Musical Friday Listen To The Rain

Dear friends,

Enya was born on May 17, 1961, in Ireland, Enya performed with her familys band Clannad. Her first solo success came from producing ethereal music for the BBC TV show The Celts. Her 1988 debut solo album, Watermark, sold more than 8 million copies and was followed by the even more successful Shepherd Moons (1991). Other albums include Memory of Trees (1995) and Amarantine (2005).

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Irish singer Enya was born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin on May 17, 1961, in Gweedore, Donegal, Ireland. Born into a family of musicians, Enya played keyboard alongside her siblings in the Irish band Clannad before pursuing a solo career. Her first success as a soloist was producing television scores for the BBC.

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Enyas debut album, Watermark (1988), blended Celtic folk songs, synthesized backdrops and her other worldly vocals to create a distinctive sound some describe as New Age. The album sold more than 8 million copies and was followed by Shepherd Moons (1991), which enjoyed even greater success.
Other albums include Memory of Trees (1995), Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya (1997), Day Without Rain (2000) and Amarantine (2005). In 2002, Enya contributed the hit score "May It Be" for the first Lord of the Rings film.

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I always loved/admired Enya with her wonderful soothing voice. I could listen to her for hours without end. Is it by chance that she came into my life before Lord of the Rings film? I think now! You may not know of her and she may not be popular in the terms of nowadays - she does not screetch and say she is singing, she uses just her own beautiful voice, she does not undress or "accidentally" show body parts in order to intrigue people or get them to buy her album, she is content with how she is and how she represents her lovely green country like a true Irish lass. 

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Each time the rain is falling I am thinking of this song... and it makes me think of calm and warm moments, when you are inside the house - maybe with a cup of tea in your hands - and you are just watching the rain through the window... Rain in a constant in our lifes, even if we do not see it. We most of the times run away from it and hide ourselfs but sometimes we should just embrace the feeling of the rain on our skin, arms out wide... Rain can be both a blessing and a burden. When you are happy you can dance in the rain and when you are sad you can just hide away in it and cry - no soul will notice...

Listen To The Rain - Enya

Every time
The rain comes down,
Close my eyes and listen.
I can hear the lonesome sound
Of the sky as it cries.

Listen to the rain
Here it comes again
Hear it in the rain

Feel the touch
Of tears that fall
...They wont fall forever
In the way the day will flow
All things come,
All things go.

Listen to the rain
...The rain...
Here it comes again...
...Again...
Hear it in the rain
...The rain...

Late at night
I drift away -
I can hear you calling,
And my name
Is in the rain,
Leaves on trees whispering,
Deep blue seas mysteries.

Even when
This moment ends,
Cant let go this feeling.
Everything
Will come again
In the sound,
Falling down,
Of the sky as it cries.
Hear my name in the rain.

Yours truly,
The LadyBug who is a huge Enya Fan :)

A Little Thing To Make You Smile

You have just woken up, its the middle of December and you feel a chill through the air. You look towards your window and see a bright white glowing through your blinds. You step outside and see mounds of perfect, white, pristine snow on the ground. You look up to the sky to see, "fine snow in the air (163)"

There is nothing like the first snow or the fact that there is snow on the ground. How could that not make you smile?

How does the first snow make you feel?

 

Piano Techniques Fingering Listen to LET IT GO from FROZEN on the Piano!!!!

For the next topic in the book Improve Your Piano Playing, Dr. John Meffen moves on to talk about piano techniques. The first technique he discusses is fingering.

Fingering is the act of articulating your fingers to play notes on the piano. There is rarely one correct fingering because it really depends on you and what makes you comfortable (Meffen 42). It also depends on your hand size, finger span, and ability to reach. Appropriate fingering is important because it "allow[s] smooth and accurate movement[s] to be accomplished" (Meffen 45). This way, you can play beautifully and sound amazing without having to worry about your fingers tangling up. It is meant to be simple and helpful, so the transition to your next move is effortless and flawless (Meffen 46).

To practice good fingering, Meffen shares a strategy from Chopin, a famous pianist and composer. Chopin said "Standard fingerings for scales and arpeggios form a strong, safe, and memorable basis. (Meffen 47). Meffen agrees with Chopins teachings and adds on that fingering used from a scale or arpeggio can be helpful when playing any composition. (Meffen 43). Here are videos of me practicing some scales and arpeggios to help improve my fingering.

                                Arpeggios                                                               Scales

Now that I have practiced, I can apply what I learned to a song. Notice how the precise fingering helps my left hand move up and down the piano.

Let It Go - Frozen

QOTD: What do you think sounds better, scales or arpeggios?

Citation: Meffen, John, Dr. Improve Your Piano Playing. New York: Allworth Press, 2007. Print.

