Monday

Seafair: Oberto won the race. Thet've been trying forever and finally did it. Art is happy and I'm going to buy some sausage.
Also, I've more or less finished the tuba concerto. At least I've got the sound alright, but unless there is a possibility of performance, I see no reason to waste a lot of paper printing out scores.
So..... on down the score to violin. Ick!, after all the thrill and noise and magnificant loudness of the brass concertos, I am now stuck with the wimpy squealy violin. I really prefer a solo voice that can be heard above it's envionment. Maybe an amped violin. Nah, that would be cheating, against the rules I've set for this project.
Or, maybe, I should go back to the horn concerto, which doesn't work very well, it's really boring.
I'm writing a piece for string quartet as warm-up but haven't actually started the concerto yet.
But you (By you, I mean me) never know.

Also, I've resurrected an earlier piece for two violins, which I am planning to present at the salon now that the salon is being held at a non-toxic venue not yet hostile to my presence.
I'll post it soon.
I need to hire two violinists for this project. Any horsehair cowboys, any catgut wranglers out there reading this?
I've got a LaneSavant grant that should cover expenses.

I've got to put the past behind me and move on. Now that I've let cheeses into my heart I must make profitable use of the time I have left between now and the triple bypass.

Ummm.....
Young Frankenstein opens (tomorrow?). Tempted to buy tickets.

You know?. (of course you don't) I think I've dad a headache for the last week or so,
not that my head actually ached, but this morning it suddenly feels like it has been and now it's gone.
My wife claims that migraines can be like that, whatta I know?

More stuff I made, Violins

The one on the far left, and the one in a case on the floor, is a junk store rebuild, the rest I made.
The big one in the middle is a viola. It was my first attempt at violin making.
I got plans from the Seattle Public Library and, except for the selection of woods, followed them. The woods are cherry from a tree in the back yard (some kind of fake cherry, I'm told) and kiln dried lumber yard fir.
A real luthier would sneer.
The other normally shaped one has a maple back and a pine front.
The "scroll" is the head of some kind of monster I invented. I gave up on trying to carve scrolls early on.
The others are experimental shapes I designed after reading a 19th century book on the subject by Heron-Allen. They sound like violins to me.
The one next to far right is made of the proper woods (maple back, sides, and neck with spruce top)
The two you don't see were given to musicians who performed my music for me.
One was a trapezoidal viola with a cat's head and sparkly eyes.
The other was conventionally shaped but with a fist for a scroll.
It was made of oak and pine and my worst workmanship. Nontheless, the person I gave it to decided that it sounded better than her expensive, commercially obtained one. Go figure.



This is not a violin, it is a cello, based on the trapezoidal design.
It is made out of plywood and has a sea monster for a scroll.
This and the two trapezoidal violins and the trapezoidal viola played one of my pieces at the Composer's Salon at Soundbridge at Benaroya hall (terrible place, don't go there)
I played the cello.
I was awful.
There is also a string bass, or contra bass, who can tell them apart? (not a bass viol, though)
Made of wall paneling.
I don't have a picture, maybe later.





This is not a violin at all, it is a humongous fretless acoustic guitar.

Actually, it shouldn't have a tailpiece, (this one is titanium from Boeing surplus)
The strings should be fastened to the bridge so more sound is transmitted to the top.
I might do that some day.