My 20 tune unaccompanied repertoire.

 

Don't worry about the red squiggly lines under 'Besame' and 'Bye'.
They mean nothing.

Okay, the idea is that something from each of these tunes has to be practised EVERY DAY and they all have to be thoroughly memorised - both the melody and the chord progression. Most are just about totally memorised, but there is always room for improvement. 

Four of the tunes are originals. Most of the rest are 'jazz standards', though there is also one Bluegrass tune, an Irish Medley and three Neapolitan tunes. It is good to have a bit of variety.

Will I get many gigs? Probably not. Will I make lots of money? No.  Do I care about those two outcomes? No. Do I believe that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true church? Definitely not. 

So why am I doing all this work on my solo repertoire? Purpose.

I'm also enjoying putting lots of time and thought into practising. I've told you about Atomic Habits. Well, I'm doing that. I practised for 2 1/2 hours yesterday, as well as teaching violin. That's not my best effort but it is certainly 'not too bad'.

Often, when I ask people how they are, they reply, "Not too bad." I reply, "Is it possible to get that up to 'pretty good' or 'reasonably good?'"

Having a strong purpose, especially when we are older and have more spare time, gives new meaning to your life, in my opinion. Peter must be feeling motivated by the probable selling of his house up in the wop wops. He could be a Moera resident soon! Well done, Peter. Robert is busy trying to keep his fictional god happy so that he can be rewarded and really get to know Mr. Linford.* Good luck with that, Rob.

Did Mr. Linford and Brother Benedict
really get to walk up these steps?

The first tune I intend to work on today is Saint Thomas (named after a place, not a saint). 

Saint Thomas

I know the tune very well, but I want to improve how I play over the chords.

As you can see, it's not the hardest chord progression to play over, but there is actually lots of room for taking a more interesting approach. 

There you go, that's it from me this morning.

If you sin, you may be able to avoid an eternity with Mr. Linford.

Sii gentile.

* That's the guy of whom my mother once said, "If Mr. Linford is going to be in Heaven, I don't think I want to go there."

I'm increasing my unaccompanied solo repertoire to 15.

Here are the tunes:

1) The Accordion Lady

2) Besame Mucho

3) Billie's Bounce

4) Bye Bye Blackbird

5) The Immigrants

6) Irish Medley

7) La Spagnola

8) Manha de Carnaval

9) Nature Boy

10) Oh, Lady Be Good

11) Orange Blossom Special

12) Romance

13) Se Solo 

14) Somewhere over the Rainbow

15) Sweet Georgia Brown

So, I have an Irish Medley, a Bluegrass tune, 4 Bossa Nova style tunes, 4 swing tunes, 3 ballad style tunes, 1 Bebop blues tune and 1 Neapolitan tune. 

I strive (as per my Atomic Habits) to practise a part of each of these tunes every day. I could be checking the melody for tone, practising voicings for the chords, playing arpeggios, trying ideas for a solo, or even using my 'piccolo bass'. NB. the piccolo bass is really a different form of pizzicato on my violin. 

There you go.

Have fun and stay away from silly religions.

Sii gentile.

Choose Day.

 I awoke and read Robert's post on my phone.

This guy evidently brought
someone back to life.
It's good that Jesus didn't get
sunburnt in Nein (or Nain).
Maybe that was the better miracle 
for such a fair guy?

It all supposedly happened a very long time ago, but Rob is absolutely convinced.

He tells us in no uncertain terms, "So really there is no reason to disbelieve this account. You are forced to either believe Jesus is God and give him the respect and honour he deserves, or choose to walk apart from God. You can not just say 'it was made up'. That would indicate you are mentally unstable."

You choose.* 

I know what I will choose. Hey, I will be called mentally unstable for my decision, but I'm happy to go with that. I mean, look at the institution that supports all this stuff. The church of paedophiles. Go read their history - it is pretty brutal.

I'm off to Wellington College today to play 3rd violin in a school orchestra. I'll be sitting beside my little mates who haven't played violin (or viola) for very long but who are doing great to get through some pretty tough music. I'm proud of them!

I must get some practice done before I go, so this post will have to be short. 

