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Jul. 14th, 2005 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonI'm listening to a rather awful disco-ized Arabic routine on Radio Bastet (program 63) by the Abdul Hassan Orchestra, and lo and behold, I found a Banco de Gaia sample. Or if not a sample, beyond a doubt the direct inspiration. It even has the same cheesy keyboard sound. Now if I could only remember which Banco de Gaia song it is... it's not from the last couple of albums, that I'm sure of.
I have my first workshop class tonight with Seyyide on constructing Arabic routines, a three week series that she'd doing instead of her regular classes. I like that my teachers are using the summer to try out different formats and topics that aren't addressed as much during the rest of the year. The workshop should be good and very valuable, though I'm going to have to play zills. Greater Boston, cover your ears... Someday I will be comfortable with zills, but that day is not now. I'm thinking that a domed pair of zills rather than the mostly flat ones I have might help, since there'd be less distance to cover to make them hit against each other and so I might be less inclined to whack them together as I have been doing. I can play various rhythms, I can play them in time, I can play them for a long time--but the tone of my sound is painful to the ears, which defeats the purpose of playing them at all. I have decent quality zills so I can't entirely blame the instrument. I should probably just get a zill technique dvd and drill, drill, drill until I drive the neighbors crazy. I'm thinking about a particular November performance and zills would be good there, if I can get passable with them by then.
The class ends at 10pm and it's over by South Station, which means I'm guaranteed no more than 6.5 hours of sleep tonight and that's if I skip dinner and go straight to bed when I get home. It's strange to think sometimes how much more sleep I would get if I didn't do all this dancing, and how much more free time for my own stuff and for socializing I would have. It's entirely worth the sacrifice, but I need to keep tabs on my health, physical and mental. Physical stuff is easy to notice, but the mental stress can build up imperceptibly over time, compounded by the lack of sleep. I wish my vacation had been more relaxing, but I persistently felt over-scheduled and pressured by the clock. I think I need a retreat.
I have my first workshop class tonight with Seyyide on constructing Arabic routines, a three week series that she'd doing instead of her regular classes. I like that my teachers are using the summer to try out different formats and topics that aren't addressed as much during the rest of the year. The workshop should be good and very valuable, though I'm going to have to play zills. Greater Boston, cover your ears... Someday I will be comfortable with zills, but that day is not now. I'm thinking that a domed pair of zills rather than the mostly flat ones I have might help, since there'd be less distance to cover to make them hit against each other and so I might be less inclined to whack them together as I have been doing. I can play various rhythms, I can play them in time, I can play them for a long time--but the tone of my sound is painful to the ears, which defeats the purpose of playing them at all. I have decent quality zills so I can't entirely blame the instrument. I should probably just get a zill technique dvd and drill, drill, drill until I drive the neighbors crazy. I'm thinking about a particular November performance and zills would be good there, if I can get passable with them by then.
The class ends at 10pm and it's over by South Station, which means I'm guaranteed no more than 6.5 hours of sleep tonight and that's if I skip dinner and go straight to bed when I get home. It's strange to think sometimes how much more sleep I would get if I didn't do all this dancing, and how much more free time for my own stuff and for socializing I would have. It's entirely worth the sacrifice, but I need to keep tabs on my health, physical and mental. Physical stuff is easy to notice, but the mental stress can build up imperceptibly over time, compounded by the lack of sleep. I wish my vacation had been more relaxing, but I persistently felt over-scheduled and pressured by the clock. I think I need a retreat.
