Strays Dave

I retired at 62. I'm now 69. During my day job years (say my early 30's thru my early 60's) I gigged occasionally as a sideman. I'm a traditional "piano player". During the day job years I dreaded the thought of losing my piano chops and co-ordination, so I struggled to make time most days after work to get in maybe 1 to 1 1/2 hours playing time on weekdays and 2 or 3 hours on weekends. At 62 I was free to spend 3-4 hours most days at the piano. I had a list of jazz standards and show tunes (things from musicals like Gershwin and Rogers and Hart). I beefed up that song list, courtesy of YouTube, with more show tunes and old pop tunes - for an assisted living gig. Pre-pandemic I was playing maybe 8 one hour gigs per month. But most of those gigs didn't come back after the pandemic. Also at 62, I came acquainted (thru a piano forum) with a university PhD. academic who studied Schoenberg's "Theory of Harmony" textbook in graduate school. For about one and a half years we had mostly bi-weekly Skype sessions (with another pupil) on whichever part of the book we were focused on. The book is very tedious and the teacher knew which sections were pertinent to use and which to leave out. So for about 1 1/2 years I spent maybe an hour daily working 4 part harmony exercises - written on score paper while sitting and plunking at the piano. This gave me more skill at using voice leading when playing - like some of the mainstream jazz pianists of the mid 1950's to 1960's. This same academic (Mark Polishook) also suggested that instead of scales, I try Bach's 2 and 3 part inventions. I did, and some of them are great. Later I moved up to Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. Picking and choosing which pieces to "play thru" - playing thru very slowly and doing a fair amount of fumbling. I also created a little song list of rock and blues oriented songs which I play and sing. Beatles, some old rhythm and blues. I virtually never get to perform from this song list, but I figure if I keep my skills up, the opportunity may arise. About 2 years ago, I took my final bicycle ride - a mindlessly stupid accident. I ended up with a reverse shoulder replacement surgery. My point in relating this is that my post surgery physical therapist gave me some final exercises. They involve warming up with an elastic band, then doing a variety of exercises with 10 lb. dumbells . Doing 3 sets of them seems to take about 25 minutes and I do them three times weekly. I'm playing better than I ever have in my life. But it's simply putting in the time and work. I do believe that keeping the thread intact during my non-gigging day job years was important. I plan to keep up the regimen the rest of my life. Later on in life, if dementia and physical disability become too horrific, I'm hoping for a pleasant and humane suicide (a whole different topic). Lastly, I want to start recording. I have a pretty decent collection of hand drums, a couple of Yamaha Reface keyboards, a baritone uke (I play finger style), an electric guitar, and so on. My software skills are insufficient. But I've connected with a young guy (say under 25) who I think is a Full Sail student (I live in Orlando). He said he'll come to my house for recording lessons. I'll play him of course. I often joke that my musical practice regimen pairs nicely with my OCD tendencies.

Thanks Craig. I downloaded the Universal Control, but still unsuccessful. I spoke to a young guy working at Sam Ash in the recording department. They often employ students from Full Sail. I'll probably schedule a lesson or two at the store. I thought I might take my baritone ukulele....and record a verse and chorus of something like "Under the Boardwalk" using multi-tracking to get me started. I guess I'm a dinosaur in wanting to only use microphones and line-in.

A couple of months back I struggled with my Presonus Studio 2/6 attempting to do some simple recording. It seems to be a Studio One issue. I also tried my Focusrite Scarlet 4i4. The hardware LED's (on both units) are seeing the mic, but not the Studio One software. I fiddled and fiddled and finally I gave up. This was back in August. So today, I tried an idea. I plugged both units - separate tests - (Presonus and Focusrite) with GarageBand (on my MacBook Pro mid 2015) and easily recorded a little test. I listened to it played back. No problem. I left GarageBand because it seemed designed for using MIDI loops and virtual instuments and so on. Finding answers to simple questions in GarageBand (like recording with 2 mics simultaneously) seemed elusive. I think my problem must be pretty simple. The OS on the Mac is Monterey 12.6.1.

