Strays Dave

This was mentioned in the thread about a new kind of reviewer. I've written 4 songs recently (with a collaborator for lyrics). Now I want to record them. Maybe do some experimenting with vocal harmonies and such. But I'll only be recording audio with microphones, no MIDI keys or prerecorded loops. When I look for introductory videos on YouTube, they're often about something like making beats with an artificial gizmo. I may like to try making a percussion part and duplicating it. So I want introductory audio recording and some rudimentary editing. Are there any recommendations ? Thanks in advance.

Keith Jarrett in an interview once said that his improvisations were "spontaneous composition" - a play on "spontaneous combustion". One of my favorite observations about improvising and composing was from Stravinsky in "Poetics of Music" (taken from lectures at Harvard University circa 1940). He said that a composer improvises aimlessly the way an animal grubs (digs in the dirt) about. He said they (the animal and the composer) were yielding to a compulsion to seek things out.

I read an article someplace about playing for oldsters in assisted living facilities. The article used the term "reminiscence therapy" - a fancy term for hearing music that is familiar to the listener, from times past. I'm currently playing 3 times per month at ALF's. One gig is instrumental (a Kawaii grand piano that needs tuning), the other gig is vocals and piano. I sometimes see someone's lips moving as they quietly sing along. Things like "Stardust" are consistently well received. BTW, I learned Stardust from YouTube listening to Nat King Cole's recording. My other 2 regular gigs are in a restaurant with a bar. I play with a guitar player (fat bodied jazz style guitar played thru an amp). I play an acoustic upright with no amplification. It's the guitar player's gig, so I have to play his collection of cover songs (his versions are often not "correct" and following his chord charts is critical). This restaurant/bar gets a lot of families with a young child or two. When the guitar player notices the children, he'll often call a song from a Disney movie or a song by Pink ("What About Us"). Playing to the children is excellent for the tip jar BTW. The "Game of Thrones" theme goes over well too as does the "Frozen" theme. If I were playing all original music, these gigs would've disappeared long ago. Over the last 4 years (since I retired from the world of a day job) I've developed my left hand as a sort of bass player - with some moving left hand lines. My biggest concern as someone playing "covers" (I don't really like the term) is creating rhythmic momentum (a.k.a. a "groove") which receives a pleasant response from the listeners. I've been working on some compositions/songs (with lyrics) and hope to record them at some point. I will have to learn how to jump thru the copyright hoops, which seems to be fairly user friendly. Last thought, someone started a thread about covers using Joe Cocker as an illustration. I saw Joe Cocker on Austin City Limits some years back. In a short interview after his performance, he was asked about doing "covers". Joe said he preferred the term "interpretations". I think I do too.

I always say that cannabis (weed) doesn't make a person more creative. It just makes a person more enthusiastic about being creative. I'm retired 3 years now. I confine my weed consumption generally to a 3 hour period, mostly starting early to mid-afternoon. I often use the "high" when I'm writing music. I'm currently playing 4 Friday evening gigs nights each month (2 nights solo, the other two as a duo). I don't perform high, but only because I'd have to drive to the gigs that way. Besides the negative impact on one's coordination, alcohol makes me sluggish after that initial lift. Then there's that hangover problem with over consumption. I never have a hangover with weed. I often say that alcohol is way way overrated.

Regarding playing original music, most people, generally speaking, like to hear things familiar. I'd be more inclined to insert them (original songs) here and there in my sets. Regarding aging, I'm going to state the obvious stuff you've probably heard. Exercise regularly and eat a mostly plant based diet. Aging is inevitable but you can contribute efforts to minimize the effects.

To my ears, current pop music has such a shortage of musical ideas, listeners' ears (musical minds) become dumbed down. Minor additions to an arrangement become major musical content - in the minds of lawyers.

I'm going to throw a guess out. Ron Carter. Another workhorse session dude.

I don't know what the organ player was playing for the bass. But my suspicion is that it was a Fender Rhodes keyboard bass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_bass Two examples of Leon's "behind the curtain" talents, for me, are on B.B.King's "Indianola Mississippi Seeds". Leon wrote Hummingbird. And IMO Leon's piano playing on "Ask Me No Questions" makes the recording sparkle. Hummingbird Ask Me No Questions

Delaney and Bonnie's "Motel Shot" album was acoustic and featured Leon Russell and Eric Clapton. This album along with the Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" were my initial exposure to Leon. I loved his style on piano. I never could appreciate his singing, but for me his strength was as a wizard behind the curtain. Both as a studio player and a talented songwriter. Motel Shot: https://smile.amazon.com/Motel-Shot-DELANEY-BONNIE-FRIENDS/dp/B00C2WF8CE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=delaney+and+bonnie+Motel+Shot&qid=1557497504&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I found a little info on Sweet Emily(linked below). I noticed the backup singer (red dress) behind Sweet Emily. She seems to be singing into a dead microphone. You can see her - but not hear her - wailing fills between musical phrases. http://oklahomarock.com/sweet-emily-smith-dead-at-69/

