Yesterday, I wrote about how NHL playing the drums and bells/xylophone. When I was in school, I played a musical instrument also: violin. I was never that good at it, though. To play the violin, you need to draw the bow across the string while placing your fingers in just the right spots to make the correct note. Doing this once might not be hard, but shifting strings/finger positions in rapid succession to play a song gets tricky.
My Aloha Friday question for today is: Did you ever play an instrument? If so, were you good at it?
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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
We recently discovered something about NHL. He has a talent for music. He began playing drums and bells (which I always just call xylophone) last year. This year, though, he’s really hit his stride.
A few month’s back, while at B’s grandmother’s, NHL picked up a an electronic keyboard and began playing a song. He had never actually played this instrument before so his ability to play a song astounded us. Then, I realized what he was doing. He took a song that he had learned on bells and mentally remapped the notes to the keyboard. We later asked him to duplicate this feat on B’s parents’ piano and he was able to easily.
I help him out with band practice many times a week and I’ve seen the same thing happen with many songs. He’ll play very slowly, struggling to find the right notes to hit. Suddenly, a light will go off in his head and he’ll play the entire song perfectly without looking at a single note. His teacher is impressed with his skill and we’re so proud of him.
And now, a special performance of Shoo Fly by NHL:
I love listening to music. I’ll code websites while rocking out to Aerosmith. I’ll kill an earworm by buying the song and playing it over and over.
I get my music from various sources. Sometimes, I buy new CDs. Sometimes, I buy used CDs. Sometimes, I buy digital music from Amazon.com.
Recently, given my Doctor Who obsession, I looked into getting some of the music from the show. I stumbled upon eMusic, a site I’ve heard of before but never used, and noticed that the price for the Doctor Who album was much less. Even better, I’d get a $25 credit for signing up. This would be enough for the Doctor Who album plus one or two other albums.
As I signed up, though, I realized why I don’t buy music from there. To get my credit – and to buy music at all – I needed to sign up for a monthly plan. While I’ll buy a bunch of music every now and then, I don’t buy it often enough to justify a monthly fee. So, for now, I’ll keep buying my music from Amazon’s MP3 store and from CD shops.
My Aloha Friday question for today is: Where do you buy your music from?
P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.
Disclaimer: The "Music Icon" image above is by Minduka and is available through OpenClipArt.org.
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
I’m not sure why, but songs seem to be getting stuck in my head recently. Yesterday morning, as I was leaving for work, the Today Show played a segment of Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. I only heard two lines, but that was enough. The song began playing in my head and didn’t stop for half the workday. (Merely typing this out has resulted in a Call Me replay.)
That wasn’t the worst earworm of all. That honor belongs to Lilo and Stitch. Thanks to Disney Junior, a lot of older Disney Shows are getting re-aired. One of these that my boys have taken a liking to is Lilo and Stitch The Series. Where the original movie saw Lilo meeting Experiment 626, aka Stitch, this television series had Lilo and Stitch trying to catch the rest of the 625 experiments that Jumba created.
NHL, however, has gone a bit further than merely "liking" the series. He’s memorized the theme song. While in the car one day, he began to sing it – complete with Stitch’s "alien language" lines. Yes, even those words have been imprinted on his brain to be recalled at will.
Unfortunately, the constant playing of the episodes and singing of the theme has left it imprinted on my brain too. I’ll be in the middle of work and realize that the song is playing in my head and won’t stop.
Since the best way to stop an earworm is to share it, here’s the theme song.
What’s that? You don’t stop an earworm by sharing it? Oops. Well, time for me to go. Aloha!
Disclaimer: The image above is a combination of "Music Icon" by Minduka and "Green Worm" by Carlitos. Both came from OpenClipArt.org.
By now, you’ve likely heard the Carley Rae Japsen song, Call Me Maybe.
Ok, maybe you’re more like me and didn’t know about the song until a certain cookie loving blue monster made a parody video.
Or, maybe you’ve seen the Olympic swim team singing the song.
Then again, perhaps you heard the "Call Me Lochte" parody.
Yes, it’s been done and parodied multiple times. After I first saw the Cookie Monster version, though, I got an idea. You see, I happened to be reading The Hobbit at the time. Not just that, but I was at a critical juncture in the story. Bilbo Baggins had found a certain magical ring and won a riddle game against the creature known as Gollum.
Now, my brain has mashed two completely unrelated things before with… um, "interesting" results. Specifically, Elmer Fudd combined with Cee Lo Green. So it didn’t take long for the idea to click of having Gollum singing the song "to" Bilbo. Of course, he wouldn’t be simply asking Bilbo to "call him, maybe." No, he would be singing for Bilbo to give him the ring.
Unfortunately, like before, I don’t have the skills to produce the video myself. Even if I could get hold of the instrumental version of Call Me Maybe, I don’t have a Gollum costume handy and my Gollum impersonation is horrid at best. So, I’ll just have to be satisfied with posting the lyrics. If anyone wants to turn this into an actual video, please just link up here and let me know. I’d love to see this come to life.
And so, here’s "Give It To Me" by Gollum.
I have but one wish to tell, My precious in a cave fell Your pockets’ contents compel, Me to now sound your death knell
Traded my soul for one thing, My precious small golden ring Now you ask for the way out, You have Precious no doubt
The riddle contest, You won, I could not guess What was in your pockets Where you think you’re taking Precious?
Hey, I just met you, I might be crazy, But you have Precious, So give it to me!
You cannot be seen, While you wear it, You have my Precious, So give it to me!
Hey, since I met you, I’m going crazy, I need my Precious, So give it to me!
Without it cave goblins, See and chase me, Must have my Precious, So give it to me!
You slipped the ring and then I could not bash your head in. I did not see where you went Must get in your way
I run down tunnels left right, With my heart full of spite I have a plan in my mind now To stay in your way
You said, you weren’t knowin’ The exit which way was goin’ I think lies you’re throwin’ Where you think you’re going, Baggins?
Hey, I just met you, I might be crazy, But you have Precious, So give it to me!
You cannot be seen, While you wear it, You have my Precious, So give it to me!
Hey, since I met you, I’m going crazy, I need my Precious, So give it to me!
Without it cave goblins, See and chase me, Must have my Precious, So give it to me!
I need my Precious in my life I need it so bad I want it so bad My Precious so, so bad
I need my Precious in my life I need it so bad Baggins should know that I want my Precious back
You cannot be seen, While you wear it, You have my Precious, So give it to me!
Hey, since I met you, I’m going crazy, I need my Precious, So give it to me!
Without it cave goblins, See and chase me, Must have my Precious, So give it to me!
I need my Precious in my life I need it so bad I want it so bad My Precious so, so bad
I need my Precious in my life I need it so bad Baggins should know that
I’m not sure why, but songs seem to be getting stuck in my head recently. Yesterday morning, as I was leaving for work, the Today Show played a segment of Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. I only heard two lines, but that was enough. The song began playing in my head and didn’t stop for half the workday. (Merely typing this out has resulted in a Call Me replay.)