Mussorgsky - bass drum

Dukas - glock

Horner - some remarkably groovy shaker, considering the nature of the Titanic.

Everything else - mallets/triangle/chimes

you can't play star wars and not be really happy about it, especially the glock part

the importance of food

So, it's about time I started cooking again…

three rehearsals to learn a book, which is really more like two books because you're covering two parts, an hour or so to create a setup that allows you to run at a mild jog in contrast to an outright sprint between instruments, challenging yourself nightly to do an even more perfect job despite being awake for eighteen hours a day for a week at a time, getting all of the songs stuck in your head, eating a questionable diet, and having a fantastic time

sweet.

This feels reminiscent of livejournal, 2005

"Do music, but only do it if there is absolutely nothing else you can see yourself doing in life. If there is anything else, do that." i heard this when i was seventeen and in a room crammed full of percussion instruments.

i didn't listen, and six years passed.

first i didn't listen because i thought it wasn't true - because i thought i was smarter than that.

then i didn't listen because i thought i could find another thing to do.

i didn't listen because i ignored all of the reasons that 

i fell in

love

i didn't listen because others were telling me only what i wanted to hear about doing something else.

but no one has lied about doing music. no one has lied or held anything back about it. no one pretended it would take care of me with money. no one pretended there would be any guarantees. no one promised a secure profession.

time to listen to some words i heard seven years ago, in a room full of musicians, with one of the most influential people in my life.

there is absolutely nothing boring about something that can make you feel cry think dance laugh shiver move twinge shudder collapse headbang. there is nothing boring about the rush, the chills, and blissful sensations that flow through your body when something beautiful really moves you.

stare at the past

With the power out and a darker sky, I took some photos of the way-up-high. 

less a letter

There's gaffers tape on our panyard spaces that have our names written on them. Mine read "Pasta." It always had, even since before I'd arrived freshmen year; the older students had decided on my nickname. Every year a new piece of tape is layered on top, again with our names. I peeled off the top piece of tape, today; some of last year's tape came up with it. As I went to leave I couldn't help but notice that some of the tape was left behind with only one letter fewer. Past.

David MacBride's Percussion Park

David MacBride's Percussion Park was performed at The Hartt School on April 16th, 2011. The Hartt Percussion Studio, several other instrumentalists, and audience members took part in a concert that took over rehearsal rooms,  the auditorium, hallways, stairwells, and the elevator.

Photos from dress rehearsal (and a couple from the performance)

noise

floating

reminiscing

walking

reminiscing

bumming (bass-drumming)

meditating

bumming

bumming

walking quack

Roxy the drama car

Oh, hey. I took a hiatus last semester to work on my recital. I'm happy with how that went, and with the fact that I can learn new things, now.

I decided to go up near Lake Wintergreen around sunset yesterday to take some pictures. ... should have walked. It was a blast running up there on Sunday (and yes, I went before the 40 mph winds hit us) and I'd have been better off repeating the experience. That said, yesterday makes an interesting story.

Right, so I decide it's a good time to take some pictures up at the lake. Now the hills around here aren't all that well taken care of the day after a storm, and it definitely means careful driving. The car does make it to the top of wintergreen, though, and I'm a little surprised at how well it does so. Not a bit of slip; it's like watching a slow, inexorable force climb something.

The car's a little older, a '99 Cougar – not something you'd ordinarily take out in the snow, but it's what I've got. The check engine light goes on an off at seemingly random intervals, and in cold weather the battery light turns on because it's tougher on the charging system.

I turn the corner to get to the lake when I notice something curious. Those two indicator lights are now, well, pulsating is a good word for it. They aren't really flashing, exactly, because you can tell they aren't supposed to be. This is about the time I decide to skip the pictures and turn back. So now I'm at the very top of Wintergreen, in a car that's whining about check engine and battery.

That's when the whining stopped and the screaming began.

So, systematically, the check engine, battery, ABS, airbag, traction, brake, traction control button, and a crazy-red-light-I've-never-seen-before come on, most of them wavering somewhere between deciding to be on and deciding to be off. All of the gauges go out. Somehow, the motor's still running. I'm already heading downhill, I just started, and I'm thinking This is not good. This is not good at all. interesting, though...


A couple of seconds later, and I'm wondering why things are so very quiet. It's nice to have a quiet car... oh right, it's because the engine just quit. Well this is also not good a good thing. In fact, I would say this is almost worthy of getting onto my list of bad things to happen in a car on a hill with snow all over it.

Things you need to know when your motor goes: you only have a few applications of power brakes, so use them long and use them wisely. You also don't have power steering, so I hope you've been working out a bit.

Eventually I get to a spot at the bottom of the hill and pull the car into a backroad. A friendly veteran lets me jump the car, which works, kind of. At least, it works for as long as the cables are connected. Being that I am not a fan of attaching cars together or stealing batteries, I decide this isn't about to work. The car starts, runs for about 3 minutes, and then fails... miserably.

My immediate thought is to borrow someone's extra battery, throw it on the passenger seat, and wire it to the main connection under the hood. This is something I think comes from my uncle. I never find anybody with an extra battery though, so here comes the tow truck. Yay.

Just before the truck arrives I figure I'll take the stuff I might need out of the car. I figure what the heck, I'll try to start it. Of course it turns over and works beautifully, enthusiastically...

So, the car that a couple of my friends dubbed Roxy is apparently a bit of a drama queen.

