Best Laid Plans

Hello Friends and Family,

I've had one of those weeks.  Spring quarter started on Monday.  This means that, as an teacher, you have a lot of running around, printing out syllabi, talking to new students, dealing with overflow forms, dealing with financial aid issues, putting out fires, and generally being swamped from the second you walk through the door till the second you clock out.  It is also the week leading up to Easter Sunday.  As a sound man for a church, this means extra rehearsals, extra services, early call times, late release times, more complex setups, and generally being swamped from the second you walk through the door till the second you clock out.  On top of all of this, I am still trying to finish up a couple recording projects for a client.  In other words, I've had one of those weeks.

I've been wanting to do a bit of video recording for a while now.  I play guitar and sing every single day of my life, I've got a Flip camera and video editing software.  This just makes too much.  So, after a week like I've had (that isn't over yet), I decided that I was going to have a nice fun day of recording and making music.  You know.  Something fun and relaxing.  What could possibly go wrong with a foolproof plan like that?

I woke up this morning to a sore throat and a scratchy voice (just my luck).  I'd also managed to cut my thumb in my sleep (how does that even happen?).  Off to a great start.  Its uncomfortable to sing and play, but I'm able to do both and I've been looking forward to this, so I procede with my plans.  I discover that my Flip camera is dead.  Not entirely surprising, but the rechargeable battery won't charge.  Not a major problem.  I bought a Flip Ultra HD (the larger and more expensive version of Flip cameras) for a couple of reasons.

  

  1.)  Ultra is in the name (worth the price of admission, alone)

  2.)  It was larger and more expensive, so it must be better.

  3.)  Its bulkier frame supports regular alkaline batteries if you can't use the rechargeable one.

BINGO!! That came in handy.  Things are starting to turn around.  I didn't have any AAA batteries, so I just ran to the store and picked up a pack on the way.  I set everything up with no issues and start recording.  I decided to mic the room and the amp so I had a little more control of the audio in post.  This requires syncing up the audio from the camera and the audio from my mics, but its a simple enough procedure.  I end up recording a couple takes (2 or 3) of the minute and a half arrangement.  The Flip camera flashes a "low battery" screen at me and dies.  I take a couple deep breaths, find my happy place, and convince myself that that must have been a fluke and replace the batteries.  The exact same thing happens.  It lasts for about 10 or 15 minutes and then dies.  During this whole camera fail, I'm having musical fails left and right and I'm starting to get discouraged.

I decide, at this point, that this is only getting worse (from a musical standpoint) and perhaps it would be best to just focus on one of the better takes and try to practice syncing the audio and video together.  So I move my laptop to a better spot in the room and get comfortable, but I needed to get my laptop's power cable (I think many of you see where this going).  As soon as I'm just out of arms reach, my laptop falls off of the piano and lands on its side, completely destroying my headphone cable.  While the computer seems to be fine, I think my life expectancy dropped a few points due to a mild heart attack, stroke, and enough adrenaline to kill an entire generation of Clydesdales.

So... I'm home.  After a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day; I did what any normal person would do.  I went home to take a nap and write a blog.  I haven't given up on making videos, I just think that somebody out there is telling me to take a nap today.  I can take a hint.

Goodnight

Peter Jones

New Music

Hello friends and family!!

PROOF!! That is a piano
and microphones.

It's been a few weeks since I made my last post (I'm not sure how you all survived without me for that long).  I know you've all been waiting with baited breath (what does that saying even mean?) for my newest blog entry and I don't like to disappoint.  I'm officially up to 5 followers, so... you know... I feel like its safe to announce that this blog has officially gone "viral".  So, thank you.  I wouldn't be able to do this without each and every one of you.

Anyway... I've got a bit of an announcement to make.  Brace yourselves.  I've begun to record new original music... again.  While I don't have anything to share yet, I'm hoping to start posting "works in progress" soon.  I would love to hear all of your opinions, thoughts, concerns, deepest, darkest, most intimate secrets, etc.  You know... when there is something to actually listen to.

My embarrassing "get the
idea out of my head quickly"
scratch notation. 

