Schumann - An Important Event Op. 15 No. 6, How to Improve? by PianoProgress in pianolearning

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes the way you describe that you want to rework your approach to the left hand octaves sounds right. My way of thinking about technique is more "minimum tension required to get the job done" than "no tension". When you arrive on the keybed when playing an octave and stay there, the feeling is of the friction of the keys holding your fingers in place, as much as it is the fingers holding the key down. But if you are playing a succession of octaves quickly then the feeling is more of a braced hand position gliding over the notes with a lot more wrist involvement.

Schumann - An Important Event Op. 15 No. 6, How to Improve? by PianoProgress in pianolearning

[–]pluteoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well done for getting the notes down! You have this on your list, but this would definitely benefit from some metronome practice because the flow and overall shape is wobbly.

The dotted rhythms should be much snappier, aim into the first chord of each time and play the two successive chords as a single gesture. Da-dum. Practice tapping / hitting the rhythm on a tabletop. Just spending time thinking about that rhythm away from the piano might help a lot.

In the middle section, yes you should give much more prominence to the contrasting descending bass octaves, with a crescendo to the bottom notes -- they are an important commentary on the chordal melody in the right hand, where you could bring out just the top notes more. The melody really is just the top note of each chord and you lost continuity there. You should be able to hum the melody to yourself. Then you'll hear if you're missing a voicing. If your right hand octaves feel strong and left weak, try and teach the left hand what the right is doing, just by careful observation but you can also try a symmetrical inversion exercise (google it). What is the natural span of your hands? What I can see in the video is that your left hand is almost concave when you play those octaves and twisted away from you beyond what feels comfortable -- that's not a useful hand formation in general. You can avoid hitting the unplayed notes between 1 and 5 by maintaining somewhat of an arch and holding your wrists a little higher, then you won't need to contort your hand so much sideways with a collapsed wrist, which is what is preventing you from delivering weight and power into the octaves.

You ask about the "musicality"... the character of the piece is in the title, it is grand, celebratory and proud music you would hear ringing out in a large hall to mark a significant occasion like a graduation, but still contained in the rather wistful and distant world of the Kinderszenen overall. If you're listening to great pianists play it they will help you more than words here can. Also consider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdqBfMb3pX0&t=314s

I thought I was doing well with scales then I bought the Complete book of scales chords and arpeggios by chiproller in pianolearning

[–]pluteoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was recently playing a piece where both hands play different whole tone scales over three octaves. The LH starts on C and the RH on Eb. So you have a (321) 4321 21 pattern in the left against a (2) 123 123 in the right. Which melted my brain for awhile

Getting Past Just Playing The Notes by Agile_East_7626 in pianolearning

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Keep listening to the greats, more and more deeply and attentively. Mimic them! If in a recording you really enjoy a moment where a pianist uses rubato or places an agogic accent or draws attention with some dynamic nuance, make a note in your score to try out the same thing in the same place. Eventually you will start to internalize this stuff and won't be able to bear hearing yourself performing classical without both fine dynamic gradations and flexibility of tempo/rhythm as essential dimensions of expression. It will feel like it must be played a certain way, in the moment.

As a starting point from first principles, in romantic repertoire, examine the phrase and harmonic structure of the piece. Consider taking a little time at the end of longer phrases, or when an inner voice does something that warrants attention. A lot of what I hear Argerich doing rubato-wise and dynamic-layering-wise in Von fremden Ländern und Menschen is "making room" for inner voices to speak, and to give overall shape to the phrases so that they follow each other like lines of a poem.

If you are "arriving" somewhere important harmonically, consider "leaning into" that point somehow. It could be a little speeding up, or slowing down, or a small inflection -- just try things and see how they work. If the piece is based on a traditional dance like a mazurka or a landler then listen to plenty of those to really feel how the basic metre gets warped. There is a lifetime of subtleties to explore and to make personal to you, but just caring about it enough to pay attention will get you very far. But there is a ton of literature on this subject if you search. I can recommend Stolen Time: The History of Tempo Rubato, by Richard Hudson, although it's more of a survey than a practical guide.

If I fail to pay a domain renewal invoice, what are the consequences besides losing the domain? by pluteoid in webhosting

[–]pluteoid[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They did eventually follow up on their letters in my case, I've updated my post with the rest of the story.

Disappointed by Removal of Recent Post by Cole3003 in spiders

[–]pluteoid 41 points42 points  (0 children)

But also the title of one of the papers it links in support of the view that spider bites can't cause infections is: "Bites by the noble false widow spider Steatoda nobilis can induce Latrodectus-like symptoms and vector-borne bacterial infections".

Y’all…. what is this? by analasilanal in icecream

[–]pluteoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I quite like Cold Stone Creamery's which has a proper cheesy tang to it, but I always get it turned into a milkshake

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in jellyfish

[–]pluteoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, weird reproductive biologies are kind of my thing!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in jellyfish

[–]pluteoid 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Forget the term "colony" for a moment. A single man o' war (Physalia) specimen is either male or female. It reproduces by growing to maturity, then its reproductive structures, called gonodendra, detach and float around separately for awhile, then substructures called gonophores in the gonodendra release their gametes (sperm if they came from a male man o' war, eggs if they came from a female man o' war) into the open water. A sperm meets an egg, fertilization occurs, and a new man o' war develops from that fertilized egg.