Sorry, I usually try to avoid the fence post analogy.

Peter would probably call it a pun. But really there is no reason to disbelieve this analogy. Both things, the blog post and the fence post, simply choose to go with the same word.  You cannot just say, "It was made up." That would indicate you are mentally unstable.

Is this stable stable or unstable?

Whoops! There I go again!

Time to go.

Sii Gentile.

*That's why I've decided to call today Choose Day.

Monday Morning.

 

I went to the Bluegrass jam at the Alicetown community house yesterday afternoon. There were a nice group of people there. I stayed for about two hours. I didn't get to play the Orange Blossom Special. Bluegrass tunes are generally pretty simple with simple chord progressions. It did get a little bit predictable after a while. Quite a few of the jammers were using chord charts. I can't understand why they needed those - you just listen. Still, it was nice that everyone was friendly. 

I have a bit of schoolwork to do today - charts for the string orchestra at one of my Upper Hutt colleges. Tomorrow I'm off to Wellington College with the orchestra from the other school. There will be a few other schools there and it'll largely be a day of listening, plus our orchestra will play. Should be an interesting day as it's good to hear what other schools are up to musically. 

Robert is back from his travels and gives us advice from a guy called Timothy.

"...live religious and reverant lives in peace and quiet."

Evidently Timothy died from stoning around 97AD. Not exactly a peaceful way to go. I wonder what was said before that bit that Rob quoted?

"Don't play loud music, live religious and reverant lives in peace and quiet."

"Don't get sucked into working in a church shop. That's just about making money. Live religious and reverant lives in peace and quiet."

"I had a bad tummy when I was alive. That made it hard to live a religious and reverant life in peace and quiet."

By the way, Timothy spelt reverent incorrectly. R E V E R E N T, not reverant.

I wonder what else Timothy got wrong? Maybe Tim meant to say, "Live a rigorous and relevant life, sometimes with peace and quiet."

"Tanks for the memory."
What is Robert up to here?

I don't know what Peter will be up to today. Hey, maybe he might take a trailer load to the tip!

Has he still got his trailer?

Maybe he might have to use something like this.

That would fill in the day for him, if he has to push one of these all the way to the tip.

I told you earlier in the post that I'm playing with a school orchestra tomorrow. Some instruments in the orchestra play quite loudly. This made me practise playing my violin near the bridge. Boy! That really gives you more volume. I'll keep working on that. That's for damn sure!

My daughter has been in Ireland, Iceland, France and England. She is due back early next Saturday morning. I will pick her and her cousin up from the airport. Gosh, she turns 41 later this month. It's great having a daughter. It's great having a son too, AND grandsons. 

Okay, okay, I know you want to hear more about my practice schedule. I should really fit in some double bass practice today. Over the weekend I only managed 3 hours of violin practice, so I'll have to step things up a bit today. Don't forget though that there's still that schoolwork to do. I'm doing an arrangement of Nature Boy. They also need an arrangement for God Defend NZ. I'll have to get onto that too.

I'll leave you there for today.

Sii gentile.

Surprise call up by coach after record loss to the Springboks.

A former St. Patrick's College wing, P. J. McDonald, has been called up by the All Blacks coach after a very heavy loss to the Springboks in Wellington yesterday evening.

Scott Robertson was asked to explain his decision.

"Okay, he's not the youngest wing around but I did read a post on his blog where he was very successful at St. Patrick's College. He received quite a few mentions in a post titled, "SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND." Look at this list he gets a mention in! Read the list and you'll see that he is the only guy who gets three mentions. Picking him was not rocket science."

"Okay, P. J. is a little older than we'd prefer but he obviously has the goods and we're getting desperate."

* * *

I'm thinking of going to an open mic concert this evening. It's in Newtown, so I'll have to be careful to stay out of the bus lanes. I'm planning to play Manha De Carnival and The Orange Blossom Special. I'll have Nature Boy up my sleeve, just in case another tune is needed. Obviously, I'll be running them through quite a bit today. Well, there's nothing new there. 

[A little later Richard (of RBB) said...] Actually, Shelley's feeling a little bit off colour so we'll give the open mic night a miss. I'll probably do some recording instead.

