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.

October Musings Part 3

Diana Stones Songs, glass cage, music, Musings, other, Piano, pictures, whatever,

Yes, it’s the next thrilling installment and I bet you just can’t wait.

My reptile part of my brain is convinced of the following: 1) I will die of something awful soon (This thought has been with for years generally and ebbs and flows in it’s intensity like weather patterns ). 2) Something will go wrong and I wont receive my pension, even though I have a piece of paper telling me exactly when and how much. 3) Although my car has a very expensive service and drives smoothly, that it will fail and leave me stranded somewhere. 4)….. In fact I could go on listing stuff forever. It’s really annoying but I have had to deal with feeling like this for what feels like time immemorial. 

A perfect example of an anxiety driven logical fallacy.

At the time of writing I have just added a Violin part to a track sent to me by Jon Bickley and I am pleased to say he likes it.  I tried a slightly different recording set up to simplify things and it worked like a treat. The more I do the more I want to do. That helps when the depression thing kicks in.   It’s a typical autumn day out here almost countryside land, Sunny cool and the  trees giving a decent display of colour as the leaves turn. 

Here is a tune from earlier this year,(February perhaps). Its a Violin and synth tune with a lush orchestration. Its starts slowly and dreamily then the beats kick in. Ideal for dancing around your lounge after too many cans of cheap larger and/or other relaxants.

Musically speaking generally things are going fairly well though still not very much happening on the gig front alas. So another Saturday night in doing solo interpretive dancing because it’s good exercise, though it might look silly. So maybe I am interpreting myself in that case .

Tea is the essence of life, with no tea life would be dull indeed.

October Musings Part 2

Musings

I am sort of in limbo really. Everything is slightly on hold. I did only minimal exercises this morning. Its is dawning on me that apart from: #1 Armageddon #2 Onset of serious illness This is it in terms of what my life is and will be. That is both a relief but also slightly daunting as I now need to plow on with things under my own steam. If they fail I don’t have comfort of blaming other when I screw up. I am a little under motivated, which is why I am tagging onto and working with other other people. Though I do my own creative thing, I do need outside poking to jolly me along a bit as well. So my Ok-ness is slightly tempered by the notion that I must keep interacting with people and not get too introverted again.  It’s that old thing of not being able to go backwards and not being able to go forwards yet. A feeling of stuckness and nostalgia and and also wondering why the axe has not fallen yet. I didn’t calculate on me still being around at this stage. My script sort of ran out, but I am still here and the play continues. I am unsure though of what my part is, and so improvise wildly waiting for a prompt from the box and wondering why the curtain has not come down. I have in relative terms done a reasonable amount this year to try and keep things going on the musical front at least but it’s felt like very hard work. That bad bout of covid was not much help either. I think Christmas is going to be very grim frankly this year.

I try to plan for the future but within reason live for the day. You have to do that as part of managing depression and also arthritis pain for example. So I shuffle a long. My next Amazon and Spotify and all that etcetera album is scheduled to be released on 11 November. That will earn me at least 00.40p over the year LOL. But hey it’s fun and why not. 

This is from about a year ago.

October Musing Part 1

Musings

I am aching and sore which is quite a bore. Typing is  painful. And sitting too. Funny how a slight unnoticed movement sets everything off. Its very tedious. Off for  a bit  of a walk but it is  suddenly gloomy here, though not cold particularly.  The new trees in the landscaped parts of our development have not faired well due to the drought. I hope they make it through the winter. I am typing standing up again due to back problems. It may help a  little. I am so not bendy and possibly a little Entish  at present again. A lot of arthritis  agro too. 5 years ago on the date of writing this I was getting on the Le Shuttle to do some gigs in France.  A very different world. Time passes in a flash. Currently I am recording and have had to admit defeat on an instrumental which is not working quite as expected, so it will be adapted and transformed instead. Note to self: try not to be too clever.

But hey here it is anyway, you be the judge.

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And in other news: I think there is a war on somewhere, but I am trying not to think about it too much. These are interesting times.  Listening to the radio news with politicians gaslighting away. Are there any left in the UK government that have any sort of moral compass?  Nah… Didn’t think so.

Hope springs infernal as they say

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Hoping in the Lord, waiting with confident expectation for Him to act on our behalf will lead to fresh, renewable, supernatural strength.