… there in your heart, and that is you.
This is partly a ‘still ‘round post. Apologies, again.
Been busy. Always. Keep getting dragged into things.
I’ve managed, despite all that’s even sane, mostly to keep moving on instrumental stuff (traditional fiddle stuff, mostly, oddly enough), and exercise. That and work. The odd foray into other blogs’ comment threads, y’know…
About that traditional fiddle, it’s funny…
It’s really not my world, honestly. I knew people whose it was, once. Never really was my scene. I had a strange allergy to it, I think. Y’know… raised small town, but not from there, never felt so much at home there, kinda felt a bit alienated, especially from the folk into stuff like ‘country’ or that smelled vaguely of it, many of whom were the assholes in the public schools, y’know… And while I had some occasional idle curiosity about those old folk traditions, there’s always so much else to do.
And even when we had the Celtic revival and so on, some decades back, now, again, it seemed so artificial. Fun enough, on and off. But artificial. Transplanted wood-paneled Irish pubs in the suburbs aren’t really. Culture is something we make up as we go along, anyway… Why pretend this is the 16th century? It isn’t.
But there was a practicality to it. Violins are small and convenient and I have one, and fretless instruments are good for the ear. And the traditional repertoire is almost all first position, the kind of thing I can sight read without working up a sweat. And sure, a lot of that stuff, it’s catchy, in a funny, antiquarian way. If you’re starting out on the instrument again, and you don’t want to be playing the same damned études you’ve done a million times, the traditional repertoire is huge (I’ve a fakebook with just under 500 songs, and there are free online libraries as large), and you can pick up, play, get stuff into ears and fingers, and before you know it, you’ve a repertoire, and, really, it’s a little less boring than working on the same Mozart thing for weeks on end.
I’m not really channeling Edgar Lee Masters’ Fiddler Jones, yet, I don’t think. But I think I kinda get that vibration thing, now. Something about the energy of those things, and the time signatures. People should be dancing, is how it feels.
Been at it some months. Trying to keep it consistent, keep it building. We’ll see if I can keep that up, I guess, as life keeps coming.
This is partly a ‘still ‘round post. Apologies, again.
Been busy. Always. Keep getting dragged into things.
I’ve managed, despite all that’s even sane, mostly to keep moving on instrumental stuff (traditional fiddle stuff, mostly, oddly enough), and exercise. That and work. The odd foray into other blogs’ comment threads, y’know…
About that traditional fiddle, it’s funny…
It’s really not my world, honestly. I knew people whose it was, once. Never really was my scene. I had a strange allergy to it, I think. Y’know… raised small town, but not from there, never felt so much at home there, kinda felt a bit alienated, especially from the folk into stuff like ‘country’ or that smelled vaguely of it, many of whom were the assholes in the public schools, y’know… And while I had some occasional idle curiosity about those old folk traditions, there’s always so much else to do.
And even when we had the Celtic revival and so on, some decades back, now, again, it seemed so artificial. Fun enough, on and off. But artificial. Transplanted wood-paneled Irish pubs in the suburbs aren’t really. Culture is something we make up as we go along, anyway… Why pretend this is the 16th century? It isn’t.
But there was a practicality to it. Violins are small and convenient and I have one, and fretless instruments are good for the ear. And the traditional repertoire is almost all first position, the kind of thing I can sight read without working up a sweat. And sure, a lot of that stuff, it’s catchy, in a funny, antiquarian way. If you’re starting out on the instrument again, and you don’t want to be playing the same damned études you’ve done a million times, the traditional repertoire is huge (I’ve a fakebook with just under 500 songs, and there are free online libraries as large), and you can pick up, play, get stuff into ears and fingers, and before you know it, you’ve a repertoire, and, really, it’s a little less boring than working on the same Mozart thing for weeks on end.
I’m not really channeling Edgar Lee Masters’ Fiddler Jones, yet, I don’t think. But I think I kinda get that vibration thing, now. Something about the energy of those things, and the time signatures. People should be dancing, is how it feels.
