Georgia Journey Day 4: Musical Endeavors

Tuesday was comprised of three primary factors: 1, music. 2, Christmas shopping. 3, my voice sounding more and more like John Cooper's.

Younger Fern and I continued our efforts to play violin and piano together with as few pauses as possible. We're definitely improving. I have the advantage, because not only have I been playing piano for longer, but I've been playing the pieces we're attempting for longer. I'll have to take some pictures of the music room before I go home.

Mr. Fern came in last night and pulled the enormous double bass out of the corner, and joined in with us. Adding in a third factor made it very interesting. I had been automatically adapting my tempo to keep pace with whatever Younger Fern was playing, but Mr. Fern wanted to actually stay on tempo (which obviously would be easier for him, considering the fact that he was sight reading... not to mention that it would then be correct). The result was that we often ended up in three different places. I found it very difficult to keep tempo with both Younger Fern and Mr. Fern at the same time – I typically ended up with one or the other, or somewhere in between. There were moments when it sounded really beautiful though – Into the West in particular.

After dinner Mr. Fern started teaching me some simple guitar chords (I would be continuing to practice them now, but I decided to blog; oh, the sacrifices I make for my responsibilities!). I learned G, C, and D. The challenge is to remember them all and learn how to switch between them quickly. I've wanted to learn guitar for a long time now, so it was fun to finally get a start. My fingers are definitely not quite flexible enough yet (piano flexible and guitar flexible are two totally different things), not to mention the fact that I have no callouses. But I enjoyed starting to figure it out.

We spent most of the afternoon Christmas shopping. I can't talk too much about that, because a few family members read this, but it was fun. I got most of what I needed, and even wrapped them all that evening. Which was good, because before yesterday I had only one present bought.

I also found something that I bought for myself: a LotR 2009 calendar. They didn't have one last year, so it was incredibly special to find one that has really good pictures.

I still had a sore throat. My voice got lower and lower, and more and more scratchy. This morning it feels a bit better, but it always does in the morning. I'm also coughing more now. Fortunately I'm not being called upon to do anything too strenuous, which helps.

I believe I'll wrap this up so I can post it and eventually wander upstairs to find Younger Fern (Elder Fern has work this morning). I can't believe I'm on my second to last day here...

- Elraen -