Spam Roundup, March 2018

Even with spam filters, some comments manage to make it through the system. Some of it's so oddly written, that it's oddly amusing. Here's a roundup of some of the "best" comments I received this month from spambots around the world.

You know what I mean

Translation apps don't always do the best job.

 - The place else may just anyone get that type of info in such an ideal manner of writing. [Your manner of writing is less than ideal.]

 - Good thing about the posting drought is that I have not seen it criticiazed heretofore in the Objectivist literature. [That's right -- we're Anti-Objectivist around here, pal.]

 - I get pleasure from, lead to I discovered exactly what I used to be looking for. [*Used* to be looking for? What are you looking for now, exactly?.

See if you can find any connection between this
vintage lumber truck and any of the comments at left.

"Lumbering along" continues to, well...

The Straco Express Layout, Part 23 - Lumbering Along remains the most commented post on my blog. And not a single one has anything to do with the subject matter. Who knew so many "people" would connect with a vintage Japanese tin toy?

 - This post will assist the internet people for setting up new weblog or even a blog from start to end. [Those internet people need all the help they can get!]

 - Yes! Finally someone writes about mavic open pro wheelset. [Actually, I think it's just four small rubber tires.]

They don't really look much like
mavic open pro wheelsets to me.

Fastidious, indeed! 

While the frequency of the word "fastidious" has decreased in spam comments, it's misuse has not. 

 - Wow this post is fastidious, my sister is analyzing these kinds of things, therefore I am going to convey her. [Convey her where?]

And finally:

 - You need to be part of a contest for one of the greatest blogs on the web. I'm going to recommend this site! Have a look at my blog - Curing Hemorrhoids [I'm not sure I want to know what first prize is.]

That 's all for this month. And remember - please assist the internet people to help them find what they used to be looking for. 

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth 2018 - Week 4

Some of us contributing to #ClassicsaDay decided to celebrate the role of women in classical music for March. Those posts included both the #ClassicsaDay and #WomensHistoryMonth hashtags. There were many posts of female performers and conductors. I chose to stick with composers.

Here is an annotated list of the composers I posted for the second week:

Rosa Giacinta Badalla (c.1660–c.1710) - Non plagent

Rosa Badalla was a Benedictine nun. She wrote primarily sacred music to be performed within the walls of the nunnery. In 1684 a collection of her sacred motets was published in Venice. Very little of her music or details about her life have survived.

Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745–1818) - Violin Concerto No. 5 in B-flat major

Today Maddalena Lombardini is best remembered for a letter she received from her teacher, Giuseppe Tartini. The letter outlined important violin techniques and has become a major reference work for historically informed violin performances. Lombardini was an accomplished violin virtuoso, as was her husband Ludovico Simen. Lombardnin's compositions center around the violin and were most likely performed either by herself or in conjunction with her husband. She was a famous performer in her time, with six published collections of music.

Laura Constance Netzel (1839–1927) - Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 66

Larua Netzel was a Swedish pianist, conductor, organist, composer, and crusader. She was active in several organizations throughout her life that supported the poor, especially women and children. She had about 80 published compositions, mostly for piano or organ.

Carlotta Ferrari (1975-) - Veni sancte Spiritus

Carlotta Ferrari is an Italian composer with an international reputation. She is especially known for her choral compositions and organ works. Ferrari combines Renaissance and Medieval traditions within contemporary musical frameworks.

Elinor Remick Warren (1900-1991) - Suite for Orchestra

Elinor Warren studied piano with Leopold Godwsky and Harold Bauer, and composition with Nadia Boulanger. Warren wrote over 200 works, including a symphony, oratorio, and a requiem mass. Although an accomplished pianist, solo piano music is only a small portion of her catalog.

Line Mar Match Box Construction 081 - 2 Wheel Barrow

I found a Line Mar Match Box Construction Set from the 1930s, complete and with instructions. The box claimed the set made 100 different toys. I decided to test that claim -- one toy at a time. You can read all the posts for the Line Mar construction project at 100 Toys.

081. 2 Wheel Barrow

This build came pretty close to the illustrated toy. There's no good reason why the upright dowels are short. I simply picked the wrong ones. 

