2/15

Today was a little weird.

I didn't go to government. I don't anymore. I spend the time sleeping, or preparing for other classes. At night, I go over the powerpoints and read the book a little. It's less time, used more effectively.

So I went to theory, and we were quizzed over secondary dominants and stuff. After our quiz, I wrote a melody for my comp class, because it was due after my theory class. Theory got out early, and I sang my melody for composition pretty well, and he liked it.

Ate some lunch, took a break, went to my lesson with Chris Deane. He's a very insightful person, and he knows the perfect way to explain every single concept he teaches. I think I want to be him when I grow up.

He showed me, on a music stand, how playing through a surface doesn't necessary create the best tone. When he flung a towel and played through the stand, the stand shook and almost tipped over, but didn't make a pretty sound. But when he got just enough of the stand for it to vibrate, it sounded as good as a music stand will ever sound, because his stroke made just enough contact to cause vibration, and not enough contact to take any vibration away.

After my lesson, I went to the lecture series, with Adam Nussbaum. I'll put some videos up when my computer decides to load things at a decent speed... instead of waiting for 3 hours to upload a video. But he was very good. Probably the most musical drummer I've ever seen and heard.

He produced sounds I never expected, in grooves and feels that sometimes were completely different than the groove or feel he started on, and he didn't take a single note for granted. When he meant to play fast, he did, and when he played slow, he knew that was what he should do... and the same with volumes, and velocities, and surfaces, and every little thing you could ever think of. Every once in a while, he would crack a big rim shot in the middle of his quiet little solo, just to wake everyone up and make sure we were paying attention.

Not only was he a great musician, but he was a great person. He was really funny, and had a lot of good things to say about his background and what we were doing here. I like him a lot.

I'll show you someone else's Adam Nussbaum video.



Talk about musical talent. Hand farts.

After that, I had a sectional, which was pretty good, and then I went to Fort Worth to watch Stefan Karlsson and Lynn Seaton play with Adam at a studio downtown. They were awesome, and I got more of the same. No video, though... it would have been shaky and gross.

I guess that's it for today.

M