My lack of recent posts can be equally blamed on the facts that I have been busy and I have been writing a lot of crap that I actually refrain from making public. (I know it's hard to believe I write stuff I deem less post-worthy than my published posts.)
I thought I'd get some feedback on which of my usual themes others prefer to read. Generally, I guess these consist of:
movie reviews
music reviews
drinking reviews
Christianity bashing
reflections on friends
personal epiphanies
complaining about the incompetence of others
Perhaps others can more accurately detect or define my themes. My guess is Christianity bashing is probably the least popular, but I find it telling that nobody has even tried to coherently rebut any of it. I do plan on writing some book reviews in the future. Many of the drafts that don't get posted are political in nature, but I have discovered it is nearly impossible to discuss politics in generalities and have it be sufficiently exhaustive.
Also, please suggest any topics that you think I might know something about. I am a bizarre mixture of knowing some obscure minutia and next to nothing about popular culture; but I guess you know that by now.
Thanks for reading!
6 comments:
I enjoy music issues, but that's obvious. Here are a couple centimes about Christianity.
My wife is a member of a local church. In general, the folks there have been very cordial to us. That said, their in-house band needs coaching on an emergent basis. If I were more forward, I'd take some of these cats aside and give them some pointers about ensemble work. A local opera singer was teaching them a while back, but it was all for naught. There's a sophisticated electronic trap set, with all the bells and whistles, but nobody plays a pulse. The guitarist sings an amalgam of Neil Young and Joan Baez. I believe that some members of the congregation see him as blessed. Yesterday, as he sang a microtone away from the changes, I wanted to exit the hall very quickly. But I politely remained in my seat.
As the late, great British comedian Dave Allen said, may your God go with you.
love the musician perspective on church, james! i spent my high school years trying to figure out how to drum with a church congregation as unwitting witnesses. in fact, if it weren't for church music, i might not have heard music at all until like my junior year of high school.
most of my readership are comment-phobic but instead give me feedback over the phone or in person. the general consensus is the reviews are most appreciated. others tend to find me bitching about stuff tedious and tiresome. i'm a little surprised people aren't more interested in my perspectives on my friends, as i would have thought it would give people opportunities to reflect on their friends, which are often mutual. actually i suspect my friends are a little scared they're gonna be next. personally, i would love honest feedback or insights from others about me as their friend as that is so extraordinarily rare.
fortunately, i've never been one to cater to anybody else's whims, and will continue to fill up webspace with whatever the heck i think of typing about.
Comments/feedback help keep these threads alive. This is 21st century journalism in the very best sense!
Re: the church group, a penchant for counting tunes off on beats two and four has marred more than a few ensembles here. I've witnessed conservatory-trained musicians conduct groups like this, with disastrous results.
In a recent documentary film, Cecil Taylor discusses James Brown's influence, where the downbeat -- beat one -- is central. Monk's music is structured along similar lines. Inattention to rhythmic issues like those in "Four in One", for even a nanosecond, will derail a performance.
I guess the point of all of this is that a congregation isn't going to be inspired by any musical proceeding unless there's a groove happening. Contrary to what Vijay Iyer told me ten years ago, the groove isn't the same as the sound of the metronome. The simplest chord changes or modes sound great against a strong, non-metronomic rhythm.
while i've never been particularily interested in his drumming, i'm suprised Vijay said that.
i agree with you: the backbeat (2&4) is accented as a means of balancing the strong beats (1&3), and the way to keep the groove is by letting the backbeat or syncopations fall relative to the one in a way to create movement. this movement is a physical reaction that relates to gravity and fluidity (and can be like a metronome but not necessarily), and once you start focusing on the backbeat and trying to "force it" instead of letting things fall after the one you're screwed.
another great example is the afro-cuban clave. you have to keep track of the one and how the clave relates to it. if you try to focus solely on the clave ignoring the one it's not gonna happen. calve music is dance music and it should MOVE. once you start playing some stiff clave pattern you're gonna have an empty dance floor.
the point about rhythmic gravity is right on the mark. I'm thinking of Elvin Jones and Coltrane on the piece "Miles' Mode". There's a moment where McCoy lays out, and Trane jams with Garrison and Elvin on a steady pulse. Elvin anchors the proceedings beautifully, superimposing compound triplet figures, as Trane goes out of the underlying mode in B minor. Elvin's rhythmic patterns approximate a clave; entirely danceable. I haven't listened to that recording in a long time, but it made a lasting impression.
I usually click on the reflections on friends blogs first, but then I know most of them. Many of these friends you have written about are not actually aware of it yet, but I will make them aware. Oh, yes I will. I also enjoy when you complain about the incompetence of others.
In the future, I would like to see you write an in-depth blog about the altered midwest landscape from wetlands and forest/savanna into agricultural land and how that has impacted the natural disasters of the late 20th and early 21st century.
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