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sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Sonata, She Wrote
@sonatashewrote.bsky.social
510 followers 500 following 630 posts
A defunct YouTube channel about music theory. Chess, Classical Music, LPs

These letters may appear random, but they apply to me: DMA, AuDHD, LGBTQ - Dan Wolfe - he/him

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCx9noPmwpRhDKtunBjpSYNQ
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sonatashewrote.bsky.social
If you abandon the game instead of resigning on chess.com you should lose double the elo.
October 25, 2025 at 2:04 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I sacrificed, THE ROOOOOOOK! #chess is there any kind of chess BlueSky community? Thinking of doing a 100 days of chess type of thing
October 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
And he sacrifices THE ROOOOOOOOOOK
Chess game from chess.com with a rook sacrifice
August 22, 2025 at 7:04 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
The Ruy Lopez opening is so annoying to play against that I am just going to start using it myself. #chess
August 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Sonata, She Wrote
lollardfish.bsky.social
What was your favorite early clas NOT in your eventual major. Mine was Ethnomusicology: an introduction to folk music.
anthrodiva.bsky.social Anthrodiva is a Sagittarius @anthrodiva.bsky.social · Jul 28
I invariably get, "Ooh anthro that was my favorite class/cool professor" from people I meet. I tend to think soms of it is our outré material, being willing to talk "taboo" subjects in a cross-cultural context.

Ironically MY favorite class was probably Geology 101...
July 28, 2025 at 1:14 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I am wondering what Natalie Wynn (contrapoints) could’ve said about Israel that wouldn’t have resulted in an internet dogpile.
July 11, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Reposted by Sonata, She Wrote
nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
There are only three political positions in America today

1) I like the fascism

2) I'll acquiesce to the fascism (reasons for this one vary: cowardice, access, denial, misguidedly thinking that acquiescence is savvy, etc)

3) I oppose the fascism

The rest is details
June 28, 2025 at 6:10 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Ohio State announces it is now a joke.
hypervisible.blacksky.app Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Jun 8
“‘Through AI Fluency, Ohio State students will be ‘bilingual’ — fluent in both their major field of study and the application of AI in that area,’ Ravi V. Bellamkonda, executive vice president and provost, said.” 😵
Ohio State announces every student will use AI in class
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Starting this fall, every Ohio State student will be asked to use artificial intelligence. “Through AI Fluency, Ohio State students will be ‘bilingual’ — fluent …
www.nbc4i.com
June 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Don’t ask my elo but just know I’m way prouder of this checkmate than I should be
A chessboard from chess.com showing 2 knights giving checkmate
April 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
If equal temperament has 1,000,000 haters, I am one of them.
If equal temperament has 1 hater, it is me.
If equal temperament has 0 haters, I am dead.
April 15, 2025 at 10:07 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I think it’s time to reverse the curse everyone, we need to go back before the early modern era and set things right, I will be attempting to turn back time by playing the lute and using only 16th century chess openings, do your part.
March 9, 2025 at 12:22 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Something that surprises me about having a 13 year old dog is that I have to tell him to slow down so he doesn’t get hurt. A truly bizarre combination of geriatric and toddler behavior
The dog in question, 13 year old Merlin, a lab-hound mix.
March 1, 2025 at 10:49 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Every time I see Musk’s name in media it should be formatted like this

Elon Musk, who recently gave 2 Nazi salutes, …
February 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
“Clap on 2&4 never on 1&3!”

Hey. Stop clapping! You’re bothering me
February 24, 2025 at 12:02 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I just finished Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle. I liked it a lot but mostly I just want to say that I finished it because it’s almost 3000 pages long.
January 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. …To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
January 23, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Reposted by Sonata, She Wrote
assignedmedia.org
EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT:

Assigned Media will be doing our first ever live Twitch stream this Monday.

Our trans journalists are counterprogramming the Trump inauguration. They'll play games, goof off, answer questions, and update you on the news, occasionally.

We've even got a special guest!
assignedmedia - Twitch
assignedmedia streams live on Twitch! Check out their videos, sign up to chat, and join their community.
www.twitch.tv
January 18, 2025 at 12:53 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Halfway through the final novel of Neal Stephenson’s baroque cycle, and/or halfway through the 7th of 8 novels of the BC. Has anyone read this? I love it. I wish someone with actual credentials would do a historical series unpacking the history of the era the book is focused on.
January 13, 2025 at 3:29 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Listening to a 1978 recording of Histoire du Soldat conducted by stokowski, probably one of my all time favorite pieces and if you’re a bassoonist incredibly fun to play (and wickedly hard!). Loren Glickman is crushing it on this record-although I haven’t gotten to the ragtime yet…
Stravinsky Histoire du Soldat [A Soldier’s Tale] ensemble info in alt text of next picture, album art depicts the soldier playing his violin attended by his gf, while the devil sneaks up behind him Igor Stravinsky Speaking roles (In both French and English versions) MADELEINE MILHAUD, Narrator JEAN PIERRE AUMONT, the Soldier MARTIAL SINGHER, the Devil L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT (The Soldier's Tale) Libretto by C. F. Ramuz Instrumentalists Gerald Tarack, violin Julius Levine, double bass Charles Russo, clarinet Loren Glickman, bassoon Theodore Weis, trumpet John Swallow, trombone Raymond Desroches, percussion Conducted by LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
January 11, 2025 at 11:03 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I say we rename Beethoven’s Große Fugue as one of the following

