A basic heartbeat of rock ‘n’ roll.
Spelled M-A-N
(Visited 5757 times) Music
Jun 022008
Music
Stuff about music, either mine or stuff I am listening to.
May 262008
What makes this so interesting is that music like thought always intends to get someplace specific. That place happens to be the end of the thought or the cadence. What makes this even more interesting is that just as we walk, to get someplace specific, at 116, most people also speak with the normal accents in their speech occurring at a rate of 116 beats per minute. But we only do this when we have something specific to say. People who by temperament, by personality, by persuasion, or by habit speak either faster or slower than that speed are perceived to be intolerably dull or slow witted, if they speak much slower than 116, or untrustworthy, if they speak much faster than 116. The affect of being slower is of slothfulness or of painful self consciousness. The affect of being faster is that of a shyster who is always trying to fast talk people into doing things they don’t want to do.
I thought this was fascinating, and it made me wonder whether it was applicable to pacing in other areas of creativity as well. Games? Blogging? Web site interactivity?
The whole block, excerpted from The Craft of Musical Communication – Part One: Continue reading »
The Sunday Song: Polliwog Sans Warts
(Visited 4685 times) Music
May 112008
Maybe someday the Polliwog will grow up to be a frog prince, but for now it’s still mostly a jam. This version is, I think, less of a trainwreck than the last one. 🙂 The piano’s gone, but it’s all still at 200bpm!
Apr 242008
Yes, of course I watch it.
Idol has always rewarded performers who built an emotional connection over good singers; that’s why people like Syesha Mercado are doomed to exit earlier than they should. But this year is downright strange, with not one but two folkies among the finalists. I don’t think that Brooke White or Jason Castro will win (one of the Davids will) but the fact that they are doing so well is interesting in what is says about pop culture. Along with the rise of new female singer-songwriters, this makes me wonder if we’re due for another shift away from glossy pop.
Another ‘Idol’ finalist booted from competition – CNN.com
As music goes, so goes quite a lot of pop culture. Movies also seem to be caught in the grip of an intent towards honest emotion lately, even in raunch comedies. Wonder what that means for games.
The Sunday Song: Polliwog
(Visited 7965 times) Music, The Sunday Poem
Apr 132008
OK, I lied. It’s not a song. It’s more of a jam session. Since it wasn’t fully grown and looked likely to have warts even upon attaining adulthood, I named it “Polliwog.” Drum tracks, bass, acoustic, two electrics, and the piano all piled onto a standard blues progression played really fast.
Basically, I slammed together three different blues riffs I like to jam with, two for guitar and one for piano. They were originally all in different keys, but I piled ’em all into one. If you want to add to the cacophony, it’s in E.
