Monthly Archives: November 2013
The Grand Schema of Things
The first time around, I played the violin for three years – the fourth through sixth grades, though there’s some chance I played in seventh grade. Strangely, I don’t remember it much at all. As I hold the violin and move the bow now, over 25 years later, it comes naturally enough – clearly I […]
Soji
About five minutes into my karate practice yesterday, I realized I needed to sweep the floor; little bits of who knows what were accumulating on my feet – it was dirty and distracting. My karate tradition has given me the concept of Soji, which means cleaning, or maintenance, in Japanese. Like many Japanese concepts it’s […]
Fifths and Starts
I don’t really know what “The Consonance of The Fifth” means; I’m working on it. I realized yesterday that I know very little about why the Western seven-note scale exists, so I started to explore it via Wikipedia and other online sources, and learned that fifths and eighths – the octave – are especially consonant, […]
Pulling the Voice Box out of Storage
I used to sing. I was never the best vocal talent, but I could carry a tune – in some ways it was what I was supposed to do, so I did. Mostly I loved it. I sang in more church musicals than I can remember, often with a leading role. I sang in church […]
Lesson 2: Strawberries in A Major
Yesterday I learned that A Major, marked by three sharps, is the key in which I’ve been playing my Twinkle variations. I think I’m going to enjoy Teacher’s method of imparting Music Proper. It seems I’ll be playing something by ear, a la Suzuki, and Teacher will share a bit of formal musical knowledge along […]
Great Hymns of the Faith
For my undergrad degree, I needed a music class credit to fulfill a general education requirement. I had a couple of options, but ended up in a generic music appreciation class. I learned a lot – the teacher was charismatic and knowledgeable, and we covered some of the formal components of symphonies and concertos and […]
Don’t Tell Aunt Rhody
As I practice, beginner ditties are coming back to me. The past two days I’ve remembered and been picking out a simple tune from one of my first music books back in elementary school – those books always featured a lot of folk music, and the one I thought I remembered was “Go Tell Aunt […]
Sledgehammer Symphony
You never know where you’ll encounter a beat-up old piano. Yesterday I snapped this picture at a sports club for kids. The club also does some dance lessons I think, so I assume that’s why this raggedy beauty lives there. Sometimes when they get raggedy, people paint them. This one has been painted, but not […]
Daily Bread
Three days in and I have a perfect track record – just over 30 minutes a day practicing. While I didn’t ask Teacher how much to practice, nor did she say, I think that’s a fine place to start. As I stand at my huge window that looks out over Lake Michigan, playing my violin […]
Ryan Libel 