Bamboo Flute And Gamelan Playing

Here is the bamboo flute, the gamelan playing in a village at the roadside.                       

Can you avoid the noise of motor-bikes, cars passing by when you’re recording? Except you could record it in the studio. So I comfort myself.

Still Pictures Moving

Imagine what the digital camera brought me. Even shooting pictures became fascinating, edit them with Movie Maker and make me a movie. What a joy it was as I learned by trial and error. How wonderful, superb is the camera, ZoomBrowser EX, the Movie Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery, the Picture Manager. I could make me still pictures out of recordings, make these still pictures gently moving, I could color, crop, resize them, make them like pencil drawings, silhouet pictures and there’s a lot more I don’t know. 

Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring 2

Diasebad, some ten amateur singers, without having singing lesson, vocal training before, start exercizing, singing in old age of over 50 years since May 1999. Many are over 70, near 80 years by now.

Yet, we’re so proud and happy, we, old agers, still have the courage to perform, sing and enjoy this beautiful, dificult piece.

Though but poorly recorded with my digital pocket camera that is not very sound sensitive, compared to a good tape recorder yet am I grateful for it and have I preserved this in You Tube for us to live for ever every time we were visited.

Ducks Swimming

What The Digital Camera Brought Me

I was a bit disappointed with my digital pocket camera Canon Powershot A490, though I was glad that I easily could take it with me on my travels. I thought that it was just for shooting pictures. But as I read the manual did I know that it could also make recordings. I was so happy when I knew this. I could record my choir, my dogs, birds twitter, crickets, cicadas singing and I thought to record butterflies, birds in flight, fireflies, water spiders, rising smoke from a joss stick, a flame, glowing embers, running, gurgling, rushing, splashing water, live fish, sailing clouds, ... 

Imagine what the digital camera brought me. Even shooting pictures became fascinating, edit them with Movie Maker and make me a movie. What a joy it was as I learned by trial and error. How wonderful, superb is the camera, ZoomBrowser EX, the Movie Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery, the Picture Manager. I could make me still pictures out of recordings, make these still pictures gently moving, I could color, crop, resize them, make them like pencil drawings, silhouet pictures and there’s a lot more I don’t know. 

As I aimed at the swimming ducks, I only captured a vague picture of them, yet I can darken it to be more visible. I cut away a lot which is superfluous, mute it and paste the parts worth it, together. The tall weeds look like beautiful trees outlined against the sky and I got a lovely marsh  besides to make me a nice video for You Tube and my videos blog. I made snapshots of the recording and again I got  a nice picture and a pencil drawing for my pictures blog. Great.

And whenever I turn out a poor picture, video, I myself  am to blame.

Woman Dalang Singing

Woman Dalang Singing

And there’s the woman dalang (puppeteer), Ny. Kenuk, conducting the gamelan (Javanese orchestra) with her knocking stick: tock, tock, ..., enchanting the wayangs or puppets to life, singing so beautiful. I couldn’t follow her narration as I haven’t mastered the Javanese language, yet it was so captivating. Imagine, it’s something as a puppet opera and this shortened version staged in the wayang museum takes 4 hours, the real show staged in the open air could hold the common folk the whole night.

 

My pocket camera couldn’t capture a sharp picture of her and the puppets, but most important is, I got her singing, the gamelan playing. Where should I start recording, where should I end?

I felt she sings as beautiful as wellknown professional opera artists singing in a concert hall or bewitching as a Lorelei. Just hear her and the gamelan. It is sad when the traditional wayang show will be forgotten, lost.

May 2012

Barmhartig en genadig is de Here

Diasebad, some ten amateur singers, without having singing lesson, vocal training before, start exercizing, singing in old age of over 50 years since May 1999. Many are over 70, near 80 years by now.

Yet, we’re so proud and happy, we, old agers, still have the courage to perform, sing and enjoy this beautiful, dificult piece.

Though but poorly recorded with my digital pocket camera that is not very sound sensitive, compared to a good tape recorder yet am I grateful for it and have I preserved this in You Tube for us to live for ever every time we were visited.

From Psalm 103 of Mobach 

Waving Plumes

On my travels into the country, I fortunately saw far away, plumes beautifully waving. A picture could never capture her graceful dance. But as I neared to record, the wind subsides. You never could command the wind to blow, you know? I had to wait before I could capture them waving again but they were not so lovely waving as before. Yet am I grateful as I took it home, make me a video, though not perfect for You Tube to be preserved for ever.

And as I mused, were it even (on) the moon, the sailing clouds,  I could have it in my computer at home also. Imagine, that's what's so wonderful. There are no barriers of place, space and time. I can view, visit it whenever I want, wherever I am. Were it not recorded they would be lost for ever.

What, were it great events of concerts, shows, olympics, the landing on the moon, ... when they are past, what of the water spider, the firefly, the crickets, the gelatik, the manyar, the owl, the eagle, the squirrel, the tiny snails, the weeds, water weeds, the springs, the forests, the lakes, the hills, ... when they’re extinct, I see no more in Indonesia? What a tremendous loss, at least to still have a recording to preserve, see them in You Tube, the internet when they’re gone.

And I thought of a painting, a picture, a photo, music, a flower, a tree, ... nature which has no barriers to language that’s what’s so wonderful too as they speak a universal language, without, speaking, learning any language.