Music

Let me be honest about something up front: I’m not really a piano student. I’m a keyboard student. There’s a difference, and it matters.

In Is Generative Art Now Quaint? I ended with a question dressed up as a statement: I’m genuinely curious what’s possible now.

Overview # A browser-based piano practice app with four training modes, built to support my Learning to Play Piano at 70 project. It connects to a MIDI keyboard and uses real Steinway piano samples for audio feedback.

Overview # I’m learning to play piano at age 70. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do — and now, I’m going for it.

I love getting together to play ukuleles with this group of fun people. For Valentines Day we met as we usually do at our local toy store and sang torch songs together. Bella loves going there too, especially since the place doubles as an ice cream shop (she’s fond of vanilla). Look for her. She’s partially obscured. I’m in the santa hat. (For Valentines Day ???)

We’re Dog On It, Johny McDonald, Ken Cawley, and myself. And we’ve been asked to play at the Drunk Brush on Fridays recently. Some good ol’ fun going on! Trying new stuff, new sounds as well as some old ones, of course. Why Dog On It? Because between Johny and I, we own 7 dogs.

It’s been 3 long years since the last Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival. One year was canceled due to Covid, the next due to the Dixie Fire. This year it was hot but we pulled it off and it was fun! I have my own section of the festival with a stage as well as several pop-up tents for work/play shops. Rickety Bridge on Barky’s Stage

Must … not … let … this … go! I haven’t been working on learning the fretboard for months. Probably gone backward as a result. 

We know that sound results from the vibrations of air molecules moving through the air to our eardrums, that the speed of those vibrations is referred to as frequency, measured in Hertz, and that pitch is the relative highness or lowness of a sound. But what is music?

Learning the names of the modes (why are they sometimes called the church modes?). So weird. Making a smart flashcard deck. DPLMAL is a mnemonic.