Counting Sheep 12/02/10

Whoa. I'm tired.

Good decision to not do Physics, because with it I don't think I'd have any time to sleep, much less to practice.

MEX this week kicked off with a session on practice, from which I've implemented a few new ideas on playing fast. Practice sessions this week have been mostly focused on L'absente, I've finished all the note bashing and am now working on more fluency between sections, and nailing the big left hand runs in the final section. Next week I plan to revise Always With You, Always With Me which I had fluent and sounding good a few months ago.

In other music news, I'm really enjoying the cello at the moment. JS Bach's cello suites have been on high rotation this week and they make me want to go and practice after every listen. I'm playing a few things on a few instruments in few masses next week, so hopefully that all goes off without a hitch. Also, the inaugural formal Saints choir practice kicked off this week, which was rad. One of the big music department goals for the year is to get the choir to a formidable level, and personally I think it would be excellent if there was ultimately some combination with one the Saint Monica's Choirs.

What I'm listening to as I write this: Sarah Blasko's sophomore album What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have. I believe this won a few Arias, and in my opinion, they are well deserved. Often the atmosphere is haunting, which I often feel gives a similar vibe to a lot of Radiohead b-sides. Always complex and intricate, I'm a big fan of this album and of Blasko.


Until next time,

Ben.

Fool's Gold 5/02/10

Good afternoon,

Another eventful week in the life of Ben I suppose, the non-musical highlights of which were getting my Provisional Driver's License, and being chosen to participate in Lion's Youth of the Year, a quasi-public speaking competition which kicks off next Monday. I'm back to being officially no longer a physics student, after I made the decision to decline the offer to rejoin the class and study MEX externally. While it would've most likely been beneficial for my academic results, the time and effort demanded by the subject was too much to justify.

What's happening in MEX: I've formulated my list of pieces for the first recital at the end of next term, and they are as follows:

• Cliffs of Dover: An instrumental rock piece by American rock guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson. Lots of guitar techniques are used in this one, including rapid legato and alternate picking passages as well as string skipping licks. Fairly fast paced, I see this one being backed by bass and drums.
  
• Always With Me, Always With You: Another instrumental by an American guitar virtuoso, this time by Joe Satriani, who is probably my favourite axe-wielder. Always is a slower tempo than Cliffs of Dover, and has fairly limited instrumentation. I will need accompaniment, however, and will later decide whether to arrange the rhythm guitar part for piano or whether to simply play with another guitarist.
• Rylynn: This is a song for solo acoustic guitar by fingerpicker Andy Mckee. The fingerstyle genre is one that I have had limited experience with, so this will probably be a bit of a challenge, but enjoyable nonetheless.
• L'absente: A solo piano piece by French composer Yann Tiersen, who is probably best known for scoring the Academy Award nominated Amélie. Tiersen's work covers a very broad number of styles; L'absente being written in a fairly minimalistic and progressive manner.
  

All up these four works go for about 15 minutes, which is well over the expected 10 minutes. I have done this in case one of the pieces is not quite at performance standard, in which case I can save it for the second recital.

Other Music news: This week rehearsals began for most of the college music ensembles, five of which I will be involved in, namely the Concert Band (drums and percussion), the Big Band (guitar), the vocal Choir, the guitar ensemble which will be newly established, and the String Ensemble, which I have just joined, having begun studying the cello over the summer holidays.

What I'm listening to as I write this: The Recordings of the Middle East, the debut EP from the Middle East, a wonderfully unique band from Townsville who I was lucky enough to catch live at this year's Woodford Folk Festival. Falling somewhere between folk, ambient, and indie, they have a large of armory of instruments to choose from due to the inclusion of many multi-instrumentalists in their lineup, helping bring eclecticism to their overall sound.



Until next time,

Ben.

Needle in the Hay 1/02/2010

So year 12 is finally here, and of course, as always is the case at the start of the year, I'm confronted with the swift onslaught of a million things to do to get the year started. One of them, however, is particularly positive, and that is to begin music extension for 2010. And right here, in this very blog, is the first concrete evidence of my work as a MEXican. My faithful sensei Mr Cole has instructed me to keep a diary of my progress, goals, hopes, fears, cogitations, and all other things relating to the beautiful study of music, and his idea of an electronic blog sounded suhweeeet, so here goes...

Here's what I'm thinking, on the first day, in terms of repertoire:

• Broadly, I want to engage in studies over a number of styles, that's always been one of my strengths as a guitarist and indeed as a musician, I'd like to think I can headbang with the metalheads as well as I can jam with the jazz crowd.
• My main focus will be guitar, but I will perhaps dabble into a bit of piano and/or drums.
• In terms of actual pieces, the initial list is inclusive of Rylynn by Andy McKee, Always With Me, Always With You by Satch, Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson, and something in the jazz styling, leaning towards the work of Joe Pass at present. L'absente by Yann Tiersen is a piano piece that's swimming at the back of my mind, but I have my doubts as to whether it meets the calibre required. I'll have a think.

Also, today, I was offered the chance to rebecome a Physics student, after officially not being a Physics student for under 72 hours. This would totally change the dynamic of my MEX studies among other things, but it could potentially hold me in better stead in terms of OPs and the like. Big decision, more on that next time.

What I've been listening to as I write this: Elliot Smith's eponymous album, a recent find of mine. I'm thoroughly enjoying his at times whispery vocal delivery, very unique, but it was a shame to today learn that he was killed at the age of 34. Personally, I feel he resonates a similar aura to Jeff Buckley, whom I idolise.


Until next time,

Ben.