See, Nora likes to Practice....

Love Your Lurkers Week

I've been looking through my music theory notes from back at OU* and found a lot of stuff I think would be useful to some of the folks stumbling through here. I'll be posting a lot of that this week and some more great rock tutorials I found on the net.

I noticed that there are actually a lot of people starting to check this page out, and I thought I'd be social and smile and wave through the Internet. I've been getting some nice notes, and I'm glad that some of what I'm posting is useful or entertaining to others with a lot of musical interests. My experiences are varied, and I like a lot of different styles of music, so I'm trying to reflect that in the different things I'm posting about. Making music, in whatever fashion you do, is a journey. Many different things influence it. An intelligent interview with a songwriter you respect will influence you in one way, the funny you tube video you watched 12 times will influence you in another, and discovering a chord progression you like will move you in other ways too. This page is a reflection of the idea that all those different experiences are useful, and may lead to enjoying or making great music.

If you happen to be reading this, I'm curious about the people checking out this blog- I'd like to know what kinds of things you'd like to see more of in a page like this. If you have a moment, please stop by in the comments here and say Hello.

Peace!
~ Nicolette


(* for musicians in Michigan, Oakland University in Rochester has an excellent program that I have a lot of good things to say about. It was the professor's there that really helped me learn how to translate the music I could imagine in my mind into actual notes on a piano or guitar. :-) )

Here's a Great Funny Music Video Parody :-)

Measure for Measure from N.Y. Times

I was looking around for some other great blogs and websites to talk about here, and found Measure for Measure. It's a N.Y. Times blog which is apparently on vacation momentarily; but holds a lot of interesting thoughts for visitors who like to make music. There are multiple contributors, including Suzanne Vega, who I've always thought of as very talented and creative in the wold of making music. Check it out:

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

Induction of Leanord Cohen

Occasionally the right people get Honnored...

Sometimes you just need some Muppets!

*Groan* This is going to hurt!

Having watched that spoken word bit of Rumi that Madonna did about 100 times now, I had to get on to something else. As was inevitable, I did a search on Tori Amos.

What I was hoping to find was "little Eartquakes". What I did find was "Crucify", another great song. I've never really played or written anything I can remember in D-Flat major, which nis apparently the key she wrote it in. This would be a good exercise for me. Besides, I like the way she writes, learning "Crucify" may let me see more of how she tends to structure things as a composer. Having found this tutorial I feel obligated to set my laptop on my keyboard and turn the amplifier on. I may find myself soaking my fingers later, if I really try to get the first piano lick down.

If you like Tori Amos and are working with a piano or keyboard, or want to see why I'm wincing a little, click here:

I'm Going to Watch this about 100 times...

Here's a Deep Dark Secret. Madonna was one of my first musical hero's. When I was not even a teenager yet, she was my example of how a young woman from a small town in Michigan could take charge of her life and become a rock star if she wanted to. There was more to it than that, I felt that beyond the outward showy displays there was something inside her as that made her both an artist, and a philosopher poet that could use her art to speak deeply to others. Most of my young friends just laughed at me, and I'm sure my Mom laughed even harder.

Today it surprises me, but I'm quite sure I was right. Here's why I'm breathless for her again, amazed to see her do such a beautiful expression of the poetry of Rumi:

Music to Laugh to: The Mean Kitty Song

Sometimes you just need a laugh. I give you the mean kitty rap song, which is awfully cute. :-)

Seattle Music Sceene: Blue Moon Open Mic Night

If you happen to be up in the seattle area and want a fun evening, the Blue Moon hosts an open mic on Wednesday nights. It starts around 8pm and is run by Angry Joey and co-hosted by his talented daughter Leanne. With any luck I may get to film and post her awsome rendition of "Mad World" by Tears for Fears in the near future. Last nights open mic was amazing from start to finish. There were some noteworthy blues tunes sung by Daddy Treetops, a musician of local folk fame, and also an amazing set of Rastafarian fun lead by Abdulla and his friends.

The crowd on Wensdays is warm and friendly, so if you live in the area or are visiting bring yourself out. If you play, show up with your guitar or a song and sign up with Joey. The crowd is weloming to beginners as well as seasoned ( bad-ass) performers. ;-)~ The Blue Moon is located on 45th street in the U district.

Must be 21 and over to attend, with ID.

Too Easy: Using the circle of fifths to determine chords

Wooooooh! I -real- music lesson- and this music teacher has a sense of humor! Useful information!!!! ( Ummm..yeah, if you're in the "beginner class" and haven't heard of the circle of fifths yet, we'll get there. Watch this anyway. )

Back to Basics: Reading Music

For the beginners, here's a very quick little video that talks a little bit about finding pitches in written music and how the length of a note is expressed.

Songwriting Rituals

If you want to compose your own music, it can be very helpful to create a few "personal songwriting rituals" for yourself.