I don't typically use a set list. But this particular gig seems to be presented as a concert. They seem to often have classical performers and sometimes musical theater folks. So I want to have a somewhat tight set planned....try to time it - roughly. I'm doing songs like Zip A Dee Do Dah and That Old Black Magic. A few 1950's slow pop songs. And so on. I usually pick songs on the spot from the working song lists I bring along. But my weak spot it lyrics. Oh well.

I was happy to get to see and hear Jacob in concert. I seemed to be the rare aging boomer (68 years) in a sea of millennials. He performed with a band of hand picked musicians. What annoyed me was that pretty much every time Jacob played (or sang) something musically adventurous - an ad libbed piano fill - or vocal riffing - etc.....a significant number of folks would shout "yeah" or "whoo" in approval. And when doing this, they covered up and obscured the musical idea they were hooting about. The sound reinforcement was adequate, but unable to overcome the noise in close proximity to my ears. The folks in attendance were Collier nerds. They were huge fans. I think their enthusiasm exceeded their good sense. I think my concert days are past - at least these sorts of concerts.

Thanks for the ideas guys. I've decided to print lyrics for each song, put them in a plastic sheet insert and in a binder, in order of performance. The PageFlip Firefly would be nice if I were going to be singing on an ongoing basis (more singing gigs), but I don't know that I will be. The physical device, for me, would be something like using a sledgehammer to drive a nail I did some searching, and found some app(s) with "podium" in their name, but not being sure that they're the answer, I'll just stick to paper unless/until I come across something that seems specifically suited.

I'm going to be singing on an assisted living gig in mid-May. I have not sung on a gig since pre-Covid in March 2020. I have an new iPad mini - I've searched on lyrics to several songs - pinched out to make them a little bigger - took a screen snapshot and saved them in a file. I want to be able to plan a 45-50 minute performance and have the lyrics on the iPad in order of performance. I think I can set the screen timeout to something like 10 minutes to avoid having the screen timeout. No lead sheets or chord charts - just lyrics. I'll be playing piano and singing. I'm thinking there must be apps for say, arranging lecture notes in order as desired, for easily swiping in sequence as set up in advance. Anyone have ideas for this in an app ? Thanks in advance.

A friend shared this video with me. After watching, I started thinking about extending the technology....say, a pianist who's skilled at playing in the style and manner of Oscar Peterson digitizing his technique for training purposes. Possibly guitarists, violinists ? Then I wondered...if it suddenly became readily accessible to learn to play at a high level such as an Oscar Peterson, would the value of that high level be diminished ? I'm thinking (once again) of the Antiques Roadshow commandment that scarcity adds value.

My impressions formed reading anecdotes and seeing occasional interview snippets is that George Martin was a sort of gentle giant - but in the area of kind nature and intellectual curiosity. I sometimes wonder about the unknowable - what the Beatles might've done without his assistance. Murray Wilson, the Beach Boy dad, reportedly wanted them to stay in their little world of songs about surfing, hot rods and girls. They broke out and away from his short sighted vision. The Beatles were not burdened by this sort of small minded thinking....in fact GM helped facilitate their more adventurous and creative impulses. Thankfully. BTW, in case anyone hasn't heard, the Peter Jackson Get Back documentary seems to be coming out as a 3 DVD set in February. And for around $30. I generally avoid buying DVD's these days, but will probably buy this one. I'd like to rip it to my computer and have it readily available. A friend (Santa Fe Bob) shared his Disney+ account with me and I've watched the 3 part series once. I believe it's an exposition on the creative process. Something young musicians can learn from in the future. One piece I read about the documentary stated "creativity often is boring and repetitive, until it's transcendent". I agree with that sentiment. And also BTW, I'd given Paul credit for the (I believe) inventive bass line(s) on "The Long and Winding Road"....and have learned it was played by John, on a six string (bass?). For me, besides their great variety of songwriting, great vocal harmonies and much more, the arrangements they crafted was key to their magic.

