Monthly Archive

Noted anti-composer John Cage would be proud: Twelve circuit-bent, MIDI-actuated Pikachu toys scream together to form the “Y.M.O” — the Yellow Mouse Orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT-CgYPE2y0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDKsmGw-7Rc

Pink Tentacle via Listenerd
 

I took 2 pictures of the burlarized house this morning and wanted to share:

-first, a sample of a ransacked room where I had office stuff and books stored.

Looks like someone had a can of spray paint.  ” H T H Lil Hoo”   Hmmm…

This is a clue to the mental age of the felons…

But why fret about some silly break-in;  –it’s only stuff, right?

I wish I could find that old movie I saw years ago;  “Walking Tall”.  Or anything pretty much any movie that stars Charles Bronson.

It’s early morning here and I just got through sharing a finger exercise on Ovidiu’s Guitarflame site.  It got me thinking about how my teaching is often at odds with my colleagues.

{”Colleagues?  What colleagues?  The only folks at my school that have any sense left about them are the students…”]

  Here’s a confession:  –my teacher taught me to question the “rules” and to make my own choices.  I haven’t found any reason to discard this approach, either.

Here’s a partial summation of the Leschetizsky “Method” found on Kevin Purrone’s site:

1. Good fingerings are easy fingerings
2. Fingerings must fit the size and stretch of the hands
3. Loud tones should be played by strong fingers when possible
4. Do not avoid the thumb and 5th fingers on black notes
5. Alternating fingers on repeated notes in a slow tempo is obsolete.

So why do we force students practice scale fingerings if at times the “correct” fingering is not the easiest fingering?

Answer - Scales are fundamental building blocks for tonal music.  They should not become an obsession and should be taken with a few grains of salt (preferably adhering to the rim of the glass). 

The same is true for suggested fingerings found in edited music books;  take them as a suggestion and not as a commandment.

I’d bet money that many thousands of students quit music because they’re forced to play boring stupid scale patterns on their instruments which, in the long run, don’t really matter.

It’s better to spend your time playing good music.  Fun music.  If you don’t have any fun music, then go out and get some.  Not that crap that your teacher wants you to play;  if you don’t like their music (assignments), hand it back and say “give me some good music”.  Remember, the customer is always right.

Actually, I wish the customer was always right.  Because then maybe music educators would get a clue and stop doing things just because someone told them that it was “pedagogically correct” or is part of some God-forsaken “age-appropriate scope and sequence.”  It really chafes my donkey that we don’t spend every lesson helping students learn to not need us anymore.   And students are different;  what is appropriate/necessary/fun for one is not necessarily good for another student.   Technique is not the goal;  - expression is the goal.  The correct technique should be easy and should never become the most important goal in the lesson.

I’ve put in a lot of hours (musically speaking) over the years, but I rarely ever practiced.  Instead, I played.

I played.

Get it?

”Played percussively, the piano is a bore. If I go to a concert and someone plays like that I have two choices: go home or go to sleep. The goal is to make the piano sing, sing, sing.”

                                                  V.Horowitz

 

 

Some thugs broke into Mom and Dad’s old home this afternoon.  I was working there until noon this morning and took the afternoon off to take my sister-in-law to the doctor.  I returned around 6 PM to find the rear door kicked in and the screened porch door cut and the lock pried off. 

Mom and Dad moved into a house down the street from me about a month and a half ago.  While all their “good stuff” had already been moved away and stored, I did have boxes upon boxes of old tests from my office, loads of books, boxes of dissertation stuff and a bit of studio gear stored there.  Apparently they were looking for very specific things; –guns, checks, jewelry, etc., …and I’m really not sure if they found any checks or jewelry (I think I’d moved all of that).  Perhaps they’d carried a few things off, but I returned before they took all they intended.  They had made a big pile in the living room of stuff they intended to come back and get.  These things were mostly tools from the garage, a new window air conditioner in the box, a couple of old cassette players, an old TV, and a dummy hand grenade (hey, –it looked cool). 

