Tag Archives: musicology

Friday Morning

Posted on September 4, 2020 by JMN

I’m struggling. My remote interlocutor in life of the mind is keeping me afloat insofar as having a rational dialog with someone. But that dialog is private. Of the muchness on my mind, I’m conflicted as to which of it … Continue reading →

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Musicianshift

Posted on January 30, 2020 by JMN

http://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/arts/music/terry-riley.html “For me music is a daily practice that I try to deepen in the sense that I get to understand more about what music really is, and sometimes what I think it really is is the simplest elements — … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — Triad Tirade

Posted on June 18, 2019 by JMN

“A triad is a simultaneous combination of three notes.” (Ralph Denyer, “The Guitar Handbook,” Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2006) The introductory sentence to the “Triads” section of this useful guide distracts me from triads. I’m drawn off the mark … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — More Inconvenience

Posted on June 6, 2019 by JMN

“It seems I am choosing words that will stand, and you are in them, but if I blunder, it doesn’t matter — I must persist in my errors. (Boris Pasternak, “For Anna Akmatova,” translated by Robert Lowell in “Imitations”) The … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — Mind Over Method

Posted on May 24, 2019 by JMN

Pinterest thinks I’m interested in quick-and-dirty guitar: “This article will show you the best method ever of how to efficiently learn and memorize the notes on a guitar neck in the shortest amount of time.” I’ve seen the exact number … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed: NODS & Buck-Effing

Posted on May 20, 2019 by JMN

I’m not a rocker or blues man on a Gibson. I can make a long-fingered foray into the twelfth-fret region, but it’s not fruitful. When I mention “buck-effing” around the fretboard, therefore, only one B-C and E-F pair obtains per … Continue reading →

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Guide by the Perplexed — Crossed Eyes, Dotted Tees

Posted on May 16, 2019 by JMN

Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the cloud of unknowing, I shall fear no malaise, for thy clef and thy stave, they comfort me. I pause from the demented abstraction of this serialized soliloquy, this goofy guide, to … Continue reading →

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