(no subject)

So if I can just get enough sleep for the next couple of nights, I'll probably kick the rest of this stupid virus.

I only went to Chen last night. This turned out to be a really good thing -- I wouldn't have made it through both classes, and Chen is higher pri right now... and while much of it was a surreal experience, I drank copious amounts of water, sweated freely, and ended up feeling good, if drained. Taiji can be really good for this sort of thing.

(Note: if your first response to this is "how do you work up a sweat doing Taiji?"... well, first off, of course, be really, really precise about your form. And second, lower your stances. This is Chen, right? Of course, I was also sweating more because I was sick.)

Bass?

So I've been thinking recently that I'd like to play around with arranging some music (some of which I've written, but I'll probably start with a few pieces I haven't) for bass and vocals. (Actually, I've been kicking the idea around a bit for the last couple of years. But it's only getting more interesting.)

Some background: Once upon a time, music was a major part of my life. (Many of you know this.) I did a lot of classical, a fair bit of early music, and a fair bit of folk and fusion folk/rock. Played in a couple of bands, nothing major, whatever. Anyhow, my old symphonic instrument was upright bass. I've also played a bit of bass guitar, from time to time (it's a fairly easy transition -- and I usually played with people where you were more or less expected to be able to at least get by on a large number of different instruments.)

Anyhow, I don't currently own a bass of either variety. (One piano, a couple of small harps, assorted drums and flutey things... I'm probably missing a few, but you get the idea.) And as entranced as I am by the idea, I don't think it makes a lot of sense to run off and buy myself new instruments until I'm sure what I want, and before I have some sense whether I really have any time to devote to this. (I mean, you'll notice that I'm thinking this is such a great plan right before the academic year starts...)

So I'm wondering... does anyone have any kind of bass that I could borrow for a bit? Kind of to do some proof of concept work?

If it's any reassurance, it's fairly likely that no one will ever hear this stuff. Part of the project is to see if I can actually coax my voice into doing something more interesting that the choir girl state it tends to revert to. Shifu gave me a couple of pointers that have born a bit of fruit... but we're talking small, early fruit here.

Someday, I want a fretless, bodiless electric upright bass. (Yeah, in some other life, I suppose. But I still *want* it.)