We've all read many of the same stories about tape loops used on "Tomorrow Never Knows". And that George Martin played the keyboard solo on "In My Life" recorded at half speed so that he could pull it off. And the story about "Strawberry Fields Forever" with the marrying of two recordings a half-step apart. But I'd never read anything specific about him, at least in a sense, tutoring Paul on musical nuts and bolts. "Yesterday" This is the first time I recall reading about GM sitting down at the piano with Paul to sketch out string parts. I loved Paul's anecdote about wanting 7th's in the string parts, George M. telling him it wasn't "proper" string quartet writing....and Paul telling him "whack it out, I've got to have it". https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/5-decisions-confirm-george-martin-fifth-beatle/

There is a lot to unpack in Bob Lefsetz's piece. I thought he offered some keen observations. One thing sometimes mentioned on Antiques Roadshow (on PBS) is that scarcity adds value. Back when I was a kid, buying even a 45 RPM single record involved the delight of taking it home and playing it - 2 sides - 2 songs. Now there are millions available. Scarcity has long disappeared. I still keep thinking that the one thing we musicians' still have is our physical presence - live performance. I keep having thoughts that when the skills of playing an instrument and singing have fallen out of favor and largely (or partially) died out and disappeared, THEN live performance skills may be valued again. Scarcity. Currently my live performances (piano) are for the dead and dying - assisted living facilities. My other thought: Am I the only one who keeps thinking that the electronic percussion sounds that have become so ubiquitous will become horribly cliched sounding one of these days ? I'm thinking of what sounds like old Venetian blinds having a hand running down them to create drum/percussion sounds. And don't get me started on the tired formulaic singer songwriter and EDM - 4 CHORDS repeated over and over. And over and over. Maybe one day a new appetite for inventive harmony and chord changes will sprout and grow - after a prolonged period of scarcity.

Thanks Kuru for the tips. I should probably stick to a baritone uke to be safe from tuning frustration. I may look at a 3/4 sized nylon string classical styled guitar, and play it to see how it feels. Yesterday (Sunday) I played the uke off and on thru the day while watching NFL games. My calluses are coming along.

Since posting this it occurred to me, what about a "small" 6 string guitar? Looking in the Sweetwater catalog I see a Taylor GS Mini-e Koa Plus....my biggest requirement is that the strings are separated far enough apart that I can finger pluck (I don't know the terms here) . I'd still be mostly just playing the D-G-B and E strings, largely ignoring the lower strings. I guess maybe I'll google "small guitars".

I played around with my baritone uke for several years - then stopped for maybe 6-7 years. Now I'm back at it. I'm a pianist, schooled and practiced. Now happily retired, I play piano several hours daily. But my approach to the baritone uke is hunt and peck...I use the finger patterns I remember from over 50 years ago as a teenager playing guitar with only a Mel Bay chord book. I have to learn the songs (currently "Dear Prudence" , "Under the Boardwalk" and "Sun King" ) by hunting and plunking along with rote memorization. I mostly arpeggiate 3 note triads and sing and tap my foot. I like to think there's a cross-training brain benefit to this activity. Plunking (fingerstyle) with my right hand fingers and thumb seem to give some toning "exercise" activity to my right hand. So now I'm interested in upgrading to a nicer uke. There seems to be slim pickings in baritone ukes although I don't understand why. I tune it the same as the 4 highest pitched guitar strings. I'm looking at the Kala KA-SA-B Acacia Uke. I'd hoped to get an upgrade with electronics, but again, few options. Anyone here have insights to offer ? I think Craig posted a uke thread some months back, but I'm not finding the "thread search" option. I'm thinking maybe in the $600-900 range. Thanks for any insights.

Maybe this fits in, and maybe it doesn't. I happened to catch part of an Eric Schmidt (Google) interview regarding AI (artificial intelligence). He quoted E.O. Wilson as saying "We have paleolithic emotions, with medieval institutions, and god like technology". I googled E.O. Wilson - he just died - he was sometimes called "Darwin's natural heir".

Someone mentioned Motown. A bass player acquaintance posted on FB the other day that he went to a Motown tribute concert just last weekend in Sanford , 20 miles north of Orlando where I am. He commented that the bass player nailed the Jamie Jamerson parts, but needed to use 2 fingers to execute them. I think of these tribute bands as doing museum period pieces. Musicians need to play to earn money. I wish the players well, but I'd hate to be in a position that required I attempt to imitate some specific musician. In one of the interviews (over the years) with Keith Jarrett, he was asked something about pianists wanting to play like he did. Jarrett replied that they should "seek what the artist seeks " - not to simply imitate. Lofty advice but I like the sentiment.