Here’s a list of what they didn’t take (and I’m very blessed that they knew nothing about what they left):

Trapkat Midi Controller (needs updating to latest software version)

Reel-to-reel tape player

Shortwave radio

78 RPM player that works

An old tube radio

Oak mechanic’s toolbox

Sitar

Trumpet

Tons of music

Framed poster signed by composer Dominic Argento

Greek guitar

Dulcimer

Rode mic

Lots of cables

Conga drum

2 African talking drums (one authentic, the other from Pakistan)

Crotales (the pitches needed for performing Les Noce by Igor Stravinsky)

An old pair of Studio Monitors

2 Hotspot monitors

Misc. mic stands and booms.

You can tell that I’m feeling very blessed right now;  and I moved all those items plus the booty they planned to return for to a new location.  I put padlocks on all the rear doors tonight and repaired the kicked-in door as best as I could.  The police came and made a report and promised to check the house several times tonight to see if they might snag the burglars upon their return.    

What a night!

Whew!!

Oliver at Wire-to-the-Ear found this gem: Writerhymes.com.

To get suggestions for a rhyme, you alt-click the target word.

It allows you to write and save your work.  It’s worth a look!

Here’s a bit from a song I started working on while checking out the site:

You made me some porridge
So I put it in storage
She lost her gall bladder
–Rhymes can’t get any badder…

Personally, I’m hearing it as a rap verse… anyone got any ideas for the hook?

Peace,

J

For The Birds -  Brad and Bobby laying down a scratch track of “The Lights”

 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=38573961

 the lights are on in the studio

the lights are on in the studio

(This post was originally titled “Fixing a Small Organ Problem” but I thought better of it!)

Well, the digital organ at the Catholic Church is on the fritz again which prompted another visit from Keith, the formerly wild-n-crazy Santana FOH sound engineer now turned organ repairman.  Keith drove about 3 hours to get here and, as Murphy’s Law would have it, the organ worked perfectly while he was here.  He did some “soul-searching” and took apart the power supply and checked capacitors, but we still don’t know if it’s fixed or not.  We agreed that beginning to change out parts at this stage of the game was a waste of time, but if he had just a bit more information, he would know what to do on the next trip.

Basically, he gave me “THE LESSON” on how to troubleshoot a digital organ when your repair shop is 3 hours away.  Since I know so many of my readers would find this information useful, I decided to share it with you.  The trouble I’m having with this instrument is that it randomly sounds like fireworks going off at close range;  –not all the time, but just during times when people would be frightened to hear such loud low-frequency noise.

THE LESSON

Number One.  If the organ is acting up (i.e. making explosion sounds) during a service,  give up and turn it off.  People will likely leave to join another church if you leave it on.

Number Two.  If it acts up and no one would be alarmed by the noise, then leave it on and quickly perform the following steps:  (you’ll need a screwdriver).