Beethoven’s Fat Ass Fugue
Big ‘n’ Juicy Fugue
Oh that fugue? She thicc.
Gyat-DAMN that fugue!
Dat fugue doe
Big Ol’ Fugue

Who’s with me!?
January 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Have you always wanted to Capture the sounds of great music? Well now thanks to Funk and Wagnalls Family Library of Great Music, you can!
I love finding things like this, especially ones with all the parts but I hate how tempted I am to track down all 24! More details in the alt texts
Funk and Wagnalls Family Library of Great Music, album 1. Beethoven’s pathetique. Played by the RPO and conducted by Charles Grove. Reverse of the album. The collection is from 1966 originally, but this was printed and pressed in 1984, which explains the number of “the late…” on the advisory committee Cover of the included brochure for the library of 24 albums, bassoon prominently featured of course
December 10, 2024 at 9:13 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Lock me up if you want to but I think harpsichord sounds really dumb when paired with modern instruments.

No one’s more of a period ensemble girly than me (ok some of you probably are). But with a modern flute, bassoon, and tourte bows? it just sounds like a tinkly annoyance behind everyone.
December 9, 2024 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Sonata, She Wrote
dasdoak.bsky.social
I just finished traveling across the country by plane with a toddler in tow. This clarified something for me;

We should build high speed rail not because it'd produce far less pollution and be cheaper than flying.

We should build high speed rail because flying has become abusively degrading.
December 4, 2024 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Sonata, She Wrote
rickihirsch.bsky.social
Fred Rodgers on the importance of making something even if other people don't think it's good had me crying this morning. Passing it along for anyone else that might need it.
A man in a green sweater and blue shirt drawing with crayons across three pictures. "Do you like to draw with crayons. I'm not very good at it but it doesn't matter" A man in a green sweater and blue shirt drawing with crayons across three pictures. "It's the fun of doing it that's important. Now, I wouldn't have made that if I'd just thought about it." A man in a green sweater and blue shirt drawing with crayons across three pictures. "No matter how anybody says it is. It feels good to have made something. The best thing is that each person's would be different." A man in a green sweater and blue shirt drawing with crayons across three pictures. "In a way, you've already won in this world because you're the only one who can be you and that's the way it's supposed to be."
October 25, 2024 at 12:28 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Listening to Sinfonia Domestica, a digital recording from 1984 but it was also 75 cents. Perfectly good as a placeholder til I can find a better recording of it.
The young Richard Strauss, after writing two symphonies, insisted that he did not believe in the form. He wrote tone-poems instead - and in several cases preferred not to call them by that name either. In 1894 he married Pauline de Ahna, a high-spirited, strong-willed operatic soprano. Their only child, Franz, was born in 1897. Strauss had progressively extended his symphonic poems from the concise Macbeth (1888) to the lengthy Ein Heldenleben (1898). All these symphonic poems were about some hero with whom the composer more or less consciously identified himself; they are masterly constructions for large symphony orchestra. In early 1902 he began work on a further tone-poem which would be expressly about his own home-life, Father, Mother and Son, invaded only for a moment by adoring relations. He finished composing this tone-poem in F major, which he entitled a "Domestic Symphony" ', in June 1903 while he, his wife, and their son were holidaying in the Isle of Wight. On his return to Berlin, where he was musical director of the Imperial Court Opera, he scored the work and completed it on New Year's Eve 1903. During a tour of America Strauss conducted the first performance at Carnegie Hall, New York, in March 1904. The introduction first exposes five themes describing Father: easy-going on cellos; dreamy on oboe, moody on clarinets, fiery on violins, and (after more moodiness), high-spirited on a trumpet; the easy-going theme returns for a moment. The second group is about Mother: loud on flutes, oboes and first violins (it is Papa's first theme upside down, to show that they are well-matched op-posites). The mother has a further variety of themes, forthright and clearly audible: she is supposed to be rough-tempered but full of feeling. One of her themes comes from a piano waltz by Tchaikovsky (a taunt against her husband's lack of originality). Father's first theme returns, even more affable than before, perhaps calming her tantrum.
December 6, 2024 at 6:31 PM