Thread: In Bath

Time to come clean, I have been away to Bath for the weekend to see the youngest daughter who is doing her BA Music there. It is a lovely small city caught in a u of the river Avon and we had a great time going round sightseeing and eating out when we were not with her. She has been there three weeks now and seems to be settling in well and thoroughly enjoying her course, I learned a lot about the gamalan, they have one there. It is a Javanese instrument made up of various parts, metal bars like a xylophone, gongs, things like that. we would probably see it as a collection of percussion instruments but they see it as a single instrument that requires four to eight people to play, and they must not practice separately, they all have to be there at once. Of course it is tuned differently from western instruments (most of that was over my head I am afraid) and the instrument does not accompany the players, the instrument is static and the players go to it. A nice touch, when they are taking their positions the players must not step over any part of the instrument but walk around it so that they do not break its connection with heaven, I liked that, inbuilt respect for the instrument.
One of the boys in her flat got very drunk and cut his head open falling, I am proud to say she was the one to give first aid and called the ambulance, she said it would have made a great anti alcohol abuse film, it is really good to know she is half sensible, not that it will stop her having a good time.

Bath is a very beautiful city. I've only been there once, but I'd like to go there again for a day-visit.

Gamelans are very odd ensembles. I think they hold religious value for the practitioners, and could actually be a form of worship for them (though I'm not entirely sure). I may have to do some more research into them, as they seem very interesting. It's strange her college/university would have a gamelan band there, but must be great fun for her if she gets to watch them perform.

You should be proud. I'm sure she got such a clear-head in moments of panic from you (I'm trying to remember if you've shown this at some point on the boards. Though I can't imagine you'd get panicked on WF).

Sounds like a very enjoyable week, Olly.

when i first saw the thread, i thought olly was typing while having a bath. And a had to swallow some vomit because of that.

Olly, I had to read it twice before the pun sank in.

You were in Bath? That city has been known to start SHOWERING at the drop of a towel.

I've heard of that instrument before. I'll have to youtube it for my kids to see. I have one out of four kids playing an instrument so far, and I really hope he keeps it up. He just began the guitar this year.
And good thing your kid was doing the fixin' rather than the falling for sure! I think as loved as she is, she will handle anything.

We did not try to talk her into an instrument, it was pretty well the opposite. She came home from school when she was about ten insisting that she wanted to learn flute and carried on insisting until she got one. A bit over a year ago she upgraded her instrument and we were horrified when the new flute cost around £1500. However it seems it was a good investment, not only in artistic terms but fiscal as well. To get it insured we had to get a valuation from "Just flutes" in Croydon where we bought it, and it appears that it has increased in value by around £700 in the last year, take your money out of the stock market and put it in musical instruments, well flutes anyway.
Buying it was fun, Just flutes is an ancient half timbered building in a row of modern shops. One presses a bell and a young man comes and lets you in, a bit like a Bond Street jewellers. When our buissiness was ascertained (We were there by appointment) we were shown to an upstairs room where one of the senior members of staff held court, sending acolytes to fetch various instruments whilst she played them and he listened, deciding which one suited her particular tone best, it was like something from a previous century. On a later occasion I took her flute in because a key was sticking slightly, the young man behind the counter asked if I minded and then expertly played a series of scales on it, then said it was something he could not fix, but rather than leaving it for the flute man who was away at the moment he would ask Mr. --- who was their oboe man to look at it as he had just come back from lunch, I left shortly after with a perfect flute. It is rather wonderful about dealing with people who actually know what they are doing, a bit like having Jamie Oliver cook for you.

Jamie Oliver knows what he is doing? I never get that impression when watching him.