Dis Is Da Drum

Yes it’s true, I bought a drum set. Believe it or not my wife thought it was a good idea. Well better than getting a motorcycle anyway.

It arrived just over a week ago. I got a complete kit with all the drums, cymbals, stands, hardware, and a throne, all as a single unit. I didn’t even know that was something you could buy all together. This saved me the trouble of picking out all the individual components and the whole thing was a reasonable price. I guess it’s a basic, entry-level set but everything is well-made and sounds good. I also got sticks, mallets, brushes and (of course) earplugs.

The kit I got was from Ludwig, with Remo heads and Zildjian cymbals. It’s a gold sparkle finish, very nice. The kick drum is 22″, and then there’s two rack toms, a floor tom and and a snare drum, plus a ride cymbal, crash cymbal and hi-hat.

On the web they advertise the same kit with a 20″ kick drum and correspondingly smaller toms. This seemed like it might be suitable for jazz, but no one has it in stock, so it may not really exist. I asked one of my jazz drummer friends about the 20″ vs 22″ kick. He says back in the day jazz drummers used full size kick drums just like everyone else, and he prefers the 22″ anyway cuz it has a bigger sound and is more versatile, good for rock as well as jazz. So I stopped waiting for the smaller set to be in stock, which is just as well cuz it’s still not available after a month.

Unpacking and setting it all up was a major endeavor. I’d never done that before and I learned alot. Michelle was a big help. Then it was on to tuning the heads. Sweetwater has some videos on their web site, which was useful. But the tuning is by ear and by feel, so it’s hard to get that across in a video. I’m now in a phase where I’m experimenting to see what sounds and feels good.

Once I has it set up put together a little practice routine to get started. I haven’t played drums since high school or maybe college, and while I’m happy that I still know a few beats and basic grooves, that’s about it. So the focus on fundamentals. For on thing I’m just practicing single hits on all the drums, to get consistent control over the tempo, loudness and accents. Hitting the drums and cymbals in different places and at different angles to hear the different sounds. Getting consistent between the right and left hand. Experimenting with grip, where to hold the stick for the best balance, how tight or loose, and how to best take advantage of the bounce you get after a hit.

Next is moving around the kit, smoothly and without the sticks interfering with each other. Also experimenting with the placement of the drums and what feels comfortable. Third is patterns, mostly on the snare. I only remember a few rudiments, but I’m working on constancy, gradually increasing the tempo.

Last is beats and grooves. I must say many years of playing piano while singing has really my hand/foot independence. Again the focus right now is consistent tempo and volume. Being able to hone in on one part and not loose the others, particularly the kick drum. Putting in accents or extra hits to vary the groove. I noticed that when switching from the hi-hat to ride cymbal, the ride seems much louder. It’s a challenge to bring down the volume with keeping the kick and snare at their level, particularly since I’m playing the snare with my left hand.

One thing I never considered before is that the drum set is organized backwards in terms of high vs low, compared to the piano or other percussion in-struments like the vibes. In a basic beat the bass drum is on 1 and 3, and struck with the right foot. Then the backbeat is on the snare on 2 and 4, struck with the left hand. Compare that with a stride rhythm on piano, where left hand does both the bass note on 1 and 3 and the chord on the back beat, but the and moves to left for bass notes and to the right for the chord. I’ve known left-handed drummers who play the whole kit reverse. And there are right-handed guitarists I can think of who play left handed. I wonder if should try reversing the kit to see how that feels.

In any event, I’m working my way thru different videos about tuning the drums. After that I’ll look at a few basic videos about the issues I’m already working on in my playing, and maybe see if I can find a series of lessons online. I’ll probably also get a few books. Something like the Rubank elementary series (I wonder if they still make those), and a book of different rock and jazz patterns, beats and grooves. Everyone tells me a good samba beat is one of the hardest things to play well.

I might even try recording a drum part for the song I’m working on, but that’s still a little ways off.

The Global Jukebox 2.0

I’m happy to announce that last Friday, July 31, we released The Global Jukebox version 2.0. This is pretty much the culmination of my last year’s work, with the help of alot of people including my brother Martin, our administrator Kiki, our visual designer Alona and the project director Anna Lomax Wood.

There’s lots of exciting new stuff in it. The top three new things are an extensive style redesign, a whole new world taxonomy, and an all-new education section, including the Musical Roots classroom experience. So take some time and explore the world of world folk music and culture.

https://theglobaljukebox.org

There’s lots more in the offing, so hopefully it won’t be long before release 2.1. Enjoy!

Some Like It Hot

This has got to be the hottest July I can remember. It’s been above ninety pretty much every day the whole month, and alot of days above ninety-five. I usually like the heat but this is a bit much even for me. It’s not even enjoyable to be be outside except in the morning and the evening. No end in sight.

