The Life and Times of Miblo del Carpio

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Kodo's 'Nanafushi' from Ibuki

At once the most primitive, and possibly the most complex, rhythm, for me, is the most important aspect of music. I would even go so far as to say that rhythm is music; for, without it, music could not be. Let us first have a look at the definition:

rhythm n. 1 a measured flow of words and phrases in verse or prose determined by various relations of long and short or accented and unaccented syllables. 2 the aspect of musical composition concerned with periodical accent and the duration of notes. 3 Physiol. movement with a regular succession of strong and weak elements. 4 a regularly recurring sequence of events. 5 Art a harmonious correlation of parts.

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

"...the aspect of musical composition concerned with periodical accent and the duration of notes..."

Think about that - "the duration of notes". I said rhythm is the most important aspect of music; the reason being that otherwise music would either be one continuous piece of silence (for there would be nothing to start it off), or a continuous mass of sound (for there would be nothing available to define the duration of it; that is, when the sound should stop). This idea is a far cry from what we understand as music, and so, for our music, rhythm is certainly the most important element. On its own, however, people may argue that it is not enough - that it needs 'something else' to make it music. But whether that is so or not, without it, the music they enjoy could not exist.

I also said that rhythm is the most primitive aspect of music. This is not meant in any way to simplify the concept of rhythm, or to contradictorily lessen the importance of it; I mean primitive in its truest (so far as I understand it) sense: it is primitive in that it is not dependant on anything else for its existence. All other aspects of music rely on one thing or another for their existence - melody couldn't exist without rhythm, harmony without melody, and all aspects, to greater or lesser degrees, without exception, rely on rhythm - only rhythm is the one thing that is independant, can exist on its own, is primitive. Of course, a sound is required for rhythm to be realised - e.g. hands clapping, fingers clicking, a heart beating, a drum being beaten - but this sound is in turn dependant upon rhythm for its existence (stick with it), so this sort of synergistic dependance cancels each other out, and rhythm remains to be primitive.

In fact, from a purist's point of view, the music you're hearing now is much more than this primitive rhythm I speak of. There are various different sizes of drums at work here, as well as those little cymbals providing the "tsing" sound. Pure, primitive rhythm, must be one single sound. As soon as a second instrument is introduced - however rhythmic it may be - or even, speaking as the purest purist around, if any dynamics are employed, or a slight difference in the sound produced from this one instrument (i.e. if a clarinet is used as the instrument of choice, the note must be the same note, with exactly the same velocity, dynamic and timbre; a drum must be hit in exactly the same manner, in the same part of the skin, with exactly the same force), if any of these things are altered - however rhythmic the instrument - semblances of melody appear, and it is no longer pure rhythm that is being created. This is nothing to get worried about, of course! Just a small point.

Rhythm is a very complex subject, much too complex to be fully explored now, so I'll leave it at that, and gear myself up for the next article, about Melody. But I will say that for any music to hold any interest for me, it must have interesting rhythms. It's no good for a piece of music to be a series of heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy bass beats every beat, every bar: that won't get me dancing. I wouldn't be dancing anyway, to be frank, but a meaninglessly monotonous rhythm (not that all monotonous rhythms are meaningless, mind you) does less than nothing for me, and I'd sooner murder the bastard who recorded the track containing such a device, than dance the night away to his lovingly crafted work. Or does he just do it for the money? He can't honestly get any artistic satisfaction out of such a piece of tripe. Can he? And it's all in fucking 4/4! Oh, somebody stop me before I go mad.

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Ah, this music by Kodo. Relax, relax. Calming.

Can anyone identify which time-signature this is in? Answers, as usual, on a postcard.

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Chopin's Prelude No. 10 in C Sharp Minor

About a year and two months ago this blog was born; just over an hundred articles later and we've arrived nicely here, at Chapter Twelve. This chapter, bearing my favourite number, is to be devoted to my favourite thing in the world: Music. Over the next eight weeks I'm going to introduce some of the key elements of music (viz. Rhythm, Melody and Harmony), along with some of my favourite pieces of music, with playable music to illustrate and liven up each article.

Now, I won't give anything further away just yet, but will give you some rules for conducting written by Richard Strauss for a young conductor in 1922, and the Word of the Week. Take heed of these rules - they are to be taken absolutely seriously. And note, if you are a budding musician, who doesn't conduct, but plays in a contemporary band, all instances of the word 'brass' in these rules you can substitute for the word 'bass', and you can be sure your band will be all the more successful (artistically, of course - which is the most important thing, remember) for it.

