Woods & Strings

Quora Q:  If you had only 30 min a day, every day, to learn piano in a year, how/where would you start & how would you progress? You’re missing the first part, which is an explanation of the level you’re at currently. But, since you said “to learn piano in a year,” I’m going to infer that you mean starting from scratch. Piano is a very physical instrument, and that demands consistent exercise. You wouldn’t, for example, expect to compete in a figure model competition exercising only 30 minutes a day for a year. That said, there are several different methods of approach. Most classically-trained musicians are going to suggest that you might be able to finish a level one within a year at just 30 minutes per day. I’m going to suggest something completely different, and that you take a guitarist’s approach. You need to concentrate on PATTERNS and SONGS, not on dexterity and increasing complexity. To do this: The first 10 minutes of your practice should be scales. DO NOT start with ...

"Dark is the Raven's Wing" single NOW AVAILABLE for download on Bandcamp The song "Dark is the Raven's Wing" is the title track from Kim Erickson's incredibly masterful 2015 album, The Raven's Wing (which you must absolutely add to your collection immediately, here: https://www.kimerickson.ca/ )  With the string arrangements by the remarkably versatile Joseph Phillips (from whom I did borrow a few notes for my cover arrangement), the whole album is just a stunning triumph of poetry, lyricism, and warmly genuine musicality. Erickson's performance has a sort of intentional melancholy; a practiced whimsy, like a Merchant-Ivory production of an Edith Piaf fever dream. It has deep, deep joy that is wrapped in a shawl of nostalgia hinting at sorrow; a hiraeth ; a Welsh term for that longing we have to return to an ancient home from the distant past that perhaps never even existed in reality. This is the evocation I get from “Dark is the Raven’s Wing.”...

This question keeps coming up over and over and over again on Quora. So, in the interest of getting traffic from these multiple requests, I'm going to just link here to the blog. Here's the question: How can I tell if it is a bass clef or a question mark on a music staff? A bass clef and a question mark are the same thing. Wow. Not only is this person frustratingly ignorant about what either of those symbols look like, they go the extra mile to assert that there is in fact no difference. You tell me: Obviously and unambiguously "the same thing," are they not?

Here's another thing I learned last week... I'm a Taurus. Now, people who know me, and who know things about that kind of thing, know that I'm just about the most Taurus Taurean there is. While I may not personally put a lot of stock in the notion that stars billions of light years away control our destinies, there's no denying that people born at certain times of the year tend to  have certain traits or quirks that line up with their star sign. It was probably the other way around and misattributed to the stars. We'll probably never know. But never mind that part. There's something else interesting that falls under the banner of comparative mythology. Notably, this sign: Any guesses as to what that might be? Sure, it looks like a bull's head. And it is, in fact, a bull's head. But it's not a Taurus symbol. It's actually the glyph for the Slavic god Veles. Veles was one of the principal gods of the Slavic pantheon. His brother, Perun, was the god...

 Here's a thing I learned this week... As we all know, ancient Europe was often a very mobile set of populations. Between the end of the last Ice Age and the rise of Roman dominion over the continent, things get a little murky archaeologically speaking, when it comes to figuring out who lived where and when. This is especially true in the mid and far north, where climate and a lack of writing tended to make things less stable and knowledge less transferable. We have to rely on artifacts, and these can be spread far and wide too. Of course, we have a pretty good timeline for major groups, including the early induction of the Corded Ware culture that, in the west, became the foundation of the Germanic tribes. Somewhere between the arrival of the Indo-Europeans and the spread of the Germanic peoples was a period known as the Nordic Bronze Age. This period lasted from about 3700 to 2500 years ago, and was situated in southern Scandinavia (roughly the area of Denmark and Northern German...

Quora Q: Hi, not gonna say my name. I'm a minor, and I write music. I wanna post my songs and signing be my career. My voice could be better, but I can't go to a recording studio or a vocal coach. Any ideas, tips, help. This is my dream and I'm not sure what to do. First of all, if it’s your dream you need to be resourceful. “Can’t go to a recording studio or vocal coach” doesn’t explain why you can’t, so my first suggestion is that you explain to YOURSELF why you “can’t,” and then really think hard about whether that statement is true or not. Second, if you’re really not able to get to a coach (always get a coach before spending money on studio time), look into joining a choir. A school or church choir is a great place to start. You’ll get the skills and training you need for the basics. Singing isn’t like playing an instrument. On an instrument, you touch a thing or pluck a string and the sound comes out. With singing, you have to use your ear to direct your voice, an...

A tale of the Finnish gods, by Steve Baric A very very long time ago, when the world was still young and the people in it still like children, the gods were taking a break. Ahto, the sea god, and his wife Vellamo, goddess of waters and the rains, had worked hard all through the spring to ensure the streams were filled to the brim for the salmon and the fields were lush and ripe for planting. In their rest, the Sun was finally free to stretch and yawn after his long winter sleep. He planned to stay awake all day and night so he could fully revel in this freedom and enjoy the beauty and wonder of the world the gods had made. But the Sun was greedy, and he found that when he shone brightly the world would get hot. And the hotter it became, the more the ground parched and reflected his light. And the more his beauty was reflected, the more vain he became, until he realized he had usurped the world from the waters! The Sun came to believe he was more powerful than even the water gods, Ahto ...

Quora Q: As a guitarist, what is something you wish you knew sooner about playing guitar? Kit guitars are every bit as playable and sound just as good (sometimes with minor modifications) as major brand guitars, for 1/10 of the price. Here’s a “Strat” I built from a kit last summer: The kit cost less that $130. I replaced the pickups with Fishmans, the tuners and nut with Graphtechs, and the bridge with a special GFS bridge (the only short-block Strat bridge with a full-sized block). In total, about $1,100. But out of the box, this guitar was 100% gig-ready with the usual minimal setup. It’s currently the main go-to guitar for everything I do in the studio. Had I known this 30 years ago when I started, I would have had a full wall of guitars by the time I was out of high school.