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la petite girafe Miscellaneous

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the little giraffe swashbuckling?

FAQ —
A story with the little giraffe

Only recently, a reader of the little giraffe pointed out that there were no FAQs hereabouts. That’s pretty true, I thought. Thus far. Almost certainly people would have a lot of questions to ask the little giraffe, I thought, but everyone was afraid to ask. Whatever the case may be, here you are ten frequently asked questions about the little giraffe.

What is the little giraffe’s given name?

It doesn’t have any. Disappointed about that fact? Let’s remenber one of the best lines of the iconic TV series Columbo starring Peter Falk as protagonist:

From the police, ma’am. I’m Lieutenant Columbo.
Columbo?
Yes, ma’am, but you can call me Lieutenant.

Hence we see that we don’t always depend on forenames.

How old is the little giraffe?

The little giraffe was put together in October 2019. It is approximately 1.5 years old.

Does the little giraffe miss Africa?

No, not at all. It has never seen the continent. It is true that the natural habitat of every member of the family Giraffidae is situated in Africa, but the little giraffe’s building blocks were fabricated in Asia. However, the assemblage took place in Austria.

What is the little giraffe’s favourite food?

As observed on the photo below, the little giraffe’s favourite dish is the greenery from our pot plants. Its strictly vegan diet could not prevent several bone fractures and split-offs, though.

The little giraffe prefers a vegan diet.
Is the little giraffe a good ski jumper?

Due to the animated film series Athleticus, giraffes are no good ski jumpers. See it for yourself!

Does the little giraffe really love contemporary music so much?

I can’t put my finger on it. Certainly it enjoys a lot of modern music at the place where it’s living. It’s safe to say that whenever a piece of the little giraffe breaks off or gets lost it’s not due to the music it is surrounded by.

Is the little giraffe swashbuckling?

Definitely. Inspite of its tininess and regardless of its rather sheepish look, the little giraffe is very adventurous. Be it climbing up Christmas trees or confronting the hectoring clay boar: The little giraffe turns out as fearless as audacious—and it will never miss the boat when it gets down to breaking one or more than one of its legs.

Who’s the little giraffe’s best friend?

The little giraffe is best friends with a dragon-like five-legged creature called FĂĽnffusssaurus. Read here more about FĂĽnffusssaurus.

What’s the number of parts the little giraffe is made of?

The litte giraffe consists of more than 150 components. Additionally, there are are several spare parts available in the construction set.

Send us your sightings.
Can I make friends with the little giraffe too?

Sure! The little giraffe is delighted to get in touch with its readers. Feel free to send a message to giraffe@chrenhart.eu — we’re collecting items, places and oddities that feature giraffes. Take a picture of your object/place/whatever you’ve seen and send it to us.

Categories
la petite girafe Miscellaneous

A List Of Yellow Items

La petite girafe liste …
Yellow Items

  1. The Yellow Elephant from Prague. A clay figure dating back to at least 2014 when it was purchased in one of those many tiny shops overcrowded by international tourists you find at every corner in the Czech capital. In contrast to other cities, Prague offers loads of hand-crafted things at such places at vastly reasonable prices. I’m still in doubt whether or not this is really meant to be an elephant, but its most prominent features—the very big ears and a trunk—purport that we can consider it one.
  2. Adhesive Tape. There is not very much to say about that item. Everyone has one somewheres at home, however I try to avoid using it most of the time as taping something together proves to be the next best thing more often than not.
  3. A self-stick notepad. There are many ways they might turn out to be handy. Whenever I get down to extracting the parts from a score I really love them and eventually my desk would become a yellow or white and red carpet—all covered with sticky notes. Cut into thin slices they are also very useful for playing compositions on the piano that require some extended playing techniques which usually means to do something on a specific string of the instrument. Piano strings are not arranged in a standardized way. Thus it might turn out that the Gb1-string(s) are not at the very same place on a concert hall’s piano as on the piano you have at home; hence it is definitely a good idea to attach some (removable) indentations to be sure you hit the right tones and strings on an unfamiliar instrument. Slices of sticky notes attached to the dampers can do this job wonderfully for you.
  4. A yellow blackboard chalk. I love colours—in nearly any context. Explaining something on the blackboard, you can easily group some information that belongs together. I purchased my set of chalks in 2019 I think. Due to the pandemic it has not been used very often since then.
  5. Hermann Erpf’s Lehrbuch der Instrumentation. Honestly, did I really think I could retrieve some inspiriation concerning the way of how to orchestrate my own compositions from this very book? Perhaps some teachers will bring forward the argument that this book needs to be considered a standard reference. I read it. At least.
  6. Panther’s immunization card. Unfortunately no longer needed as our pet cat passed away in January )-;
  7. A yellow fluorescent marker. I’ve hardly ever used it, but it’s yellow, though.
  8. Some glue. Even the paste itself is yellow. After attaching it to paper, it would stick together really well. A bit frightening, isn’t it?
  9. The little giraffe. Well, that’s pretty obvious.
Categories
la petite girafe Miscellaneous

la petite girafe travaille a la domicile

La petite girafe travaille a la domicile. —
A story with the little giraffe

This is not going to end up as a new corona-blog. In the course of setting up my new homepage I figured out that the last story with the little giraffe dates back to 2019. What a desaster. I have made the most ambitious LPG-plans for 2020, but it all has come different. As we’ve finally headed back to working from home I’m getting overtaken by the feeling that this should be a somewhat familiar situation to a composers. Of course it is—and of course it isn’t.

Krzysztof Penderecki, the great Polish composer who passed away but a few months ago, was also known for sketching some of his compositional ideas on small tables in coffee houses, which has influenced his way of notating his music. Other than that, composers usually love to ponder over their ideas in peaceul seclusion. Silence helps us because it wouldn’t distort the sounds that we bear in our minds before we write them down, unless we consider that silence itself can be regarded as music. If I listened to the silence in a way I listen to music by John Cage, it would definitely distort my thoughs while composing a new piece. Nonetheless I daresay that I believe it is easier to think of a nice microtonally tuned harmonic progression when there’s less obvious noise around oneself than in a coffee house.

I’m definitely missing having a cup of coffee at the Baristas across from our university building or the unhurriedly homelike Kaiserfeld in Graz these days, though. Art is not only something meant to be shared with as many people as possible but art will also not become seen, if people do not come together. People come together in concert halls and people meet and talk about music and art at places such as the Kaiserfeld. Thus, even my work as a composer cannot be done entirely from home. The act of composing is done at home, whereas bringing a new work to the audience isn’t.

Well, as 2021 nears, let’s be optimistic. Here you are some thirteen giraffe-like plans for the coming year that cannot be done at home:

  1. Drink a cappuccino at Kaiserfeld’s.
  2. Go to see a film at the cinema and grumble about it afterwards.
  3. Argue Ferneyhough’s notation with other musicians—accompanied by a pint of Guinness in order to entirely understand what this is all about.
  4. Turn the pages for a pianist at a concert
  5. Go to a vernissage and ask the artist a silly question.
  6. Hand out flyers at various public places.
  7. Play on an old organ (not in concert).
  8. Play on a singing bowl (in concert).
  9. Visit the Funeral Museum Vienna.
  10. Try to sell a replica of Kircher’s Maltese Observatory on a flea market.
  11. Visit Italy.
  12. Go to the Kunsthaus in Graz and purchase a little friend for the little giraffe.
  13. Travel to Kapfenberg by train, see if they have finally rebuilt the station there and go back again (there’s nothing special about Kapfenberg).