So, why the long hiatus (BOOYAH!! spelled it right on the first try)?  I think many musicians go through phases.  Writing phases, practicing phases, recording phases, performing phases, and the obligatory early awkward teenager phase where you know that you look kinda stupid on a daily basis, but have NO IDEA how bad it really was until many years later... phase... es.  I've been stuck in a very long practicing phase.  I say stuck, but in reality I've just been really motivated to becoming a better, faster, strong musician (that was a Daft Punk reference if you didn't catch that) and engineer.  I've recently gotten the writing bug again and I'm ready to start working on some new stuff.  I hope you dig it... you know... when there is something to actually listen to.


Peter Jones

The Victor Wooten Metronome Trick

Now that I'm truly "flying soulo", I've been spending a lot of time going back to the basic principles of music.  Specifically, rhythm and time.  Like many singers and musicians, I have a tendency to rush (speed up) or drag (slow down) depending on the complexity of what I'm working on.  We've all seen or heard this at some point in our lives.  The bass player is having no problem playing in the pocket throughout the whole gig until they step up for their "awesome" solo and all sense of time goes right out the window.

The best way to battle this problem is to practice with the humble metronome.  I've heard every excuse imaginable.  "I'm a singer, so its the job of the drummer or bass to keep time" or "I practiced a lot when I was younger, so I don't need to practice like that anymore".  The truth is, you're wrong.  5 seconds with a metronome will show you how wrong you are.  I'm not trying to call you out here.  You're in a loving and safe space.  We're all just here to help you through this.  I'm certainly as guilty (if not more guilty) as anyone.  Trust me.

Recently I stumbled onto a video of Victor Wooten talking about practicing with a metronome.  While he may or may not have invented the concept, I'll give him credit for the idea because he was the first person I've ever heard say this.  The concept is to start the metronome at a fast speed and play a simple idea at "half speed" of the tempo.  For example: I've downloaded an app on my iPhone called Pro Metronome.  It's free and works fantastically.  Its fastest speed is 240 BPM.  So I would practice a lick that I would play as if it was at 120BPM.  This gives me every 8th note and make it really easy to feel the beat and play the lick.  Once I feel comfortable there, I turn the metronome's speed down to 120 BPM and continue playing at the same speed.  This forces me to internalize that beat much more.  Once I feel comfortable with that, I turn it down to 60 BPM.  At this point, I'm only getting half notes and I'm forced to rely on my own sense  of time much more to keep in the pocket.  If I speed up or slow down I'll quickly lose that internal pulse.  I've notice that as I'm forced to depend on my own sense of time, I end up putting the time in my body more and more.  My head starts to bob and my foot starts tapping to help internalize that rhythm.  Once I'm comfortable with 60 BPM, I turn it down to 30 BPM (the slowest speed that this metronome app will go).

I dare any of the musicians reading this to try this simple little exercise.  I guarantee you'll find it harder than you think it is.  You can practice like this with any and EVERY instrument (that includes singers).  Practice a bass line, a drum beat, a chord progression, or even scales.  I spend an hour, every day, running the pentatonic scale up a down my guitar neck.  In time with the metronome.  This allows me to see how quickly I can actually play it (accurately) and I can use the aforementioned trick to internalize rhythm while I'm practicing scales.  Its an easy exercise that's flexible enough to allow you to work on practically anything and is applicable to every musician (I'm looking at you rappers too).

For more challenges you can try playing a 4/4 rhythm against a 3/4 click or knocking the meter down to 2/2 to get the metronome to play even slower or playing everything a 16th or 8th note later than the metronome's time.  The goal here is simply to instill a solid sense of time and to build confidence in your sense of time so that your become less and less dependent on the metronome for time.

Here is the video that inspired this blog.  Perhaps seeing a master do the exercise and seeing him make mistakes might encourage you to think about implementing these exercises into your own practice regiment.

Good luck.

A New Beginning

I haven't written a blog entry in such a long time.  Almost a YEAR to be more specific.  Well, that hiatus ends TODAY!!!

Literally.

I'm going to start writing again.  Scratch that.  I have started writing again.  My musical life has gotten a major overhaul and I'm going to start chronicling my new journey here.  I hope all of my faithful readers will join me for the ride.  If not successful, it should at least be fun to watch.



Thank you for all of your support.

Peter Jones