Hrodulf's music journal

'''Scott Joplin's rags (except for the Silver Swan) are public domain, so I can upload them here. The St. James Infirmary is a folk song, so it's also public domain. Why Do Peple Kill is my own composition. See, with a little bit of knowledge and effort, it's possible to upload good music without breaking the law. I know it's a downer not to be able to play and upload your favorite songs, but look at the good thing about it: you'll learn about a lot of great older music that you wouldn't have experienced otherwise.'''

'''A note from Hrodulf: I know these recordings stink. I'll re-record this weekend when I can make more noise than I can right now. The mix is way off on the blues number, and I need to work on my singing. But since I know the areas that need work, I can fix them, and uploading these recordings was a good learning experience.'''

'''The way I'm doing this is to record the music on a tape recorder, than record it onto the computer via Audacity, export to Ogg Vobis and then upload it here. I don't record directly onto the computer because I want to have an analog copy. I figure using an amplifier at the right level will improve the level but I have to look out for distortion. If anyone has suggestions as to how I could do a better job on this, I would appreciate it. I think by playing, singing and uploading I'll get better at this. You can also. All you need is motivation. Motivation is all an artist needs to create something wonderful.'''

'''I have the amp wired to my tape recorder now (needed to get a converter) and I will take a shot at re-recording what I've uploaded here. It will be a lot better if I try to work on my singing and recording and the level will be good now that I'm using an amp.'''

'''I used winamp's preamp and equalizer to get a better sound level out of the recordings, so that problem's solved. The bad singing and mistakes problems remain. I make mistakes because I'm sightreading the music I play (except for the St. James, which I improvised) and in ragtime there's often some very low notes in the left hand, and I have to look so I can get the right note down there, meaning I have to look away from the music, so there's a big opportunity there for me to make a mistake, either I look at the music and hit the wrong note, or I look to see where the note is on the keyboard, and I either don't look back fast enough, or I look back, but at the wrong measure. It's frustrating, and I think I will have to learn the pieces by heart to really play them. That's easier than figuring out how to play low notes without looking.'''

'''I played organ today and it was even worse. I ordered an early edition of a practice manual and I plan to work hard at it and improve my playing. It may help my piano playing also.'''

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