music and pictures

July 19, 2008 at 5:10 PM

Raise your hand if you have heard the sounds of a santur before. What? Only three hands? Hmm... that will never do! Actually, I don't recall having ever heard a santur until a couple nights ago but now I can't stop listening to it! I'm completed captivated and intrigued! Everyone should listen to the santur and that's that!

I've been madly composing lately, neglecting my violin to some degree but I'm starting to get back into gear. My composition stuff has been frustrating me a lot lately because I hear a bunch of things all at once going on in my head and I have been trying to write them out but for a couple of them I just can't figure out how to notate the rhythm! I have the music, but no way of notating it because I just can't figure it out! *grumble* But now, i must get my act back together and get back to learning the Ravel piano trio and a Mendelssohn trio and other somewhat daunting music! I've been trying to pick my program for a recital that I'm doing next May. So far my idea is (keeping in mind that I'll also have to learn a concerto and Bach in addition) - Dvorak Four Romantic Pieces, Prokofieff Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Bartok Romanian Folk Dances and Rhapsody No.1, Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time (last mvt), Grieg Sonata No. 2, Rachmaninov Vocalise and then an original composition by my pianist (if you're reading this.... *hint hint, nudge nudge* ;))!

Other exciting news.... still going completely bonkers with my camera! It goes everywhere with me and I'm having a blast trying all of its funky features out! I've uploaded some of the pictures to flickr that you can see at:
http://flickr.com/photos/kzachary/
It's just too much fun having a camera! I've started a little project that I'm calling "The White Album" that involves my hobby of photography. I'm shooting objects/items etc that are white. The subject or main focus or bulk of whatever I shoot has to be white. This is easier said then done unless you include flowers, but I've set a limit to how many pictures I can take of the same sorts of objects - so I can't take more than say 5 flower/plant shots as an example. I want to have as much variety as possible! It's a challenge!!!

From Ray Randall
Posted on July 19, 2008 at 9:19 PM

Very nice pictures in your album. You
have a good eye.

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on July 19, 2008 at 10:02 PM

More great pictures, Kelsey, you did it again!

You do have a lot on you plate.... are you doing the July summer camp this year too?

I heard Santur (or Santour) played by my friend Iman, a relatively new young immigrant now lives here in Victoria. He played so beautifully that just brings one to a far away fantasy land. I searched youtube and haven’t heard anyone played as beautifully as he does. Hopefully, one day he’ll be putting something on the website to let more people enjoy his talents like you have wonderfully done so.

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on July 19, 2008 at 10:11 PM

The panorama shots are amazing! Is this new trick your new camera offers? If so, that alone worth the price. I’m thinking about getting one for myself even though knowing full well I will unlikely to get the same results as you have.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on July 20, 2008 at 6:28 AM

You are lucky to have talent in more than one art form: music, writing, and photography. I especially like your sunset photos. I wish I could be there and see the sunsets myself.

From Kelsey Z.
Posted on July 20, 2008 at 5:11 PM

Thank you all for your kind comments!

Yixi - the panorama shots are something I could do with my old camera too I just could never figure out how to do them properly. They are a bit tedious to do but the results are worth it!! It involves taking a series of pictures in a specific shooting mode then "stitching" them all together later on the computer. They are HUGE files to work with though. The original size for the 360 degree shot was well over 50mb.

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