All posts by diana Stone

About diana Stone

Diana Stone is a performing composer and musician playing Piano Violin & Guitar. She currently plays with Orchard and The Sonic Boomers. Previously with Rock/Roots band Elephant Shelf and also the Delta Ladies who mixed roots acoustic music and electronica until the death of Vicky Martin who formed the band which was active for 17 years. Diana composes in a variety of styles from pop to rock to Jazz and and classical music. Diana is also expert in multi-media recording and music production.

Mid September Lockdown 2020

Still here just about then. I can’t believe it has  been going on since March. Its a sunny day again so not  too bad. I just finished a rather different piece of music and mixed it today. It seems to work, but who knows. Not much else is changed. My back still aches and there is no likelihood of a gig anytime soon. Its very much a time to pause and reflect as actually there is not much choice to do otherwise now. 

My mental health is moderate to mildly flaky at present.  At present I am fretting over getting the car MOT sorted out  and hoping it’s not going to cost silly money. Do I actually need a car anymore? My partner has a small hatchback that I can use, so maybe with no work on the horizon I don’t anymore. I dont want to give up the element  of freedom though if I dont have too. It Is difficult choice though. 

I am ploughing on with my exercise regime  for my back and posture. That’s helping but I am definitely feeling it at times now.  Otherwise I am trying to carry on writing music and recording it and just trying not to suck too much at  it. 

Its not looking good on the Covid-19 front and things do seem to be taking a turn for the worse in that respect so it could be a gloomy winter. 

Here’s my latest  musical offering for you all.  

 

 

So apart from the usual whats up.  In some senses life is like being on a permanent holiday. That sounds better than it actually is though. The lack of direct social contact is very waring now to be honest.  I had a couple of better days.I do feel bit more positive. I just hope its not the run in to a manic phase though (as you mentioned bi-polar). Good for music and creativity, but for mental health not so much. Christmas is going to be a really miserable for people that like people I suspect. I think we are likely to be at (essential travel only at the end of October) by the looks of things and I note that the new year fireworks in London are cancelled.

There are still many people avoiding going out too, at least in company.Even some of the very sociable pub going people are suffering a loss of confidence.

On the matter of making music “Music is magic, but the making of it is practical magic, remembering to cast the right spells and how to wave your wizards wand so you can summon a demon to do your will rather than a lemon for your gin and tonic”

Unless you need a lemon of course.

I just my got my PA and band kit put away in my storage area. That seems like a real full stop. An ending indeed. I am seriously considering now if I should sell it? That’s triggered a lot of mixed feelings for me. I cant see a way forward from here until we get from under Covid and that could be a very long time. Another 18 months maybe?  So I cannot just jog along as things are, or I shall be  cracking up big time.  Perhaps its time for a bit of DIY or something? I have a little list indeed.  Thank goodness for radio 4 as an aid to sanity. 

Diana Stone at Houghton House Picture by Ralph Stephenson.
To see more of Ralphs pictures go here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphstephenson/

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Lets be careful out there.

The weekend

Trying to look busy and vaguely intelligent again.
It’s a Bank Holiday monday. I have nothing left to say.  Yep I think I am getting depressed again. I thought I was going to be able to get away with it, but its got me again. So I know how you feel because there area lot of you out there feeling much the same now. Also we dont know where we are headed really. How much of a risk is it worth taking when we have no way to figure out the odds?  How worried should I be at this stage in my life.  Who knows. I have been working on my violin bowing technique as its a weak point in certain aspects. There are some songs which are gestating in the background as ever. It maybe though that september will not be quite as productive as previous months due to the way I am feeling right now.  At present I mostly experiencing the world creatively through on line interactions as of course are many others. I am beginning to doubt my sanity very slightly now too in some respects. This last week I have had a flaire up of back problems too which has not done my mood much of a favour and added to the general air of doom. So first eat cake, then think on.Its difficult to look forward cheerfully though. We are are still here and that’s grand of course but just sitting on the porch gently rocking looses its appeal after a while. Also I am getting old and I do wonder what I am capable of in future if there is one. I have been fairly morbid recently in terms of my internal monologue. 

Why am I not learning a new skill or improving my French or whatever? The same reason that others are not I guess. 

The last song this month is Golden Ticket

I finished a song a day or so ago. I slightly messed up the final transfer of the mix so I had to redo it. Its  fairly conventional sounding tune for a change. Straightforward one might say in many ways.  As I type this we have gone from a heatwave to conditions more like the beginning of November in the space of a week or so. So I am sulking as I cant go out to play mostly due to the dread C19 virus messing things up bigtime. I dont expect much sympathy as you lot can’t really keep calm and carry on either can you? 

So here is the song first in case you dont want to read all the whinging first.

I am glad we got that bit over first. So back to the whinging then.  Some people are relentlessly upbeat all the time.How do they do it and what are they on?  The walls continue to close in on me I am afraid. I have been trying to open the doors but the wind is blowing them firmly shut again. The damp is making my bones complain again.

I cannot say I have ever felt as isolated and out of touch at anytime in my life so far as I have during the weeks since March 23rd this year when lockdown restrictions were formally introduced in the United Kingdom. Everything is strange and surreal. Even the most mundane activities as we go to the shop masked like cowboys with bandanas as we buy a hand of bananas. The novelty has worn off now though.
Will we ever get back to normal? I am not convinced its going to happen anytime soon. One year, two years, longer perhaps. It’s hard to imagine really. So far we have had restrictions for 159 days.  And we are still here.

if only I still had something to say.

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Why is patience so important?”
“Because it makes us pay attention.”
― Paulo Coelho