Anything that gets you into the mood and the right frame of mind can be useful. Knowing what works for you is the key. Some people like to write music free of distraction, in a quiet room with noone else around. Others enjoy sitting in a park with their guitar, and may enjoy being around friends while working on things.

It can be a good idea to develope a set of things you do almost every time you sit down to make music. This can be formal or informal, spiritual or silly, profound, profane, or all of the above. (Yes, that's possible.)

Jane sits down at her piano, pulls out some manuscript paper and a pencil, lights a candle on top of it to represent inspiration, and plays through her scales and exercizes before letting them take her someplace. Soon she's lost in new sounds, and writing something down in a hurry.

Billy stumbles out of bed, cracks a beer, and lovingly rubs the neck of his guitar. His notebook and pen are already on the floor in his usual spot.

Whatever little elements you can add to your routine of practice, playing, and creation that can happen in the same way most of the time can help create a "mental trigger" Jane's subconscious mind, where the creativity really resides, understands that it's showtime when she lights the candle. Billy knows that when he tastes the beer and starts idylly playing with his guitar, something will happen.

It's a process of creating a mental landscape that is open to the creative process. Try lot's of things, and feel free to comment here and let me know some of your favorite tricks to get into the mood. :-)

The Homework Blues:

I woke up this morning,
Knew I had homework to do....
Yes I woke up this morning,
and I knew I had homework to do,
But the sun it wasn't shinin'
and I could only think in Blue.

Here's a great article that talks a little about the history of the blues, and links for some more things to read. :-) This is fun- I kind of like torturing the audience with homework. *giggle*


What is the blues?
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html

Who is important to know about in the history of the blues?
( These guys, and me and you. The blues is for the people, got it? )

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsbioalpha.html

And wow, that list is comprehensive. Scattered throught the descriptions of musicians who have been important to the blues as a musical movement, there are also suggestions of essential songs to listen to. I could probably look through this stuff all day. :-)

Happy reading. I expect a 12 page report on my desk Monday morning---- oh, what, it's already Monday? Well, I guess you're just going to have to write a blues song about it, then. :-)

Peace,
Nicolette

12 Bar Blues

The 12 bar blues is one of the most common and well loved chord progressions. Knowing how it works lets you really work on playing the blues and making up your own songs very quickley.

The phrase 12 bar refers to the number of bars, or measures, that the repeatable pattern takes up. The twelve measures can be broken down into three four-bar segments.

The lyrics typically follow an AAB pattern, where the first two 4 bar stanza's are "A" and the third is "B". The first and second lines are usually repeated, and the third is a response to them, often with a twist.

Not all blues songs follow this pattern, but it is the most well known and easy to understand format, which will help the listener to understand the musical framework used in the blues better.

Before we get into more about how to sit down with your piano or guitar and do it, listen to an example of a 12-bar blues song:

( And would also be a fabulous example of how you're allowed to go completely insane while playing the 12 bar blues. Sometimes insanity is fun ;-)~)

Playing the Blues

Here's a neat little tutorial I found that shows how to make 4 simple chords that will work for composing a blues song. Definately some great ideas you can experiment with.:-)

How Cool!

My blog has already made Three Dollars and Fourty Three Cents from google adsense. Neato, spiffy, keen!

Although I'm not writing this blog primarily to make money, I could -really- use some. I'm also kind of pleased, they're putting adds up that are totally relevant and interesting, like the one to Berkley Music Online.

I know it's a shameless plug- but please, check out my sponsor links, and help a sister out. :-)

Peace,
Nicolette

The Blues Scale- C Minor Pentatonic – Blues Scale in C

Before we can play the blues, we have to understand how the blues are built. The scale is a little different, including “bent” or “blue” notes.

On a piano you can hear the C minor pentatonic or C Blues scale by playing these six notes:

C – E flat- F- F sharp- G- B flat.

Like the other scales we’ve discussed, it has a particular pattern that can be moved to any root note by using the same structure of half steps and whole steps.

Respectively, the scale is built one, flat three, four, flat five, five, flat seven- but try just learning it in C first. I recommend playing up and down the scale until you are very comfortable with it, and then just noodling around with those notes. See what melodic phrases occur to you naturally and have fun.

Here's a video tutorial so you can see the scale being played.

Let’s Learn “House the Rising Sun”

Undoubtedly, The Animals version is the most well loved, although many other musicians have also covered this song.



Here’s several you tube videos that teach a version of this song being played on piano :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iL8Z13swnM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaekMhDPRS4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kjeo_h1sXA

and a guitar version:



I love this song, and it has an interesting and somewhat mysterious roots. Here’s also a little bit about the history of this song from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun

Rock Legends: The White Strips "Seven Nation army" and How to Play it!!!

Gods of Guitar: Jimi Hendrix "All Aong The Watchtower" Original Music Video