Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
From the Eyese of Frederico Garcia Lorca
As the firelight flickers and ladies dance with grace
I sit in the corner and wrestle with my distaste
I have trouble believing what lies before my gaze
A room full of lushes in a sad but sweet daze
Someday I might know what it means to be so hearty
If I am not soon murdered by the Spanish Nationalist Party
I sit in the corner and wrestle with my distaste
I have trouble believing what lies before my gaze
A room full of lushes in a sad but sweet daze
Someday I might know what it means to be so hearty
If I am not soon murdered by the Spanish Nationalist Party
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Poem written- late for class
Bluster bluster says the day
But you still must go, there is no other way
Out from behind your wall of covers
To school you go with your sisters and brothers
Brew some tes and rub you eyes
The mornings a shock but it’s no surprise
Arise arise you will be late
Out the door, with school, a date
But you still must go, there is no other way
Out from behind your wall of covers
To school you go with your sisters and brothers
Brew some tes and rub you eyes
The mornings a shock but it’s no surprise
Arise arise you will be late
Out the door, with school, a date
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A Snopshire Odyssey
A For this project I choose to work with a group, and so one windy afternoon Austin Moore, Carl Hess, Erica Lambert and I embarked on the Snopshire Odyssey. Travis Buffington, Austin and Carl’s roommate, is a video production student at PCC and offered to help us film and edit. We decided upon a theme of a group of wandering minstrels who are approached by a magician who asks them if they are looking for work. They say they are, as musicians are always looking for work. The magician then takes them back in time to the Royal Court of Dopplebach. There the minstrels are asked to play for King Leotard, the King of Dopplebach.
We had trouble finding other actors to aid us in the filming of our story. I was able to con Will Bullock, a close friend, into being the magician but he only had one free hour on the day of filming so we could only capture a few shots. For the part of the king we searched for people but to no avail. We enlisted or faithful director for the part of the king which gave us all some chances to do some filming while we weren’t playing. For this odyssey we tried to find music encompassing all periods of music we studied this semester. We decided to use: “A Chantar” by Beatriz de Dia, Landini’s “Ecco La Primavera,” an English country dance from 1713 “Stropshire Lass,” a solo guitar pavan by William Byrd called “The Earl of Salisbury,” A Sonatina by Handel and lastly “Tipsy Gypsy” by David Grisman. The last number does not technically adhere to the assignment guidelines but we needed a way to get back to the present day.
We wanted to play the songs ourselves using our own instrumentation. Since we needed to do multiple angled shoots of us playing each song we decided to record the songs separately. Using my compute and some microphones borrowed from Jeff Leonard we spent two days doing recordings of the songs. Doing a mixture of live recording and multi tracking we were able to produce some surprisingly good recordings. I got a little too into multi tracking one night however and spent six hours on “Ecco La Primavera.” We originally recorded it with mandolin and violin playing only the melody and harmony parts. While I was doing mixing, however, I decided to put rhythm guitar, banjolin and another mandolin part on the song. Then I put a beer bottle whistle drone over the track and then promptly stopped when I realized it was four AM and I was delirious. I promptly deleted that track before going to sleep.
Mixing down all the separately recorded parts for “Ecco la Primavera” was really tough but it was extremely satisfying to hear the end product. For the other songs we did, on average, six takes for each song and then picked the best one. We were then able to mix them down to a final product, which we were all really pleased with.
However stressful, recording was worth it. It would have been impossible to do multiple takes of the songs on films and be able to edit them. Once we had the recordings we just needed a place to shoot. On filming day it was typically Portland, rainy and cold and not suitable for instruments being outside. Also our director was six hours late due to complications with the KGB.
We were able to get the beginning shots during a rain hiatus. We then tried to go to the Manor House but extremely inhospitable campus safety officers stood in our way. So we turned to the Chapel but had to wait until ten to start filming on account of events previously scheduled.
Once we had all the music and the film footage we began editing. Editing proved to be extremely time consuming. We had over two hours of footage that we needed to cut down to around fifteen minutes. Also we realized that none of us could act very well so we had to figure out how to minimize the dialogue. The hardest part about editing was synching the recorded music to the footage of us playing the music. While filming these scenes we had a boom box blasting the recorded music. This made synching the footage easier but because we are all musicians we were able to tell when every scene did not match up exactly. Eventually we did our best to closet our perfectionism.
I really enjoyed this process. Mostly because getting immersed in all the music from throughout history was ear opening and inspiring. I don’t have much else to say except that I will be remaining a musician and never moving into film.
We had trouble finding other actors to aid us in the filming of our story. I was able to con Will Bullock, a close friend, into being the magician but he only had one free hour on the day of filming so we could only capture a few shots. For the part of the king we searched for people but to no avail. We enlisted or faithful director for the part of the king which gave us all some chances to do some filming while we weren’t playing. For this odyssey we tried to find music encompassing all periods of music we studied this semester. We decided to use: “A Chantar” by Beatriz de Dia, Landini’s “Ecco La Primavera,” an English country dance from 1713 “Stropshire Lass,” a solo guitar pavan by William Byrd called “The Earl of Salisbury,” A Sonatina by Handel and lastly “Tipsy Gypsy” by David Grisman. The last number does not technically adhere to the assignment guidelines but we needed a way to get back to the present day.