Richard Strauss' Ten Golden Rules for Conducting

1. Remember that you are making music not to amuse yourself but to delight your audience.
2. You should not perspire when conducting: only the audience should get warm.
3. Conduct Salome and Elektra as if they were by Mendelssohn: Fairy Music.
4. Never look encouragingly at the brass, except with a short glance to give an important cue.
5. But never let the horns and woodwind out of your sight: if you can hear them at all they are still too strong.
6. If you think that the brass is not blowing hard enough, tone it down another shade or two.
7. It is not enough that you yourself should hear every word the soloist sings - you know it off by heart anyway: the audience must be able to follow without effort. If they do not understand the words they will go to sleep.
8. Always accompany a singer in such a way that he can sing without effort.
9. When you think you have reached the limits of prestissimo, double the pace.
10. If you follow these rules carefully you will, with your fine gifts and your great accomplishments, always be the darling of your listeners.

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Word of the Week

Music

music n. 1 the art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. 2 the sounds so produced. 3 musical compositions. 4 the written or printed score of a musical composition. 5 certain pleasant sounds, e.g. birdsong, the sound of a stream, etc.

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

After this I won't have the chance to speak to you directly for eight weeks, for during that time we will be deep in Chapter Twelve discovering a handful of the countless delights of music. Thus, I won't be writing anything that isn't related to that most delicious of subjects, and now take this opportunity to tie up any loose ends before we head in there on Wednesday. I'll just be brief.

First, about Wednesday. In the past when I've been away from home on a Wednesday (for, you should know by now that that is the day I generally come to write on here), I haven't bothered to blog on that day, but left it for the next week. This week it'll be different, I hope. I'm off down to London tomorrow, to go and hear a performance of Copland's Billy the Kid Suite, John Adams' Century Rolls, and the world premier of Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony at The Proms on the Tuesday; and the day after, will hear Slint performing their ground-breaking, hugely influential, my favourite album, Spiderland, at the Koko Club. I'm staying in a hostel with free internet access, so I should have no excuse not to bob on and submit the first article of Chapter Twelve. So you should hear from me then.

On the band front, Yarema are in quite a busy time, having just played for a very successful wedding in Bradford, and are lined up to play in Derby next Saturday, with a couple more gigs in the following weeks. Very exciting stuff. I won't be writing about these gigs just yet, though, but after I've finished dealing with this coming chapter, we may get a word or two about them.

Wish us all luck! And I'll see you in Chapter Twelve. Farewell!

A vote! An actual vote! Well, maybe a fraudulent one, but it does go to show that you personally can influence the course of this blog. To a certain extent, that is. This is the last article of this chapter, and I have all of the next chapter planned out - thus you won't be able to exert much influence on that - but when I'm in a regular chapter - i.e. one not divisible by four - do feel free to write in and suggest any topics you may be interested in reading about. Remember, you can always rely on me to throw together a fair amount of rubbish to get you through a reasonable proportion of your busy day. You old skivers, you. But I'd honestly run clean out of ideas for this final article, so had to urge on a friend (as revealed in his comment - I wouldn't have told you otherwise, you know!) to give me a helping hand by casting a vote that's been available for a good few weeks. The ever benevolent advocate of true democracy - i.e. no opinion is too small, unpopular or, perhaps, generally unadvisable to be considered (considered, mind you - not necessarily accepted) - all that I needed was that single vote to sway the course of this narrative, and the deed is as good as done.

Right, I'm drifting into extraneous territory here, so I think I'll leave the introduction at that. What's needed now is the substance of this article. Here follows that which was voted for by Adam, my ever-faithful friend:

TMA09 - Music and Philosophy
Feel free to click on each page for a larger version if you find it hard to read

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So there you have it. Every last meticulously crafted phrase I wrote for my AZX103 course with the Open University in the Arts and Humanities is now published here for your reading pleasure. So I think I'll open another vote. Hitherto I haven't published my individual marks for each TMA, only providing the overall result of 62% for the course. If after reading any of my TMAs (and you can read find all of them by clicking here or via the link in the tags section to the right) you are interested to know what score I got for that TMA, you may vote for it, and I will provide the treasured information. Remember, you can change events on this blog. Together we may change the world. Let's change the world, one desktop at a time (not just Ubuntu - Linux in general. Your home won't be at risk if you do not keep up repayments).

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Word of the Week

Meticulous

meticulous adj. 1 giving great or excessive attention to details. 2 very careful and precise.