Building these toys is always tricky. It doesn't take much for the whole thing to fall apart. So once I added the uprights, I was done. 

At least this one was possible to build as illustrated. 

Carl Czerny Symphonies No. 6 & 2 - Better than expected

Pianists the world over are familiar with Carl Czerny -- or at least his keyboard exercises. But Czerny, a student of Beethoven, also composed many other types of works, including symphonies. Unlike Beethoven, though, Czerny could produce, and produce quickly.

Pianist John Field wrote about Czerny's system after visiting with him:

A large cabinet served [Czerny] as a receptacle for models of all kinds of passage work, figurations, etc., which were immediately available as required. 

In the adjoining room assistants worked on what the master had assigned to them... pieces were produced section by section and inserted during the copying process. Thus, the difficult-to-negotiate development sections could also be produced with ease. One just had to fit the passages together correctly, and already the next sonata-form movement was finished.

So what do these paint-by-number symphonies sound like? Actually, they sound pretty good.

Czerny's Grande Symphony No. 2 is a model of late-classical/early romantic construction. This four-movement work is big, with big motifs and grand gestures. And yet it's also somewhat unassuming and matter-of-fact. To my ears, it seemed to resemble Schubert or Mendelssohn more than Beethoven.

The 1854 Symphony No. 6 receives its world premiere recording here. The score remained in manuscript and (presumably) unperformed until recently. The work is leaner and more tightly organized than Symphony No. 2. It also seems to be a more personal work, somehow.

The conductor Grzegorz Nowak has researched Czerny and was responsible for the first concert performance of the Sixth Symphony. These are knowledgeable, unapologetic performances of these finely-crafted works.

Make no mistake: Czerny isn't about to knock Schubert or Beethoven off their pedestals. But these are compelling symphonies that can both excite and delight. And they definitely deserve to be heard.

Carl Czerny: Symphony No. 6 in G minor; Grande Symphony No. 2, Op. 781
SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserlautern; Grzegorz Nowak, conductor
SWR Music SWR19419CD

Collecting -- and Collecting Information Part 32

Two new offerings on eBay provided some additional information on the evolution of Shioji's line of friction toy trucks.

In Part 28 I outlined the development of the trucks from the mid-1950s through 1963. At that time there was a change from all-metal to a mixture of metal and plastic. These new offerings are from that post-1963 transition period.

L-R: Gen 3 tank and cattle trucks; Gen 2 covered bed and dump trucks; Gen 1 tow and express trucks.

A Bit of Background

During the late 1950s, Shioji offered a series of all-metal friction toy trucks. The primary differences were the truck bodies. But there were some small changes in the manufacturing process over time as well. These changes made these toys a little cheaper to manufacture. And with the slender profit-margins Shioji was working with, any cost-cutting was welcome.

Here's how I've broken down the changes:

• First generation: Rivethead hubcaps, flat chassis bottom, six securing tabs.
• Second generation: Solid hubcaps (cheaper to make and install), rounded chassis bottom
• Third generation: Four securing tabs instead of six

Using up inventory

The fourth generation used a plastic cab and frame. Why not just go to injection-mold plastic? I think the answer was cost. First of all, creating a brand-new set of molds was expensive. And I believe that Shioji had some leftover parts from their previous runs. 

The fourth generation trucks have solid hubcaps (from Gen 2) and use the truck bodies from the previous runs.  

I had previously found two examples of Gen 4 plastic chassis trucks. 

In these models, Shioji replaced the stamped metal cab and frame with plastic one. Although the cab shape is different, it's made to fit the same metal parts of the old Shioji trucks.

Gen 4 plastic trucks. The one at left has a Gen 3 tank body, the other
a Gen 2 covered bed.

The new listings offer some additional variations -- and insights -- into the later days of this truck's production run.

Gen 4 plastic trucks. The one at left has part of the Gen 2 covered bed.
The other a modified Gen 1 tow assembly.

One of the trucks has an open yellow bed. It's one of the components for the Gen 2 covered bed. Both versions were offered. I haven't found an example of the open bed on an all-metal Gen 2 chassis. My conclusion is that Shioji had fewer covers than beds in their inventory. Once the covers were gone, the truck was sold with just the bed.

