August SOTW 4 - St. Thomas

As you can see from the title, I've decided to rename my Song of the Week so it's easier to find them later.

So as seen in my last post, I attended a summer jazz camp.  On the first day, the piano and guitar teachers were still teaching their students when the faculty concert was supposed to start.  As a result, the guest teacher decided that they should start the concert with St. Thomas, a jazz standard by Sonny Rollins that didn't need a piano or guitar player.  The tune outlines the chord changes so a comper isn't absolutely necessary.

If you didn't understand any of that, I'll just say this: it's flippin catchy.  I heard it all week.  And sang it all week.  And played it all week.
And it's not just me.  I showed up 30 minutes early everyday, and I could hear people in practice rooms playing St. Thomas... whistling it in between classes... jamming out to it at the end of the day...
At one of the concerts, a combo even performed it.

The Relatable Musician 6

DON'T CLAP WHEN THE BAND STARTS TRADING FOURS!!!

Same idea as inexperienced people who don't know audience etiquette for classical music.  You don't clap in between movements, unless it is something extremely worthy of mention.  Personally, I wouldn't clap, as seen in my post about not clapping. 

The same idea is not applied in the jazz world.  In fact, if you hear something you like, you vocalize it (but maybe not for a ballad).  Yelling in approval adds energy and encouragement to the atmosphere.  So there is little room for the audience to make error as an audience.
But little room doesn't mean no room.

I was recently in a summer jazz camp and the faculty/directors put on a concert for the students.  A popular jazz element for letting the drummer solo is called "trading fours".  In music speak, a player solos for four bars, then the drummer solos for four, then the player, then the drummer, and so on.  It's a very basic element.
However, the audience, which is comprised of jazz students, clapped for every four bar solo.  Granted, there are some beginners in the crowd.  However, people at least my level should know... And I'm not too high on the ladder. 

It isn't that they are ignorant and should know better as jazz students.  It's obvious that if you applaud every four bars, you're going to miss half of the solos because you're too busy making noise, drowning out the music you came to hear.  And it disturbs the people around you who know what they're doing...

To Lose Sight

The world is very loud.  Noisy.  Voluminous in thick waves of sound.  But we barely notice it.  The humming of the lights, people passing by, air conditioners, traffic, even our own breathing.  We've all grown up in an environment where we are used to at least a little sound, somewhere, all the time. 

I used to find sound fascinating.  The drastic change in sound as soon as three people started conversing rather than two was something that always amazed me.  The thin air of one voice all of a sudden gained an overlap of another.  It was thickening like layers of honey collecting at the bottom of a cup of tea.  Indeed, the reception of sound is a fantastic thing. 

I recently went to a tourist attraction called "Dialogue in the Dark".  You are given a blind man's stick and put in a series of rooms in pitch black darkness with a guide (all guides are visually impaired).  The whole point is to experience being blind, relying on only touch, smell, and hearing to navigate in the darkness. To be honest, it's not for everyone.  Kids sometimes aren't mature enough for it, or are scared of the dark.  I don't blame them.  However, for me, my problem was the sudden barrage of information to my ears.  I discovered that I relied heavily on my eyes to process auditory information.  If a car honked, I turned to look at it.  If someone spoke, I could confirm it with my sight.  However, as I stood in a lightless room with the sounds of a busy intersection simulated, I couldn't help but be extremely overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed by the seemingly large quantity of information I would have confirmed with vision, but couldn't.  All the sounds I had overlooked with my eyes.  I was a tiny being facing a tsunami of sound stimuli. It was disorientating.  Belittling.  Daunting. My body produced a headache in no time.  I didn't want to process so much noise at once.  It was too much without eyesight. 
Then on top of that... I had to move around.  Navigate using a wooden apparatus that had loose connection to my body.  My headache became worse.  Why was the world so loud?  Why couldn't it just shut up for a while? 
And to think that it was all simulation. 

Afterwards, sound was a lot different.  It was no longer a fascinating concept that I could think to observe attentively.  It was a vast, endless swamp of information, one that I could never hope to process and understand should I lose my vision.  I had developed two things after that experience:
1. A newfound deep respect for visually impaired people.  Especially those who lost their sight after adolescence.
2. A new fear.  Fear of losing sight. I didn't think it would be something I would be afraid of, but after having a taste of the world with only ears...

Side note: I'm not saying Dialogue in the Dark is a bad attraction.  In fact, it's very well done and is unique for a tourist attraction.  It just isn't for everyone.  I'm just a wierdo who is hypersensitive to things concerning sound... So don't think that as soon as you come out you will develop a phobia for blindness.  If you have a chance to go there, it's a good experience!

August Song of the Week 3

One of my favorites from Imagine Dragons.  The best part starts at 6:46! :3

Chinese Grammar Accent (in Japan)

My parents have a Chinese grammar accent (grammar bad intended).  Meaning they insert Chinese grammar into English grammar. 
Their English is good enough that they don't have an accent.  However, Chinese sentence structure and translation gets inserted into their speech here and there.
For example, when referring to a person in Chinese, there is no "he" or "she".  There is only (literally translated) "they/you".  So when my parents learned English, they had to learn the difference between he and she. 
It's sometimes frustrating when they mix it up and makes the conversation confusing.  But other times, it turns out really funny.

However, on my current trip to Japan, it's been painful to hear them attempt Japanese.  Also the strangest thing to listen to. 
They try to read and pronounce Japanese with English phonetics.  Normal for an uninformed speaker.  But it's the funniest thing (both funny haha and funny weird) to hear them try speak Anglicized Japanese with the Chinese grammar accent. 

*waitress hands over the bill
"How do you say thank you to him?"
"Arigato."
*turns to waitress "Ahreegaito"

*I facepalm

August Song of the Week 2

They should have more jazz clarinet players...

August Song of the Week 1

I actually wondered a bit on what I should post this week.  As you probably noticed, I haven't posted anything but Song of the Weeks for all of July. All month, I've been thinking (I won't bore everyone with details).  Maybe a little too much.  Right now I'm not entirely enthusiastic about anything, so the blog got neglected.  

I haven't been able to listen to this song a lot, but when I think of it and how it sounds, it eases my mind a bit.  Not to mention that Eric Whitacre is one of my favorite composers.  

Quick side note: I'm not in town and internet is a little hard to come by (at least, harder than at home).  Sorry if I miss next week's Song of the Week.