Musician Talk

[amaranthineamusement]

Oh, yikes D: I know I use a dampit on my violin during the winter, but I'm not sure if they're commonly used with ukuleles. Do you use a dampit with your ukuleles or have you considered using one ?

Honestly I don't even know what a dampit is I've left my main ukulele in the (slightly) more humid weather, but that's it for the measures I've taken. Can you like- buy a dampit on amazon? Would you recommend one?

[Juniper]

Honestly I don't even know what a dampit is I've left my main ukulele in the (slightly) more humid weather, but that's it for the measures I've taken. Can you like- buy a dampit on amazon? Would you recommend one?

Dampits are kind of hard to explain, they're kind of rubbery sponge ropes that you attach to the inside of your instrument that acts as a mini humidifier for it. Maybe once a week add more water to it. It's very important though to make sure you're not putting too much water in the dampit and over-humidifying your instrument and that you're consistent with when your re-dampen your dampit or else it'll end up doing more harm than good. You just gotta run it under the faucet for a few seconds then make sure you ring it out really well. I see stories on the internet of people complaining about dampits hurting their instruments from over-humidifying, but that's because they over-saturated it and weren't consistent. For me I always pick a specific day of the week to re-dampen my dampit to keep consistency. I think they come with instructions though about that stuff.

But yes I do recommend it they're super cheap too and you can totally get them off of amazon.

[amaranthineamusement]

Dampits are kind of hard to explain, they're kind of rubbery sponge ropes that you attach to the inside of your instrument that acts as a mini humidifier for it. Maybe once a week add more water to it. It's very important though to make sure you're not putting too much water in the dampit and over-humidifying your instrument and that you're consistent with when your re-dampen your dampit or else it'll end up doing more harm than good. You just gotta run it under the faucet for a few seconds then make sure you ring it out really well. I see stories on the internet of people complaining about dampits hurting their instruments from over-humidifying, but that's because they over-saturated it and weren't consistent. For me I always pick a specific day of the week to re-dampen my dampit to keep consistency. I think they come with instructions though about that stuff.

But yes I do recommend it they're super cheap too and you can totally get them off of amazon.

Nice!! Thanks for the tip, I totally will. I must protect my baby!

[ginger]

Just a small and happy music update: our vibraphone cord was discovered, meaning that we can use the motor now! The difference is so incredible. I thought it sounded lovely before, but with the motor properly working now, it sounds even better. I love that the speed is so easy to change, and what a different sound it provides. 

This is the vibraphone that my school has, except that you cannot tell in the picture how shiny the bars are (they remind me of gold bars). I am seriously enjoying learning to play it (especially with the music that I have for it) and it is so so very lovely.

[Róisín]

Excellent news ginger! Vibraphones sound amazing.

[frostykitty]

Ah! I love vibraphones! We have two at my school, a new(er) one with a cut chord and one that's pretty old but the chord is in tact. Sadly I've never gotten to play one with the motor on before, but I do know what it sounds like. *whispers "I would have gotten to play a really cool part with a vibraphone last year but the instructor gave it to the percussionist who hated keyboards the most"* but anyway... The marching season is finally over now that our schools football team lost a playoff game, and I have... I have this weird thing now called free time? I'm not sure what it is really, or how to use it. Most of the time I'll be trying to do something productive WHEN SUDDENLY one of our songs starts blaring full volume in my head. Even though we won't be playing them anymore. They'll probably just haunt me forever.

[ginger]

The marching season is finally over now that our schools football team lost a playoff game, and I have... I have this weird thing now called free time? I'm not sure what it is really, or how to use it. Most of the time I'll be trying to do something productive WHEN SUDDENLY one of our songs starts blaring full volume in my head. Even though we won't be playing them anymore. They'll probably just haunt me forever.

SAME. I was trying to do calculus in class today when suddenly our show just started playing in my head. Our football team is in the playoffs, but we're pretty much just focusing on the Veteran's Day and Christmas Parades at this point, and are done marching our show. We had a really great last show. I hit the tam tam really really hard. It was incredible.

How long have you been marching? And do you do pit percussion, or march drumline or some other exciting possibility I've not yet considered?!

[Ana Nymus]

The marching season is finally over now that our schools football team lost a playoff game, and I have... I have this weird thing now called free time? I'm not sure what it is really, or how to use it. Most of the time I'll be trying to do something productive WHEN SUDDENLY one of our songs starts blaring full volume in my head. Even though we won't be playing them anymore. They'll probably just haunt me forever.

They probably will haunt you forever. I can still hum the tunes to marching band shows I played six years ago. Not that I mind 

[Róisín]

Yeah, tunes do haunt you forever. Not just musical and marching-band stuff either. A few years back I was part of a group performing in old folks' homes (yes, some of the clients were younger than I was), and I was a little shocked at how some of their song requests sparked memories - show tunes from the thirties and forties that I had heard my aunts singing when I was a really little kid.