Also of interest is the tow truck. Originally offered in Gen 1, the body is pretty complicated. It has a white frame. Attached to it are a yellow crank assembly and a yellow crane. All three pieces need to be shaped, painted and tabbed together. The Gen 1 version also has a side panel that's also tabbed to the frame.

In this shot, you can see the separate "Service" side panel. Note in the back
the tab holding the other side panel in place.

The Gen 4 version of the body eliminates the separate side panels.

These side panels are missing from the Gen 4 version. Two fewer pieces to manufacture and assembles means a little more to the bottom line. I do wonder how many pieces of the tow truck were left over.  If the side panel slots were one the frame, I would have guessed all of them.

But there are no slots, so these frames were made from a modified stamper. Perhaps there were some bins of the yellow tow truck parts that needed to be used up.

And there's another mystery. The Gen 4 tow truck doesn't have the crank, string or hook. These were always early casualties with this toy (even the Gen 2 version). It would have been cheaper to simply leave these parts out and let the child's imagination supply them.

Is that what Shioji did?  I'm not sure -- yet.

Diabelli Project 186 - Wind Duet Part 4

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

I remember reading a tip that a prolific writer often used. When he was done for the day, he would stop in the middle of a sentence. It helped him pick up the narrative thread the next day and kept the momentum going.

I think that's sort of what happened here. The last two installments of this duet have both ended a bar or two into a new section. It provided a good starting point for the next flash composition session. I already had a general idea of what would happen -- I just had to fill in the notes (for ten minutes).

In today's installment, I continued the clarinet solo. I'm a percussionist, so I can only apologize to any wind players looking at this for the exotic rhythms. I don't usually have 32nd note figures, but that's what I heard. In the very last measure, the flute breaks the accompanying pattern. This is signaling a transition to a new section -- probably in a new key center.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth 2018 - Week 3

Some of us contributing to #ClassicsaDay decided to celebrate the role of women in classical music for March. Those posts included both the #ClassicsaDay and #WomensHistoryMonth hashtags. There were many posts of female performers and conductors. I chose to stick with composers.

Here is an annotated list of the composers I posted for the third week:

Maria Francesca Nascinbeni (ca. 1640–1680) - Una fiamma rovente

Very little is known about Maria Nascinbeni. She studied composition in Ancona Italy with Scipio Lazzarini. When she was sixteen she published two volumes of music. Her catalog includes music for organ and for voices, including madrigals, motets, and canzonas.

Anna Bon (c.1739-c.1767) - Divertimento in D minor, Op. 3, No. 3

Anna Bon was born to a librettist/scene designer and opera singer. She studied in Venice and served as a chamber music performer for the Margrave of Brandenburg. Her Opus 1 Flute Sonatas were dedicated to the Margrave. In 1762 she and her family were employed by Count Esterházy (and worked under Franz Joseph Haydn). She published a set of harpsichord sonatas and a set of trio sonatas.

Josephine Lang (1815–1880) - Arabesque in F major

Josephine Lang was born into a musical family and exhibited talent at an early age. She was supported in her compositional efforts by Felix Mendelssohn, as well as Robert and Clara Schumann. She was a pianist, and most of her works center around that instrument. Her catalog includes 50 published collections, mostly for solo piano, or lieder.

María Teresa Prieto (1896-1982) - Symphony No. 1 "Asturiana"

Maria Preito was born in Spain but spent most of her professional life in Mexico. She studied with Carlos Chavez, and Darius Milhaud. Her music often incorporated folk elements. Her catalog includes two symphonies as well as ballet music, and various chamber works.

Ingrid Stölzel (1972 - ) - Loveliness Extreme for clarinet, viola, and piano

Stölzel was born in Germany, and lives and works in the United States. She writes that "the heart of her compositions is a belief that music can create profound emotional connections with the listener." Her growing body of work has been well-received both critically and by audiences.

Line Mar Match Box Construction 080 - 2 Wheel Hand Truck

I found a Line Mar Match Box Construction Set from the 1930s, complete and with instructions. The box claimed the set made 100 different toys. I decided to test that claim -- one toy at a time. You can read all the posts for the Line Mar construction project at 100 Toys.