A Postcard I Forgot To Share With You

Dear friends,

I wanted to show you this a long while ago but I got into the Blogtember team and... well... things fell out of place quickly and I always wanted to be up-to-date with the challenge so I left some things aside, so I am sharing them with you in the weekends or I will share them next month :) It will be like a  "Remembering" month :p

In August one of my friends that I made when I went in 2007 with Work & Travel in the USA went for a holiday in Prague. I wish one day I will visit that city too... I know it is really close and just a couple of hours away but I have not managed to see it yet... so I asked lovely Monica to send me a postcard for my fiancees collection and a kiss for me. I never actually thought she would send the kiss... but... she did! :p

As you can see above it was quite a nice one :) And this is one of the postcards I am really really really proud of :) It has an awesome view of Prague and a really adorable stamp and - most precious of all!!! - it has my dearest Monis kiss :) For me! From Prague! :) If I cannot manage to see her in person at least I can get a virtual kiss ;)))

Thank you again dearest sweetheart! :* Loads of hugs and kisses from me too :* Right back at ya! :*

Yours truly,
The Crazy Romanian Girl Living In Poland :)

I Long To Crush You In My Arms

Dear friends,

Today I would like to make you smile and think that we are not the only ones hurt or the only ones who are scared when we are in love. When love is too big - is there such a notion?! - and too wild - I assume I can say in a "carnal" way... - it is heard to refrain oneself. And when we think of the times when distance was a problem and you would have only letters and letters would take a long while to get to you, you ask yourself how those people could stand the long pauses between sending a reply and receiving the letter... Madness! I think they had more patience than we do... And their letters were longer and much more from the heart...

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 "You might think Napoleon was a playboy, sleeping with the world’s most beautiful women. But his heart, head, and masculinity belonged to one woman: Josephine. The letters Napoleon wrote to her resemble the desperate, angry, and pathetic e-mails, texts, and voicemails you might see today. Here are ten excerpts.

1. In a letter to Josephine a few months after they married, Napoleon wrote, “I don’t love you, not at all; on the contrary I detest you – You’re a naughty, gawky, foolish slut.” And that was just the first sentence.
2. He ends the same letter by saying, “I hope before long to crush you in my arms and cover you with a million kisses burning as though beneath the equator."
3. In April 1796, Napoleon begs Josephine to join him in Milan when he wrote, “I shall be alone and far, far away. But you are coming, aren’t you? You are going to be here beside me, in my arms, on my breast, on my mouth? Take wing and come, come… A kiss on your heart, and one much lower down, much lower!” Its 18th-century sexting.
4. Napoleon continues to shower her with compliments in a July letter: “Your tears rob me of reason, and inflame my blood. Believe me it is not in my power to have a single thought which is not of thee, or a wish I could not reveal to thee.” A little clingy.
5. “I write you, me beloved one, very often, and you write very little. You are wicked and naughty, very naughty, as much as you are fickle. It is unfaithful so to deceive a poor husband, a tender lover!” Now the jealous husband is in full force, and playing the sympathy card.
6. Napoleon goes on to let her know that he is nothing without her. “Without his Josephine, without the assurance of her love, what is left him upon earth? What can he do?” We should note that he was the Emperor of almost all of Europe.
7. After not receiving word from Josephine, Napoleon goes nuts. “You don’t write to me at all; you don’t love your husband; you know how happy your letters make him, and you don’t write him six lines of nonsense…”
8. Back to the dirty talk! “How happy I would be if I could assist you at your undressing, the little firm white breast, the adorable face, the hair tied up in a scarf a la creole.”
9. Just like a jealous husband or boyfriend, Napoleon threatens Josephine that he will “surprise” her one day, “Adieu, adorable Josephine; one of these nights your door will open with a great noise; as a jealous person, and you will find me on your arms.”
10. Napoleon wrote to his brother of his failing love for Josephine. "The veil is torn…It is sad when one and the same heart is torn by such conflicting feelings for one person… I need to be alone. I am tired of grandeur; all my feelings have dried up. I no longer care about my glory. At twenty-nine I have exhausted everything."
What makes this one so embarrassing? The British intercepted it and published it in all their newspapers, humiliating Napoleon. Like a teacher reading your note out loud to the class for shock value."

via

I must admit that I heard that it is hard for a man - not to mention very unmanly! -to express his true feelings, especially the romantic ones, if he ever posseses such! But I believe that is utter bollocks. Some man choose to close out from people and some man are brave enough to say out loud what they feel. We can clearly see here that Napoleon had a soft side for Josephine and it is interesting to know that even after they divorced - as Josephine was not able to bare children - he continued to write to her. Was that true love or was it just pure attraction?... Who knows?!

Yours truly,

The LadyBug :)