Dave's muddy stream

Yo-Yo Ma, Shostakovich, and banjo

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:43:00 -0700

Last night I got the opportunity to listen to Yo-Yo Ma talk about his life in music, which was the kickoff event for DePauw Discourse 2011 - Empowering Society Through the Arts. It was a wonderful talk and performance (and I'm looking forward to the concert tonight), but one section was especially interesting to me.

I am, after all, a banjo player. I'm not a particularly good one, and I would prefer to become a musician who plays the banjo rather than just a guy who knows how to play banjo. I spent most of my banjo playing life just learning how to play particular tunes, but not really learning how to play, so I'm trying to pay lot more attention to why i'm doing what I'm doing.

At one point Ma was talking about playing Shostakovich and how to try to get the right emotional energy out of it, and he started talking about tone production and that, as you fret any string, the length of the string changes. The higher note you play, the shorter the string becomes, as if the nut (on a banjo -- what do they call it on a cello?) moves down the neck toward the bridge each time you play a higher note. That changes the relative position of where you're bowing or picking the note, and he demonstrated how moving the bow fractions of an inch created a richer or poorer tone, and those movements have to happen each time a different note is played.

It's well nigh impossible to imagine actually moving the contact point of each note when playing bluegrass banjo, at least in Scruggs or melodic style. What's more, I think most players tend to play with their thumb a bit forward of the index and middle. (I did recently watch an interview on Tony Trischka's Academy of Bluegrass site with Alan Munde, I think, who talked about angling his hand so that it hits all the strings at about the same spot.) But this did make me think I need to pay much more attention to where and when I need to move my right hand as my left moves up and down my neck.

Of course, I was also really interested when he started talking about playing with Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor. He'd been interested in Mark's always thanking Benny Thomason, "the greatest Texas fiddler who ever lived" when he played. I felt reasonably sure I was the only guy in the audience who owns several Benny Thomason records.

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Every day is hill day

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:59:02 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

Lovely run from the parents' place outside Brookfield.

With a finish that makes the climb on Fish Creek Road look easy.

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Ready for the day

Fri, 27 May 2011 06:31:05 -0700

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Midway point

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 11:38:03 -0800

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Ice storm has turned our white pine into a Dr. Seuss tree

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:58:42 -0800

Taken at Greencastle

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My boys on snow day

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:13:27 -0800

Taken at Greencastle

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"Pure comedy gold" on Anderson Street

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:30:52 -0800

Residents of Anderson Street rushed to their windows this morning to partake in an annual rite. "It's pure gold," says Bruce Dremmel. "You can't pay for comedy like this." Once again Dave Guinee, a professor at a local college, has revived his legendary one-man show, "Academic with a Wood Maul."

I was able to watch this year's performance, because I was at a Bruce's having coffee, but normally the show begins with no fanfare. "It's just an impromptu performance," says Bruce. One morning you'll hear the sound of that maul chunking ineffectively into a railroad tie, and you just have to run to the window and watch. Now with cell phones and all, you can call friends to come over and have a good time together."

Guinee's performance is similar each year, and the premise is a simple as it gets. He simply sets up wood and "tries" to split it into firewood sized pieces. The results are devastating. How he manages repeatedly to split off the tiniest little slivers of bark, while sending the log flying across the yard, is astonishing. At times he will hit the same piece over and over again, somehow never managing to split it. He's a modern-day Buster Keaton, and you're constantly worried that he's going to bury that wood maul in his shin.

Shows will, if past years are any prediction, continue through the winter. If you get a chance to join the crowd on Guinee's driveway or watch with a warm cup of cocoa from a neighbor's house, don't pass it up.

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Caver in Chief

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:18:46 -0800

President Obama on cutting a deal to extend the Bush Era tax cuts, according to today's NYT: “It’s not perfect, but this compromise is an essential step on the road to recovery,” Mr. Obama said. “It will stop middle-class taxes from going up. It will spur our private sector to create millions of new jobs, and add momentum that our economy badly needs.”

A cut in payroll taxes might have such an effect, since the payroll taxes affect the part of incomes that people actually spend, but as a whole this statement is laughable.

The tax cuts were idiotic before the recession. News flash: trickle-down economics is and always has been a shell game. So if the President can "compromise" on something as patently stupid as this, where will he not compromise?

And frankly, this seems a lot more lake "caving" than "compromising." What about extending the cuts for the first million of income? That would be a compromise. Even the Democrats in Congress seem to be able to cut a better deal than the President.

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My nemesis

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:10:28 -0700

A mile in the pool today for the first time in a while. It wasn't pretty.

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Is there such a thing as a "non-partisan" vote?

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:54:00 -0700

Back at home after a great vacation in Vermont with my family, I'm catching up on my Google Reader account. Only a few days ago the Times article on Kagan's confirmation was headlined, "Senate Confirms Kagan in Partisan Vote." Is there any other kind anymore? I can't remember the last time that the congress did anything substantive without splitting almost entirely along party lines. So I advise the Times and the nation's other newspapers to save the ink and just write "Senate Confirms Kagan." I think we can all assume that the Republicans will generally vote against everything until they win the White House again.

