I was hoping to back Bulgaria.

Bangin’ choon! Yeah!

But they didn’t make it through the second semi-final whereas the tedious pap from “Have I got my widescreen settings wrong?” Portugal did get through.

There is no justice in Eurovision.

Bed: C… D… E… F-half-flat
Me: Drat
Bed: E D C D E D C E C E G-partly-sharp
Me: Drat
H: Stu, you are playing the bed.
Me: Er… is that so very wrong?
H: I just wanted you to be aware of what you’re doing.
Me: But it works
Bed: E D C… E D C… E E D D C E C E C E C…

Must add some Xylophone beaters to my shopping list for this week. Big toes aren’t that good for playing musical instruments.

What is horribly wrong with this track list?

Now 1986 - Disc 1

1. A Kind of Magic - Queen
2. Walk of Life - Dire Straits
3. Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
4. Manic Monday - The Bangles
5. Thorn In My Side - Eurythmics
6. Invisible Touch - Genesis
7. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
8. Don’t Get Me Wrong - The Pretenders
9. Happy Hour - The Housemartins
10. Panic - The Smiths
11. Rise - Public Image Ltd.
12. Absolute Beginners - David Bowie
13. Addicted to Love - Rober Palmer
14. The Final Countdown - Europe
15. My Favourite Waste of Time - Owen Paul
16. (I Just) Died In Your Arms - Cutting Crew
17. In The Army Now - Status Quo
18. Stuck With You - Huey Lewis & The News
19. Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
20. The Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh

Did you get it? The answer is as follows…

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That’s the sound of a penny dropping.

I always wondered why F# and Gb aren’t the same note. I understand that on certain instruments, they are produced in a different way and actually sound different, but on something even-tempered like a piano or organ, what’s the difference?

It was pointed out to me in a very simple way today.

Consider a C-major scale containing F#:

C D E F# G A B C

Now consider a C-major scale containing Gb:

C D E F Gb A B C

The difference is in context. Exactly the same sound is produced for the F# and the Gb, but the notes around it are altered.

Clever, that.

So… the piano-playing is going well. I’m quite amazed how well I’ve picked it up again after so long without touching a keyboard.

However, yesterday, I came across something I’ve never had to do before. Well, actually I came across something a little while back which took me… well, aback… it turned out to be portato - a simple technique which simply requires knowing it exists, and a careful touch.

Anyway, I digress… the thing I came across yesterday is way harder to deal with. I’ve reached page two of Debussy’s Rêverie, and that’s the part where the right hand fills in twinkly bits while the left hand plays the melody. I’ve never had to do that before.

My hands can play the same volume, and my right hand can play louder, but to make the right hand subordinate while the left plays louder… well that really hurts my head.

To be fair, the whole piece is a bit of a left-hand-fest - throughout most of it, the right plays a pretty simple, slow melody while the left is running up and down the keyboard, so I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised.

It’s going to be hard work, but it’ll be worth it. Oh yes… it’ll be worth it.

Incidentally… the bit in question sounds like this.

So, I was mp3ifying one of H’s CDs to take on the Great Trek South™ on which we are about to embark. I put the CD in the computer, loaded up the mp3ifying software, pressed the button to go to the intermaweb and look it up…

Hmm… I’ve never heard of Linkin Park being described as any of those genres before. Well, maybe “Misc”, but that’s not so descriptive now, is it?

But Blues? New Age? Jazz?

You can just see the 1960s edition of Top of the Pops…

“And now put your hands together for the new number from the popular beat combo - Linkin Park”

So… after 10 years off, and 4 weeks with a piano, I think I’m almost there on Claude Debussy’s “Dumb Blonde”.

Ok… there are a couple of errors and a few pauses, and I need to work on the best timing and expression now… but here’s where I’m up to…

Did I mention that I love my digital piano? Well, I do. It does all sorts of things like simulating the soundboard and unplayed strings, so if you shout into it or play a drum kit near it or slam the lid, it goes chonnnngngngngggg like a real piano. Only the chonnnnngngngngnggggg sound comes out of the back not the front. And playing notes with the sustain pedal down sounds different from playing with it up because when it’s down, the strings around the played ones also vibrate. And all the pedals are analogue, so you can half-unsustain then re-sustain and it all works just right.

As a colleauge put it: “the engineers beat the bean counters for a change”.

It has lots of sounds, but apart from in the first 20 minutes, I haven’t switched away from ‘Concert Grand’. There’s no point.

I am extremely grateful to my mum because now that I’m old enough to actually play music, the organ lessons she let me take from an early age mean that I have sufficient technique to get all my fingers in the right places.

Despite around 10 years off, I still seem to be able to read music and translate that into sound. And now that I’ve experienced some life, I can actually put my heart into it instead of methodically hitting the right keys at the right time.

Thanks mum.

I suggest if you have kids who play an instrument, make them get up to at least grade 5 before you let them give up.

I hereby award 10 points to The Guillemots for preserving the art of dynamic range on their album Through The Windowpane.

In this world of iPods in noisy environments, it’s so tempting for bands to compress their dynamic range to an unexpressive plateau. However, this album has some real adrenaline surging crescendos.

I think Karen should have won. Her ability to make the bassoon come alive is astounding.

Sophie seemed just a little overly precocious and immature, and while I loved Ian’s non-playing personality, he didn’t do anything for me with his music.

Hopefully someone reading this knows what I’m on about.