I have arranged several songs for our local ukulele group (CPLUG – the Collingwood Public Library Ukulele Group) over the recent months, and put them online for our members and for any other ukulele aficionados. The most recent was prepared for our May 21 get-together. Links are below. Some of
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Dead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Spring
Here in Sunny Alberta, our seasons don’t quite match what the calendar might have you believe. So while it may be that it has officially been spring for some time now, the threat of frost up until last week kind of detracted from any sense of rebirth or new life. But
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Practice makes perfect
Whenever I’m asked for advice from new ukulele players on how to get better, or what secret they need to know to play better, I tell them it’s simple: Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: How many chords?
How many chords does a musician need to know? How many does an amateur musician who plays mostly popular, folk and blues music, need to know? My first answer has always been, “all of them” because you never know when you need them. But that’s not realistic. After all, there
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Reading music and music theory
I write about reading a lot, because I read a lot of books. There are other kinds of reading – other languages, too – that I don’t write much about. Reading music is one of them. It’s a different language; a symbolic language with its own grammar, punctuation and rules.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
Changing gears a touch here folks, but in a good way. We are adding the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy to our list of artists we love forever here on DWR. So, move over Bach, shuffle over Beethoven and make some room for DHoH 🙂 So turn up the bass
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
Changing gears a touch here folks, but in a good way. We are adding the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy to our list of artists we love forever here on DWR. So, move over Bach, shuffle over Beethoven and make some room for DHoH 🙂 So turn up the bass
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Just Six Songs?
Author, musician and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin says all music can be classified into a mere six types of song. That’s part of the premise in his 2009 book, The World in Six Songs. I recently started reading it and it has opened some interesting areas of thought for me.* A
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Goldberg Variations No 27/28.
Variatio 27. Canone alla Nona. a 2 Clav. Variation 27 is the last canon of the piece, at the ninth and in 6/8 time. This is the only canon where two manuals are specified (not due to hand-crossing difficulties), and the only pure canon of the work, because it does
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Goldberg Variations No 27/28.
Variatio 27. Canone alla Nona. a 2 Clav. Variation 27 is the last canon of the piece, at the ninth and in 6/8 time. This is the only canon where two manuals are specified (not due to hand-crossing difficulties), and the only pure canon of the work, because it does
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Kevin Sharp, Country Star, Passes Away
I remember listening to Kevin Sharp on the radio in the 1990s. He was in part famous for having survived cancer.
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Spoon River: Smith, Goodman and Masters
VERY well, you liberals, And navigators into realms intellectual, You sailors through heights imaginative, Blown about by erratic currents, tumbling into air pockets, You Margaret Fuller Slacks, Petits, And Tennessee Claflin Shopes— You found with all your boasted wisdom How hard at the last it is To keep the soul
Continue readingThings Are Good: Band of the Month: SOHN
Hey readers! This months band is SOHN. London born and Vienna settled, SOHN is longing, brooding, and beautiful. Much like Toronto’s current state of anticipation for this winter’s eventual end. SOHN uses powerfully pulsing digital beats with spiralling layers of arpeggiating synth to provide an appropriately intense foundation for the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Tim Minchin
Music with a subtle message. http://youtu.be/VGErC6QQdoc Filed under: Music Tagged: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude, Tim Minchin
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Electronic music, raves & Toronto’s moral panic on drugs
…they do the work because they want to re-produce the type of city they want to live- the type of city that is worth living in. … …not all entertainment is built the same- some of these very worth while performers and promotors can’t jump through your hoops, or will
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – The Vatican Rag
Pushing the envelope back when doing so was not such a fashionable undertaking. Hurrah for Tom Lehrer! Filed under: Music Tagged: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude, The Vatican Rag, Tom Lehrer
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Oooh, shiny….
Religious texts are full of admonitions about avoiding temptation. The Lord’s Prayer tells God to “lead us not into temptation.” Fat lot of good that does. Not only do we lead ourselves there, we go willingly and eagerly. Pushing and shoving aside those who stand in our way to reach
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude – Bach, Goldberg Variations (No.26)
Another something that is about a million years away from my playing ability. Woo hoo! Filed under: Music Tagged: Goldberg Variations, The DWR Friday Musical Interlude
Continue readingPostArctica: Pretty Boy Floyd
Saw Dan Bern on stageit tonight and he played this song. Who are today’s outlaws? More than a couple billion people on the wrong end of the pen, my friends, it could be almost everyone. Pretty Boy Floyd Words and Music by Woody Guthrie If you’ll gather ’round me, children,
Continue readingPostArctica: Pretty Boy Floyd
Saw Dan Bern on stageit tonight and he played this song. Who are today’s outlaws? More than a couple billion people on the wrong end of the pen, my friends, it could be almost everyone. Pretty Boy Floyd Words and Music by Woody Guthrie If you’ll gather ’round me, children,
Continue reading