This is my second post today. I’m feeling the writing a bit I guess.

I’m sitting in Dunkin Donuts eating a second lunch and writing a second post for the day. I don’t have anything in particular to say, but seeing as how this is a freewriting blog, I guess I don’t really need something to say. Let me just write.

I really have to piss. I’ll be back in a moment.

Damn, somebody beat me to it.

Today is cloudy again. It seems like it has been cloudy and rainy for a month now. That’s not an exaggeration. It has been a very cool and wet month all around. Make of that what you will. It’s almost June, but it still feels like April. I’m not complaining, of course, I love cool weather. How weather makes me sweat like a wild hog in a sauna.

I guess I really don’t have much to say. Of course, Peter Elbow would encourage me to keep writing no matter what, so here I go - I’m writing.

Spaced out there for a minute. Sometimes it is difficult to just keep moving forward. In fact, why don’t I try brainstorming in lists for a bit. That always helps me to produce. Here are some thoughts on musical practice, not particularly in order of importance.

  • Guitar: This is my primary instrument, and I need to get better at it. All of the best musicians I have met are at least passably virtuosic on one instrument or more. To be honest, my facility on the guitar is embarrassing to me. I need to step it up. At the very least, I need to memorize a bunch of solo pieces as well as a good number of jazz heads and chord changes. Get it together dude.
  • Piano: Piano, for me, really is an aspect of musicianship, though I like to write about it separately. At one point I had worked up a few pieces from Bach’s Notebook for Anna Magdalena. That would be cool to get that back. I should also work on exercises from Bartok’s Mikrokosmos as well as Haerle’s book on jazz chord voicings. In fact, I really need to take piano lessons. Once I get back on my feet I should look into taking lessons at the Springfield Community Music School, finding a teacher who will help me work on piano as a compositional and teaching tool.
  • Composition: I spent a lot of effort in music school learning how to compose music, so I really just need to do it on a regular basis. Of course, working on books such as Wuorinen’s Simple composition and Schoenberg’s Theory of harmony really help me to develop good ideas and good writing practices. In addition, these books help me with my musicianship, which is the next topic. But in terms of my compositional practice, I need to just write fucking music regularly. REGULARLY.
  • Musicianship: Ear training, ear training, ear training. Also, Schoenberg’s book, but mostly EAR TRAINING. Piano, of course, especially functional piano for score reading and harmonization…but did I mention ear training? In fact, aside from ear training, all of the other points in this list are really aspects of musicianship. There are a couple of other things I should touch on, though.
    • Reading: I just need to make sure I read something on the guitar and the piano every day. Classical guitar books will be really helpful here as well as just regular piano practice
    • Score Reading: Just follow along with a score while I listen to orchestral music. Simple shit.
    • Transcription: Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe. Write some of it down, but get much better at learning shit by ear. This is, of course, an aspect of ear training, but it deserves mention all by itself.