This has been a rough year in some respects, and a very successful one in others. This has been the year of the Yard War with our irritating neighbors, the year we got a lot of cleaning done in and out of the house, the year my wife and I both got sick for an entire month each (at almost exactly the same time), a year for breakthroughs for me in both music and yoga, the year my 100+ year old great aunt passed away, the year I started handling homeowner claims at work, and the year I signed up for Facebook and reconnected with a lot of people.
Very eventful year, I must say. This blog has largely degenerated into a log of Splunge activities, and it's meant to be more than that. I'll try to do better next year.
I won't make anything as formal as a New Year's Resolution, but I can certainly have plans and hopes. I hope to continue getting a lot done around the house, including finishing the yard. To continue my spiritual development, which I've gotten away from discussing here because the progress involved is so frequently difficult to describe verbally without sounding pompous, silly, or ridiculously mundane. To continue progressing with music, which has brought so much joy to me this past year. Splunge continues to achieve mixed results at best, but has brought a lot of individual progress out of me. To continue with yoga, which has improved my physical well being so much. And I'd like to get back to writing, both music and RPG material.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Splunge - 12/26/2011
Jason, Nick and myself, with no Sal this time due to a work emergency, so it'll be at least two months since we will have had the full line-up playing together.
Single guitarist sessions offer a chance to hear some things that otherwise usually get lost in the mix, and since we've been working on the rhythm of our guitar players in particular lately, Nick spent a fair amount of the session under more scrutiny than usual. I'm afraid it was getting him a bit depressed, but you can't fix a problem you don't know about. The strange part is that the songs he was having a problem with are usually solid.
We were sounding fairly good again vocally, mainly with Nick singing lead and me singing harmony. I was having serious congestion problems again, though I was almost clear by the end of the session. I was also having problems with songs that are usually solid, at least vocally, running out of air badly on "Runaround". Unfortunately no amount of practice can clear nasal congestion. Nick and I talked about harmony before we started playing, and he made some attempts at singing harmony a few times, with mixed results.
We actually hit the group riff on "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" with all three of us at the same time! There is hope for all four of us the next time we get together.
We made an attempt at "Space Oddity", which was again rough. This might be too spacy a feel for this band to pull off well. We'll see when we have everybody at the same time again.
I'm really enjoying the rhythmic rapport Jason and I have built, and it was especially good this time out. Jason was in a better mental space than the last time, playing with some flair he'd been lacking the last couple of practices. I'm still playing stronger rhythmically personally, but have realized that there are things I need to work on to make that approach feel as natural as I'd like.
We moved around a bit, with me in Sal's usual spot, which helped our ability to hear each other. We have a more radical change in mind for the next session, moving Jason to a corner and the amplifiers around to a more circular (and less stage-like) set up. I'm not pleased that this is necessary, but don't see any other solution.
Single guitarist sessions offer a chance to hear some things that otherwise usually get lost in the mix, and since we've been working on the rhythm of our guitar players in particular lately, Nick spent a fair amount of the session under more scrutiny than usual. I'm afraid it was getting him a bit depressed, but you can't fix a problem you don't know about. The strange part is that the songs he was having a problem with are usually solid.
We were sounding fairly good again vocally, mainly with Nick singing lead and me singing harmony. I was having serious congestion problems again, though I was almost clear by the end of the session. I was also having problems with songs that are usually solid, at least vocally, running out of air badly on "Runaround". Unfortunately no amount of practice can clear nasal congestion. Nick and I talked about harmony before we started playing, and he made some attempts at singing harmony a few times, with mixed results.
We actually hit the group riff on "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" with all three of us at the same time! There is hope for all four of us the next time we get together.
We made an attempt at "Space Oddity", which was again rough. This might be too spacy a feel for this band to pull off well. We'll see when we have everybody at the same time again.
I'm really enjoying the rhythmic rapport Jason and I have built, and it was especially good this time out. Jason was in a better mental space than the last time, playing with some flair he'd been lacking the last couple of practices. I'm still playing stronger rhythmically personally, but have realized that there are things I need to work on to make that approach feel as natural as I'd like.
We moved around a bit, with me in Sal's usual spot, which helped our ability to hear each other. We have a more radical change in mind for the next session, moving Jason to a corner and the amplifiers around to a more circular (and less stage-like) set up. I'm not pleased that this is necessary, but don't see any other solution.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Recharge for the Last Push
Took a few days off this past week, primarily because I had to use 'em or lose 'em. The idea was to get any remaining Christmas things done and relax a bit before this upcoming, likely stress-filled, week.
Things worked out extremely well. I haven't really had any serious down time since June or so because of various crises this year, and once I tended to a few necessary things, I was really able to relax. It actually feels weird to not have a "hafta" to do at the moment.