The really odd thing was that those particular songs didn't come out in my usual rough folksinger/reciter voice, but in the much sweeter and smoother style in which my aunts used to sing them.

[frostykitty]

SAME. I was trying to do calculus in class today when suddenly our show just started playing in my head. Our football team is in the playoffs, but we're pretty much just focusing on the Veteran's Day and Christmas Parades at this point, and are done marching our show. We had a really great last show. I hit the tam tam really really hard. It was incredible.

How long have you been marching? And do you do pit percussion, or march drumline or some other exciting possibility I've not yet considered?!

I'm in pit! All keyboard parts this year, though, because we had the honor guard play the cymbals and stuff. Our pit isn't that fancy though, 2 marimbas, 2 vibes, a set of bells, a bass (drum and a trumpet who doubles as a guitar player), and a bunch of cymbals. I've seen all these huge bands with timpanis and crotales and electric pianos. One band had two!
It's just my first year, though. I could have joined last year at the earliest, but meh.
I'm fine with that, I guess. I mean, I'll be hearing the stand music for quite a few more years anyway, so why not!

[Athena]

Yeah, tunes do haunt you forever. Not just musical and marching-band stuff either. A few years back I was part of a group performing in old folks' homes (yes, some of the clients were younger than I was), and I was a little shocked at how some of their song requests sparked memories - show tunes from the thirties and forties that I had heard my aunts singing when I was a really little kid.

The really odd thing was that those particular songs didn't come out in my usual rough folksinger/reciter voice, but in the much sweeter and smoother style in which my aunts used to sing them.

Music is very closely connected to memory, almost as much as smell is. You know how sometimes you'll smell something and be like "What is that? That smells so familiar..."? Thats because the olfactory lobe of the brain is very close to the hippocampus, that part which processes and replays memories. The part which processes sound is very close to the hippocampus as well. (sorry for just random trivia, just thought it was interesting )

All the time I'll have a song in my head, or be humming it when its a song that I last heard years ago and I don't even recognize it, I just have that music always with me. It's pretty cool, I think!

[Róisín]

Yeah, I've found that with music, and even moreso with smells. Some scents will trigger memories from when I was a tiny child. I'm a serious-hobby perfumer, and I like to play with that. It's interesting, for instance, to combine domestic scents like clove, cinnamon and basil with wilder scents such as oakmoss and sweetgrass, and watch how people react to the combination.

[Ana Nymus]

Music is very closely connected to memory, almost as much as smell is. You know how sometimes you'll smell something and be like "What is that? That smells so familiar..."? Thats because the olfactory lobe of the brain is very close to the hippocampus, that part which processes and replays memories. The part which processes sound is very close to the hippocampus as well. (sorry for just random trivia, just thought it was interesting )

All the time I'll have a song in my head, or be humming it when its a song that I last heard years ago and I don't even recognize it, I just have that music always with me. It's pretty cool, I think!

That's cool! I knew the bit about smell, but not music. Guess it explains, then, why my earliest almost-memory is the song my mom sang me as a lullaby (Sunshine on my Shoulders, for the curious). I don't have any explicit memory of it, but when it came up on the radio in my teens, it brought up feelings of warmth and comfort from when I was a baby. Even still, I listen to it when I'm feeling down for that pure, comforting feeling. It's really amazing how things like that can trigger memories, both explicit and not!

[viola]

Music is very closely connected to memory, almost as much as smell is. You know how sometimes you'll smell something and be like "What is that? That smells so familiar..."? Thats because the olfactory lobe of the brain is very close to the hippocampus, that part which processes and replays memories. The part which processes sound is very close to the hippocampus as well. (sorry for just random trivia, just thought it was interesting )

All the time I'll have a song in my head, or be humming it when its a song that I last heard years ago and I don't even recognize it, I just have that music always with me. It's pretty cool, I think!

That makes sense! I sometimes will listen to a bunch of music that I used to listen to a few years ago and all of a sudden I get feelings and memories from who I was when I was really into that music. It's like a time capsule of older versions of myself.

[Róisín]

Have just been messing about with my new (well, new to me) bodhrán (Irish hand drum). I'm very impressed. It's a Walton's of Dublin handpainted 18" with an oak frame, goatskin cover, and the sound volume and clarity is amazing. The two such drums I already have are much smaller and nowhere near as good, though I'm very fond of the one which my youngest son painted up with knotwork for me.

I could never have afforded to buy such an instrument, but I was at a plant swap a few weeks back, and one guy wanted a hops plant and a rare bromeliad I'd brought along. He didn't have any plants I wanted to swap for them, so having heard I liked music, he offered to swap a bodhrán. I agreed, expecting another little one like those I already had, always handy to have as extras for a music night; then he turned up at my place with this amazing instrument. I gave him some other plants as well, since it was worth way more than the hops and the bromeliad, so both of us were happy.