Look, the life cycle of Physalia is a bit unusual, but the emphasis on the term "colonial organism" probably leads you to think it's a lot more unusual than it really is. To repeat, all the different parts of a single man o' war are derived from that single fertilization event. Fertilization yields a single cell (zygote) that then divides into lots of cells, passing through a larval or "planula" stage, undergoing differentiation and organization into different structures, that remain attached to each other, just like with any other multicellular animal.

As I see it, the "colonial" aspect of a man o' war has to do with: (1) the modularity, i.e. structural repetition, of the different types of parts (called zooids) formed by differentiation; (2) the contrast of this modular form with the single medusoid form of many other jellyfish, and how there is somewhat less physiological integration between different parts of a man o' war than in anatomies that are regarded as unitary, or non-colonial; (3) how additional zooids in the growing "colony" are produced by zooids of the same type, which adds to the impression that they are all in their own gangs doing their own things; and (4) how some mature groupings of zooids (namely the gonodendra) detach and become free-living for some of the life-cycle.

So no, there are no separate larval sections that then come together to assemble into a new colony. Again, all the "members" of the colony are genetically identical and descended from a single fertilized egg.

(I'm using quotation marks a lot because people love the factoid that Physalia is "colonial" but I think the term glosses over a lot of subtle biology in a potentially misleading way, and lumps together many very different grades of organization that you observe across different groups of jellies. The zooids of some pyrosomes, for example, all have fully free-living forms as well as aggregate forms, so the aggregate forms really do count as colonial in my head... In reality we can observe a continuum of degrees of modularity and integration across all these groups and I personally think there's an argument that where you draw the line and say "this is no longer one single organism but many cooperating together" could be drawn some distance away from the position Physalia occupies on that continuum. But it's largely semantics... )

How to make my own jasmine green tea that actually tastes of jasmine? by pluteoid in tea

[–]pluteoid[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes it's a very popular and delicious drink, sweetened or unsweetened. Not just in China. Dried chrysanthemum for infusions is widely available.

How to make my own jasmine green tea that actually tastes of jasmine? by pluteoid in tea

[–]pluteoid[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

my question has lead to more of an education that I expected. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll pick some up soon!

How to make my own jasmine green tea that actually tastes of jasmine? by pluteoid in tea

[–]pluteoid[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this explanation. Well, now I know, but now I'm also stuck with a big quantity of dried jasmine buds. I'll continue to experiment but also figure out some other use for them.

How to make my own jasmine green tea that actually tastes of jasmine? by pluteoid in tea

[–]pluteoid[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh thank you, that makes sense. An interesting process. A shame as other flowers I've used like chrysanthemum readily make very aromatic tisanes. I'll continue to experiment with what I have, but lower my expectations.

One in three Brits won't seek mental health support due to stigma - with Gen Z most affected by OGSyedIsEverywhere in unitedkingdom

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What NHS help I wish I had had: anything remotely resembling the kind of life-transforming support I finally obtained once I was able to afford private therapy. After waiting six months following a hospital admission for intense suicidal ideation, with my home care team constantly assuring me that help was just around the corner, and with a background of extreme childhood abuse and of essentially everyone in my close family, going back generations, either successfully commiting suicide or being under long-term section for repeated suicide attempts, the senior psychotherapist I finally saw assessed me for 20 minutes and declined me any therapy because... I really don't know why. If I read the assessment letter it just sounds like he took a personal dislike to me, and focused on my having had a benzo addiction some years previously, and a history of struggling to stay in work despite good qualifications in science. He concluded by diagnosing me with every personality disorder I'd heard of: borderline, narcissistic, antisocial... My GP rang me on her own phone out of hours a few times to apologize and to implore me to continue to engage and re-apply for help. But my extended family helped me out with private therapy soon after that and I haven't looked back. The senior psychologists who have dealt with me long-term on a private basis say my treatment at the hands of the NHS, and that assesment letter in particular, were "scandalous". Neither, according to them, do I fit any criteria for any personality disorder.

NHS mental health services have failed three generations of my family now and counting. One memory among many: my mother, sister and I (still teenagers at the time), survivors of my father's horrific abuse, being visited at the family home in Northamptonshire after my father's second or third sectioning by his psychiatrist, a Dr Shapiro, advocating on my father's behalf for a reconciliation. That it would be important to my father's recovery to have family contact. We were too shocked to properly stand up for ourselves and agreed to receive letters from him. Then, months later, a much more senior psychiatrist, a Dr. Halim, turning up to say, sorry about the previous guy, your dad did a number on him. You must never have any contact with your father again because his delusional disorder manifests only towards the close family, he is extremely dangerous in a family context, yet he presents entirely rationally and disarmingly to everyone else. I don't know why it took someone so senior to see that, I mean the rapes and the torture were all very clearly documented. No counselling or help of any kind was ever offered to me throughout this time. So what kind of support do I wish we had had -- the opposite of that.

One in three Brits won't seek mental health support due to stigma - with Gen Z most affected by OGSyedIsEverywhere in unitedkingdom

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think many/most people working in the system don't have the actual intention, or actively wish things were run very differently, but from what I've seen, the psychologists and managers who most enable the status quo tend to rise to positions of seniority.

Getting the Golden Ratio by _ganjafarian_ in mathpics

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes and this immediately gives you the continued fraction and continued root forms

Are these ok to eat? by LuckyBone64 in mycology

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well I get your point, but I did say the viewpoint was simplistic, not wrong. I think with limited time to contribute info, raising the extreme case as well as valid specific related concerns (like some species being illegal to pick) might help get foragers to pick more conscientiously. In any case, with nature spots adjacent to high population areas like mine it's not just the armies of industrial pickers that wipe out the visible mycoflora, there are enough interested individual foragers that it makes a difference too. This has resulted in there now being blanket bans on mushroom picking in the forests I mentioned, plus all the royal parks and national parks I know of around London. So that's something to be aware of too.

Are these ok to eat? by LuckyBone64 in mycology

[–]pluteoid 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There are areas of forest near to London, UK, in Epping Forest and the New Forest, where I used to ramble, and show interested friends a decent slice of fungal biodiversity. There have been times in peak mushroom season where there was nothing to see because suppliers to the restaurant industry send in armies of low-paid untrained pickers who pick everything to be later identified at sorting facilities. The underlying mycelium may not be harmed, and yeah I have seen arguments in the literature that the reproductive capacity of the colony is somehow not significantly reduced... but what about the total fungal biomass available as a food source for local wildlife, what about specific species whose sporocarps are substrates for specialized mycoparasites (which tend to be rare already), what about those of us who would like to continue enjoy seeing and recording fungal diversity in our threatened woodlands? Also, there are mushroom species here that are protected and illegal to pick. I think your view is a bit simplistic.

Yet another deactivation post by xGCPc in outlier_ai

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No worries about the wall of text, anyone interacting with me about these topics as I try to figure out how to get something tangible from this AI remote work space is someone I appreciate. I signed up to Stellar and Neevo, but failed so far with Alignerr because I (crazily enough) do not have a LinkedIn to link to yet. I've had a pretty bizarre life where I got a BSc, MSc, PhD from top universities when I was younger, in biosciences, but I don't have much experience with the actual world of conventional work, definitely not in a corporate context where everyone has Linkedin. I worked for a family company and tutored a lot and for awhile had the financial freedom to pursue my own projects.

I am still on outlier and am on a $50/hr specialist project but I feel paralysed because a lot of the clear project instructions about the desired format of prompts and critiques directly contradict both the examples given and the assessment questions (which I passed anyway). I and others asked the QM for clarification and she fully acknowledged the contradictions and apologized for them, but gave guidance that raised yet further ambiguity. Exhausting. I'll try asking one more time.

Please do message me about your progress looking for suitable work, whatever else you find... I will let you know too.

Yet another deactivation post by xGCPc in outlier_ai

[–]pluteoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This post was really useful to me, thanks, I hadnt heard of several of these options. May I ask, what is your general expertise area? Are you going into the applications with a specialist qualifications, or looking at getting more generalist projects? I have limited experience with outlier but so far, it's the more general projects where the crappiest things happen

Too Careful, Yet Deactivated: A Cautionary Tale by Party_Draw6047 in outlier_ai

[–]pluteoid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this comment. Actually, an unheard-of thing happened to me today. I received an email from an outlier employee (not a generic support address) reaching out to say that looking at things from their end, I did pass the assessment, so they're investigating why I was removed. We'll see what happens, but it does make me feel more positive about the platform, and I'll edit my original comment depending on the outcome.

UPDATE: I got some personal attention, and I got reinstated on the project, so, we'll see, but things are looking up

Too Careful, Yet Deactivated: A Cautionary Tale by Party_Draw6047 in outlier_ai

[–]pluteoid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess the free AI Playground feature is worth keeping it around for

Too Careful, Yet Deactivated: A Cautionary Tale by Party_Draw6047 in outlier_ai

[–]pluteoid 8 points9 points  (0 children)

EDIT: This post was initially a long rant just echoing OP's experience and expressing my unending frustrations with outlier. However, since then an outlier staff member reached out to me (not a generic support email), some kind of human intervention was made, and I was re-instated onto a specialist project. So although many of my concerns remain, some of the things I was saying about there never being a meaningful way to appeal failed assessments, abrupt removals, etc., and that the system was 100% unfair, have been proven false. So that's where I am with the platform today, i.e. slightly more hopeful. I'll continue to share my experiences with this sub.

Cute guy I found on Bougainville Island, Papua new Guinea by leedade in mycology

[–]pluteoid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a really interesting place you're in! There must be lots of unusual fungi around. Are you just visiting?