080. 2 Wheel Hand Truck

This was another toy the illustrator took liberties with. 

Note that the dowels on the handles are flush with the collars, as is the dowel securing the wheel assembly. Not possible with the lengths provided with the set.

You can see there are two collars sitting on top of the truck body. They're supposed to be holding dowels that provide support for the truck. 

But the short dowels didn't extend as far as the axle. And the long dowels were simply too long, with a good portion of them sticking up. So I decided to cheat a little myself. The collars are there, securing nothing. 

Novak: In the Tatra Mountains

There are two things I admire about the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of JoAnn Faletta. First, their high performance standards. Even their basic repertoire recordings make you sit up and take notice. Second, their commitment to expanding the repertoire.

Experience has taught me that I can trust Faletta and the BPO. If they've taken the time to record music by an unfamiliar composer, it will be worth my while to listen to it.

In this case, the composer is Vítězslav Novák. Novák was a major influence on Czech music during the 1930s and 1940s. He studied with Dvorak and counted Josef Suk and Alexander Zemlinksy among his colleagues.

The three selections presented on this album all come from the early 1900s, when Novák was in his thirties. All are strongly post-romantic in style and masterfully orchestrated.

In the Tatra Mountains is a symphonic poem very much in the vein of Richard Strauss (without the excess drama). Novák incorporates Czech folk music traditions into his music, giving the work a sense of location.

Eternal Longing is an evocative, introspective work. It borders on impressionism, with flowing harmonies that never point very strongly towards a key center.

The Lady Godiva Overture is perhaps  Novák's most successful work. Written in just two days, the music has a sense of urgency about it. The overture fairly crackles with energy and drama. I'm surprised this work hasn't entered the repertoire.

Novák is an important composer in the Czech Republic, but little known beyond its borders. In an ideal world, these sympathetic performances by Falletta and the BPO would change that.

Vítězslav Novák: In the Tatra Mountains - Symphonic Poem, Op. 26
Lady Godiva Overture, Op. 41; Eternal Longing, Op. 33
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra: JoAnn Falletta
Naxos 8.573683

Mark Trail and the Zombie Clowns

Artist/writer James Allen has done great things to revive the Mark Trail comic strip. And normally, I'm on board with his storylines. But the odd turn in this February 2018 story arc almost lost me. 

It starts with various characters in Lost Forest (where Mark Trail lives) spotting unusual animals -- tigers, elephants, etc. It took a while for them to believe what they were seeing (could there be something in the coffee?). And even a little longer to understand why African animals were suddenly roaming free. 

Of course, most readers had already figured out that they had escaped from a nearby circus. Allen has the sheriff come by to explain things -- the circus train wrecked going around a curve near the Lost Forest. It explained where the animals came from. But then things get weird. 

Gaah! Zombie clowns! Run! "Terrified?" Those children are probably traumatized for life. And why does Mark Trail look amused in the last panel?

Oh, but there's more:

The story then gets back to rounding up the escaped animals. But what a strange aside. 

This was one bizarre sequence for sure. This is definitely not your father's Mark Trail. And that's fine with me.

Diabelli Project 185 - Wind Duet Part 3

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

In the last installment, the flute soloed over a repeated clarinet pattern. I knew even before I started the flash session that I wanted the roles to reverse. I surprised myself by shifting key centers in the process -- and dropping from 4/4 to 7/8 in the process!

What would happen next? Perhaps the next section will be in 3/4, then the next in 5/8, and finish the piece in 2/4. Just a thought.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth 2018 - Week 2

Some of us contributing to #ClassicsaDay decided to celebrate the role of women in classical music for March. Those posts included both the #ClassicsaDay and #WomensHistoryMonth hashtags. There were many posts of female performers and conductors. I chose to stick with composers.

Here is an annotated list of the composers I posted for the second week:

Claudia Sessa (c. 1570 – c. 1617/19) - Vattene pur Lascivia

Sessa came from a patrician family and took holy orders. Sessa's works were written for use in her abbey, and are all based on religious texts. Two of her compositions were published in 1613. It's not clear how many other works she composed.

