cork bits - and just picked one of the reeds that came with it.

What I'm most worried about right now is getting the bloody thing apart. Right now I can't put it away, for obvious reasons, but I don't want to damage it trying to pull it apart again.

Perhaps a finer reed might be easier to get sound out of?

Link | Reply | Parent

buryingluck.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 17th, 2011 10:48 pm (UTC)

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH who/what are you raising money for? And what is your novel about (I'm guessing you are being sponsored to write the novel?!). Wish I could do something to raise money for Japan, I'm so pissed off I have no money to give them :(

Good luck with the clarinet! haha x

Link | Reply | Thread

chibikelzafox.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 26th, 2011 11:06 am (UTC)

The sponsored novel was so we could take a group of elderly residents out for three days - we took them to a museum, then an aquarium, then we had an awesome tea party on the last day :)

As for what the novel was about... well, it started off being some weird stream-of-consciousness exploration of the theme of 'worlds' (I can't think of a good way to describe it, really) and then disintegrated into complete and utter nonsense about 50 pages in :'D

Link | Reply | Parent

song-of-copper.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 18th, 2011 02:29 pm (UTC)

Hmm, I guess this is like NaNo but... WORSE! XD (Because of what's riding on your efforts!) Keep going, it'll be so worth it. ^_^

That's exciting, re. the moozickal instruments. I'm told there is a specific knack re. the clarinet - is the word I want embouchure?? Have you got a book to learn from? I suppose there might be youtube videos showing the technique (there seems to be a video for everything these days!). I'm sure you'll be ~~annoying your neighbours~~ er, I mean, playing basic melodies in no time! ;-P

Link | Reply | Thread

chibikelzafox.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 26th, 2011 11:10 am (UTC)

It's like concentrated NaNoWriMo! I had to write 60,000 words in eight days! I'm glad I managed it, though, even if the end result was a heap of completely disjointed rubbish, because without it we wouldn't have been able to treat our elderly guests to a fantastic three days.

There must be a knack to it; if so, I certainly haven't found it yet! I'm going to try taking the clarinet apart today and actually greasing the cork, then I'll change the reed (it came with a choice of two, so I'll try the finer one) and get myself onto YouTube.

Link | Reply | Parent

awiredwriter.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 20th, 2011 05:42 am (UTC)

Clarinets make us sound like derranged geese

YAY. Instruments! Out of all the instruments the clarinet was the one that I could get sound out of. I think I had a few lessons before I moved on to chorus because my family literally moved. When we moved, everyone else in school was a year ahead of me in instruments. Greasing helps. Is the clarinet used? Try ajusting the reed, too. That sometimes helps. I remember someone telling me to rest my lower teeth gently on the bottom, and to tuck my upperlip under my teeth and tighten my mouth on the piece gently. That was almost ten years ago, though, and is the barely measurable extent of my clarinet knowledge.

30 pages a day. Egad! :)

Link | Reply | Thread

chibikelzafox.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 26th, 2011 11:14 am (UTC)

Re: Clarinets make us sound like derranged geese

I'd join a band (there are a few local ones knocking about that offer training to new players) but with five months left I think I might as well teach myself for a few months and then try my luck in Ireland, see if I can get into a local band that's willing to train me up.

I'll give your advice a go. There must be something I'm not getting quite right and it's great that I've got a few clarinet players on my f'list! I'll probably update at the end of today with how it went/what videos I looked at. Might be handy to keep a record of my learning.

Link | Reply | Parent

chibikelzafox.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 26th, 2011 11:15 am (UTC)

Re: Clarinets make us sound like derranged geese

RE: Deranged geese. Lmao! I thought it sounded more like a penguin squawking through a megaphone!

Link | Reply | Parent | Thread

awiredwriter.livejournal.com wrote:

Mar. 26th, 2011 11:18 am (UTC)

Re: Clarinets make us sound like derranged geese

No, that's the Happy Feet movie sequel.

Link | Reply | Parent | Thread

chibikelzafox.livejournal.com wrote: