Hi Terrytunes:

We did see this particular you-tube presentation and I wrote the author to compliment him on it. He has done several more with other composers.

Thank you for your kind words about our thread. We are pretty proud of it, but it is always great to hear that others think highly of it also.

Yes, I had heard of Movie Maker and believe I know how to use it (thanks to help from Monica, Mr. S/H and especially Jeff), I think (hope I remember how to create one with music). See here.

This isn't anything like the finished product we are hoping to create, but I just wanted to test my working knowledge of how to create a slide show with music. We plan on having a lot more text, graphics of him and also of his friends and important places in his life... and, of course, more samples of his music.

Also, since I think his story is much too large to be presented in one part, we will do it in several (since you-tube only allows you so much space for one upload). I thought of naming the parts (rather than part one, two etc.) something having to do with music that would describe them...something like:

The Prelude
The Waltz
The Mazuruka
The Polonaise
The Sonata

or perhaps using the concerto theme

The Allegro
Thge Larghetto
The Rondo

(Although the above don't quite describe the particulars in Chopin's life if we use them to divide his life into three sections.)

Anyhow, all the details such as these and the music we use can be worked out later. The main thing is getting it all down, with graphics and text, etc, which seems to be falling on me. I certainly don't mind for I realize that all of you are working and have other major responsibilities. So I will just muddle through the best I can in a hopefully timely manner and post what I've done for your approval.

My best to all,
Kathleen

Here is a "possible" slide three...as the continutation of the second.



I think I like the dark purple lettering. It shows up better...I think I will change it on the second slide.

Kathleen

Here's slide two corrected and revised.



Better???

Kathleen

Up early and on a roll!

Possible four slide

Who else??

And five???

Last one (number 6) for the day.

Hey, you know Kathleen has a very beautiful bronze-finished Chopin bust on a pedestal in front of her piano. Now you can get one identical to that for yourself too.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bronze-17-Chopin-Bus...7QQcmdZViewItem

Kathleen,
Everything looks really great so far! Love the color scheme too.

originally posted by loveschopintoomuch:
Although I see the appeal of using musical terms instead of "part one, part 2,", etc., my initial impression is that the use of the musical terms would be confusing at first glance to the "outsider"- for example, seeing "Prelude" might lead one to think that that section was mainly about the time period in which he composed the preludes, and so on for the others..

Similarly, the terms "Allegro", etc., while certainly musical, somehow don't quite "fit" for the reasons you mentioned.

A compromise between the boring "Part 1, Part 2" and the possibly-confusing "Prelude, Waltz, ..." may be simple, descriptive headings with the dates: ie, "Poland through Vienna, 1810-1829" (or whenever it was), "Paris, 1830-1837", "Majorca" (seems that can be its own chapter!-?), "Nohant and Paris, 1838-1846", etc..... then again we might be able to get a bit more creative with the names of chapters, but- you get the idea.

Hi Chardonnay:


Thank you for your reponse. Yes, you do have a point. While using the musical terms might be confusing, I thought they lent a certain dignity. However, your ideas pinpoint the times more precisely...and we could always using sub-titles for these periods.

I am just wondering how detailed I should get because this could end up being quite long - perhaps 50 slides or so. We don't want to bore anyone, but we do want to include interesting and informative facts that may not be known to many. Since our goal is not only to introduce Chopin to those who may not know anything or much about him, I like the idea of doing it in smaller chapters...perhaps 5 in all, with each having about 8 slides or so. I do have to watch out for the size since you-tube only allows so much.

Anyhow, again, thanks for your input. It's easy to make changes (somewhat).

Any other comments from anyone? :rolleyes:

Kathleen

Aren't those slides too long in the vertical direction to fit well on screens?

