Music

“Fly me to the Moon” comes in two time signatures, I recently learned - the one which everyone knows (arranged by Quincy Jones for Frank Sinatra) in 4/4, and Bart Howard’s less familiar original in 3/4 waltz - which why the rhythms I now find in my book of piano jazz standards didn’t match what I’d grown up with! (Meanwhile, my orange copy of Handel’s “Messiah”, now clearly well-used and with programmes and leaflets tucked inside from various performances over the years, had movements in alternative time signatures in the appendix - and the pencilled directions remind me that one conductor had decided to replace the 4/4 version of “Rejoice Greatly, Daughter of Zion” and send us flipping to the back for the 12/8 variation.) ...

A couple of recent opportunities to feel (perhaps unreasonably) pleased with myself for spotting some musical homages and quotations, but in case they might amuse… ...

Earlier in the year we acquired a ukulele. Having played violin years ago, I was impressed by innovations - a digital tuner is much better than the pitch pipes whose pitch varied depending on how hard you blew - I know I should have been able to do it all with an A and an ear…) And I only now learned that the metal bars running across the fingerboard of ukuleles, guitars, etc. don’t just guide the fingers but actually stop the string themselves, making tuning more precise - which set me wondering why I never had frets on my violin… ...