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sevenhelz at 09:41am on 14/03/2009
sevenhelz at 09:41am on 14/03/2009I'm feeling self-centred so this may get long.
Yesterday I spent my entire morning, and much of my afternoon, breathing in brasso fumes. This wasn't the direct intention of the exercise, but a side-effect of what I was doing; servicing a baritone horn (insert rude jokes). I was at All Brass and Woodwind in Leeds, who turn out to probably be the best people around for getting dents out. They've made a remarkable amount of their own tools and their creative imagination helps them solve all sorts of problems with instruments. Plus they've been working together for twenty years; long enough to know what not to do.
So I was happy there. Mostly I learnt about polishing techniques, but I did get a chance (for about ten minutes while Dave dealt with a customer) to try and feel for a dent with the pole that you push them out from the inside with (insert more rude jokes). I wasn't very good at it, which I always find embarrassing, so I was glad I got some time alone to try and figure it out; I did start to get a feel for it, but didn't get the dent out. So Dave fixed all the dents (and mentioned that the one I'd been working on was really difficult, it must've had more brass on that side than the other one he'd demonstrated) while I watched, and held the instrument in the right place while he straightened out the bell. He did such a beautiful job, you can hardly tell it had been damaged - certainly not crumpled the way it was.
There was also music on throughout the day, friendly chatter, bad jokes, and plenty of people coming in to say hello. And Dave bought me Chinese for lunch. Happy days :) I go in, I get 8/9 placement hours in one shot, I learn useful stuff in a pleasant environment. This is so not like my placement with KMS.
Oh, and tell anyone who's buying through eBay; you can trust this shop; you may have to pour some water through if it's an old instrument that's been done up, but the moving parts will be right, you won't need any repairs.
ION, when I went up a trouser size practically overnight (I literally couldn't wear the trousers I'd had on before we went to bed, and though I'd been a little bigger generally, this must've been bloating or something) I bought a beautiful pair of charcoal, multicolour pinstripe trousers from Next that fit my ass perfectly in a 14. They were £35, and later lost a button and turned out to be dry-clean only. Thankfully Dave washed them while I was away and they turned out fine, but I probably won't be wearing them so much now anyway. On Thursday, I went pyjama shopping (for T.A. purposes, natch) and found only pastels, pinks, references to cows, sluts or princesses, synthetic fabrics and other such horrible designs. So, still looking for pyjamas. BUT in M&S I discovered some nice blue pinstripe trousers, which pleasingly fit me in a 12 long, machine washable, for £15.
Clearly my view of the world is outdated. M&S isn't even competing with Next. It's just... different.
I mean, I've been going there for bras for a while because they're decent, there's a wide range in my apparently unusual size (if you believe the other shops), they're machine washable, and because there's a wide range I can buy ones that really really fit and are comfortable. Which is awesome. They're not even that expensive; I've had worse from La Senza or Peters, worse bras fitting worse at worse prices. So yeah. M&S may be my favourite clothes shop atm. I hesitate to think about how this reflects my class attitudes.
So in my euph lesson this week I was playing something with some really low notes, and while I don't generally struggle to reach the notes, I have trouble going up and down between the octaves. Dave (it's quite handy how most of the important males in my life have the same name) started talking about vowel sounds, and whle I've never found that idea useful before, trying it out these last few days it has helped a lot. With high pitches as well as low ones, and with getting the middle register to sound interesting. So that's good.
Yesterday I spent my entire morning, and much of my afternoon, breathing in brasso fumes. This wasn't the direct intention of the exercise, but a side-effect of what I was doing; servicing a baritone horn (insert rude jokes). I was at All Brass and Woodwind in Leeds, who turn out to probably be the best people around for getting dents out. They've made a remarkable amount of their own tools and their creative imagination helps them solve all sorts of problems with instruments. Plus they've been working together for twenty years; long enough to know what not to do.
So I was happy there. Mostly I learnt about polishing techniques, but I did get a chance (for about ten minutes while Dave dealt with a customer) to try and feel for a dent with the pole that you push them out from the inside with (insert more rude jokes). I wasn't very good at it, which I always find embarrassing, so I was glad I got some time alone to try and figure it out; I did start to get a feel for it, but didn't get the dent out. So Dave fixed all the dents (and mentioned that the one I'd been working on was really difficult, it must've had more brass on that side than the other one he'd demonstrated) while I watched, and held the instrument in the right place while he straightened out the bell. He did such a beautiful job, you can hardly tell it had been damaged - certainly not crumpled the way it was.
There was also music on throughout the day, friendly chatter, bad jokes, and plenty of people coming in to say hello. And Dave bought me Chinese for lunch. Happy days :) I go in, I get 8/9 placement hours in one shot, I learn useful stuff in a pleasant environment. This is so not like my placement with KMS.
Oh, and tell anyone who's buying through eBay; you can trust this shop; you may have to pour some water through if it's an old instrument that's been done up, but the moving parts will be right, you won't need any repairs.
ION, when I went up a trouser size practically overnight (I literally couldn't wear the trousers I'd had on before we went to bed, and though I'd been a little bigger generally, this must've been bloating or something) I bought a beautiful pair of charcoal, multicolour pinstripe trousers from Next that fit my ass perfectly in a 14. They were £35, and later lost a button and turned out to be dry-clean only. Thankfully Dave washed them while I was away and they turned out fine, but I probably won't be wearing them so much now anyway. On Thursday, I went pyjama shopping (for T.A. purposes, natch) and found only pastels, pinks, references to cows, sluts or princesses, synthetic fabrics and other such horrible designs. So, still looking for pyjamas. BUT in M&S I discovered some nice blue pinstripe trousers, which pleasingly fit me in a 12 long, machine washable, for £15.
Clearly my view of the world is outdated. M&S isn't even competing with Next. It's just... different.
I mean, I've been going there for bras for a while because they're decent, there's a wide range in my apparently unusual size (if you believe the other shops), they're machine washable, and because there's a wide range I can buy ones that really really fit and are comfortable. Which is awesome. They're not even that expensive; I've had worse from La Senza or Peters, worse bras fitting worse at worse prices. So yeah. M&S may be my favourite clothes shop atm. I hesitate to think about how this reflects my class attitudes.
So in my euph lesson this week I was playing something with some really low notes, and while I don't generally struggle to reach the notes, I have trouble going up and down between the octaves. Dave (it's quite handy how most of the important males in my life have the same name) started talking about vowel sounds, and whle I've never found that idea useful before, trying it out these last few days it has helped a lot. With high pitches as well as low ones, and with getting the middle register to sound interesting. So that's good.
I should be getting on with my case study. I basically have all the information I'm gonna have; I have to write a 2,000 word essay on it by Monday. So yeah. Regret not researching more, later.
Off to do some washing up and make cooked breakfast. Ciao.
x
can has cookie?
La Senza are completely crap when it comes to bras, they have such weird sizing there, I always had difficulty finding bras that would fit me comfortably there.
can has cookie?
x
can has cookie?
I don't actually think Bravissamo have their own range of bras. They've got a range of clothes/shirts/pyjamas designed for the busty lady so that might be worth a look? Although the clothing range IS expensive in comparison to other stores.
can has cookie?
can has cookie?