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Phil Liggett's voice in my head this morning

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:57:37 -0700

He normally doesn't commentate on out-of-shape, middle-aged runners, but there he was:

"Well, he only has a few hundred meters to go to the finish today, and he isn't pushing things too hard at the point. It was a tough stage, and it looks like he's trying to hold something back for tomorrow, when there will be a tough climb in the middle section. The elastic is stretched tight, but it hasn't snapped yet. Only a hundred meters or so to go now, and the crowd is cheering the runners on. He's had a difficult time of it today, but good for him -- another stage down and time for a well-deserved rest."
Further proof that you never really grow up...

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Friday banjo - Mole in the Ground

Thu, 06 May 2010 21:11:58 -0700

Mole In The Ground Listen on Posterous

"Mole in the Ground," an easy but nice little tune I learned from the Tony Trischka School of Banjo, which I've been on for the last few months. It's a terrific site for learning banjo. Tony picked up the tune from the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

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The Wall -- public or private space?

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:21:35 -0700

I've been getting less and less patient with Facebook and other social media recently. I am generally finding out things about people that I would prefer not to know, or simply impatient with the whole mess. Recent spats of postings between family members with differing political views (and I'm guilty of participating) have made it worse. All of this has made me think a bit about what posting on my "Wall' on Facebook really means. I think that I and others I know have been thinking of posting on the Wall as something like being a town crier, standing on the street corner and sharing news with the world. It therefore makes sense, when someone makes a political pronouncement, that I feel obligated to respond if I disagree. If you praise Glen Beck, I'll feel obliged to point out ways in which I think he's an ass. If I praise a liberal, you'll do likewise.

I've come to realize, however, that the town crier model is just plain wrong, not only on Facebook, but also on Twitter. On Facebook I don't shout my news to everyone (unless I don't know a thing about privacy settings); I share information with my "friends." I do tell the world what I'm thinking on Twitter, but only those who choose to follow me really pay any attention (if they do at all).

The "Wall" metaphor gives me an entirely different model, and one I think is better. If we're friends on Facebook, it's like I've opened up a public garden in my house, and I've given you an open invitation to come by. In that public garden there's a wall or bulletin board where I post news that I think you might be interested in. Sometimes it's about my family; sometimes it's a cute photo of the cat; sometimes it's a link to an article that find interesting. If you come over to my Wall and read my news, you're not on the street corner, but at my place. Increasingly, the "house" aspect of the wall is also partly a business space, making things even more private.

Now let's face it. Not all friends are equal. Some of my friends I barely know, others I knew years and years ago and hope that maybe we're still somewhat compatible. Some are former students who either genuinely enjoyed studying with me or thought Facebook would get them an edge. Others are friends entirely because of family relations; there are some I don't think I've ever met in person. The door to the public garden is always open, and they're welcome, but I'm not really expecting or hoping that they will show up every time I throw a party. Just because we're friends doesn't mean that you want me at your place all the time. More to the point, please don't feel it is your mission to come to my house and disrupt the conversation I'm having with those people who want to share information with me. Free speech is certainly anyone's prerogative, but common courtesy suggests that I shouldn't go to your house every time you have your conservative friends over and do my best to make everyone angry. If you're having a conversation at your place about how wonderful Glen Beck is, it would be rude of me to constantly interrupt and demand that you watch my favorite Rachel Maddow extracts. I've been wrong about this before. I'll try to do better.

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Texas School Board makes a mark on history, changes name to Ministry of Truth

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:19:57 -0800

"AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light."

So begins the NY Times report on the Texas School Board's recent vote to impose some new standards on history and economics textbooks. As in all things in American politics these days, there is no middle ground, even though the middle has moved far to the right of where the right was when I was a child. The 10 white Republican board members, who claim that their actions address liberal bias in textbooks, voted in a bloc against the 5 minority Democrats.

The board has no historical methodology, only the desire to put a fine light upon issues they agree with and reveal problems with issues they oppose. Thus they propose that "capitalism" will now be called a "free enterprise system" because, as they freely admit, "...capitalism does have a negative connotation." Thus we should downplay the importance of Thomas Jefferson (who, after all, only wrote the Declaration of Independence) and play up the role of Phyllis Schlafly. And while Latinos did lose the battle to stress more the role Hispanics played in our country's history, minorities can not complain that the board paid them no attention. Now the story of the civil rights movement will also include prominent focus on the violence of the Black Panthers, undoubtedly to give a more "fair and balanced" approach than that afforded by paying attention to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. We will now examine the problems caused by Great Society and Title IX legislation and see how much better McCarthyism really was than it was made out to be, since, after all, commies actually were out there. At last the persecution perpetrated upon Joe McCarthy will be held up to the light.

I propose that, in addition, the Texas School Board should change its name to the Ministry of Truth.

I fear that this will only lead to a further rift in American politics, as textbook publisher start producing "blue-state" and "red-state" versions of history. The blue-covered versions will be much the same as before, while the red-covered versions will end up costing their states and citizens more and more over time, as the Ministry of Truth continues to update its demands from time to time. A brief look at the comments on the Houston Chronicle's story on this shows how ugly the ideological rift already is.

What is most frightening here, of course, is the Board of Education's complete lack of historical perspective. Perhaps its their overall exceptionalist viewpoint that allows them to overlook the question, "What kind of governments usually impose state versions of history like this?" Within a decade they may not be able to learn this from the red-state versions of their world history textbooks, but I'll give them a hint. State control of history is not usually a hallmark of free societies.

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