Hallowinxer's penpals :D <3

[beblic.]

I'm fine, I went to the tests because I was sick almost the whole fall (I got a flu which renewed, renewed and renewed... ) and during the whole fall I tried to get to the blood tests but the doctor just said it isn't necessary. And after a couple of months when I've finally healed they wanted to take the tests just in case. Well, better late than never, I think

thank God you're all well!💟
last year I literally got sick every other month. for example, I got sick in february. In march I was okay. I got sick in april. In may I was fine. I got sick in june and etc....
+ I stopped eating, which is why I was diagnosed with stage 1 anemia
Any way, now everything is fine, thank God, I have recovered I don’t recommend anyone to get sick!
so, it's never too late to get tested. the main thing is to do it

I also got afraid of the avatar reset because I have bought so many clothes and accessories! I'm so relieved everything's fine now! #firstworldproblems but I really got scared

how many items do you have in your wardrobe in your web avatar?👀 I have 48

Oh I think you write really well! But I understand the feeling of being insecure about speaking in English. In Finland we were so focused on the grammar and not speaking that I was almost terrified of actually speaking English. I was super slow and nervous 5 years ago but then I met a friend who was patient, gave me enough time to google some words and think, and even googled some words herself too so it wasn't so scary to talk and then I started learning. And now in the uni most of the courses are in English and I've learned much more (I'm not still completely fluent tho).

thanks I try very hard google translate helps me
in general it's useful to correspond in english, watch english-language content on YouTube and especially to communicate, if possible
It's great that there was someone who could help you speak english! 🙏💟🌸
I go to church and sometimes we have guests from other countries. I felt awkward communicating in english, but the person understood me, but I didn't really understand him because of his accent

Do you study any other languages in Russia? And what's the school system like anyway?

we have a strange system in my opinion speaking for myself, I have been studying english since kindergarten, but like you, we're forced to study grammar, vocabulary, but not practice in order to speak the language, to use it
(as a result, because of school, I have a trauma in learning languages. I am generally not inclined to study because of possible ADHD, and school teachers and the school system made the situation a little worse)
we usually learn english and, sometimes, german. (but not me, because I was in a class where it was not necessary to study a second language) lately I have heard that some people choose spanish and french for study, mainly from the language profile for study. that is, if you study in the physics and mathematics department, then there is no such luxury as choosing an additional language (at least I have not heard of such a thing)
I have many friends who know an additional language in addition to english the rarest, in my opinion, languages ​​are japanese, chinese, in general, oriental languages. but, by the way, finnish, swedish, nederlandish are also not a common occurrence. for example, I only know a couple of colleagues who have learned Finnish x)
also I have a friend, a student who practices english, she decided to become a translator. if i remember correctly, she chose french as her second language. in general, as she says, learning is fun and interesting I can ask her for details

do you have divisions by profiles in school? for example, we have a division between humanities and techies

[Salomea]

Sorry for such a long pause, last days the weather kept changing and so I was not doing great with my head. Also sorry in advance for a lot of philosophing...

Oh, maybe they made your teeth's position to change a bit and it affected on your technique  I feel like even a slighliest change on something can affect on technique... But I'm glad you can still play after all of this! 

I know some instruments are so sensitive to temperature or moisture changes but what happened to your flute is strange since so many wind orchestras play in outside concerts  But I didn't know there's nickel used in some flutes so it explains it. I hope the flute teachers warn their students about this!

Oh they absolutely changed their position!

I think it is, I really don't know of a similar case, so it could also be, that there already was some malformation in it before. But I also don't know that many cases of silver layer flaking, though it's definitely less unusual.

Nickle is used in quite a lot of modern object, cause there is an assumption that in copper alloys it doesn't leach, so shouldn't cause allergies (and in short term contact it shouldn't), less sure in music practice...

Oh no, I feel SO bad for these students!! This is just unbelievable, how ignorant some teachers can be...    I hate it when someone expects us to behave based on some "social norms and rules". If the student overcame her fear and managed to have the presentation, it's already a huge improvement and it's so sad that the teacher focused so much and so negatively on such a little details which doesn't even matter. Like, if I'm sitting in the audience, I don't care about eye contacts or something like that, what I care about is if I'm able to follow what they're talking about.

And the pharmacy headmistress, how can an ADULT behave like that??? If someone comes a bit late for A REASON, it's not the end of the world. We're all humans, anything can happen and we're not having great days every day. Well at least I have many examples of what kind of teacher I DON'T want to be...

Yeah, I agree. If You can understand the point someone is making, that's all, that should matter.

As for that ex-nurse, she was a real something, and everything she said was a true gem. Like "if You're experience mobbing at work, You should just shake it of and stop making a fuss", or things from public health You are resposible Yourself are" access to healthcare, pollution, stress, and basically several chronic diseases" among others... Would You believe I'd decided to drop out after 3 months...