Been at it some months. Trying to keep it consistent, keep it building. We’ll see if I can keep that up, I guess, as life keeps coming.
17/09: Keepalive again
The thing is, Septembers get like this at the best of times. Kids back in school, running around, getting used to new chauffering schedules, attending to school supplies, clothes, supplies and gear for extracurricular stuff, so on. It’s normally a mite mad. Balancing all that with making sure everyone eats and the house doesn’t collapse into a pile of dust and dust mites, it’s always a little silly anyway…
And this year, since I was a) out of town and b) away from work for two weeks just prior to this happening, I’m also catching up to the yard work (drought had done some serious damage; leaving everything entirely two weeks while the rain came back means lots of weeds and not much grass in some places) and getting back into gear at work.
Oh, and I’m also trying to keep a reasonable exercise schedule going since having got into some nice shape prior to leaving, it’d be nice not to ruin it, nice to keep it together for the upcoming boarding season…
… and I’m trying to have some discipline about instrument practice and ear training for a change instead of just going ad hoc all over the place and picking things up when I feel like it. I’ve always had these odd little gaps in capability that would take long essays to explain, and so I’m now trying to get properly organized about filling in a few things in particular, and it’s all the kind of stuff (like a lot of stuff) really only focused and cumulative practice and exercises are at all likely to address. How I convinced myself now would be a good time to deal with this, I really don’t know…
… so, anyway: busy… So… Um…
Y’know, a lot of bloggers would just put a cute picture of a cat up here and be done with it. But it bothers me somehow that the whole of the internet might eventually be cat pictures, if people keep at that kinda thing.
So I’m passing. No cats for you. Thus endeth the keepalive.
And this year, since I was a) out of town and b) away from work for two weeks just prior to this happening, I’m also catching up to the yard work (drought had done some serious damage; leaving everything entirely two weeks while the rain came back means lots of weeds and not much grass in some places) and getting back into gear at work.
Oh, and I’m also trying to keep a reasonable exercise schedule going since having got into some nice shape prior to leaving, it’d be nice not to ruin it, nice to keep it together for the upcoming boarding season…
… and I’m trying to have some discipline about instrument practice and ear training for a change instead of just going ad hoc all over the place and picking things up when I feel like it. I’ve always had these odd little gaps in capability that would take long essays to explain, and so I’m now trying to get properly organized about filling in a few things in particular, and it’s all the kind of stuff (like a lot of stuff) really only focused and cumulative practice and exercises are at all likely to address. How I convinced myself now would be a good time to deal with this, I really don’t know…
… so, anyway: busy… So… Um…
Y’know, a lot of bloggers would just put a cute picture of a cat up here and be done with it. But it bothers me somehow that the whole of the internet might eventually be cat pictures, if people keep at that kinda thing.
So I’m passing. No cats for you. Thus endeth the keepalive.
25/01: Rough
This happened mostly on the plane back from Phoenix. Rough. 4:19. MP3 , Ogg. 4 and 14M, respectively.
How it happened: I got to thinking about Pachelbel’s Canon, and that (yeah, kinda tedious for the cellist) endlessly repeated bass figure, with the variations all above it, and got to thinking: good idea… let’s see what happens when you do something like that with RoseGarden.
… and then it sounded like maybe it needed a piano, and some percussion… and anyway, here we are.
And yes, I suppose I probably should be forced to resign my bow or somethin’ for using synthesized strings when I’ve a near orchestra of perfectly serviceable and very non-virtual instruments in the place. My only defense is: I didn’t have any of those with me on the plane…
(/And what with said plane landing sometime ‘round 12:40 AM local, folk might have objected, even if I had.)
How it happened: I got to thinking about Pachelbel’s Canon, and that (yeah, kinda tedious for the cellist) endlessly repeated bass figure, with the variations all above it, and got to thinking: good idea… let’s see what happens when you do something like that with RoseGarden.
… and then it sounded like maybe it needed a piano, and some percussion… and anyway, here we are.