Shades and Tones

Rhythm, vibration, frequency, tone, timbre, shade…


If we had pianos that could play 40 octaves above the ones in our concert halls, where we'd tune to A483785116221440 instead of A440, and that would produce electromagnetic-waves rather than sound-waves, we could play colors. Imagine a MIDI controller that signals a group of LEDs - it's totally workable, but I don't have the programming skills. Anybody want to help build an instrument?


Also - take note of the colors present in different chords.


e.g.,  a major chord, G B D  = RedGreenBlue …
This example, I think, only works for lifeforms with at least three kinds of photoreceptors (trichromats), like us humans. Dogs, for example, are dichromats; sorry dogs.


In music, an octave consists of a low note and a high note (and those encompassed), the higher note being exactly twice the frequency of the lower.


The human ear can detect roughly from 20Hz to 20KHz: about 10 octaves - this varies a bit from person to person, and the upper range diminishes with age.


The human eye detects light roughly in the 384 - 769THz range.


384 * 2 = 768


Isn't it interesting that the human eye can detect approximately one octave of light?
That's funny…

Dear lady I met at the Palestrina Choir concert this evening,

I was waiting in line to buy my ticket for the concert, only about three people away from the purchase when suddenly you approached me and asked if I were waiting for a ticket. I told you that I was and you handed me one that your friend, who didn't make the concert, would have used. I was really surprised, and though I thanked you, I neglected to mention that it was one of those things that could really make a person's day.

Thanks again, ticket-bearing lady!

 - the kid on crutches at Battell Chapel

Hey, pie!!

Tuesday morning: woke up, felt like pie, bought blueberries, made a pie.

mixed berries, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice

flour, butter, sugar, salt, ice-water

Crust

• 2 1/2 C flour, I replaced some of this with whole wheat flour, it makes it a little heavier
• Mix in sugar (a tablespoon) and salt (a teaspoon)
• Cut up some cold butter (I used a little less than two sticks) Use a pastry blender or a couple of knives to cut the butter into the flour/sugar/salt mixture. Leave biggish/flatish pieces of butter for something flakier.
• Add water, a tablespoon at a time and mix it in with your hands… you want the dough to just barely stick together. I ended up using somewhere between four and five.
• Put it in the fridge for a bit, I only did for 15 minutes, but it might benefit from longer.

Fruit

• Unlike with the crust, you can pretty much go to town and do whatever you want.
• I found some fairly small blueberries, but there weren't enough to fill the deep dish, so I added some blackberries and strawberries as well.
• Mix together some sugar (1/2 - 3/4 C), cornstarch (3 - 4 Tbsp) and salt (pinch). Add some cinnamon if you feel like, I like it (a little less than half a teaspoon)
• Pour this mixture over the rinsed and dried fruit (4 - 5 C of fruit), mix it up, throw some lemon juice on it, too.
• Let it sit for a little while, turn the mixture now and then, kind of like folding so you don't break too many berries

• Pour the fruit into the pie crust
• If you want a top crust, put one on. 
• Latticing isn't hard, just start with three going in each direction and work it out from there.
• Bake in a preheated, 400° F oven for about 50 minutes. There is some variance here, just look for a browning crust and filling that is starting to bubble. If the crust is browning too much, take some foil and put it on top.

You don't have to work.

"I get paid to work ten hours a week, but I actually work about forty-eight hours a week. The ten hours are getting paid time and the rest is fun time, because I like what I do. I don't know whether this is getting paid time or having fun time."

That's what our sound guy said at the Jolly Beggars radio feature on Thursday.

Like what you do; you'll never work a day of your life.

Lots of cooking (was it really three whole hours to prep dinner?) and hiking. Some practicing in there, as well. Moving furniture down the street, experimenting in the kitchen, getting a call for a music camp job in July. Don't get me wrong, there are always frustrating things; it's just that I don't remember any, right now. I've also had some time to actually think for a few moments. 

What a good weekend it's been.


And now for something completely different:


saffron and ginger ice cream:

 

Why? leftover ginger, some cream that needed to get used up, and because it seemed like a good idea.

cream, sugar, ginger, saffron, salt

• heat cream to a simmer (not boiling)
• once the cream is hot, throw in some saffron strands and finely chopped ginger
• stir and allow it to simmer until it's taken on a yellowish color
• throw in a handful of sugar and a very small pinch of salt
• if you don't want bits of ginger and strands of saffron, strain
• allow it to cool, then make it into ice cream by any method you choose
• put whatever on it or serve as is. there's honey on it, here.

Some people use milk in addition. Eggs will give it a firmer consistency. I didn't have any, but I'd be curious to try it with alternatives as well, like adding almond milk to the above.

first

So I decided that, amongst other purposes of this blog, I wanted to keep a little record of the odder things that seem to happen to me. Many have come before and I'm pretty sure many will follow. Perhaps the world can learn something from this, or at any rate, at least get a decent laugh. Here comes today's:

Last night I left my sunroof a bit open (moral of the story is right here: don't do that.) It was open just the way so that rain couldn't fall into the car's interior - instead it was diverted into the roof. I discovered all this on this beautifully sunny afternoon, as I was driving to Norwalk for a symphony rehearsal. It began raining in my car - actually, it was more like pouring. At least I made somebody's day; some guy came to a halt next to me at a stop light. When he realized what was happening he started laughing. He was on his cell phone and had his head out the window. When I opened my umbrella inside the car in an attempt to divert the "rain" out the open windows, the guy laughed harder and told the person on the other end of his phone call something about "the funniest thing [he'd] ever seen". That's when I ditched the umbrella idea and the light turned green. I drove off, and I thought the whole thing was pretty funny, too.