| 5 MOST RECENT ENTRIES: |
| 12/28/07: Woe and behold
12/25/07: Oops 12/20/07: Surf Flute! (Tablature added 12/25) 12/19/07: Miscellany 12/18/07: |
Archive List
Search entries:
Search entries:
| Journal Archives |
|
December 28, 2007
Woe and behold
The week between Christmas and New Year's is an odd one, and much slacking, shirking and soul-searching takes place during this interval. I'm just happy that today's daylight lasted thirty seconds longer than yesterday's. I'm not happy about wasting forty minutes just now with a long, thoughtful, detailed reply to a customer's several questions. Forgot to back up the copy before hitting "send"-- and the stoopid email program had auto-logged me out while the message was being composed! All that work was instantly vaporized, which made me so angry that I absolutely refuse to rewrite the message without assistance from powerful substances, whether legal or not. So, anyone out there have some Oxycontin to spare? I'll gladly pay extra for overnight shipping, or drive over to pick it up in person if you're less than 250 miles away. Thanks in advance! It's especially annoying since a couple of those questions were of general interest, and I'd planned to recycle most of that reply as today's blog entry. But, NOOOOOOOO... instead of an informative, interesting post about flute-related subjects, today we get an extended whine about botched email! Just WHEN will I FINALLY learn to ALWAYS make a copy of long messages before trying to send them? It's no wonder I was a late adoptor of computers; they're now sufficiently idiot-proof that I can survive an occasional such blunder, but the far worse tales of woe described by earlier users would probably have given me a fatal aneurysm. (Say, have you found that Oxycontin bottle yet?) Probably should write a little something about flutes: I hadn't thought about the numerical tablature system in a couple of years and haven't even looked at the relevant site department in at least that long. It was interesting to return and transcribe a tune using that method (see "Surf Flute" below) but surely there's a better system. The whole point of inventing tablature was to avoid employing standard musical notation, but I'm starting to rethink that aversion. At the least, it would be good to provide a conventionally notated version alongside tabulated tunes, so perhaps we'll do that in the future. Which opens a whole 'nother can of wigglies, since the transposition issue looms: that is, since my flutes are made in so many keys it would be cumbersome to say the least to write out different music for each key. The most convenient solution is probably to write everything as if for a D flute: the familiar six fingers = D, five fingers = E, etc. That would provide a standardized base on which players could at least learn the tunes no matter what the key of their flutes, keeping the matter of what actual notes are being played a completely separate issue. OK, rant over for now. Oxycontin or not, I'll have to rewrite that email soon-- so the usable material from that should appear here in a day or three. --r.
December 25, 2007
Oops
12:51 AM on Christmas Day right now-- apparently the "War on Christmas" has failed yet again. More in a few hours, including an account of our recent, astoundingly subversive and depraved Santacon revels.
December 20, 2007
Surf Flute! (Tablature added 12/25)
Remember the opening titles of Pulp Fiction, with that driving, aggressive electric guitar music? That's Dick Dale, "The King of Surf Guitar." Check out this vintage video from back in the day-- pretty darn cool opening shot, especially for material from 1963, don't you think? The audience is pretty funny, though: look at the way everyone's dressed! boy, would that prevailing aesthetic change over the following several years... little did they know at the time. And here's Mr. Dale performing the same tune thirty-three years later... now, is that the essence of rock 'n' roll or WHAT? Unfortunately the audio isn't very hot on that clip, at least on my laptop. You really need to listen at at least 120 decibels to get the full effect. [Incorrect link fixed several hours after initial posting.] Anyway, the tune he's playing is called "Misirlou." We're link-happy today, so here's an NPR audio segment about this song, which originated (probably) in Greece but has been adopted and adapted by a wide swath of musical styles and ethnicities. Youtube has an interesting article on the song, too. I realized today that Misirlou would be a great bamboo flute tune and have been playing it obsessively for much of the day. As you may know, one of