Mlle Duval (1718–after 1775) - Sonata in G major

Her first name is unknown, and "Duval" may have been a stage name. She was a talented harpsichordist, dancer, and published composer. The Paris Opera produced her opera, and her chamber music was frequently performed in salons.

Emilie Mayer (1812–1883) - Symphony No. 7 in F-minor

Mayer was a prolific composer, though her career didn't take off until the 1840s. Her catalog includes eight symphonies, a piano concerto, an opera, seven concert overtures and numerous chamber works.

Tera de Marez Oyens (1932-1996) - Structures and Dance for violin and orchestra

Dutch composer had a career writing music for church songbooks before discovering electronic music in the 1960s. Her style changed dramatically, and her works become more complex and innovative. In the 1980s Oyens was able to devote her time exclusively to compositions -- her most important works are from this period. Oyens' catalog has over 200 classical works.

Gabriela Lena Frank (1972 - ) - An Andean Walkabout

Gabriela Frank studied with William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty. Her lineage is a mixture of American/Lithuanian/Jewish/Peruvian/Chinese. The music traditions of these diverse cultures are an important part of Frank's style. Her work has found a following among both contemporary classical and world music audiences.

Line Mar Match Box Construction 079 - Ladder Wagon

I found a Line Mar Match Box Construction Set from the 1930s, complete and with instructions. The box claimed the set made 100 different toys. I decided to test that claim -- one toy at a time. You can read all the posts for the Line Mar construction project at 100 Toys.

079. Ladder Wagon

This was another toy that was impossible to build as illustrated. That long handle shows two fve-hole strips joined together, with two additional five-hole strips providing the base for the posts on the wagon body. 

The set only has two five-hole strips. I chose to use them for the posts, and made the handle from the two three-hole strips. And of course, the set doesn't have any dowel short enough to secure both strips and be flush with the fiberboard collars. 

As I've noted in previous builds, there isn't a dowel short enough to fit between the two cubes to secure the handle. For the 077 Hand Wagon, I just squeezed the handle between the cubes. This time, I ran a dowel between the cubes for the handle. The dowels that secure the cubes to the wagon body only extend a little way into the cubes, blocked by that handle dowel. 

The illustration makes it appear that those stakes are securely fastened to the wagon body. Not so. The five-hole strips don't exend far enough over the sides of the wagon. Those holes that the stakes sit on are only as deep as the strips. I could place the stakes on the holes. If I moved the wagon, they all tumbled over. 

Diabelli Project 184 - Wind Duet Part 2

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

This week I continued building on what I started. The unison figure the piece started with becomes the accompaniment figure for the clarinet. While the flute takes center stage, the clarinet just keeps playing along at mezzo-piano. Not to worry though. At the end of this week's sketch, the two instruments have returned to the opening figure. Perhaps it's time to give the clarinet a little love.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth 2018 - Week 1

Some of us contributing to #ClassicsaDay decided to celebrate the role of women in classical music for March. Those posts included both the #ClassicsaDay and #WomensHistoryMonth hashtags. There were many posts of female performers and conductors. I chose to stick with composers.

Here is an annotated list of the composers I posted for the first week:

Kassia (c.810-867) - Petron ke Pavlon-VocaMe

Kassia was a Byzantine-Greek composer. She lived in Constantinople and became the abbess in the 830s. Over 50 hymns and sacred compositions are credited to Kassia.

Caterina Assandra (1590-after 1618) O solutaris hostia

Like many women composers of her day, Caterina Assandra was a nun. She had studied counterpoint and was an accomplished organist.She wrote both instrumental and choral works and published at least two volumes of her music.

Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704)

Isabella Leonarda was born in Novara and entered a convent at 16. She was one of the most prolific women composers of the Baroque. Her work was well-known (and published) in Novara. Virtually all of her more than 200 works are religious, ranging from motets to masses.

Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1739-1807)

Anna Amelia was a German princess and served as Regent of Saxe-Weimar. An extremely talented harpsichordist and composer, she was a strong supporter of the performing arts. Her works include an opera, a symphony, an oratorio, and various chamber works.