1.  
   1. Make sure you have full access to the rear panel (the side the organist can’t see if he’s playing).
   2. Using your phillips screwdriver, remove the two screws at the top of the back panel to expose the inner “guts”.  The first step is to Identify the two power amps at the bottom left of the organ; –they both look like they have 2 silver beer cans mounted on the metal boxes’ left side.  You’ll also see a heatsink-looking thing to the right of the transformer.  The amp on the left (assuming no one has screwed with the wiring) is for flute stops.  The amp on the right is the main amp. 
   3. Identify the silver shaft on the lower l.h. side of each of the amps.  This is volume but they don’t put a knob on it.   While the organ is acting up, turn one amp’s volume counterclockwise to see if the problem goes away.  This way you’ll know which amp/circuit boards may be involved.  When you’re finished, turn the shafts back to their original position.  DON’T TOUCH OTHER WIRES/PARTS WITH YOUR HANDS!   If you feel the need to bump things around a bit, use something with an insulated handle.
   4. Did I mention to remember the way the volume shaft was set before you turned it?  If you don’t really know, you’ll have to go back later and balance the flute stop volume against the other stops.  Not to much of a problem.
   5. Now look for the big honking circuitboard that is directly facing you.  This is mounted on a panel that you’ll need to swing open; –the screw that holds it in is to your left on the side.  Remove this knob/screw and put this somewhere safe;  you don’t want to lose it (or leave it off when you’re through).  
   6. Swing open the panel to expose all the circuitboards attached to its rear.  The one you’re looking for is the A/D converter board;  it has 2 RCA cables that plug into jacks soldered onto the board.  (Remember, the organ needs to still be powered on and acting up at this point, otherwise you’re wasting your time). 
   7. One at a time,  remove these cables from the board (noticing which one goes where!).  If the problem goes away at this point,  make a note of which cable has to be removed for the problem to cease.  Call your trusty repairman and he’ll know which circuitboards to bring based on which wire it is (top or bottom).
   8. If the problem is still happening, then fear not!  It is in the amp section.  Repeat step 3 to confirm if one or both is bad.
   9. Return everything back to its original position and close/secure the panel.  Replace the back and wait for the calvary to arrive.

See, that wasn’t so bad!  Anyone could do it!  It’s not very dangerous due to the low voltages inside MOST sections (and the nasty ones are supposed to be covered by grills!).  And it beats $300 pointless service call anyday!  (Actually, Keith isn’t charging for this past trip, except for the lightbulb for the pedalboard that I didn’t really need but took anyway).  

Now what have we learned, children?

–Basically we have to isolate the problem from the stuff that doesn’t matter.  Divide and Conquer.  Veni, vidi, vici.  Throw out the bathwater and keep an eye out for the baby.

We probably didn’t fix the organ today, but I learned an important lesson;  “THE LESSON” about fixing digital organs.  And hopefully, you learned something too.

Peace,

J

Went back to the studio tonight after a quick stop at Mr. Ho’s Chinese Restaurant.  When I arrived, Uncle Charles (engineer) was doing a wonderful job and was still going strong after 10 hours in the chair. With Pat’s ear and Charles’ editing chops, they made the whole day seem like a breeze. Here is the world premiere exclusive video footage of some of the work/fun.

They tracked the drums for 9 songs, then almost completed 2 songs!

Doing a little bass punch-in…

 
This song is NOT appearing on the forthcoming album.

9:30 AM -  Took nephew to Vacation Bible School (the indoctrination starts way too early in the AM for kids). Poor little guy could have used a cup of coffee!

9:45 AM - Passed by the studio and the band wasn’t there, so I headed to the office to send a FAX. Since I had my camera, I took a pic of part of my guitar rig (guitar is still in the shop waiting for a custom replacement neck pickup). Many months ago Mr. Pribek asked us to send him pics of our guitar rigs. You see how far behind I am!

10:15 AM -Got back to the studio and found the band outside. Why do so many musicians smoke? These guys should be posterboys for Phillip Morris USA.

11:10 AM - Went and got pizza and snacks for the band. They got started a little late, but tracked their newest song before noon.
 

Noon - It’s a great day to make a record.

1:30 PM - This is the way the old abandoned Troy High School looked a couple of days ago.
And this is the way it looks today. It’s a shame that folks stopped taking care of it; I went to 5th grade at that school. But it’s all a part of a circle of life, right? A time to tear down vs. a time to build up. Still, it’s sad to see it go.