my favorite soapbox rants is that one can play ANY kind of music on a bamboo flute if the setting and the presentation are right-- so why not surf music? After all, a bamboo flute is one of the very few musical instruments that one could play WHILE ACTUALLY SURFING, dude! The seawater wouldn't affect it at all, and I've taken flutes swimming more than a few times. In fact, some Asian flutemakers soak their new instruments in saltwater for its preservative effect. (After surfing, just remember to let your flute dry thoroughly and then re-oil it, dawg.) It appears that saltwater has had a similar preservative effect on Dick Dale, since he's rocking as hard as ever after all these years. My next goal is to find a prerecorded backing track for Misirlou and dub on a bamboo-flute lead part. Moving to another subject: some have written to inquire about GRÜNTL, Lord von FLÜTEDËATHH™, who was supposed to guest-post some time ago. Unfortunately, the injuries inflicted by those brutal punk clarinetists were more severe than was initially acknowledged, and he's still recovering. GRÜNTL does want everyone to know that he's feeling much better and should be back at 100% soon; he hopes to post here early in the New Year. We've even decided to add "Misirlou" to FLÜTEDËATHH™'s setlist in 2008. --r. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: as per a request in comments, let's throw down some tablature for Misirlou. (If you're not familiar with this numerical code, look in the Information > Instruction > Tablature department.) Here's how it starts: 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^... ...Hey, wait a minute: how the heck did I notate half-holed accidentals in that tab system, again? Gotta go peek; back in a sec.... Well, darned if we never got around to extending the numerical tablature into accidental territory: at the end of the tablature section I gave fingerings for the accidentals, but didn't assign symbols for them! About time to fix that omission, eh? Anyway, the extra note we need is fingered Txxp/ooo-- which amounts to either a flat Note 2, or a sharp Note 3. It's the same note in either case. Let's invent a symbol for this on the spot, OK? Hmmmmm... how 'bout if we notate it on the flat side for starters-- so we need a symbol for lowering a note by a half-step. The note we need to lower in this case is Txxo/ooo, or Note 2^. Let's see: 2^- 2^~ 2^' 2^* 2^b The minus symbol would work, but I like the "b" too; it resembles a standard flat symbol, and since I used dashes in the original tablature to indicate rough note length, using b would avoid confusion there. So let's go with that for now! So, here are the first two phrases of Miserlou; the second phrase merely repeats the first: 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^ 2^b 4^ 5^----- 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^ 2^b 4^ 5^----- (Remember, Note 2^b is fingered Txxp/ooo. However, on some flutes a crossfingering works well for that note too, and its usual crossfingering is Txxo/xxo. Try both versions and see which works best for you on your flute.) Next two phrases: 4^ 5^ 4^ 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ X X---- 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ X X 1 X 1 2 2---- Sorry we don't have any indication of duration on these symbols; you have to have a good idea of how the tune goes in advance in order to interpret them. It's probably about time to devise a new, more comprehensive notation system. Anyhow, the two two-phrase sections outlined above repeat a second time, and then we get to the bridge. Here's a somewhat simplified version of that: 6^--- 5^--- 4^- 2^b 5^ 2^b 2^---- 1^ 2^ 1^ 2^ 3^ 2^ 3^ 2^ 3^ 4^ 5^--- 3^ 4^ 3^ 4^ 5^ 5^ X 5^ X 1 2---- That's pretty much it. Here's the entire form written out: 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^ 2^b 4^ 5^----- 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^ 2^b 4^ 5^----- 4^ 5^ 4^ 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ X X---- 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ X X 1 X 1 2 2---- 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^ 2^b 4^ 5^----- 2 1 X 6^ 5^ 4^ 2^b 4^ 5^----- 4^ 5^ 4^ 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ X X---- 5^ 6^ 5^ 6^ X X 1 X 1 2 2---- 6^--- 5^--- 4^- 2^b 5^ 2^b 2^---- 1^ 2^ 1^ 2^ 3^ 2^ 3^ 2^ 3^ 4^ 5^--- 3^ 4^ 3^ 4^ 5^ 5^ X 5^ X 1 2---- Well, there are the basic notes. I actually play this in a different, more challenging key, in which the tonic note of the tune is 6 rather than 2, so maybe we'll write that one out later. Off now to work on a new, improved tablature system. --r.
