Dusk at 10 pm in London.
As I sit in front of the dining room window, I see the silhouette of the tall trees behind my garden.
I hear the hum of my refrigerator from the kitchen.
I am finally awake after triple dosing on out-of-date antihistamines that drowned me in drowsiness amid sneezing fits on this sunny but windy day. Sadly, it is my excuse for doing nothing else but read the 326-page paperback that arrived yesterday.
A chord melody arrangement is one in which the melody (of a song) is embedded in the chord. While you can play the melody separately from the harmony, the idea is that the notes you need for the melody is in the chord itself.
Why is this special? Check out Pluck & Play, the fingerstyle ukulele class in Zoom.
I want to ride my bike.
I want to ride my bicycle.
I want to ride it well.
I want to ride my bicycle.
I want to ride it where I like.
Would you go to a concert taking place in a new venue you have never heard of, performed by a pianist you have never heard of, playing music that has not yet been performed much less recorded, written by composers you have never heard of? That was often the challenge when I was producing concerts in the Netherlands. How do I get people to come to these concerts?
Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and embrace the unfamiliar. But the unfamiliar need not be uncomfortable. Without premieres of new works, we would never hear new compositions which challenge conventional repertoire and outlive the status quo to become masterpieces that pass the test of time.
One reason I resist getting on the job-seeking trail is that I get totally sucked into a job once I get one. For me, there is no such thing as a 9 to 5. I become completely loyal to the job and the institution so that there is no separation of work and play. Work is play.
These days, I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to download sheet music, academic papers, e-books, recordings, and videos to my heart’s content. With the right keywords, I can find just about everything I want online. Much of the current state of transparency has to do with a change of mindset: making the exclusive inclusive.
In the past, I’ve actively contributed freely downloadable content by uploading and blogging about my own arrangements and compositions (sheet music and audio recordings). However, when domain names expire and not get renewed or when a new webmaster takes over, what used to be free may get lost.
When does a concert turn into entertainment?
“My cat died last night,” I texted my friend who owns four dogs and two cats in Denver.
“I didn’t know you had a cat,” she responded.
“I don’t. I gave him away years ago.”
I can’t remember when exactly I gave him away — 2001? 2002? 2003?
Whenever I enter a new field, I easily get stopped by acronyms. While I’m trying to figure out what the abbreviations stand for, another acronym gets fired at me. Even if I’ve deciphered the acronym, I’m dumbfounded by the jargon. I need to define and understand new terminology in the context of the subject domain. Until these two barriers (acronyms and vocabulary) are overcome, I can’t begin to hold an intelligible conversation in that discipline.