Music

Mysticism in Music

Submitted by john.shannon on Wed, 11/17/2010 - 00:01

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Lion's Mane by John Shannon

Trade your cleverness for bewilderment.
- Rumi

WHAT IS MUSIC?

According to the Webster's dictionary music is “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity”.

According to my personal life experience music is an invisible force that sonically presents itself as an offer to take me deeper into my awareness of who I am not only as a human being but also as a spirit in a body.

WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION?

Music has no real definition because its definition is entirely in relation to your experience of it. Thats why music is music. This lack of real concrete definition is why music has its roots in mystery, in mysticism. According to the Webster’s dictionary the definition of mystery, it is “something not understood or beyond understanding.” It is important to view music as something beyond us. There is a humility and openness to this view that keeps your relationship to music always fresh and always growing, all the while serving to evolve your intelligence. In fact I would say it takes more intelligence to understand the concept of something being “beyond yourself” and letting go into that than to understand a harmonic structure and its relative mathematics of any given piece.

I’m one of those mystery seekers because my own journey of music has brought me here. Is there a fear of the mystery in music today? Hendrix didn’t fear the mystery. Perhaps thats why he sounded original. Same goes for Coltrane. Well, now its 2011. The Coltrane and Hendrix eras are gone. Who’s up for creating new ways? When you can walk into the great mystery of music and life, then new ways come into bloom. New music. New vistas. New mysteries.

John Shannon teaches Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar and Songwriting with BML.

CATCH JOHN SHANNON LIVE THIS MONTH:

John Shannon and Wings of Sound
Pete's Candy Store
11/28/10 @ 10:30pm

NerdPop // Utilizing The Tools Of Our Electronic Time

Submitted by chris.kuklis on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 17:16

Every day we're surrounded by tools & gadgets & pop culture refuse.  (Think of all the things you own or interact with that beep & click & blink & sing.)  I think an important avenue of music creation at the moment involves exploring these alternate instruments & sound creators.  This video is an excellent example.

With a little bit o' creative/videographical know-how & a couple bags of "novelty" instruments, these quirky Englishmen have made something that's funny, entertaining & musically legitimate.

Of note: Unlike many in their field, Mr. Domino & his cohort use totally stock instruments with no effects, hardware/software hacks, mods, circuit bends etc.

Regardless of your instrument or chosen path, remember that there will always be new ways to be creative.

...:::ck:::...

John Beaty's Guide to Saxophone Practice - Part 1a

Submitted by john.beaty on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 00:52

The most important tool in getting better on any instrument is a good practice schedule. This multi-part article covers the 4 areas that I find to be most important when practicing saxophone:

1. SOUND PRODUCTION
2. FINGER COORDINATION
3. ARTICULATION
4. STYLISTIC APPROACH

Depending on the time I have available to practice, I split these four areas up over as little as 30 minutes or as much as 12 hours. It is important to note that these exercises can be applied to all levels of saxophone ability!

AREA 1 - SOUND PRODUCTION

Part 1a - Embouchure and Long Tones

Sound is the most important area of saxophone. If you have a good sound and can only play three notes, at least people will still want to hear those three notes. As a basic starter to making a sound on the saxophone it is important to point out that the bottom lip covers the bottom teeth and the reed sits on top of the bottom lip. The upper lip does not cover the upper teeth and the teeth directly touch the top of the mouthpiece. The top of the tongue should be touching your top teeth in the back, while the mouthpiece enters your mouth at an angle. Try to place the air into the top of the mouthpiece, do not blow directly into the mouthpiece. After you have made a few sounds it is time to get used to producing the sound.

Saxophonists often talk about "long tones". It isn't a big secret, you just play one note for an extended period of time. Place your favorite metronome at 60 BPM and start with G. (If you are advanced start with the lowest Bb and go to the high F chromatically). To practice the long tone start playing soft and crescendo (get louder) over 4 beats, for the next 4 beats decrescendo (get softer). That is a total of 8 beats. Then add a beat to each side, meaning 5 beats while you crescendo, and 5 beats while you decrescendo for a total of 10 beats. I recommend going at the very least 8 beats on both sides, 16 all together. If you feel you need and can take more go for it.

Video example of part 1a:

Ableton Live : Operator Bassline

Submitted by bryan.noll on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 22:36

Gustavo Bravetti made this instructional video for Ableton Live. It's not really for beginners, but it's really great to see how to use Operator to make a nice bass sound. Watching (and hearing) him adjust the ADSR is useful, as is seeing the touch of FM he ads; but what I find so great is how he assigns the frequency of the filter to velocity and then adjusts each note's velocity to hit the filter at different frequencies.

Gustavo's YouTube Page has a lot of useful material, do check it out.

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