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Live acoustic music soothes patients with critical illness as they go to see the doctor
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coolpinkone
California, the place of my heart
August 15, 2018 - 1:33 pm
Member Since: January 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 4180
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The $100 in his pocket was supposed to be a gift from his grandma to buy Christmas presents for his family and friends.

But Michael Morton just couldn't get the flute out of his head.

The Nashville teen had wanted to play the instrument since he was small. But the chorus always came in reply: "Little boys don't play the flute."

It was time he did.

Michael Morton has made it his mission to play music in places that don't have a lot of money but are serving people who need a bit of happiness. Lacy Atkins, The Tennessean

So the 14-year-old took his grandma's money, detoured to a pawn shop on Broadway, and spent $68 on the instrument, slender and sleek, he had always wanted.

"I felt like I had gold in my hands," the now 55-year-old Morton says.

He would spend the next four decades sharing that gift with others, playing for those living in homeless shelters and bringing peace to sick patients on their way to see the doctor.

But first, Morton taught himself to play. At home, he harmonized with Earth Wind and Fire and Stevie Wonder records.

(click on the link above to see originial blog post)

Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato

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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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August 15, 2018 - 2:42 pm
Member Since: July 8, 2018
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Great story, thanks for sharing, Toni. 

A friend's quite ancient and often grumpy dad is having his first music therapy session today! Hope it's the charm.

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coolpinkone
California, the place of my heart
August 15, 2018 - 3:00 pm
Member Since: January 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 4180
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@bocaholly

I hope it goes well for your friends dad.

I just loved the way the article started....100 to buy Christmas gifts .....and how he felt when he held the flute...Like it was gold....

It really warmed my heart.

"Music, music
Music makes the people come together
Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel"  - Madonna

Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
August 24, 2018 - 2:52 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16429

True True!!!

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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lbrookins

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May 6, 2020 - 5:13 pm
Member Since: March 29, 2020
Forum Posts: 7
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do you think a violin, even played softly, would be too shrill of an instrument to provide background music? When I play in front of family and friends, the cringe. They don't mind me in another room...They can still hear without it being an ear piercing shrill. Thoughts?

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BillyG
Brora, North-east Scotland
May 7, 2020 - 12:51 pm
Member Since: March 22, 2014
Forum Posts: 3744
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LOL - interesting revival of an old thread @lbrookins - and - I should add, a Big Welcome to the forum - enjoy your time here !

Referring to your "do you think a violin, even played softly, would be too shrill of an instrument to provide background music" question - that's interesting.

I've been playing just over 5 years and personally, I find the "top-end" (and I'm not referring to high shifted positions, just the E string up to the C6 - which is ONLY just over 1Khz !!!) "irritates me".  I find it intrusive.  

See what you've done?   I have to argue / discuss this now with myself.....  Here we go - hang on !

(1) Perhaps it is because of my age and the normal frequency-response drop-off that occurs as we get older.  Human typical hearing range - 18Hz to 20KHz - nah not any more, my frequency cut-off is around 13kHz, but even so, I find the E5 upwards just plain irritating.  A bowed string creates an approximation to a triangular waveform, and a good instrument will contain harmonics, possibly up to the 15th or even 20th - BUT - even the 20th harmonic of 660Hz is still only 13Khz or so (and even so, it will be a VERY small contributor to the final tone).  SO, that's not likely to be the reason I find these frequencies irritating.   Oh well, good try, but no cigar.  Next thought....

(2) When I play, I am largely soloing, although on occasion, yes, I get the opportunity to play either with a backing track, or with others.  Now, THAT is *instantly* different to my ear.  Several things are going on in this situation.  These are - 

(2a) The other player / players are playing different parts - there are playing in harmony - chords, or at least partial-chords even with 2 players, are occurring.  I find this a much more satisfying sound-scape.

(2b) The other player / players are playing exactly the same line as I am.  Well, that is RARELY if ever true - the intent may be so, but, no, they/we as players are NOT playing with *precisely* the same intonation, neither are we playing with *precisely* the same timing, and finally, even IF (not possible, but IF) we were all perfectly intoned and perfectly timed to each other, there would, at an individual waveform level, inevitably be a *phase* difference between us.  Interesting.... So, again, I find this a much more pleasant and comfortable listening experience.

Well, that was interesting (to me anyway!)  And equally, although I play fiddle tunes and folk music, I listen to a lot of classical music,and violin concertos, well, they are awesome - I love the more complex sound of the multiple instruments. 

As it happens, for soloing, I already have the answer - and that is to use a viola-tuned fiddle, low C, then the normal G, D, A and I'll play the tunes either dropped by a 5th, or even a full octave down.  That works for me, sounds real pleasing to my ear- and - well - depends on the piece - but - I would rarely even play on the top string ( the A ).  That's fine of course, but it's a bit of an issue to play with others playing in the tune's normal key LOLOLOLOL

Sadly, in reference to the auditory frequency range of humans, yes, I just thought I'd go investigate a bit further- and I found this rather astonishing research - 

Attribution : By Cmglee - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/.....d=35890958

And, if you don't want the wiki detail, here's the graph - 

Animal-HFR.JPGImage Enlarger 

I just found it awesome that someone researched this !!!!  Cool !

sp_PlupAttachments Attachments

I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - guntohead.JPG

Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)

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