Day10: No excuse and Sweet family

So we start; one week ago Monday I arrived, and now that my talk is out of the way, Frédéric Bevilacqua's team, Realtime Musical Interaction Team and I have started our experiments on music and gesture. Here is Frédéric setting my newly repaired computer up with video/sound/data recording, in what they call "aquarium" at IRCAM, Salle Luigi Nono. It's just below the entrance level and facing an underground courtyard, maybe that's why it feels like an aquarium.


Then I came back to my studio and ran it; I created two contrasting musical scenarios, which I recorded several times with three synchronized way: gesture data, video and sound. My hard drive was very full, so I spent some boring time today cleaning up my hard drive and finally using "Time Machine" to backup my data. Here I am in my studio, the screen-capture of today's recording. At this moment I'm sorting the data out for us to look at them tomorrow. BTW the T-shirt I'm wearing is about 20 yrs old. I got it at Juilliard Bookstore when I first arrived in NYC, and I remember they had it for other instruments as well. It reads "String of Excuses", for string students. My kids love reading it.

"String of Excuses: I haven't had time to practice - It sounded better at home - I have a different edition - The editing is awful - I practiced it faster - I brought the wrong glasses - These aren't my fingerings - The page turn messed me up - My nails are too long - It's the dryness - It's the humidity - My bow needs new hair - I didn't know we were repeating - I have new strings - My 'A' string is false - I don't like this piece anyway"

Before I came home, we had lunch together with my husbands' brother Frédéric who lives in Paris and sister Anne who was on the way to her medical conference in Rome. Plus a sonogram of "le 8me", or "the 8th grandchild" of their parents, Frédéric and his wife are expecting. This is the same crêpe place in front of IRCAM where I have eaten already for 3 times! But my family-in-law is part Bretons so it's suitable. Paris was rather chilly today, low at 10C (or 50F) so there was a outdoor heater just above us. Husband said that is "not real Breton" but it was comfortable for me.

So what about this French melon, sweet, sweetest and the most orang-est of melons. Husband bought it at a local store and it is so juicy, I had it for dinner with a thin slice of Viande des Grisons (this is in French), Swiss smoked/dried beef, which he also got at the same store.