Sunday, March 22nd 2009

It's strange to read something you had written so many years ago.

Anyway, my order of "Mazarin" has finally arrived! Oh, the goodness of 17th century music! I'll upload a really nice piece on my blog soon. It just sounds so medieval, you know?
"Mazarin" was initially delayed because Amazon.com ran out of stock, but it arrived soon after I managed to restrain myself from hitting my supervisor. Ha, ha. I can't tell you how happy I felt that it was finally here! I was having withdrawel symptoms due to not having new Philippe Jaroussky music to listen to.

I've grown quite fond of lute and banjo music, too. Been borrowing some lute music from the library @ Esplanade, written by John Dowland and some other guy. Apparently, John Dowland was this brilliant lutenist of the 17th century, I think. I like some of his happier pieces, but the lute looks too difficult for me to play. Have you seen the number of strings on that thing?! I can't even play the guitar! Sure, plucking a few strings is no problem, but actually having to learn chords and stuff, no thanks. My fingers hurt like hell the last time I tried.
Banjo is even worse, because a lot of the music is very complicated, and played very fast. It has the basic melody line, and then it has a lot of other notes piled on top, but it sounds fun to play.
If I can find a banjo at a low price at Sungei Road sometime, maybe I'll get one. They're selling a banjo at Bugis for more than $300!

I have invested in a little off-white ukelele. It was supposed to be $30+, but I got a 20% discount, so I got it at $25. It's a cute little thing that's much smaller than a guitar, developed in Hawaii in the 19th century.
I was slowly plucking strings on my sister's guitar several weeks ago, and I realised that the sound has a calming effect on me. I usually have problems getting to sleep, so maybe if I got a smaller, less bulky version of a guitar, it could help me sleep, or give me something to do if I really can't get to sleep. Then, I remembered that I wanted to buy a ukelele in Hawaii in 2005, but didn't because it would have been a hassle bringing it back, so I decided a week ago that I would get one. It's about the same price when converted, so I'm not upset about the $25.

Learning a string instrument at my own pace would help me in my hearing and tuning for singing, and it's also calming and fun when my fingers don't have those painful string grooves in them. So now, I have my very own ukelele!