Thought for the Day (Oct 4)

Subject: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: Peter T.
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 11:15 AM

October 4 -- One of the joys of being a guitar student of Rick Fielding's is that he has an immense repertoire which you can tap into at any moment simply by saying, "How does Dave Van Ronk play?" (fill in any name that interests you), and he will show you how they play, their tricks, and how the sound they get got that way. We were working on dropped D tuning the other night, and on my way home I suddenly realised why certain Beatle songs sound the way they do (if I remember correctly, the period of time they were in India coincided with learning about dropped D from Donovan who was with them). What happened was that a certain sound pattern entered my head, and I recognised that it was part of a Beatle song which I have known for 25 years, and never knew until now what was it that made it work, and why it was so effective.
About 3 in the morning, I woke up and had a startling thought. In my head are hundreds, thousands of beautiful music patterns -- old folk songs, pop music, Chopin Ballades, Beethoven quartets -- that I have picked up over a lifetime of listening, and for most of them I have no idea how they do what they do. But they are in there. So I am carrying around a set of beautiful coded messages that I cannot yet decode, even though I can call them up and have them affect me. I am saturated with vast treasures I carry around, through no effort on my part, and may one day be able to open. I held my head in my hands for a moment, just to survive the largeness of the thought: there are precious musical things in here, in my head, that have nothing to do with me -- I am just their carrier, the box they are stored in, these musico-genetic puzzles, until the day I crack them open, finally, if ever. (p.t.)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 11:29 AM

There is a certain thrill in finding a new pattern, a new lick, or something that opens up the thoughts you describe Peter. My son finally "mastered" the bicycle the other evening and I asked Karen if she remembered what it was like. Thinking about it now, its the kids-eye view of what you describe. Some of us are fortunate to have music or some other endeavor that is so wonderful to us that we can still get that special feeling. A lot of folks never do.

Spaw - Who never once mentioned the heron.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: Allan C.
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 11:30 AM

Not to mention The Voices...

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: Allan C.
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 11:47 AM

It really is amazing how much STUFF we have, through no fault or effort of our own, stored inside our heads. And every great once-in-a-while we get a glimpse of some of it at unexpected times.

Years ago my father asked me to help him repair a sliding glass door. He confessed that he didn't know very much about them. I told him I would help him to puzzle it out. But as we began, I started using some tricks to make the job easier and made a few adjustments here and there. And before long the door was back in place and working perfectly. My dad was amazed and asked where I learned how to do all of that. In that moment, I suddenly realized that I spent about a week installing sliding glass doors almost thirty years before. Even though I had long since forgotten those days, there was something in my head that opened the misplaced files of information I needed.

Once I dreamed I was playing a gig and someone requested that I play a particular song. This was a song which had been thwarting my every effort to figure out. I told the requester that I would give it a try. I played it without error. I got so excited that I woke myself up! I got the guitar and tried what I had played in the dream. It worked!

What a marvelous thing we have inside our heads!

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: Max
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 12:41 PM

I heard a song when I was 14, years before I ever tried to be a musician. I liked the song and listened to it a lot then, but not since. About ten years later, I tuned my guitar to a G for the first time, and low and behold, the whole song came out. All from a distant memory just because the G tuning was so distinct.

I don't know how many times I'd sit and try to be creative with an instrument, start a riff, and watch it turn into a melody that already exists. Anymore I just ignore that its like something else and make it my own. Whew, that sounds kind of like Bill Gates....

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: sophocleese
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 01:32 PM

I'm trying to develop my ear training. I learnt to sight read for recorder as a child and got quite quick at it and then developed a block about ear training as my older brother had a quicker ear and always said he was better because of it (two years ago someone pointed out to me that until I read it and played it he couldn't hear it). I'm finally learning that the ear can be taught, I was just slower than he was. Now and again I'll surprise myself by doing something entirely by ear without thinking about it. I'll sing a note and play the chord first off without warmup just because that's the chord that goes with the note sung. My husband has perfect pitch and musical training, he will write out the music for me of a song on a tape that I can't quite figure out. I get frustrated because I can turn black blobs into melody but I can't turn melody into black blobs. Then one night in a dream I did the first line of a song myself. I remembered it when I woke up and checked and I was right! I was ecstatic for the rest of the day. Now I just have to figure out how to do it while I'm awake.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 4)
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 04 Oct 99 - 01:43 PM

Then there's the other side of the coin....Some people would rather not know how a certain piece of magic is performed. What was once imbued with the wonder and awe that only a child through innocent and untainted faculties can inspire, now becomes subject to careful and deliberate observation, scrutinized through lenses ground down to the consistency of diminished thirds and flatted fifths, and eligible for the pronouncement, "Hey, he's only playing 'G', 'C', and 'D'". The Easter Bunny becomes involved in some horrifically sinister animal experiment, the Tooth Fairy is found murdered in a back alley behind a squalid crack house, and Santa Claus dies of congestive heart failure - all with the help of willing accomplices.

Neil