December 19, 2007
Miscellany
Have you seen the Free Rice site? I've spent a few hours there in the last couple of days, and have contributed at least 40,000 grains of rice so far. Last night I was awake into the wee hours obsessively trying to crack Level 50, which finally happened at about 2:20 AM. Spent a lot of time stuck at 47 through 49, but getting to 50 is a bear! There are some fiendishly difficult words in that game, but after a while one begins to see a fair amount of repetition. Keeping notes along the way it would make it much easier to break 50, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it? Often I'd see the same baffling words that had come up earlier-- but darned if I hadn't forgotten their meaning already. The best way to use this site to actually build vocabulary would be to take notes and reinforce the new words by looking up their more complete dictionary definitions. [Update: Immediately after posting this entry I went to freerice and ran the score up to 50 pretty quickly, even managing to stay at that level for several turns. The lessons must be "taking" after all!] Aarrgh-- our boat just sank! Actually it's my demented assistant Aspen's boat; he'd cinched the tether up tight while we were in San Francisco and the river was quite high. Then, when the water level subsequently dropped over the last few days there wasn't enough slack in the rope to allow the boat to drift back out into the current, and the bow tipped up against the steep bank just enough to allow water to flow in over the stern. It's now sitting at an angle with the bottom 2/3 of the boat submerged, including the outboard motor-- which is surely toast by now. Might remain that way for months, since I can't imagine how we'll haul it out short of hiring a heavy-duty tow truck to pull into the yard, which is so soft and muddy right now that that idea might be out of the question. Things are also in an uproar here at the studio, and after fifteen years of working in the same building I'll probably be forced to move operations soon. Oh, boy: just what we want to do at this time of year! Production will be difficult over the next few months to say the least, so it's a good thing that only a few outstanding orders exist right now. More on that soon... Good thing Santacon is coming up in just three days; I desperately need an infusion of deliberate chaos and insanity to compensate for all the unwelcome recent upheaval. Ho ho ho, indeed! --r.
December 18, 2007
OK, OK: I'll fix yesterday's entry and make it less negative and gloomy. Got a couple of complaints about the complaints, so before even more complainers complain we'd better temper the complaints. Still dark, wet, cold and gloomy here-- which is just wonderful! Anyway, I'm heading for the previous entry right now to cheer it up a bit. --r.
December 17, 2007
Apatheology
What an uninspiring, lethargic season: six days from the solstice, at the darkest, drippiest point in the entire year-- and we're supposed to be in a jolly frenzy of consumption? Say, Groundhog Day is right around the corner, in barely over six weeks... at which point we'll REALLY start to rock 'n' roll again! Speaking of rockin', look at this gorgeous new flute:  I feel so lucky -- indeed, blessed -- to be able to create music-making art objects like this, and to send them forth to gladden the hearts of others. If only my limited, fumbling photographic abilities could do justice to this flute... this humble snapshot gives merely a faint hint of its true beauty. This flute is available at the moment, and it IS a particularly excellent D-minor, the key in which basic fingerings most closely resemble those on a standard flute: six fingers = D, five = E, and so on. This is the key most frequently recommended to experienced flute players who want to give bamboo a try, --r.
December 14, 2007
Last weekend in San Francisco I sat in with a jazz group at the office Christmas party, which was good fun. It's been several years since I've played much jazz in public, and some rustiness was evident. It did help that expectations were low: after all, what could the band reasonably expect from a random, unknown flute player barging onto the bandstand at an engineering company's annual Christmas bash? Could have been infinitely worse! (As always, the flute is suspect in the jazz world, since there are so many semi-competent dabblers out there-- after all, if I were serious about this, wouldn't I be playing a &*#$@!! saxophone instead?) The assembled corporate revelers were duly impressed, and I was asked many such questions as "How many times have you played with these guys?" Of course I'd never met the other musicians until that moment, but people unfamiliar with jazz don't really understand how it works: a shared musical vocabulary and two or three hundred tunes well-known in the jazz world enables otherwise-unacquainted players steeped in the tradition to perform together on the spot quite effectively. The strangest and most profoundly clueless comment of the evening was a new one to me: during the first set break someone remarked, "That's the first time I've ever heard a flute substitute for a clarinet!" I was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what in the world that meant-- or rather, what she imagined it meant. Finally, I asked: "In what sense would you describe that as 'substituting for a clarinet?' '' "Well, isn't a clarinet what you usually hear with that style of music?" --Now, this woman appeared to be in her 30s or 40s, so she presumably wasn't even alive in bloody 1945, when such a sweeping statement might most recently have been somewhat valid. Gee, that was only sixty years ago, come to think of it... and the general public's comprehension of jazz will always lag by a half-century to a century or so. I should have told her that neither Pee Wee Russell, Artie Shaw, nor Benny Goodman could make it to the gig that night and I was their emergency, last-resort replacement. Instead, I politely explained that nowadays jazz flute is actually more commonly heard than clarinet, which has been the case for quite some time. Imagine her astonishment at hearing that! --r.
December 11, 2007
SFO return
OK, we're back from San Francisco now. Always nice to visit the Bay Area, which to my mind has the ideal climate-- neither too cold nor too hot, and with a wide variety of microclimates available in a relatively small geographical area. On the rare occasions when temperatures do veer near excessive heat or cold, one can thus flee to relief within a few short miles. It was unseasonably cool during our visit, and quite amusing to hear the locals exclaiming over how "cold" it was-- heh. San Francisco may have its wild side, but mild is the weather thither. The airport-parked cars were frost-glazed upon our return to Portland, and how often does that happen at SFO? Winter Solstice coming up in 1.5 weeks; it's marked at December 22nd on our calendar. That's also the day of Portland's second Santacon event, for which we're preparing feverishly, with costumes and accessories far more elaborate and conceptually twisted than last year's hasty participation allowed. More on that soon... also more on flutes, of which a few fine specimens still await good homes. Anyway, see y'all again tomorrow. --r.
December 5, 2007
Ho Ho Ho
 Taking off for San Francisco this weekend; I'd mentioned a few entries back that we'll therefore miss the main Santacon event here in Portland, coming up this very Saturday. I was relieved to find that a second, smaller Portland Santacon is scheduled for the 22nd. In a way that's an even better date, since it's on or about the Solstice and is very close to Christmas itself. Hope the weather's good-- anything but drenching rain that is, since Santacon involves a lot of walking about in order to spread the mayhem far and wide. Oh-- that picture was posted somewhere onsite last year; it's us in Santacon raiment vintage 2006. We have a slightly different look planned for this year: the Swamp Witch found a great hooded red cape in a secondhand store and is going to be "Little Red Riding Ho (Ho Ho)." My complementary theme will be some form of SantaPimp ensemble; still have work to do on the costume. A couple of people have written to ask whether we're underwater, since the Northwest's flooding is currently a big national story. I'm happy to report that the Swamp Shack escaped the worst of the deluge; the water got far higher two years ago. It's still early in the rainy season though, so keep those fingers crossed... For me, the dramatic highlight happened the night before last, when I went out at midnight to check the water level and found the boats dangerously close to sinking due to rainwater load. As of two AM I was still out there in the dark and driving rain, bailing water out of the outboard skiff and the canoe. Gotta get 'em out for the season soon! --r.
December 2, 2007
Announcement
Grüntl, Lord von FLÜTEDËATHH™ was slated to guest post this weekend, but unfortunately there was a regrettable incident at last night's FLÜTEDËATHH™ gig: late in the second set, Grüntl tripped over a fog-generator cable and fell into the mosh pit, where a vicious band of punk clarinetists -- who had been loudly disruptive and obviously looking for trouble all night -- commenced to rough him up pretty badly. Grüntl assures us that he'll be fine after a few days' convalescence, and promises to return soon with an account of the incident. Should be a good and very entertaining one, since he'll really be in the mood for revenge against those insidious clarinets. --r.
Posted by Romy
10:28 PM PST |