Leopoldine Blahetka (1809–1885) - Polonaise, Op. 19

Leopoldine Bahetka came from a musical Viennese family. Blahetka studied with Joseph Czerny and Ignaz Moscheles. Blahetka toured Europe as a concert pianist. Most of her works are either for solo piano or chamber ensembles with piano.

Line Mar Match Box Construction 078 - 4 Wheel Hand Truck

I found a Line Mar Match Box Construction Set from the 1930s, complete and with instructions. The box claimed the set made 100 different toys. I decided to test that claim -- one toy at a time. You can read all the posts for the Line Mar construction project at 100 Toys.

078. 4 Wheel Hand Truck

This toy could actually be built with the pieces provided. The illustrator did cheat a little. The set doesn't have any dowels that will sit flush with the fiberboard collars on the handle assembly. 

I could secure the handle base to the truck body with dowels. It's a little rickety as the dowels only go a short way into the box. The dowel securing the handle prevents them from extending all the way through. Nevertheless, I was still able to come up with a close approximation of the illustrated toy. 

Pugnani Violin Concertos As They Were Meant To Be Played

This recording is more remarkable then it appears at first listen. Gaetano Pugnani was one of the most brilliant violinists of his age. At age ten he joined the Royal Chapel of Turin -- as first violinist.

As a virtuoso, he performed with the leading orchestras of the day. And, as was the custom, wrote a great deal of the music he performed in concert -- like the violin concertos on this release.

Pugnani's concertos are written a light, transparent Galant style. His music sounds similar to that of Johann Christian Bach and Carl Abel (he worked with both). The solo violin part has plenty to do. But there's more to this music than just fireworks.

In order to do Pugnani's music justice, his melodies should be played with sensitivity, expressiveness, and sometimes simplicity. Violinist Roberto Noferini has made a study of Pugnani's concertos. His playing shows a real affinity with the music. And something more.

During Pugnani's day, cadenzas were improvised, making each performance unique. Over time, composers began to write out cadenzas. Recently, some artists have written their own cadenzas, reasserting the opportunity for true self-expression.

Roberto Noferini goes one better. The cadenzas on this recording are all improvised. Noferini has some completely absorbed the music that he could improvise in the style of Pugnani.

And it works. Just listening to the music I didn't hear anything that sounded out of place or anachronistic. And although Noferini's cadenzas stay true to the style, they also work with the material in interesting ways.

This is fine music-making indeed.

Gaetano Pugnani: Violin Concertos 
Roberto Noferini, violin 
Orchestra Nuove Assonanze; Alan Freiles Magnatta, conductor 
Tactus TC 731601

A Hair-raising Distler/Cragstan Repair

I've tried to keep a tight focus what I acquire for the Straco Express display layout. But somehow I ended up with a few outliers, like a mid-1960s Cragstan freight set.

Sure, it's a little outside the scope of the Straco Express layout project,
but this Cragstan/Distler set did come complete in the original box.

This set was made by the German toy company Distler. The overall build quality is much higher than that of Cragstan's Japanese suppliers. The car and locomotive bodies are plastic. It's a thick, sturdy plastic that would hold up well in play.

Those elastic bands that transfer power to the axles are the first things to go.

The Japanese locomotives -- and the Distler tinplate F3 -- I have all use some type of gear drive.

This locomotive uses a belt drive. Rubber bands loop around the wheel axles and the drive rod that extends from the motor.

This set is over a half-century old, and the original belts have long since dry-rotted. But apparently, they didn't hold up to continued use, even when new.

I've seen several examples of this set with all its component parts. Every single one has a small bag with spare drive belts.

The set I have also came with replacement belts. Of course, after all this time even the replacement belts that came with my set are dry-rotted. So I need to find a solution.

Most rubber bands are simply too big. I couldn't loop it around multiple times. That made the rubber band bind to itself as it was turned. The wheels hardly turned.

I thought the rubber bands used with braces might work. They're very small and strong. The drug store didn't have any in stock, but they did have very small hair bands.

These are made of silicon rather than rubber. This keeps the bands from catching on the hairs. And as it turned out, it was just about the right size for the locomotive.