Hi Daavid 3 and Welcome:


No problem with the slides being too tall. They will fit properly (see the example below) once I get them on Movie Maker. The sample slide show below is just my attempt to see if I could figure it all out, and surprisingly, I could.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivpt-QTC0_M

Kathleen

Frycek asked about Chopin’s hair at the Biblioteka Polska. There was rather a lot of it—I think they must have taken it after his death, or he would have gone around looking quite strange. The hank of hair was a few inches long and light brown in color, with a slight reddish cast and a few white strands. The color struck me very strongly, both because it was exactly what I was expecting and because it is identical to my daughter’s. (My husband’s is almost like it, too, and when he saw it he touched his own head and said “Oh!” because apparently he had expected something else.) Seeing his hair brought him to life for me far more than any other experience; suddenly I could visualize him as a whole, physical person.

What I went there to see was his death mask. The hair was a bonus.

I have only seen the “free-standing” hand casts, and they were identified as being the ones from the end of his life. I must say that I didn’t see the fingers as being spatulate (and still don’t when I look at pictures of them). They are fairly tapered. Definitely no clubbing. The knuckles appear rather enlarged, though, even allowing for severe emaciation.

I did check eBay, but no luck so far finding a copy of his hand. I did run across some interesting stuff, though. One was an Xbox game that has a character named Chopin. All the characters are elfin, animé-style children with magical, apparently musical powers, and they all have music-related names. Chopin is a boy in a long coat and top hat. (With dark hair!) The game for some reason has two names, “Trusty Bell” and “Eternal Sonata.”

Elene

This is a cast of Chopin's hand taken supposedly in 1836 when he was 26 years old.

These are the back and palm views of a bronze cast of the postmortem casting.

The hands are exquisite!

-Frycek,

These are amazing photos!

I've seen varied representations of Chopin's likeness and each has its merits, but never before have I seen something that captures his musical spirit, for me, like these photos.

Betty chose the right word, "exquisite!"

I find them truly evocative...almost spiritual.

I certainly would enjoy seeing the bronze. Do you know where it is displayed?

Please accept my gratitude for sharing this intimate view of the man who created so much beauty.

Sincerely,

Lisztener

-Frycek,

I just refreshed the page and now see the cast of 1836. My first viewing did not have the top photo. I must say, I find the photos of the bronze to be the most realistic and touching for me.

Again, thank you,

Lisztener

Hey Kathleen, can you try widening the slides a bit so it would fit a screen?

Great photos (the bronze one esp.) Frycek Thanks

Thank you Frycek...those photos are heart-wrenching. And Elene, I would feel the same as you if I saw Chopin's hair. An experience never to be equalled. I never heard that his hair was preserved and on display. All of this is certainly worth the trip to Poland that a few of us are planning in October of 2010.

A personal note: A dear cousin died recently and the last few days have been spent traveling many miles to the wake and yesterday, the funeral. He was all Polish, last name ending in "ski." I was awe struck when I saw the flowers. All the arrangements contained only red and white flowers, roses, carnations, etc. The florist was obviously Polish and knew what color flowers were appropriate.

Lisztner: It is so good to see you here, and I was relieved to learn that you are recovering so well. You might not remember this, but many months ago, I vowed to learn "I'll Be Seeing You." It was your sister's favorite song, and you wanted to learn it also. It took me many months as I was working on the 17th prelude at the same time. Anyhow, I finally did complete it and managed to polish it quite nicely, I think. But I can't record it...sorry.

Bassio: If you are referring to that you-tube show I presented...that was just a "working" sample. Of course, the "real thing" will contain slides that are full-sized.

Kathleen

Something is too wide in that image post, it's making the thread a horrid pain to read.


In any case, the images are, as previously stated, exquisite!

I always like getting a breath of the past.

Kathleen,

Thank you for caring and remembering.

I well remember you mentioning that you were learning "I'll Be Seeing You" while I was becoming frustrated with having lost two months trying to learn a rather disharmonic modern jazz version that I disliked. Someday, I'll get back to a good rendition, but for now my interest has reverted to classical which is my life-long favorite piano genre.

Kudos to you for learning that beautiful song that I love so dearly. When you finally get a recording device that works well for you, you know I'll want you to record "I'll Be Seeing You" for my selfish sake.