No big deal.

* * *

It seems that Robert is in Tokeroa (I think he means Tokoroa). I guess he'll go to church there this morning. I hope they have a church shop.

It's good to see that he is eating healthy food.

* * *

I had a banana toasted sandwich for breakfast, along with a coffee.

Oops, hang on, I need the bathroom!

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

I'm back. Back and a little lighter.

I think it's the coffee. I need something in my tummy so that I can take my pills. I'm assuming that there is still something left in my tummy. Though, I know it's not all there. At least I didn't drop my phone in the bath.

I guess that'll do for this morning. Hey, good to see that the women's rugby team won their match. I think I'll just follow them now. Though, I don't like their chances against England, if that's the final match up.

Don't get hung up on sin. Just go and do some practice. Hey, and I certainly won't be going to mass.

Sii gentile.

MOST POINTLESS POST EVER WRITTEN AWARD.

 Okay this is a new award category. We, at Richard's Bass Bag*, have spent weeks going through blog posts that have been posted over many years but couldn't quite make up our minds. Then, surprise, surprise, a clear winner showed up this morning! We couldn't believe our eyes!

 It gives us great pleasure to be able to present this award with total knowledge that we have found exactly the right candidate for this particular 'honour'. 

Here we go...

* the original bass bagging site

Peter and the blues.

 Peter has been inquiring into the blues lately. I think he had questions about why I called a piece of mine 'Almost Blues'.

Actually, he may have forgotten but, during lockdown (Covid), Peter actually wrote the lyrics for a blues, and I put it to music.

In the 1970s I wrote a blues called 'The Taumarunui Blues'.

Well, I woke up this morning to the sound of a train, I said

I woke up this morning to the sound of a train.

My alarm clock was working but I couldn't hear it for the rain.

---

I've got the Taum Taum Taum, Taumarunui blues, I said,

I've got the Taum Taum Taum, Taumarunui blues.

I'm stuck here in Taumarunui, that's why I'm singing the blues.

---

Well, Taumarunui ain't a one horse town, I said

Taumarunui ain't a one horse town.

Them horses got more sense, ain't a single horse for fifty miles around.

---

I've got the Taum Taum Taum, Taumarunui blues, I said,

I've got the Taum Taum Taum, Taumarunui blues.

I'm stuck here in Taumarunui, that's why I'm singing the blues.

* * *

Okay, both these blues tunes are what we call a 12 bar blues.

Music can generally be written in bars.

Not to be confused with baas.

Both of the blues above are in a time called 4/4, or 'C' for common time. That means that there are four beats in each bar - count 1 2 3 4. Listen to Peter's blues and count with the words. You'll find that there are 12 bars... || 1 2 3 4   2 2 3 4   3 2 3 4   4 2 3 4   5 2 3 4   6 2 3 4   7 2 3 4   8 2 3 4   9 2 3 4   10 2 3 4   11 2 3 4   12 2 3 4 || Listen to the chords for guidance.

A blues doesn't have to have the 12 bar form, but most traditional blues tunes do. Check out Mississippi John Hurt, or B.B. King.

So, why did I call my bass tune 'Almost Blues'?

Listen to it again.

 For the solo part (after the tune) the chords go like this.

|| G7/// | G7/// | G7/// | G7/// | C7/// | C7/// | G7/// | G7/// | Am7/// | D7/// | Eb7/// | Eb7/// | Eb7/// | Eb7/// ||

Count the bars. There are 14 (the tune has 14 too).

That's really why I decided to call it 'Almost Blues'. Okay, it really can still be called a blues. I was just having a little 'joke' about the 14 bars. I think that musicians, who don't just play from written notes all the time, would get that little joke.

There you have it.

Hey, just to clear up another little point. My son did a DNA test, some time ago, and it showed his father (me) to be half Irish. I'm fine with that but, because I have never been to Ireland, I identify as a Pakeha from Aotearoa.

I think I deserve some breakfast now. I started writing this at 5.30am.

Sii gentile.

Oh, and here's the full version of Peter's Lockdown Blues.

 

Bass time.

 

Our new Persian rug.