3:45 PM - Back home and trying to upload image files using this blasted flash interface w/ edublogs. You’d think a bunch of teacher-technology types could get the bugs ironed out so I wouldn’t have to keep resorting to HTML code. I’m heading back to the studio in a moment; –perhaps there’s more to come…

It sometimes takes a master like Tom Waits to shed light on the spiritual qualities of booking tours.  I guess it wasn’t in the stars for Tom to book a show for Alabama (or, perhaps “Stars fell on Alabama” for Tom). 
Link= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOrG1r3S6ZA

Attention, audio students!!!  Here is something for your bookmark lists:

Stiff from ProToolerBlog gets the credit for the heads-up on www.recordready.com ;  it’s a brand new site courtesy of a music professor  (Matt Fordham) from Seattle.   It’s chock full of that Pro-tooly goodness in the form of articles/video tutorials.  If Matt keeps this up, he’s gonna have a fantastic site!  Go there and check it out!

Chet playing Bigfoot on a Gibson Super 4000?
Click the above link if video doesn’t embed! Darned Edublogs and their bugs!

After visiting Guitarflame earlier today,  I felt inspired to dig up a few old Chet Atkins videos from Youtube.

Now…

What the heck is that on his LH thumb?

I’ve neglected posting due to huge demands on my time by a 100 year old house formerly occupied by my parents that’s going on the market.  This coming week, I’ll be reporting from Uncle Charles’ studio on the album underway there.  I also said “yes” to help a fellow teacher record an audiobook.  Simple setup but LONG session there.  Hopefully, we’ll have that finished and off to market before school starts.  The new Richard Stoltzman chamber music cd has been released and those of you in Troy can pick up your copy at the university bookstore.  It features liner notes by Yours Truly.  If that’s not enough to make you like classical clarinet music, then catch the composer, Dr. Carl Vollrath, on one of his grocery walks and make him sign a copy;  I promise it will be worth more than you paid for it someday because he is the postmodern reincarnation of Chopin.  And he’s gonna live a whole lot longer than Chopin because his girlfriend doesn’t smoke cigars and dress in men’s clothing.

My sister-in-law and her son have moved in with us and life is good with 3 1/2 bathrooms.   With 3 women in the house now, you can never have too many bathrooms. 

Last Sunday at church, I finished the last hymn and the fireworks started.  At least, that’s what it sounded like.   It seems that the folks who spliced in some extra line outs in front of the two power amps in the digital organ didn’t realize that years of oxidation at the contact points would someday mean that Sunday services would be interrupted by the sounds of artillery fire.  The priest literally yelled “No guns in church!!” which managed to get a chuckled from the folks who weren’t already hunkered down behind a pew.  When I flipped the power switch, the explosions stopped and I led the rest of the music a cappella (a treat).  In hindsight, we should have just left it on and began an “Altar Call.”

Not many digital organ repairmen are left nowadays, and we were lucky to get one who came Tuesday from Birmingham (3 hours away) who discovered the problem immediately and also fixed the squeaky G pedal (Thanks, Jim).  The repairman used to run sound for Showco and was FOH man for Santana, among others.  He said his life as a roadie lasted 3 years until he burned out, but his memories are still priceless.  His helper was an organist from Montgomery who is an AGO member (American Guild of Organists).  If I had time, I would like to join that little fraternity!

I’m headed to Jacksonville, FL to visit an intern next week and hopefully, I’ll remember to take my camera and post some studio pics. 

The new Me First and the Gimmie-Gimmies cd is out;  –dang good driving music!  I’ll also take the new Victor Wooten and Joe Bonnamassa cds.  I also picked up a Los Lonely Boys cd, but that hasn’t made its way back into the player;  –I should probably give it another chance, too.

So that’s the news from the ”old gum” (my grandfather’s term for his home).  Keep your ears clean and turn that music down!

Peace,

J   

A challenge no serious songwriter could resist:

Each Master is tasked with writing a song in the style of their opponent. The Masters will be judged on how accurately they write a song in their opponent’s style without it becoming a simple parody. When listening to their entries, you must genuinely believe that they were written by the original Master. Got that?

So hop on over an listen to the MASTER’s Level Round #2 entries, decide which of the two songs you like, then vote for Paul and Storm.  Just because.

http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2008/07/02/masters-of-song-fu-1-round-2-challenge-voting-begins/