In my view/opinion there are certain ideas whose time have come. I'd say end of life humanely assisted suicide, composting as an option for our dead carcass, and replacing our arcane and archaic legal justice system with some sort of algorithmic replacement. Get rid of the highly educated good old boy system.

Thanks for the feedback. I've decided to stick with the Wi-Fi version. Hoping to load up my ripped mp3's and my Amazon Kindle purchased books - syncing.

I forgot one point in my scenario. I have a Pixel 5 android phone. I don't believe that should prevent tethering to an Apple iPad. But in case it might, I'll mention it here.

I posted questions several times over the years. Mike Rivers always gave clear and common sense (understandable to my non-tech mind) advice. He recommended Total Recorder years ago when I wanted to record a favorite weekly radio show. He was a valuable resource who seemed to enjoy teaching some of what he knew, simply for the pleasure of sharing.

I want to buy a new iPad mini 6. I've done some some googling regarding data plans for iPads. I want to use the smaller iPad mostly for around the house - reading news and miscellaneous articles on it instead of my phone. My Cricket Wireless plan currently is $50 monthly "unlimited" data - but seems to throttle at 2 GB. That's not an issue at home using my Wi-FI. But in mid-June 2021 on my road trip (Orlando to Santa Fe NM and back) I did get messages about hitting 2 GB. Googling recently , I saw data plans for iPads from some carriers like T-Mobile. Cricket has a Hotspot plan with up to 10 GB for, I think, $60 per month. I expect to only hit the > 2 GB mark on future travels. I'm mostly thinking about motel rooms where I can plug my phone into an electrical outlet and tether the iPad mini 6. My thinking is that a 10 GB Hotspot plan would cover my needs. But I don't know the ins and outs of data usage etc. So, is the cellular model warranted for me ?. It's an extra $200.

I just looked at Tee Public online. I think they sold me a graphic Captain Beefheart "LIck My Decals Off Baby" and Zappa's Mothers of Invention "Freak Out" album cover graphic. They're nice Guildan Heavy Cotton (I just now checked). Now Tee Public's description is: 100% combed ringspun cotton. The perfect fabric for a graphic tee and the softest in the business. Which means very little to me. I won't order from them now. But I'd happily pay a premium fee like say $5 more for a quality T. Oh well.

Good for your daughter - for using quality T shirts. I won't be ordering T shirts in the future without knowing the quality of the T shirt. It's the wild west as far as quality goes. I called the company handling the Beatles T shirts...They emailed me the label for USPS (postal services) return. They made it easy. The 3rd party shipping and return company knows NOTHING about the poor quality of the shirts. There's no one to take ownership of the sh!tty product.

I happily pre-ordered a Beatles graphic T shirt. I figured that a company that (I think) Paul has input to would be a class act. I chose the Let It Be graphic linked below. I chose it in large part because of the preportion and size of the graphic. I decided against some other shirts because of the size of the graphic image. My LIB t shirt was $35....$45 with tax and shipping. But I figured I'd be getting quality....I expected a reasonably heavyweight cotton. The actual product is linked below. And it's a lightweight fabric... I have 2 Beatles logo t shirts from maybe 12-14 years ago that I still wear (especially since I lost 25 pounds this year) - I think they're either Anvil or Guildan Heavy Cotton. I sent them a snarky email a week ago - I was pretty pissed off. They didn't reply. Now I'm going to send another with these same 2 images. I'm so disappointed in them. As presented on the website - Note the size and proportion: https://usastore.thebeatles.com/dept/mens-apparel?cp=105982_106238_106256 Actual - Note the size and proportion: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FA1Uu_NLvhQomPaaMopmdM4zUu3w2fev/view?usp=sharing

Someone mentioned crows. my 2 birdfeeders and birdbath are viewable from my living room piano. So I see a lot of bird action on the feeders. Probably just twice, I've watched a small flock of crows come down. They take charge of the feeders and bath - they make me think of motorcycle gang toughs. They will lunge at any non-crows, telling them to get out. I don't know if they were migrating or what, but they stayed maybe 15 minutes or so. Someone I know once livestreamed a long rat snake scaling up an oak tree. There was cacophony of various species , both birds and squirrels. From the Blue Jay YT above , maybe they were also "mobbing" the snake. I don't know what the conclusion of the snake tree climb was.