And yes, I suppose I probably should be forced to resign my bow or somethin’ for using synthesized strings when I’ve a near orchestra of perfectly serviceable and very non-virtual instruments in the place. My only defense is: I didn’t have any of those with me on the plane…
(/And what with said plane landing sometime ‘round 12:40 AM local, folk might have objected, even if I had.)
08/10: The Steps of the Sun
So that thing that’s been eating my life is now at the point where I can release a mix.
It’s one more in the pop/folk/bass ‘n guitar ‘n voice vein. The length is my little guy’s fault. Or so’s gonna be my claim. He kept asking about everything else ‘why isn’t it longer?’
‘Kay. Not really. Or to clarify: not really his fault. He did keep asking that, but this is just how this one happened, really.
The Steps of the Sun. MP3 (7.7M), Ogg (23M). And all of 8 min, 21 sec.
It’s one more in the pop/folk/bass ‘n guitar ‘n voice vein. The length is my little guy’s fault. Or so’s gonna be my claim. He kept asking about everything else ‘why isn’t it longer?’
‘Kay. Not really. Or to clarify: not really his fault. He did keep asking that, but this is just how this one happened, really.
The Steps of the Sun. MP3 (7.7M), Ogg (23M). And all of 8 min, 21 sec.
28/09: Still 'round
… just that my limited non-work/creative project time is currently given over to putting together yet another thing in the analog-instruments-and-voice category, and it’s turning out to be even more of a bear than usual. So none of it’s fit to release in any form whatsoever, yet.
I need less painful hobbies. There are people in this world who just watch TV or somethin’ after work, aren’t there.
I need less painful hobbies. There are people in this world who just watch TV or somethin’ after work, aren’t there.
22/08: Music download index
This is an index of the various music files available on this site—songs I’ve been writing and recording, bits of sequencer fluff and outtakes. The plan is to keep this post updated as new stuff goes up, too. Generally, only latest mixes/versions of stuff are going to appear here.
(Last updated May 11, 2013)
| Title | Genre | Time | Year | MP3 (size) | Ogg (size) |
| 21st Century Pigeon | Instrumental | 4:17 | 2012 | MP3 (4M) | Ogg (16M) |
| 2:08 in C Minor | Instrumental | 2:08 | 2011 | MP3 (2M) | Ogg (6.1M) |
| 3:50 in E Minor | Instrumental | 3:50 | 2011 | MP3 (3.6M) | Ogg (11M) |
| Apologiat | Soundtrack | 0:52 | 2009 | MP3 (820K) | Ogg (1.8M) |
| The Best of Friends | Pop-Folk | 2:57 | 2011 | MP3 (2.8M) | Ogg (8.4M) |
| Fanfare | Soundtrack | 1:08 | 2007 | MP3 (1.1M) | Ogg (3.5M) |
| The First Way | Soundtrack | 0:41 | 2009 | MP3 (644K) | Ogg (1.6M) |
| Gods are Noise | Speech | 2:22 | 2011 | MP3 (2.2M) | Ogg (2.0M) |
| Meditation/G Minor | Instrumental | 3:50 | 2012 | MP3 (3.6M) | Ogg (12M) |
| Naked Ape | Soundtrack | 1:12 | 2009 | MP3 (1.2M) | Ogg (844K) |
| Overpackaged | Electronic | 2:34 | 2012 | MP3 (2.4) | Ogg (7.4M) |
| Resisting Arrest | Pop-Folk | 3:40 | 2011 | MP3 (3.4M) | Ogg (12M) |
| Riddle | Soundtrack | 0:43 | 2007 | MP3 (772K) | Ogg (1.9M) |
| Rough | Instrumental | 4:19 | 2011 | MP3 (4M) | Ogg (14M) |
| Scratch Monkey | Soundtrack | 5:47 | 2009 | MP3 (5.4M) | Ogg (3.9M) |
| Tabla Intro | Soundtrack | 0:16 | 2007 | MP3 (252K) | |
| Test Pattern | Instrumental | 2:07 | 2011 | MP3 (2M) | Ogg (6.2M) |
| The Steps of the Sun | Pop-Folk | 8:21 | 2011 | MP3 (7.7M) | Ogg (23M) |
| Things Break | Pop-Folk | 5:07 | 2013 | MP3 (4.7M) | Ogg (15M) |
| Untitled Number Whatever | Instrumental | 2:59 | 2011 | MP3 (2.8M) | Ogg (9.9M) |
| Various Heresies | Instrumental | 4:13 | 2011 | MP3 (3.9) | Ogg (13M) |