We wanted to play the songs ourselves using our own instrumentation. Since we needed to do multiple angled shoots of us playing each song we decided to record the songs separately. Using my compute and some microphones borrowed from Jeff Leonard we spent two days doing recordings of the songs. Doing a mixture of live recording and multi tracking we were able to produce some surprisingly good recordings. I got a little too into multi tracking one night however and spent six hours on “Ecco La Primavera.” We originally recorded it with mandolin and violin playing only the melody and harmony parts. While I was doing mixing, however, I decided to put rhythm guitar, banjolin and another mandolin part on the song. Then I put a beer bottle whistle drone over the track and then promptly stopped when I realized it was four AM and I was delirious. I promptly deleted that track before going to sleep.
Mixing down all the separately recorded parts for “Ecco la Primavera” was really tough but it was extremely satisfying to hear the end product. For the other songs we did, on average, six takes for each song and then picked the best one. We were then able to mix them down to a final product, which we were all really pleased with.
However stressful, recording was worth it. It would have been impossible to do multiple takes of the songs on films and be able to edit them. Once we had the recordings we just needed a place to shoot. On filming day it was typically Portland, rainy and cold and not suitable for instruments being outside. Also our director was six hours late due to complications with the KGB.
We were able to get the beginning shots during a rain hiatus. We then tried to go to the Manor House but extremely inhospitable campus safety officers stood in our way. So we turned to the Chapel but had to wait until ten to start filming on account of events previously scheduled.
Once we had all the music and the film footage we began editing. Editing proved to be extremely time consuming. We had over two hours of footage that we needed to cut down to around fifteen minutes. Also we realized that none of us could act very well so we had to figure out how to minimize the dialogue. The hardest part about editing was synching the recorded music to the footage of us playing the music. While filming these scenes we had a boom box blasting the recorded music. This made synching the footage easier but because we are all musicians we were able to tell when every scene did not match up exactly. Eventually we did our best to closet our perfectionism.
I really enjoyed this process. Mostly because getting immersed in all the music from throughout history was ear opening and inspiring. I don’t have much else to say except that I will be remaining a musician and never moving into film.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A list
Top Five Albums Right Now
5. Strength in Numbers- Telluride Sessions
4. Tim O’Brien and Daryl Scott- Real time
3. The David Grisman Quintet- Self Titled
2. The Beatles- The White Album
1. Mike Marshall and Chris Thile- Into the Cauldron
5. Strength in Numbers- Telluride Sessions
4. Tim O’Brien and Daryl Scott- Real time
3. The David Grisman Quintet- Self Titled
2. The Beatles- The White Album
1. Mike Marshall and Chris Thile- Into the Cauldron
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Quiz on Guitar Gently Weeps Analysis
Most Important Exam Ever: “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”
1) The song begins in a minor and modulates to what key area?
A. C# Minor
B. F Major
C. Gbb Junior
D. A major
E. B minor
2) Who was the “The Quiet Beatle”?
A. Ned Rorem
B. George Harrison
C. Paul Simon
D. Ringo Star
E. Sarah Palin
3) The song was written after George Harrison read which book?
A.. The Dao de Ching
B. The Lotus Sutra
C. The I Ching
D. The Bible
E. Dianetics
4) Who recorded the guitar solo on this song?
A. George Harrison
B. Robert Johnson
C. Eric Calpton
D. Antonio Vivaldi
E. Sarah Palin
5) The “White Album” was recorded in what year?
A. 1969
B. 1968
C. 1966
D. January 27, 1756
E. 1972
6) The Carillon is the worst instrument ever invented
A. True
B. False
7) Please name one other song George Harrison wrote.
___________________________________________________________
1) The song begins in a minor and modulates to what key area?
A. C# Minor
B. F Major
C. Gbb Junior
D. A major
E. B minor
2) Who was the “The Quiet Beatle”?
A. Ned Rorem
B. George Harrison
C. Paul Simon
D. Ringo Star
E. Sarah Palin
3) The song was written after George Harrison read which book?
A.. The Dao de Ching
B. The Lotus Sutra
C. The I Ching
D. The Bible
E. Dianetics
4) Who recorded the guitar solo on this song?
A. George Harrison
B. Robert Johnson
C. Eric Calpton
D. Antonio Vivaldi
E. Sarah Palin
5) The “White Album” was recorded in what year?
A. 1969
B. 1968
C. 1966
D. January 27, 1756
E. 1972
6) The Carillon is the worst instrument ever invented
A. True
B. False
7) Please name one other song George Harrison wrote.
___________________________________________________________
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