Sii gentile.

Friday and I've slept in a bit.

 I woke up and read the boy's latest posts on my phone in bed. (It is now 7.28am.)

Robert didn't say much. Here's a summary.

• Mary was originally called Mirjam. I wonder if she came in a jar with a label?
• He is going to drive to Taupo.
• He doesn't really know what he'll do when he gets there.
• He intends to go back to bed for a bit longer.

Peter's latest attempt seems to be based on my post 'What's it all about Alfie?' where I talk about listening to my boring neighbour. Peter talks about taking his boring neighbour to tennis. Ah well, it gave him something to write about.

It is violin practice for me this morning. Yesterday I did some work on tone. I also practised playing close to the bridge. I found that sometimes I don't take enough care with placing my third and fourth fingers. This can give you notes that are a bit squeaky. I've worked on that and will continue to do so. Hopefully I'll get a couple of hours done before I have to go and pick Shelley up from 'Balance'. That's a fitness thing that she does at our local library. Then we're off to find a new rug for our living room. Exciting times in the Nui!

Well, that's it from me.

Actually, I think I'd better do some double bass practice this morning too.

Don't worry about silly concepts, like a Christian god and sin.

Sii gentile.

Take me home again, Kathleen.

 

No doubt Robert will be able to give me some advice on how to improve this video.

Peter will just make a joke about bagpipes.

Sii gentile.

What's it all about, Alfie?

I gave my neighbour Ben a ride to the supermarket. He has a bung eye and doesn't drive. When you're in a confined space with Ben you don't have to talk. You only have to listen because Ben is not at all interested in what you have to say. "My grandson is a brilliant guitarist. Really brilliant. He's teaching it now and making money, and he's still at school!" While you don't get a chance to comment, you can think replies. That's what I do when I'm with Ben.

Richard thinks, "But what do you really know about guitar playing Ben? Have you ever tried to play a guitar? I've been playing guitar since I was about fourteen. That's fifty nine years. I've taught a lot of people guitar. Sometimes, just sometimes, people aren't as good as some people think."

As you know, I spent last week playing in an art gallery (violin). People seemed to like my playing. Quite a few people told me about people they know who had learnt a bit of violin. Some told me about family members who are great guitarists. I guess that, in the arts, everybody can have an individual opinion of what words like talent and gifted mean. It's the old concept of 'how big is your glass?'

There's a guitar teacher who pops up regularly on Facebook. He preaches that you don't need theory or scales to be a great guitarist. Maybe he's right, but here's the catch - he teaches the one series of notes that you'll ever have to learn. He says that this shape can be moved all over the guitar. Amazing! But here's the catch... that shape is a three octave major scale. Hello! Once you use that major scale, you're exposing yourself to seven modes (like other scales) that sit just below the surface. I think that he refers to modes with names like happy, sad and melancholic. He's finding all the emotions within his one magic fingering.

Quite a few people don't really like jazz because they hear 'wrong' notes. Maybe they're too used to hearing pentatonic scales and nothing much else? There are quite a few good young violinists at a school I work at. I don't teach them because they have private teachers. Everything these guys play is written down. They are readers. The written music is calling the shots. Always. 

There are only twelve different notes in our western tempered music system. Seven of them are found in the major scale. That only leaves five notes. Let's imagine this in the key of C major (the scale is C D E F G A B). Bb could be used to turn C major into C7 (dominant 7). Now we have four notes left - Db D# F# & G# - in that order, b9, #9, #4 and #5. I guess that those last four might sometimes sound a bit strange to some people. I see these notes as beautiful colours.

So, what if people don't like what I'm doing on the violin? Tough shit!

* * *

So, what's happening around the blogs?

Peter (aka The Curmudgeon) wrote a short post for Robert about McDonald Trump trying to get into Heaven. Oops, I might have spelt his name wrong. Ah well, it doesn't really matter in this land of no proofreading. Robert wrote a comment wishing McDonald luck, 

"I wish him luck. If he wants to be one of God's chosen race, his saints, he should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness, and in humility, gentleness and patience. Then over those clothes put on love. Col:3.12."

