Music = my life :)

Hello everyone!

I'm going to talk about the most important thing in my life: the music. For me, the music means all, that is a way of life, way of thinking, way of feeling, etc.

When I was a child, I lived with my grandparents. My grandfather had a "cumbia band" (he has even this), and I listened when they practiced. My uncle played drumms in this band, and he maked a drumm for me with tins and wood boxes (I liked playing it). That was my first approximation with music... Besides, my uncle showed me songs by Silvio Rodriguez. For this reason, I like very much his music! I think he is one of my favorite popular musicians... I grew up with music around me. For example, at 18th september, my family improvises a "fonda" for us, and we play cuecas and very known songs (for example, "puerto montt", songs by Buddy Richard, Pollo Fuentes. I don't like this music, but all in my family know ther songs).

After, when I was 10 years old, I started to lernning cello in a conservatory of my city (La Ligua). I remember that the cello was bigger than me xD that was very funny when I walked with the cello in my back, because that liked a cello with legs haha. In this year, I knew Apocalyptica. It's a metal band, and the members are 4 cellist. The music is very good. They have covers of songs by Metallica, for example ...
However, I was very happy when I played this instrument. I practiced every day, 2 or 3 hours per day. I was lerning very fast; I could play in one year my first cello solo in the orchestra of the conservatory. That was an unforgettable experience for me. Since this first experience, I like play in concerts, in orchestras, in ensambles, solos, etc... After that, wehn I practiced, I liked improvise, and one day, I decided my writing my improvisation. That was my first composition. Some time later, I started to study composition with my cello's teacher (he was a composer too), because I liked writing music... For those reasons, I decided to studying composition, and I think I'm one of the happier persons of the world, because I do what makes me happy (as a clam :)).

Food!!!

Hello everyone!

I'm going to talk about food =)

When I lived with my partents, I cooked never, because I haven't any idea about that... That only waht I could cooking was fried eggs. After, when I moved to Santiago to live alone, I had gone to learn cooking. First, I started to cooking spaghettis, because it's very easy and you can mix this with waht you like (meat with sauce, tuna with cream, etc.) (normally when the students live alone, they cook easy things, because the culinary techniques aren't good ;) )  . But I didn't start to cooking spagetthis because that's easy, but also I like pastas! That's is my favorite food =)

I love spagetthis, lasagna, ravioli, etc... The more I cooked spagetthis, I noticed that the sauce is the most important thing in the pastas. For this reason I started to make in different ways the sause (with naturals tomatoes, with some herbs, etc.). also the most important is how do you flavour... waht I like most cooking is lasagna. I love lasagna. When I have been in Italy, I ate the best lasagna in the world! For this reason I love cooking lasagna. I cook rhis with cheese, tomatoes sauce with meat (I don't talk about how I do the sauce, because it's a secret), ham and olives. The only wath I don't know how cook that is the pasta ( I use the pasta, which you find in the supermark, to cooking lasagna), but I want start to do that =) And I want try to cooking a vegetarian lasagna, but I don`t konw clearly which ingredients I can use for that, have you any idea for that?

                            

About a big musician!

Hello!!!

In this post, I will talk about a great french musician (one of my favorites composers). He's name is Oliver Messiaen.

Oliver Messiaen was born in 1908, in France, and dead in 1992 at the age of 81. When he was a child, exactly 11 years old, began his musical studies in the conservatory of Paris. Between his teachers were Marcel Dupré (organ) and Charles-Marie Widor (composition). He was organist Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris and he teached harmony and compisition at the Conservatory of Paris until 1978. He had very distinguished students, some for them were Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis and Karlheinz Stockhausen (they were important composers of the 20th century). In 1940 he was capturaed at prisoner in the second world war, and then was taken to Görlitz the same year. Where he was, he wrote one of his most important pieces: "Quartet for the end of time". This work was written for musicians, they were at prisioners too.  

In "Quartet for the end of time", for example, he used the modes of limited transposition and rhythms very specials. On one hand, the modes have a particular harmony and you can transpose the mode to limited notes, for example, the first mode you can transposing only to one note; the tirth mode only to three notes. And On other hand, the rhythm  (it he often used) was abstracted of the "gamelan" (music of Bali). He had analysed this music to undertand how function that, and then can write with this new method to compose. For this reason, rhythmically his works are difficult.
And something important about Messiaen is that he transcribed the birdsongs. That's is other important thing in his work. You can se that in different Messians's works, for example, "Catalogue d'oiseaux". In this work, you can find differents birdsongs, in differents ways.
With his "tools" to compose, he could make his own musical lenguage, and with that distinguished betweet the composers in his same time. He wrote the book "the technique of my musical lenguage" in 1944, where you can find how he "run" in his music. That I find notable, because is very dificult for a artist getting a own lenguage, with which one can be most notable between the composers.
I consider this composer very imporant, because he used things, they are around me, for example the birdsongs. That is so daily, that isn't important fr me, but when you pay attention to waht is around you, you could find more interesting things, they could use for a composition, for example. And, because his music is easy how composed it is, it's easy to listen too. His music has a special color for the modes and for the instruments. He used a little bit of his tools to construct a big piece! For example, in the piece "Praise to the eternity of Jesus", he used only one rhythm in the piano over the piece, while the cello plays a beatiful melody.