So for a dollar, I got a pack of 75 bands. That should be more than enough to keep this loco running for some time!

I used two polybands. This powers both axles and gives the locomotive a little more energy.

Ready to roll. You can see the lead and trailing trucks on the body.

The Cragstan/Distler set came with wider radius track than I have on the Straco Express layout. Fortunately, the locomotive has both leading and trailing trucks. These help keep the engine from derailing, even on the tighter curves of the Japanese track.

I'm glad to get this train rolling again. I know most collectors are content to just have something nice to put on the shelf. But these are toys and were meant to be run. So I'm happiest when they're doing what they were designed to.

Diabelli Project 183 - Wind Duet Part 1

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments

New month, new project. The idea for this duet popped into my head right as I was putting pen to paper. That's actually the way I like to do these flash compositions. It helps me bypass my inner critic, who often prevents me from writing anything at all.

I started with the unison motif and then took it from there. As you can see, it wasn't long before the two instruments wandered off in their own directions.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

#ClassicsaDay #WeWriteSymphonies Annotated List - Week 4

I'm a regular contributor to the #ClassicsaDay feed on Twitter. At a speech in Poland on 7/6/17, the President said, "The world has never known anything like our community of nations. We write symphonies."  The next day #WeWriteSymphonies appeared on Twitter, citing all the non-Western -- and non-white -- composers who do indeed write symphonies.

To celebrate composers of color, I used both hashtags in my feed for the month of September.

Below is an annotated list for the fourth and final week of posts.

José Silvestre White Lafitte (1836-1918) - Concerto for Violin

Lafitte was born in Cuba. He was an accomplished violinist and toured with Louis Moreau Gottschalk. His works are mostly for the violin, including a concerto.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) Symphony in A minor, Op. 8 (1896)

Coleridge-Taylor had a Creole father and an English mother. His music was extremely popular in Britain and the United States. In New York, musicians referred to him as the "African Mahler."

 

José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) - Requiem (1816)

Garcia was born in Rio de Janeiro of mulatto parents. He was a skilled singer, harpsichordist, and composer. In 1807 he was appointed the Master of the Royal Chapel for the King of Portugal. Garcia was also an ordained priest, and many of his works were written for the church. He also composed secular works, including an opera and at least one symphony.

Edmond Dédé (1827-1901) - Chicago, Grande valse à l'Américaine (1891)

Edmond Dédé was born in New Orleans. Though a free Creole, he had to move to Europe to have any kind of career. Dédé was a successful violinist, conductor, and composer in France. Many of his orchestral works have French-inspired themes, such as his 1865 Quasimodo Symphony.

William Grant Still (1895-1978) Symphony No. 2 in G minor "Song of a New Race"

William Grant Still studied with both George Whitefield Chadwick and Edgard Varèse. His ground-breaking career includes a number of African-American firsts: first to have a work produced by the New York City Opera; first to conduct a major symphony orchestra; first to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. "Song of a New Race" is the second of his five symphonies.

Week 1 Annotated List
Week 2 Annotated List
Week 3 Annotated List
Week 4 Annotated List

Line Mar Match Box Construction 077 - Hand Wagon

I found a Line Mar Match Box Construction Set from the 1930s, complete and with instructions. The box claimed the set made 100 different toys. I decided to test that claim -- one toy at a time. You can read all the posts for the Line Mar construction project at 100 Toys.

077. Hand Wagon

This was another toy that simply could not be built with the pieces provided -- not unless one wanted to modify them.

The first problem is in the handle. There isn't a dowel short enough to secure the five-hole strips to the three-hole strips and be flush with the fiberboard collars. 

Also, there isn't a dowel short enough to secure the handle to the two cubes in front of the wagon body. The dowels that hold those cubes to the body get in the way. 

I could have cut dowels of the proper lengths for the build. But I didn't. The whole purpose of this project is to build the toys with the pieces that came with the set. 

Below is the result, and it's a bit of cheat. I simply placed the handle between the two cubes. The only thing holding it in place is tension. Those two collars between the strips make the assembly a tight fit between the cubes. 

It's fine for a photo, but it means the handle isn't really attached to anything, so you can't use it to pull the wagon.