News Roundup

 July is turning out to be rather humid, and rather warm.  Not a lot of rain here at the Homestead, but some surrounding areas have been drenched several times.  We have had no pleasure outings in quite some time.  However, the July piano performance group met last Sunday evening.  There were seven of us playing.  Paula and I played a duet.  She went on to play two pieces, Chopin and Oscar Peterson, but I had nothing prepared yet for solo repertoire.  We are tackling another duet for August's meet up.  I may relearn a short piece by Mendelssohn, a Venetian Gondola Song.

 

The piano group, minus one.  L to R: Dr. Rob Seski (Fazioli owner), Jim Prosser (new member), me, Paula, Dr. Francis Ling (my Meniere's m.d.), and Dr. Robert Biswas.  Standing is Alde, who hosted the event his month.  Photo taken by his wife.  We actually sat outside on the deck.  The piano studio is adjacent, so with door and window open, performers went inside and played.  Alde had a TV monitor mounted outside so we could watch, and a video camera inside focused on the piano.

 

My own repertoire is now entering its second month of practice.  I am (slowly) memorizing the first movement of Beethoven's Op. 10 #3.  I can (mostly) play the 2nd and 3rd movements with music, but the 4th has a long way to go.  It has some very tricky and fast finger work, not my main strength as a pianist (if I even have a main strength).  The Bach Prelude and Fugue (Bk. 2, Eb+) is grinding along, with weekly improvement.  It should be playable in another month.  The Chopin Nocturne Op 15 #1 is still in a very early stage.  The middle section is a virtuoso fast section with some painful wrist work to master.  The slower first and last parts are almost within sight reading range, and pose no technical problems, though the long musical lines require skillful shaping.  Someday, hopefully.  Next month's duet has been started, too, a ragtime piece by George Gershwin, which Paula and I have played before.

The floor in the music room has now been completely redone.  Deb laid down peel and stick tiles after we removed the old carpet, then she continued on and did all the trim.  Right now the old U1 Yamaha is sitting on top of cardboard so as not to scratch the new flooring, while the harpsichord currently has pride of place atop an area rug in the centre of the room.  The new piano will go there (in three weeks!!).  We do not yet know where the harpsichord will go.

My third Iaido class was Monday, so I had outings both Sunday night and Monday night.  Training is going well, and I am working on relearning my techniques below the black belt level first.  Wednesday I was back into Windsor for my annual ear check up with Dr. Ling.  Dr. Ling is also one of our monthly piano performers.  As usual at my appointment we talked mostly about piano.  My hearing test showed normal hearing.  He did say that as far as recovery from Meniere's attacks go, I am one of the lucky ones.  Quite often people do not recover much of their hearing after severe attacks.  I have been attack free for almost three years now.  I still carry my meds with me whenever I leave the house, however.  Caffeine might have been a trigger for my onsets.  Since reducing my intake of the drug, things have been going well.

And now I turn to film watching news.  We began a new mini-series showing on AMC+.  It is called New Gold Mountain, released in 2022 from Australia.  A gold rush in Australia brings about a thousand Chinese gold miners to town.  Culture clash, racism, murder, and suspense seem to mix well so far.  We have watched two episodes of five.  More to come this weekend.  Deb chose the first two episodes as her main film choice.

A five episode mini-series showing on AMC+. 

 

Her leaving this month choice was another Anthony Mann directed western with James Stewart called The Man From Laramie.   Stewart goes hunting the person or persons who sold high powered repeating rifles to the Apache, who in turn killed his brother.  From 1955, it was all filmed in New Mexico, in locations that are totally unfamiliar to western movie fans.  We did recognize some of the distant mountain shapes.  A psychological character study as much as anything else.

 

Leaving Criterion July 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike

A Yamaha Avantgrand N3X

In piano news, we bought a piano.  Our house is too small for even a 5' grand piano.  As things stand, my Yamaha U1 blasts out the tones throughout the house.  There is no hiding.  So buying a grand piano would make the noise level even more absurd.  Headphones are not an option.  I have had two uprights in my time, and two digital pianos.  Yamaha has an exclusive line of three pianos that actually have Yamaha keys and authentic action, combined with the best in digitally sampled sounds.  The top model is the N3X, which we committed to purchasing last Wednesday, and will be delivered in early August.  D & S Pianos near London, ON will also take the U1 as a trade in.  Being a floor model we also got 15% off the sizable price tag.  We have put a down payment on it; the rest is due upon delivery.  We just happened to have a savings account all prepared to handle this huge expense.  My original U1 cost me around $8000 back in the late 90s, probably similar after inflation to what we will pay for the N3; the harpsichord was $5500, shipped here from California many years ago.

The new piano, coming soon.

The keys and action are identical to Yamaha acoustic grand pianos.  When I test played it it felt exactly like Paula's piano, a 5' Yamaha grand. 

There are several advantages to having this piano.  For one thing, the volume is adjustable, and the lid can be kept down when practicing.  For another thing, headphones can be used.  Deb can have some peace and quiet while I rampage through Beethoven and Bartok.  For another thing, it will fit in our house, in the music room.  And no tuning is ever required.  It has five built in grand piano sounds, and several other voices.  I may no longer even need the Roland harpsichord.

In other news, Happy Summer to all my northern hemisphere readers (there seem to be many these days, and from many far flung lands) and Happy Winter to those south of the equator!  We took a day trip on the Solstice to try out some pianos, and ended up liking one of them very much (see photos, above).  The night before I was out with the telescope, my last session of deep sky work during this lunar phase.  Observations will recommence sometime around 6th or 7th of July.

Deb's latest SF film continues to garner awards and acceptances.  The latest award is so new that we don't even know what it is for, other than she won a category.  See her web page using the link in the upper left margin of this blog.

There are two movies to report on, rather different from each other.  The first was an Anthony Mann directed western starring James Stewart as a bounty hunter chasing after murderer Robert Ryan.  The Naked Spur is from 1953. The main attraction in the film is the incredibly beautiful Colorado mountain locations and scenery.  On a big screen this must be overwhelming!  The story is a pretty basic western formula, with the murder of a dozen or so Natives, and Stewart and small company bringing the bad guy back to Kansas to face justice.  Forget the story and enjoy the colourful and free trip to Colorado!

Leaving Criterion June 30th. 

Next came a film showing on Mubi called The Topology Of Sirens.  From 2021, this film wins an Enigma award from us here at the Homestead.  A young woman appears at her aunt's house (we presume the aunt has died) and begins to discover strange little cassette tapes with strange music and environmental sounds on them.  One discovery leads to another, and as she explores a strange world of images and sounds we are left to wonder what the hell is going on.  Whatever is going on doesn't much affect the enjoyment of this puzzling but strangely beautiful film.  I wish I could have met her aunt.  A recommended film.

Now showing on Mubi. 

Mapman Mike