Well, yes, I'm sure there is some lesson in it, but I also doubt You would ever act as the "exhibit B" ever.

I'm following many social media accounts about neurodiversity and mental health issues to learn more. Also, on an art field, many of us are somehow neurodivergent and have some mental health issues so I learn much by just talking with other people at the unis. And many of my friends are also teachers so it's really enlightening to talk with them because many of them have been teacher maaaany years more than I have. 

I think just by that You're doing more than most teachers! And I'm glad You have good support/role models!

That's awesome! Now I need to brag a little because I met Elam Rotem in Finland last year when he was performing in a concert with the Finnish Baroque orchestra. I still can't believe that he actually was in my country! I told him that I like his videos and thanked him for the concert but I was so nervous  He is great, he played harpsichord and sang simultaneously in the concert!

That's a solid brag indeed! I don't think I've ever seen harpsichord in person even...

That's true! And yes, studying music is a never ending journey!  It's so fascinating that there's an endless amount of great music in the world

Then You have your path carved for Yourself then

I'm afraid it's often also because of money. For example Mozart's operas are always sold-out so playing "classics" brings more money. But on the other hand, if institutions get more money of playing classics, they can afford some concerts with not so well-known program, I suppose. But I was really positively surprised how much people there were in the audience at all of the contemporary festival concerts I was attending! So it also depends so much on the city. In the smaller cities it's often more secure to perform something "secure" but in the bigger cities there're much more culture enthusiastics who are curious about everything new to them. I really wish people to become more open-minded also in the smaller cities!

And it's so interesting to go to concerts in different places! Haha actually I haven't been thinking about what you told so much! Maybe because there're just so many things to focus on when I'm on a concert... But on the contemporary festival I was more aware of the space and how the music sounds like in the specific places. With more traditional concerts I haven't paid attention on that as much. The contemporary festival really opened my ears in a new way!

It's a sad thing, if it's money, but surely sound true.
But at the same time, I've seen small places, towns and even larger villages holding some interesting events, usually of historical music, but still... Also philharmony my hometown had, at least once, a concert with music of contemporary composers. (My mom was in attendance and was absolutely mentally lost as to what she was hearning ).

I suppose I was thinking about it a lot ever since I've been made aware of it, cause I'm trying to imagine how things could sound in the past. Like there is the theory, that early christian masses (after legalization) were designed in a way, that made them the loudest in neighbourhood, due to temple accustics and lack of modern city noise. Or, how You probably know, the actors in ancient theatres spoke with normal, or slightly louder, voice and were well heard all the way to the back -again due to the accustics of the place.
It makes imagining the past more complex, but also more live-in. ^^

Haha the main reason for me to admire them is also that I love how their music sounds like! I haven't focused them so much yet in a detailed way but overall their skills on composing interesting melodies (especially fugue themes which I find really catchy  ) and using harmonies is fascinating to me. Their music can sound majestetic or like something would tear my heart off. The affects of their music feels so strong and real. I love Bach's fugues, especially Die Kunst der Fuge because they're so intelligently written, the counterpoint is great: he's variating endlessly the same theme and it's interesting every time you hear it! I think the use of rhetorics, chromatism, suspensions, off-beat-like rhythms and dissonant chords are the main reasons why Bach sounds like Bach, and there's fastly changing harmony behind every melody line, so I need to study on his using of harmony more to be able to answer more specificly 

Thank You I'm happy to know that also for someone who undestands the composition on much deeper level, like You, music is about the feeling first and the "architecture" second. Also, I was curious, if there was still some of the intellectual aspect to your choices, since, from what I understand, for those composers music was the intellectual pursuit.
After all, back in medieval times, it was studied together with maths and astronomy, as a way of understanding universe and God. While I'm not sure about the reasoning behind it, I think it was and would be cool, to have composition and music as a basic subject everywhere, in the same way, that everyone at my uni, despite of field of study would have a semester of philosophy (I think I would prefer music to philosophy, and I have terrible stage fright!).

Also honestly, I find it really admireable to do what You do. It feels like true pursuit of wisdom, since it's science, but also art, but also history, but also feeling, but also personal developement. (And I think the last one is the true spirit of studing, specially higher education. Which, together with a sense of appreciating and even being bit humbled by the achivements of our predecessosr, is lacking. And I don't mean to say that we ought to put those people on pedestals, or feel small ourselves, just less full of ourselves and self-assured in our achivements/thinking/technology, since we can see, that those people were also wrong, or lacking, so likely we are too...)

Btw I recommend Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame! It sounds kinda deserted in an interesting way if you're used to hearing full chords/triads. It really sounds like you'd be in an old medieval church made of stone.

