amateurmusicians.net

Bach wave

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Who sez Bach can’t surf? Here’s my first ever public recording of Bach’s famous Prelude in D minor (BWV 999) played on guitar, with oscilloscope accompaniment. Found the results intriguing, so posted the video on YouTube, for your viewing [...]

how to reset your central nervous system

Don’t have enough vein diameter to feed blood to your virtual avatar in Second Life? Need to relax, but find the practice of meditation too emotionally barren to pursue? Can’t even properly evoke the Slow Movement in your bowel displacements? Listen, friend. Don’t even think about “getting tased”. Rather, consider this quote by classical guitarist Julian Bream [...]

look around you. write it down.

I just got sourced something (merci Kirsi!) which puts a fun spin on one of my old grievances: our educational system. Indeed, thanks to the BBC’s Look Around You, my anger with the industrial-age assumptions that drive much of the world’s formal educational systems is ripe and fresh anew. That’s because Look Around You offers a [...]

Vivaldi made me do it

It’s true, Vivaldi’s the dude behind my initial decision to learn a musical instrument. Recently pondering on the movers and shakers of my life, I’ve been left wondering how many other wannabe violin virtuosos Vivaldi must has spawned. And, conversely, how many misguided career choices. We’ve all heard of people who were compelled in childhood to take [...]

bad posture is good for you

I have to admit, I love finding this stuff: recent medical research has uncovered a relationship between chronic back problems and… straight posture: Aching Back? Sitting Up Straight Could Be The Culprit Science Daily — Researchers are using a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to show that sitting in an upright position places unnecessary strain [...]

breaking news: Pachelbel hates cellists

Alright. So Pachelbel isn’t around anymore to defend himself. But really, what got into your head, dear Pachelbel, to compose that ditty, now so pervasive in popular music and classical FM radio that even Christmas music can’t hold a candle to the powerful “meme” effect of your Canon in D major? This clever rant by comedian [...]

Lasse Gjertsen - musical automaton

Thanks to some clever editing, Lasse Gjertsen finally proves to the world that he's got rhythm.

welcome everyday perspiring instrumentalists

It’s official. A dream of sorts: to chronicle the life and times of the new amateur musicians movement currently on the rise, due in no small part to the internet and the explosion of niche culture in a world of long-tail economics. And, why not, throw in my own practical and philosophical two cents into the [...]