| Walkabout | Electronic | 2:34 | 2012 | MP3 (2.4) | Ogg (7.7M) |
| Yeast Frog | Electronic | 2:17 | 2012 | MP3 (2.2M) | Ogg (6.6M) |
| You Again | Instrumental | 2:41 | 2011 | MP3 (2.1M) | Ogg (7.1M) |
(Last updated May 11, 2013)
05/08: Another mix
… still on that previous work. Patched in, re-recorded a bit of the lead where I didn’t like the rhythm. I was aiming for a loose sorta feel, but it seemed to me what was there previously was more ‘playing some other song entirely’…
And oh my, but it’s so nice when you’re doing that kinda thing just to be able to tell the deck ‘let’s retake that from where I last started’ and have it just go there instantly. Damn. There are good things about the digital age.
Anyway. Also played with the effects chain a bit again, came up with a more tube-like distortion thing. Ogg here, MP3 here (12 and 3.4 MB, respectively).
And oh my, but it’s so nice when you’re doing that kinda thing just to be able to tell the deck ‘let’s retake that from where I last started’ and have it just go there instantly. Damn. There are good things about the digital age.
Anyway. Also played with the effects chain a bit again, came up with a more tube-like distortion thing. Ogg here, MP3 here (12 and 3.4 MB, respectively).
01/08: Another day, another mix
As yesterday. (Links redacted*). Brought voice forward, went with a much cleaner sound for the lead guitar.
31/07: New song
… first such thing I’ve written (in its entirety), might I mention, in some 15 years. (Links redacted**).
Working title is Resistin’ Arrest, for what that’s worth. Not sure I’m exactly committed to that, tho’.
… and that’s that new (used) bass at the bottom end. Cheesy lil’ thing, to look at, honestly*, but y’know, fiddle with the setup, take a little care with stuff, my opinion is: it gets the job done.
(*/Purple. I kid you not. This is some kinda karmic balance thing for my having made fun of The Artist Once Again Known as Prince, isn’t it?)
Working title is Resistin’ Arrest, for what that’s worth. Not sure I’m exactly committed to that, tho’.
… and that’s that new (used) bass at the bottom end. Cheesy lil’ thing, to look at, honestly*, but y’know, fiddle with the setup, take a little care with stuff, my opinion is: it gets the job done.
(*/Purple. I kid you not. This is some kinda karmic balance thing for my having made fun of The Artist Once Again Known as Prince, isn’t it?)
27/07: And another
… with that keyboard-triggered bass. Ogg here, MP3 here (8.4, 2.8 MB respectively).
I may just be scoring a reasonably-priced electric stick after all, tho’, and shortly. Tho’ I’m actually reasonably happy with this mix, now, after some fiddling. Part of the trick was to really try to think ‘strings’ when triggering this, punching the keys almost like plucking, get the feel of it partway there, anyway.
(/In other news, I have something else to fiddle with/rewrite/rejig, polish ‘n mix, now. Had this fear mebbe even my limited songwriting ability had entirely horribly dried up somewhere over the past 15 years. Apparently not. Or not entirely, anyway.)
I may just be scoring a reasonably-priced electric stick after all, tho’, and shortly. Tho’ I’m actually reasonably happy with this mix, now, after some fiddling. Part of the trick was to really try to think ‘strings’ when triggering this, punching the keys almost like plucking, get the feel of it partway there, anyway.
(/In other news, I have something else to fiddle with/rewrite/rejig, polish ‘n mix, now. Had this fear mebbe even my limited songwriting ability had entirely horribly dried up somewhere over the past 15 years. Apparently not. Or not entirely, anyway.)
