Coming to blows

Spent a whole practice session doing nothing but playing the same note over and over. With a tuner in front of me.

And it worked. Felt an immediate improvement. Seems that the burbling I'd been getting was me hitting the edge of the slot. Once I was focused on the pitch center, I could also start playing with tone; I'm finding the shifts in mouth shape and tongue position that give a darker, softer tone, or a more focused, brighter tone.

Oh, yeah. And like with the violin, when you hit the pitch center dead on there's a sympathetic resonance you can hear and feel.

But it's silly to wait until I'm "good enough" to record parts, because I'll never be satisfied. I'll learn more, and have more fun doing it, if I record now.

Above is a proof-of-concept draft: I recorded the horn part "wild"; over a portable mic, in the woodshop, without even a metronome. Once I put it in the working file I immediately realized the straight-up bass didn't work; what blended was the fake upright technique (thumb pluck and damping the strings near the bridge with the heel of the plucking hand).

And I had a bad moment when the piano didn't work at all. And I'd already tried organ and even guitar. But electric piano -- especially when I shifted from brushed snare to a brush hi-hat figure -- made a blend I liked.

So now I can work on solving the rest of the arrangement. And continue rehearsing the parts (the bass needs the most practice).

Picture from Ukulele Underground

The Hellboy cover is a very different direction. It is pushing instruments I don't know yet how to blend properly, or how to play properly. I want to get back to the "Bardic Covers" (game and movie themes done with Early instruments). Of course the direction I want to go there is a lot more authentic Early Music voicings, and there's a lot of theory to learn there as well. Plus my guitar--err, ukulele-- playing is really not up for the kind of parts I hear in my mind.

And stop with the instrument longings. More or less. I can justify the instrument above as my latest wish because my old uke just isn't up for what I'm demanding of it.

But as I've been thinking ahead towards the most likely next cover (the "Galaxy Map" backing track from Mass Effect) I can't help but notice there are multiple lines on different plucked or pitched percussion instruments. And wouldn't it be great to have a baby harp for this? Or...if for no other reason than harps are hard to play and building a lyre would be fun...

A "Sutton Hoo" style lyre.