Harpsichord Notes

I recently took some basic notes on the stops involved when playing a Williams Dowd French Double Harpsichord, one of the finer instruments of our collection at the Peabody Conservatory.

The basic set of options. (Secondary bullet L/R indicates the setting, either right or left.)

• Left stop:
  
  • L: bottom manual 8' off
  • R: bottom manual 8' on
• Middle stop: lute stop
  
  • L: lute stop on
  • R: lute stop off
• Right stop
  
  • L: bottom manual 4' off
  • R: bottom manual 4' on
• Top manual
• Back: bottom manual locks/activates both manuals
• Forward: bottom manual unlocked

This gives you the basic rundown on what the sound options are. The instrument has a disposition of 2x8, 1x4, meaning that there are three sets of strings to select from, meaning that there are:

• 3 timbres consisting of 1 string set
• 3 timbres consisting of 2 string sets 
• 1 timbre combining all three sets.
• 7 total timbre possibilities.

In addition, textures can be created utilizing a different string combination for the upper and lower manuals.
For instance, the top manual could use just the "front 8" (one of two sets of 8-foot strings) While the bottom could use the "back 8" plus the 4-foot set. That's just one of a number of possibilities. Note that there are limits. For instance, this harpsichord is not capable of giving additional options to the upper manual. This is presumably because the top manual is the "contrast manual", used to set off against the colors set up by the lower manual.

Here is a photo of the instrument:

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Microsoft Web Embeds

My affinity for embeds leads me to try out virtually every example I can get my hands on. A while back, Microsoft started offering web embeds for office online documents and they have improved the design over time. I just want to see what advantages, if any, Microsoft offers over Google Docs on the embed side. Let's have a look:

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Learned Detachment

I think that one of the reasons I struggle academically is that I get genuinely interested and invested in a given topic in a reading. And it makes me want to read up on any number of branching topics that get brought up. I want to ingest tables of useful information and investigate references, similar to the way we all do when occasionally getting lost down the never-ending wiki-rabbit hole.

But there really isn't time for that kind of exploration when you're in school. You kind of need to be detached and indifferent about what you're reading, because there is far too much to read to have the time to get interested and far too much to do to have time to write the thoughtful papers we may have inside us. It's a shame, because the whole point of being a student is growth and mentored investigation. It's a paradox, because the same structured learning environment both creates and poisons that energy. I hope one day we figure out a better way!

Composer Network

What is this and what can I do with it?
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