I've heard the midi, but I feel I should find an actual performance of it!

Oh I didn't realize that! I must download super many articles for the future before it's too late  (Well there's still almost 4 years of my studies left but I bet I remember this again the day before I'm going to graduate...  )

You have plenty of time them. Still, if You find topic at hand interesting, download the files, so You can read it later (or not), cause it's also a media preservation - I have files, that are basically lost media now, so I really mean it.

That's true! Last year one of my teachers asked us, which we've found the most effectful way for us to learn. He was a bit amused about my answer when I said "For me the best way to learn is that I write something very risky and then I tell me what's wrong and what I need to re-write!"    But I was honest because every time my teachers make some corrections I remember the things we talked about better in the future.

For me that makes perfect sense and I suppose, that might be a reason why dialogs were such a popular didactic form back in the day.

Yeah they didn't need to master as many styles than we're studying nowadays so they'd been able to focus more on... well... the renaissance style  Also musicians were taught to IMPROVISE canons and everything was stricter. Nowadays it feels like we're focusing on completely different things and many musicians can... well... play well, but are not as fluent in improvisation, composing and variating than back then. It's kinda ironic that we're taught to play many historical styles "correctly" but we've just forgotten that improvising was an important part of them. Many musicians play cadenzas written by someone else because they can't "compose" them themselves (and I'm not blaming them or saying that I could, these kind of skills just have disappeared in our education which is sad).

Well then, I think that You might then have a roadmap to your post-grad studies If You feel like it and if You'll have your personal field of interest (on your own or in academia, but just a a way of persinal mastery). ^^

And I get why it saddens You. Seeing dying art is terrible. Especially in era with so much record keeping and record access, it feels like that stuffed shark of Damien Hirst (google it ) and yet it happens...

Haha I'm not that good with technology  It could be a good option and one day I'd like to learn using them too but at the moment I'm just torturing my teachers with Musescore sounds 

Again, this is not something I thought about! Obviously, it's something You need to get some instructions and experimentations with! Sorry!
I'm pretty sure your teachers are used to these sounds at that point!

Wow what a bad luck, do you know if they had any plans on re-publish it since there're no other books?  Or have you tried to download it illegally which otherwise seems to be the only option? 

Haha it's kinda cute to see someone so enthusiastic but it's really impractical to the students  Some really higly educated teachers seems to forget what it's like to hear or see something new for a first time...

I'm kinda hoping I'll find a copy (new or used) one day, but yeah, if I knew a safe webside, I should probably "get it from a friend". But in all fairness, as the future case of my death (the sack of unread books) just keeps growing, it wasn't my priority yet. ... Which reminds me, that I probably should put aside money for next volume of Pliny the Elder translation, before they're sold out. But also if I actually buy them all, I'll need to have home library for just The Natural History... Oh the existential pain!

Lol that could also be the case 

You'll live and see

Ohh so you kinda learn it because of a syntax and the story? By the way talking about the different sides of the temple made me think the methods they used to learning long speeches by heart in ancient Greece I suppose! When they imagined different rooms in their heads and how they'll speak about specific topics in specific rooms.

I wish, but no. It was just on the north side is gigantomachia and it consists of 12 panels (I'm making it up). I wish it was the way You've said it, or a way that could help You recognise common elements in greek art, but really didn't feel like that. We hand something similar with ancient Rome, where we had to describe the way to each ancient building, with "starting on the forum romanum, I go..." but here yeah, it taught You the topography of the space. But it was still stressful to recall on the exam.

Yes I really need to ask! I'll ask right after my short vacation 

Have you seen this video of a bone flute? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZlB9KWpbJ0&t=1s This is the earliest I know atm. But a couple of years ago I also saw I video of really ancient flute which sounded like people screaming simultaneously. But it's just so mesmerazing that people made music already so long time ago!! 

Hope You're having or had nice vacation ^^

Thanks for the vid. It's one of earliest know, that is attributed to homo sapience sapience. The one from Slovakia is likely older and made by Homo sapience neanderthalensis- and that's why it's often disputed, cause a group of archeologiests don't believe Neanderthals were developed enough to make instruments and music. (Which personally, makes no sense, in light of plenty of other discoveries.) It is also only partial and so the use as an instrument is contested, which more fair, but still.

I think it is likely that they could sound like that, but also it's possible they were also mimicing animal sounds, before they evolved into straight up musical instruments.

I suppose the moments we started to talk, we started to sing, or perhaps we even sang before we talked.

Ahhh I'm always writing a novel to you because more and more ideas just pop up my mind while writing  and that's why it takes a forever for me to respond  

I know it takes long time to write back, but I love reading your thoughs, so write as much as You want, when/if You have time. ^^