 

the best picture in the world =)

     This is a very famous photo. It was taken by Charles C. Ebbets, in a New York during a construction in 1932. I don't know how he has taken the picture, because you can don't see the floor, you see that the men are seating as if they were flying, and that's very dangerous, because it could be very terrible when one for their had fallen down while Charles took the picture... for this reason I think that how he has taken this photo is a mystery....
 
    I like this picture because for me, that's the workers are above the city, is like a "symbolism". This photo is for the time of the Industrial Revolution, and I think that the workers in the construction or same works, were the most important people in this time, and it's no casual that because they are seating above the city because they are in the "height" of the city. Only this people, the city couldn't be as it is in the picture's background... Besides, I like for this picture the perspective of the city too, and when I would put myself in their shoes, I could have the best view of the city from this place!

my pets :)

When I was a child, I had two pets. One of them was a dog, Severino. When I met him, he was very old, I think 7 years old. I grew up with him, and I have a good memories for this time... I remember that when I ate ice-cream or something else, I got him to eat to, or when I gave food to him (dog food) I ate too :). Besides Severino was a quiet dog. He had never fought with cats or another animals, in fact the cats slept on him while he slept too! that's is very "curious" for a dog... And when he died, (because he was very old and sick) it was sad for me...

After, I had another pet. It was a cat, Matias. He was my brother's pet. I didn't like really cats, then for this reason I didn't play with him... I remember when he slept on my bed, I took him out it, because I'm allergic to cat hair. I hated it, because I couldn't sleep good, but Matias could sleep excellent! maybe because my bed was very comfortable... well, he left my house after 3 years to living with us. I think he left us because we weren't the all day in at home, and the animals need be in contact with others, and he was always into the house, then when we were at home, we left him to be in the yard. Maybe he had taken this oportunity to go back... My brother was very sad, because he never came back...

My favorite piece of technology

Hello again :)

Today, I will tell you about my favorite gadget (or better my favorites gadgets) because they are the electric instruments :)

                                                 


I have a keyboard (or synthetizer), and I got it when I was a child, because I wanted play piano, but a piano is more expensive as a keyboard... for this reason I got it :)... I found there instrument very interesting and funny, because the instrument have options to change the sound, then you can do more sounds,  most differents as the normal sound of a piano. For example, when you connect the keyboard with a computer, you could get another sound, and they could be very interesting for you... always when I want make strange sounds, I play keyboard to have fun :)
I like there instruments, because you can do that with all electric instruments, and I find it fantastic, because normally you can make some sounds only with the instrument's posibilities give you. For example, with a electric cello or violin, , for example, connecting a "guitar pedal board", you can make strange sounds, they aren't normally "typical" of the instruments.
Without there instruments, maybe the rock or pop couldn't have exist, because the electric instruments are very important to make this music, and maybe, the life would be boring...

Expectations for a new semester

This semester will be very hard for my, because I have taken ten subjects and I will begin to working in a school in May (specifically to teaching cello and music-theory). Even so, I have a big expectation for this term: playing oboe :) I love this instrument and I practice every day, because in this moment I have the time for that, but I'm not sure if I will have it... About the subjects, I have piano lessons and "notes reading" (it's a playing notes for choir, orchestra or ensamble in the piano). There two subjects I find very interesting, because I learn more about harmony and orchestration (although I have more to do, when I play piano I forgot all and I feel me very good, it's very comfortable for me).

I conduct a ensamble, and I have a project with it: that's is a playing compositions for students of composition for the arts faculty in a concert in October (I hope that). This project I find very important for the career, because the students have a few chances to hear or listen their music. I hope that the concert would be spectacular!

Besides I play cello in a little orchestra to relax me :) because I play cello for a 9 years I think, and I find that funny, because the people for the orchestra are likeable, and in this orchestra it's not very important if you can playing the instrument good or not very good, because we do that only to enjoy the music :)

I hope this year I could become good at playing oboe and piano and about my project with the ensamble  I hope would be it special for the composers, they could perform a work with us...