Work should be very difficult this week, as people frantically try to get claims wrapped up before Christmas weekend. However, I'll be on vacation the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, so I won't have to cope with that usually strange week. It's been years since I've taken vacation that week, but I loved it the last time I did it. I've just got to remember that will be coming when things get crazy this week.
Things worked out extremely well. I haven't really had any serious down time since June or so because of various crises this year, and once I tended to a few necessary things, I was really able to relax. It actually feels weird to not have a "hafta" to do at the moment.
Work should be very difficult this week, as people frantically try to get claims wrapped up before Christmas weekend. However, I'll be on vacation the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, so I won't have to cope with that usually strange week. It's been years since I've taken vacation that week, but I loved it the last time I did it. I've just got to remember that will be coming when things get crazy this week.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Splunge - 12/11/11
Sal, Nick and myself, with no Jason this time due to a lower back injury while playing hockey.
I was feeling a bit congested, but seemed to sound okay vocally, and Nick was sounding good, in spite of his saying he'd blown out his voice badly just a few days before. Songs where he was singing lead and I was harmonizing represented most of the high points of the session, with our first attempt at David Bowie's "Space Oddity" probably the best.
On the other hand, our timing as a group on "Space Oddity" was abominable. This is a song where a lot of the instrumentation floats along, including the bass, so there's no way for me to lay down something solid for the others without messing up the song. The rhythm guitar part, and everybody else listening to it, seems to be the key to keeping it together. I was relying too much on my prior experience with this song in another band and didn't remember it as well as I should have. The guitar players' timing just wasn't good in general. This is to be expected to some degree for a new song for us with an unconventional feel to it, but ticks me off because again, we run into the serious rhythm problems that are an ongoing issue with this band.
We ran through "Surrender" for the first time as well, with me stepping in on lead vocals a lot because Nick hadn't had much practice time with it. It was okay for a run through.
Nick and I were discussing how he feels he has hit a plateau and hasn't been improving as much as he'd like, as well as the prospect of taking this band in front of an audience, and we brought Sal into the discussion when he arrived. We discussed some of the rhythmic issue again then (as well as via Facebook later) and I think everybody plans to spend some time with a metronome in the future.
I was surprised to find out that everybody seems to be on board with the idea of playing in front of an audience at some point, but feels we're not good enough collectively to handle it. I agree, but if we're good enough to hear how good we aren't, why aren't we good enough to fix that? Vocal limitations are something of an issue, but not a major one. The more significant problem is simply keeping it together rhythmically, which shouldn't be a problem after we've been together this long. Volume is part of the cause, as everybody else needs to turn down and do a better job of listening to each other. I've already been turning down, leading to requests from the others for me to turn my own volume up, but everybody else stays loud, even after I explain why.
Next session would be scheduled Christmas Day, so obviously that's not going to happen. We're talking about playing the day after, though, because everybody seems to be scheduled off from work that day, which would be a Good Thing. We always sound better when we play more often.
I was feeling a bit congested, but seemed to sound okay vocally, and Nick was sounding good, in spite of his saying he'd blown out his voice badly just a few days before. Songs where he was singing lead and I was harmonizing represented most of the high points of the session, with our first attempt at David Bowie's "Space Oddity" probably the best.
On the other hand, our timing as a group on "Space Oddity" was abominable. This is a song where a lot of the instrumentation floats along, including the bass, so there's no way for me to lay down something solid for the others without messing up the song. The rhythm guitar part, and everybody else listening to it, seems to be the key to keeping it together. I was relying too much on my prior experience with this song in another band and didn't remember it as well as I should have. The guitar players' timing just wasn't good in general. This is to be expected to some degree for a new song for us with an unconventional feel to it, but ticks me off because again, we run into the serious rhythm problems that are an ongoing issue with this band.
We ran through "Surrender" for the first time as well, with me stepping in on lead vocals a lot because Nick hadn't had much practice time with it. It was okay for a run through.
Nick and I were discussing how he feels he has hit a plateau and hasn't been improving as much as he'd like, as well as the prospect of taking this band in front of an audience, and we brought Sal into the discussion when he arrived. We discussed some of the rhythmic issue again then (as well as via Facebook later) and I think everybody plans to spend some time with a metronome in the future.
I was surprised to find out that everybody seems to be on board with the idea of playing in front of an audience at some point, but feels we're not good enough collectively to handle it. I agree, but if we're good enough to hear how good we aren't, why aren't we good enough to fix that? Vocal limitations are something of an issue, but not a major one. The more significant problem is simply keeping it together rhythmically, which shouldn't be a problem after we've been together this long. Volume is part of the cause, as everybody else needs to turn down and do a better job of listening to each other. I've already been turning down, leading to requests from the others for me to turn my own volume up, but everybody else stays loud, even after I explain why.
Next session would be scheduled Christmas Day, so obviously that's not going to happen. We're talking about playing the day after, though, because everybody seems to be scheduled off from work that day, which would be a Good Thing. We always sound better when we play more often.
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