Robert wrote a short post explaining that he really didn't have time to post.

He did also mention something about cleaning his car.

Rob did find time to give me some musical advice on my last post. 

Well, that's it.

Don't trust the Catholic church and its teachings.

Did you know that, at St. Patrick's College Silverstream, they have a photo of an ex-principal who was a paedophile. They're refusing to take it down. Sheesh!*

Sii gentile.

* I borrowed that from Peter.

Sorry but I'm still at the practising stage on this one - more work to be done.

 

It's a duet for piccolo bass and violin.

The tune is Billie's Bounce.

Sii gentile.

Well, here I am for another day.

 I've got the day off work today (because of exams) but I do have a couple of arrangements to do for the school violinists. 

Obviously, I also have violin practice to do. Lots of it.

Robert wrote a big, long comment, on my last post, about the words to the song I played. He said nothing about my playing, so I suspect he didn't like it. That's fine. Anyway, it appears that he is going to show me how it should be played when he gets home. 

Peter will be back in line now, with the boss at home, so I won't expect any new posts. At least he won't have many more opportunities to fall down banks at golf. Well, to be safe when he does turn up, he is taking a chair.

Good thinking, Peter.

It is a bit warmer in the Nui this morning. I've decided not to bother turning up to play the Last Post on November 11th. Last time there were only three other people there and none of the organisers turned up. A little while back I wasn't treated too well by a lady who told me that she was now one of the organisers. If she does show up on the 11th. at 11am, she'd be wise to bring her bugle.

As you know, I have twelve tunes that I am working on to play solo on my violin. The chords I played on Besame Mucho are more complicated than a lot of people play. There are quite a few m7b5 and dom7b9 chords. These chords lend themselves to different sounds that I love. For example, the chord made up of G Bb D F# (a minor with a major 7) works really well over Em7b5. I didn't actually use that sound in yesterday's recording. Actually, I'd had a couple of Cleanskins before I did that recording.

They seemed to help.

Yeah, yeah, that's not good policy.

Well, that's about it from me for this morning. I might record one or two tunes sometime today. Hey, it's a really good thing to do in your practice time because recordings don't lie. 

Have fun and don't waste your time worrying about sin. Remember that the Catholic religion is just bullshit. You'd be better off meditating or doing box breathing (breath in on four counts, hold for four counts, breath out on four counts, hold for four counts - breath in through your nose and out through your mouth). 

Sii gentile.

Besame Mucho.

 

I only did two hours of practice today - lazy bugger.  Though, I did teach violin for about three hours and play with a school orchestra. In that time there was always a violin in my hands, and under my chin.

Sii gentile.

A pearly.

 

Oops, sorry, I meant to say, "Up early."

As I begin to write it is just reaching 6am. Work today and lots of violin playing and practice. I hope to practise for three hours today, like I did yesterday. I like being up early - is that an age thing? Well, it does give me time to settle down the bowl before heading off to work. 

Oops, I meant to say, "Settle down the bowel." So, why am I practising for three hours?

"Practice makes perfect." someone once said. Personally, I think that practice makes better. Much better, if you practise the right things and do enough of it. 

I have a silly old neighbour who told me that drums and the violin should be practised in a shed. He can go and have sex with himself - if that is still possible. My practice is not loud. Noisy vehicles make more noise. He's one of those people who talks but never listens. 

As I've told you, I'm working on twelve unaccompanied pieces. I guess I don't really need to tell you again.

Both the boys have updated their blogs. Peter will be on his best behaviour today. I think that people are coming to look at his house today. He'll have to go easy on the Cleanskins until they have been.

Robert headed off to work very early. He left a comment on Peter's blog that said, "So what do you call a baptized Catholic who turns against the God who loves him?"

Peter answered, "Sensible?"

Robert might be better spending his time working out violin double stops and 3/7 chords.

I'll aim to head off to work at 7.30am. That'll give the bowel time to settle. At least, I hope so. Oops, the to let calls!

Sorry again, I meant to say, "The toilet calls."

I must stress that the toilet wasn't really calling out. It's just an expression. What I meant was it might be time for round one.

I'll leave you there for this morning.

Sii gentile.