Monday, October 10, 2022

Got to play "with" the flute

 Last night I watched dumb stuff on YouTube and worked through another page in the Wye beginner book. I'm back up to about where I was before. I also noodled around just messing around. There's a video on YouTube about "How you can't play low C on the flute" well, I can actually play that note. That's a good sign, I guess. 

When I think about the two guys I have books by, though, you just know James Galway noodled around a lot, as well as having a Mozart-loving father, he just had to learn to play Mozart stuff perfectly. But he played the pennywhistle at least a bit  - he used to go on TV and show off by playing two of them at once - and I guess he doesn't like to mention it but I've seen hints here and there that he went out busking at least with the pennywhistle. He got to where he could play the thing "hidjous" fast, as my dad would say, and you get that fast by spending a lot of time noodling around. 

Jean-Pierre Rampal talks about his grandfather buying him a flute and before he started lessons he "carried it everywhere" there's no way he didn't noodle around on the thing. 

I think flute is a good way to go because I can *make* a flute. I've done it before. The modern, padded, flute can be a beastie to work on it seems, but as I noticed before, if you can play one of those you can play any kind of flute. I think it's harder than the shakuhachi. 

What I'm finding in my life is that any striving for any skill that's "modern" or "high tech" has only resulted in my doing worse in life, especially financially. 

I wish I'd had the wisdom and discipline to have stayed with the classical guitar classes held at Orange Coast College. There were three levels of class, and you could take each level twice. I forget if they were on the semester or the quarter system, but even if Orange Coast was on the quarter system, that's a year and a half of classical guitar, plus I'd have probably made better friends than the motorcycle crowd I fell in with. I got around by motorcycle, and would have gone to and from class with a guitar on my back like the guy who turns into Kikaida, but that would have been OK. 

I'd stayed in the class just long enough to learn that in classical guitar, everything's broken down to make things easy for the player. An actual classical guitar is very "friendly" and I think I'd have liked the regularity and comradeship of the class. 

But flute is a good one too. As mentioned one can be made from all sorts of materials, and if I develop the fundamental breath, I can play any kind of flute. And I'd rather carry a flute around with me than a guitar. 

But my overall impression is that I was all wrong in having thoughts of doing anything "high tech". That's for an elite with money behind them, and a very few who come from less money but are able to hyper-focus through college and then work their guts out for some company until they're 40 and then, well, let's just say in this area, the homeless have a lot of programming skills. 

But even the lower level, the duped and worked their guts out crowd, had things like good nutrition, parents who let them live at home through college, maybe even a college fund. It was possible for them. It was stupidly impossible for me. My older sister knew this and was smart enough to stay away from college. She was smart enough to go into jewelry making and art from her early teens - both things that go back as far as humans go - and that got her the valuable "Mrs." degree, and to a guy with money too. She'd not have married a guy without money! 

In other words, thinking 100s to 1000s of years old would serve the average person better than the modern way of thinking where you're duped into going to college etc. 

I really wonder why I don't see more musical or performing in general skills among the homeless around here. It's a large city of well over a million, in a larger area of several million. Is it that you become homeless because of lack of discipline to learn such skills? Or is it that those who become homeless and fall back on entertaining skills they had, end up being helped out by other people who appreciate their skills? 

For instance, if I were busking at Whole Foods, let's assume I can sound pretty good on the flute here, and I put a sign out saying I need to rent a room or garage or backyard shed, I have a feeling I'd have a pretty good chance of finding such in a few days. If I were a tattoo artist or sign-painter/all-around artist or any of a number of things that are 1000s of years established, and had an community around me based on that skill, I'd not have to worry about always having a place to live.

Last night I got to sleep a lot earlier than I've been, so I slept in until 1:30 which is earlier than I've been getting up, and still felt like I'd slept in. 

 I had coffee and did some exercises then had another coffee and a little baker's chocolate and a croissant, and then it was getting to be the time I expected an Ebay buyer to come by, and so he did. He picked up the thing he'd bought and we talked a bit and it was all good. The thing is, Ebay used to be a lot less restrictive about changing addresses and while I'd be warned not to do it, I could change an address right before sending something out. Now I can't. 

As soon as the guy left I got dressed and went downtown. I dropped off gallon bags of over the counter medicines at the two of my regular little free libraries that allow non-book donations, and the last couple at the one on 7th which is more of a little free pantry. 

I rode South on Monterey Highway as far as the Weinerschnitzel where the sign reminded me they're selling temales, of all things. So I stopped and tried a Weinerschnitzel temale - it was OK, except the chili on top is very salty. 

Then I went down to Walmart and got soda and cheese and stuff. This all worked out great because I had about $50 cash on me and and after all this, I still have $21 that I won't even have to use for anything as I'm all stocked up. Due to my phone bill, instead of about $80 staying in the bank this week it will be about $50, which is about the minimum I need to be saving in the bank as it's just enough to cover my taxes. 

This should change once I'm out busking. 



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