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

Eine kleine gute Neuigkeiten, meine Freunde (a little good news, my friends). My OU result has come, and it turns out that I passed with 62%. No real surprise, because I was expecting to pass; but to get this score, I've calculated (perhaps incorrectly, mind you) that I must have got 86% for the final, timed TMA. This seems a bit optimistic, to be honest, because I didn't feel I did that fantastically on the assignment (and remember, you are still free to vote for it to be posted on here), but I should soon get it back with the tutor's comments, so I'll know for certain then. The upshot of all this is that I've done a textbook U-turn from my conviction never to study again with the Open University (or any (closed) traditional universities, colleges, private tutors, or any other formal educational establishments) while I live under this roof - preferring to further my learning through books, musical practice, and this trusty computer at which I now sit - and have decided that I will go on and study another course with the OU. It'll be a Level 2 course, but I am still to decide exactly which one of the many I'll plump for. I'm currently leaning towards the English Language course, but even the Latin Studies one appeals, as does the Philosophy. Some studying of the prospectus is needed, and once a decision is reached the application will be sent off, and the wheels should be in motion (i.e. the course will have started) by the beginning of October.

So, there we go. A little good news. And to top it off two records have recently arrived - Shellac's newest creation Excellent Italian Greyhound and one of the phenomenal set of remixes of pieces from Tortoise's Millions Now Living Will Never Die, called Rivers, with remixes of 'Along the Banks of Rivers': Spring Heel Jack's 'Galapagos 1' and Jim O'Rourke's 'Reference Resistance Gate' - as well as Ad's and my tickets to see Slint perform their phenomenal Spiderland in two weeks (you'll forgive those links to seemingly unconnected places). Furthermore, I've been working away doing a serious spring clean of my room, so that's much fresher and healthier, and I've started using on my computer the wonderfully light-weight and efficient (one could say transparent, and beautiful wouldn't be far off the mark) Fluxbox. That screenshot shows my whole screen, as I'm writing this, with no clutter; an undecorated xterm to the left; an instance of leafpad to the right - into which I'm paste and saving this as I go along, just in case of disaster - (also note the slight transparency on leafpad, courtesy of xcompmgr - installed with a simple yum install xcompmgr in a terminal, viz. xterm) at the very bottom you can just see the edge of the hidden panel, which appears on mouseover; and you can see that Shellac's 'Doris' from their Uranus 7" has just started playing in Amarok. Not much to get excited about, you may think. But, there we go. The rest of my family are as free as birds to continue using KDE (for such is one of the beauties of Linux, that the environment can vary absolutely from one user to another) but for me, Fluxbox is too inticing a prospect to abandon.

However, all this excitment has paid its toll on me. You may know someone addicted to heroin, and perhaps witnessed them go from the euphoric state induced by the drug to the plummeting depths after the effects have worn off. If not, picture yourself in a swimming pool. You're there with a friend and a tennis ball, throwing it to each other across the vast expanse of the water. You throw, but it's much too far to throw it all the way. The ball soars some way through the air, plummets into the water, swims down a few metres, still on towards your friend, and comes bobbing back to the surface just in front of him/her. You picture the journey the ball took? Sort of like an elongated sine wave, no? Such, I feel, are my emotions. They can get high, but they must come back down again. Moderation is the key. If I can keep my emotions at a moderate level, continually striving to rise the water-level (i.e. the default emotional state), then I may be on to a winner. Answers on a postcard if you have any other suggestions. Cheers!

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Word of the Week

Malleable

malleable adj. 1 (of metal etc.) able to be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking. 2 adaptable; pliable, flexible.

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

With regards subject matter, today's meagre offering differs not a jot from that of last week. The substance of the present may be entirely at variance with the previous, but the main theme remains the same. In short, if you read last week's article, there will be no benefits to be reaped, or new knowledge to be gleaned, by reading this one.

You see, the old imagination seems to have had it. Given up the ghost, you know. Much as I tried to get the thing started, as tenderly as I tried to coax it into action, the old faithful eventually merely gave a sharp explosion, spluttered, and went as quiet as a new-born mute swan. 'It's the choke,' a voice cried. 'Push the choke in!' But after the explosion not so much as a hiss could I get out of the imagination. It seems I'm going to have to get a new one. I couldn't use yours for a bit, could I? But, no - that wouldn't be right. None of the ideas would be mine any more: they'd all be yours. And I couldn't live with myself like that. I would sooner live a thousand years with not a single original idea than use one of yours and claim it as my own. So I must get a new one. But how would one go about such a thing? How much money do you have? Could you give me some money with which to buy a new, top-of-the-range imagination?

Oh, I've had enough of these imaginations! Give me a pair of feet and a palm tree any day of the week.

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Word of the Week

Meagre

meagre 1 lacking in amount or quality (a meagre salary). 2 (of literary composition, ideas, etc.) lacking fullness, unsatisfying. 3 (of a person or animal) lean, thin.

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary