Tunes of the day: Dark Eyes Swing 39 morning session Рimprovisation John McGann (Berklee) What was covered: Metronome practice fundamentals. Also learned a specific scale for improvising over Dark Eyes. John prefers (and advocates) mid-tempo playing over fast, because breathing space makes for more inventiveness, less reliance on licks and clich̩s. Lessons learned: Do [...]
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Tunes of the day: Swing ’42 Swing Gitan Morning session – imrovisation Vladimir Mollov (Bulgaria, via Philadelphia) (sorry, forgot to take some pictures!) What was covered: In a guitar heavy camp, I was one of the only guitar players in the session. Role-reversal with players on other instruments. Vlado kept it simple. His focus was [...]
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
N.B. for the remainder of this camp diary, I will use a summary format (as in today’s post) to describe the seminars and other noteworthy camp offerings and events. Tunes of the Day: Minor Swing Django’s Castle Morning session – improv with Michael Horowitz (Seattle, WA) What was covered: How to get started on vocabulary [...]
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
For the trip down to Massachusetts I’ve hooked up with Michel Gaudette, another Montrealer who will be attending the event. After a five-hour road trip, we arrive in Northampton on a fine June late afternoon, and make our way straight to Smith College. First impressions? This place is just gorgeous! Obviously, the founders of Smith [...]
Saturday, June 9, 2007
In a few days, I’ll be heading south of the (Canadian) border, for a week-long vacation in Northampton, Massachussetts. Why Northampton? What’s so special about the place? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were allegedly spawned there. One of my all-time favorite movies – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – was filmed (in part) in Northampton. According [...]
Monday, June 4, 2007
You’re ten years old, it’s Christmas eve. Uncle Fritz (fictitious name) has gotten in disguise: Santa’s about to distribute the gifts. The living room is packed with relatives, in dizzy anticipation at the surprises to come. Alas, before Santa Fritz can grab the first gift, your mom stands up, and blurts out to all ears: [...]
Sunday, May 13, 2007
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 pleasure. What fascinates me the most is this staggered wave effect in response to the patterned [...]
Thursday, May 3, 2007
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 [...]
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
There you have it: May 1st is upon us once again, pronouncing winter officially dead! So… Ready to raise your fist and chant in favor of a worker’s paradise on earth? Or will a simple drunken picnic in the midst of a sun-baked crowd do for you? Whatever the case, someone’s bound to break out [...]
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
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 [...]
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Friday, June 15, 2007
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