Rain and Autoharps(tm)

[altivo]

Mostly gloomy today, with several passing showers. Helped Gary set up the new UPS I got for him as a present because he has finished his first term of "going back to graduate school." Then he went off to take his last exam and when he came back we went to yet another of his group sessions. This one was at Mast House in Woodstock, possibly familiar to some locals. I sat in on flute again, with a larger group. Had some fun jazzing up to Gershwin's "Summertime" as well as a lot of other old traditional favorites. Thunderstorm passed while we were there, so we came back to damp sheep. They were out in their yard, but not damaged. They just smell like, well, wet sheep.

After supper I pulled out my old (literally, it's an antique) Oscar Schmidt Autoharp to see if I could tune it. Took two passes to get close, now it needs to rest overnight before a third tuning. It doesn't sound too bad, in spite of its age. Since these folks are all acoustic, keyboards are not a viable choice for me. Though I have portable keyboards, they are of course electronic. There was a piano (and an organ for that matter) at Mast House, but I wouldn't touch either without permission and I suspect neither would be close to being in tune with the group. Oh well. This group meets on Wednesday afternoons, when I'm normally at work. I can only join them when I have the day off, which happens about twice a year.

Now Gary has the rest of this week off too, so we get to do some more stuff together. Should be nice.

Comments

[aerofox.livejournal.com]

I have found it odd that old reed organs are not tuned to the same frequencies as other instruments such as pianos. Why, I have no idea...

I frustrated yarwick when he visited and tried to play the one I have. ^_^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Old organs (and pianos and other instruments) are often tuned to A=435Hz instead of the modern standard of A=440Hz. This was a change that gradually happened during the 19th century and early 20th because it made the orchestra sound more "brilliant." You wouldn't think that 5 Hz would make a lot of difference, but it does, and instruments made to the old scale can be difficult to play in tune along with modern instruments.

I rather like the sound of keyboard instruments at the old pitch, myself.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Could we hear you and/or Gary play these instruments?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There are no recordings of me, at least no recent ones. There are recordings of Gary with the group I sat in on yesterday, but I don't know if he has any accessible online. I'll ask him.