I just stumbled on this December 1970 in studio concert called the Homewood Session. Besides some nice music, it's also a slight glimpse into some L.A. hippie vibe circa 1970. Interesting to see one of the backup singers holding a cigarette while singing - not uncommon at the time. Also some nice shots here and there of Leon's piano playing. [video:youtube]

I'm the original poster. I use pencil and paper. I like it fine for the early stages, doing what I call "sketching". But sometimes I'll write/compose something that I want to insert into something I've previously written/notated. With paper and pencil, I'm stuck having to recopy everything by hand. I want the copy/paste capability to avoid so much hand copying. BTW, I for my iPad Pro, I purchased Symphony Pro 5. The cost was $30 ($15 for the original app, plus $15 for the add-on handwriting recognition). So far I like it, but I have that learning curve thing to do - I have to spend a good bit of time to work learning it.

It seems to be called Notation Pad. When I open it up it seems to display a screen trying to sell the Pro version (I took a phone photo linked below). There must be some difficulty programming apps to notate piano music with multiple "voices" (think Bach 4 part Chorales as an example) with differing rhythms. They all seem do proudly display orchestral styled scores showing multiple staves with single lines. It's almost like piano scoring is the elephant in the room that they quietly ignore. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HTBJPEY6vXqV7UBjlI38kfXd96falecM

I found one called Notation Pro. 7 days free then $7.99 per week. Are they kidding me ? I think I'll try Symphony Pro next.

Perhaps I missed it, but I don't see anything in that thread that mentions iOS. I just started using Notion on my iPad Pro. And I know there is an iOS version of MuseScore. I also saw that thread. I looked for and found no reference to iOS nor handwriting notation. That's why I posted this thread. I don't care about MIDI playback, although all the software(s) seem to focus on that. All I really want is to be able to notate by hand AND have digital editing - copy, cut and paste - capabilities. But I don't care about having all the orchestral instrument sounds and orchestral scores. I only want to notate piano scores. Everything I've tried in the past falls short when doing multiple notes on a single staff.

I recently bought a new iPad Pro 11 inch along with an Apple Pencil 2. I bought it expressly for notating music. I've been trying Komp first. It appears to me these apps fall short when used for notating music for a piano score (the grand staff). All the promo photos show orchestral scores with single lines of notation. For example, with Komp I've had difficulty notating chords with 3 or 4 notes in the right hand. After 2 notes, the app is resistant to adding more notes in a chord. Also in Komp, I found no notation for eighth note triplets. Is anyone using a iPad notation app that they're satisfied with ?

I have a YouTube channel. It's for demonstration purposes, for potential gigs. I play piano and sing, so my videos are simply that. I have a Sony HDR-MV1 which was designed for musicians' music videos. Unfortunately Sony seems to have discontinued production. I don't have many views of my videos, but for a potential gig, they are tangible evidence of one's skills.

Rather than this specific ability, I would tell a young musician to "develop your ears". Can you hear root movement in a song? Can you hear a I vi ii V ? A ii V I ? Developing one's melodic and harmonic perceptions are important skills, especially when getting into more sophisticated music (someone mentioned "Satin Doll").

Tee's quote: "In one video he affirms that jazz was all about the dance; saying Bird played in a dance hall, Bud, Monk etc. The dance aspect is lost The Blues aspect is lost and the be bop too". Tee, you reminded me of a quote by Ezra Pound which I will share: "Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance. Poetry begins to atrophy when it departs too far from music". I recently heard a jazz piano student say that she went to a workshop led by BHarris in NYC. This was maybe a couple of weeks ago. She said that Barry was scheduled to appear in London the following week IIRC. Being around 90 years old, I think he's living a musician's dream. Bopping till he drops hopefully.

I have maybe about 400 albums from back when I was playing them and they were "current" technology. I'm looking at buying a turntable and moving my stereo to my living room (it's in a room in the back of the house currently). I've been reading and pondering the Sony hi-res turntable linked below. The price was $600 and has been dropping. I'm wondering if some other companies will venture into high resolution. So I'm waiting, pondering and reading. But I like the idea of ripping UP instead of down to mp3's. Time will tell. https://www.amazon.com/Sony-PSHX500-Res-Turntable-Black/dp/B01D8RWMGQ