one step at a time.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Thinking Blogger

Sanni nominated me for my first ever blog-type award meme! It is most exciting and made my day. It also came as a bit of a surprise as I don't post much that's deep, meaningful or thought-provoking. It's quite a clever idea from the thinking blog as it'll whack up the technorati rank with all these links back to him/her, but I'll play for now.

I know this has been doing the rounds for a while, so some of these bloggers will have been nominated already. I suppose in this case it's up to them whether they play again, or just take the praise and accept that they've done their linking already.

Annelisa sees the world in so much more beautiful and colourful a way than I could ever imagine.
The couch is a great place to sit and have a read - it's full of such a variety of posts that there is bound to be something that will appeal to you.
The Crusty Crone combines glimpses of her life with her artwork and snapshots of the nature around her. I love this blog.
Turnbaby makes me think and most often makes me laugh. Which has reminded me that I need to go and have a read myself so I'll speed this up a bit!
5. An Island Life
Sounds like her life is so much fun! Pictures, exotic tales about places I can only dream of seeing... worth a visit!

If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
Link to
this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative
silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

On a totally different track: PITCHY!

I'm worried that the UK are going to pick this word up.


Bond says he uses it to mean that the key was not held throughout the song.
The 108 says it means out of tune.

I have heard Paula Abdul use it to mean out of tune but usually where the notes have been strained.


So generally it means out of tune - but it could be out of tune for quite a variety of reasons.


Because of this I hope that we do not pick this word up as it would be more helpful to the musicians to be told exactly what is wrong, as there could be different reasons for the above:
Out of tune - because they haven't listened properly to the track or what's going on AROUND them (singers can be quite bad for this - no offense meant).
Out of tune - because they have not supported the high note with enough air.

I'm sure there are lots more possible reasons.
I'm not a singer but I know that this could also apply to a trumpet player in much the same way. I would rather know specifics, to know how to rectify the problem.


Rehearsals for Diversimode went well yesterday. We have one more rehearsal before our concerts in Summer. After that I headed to Glasgow Uni student union to watch the big band gig. They did pretty well and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Especially as beer was £1.60 a pint.


Today I'm quite successfully avoiding practising or doing the Brownie accounts but as I have to go to work tonight (rehearsal) I will have to get started soon.

10 comments:

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Please send me an email about this, as i would like to answer in private.

the Book of Keira said...

Congrats on being a great writer who makes you think!!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Thanks for your visit...It's lovely to meet you...

I am a singer and this is a word.."pitchy", that is, that Randy uses all the time on American Idol....instead of saying.."YOU WERE FLAT" Or "YOU WERE SHARP"....Those are the only helpful ways to tell someone they were slightly off key....Never in ALL my years in and around the music business have I heard the word "pitchy" to describe anything till Randy said this on American Idol...Maybe Paula uses it because of him, I don't know. But it really isn't exact, at all....And as you intimated it is now the NEW way of telling someone they are off key. BUT, as I said....it is more helpful to say HOW someone is off key...Flat or Sharp, and a trumpet or any instrument dependent on the player to make the sound.....(One would NOT say that about someone playing the piano...you would say you PLAYED the wrong key, but on wind instruments and even reed instruments as well as string instrumnents...you would say 'you were sharp' or 'you were flat'...)

Didn't mean to go on so, but this NEW word, as far as I can tell has only been used in the context of the "pitch" of the note...off-key. That is where it stems from.
And I hope the UK doesn't pick it up either...lol!

Travis Cody said...

Regarding the term pitchy - you've hit the problem I have with the term squarely in the quarter note.

Calling someone "pitchy" doesn't tell them what they did wrong or what to work on to correct something. It's just a catch-all term.

Oldoldlady - YES!! Why can't they say "flat" or "sharp"? For someone like me who doesn't really have a musical ear - I just know what sounds good to me and what doesn't - those two words make more sense than the term "pitchy".

Annelisa said...

Aww, thanks Topchamp - that's a really lovely thing to say about my blog! I suspect that it's more the pics you like than any great revelations I might come up with, but I'm honoured to accept the award...

Seeing as you're the third person to nominate me, I really think it's about time I did some nominating of my own... I have to admit to a certain laziness in this area, apart from having such limited computer time at the moment (this will change - I swear I'm going to fix my son's laptop if it kills me!! :-D)

OK, so it's time to work on my own... it's going to be hard, because three of the poeple who I would have nominated are the ones who've nominated me - and you, my dear, certainly do deserve the award - I love to come here and catch up with what you're doing - you have a great way of writing that bubbles with a twist of wry humour and a turn of phrase that keeps your reading to the end, so congratulations!!

Kailani said...

Thank you so much for bestowing such an honor to me. You have become such a great blogging buddy!

Kailani
An Island Life

Coco said...

Pitchy ... to me that's always been how I get when I'm somewhat overtired and cranky ... Not the most polite word, but hey! When I'm pitchy, I'm not very polite, either ... oh ... that's not a "B", is it ...

Gattina said...

I don't understand very much of the technical side of music. I only love the end result, lol ! I even was unable to learn to read notes, but I played flute in the school orchestra only by "ear".

Another thinker, lol ! First I thought it would be something special, but now I realize that a lot of blogs are "thinking" even when there is nothing on. I even found thinkers on German blogs now, lol ! Welcome to the "Thinkers" What do you think about giving a "Just a blog" award ?

TopChamp said...

Gattina: I wondered about this too! But as I've never had an award before I think I'll keep it.

Liz Hill said...

Thank you so much TC--I am gonna do a post about this--I am so grateful---


Now--the word 'pitchy'-the first time I heard it used was on this show--I have been a singer all of my life. I have been in professional music situations and never heard it--either you were flat or sharp--or 'off key' I think they use 'pitchy' a lot where the singer has been both flat and sharp--it happens a lot on this show. I think it is just another 'dumbing down' toward the American audience they perceive as mouth breathing eejits. But that just may be me.

Thanks again sugar

smooch