Regards,

Lisztener

Playadom:

I don't know which images you mean? Mine (the slides) or Fycek's...opppsss I see she deleted hers.

If you mean mine, I upload them to photobucket and then choose the image address and this is what I get...size-wize. Any smaller and I don't think you'd be able to read them.

But again, when I (we...I should say) complete the first "section," and I upload the whole "movie" to you-tube, they should all be the proper size. I hope.

Kathleen

I had never seen the hand cast from when he was 26. Thanks so much for posting it. Where did you find it?

Also, the hair was not in Poland, it was in Paris.

Elene

Re the 1836 cast. I didn't find it. That is a picture of a copy of one that I got outbid on on ebay. That's the only reproduction I've seen of that one and I've never seen the original.

Kathleen: I don't know which, actually. None of them seem to exceed my screen boundaries, yet the whole thing is stretched.

Those are the most beautiful hands I've ever seen. Perfect pianist hands. I was starring at them for a good few minutes. This was the first time I've ever seen his hands too. I would very much like to see them in person or perhaps hold one...what a privilege that would be.

My teacher told me something really cool about Chopin's hands.

Chopin had very rare hands. He didn't really have any webbing between his fingers.

Go ahead look...

Hold out your hand so your palm faces down and completely free your hand of tension (without stretching your fingers!!) Just like Chopin's hand in the first picture.

Now compare the webbing between your fingers and his. Chances are that the shape between your fingers will look more like a V[/b].

This is considered normal.

You can clearly see the space between his fingers (in the first picture) strongly favor more of a U[/b] shape, which made his fingers more slender and a bit farther apart, due to the lack of webbing.

This could definitely be an advantage for a piano player. It could allow you to have a greater span, more flexibility, and more dexterity/precision.

Oh yeah,
and there was another pianist who possessed these exceptionally remarkable "web-less" fingers as well...some guy named Liszt[/b].

Those are indeed beautiful hands. I focused on his thumbs. They are perfect "golfer's thumbs"!!! Compare them to Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan.

JaredR88: Why is it that when I look at my hand palm up, I see no webbing? I have that U shape. But when I turn it over, there is that webbing. I know this is silly (so why am I writing it? duh :p ) but I measured the span between my little finger and my thumb - stretched as far as possible. It was 8 inches. What does this mean, if anything? :rolleyes: I am no great pianist, so please don't tell me that I should be. It would ruin my day.

I would imagine it has more to do with the span of each finger to the next and always, as Chopin would say..the suppleness. But when I measure them individually, the total comes out to be more than 8 inches. So

And then I think of Joseph Hoffman who had tiny hands and he was considered a genius at the piano. Such confusion.

Elene: Sorry about my misunderstanding. But I don't understand why the French have his hair. Poland should have it.

I'm sure everyone knows of the book: "Beethoven's Hair." While there are many disputes as to the cause of Beethoven's death, I recently heard a well-respected authority say that they found great amounts of lead in his hair. Beethoven liked his wine, and in those days, they used lead in the distilling process.

Now I wonder if there has been any investigation, using Chopin's hair, into the cause of his death, since there does seem to be several different opinions about it to this very day.

Kathleen

My hands are quite similar to Chopin's, but I have slightly smaller palm and slightly longer fingers, and with U webbing between fingers.

Hey Kathleen,

I'm not entirely sure...My hands are actually the same way you described yours...with the webbing and what not. I think thats how everyones hands are...weird huh?

Hmmmm, an 8 inch hand span....I have no idea what it means. I'm betting that you're at least 5'6" though...

Yeah you're 100% right about the suppleness. I totally agree. It's just that having slightly less webbing makes your fingers better suited for the piano. Just like a basketball player being tall. It's an advantage, not a superpower lol. (I wish I had piano superpowers...lol)I mean think about this. What if the webbing was halfway up our finger. We wouldn't have nearly as much dexterity as we do now. So if more is bad, then less is good lol. Sorry if I lost you, I kind of have ADD so I get sidetracked easily.


-Jared