The Elysian Fields

Here's another Nigel Kennedy Quintet tune from the Very Nice Album (Amazon.com).

This one, unlike the earlier ones, is not a live performance - it's a studio promo video. There's vocals here - not sure who does them [I checked: soul vocalist Xantoné Blacq, according to a review!], but he's definitely having fun with this one. It should definitely get wider exposure than it will amongst fans of R&B, funk, Afro-Cuban, and jazz fusion.

A good part of Jeff Beck's influence on my playing can be seen in this video - some great closeups showing his right hand techniques.

Unlike most rock guitar legends, Jeff does not use guitar picks. During an early performance, he dropped his pick and stood helplessly on stage, not sure what to do next. He vowed never to be in that position again, and uses a variety of fingerpicking techniques to expand the possibilities of expression.

This is Zoe on cello and Paul on violin, playing a little one-off piece...

Monday night, I relearned two of my own works for guitar: A Rose in Winter Fields (which has a vocal component) and the short little instrumental with the long title: Anansi's Song: A Spider's Lullaby. Also recalled the arrangement of Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King from his incidental music for Peer Gynt.

Practiced those three tunes, along with the melodies of A Jug of This and Scarborough Fair. The arrangement of Simple Gifts is getting, well, simpler, and is almost coming close to sounding good in places. I've been spending a little time on scalar and arpeggio practice, as well as a few minutes (or more) of improv.

I did play around with turning the A Jug of This melody into a song - whether I go further with those ideas or try a different tactic to create a playable tune, I don't yet know.

From a technical standpoint, while I'm neither quite as fast nor as accurate as in the past, I'm not nearly as far off the mark as I had thought. The instrument makes a great deal of a difference: on the acoustic, with its six-mile-high action and fat neck, squeezing a decent sound out is a challenge. With the 540P, I'd have to say that with the natural aging of certain abilities, I'm probably a better player now then ever before.

Why am I doing this now, when I have "better" things to do? Is Nero fiddling while Rome is burning?

I've never stopped listening as a musician, so while I can't say that music hasn't remained a part of my life, it needs to retain its core position. Everything in life that means anything is music; everything else is just noise.

Justin really shows an interest - and a talent - in the musical department. However, he sets it aside for many distractions. If I'm making music, I'm more likely to encourage him to make music - even during the times when we're not working on songs together. And when we do work on a song together, there's even more benefit for both of us. There's also the opportunity to teach him more about harmony, orchestration, and arranging as he works through writing a tunes.

Rachel and Brandon both enjoy listening - requesting that I play far more often than I play on my own. For every minute that practicing music takes me away from my kids, and the things I should allegedly be focused on, there's at least a minute of rapt listening, joyful dancing, smiling and watching, or gleeful strumming on their part. I'm sorry - how, exactly, is that neglecting my children?

There is also a selfish reason behind it: you see, my memory retention has taken a hit over the past few years. A combination of things, including high blood pressure, medications, and a deliberate dumbing down in response to feedback that I answer questions too quickly (so people think I haven't thought about them) and that I seem to have answers for everything. So in addition to whatever medical and pharmacological factors might - or might not - be having an effect, I've been purposefully trying to hold as little in my head as possible: I made Dory from Finding Nemo my ideal. Keeping all those tunes straight in my head is a way to work on my memory, and increase my abilities.

Musical To-Do List:

• Guitar:
• Smooth out the Requiem transcription


• Keep playing A Jug of This and Scarborough Fair


• Work on The Old Dun Cow melody


• Do something with A Jug of This


• Don't let A Rose in Winter Fields escape (again (again (again!) !) !)
• Flute:
• Find the book - or an online chart - so you can figure out which note is which
• See if you can manage A Jug of This
• Recorder:
• Pay attention to what notes it's capable of!
• Try A Jug of This if it's possible (transcribe if needed)
• Chanter:
• Limited number of notes. Figure out what's possible out of the tunes already grabbed.
• Find a simple one, learn on guitar first
• Violin:
• Find a string shop - see if it's worth repairing
• Maybe restring anyway, and get a cheap bow
• Hammered Dulcimer:
• Stop by a shop and get a piece of corian already
• Reassemble stand
• Figure out where you put the hammers "so they'd be easy to find"