Shoe Interlude
Some days my Shoe a Day calender is a bit of a let down. But other days, it’s downright inspirational. Today falls into the latter category.
Some days my Shoe a Day calender is a bit of a let down. But other days, it’s downright inspirational. Today falls into the latter category.
Oh the writing of music. As I mentioned in my previous post, I use many aides to write music. For starters, I always need one catch all method for musical ideas as they strike. In the past that’s been a blank notebook. All the early Kyla Tilley stuff was just lyrics and chord charts jotted on lined paper, with some notes on rhythm and picking/strumming patterns, but I never took the time to write out melodies or the guitar parts, nor did I record myself playing my songs, I just memorized how the songs went. Anything I didn’t play regularly... (more)
Another February is upon us and so thoughts turn to the RPM challenge.
I’ve signed up for it most of the last 6 years, but I never finish it. I wasn’t planning to attempt it this year, but then I got the welcoming e-mail from RPM that included the statement:
"Whether you're gearing up for your 10th RPM album, or wallowing in 10 years of sordid failure... RPM 2015 needs you!"
Which made me feel a lot better about all my failures, and I figured, what the heck, and signed up again.
The most successful I... (more)
Turns out I’m writing a multi-post series on getting my practice area up and running. In my last post I talked about what software and gadgets I find useful, today I’ll talk about how I’ve arranged my work space for the new year, and some of the other essential items I have on hand.
Now that I’m not renting exterior rehearsal space I’ve had to arrange a corner of my house for music practice. (Actually, there are more like 3 or 4 corners, but we’ll get to that.) One half of my bedroom is now my main work area. I... (more)
In my last post I mentioned my reliance on software to help me practice. I thought I’d go into a little more detail about what I use.
For starters I make heavy use of the alarm clock on my phone. I usually work on something for 10-30 minutes, so I set the alarm for that time. Within the alloted time, I often do speed exercices for 60 seconds at a time, for which the egg timer is essential. I also use a time sheet app to clock the time I spend on various musical activities.
I’m a big fan of... (more)