Woke late, exhausted, chest aching after a few physically busy days. I started by making a new cradle for the Yamaha FC5 pedal. This is fixed to a horizontal piece of wood which then locks to the keyboard stand, making a rock-solid place for the pedal. The downside is its size and shape for transport. I considered making pegs so that the bit that holds the pedal so that it can be removed easily, but this seemed like a lot of speculative work, and the 15mm depth of the wood meant any grip would always be shallow. I screwed it in. I can always remove these and re-screw if needed. Here it is:
The hardest part was cutting out a large 3mm recess in the wood to slide the holder part beneath, which I did by sanding.
The new Yamaha FC3A pedal arrived later, you can see that in the picture too. I can instantly tell its far better than the M-Audio one, it is already less likely to move despite being physically lighter. It is bigger and oddly shaped though, so I have to take apart and rebuild part of my piano table to fit it. The arch part to cradle and block the back is now drying and will be glued tomorrow. The FC3A is great, but it's much easier to play the keyboard with the FC5 and my new wooden cradle.
I've played a few Salome tracks but it was difficult and frustrating. I feel too tired, sapped.
I dreamt of going for a walk to see Simon, but got waylaid by some young people and went to see them in an art studio of sorts. There were about eight people there. One looked like Andy Warhol, the head or spokesman. He said that he's setting up a band and we're all in it. One member said that he'd take over recording, one the album art. I felt frustrated that I was overlooked for my recording and production skills, my vocal skills, writing skills and more, and was seen only as a keyboard player. I stayed silent, feeling unable to tell them about my vast musical experience, I just couldn't find the moment. I felt old and side-lined compared to the other young members.
I want Salomé to be over, and the recording and production finished. However good the merits of this show are, and I've learned a lot, I'm desperate to move on to new and more exciting ventures.
