Welcome to the home of all things artsy :)

Welcome to the home of music, art (mostly paintings), fiction writing (more on that in a later post 😉 ) peppered with my own insights on present moment awareness and the odd poem finding its way into my paintings.

Yes, this is the home for all that is me, art related. As you can read at the top of this blog, I play three different instruments. And yes, I’m just starting out on my musical journey, that is, creating my own music. Symphonic Metal is a heart’s calling for me, that’s why I didn’t need dive deep into my very core to find out what kind of music I’d like to play/create.

Even though the violin might seem like it would fit the genre, I’m sure many of you didn’t expect to find the double bass mentioned right next to it. That again is a heart’s calling, and in my case it’s not just the double bass. Once I’ve got my hands on a good quality 5 string double bass, my dream is to have it transformed into a Bazantar. To have a Double Bass/Bazantar Twin so to speak. If you aren’t familiar with a Bazantar, it’s a 5 string double bass with 4 drone strings and even more sympathetic strings. Have a look here to hear and see the instrument being played as well as further information.

Speaking of twins, for me as a player it’s quite intriguing that the double bass (in standard tuning) is tuned anti-parallel, or mirror-like, when compared to the violin. This means that both instruments are tuned G D A E, whereas for the double bass the G string is the highest and E the lowest string, for the violin the G string is the lowest and the E string the highest. [If you are a musician or at least somewhat familiar with music theory: the double bass is tuned in a perfect fourth and the violin in a perfect fifth.]
(In case you aren’t familiar with how to tune a double bass and wonder what exactly ‘standard tuning’ is supposed to mean: There are two ways to tune a double bass. The first way, as outlined above, is the standard way to tune the instrument, also referred to as ‘standard tuning’. The second way is to tune the double bass a whole tone higher, which results in an A E B F# tuning, from highest to lowest string. It is most commonly referred to as ‘solo tuning’ because most solo players play in this kind of tuning.)
I myself play in standard tuning because I find it fits symphonic metal quite nicely 😀 However, it might take a while until you’ll hear/watch me play because my current double bass is being repaired. The bridge is too high which results in having to use too much strength to hold down the strings on the fingerboard and good bow articulation being more a dream than reality. I’ll let you know once I get my bass back 😀

The violin is also a heart’s calling for me. I started playing when I was a child, but then life happened and I forgot about it. Luckily I remembered this beautiful instrument this year and I got myself a wonderful violin a little over a week ago. When I first held the instrument in my hands magic happened! The instrument clicked into me (or I into the instrument) in a way as if I’d be seeing an old friend again without the feeling that any time had passed at all. That is to say my right hand, which holds down the strings on the fingerboard (yes I’m a left hander!), knows exactly where to move to get to the right notes. Bowing however is something that I still need to improve, because, honestly, I’ve been playing/bowing the double bass for almost six years now, which has influenced how I move my bow arm and such. Don’t get me wrong. There is no real difference in bowing both instruments, the posture is, which ultimately influences the way the bow arm moves. Once I feel I’m good enough to showcase my violin playing, you’ll find me playing along (as in playing my own melody lines) to songs of my choice. With both the violin and the double bass. I’ll also update you on my journey into the world of creating my own music 😀

Which actually brings me to the third instrument I play: the Kantele. It is a traditional Finnish zither, I’ve also seen it mentioned as a ‘lap harp’ somewhere. Most of you will probably wonder what exactly a kantele is, maybe some have heard about it before. Have a look here, but you can also do your own search anytime you like 😀

Personally I use it more as a meditative instrument as its sound allows me to relax and let my soul play the instrument directly without any ‘interference’. It helps me also with approaching my double bass and violin from a different angle, as I think that playing any instrument with your soul directly without any ‘interference’ from the energies in you in the form of thoughts, emotions or feelings not only improves your playing experience but also the music you put out into the world.

Or to put it simply: Play your instrument (and do everything else really) from your heart, with both feet ‘planted’ firmly in the Now.

If you have any questions or just want to say ‘hi’, feel free to drop a comment below 🙂

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Disclaimer: Linking to people, blogs and websites in this post does not mean that I share all their views and opinions. I placed those links in this post for others to see the sources of parts of my knowledge and use this knowledge to their own liking.