We took a mini pretend beach vacation this weekend. Saturday we went out to Jones Beach on Long Island to swim in the ocean and enjoy the scene. It was very nice. The water was warm and as calm as gets. Lots of fun swimming and floating. It was less crowded than usual because the parking lots were only allowing parking in every second space. We had originally intended to go to Robert Moses Beach but the parking there filled up before 10 am.

Sunday we went to an outdoor restaurant at Rye Beach, on the opposite end of the beach from the Tiki Bar and Playland amusement park, and enjoyed the sunset, some yummy seafood, and some live music with a sax player, percussionist, and a guy with a laptop computer playing loops and tracks. I’d never been to this place before but since the Tiki Bar is closed this summer we went exploring. Perfect chill vibe.

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In origami land, I’m drawing ever closer to finishing my book. The diagrams have been basically done for a while, but then I went back and picked out a harmonious color palette, with different colors for model with different themes, and re-rendered all the steps. Along the way I made a few improvements to the folding sequences and page layouts. I’m really going for a good-looking and high-quality book. Next step is model menu/TOC and then test folding and photography. Too bad it’s so hot. I might have to put in the air conditioner in my studio downstairs.

Also in origami land, I’ve resumed my scheduling project for Origami USA. If you recall, back in the winter, before the pandemic, I’d taken on managing the scheduling tool and the actual scheduling for the OUSA Conventions. The tool itself was an MS Access Database with a bunch of custom views and lots of macros. The plan was to use it for this year’s convention to get up the learning curve on the whole scheduling workflow, and then design and build a new tool in time for the new Chicago convention in the fall.

Well the OUSA June convention was replaced by the Un-Convention, which was a great success but had no need of scheduling. The Chicago convention is not happening either. But we figured we might as well go ahead and build the new scheduling tool, and hope the world is back to normal for the 2021 convention. So now I’m underway with that. First step is to install Drupal and a suite of plugins, since the what drives the OUSA web site. Next is to identify the points of integration and then come up with a design and a tech spec. Should be fun.

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Since I’m doing these blog updates rather infrequently these days, I might as well cover all the bases. We did a surprise soft launch The Global Jukebox at the end of June, for the benefit of our partner/sponsor CityLore, with whom we created an education section and interactive Musical Roots experience for use in New York City (and other) schools. However, there were a few loose ends in the app we didn’t have time to properly address. We’re just about finished with them and are preparing for the official Global Jukebox 2.0 release to live. Coming soon, very exciting. Watch this space for a future announcement.

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In the world of music, I’ve been going to the jazz jam sessions the last few weeks. All is cool so far, and it’s good to making music with other people. At first I felt pretty rusty, but now that I’ve shaken off the cobwebs I’m realizing my playing is reaching a higher level than before.

It still remains to get the new rock band off the ground, but there’s signs of hope.

Meanwhile, I’ve been continuing on working on a new batch of originals in my studio. Did I mention it’s really hot? The song I’ve zeroed in on is a medium-slow jazz number called Winter Wolf Whisper (although I’ll probably change the name) that we used to do in the Haven Street Quintet. Of course doing it on the computer requires changing the feel, so working thru that. One big thing is drums. I’m torn between making sound more natural and human, versus more electronic and machine-like. I’ve always been fascinated by bands with two drummers, or with a percussion section, so I’ll probably try combining both approached.

Still, I feel like I’ve gone as far as can with my current approach to drums. So I decided to buy a drum set. Something to practice on, and potentially record. Actually having drums has been on my list for a long, long time, and they’ll also come in handy if I ever have band rehearsals at my house again. I was pretty amaze at the kind of deals you can get these days on a new kit, complete with cymbals, stands and a throne. It should be here on Thursday, so mare on that soon.

We Jammin’

Even as the pandemic rages across other parts of the country, some things around here are getting back to normal, at least a little bit. One big portent is that my main rehearsal studio, Lagond, has re-opened. So I started asking around my musician friends to see how people feel about coming out and spending time indoors together, if the time is right. While I was mulling over the possibilities for putting together a new jazz or rock group, I gat a call from Mike, the drummer from the old jazz circle, looking for a sax player.

So I went down and jammed out. Lagond is doing all the things to keep us safe, requiring wearing a facemask coming in and out of the building, and putting hand sanitizer by every door, hooked up to a hi-hat pedal so you can operate it hands-free. We were in the big room downstairs with the piano, and we were set up so that everyone was at least twelve feet from his nearest neighbor.

It was good to re-connect with those guys. Most I haven’t seen in a year, maybe a couple years. And it was certainly alot of fun to play music with people again. Looks like I’m gonna keep going the rest of the summer, as long as the situation stays cool.

Ken was sitting in on bass. He and I were talking about forming a new rock band last winter, so we re-kindled those discussions. I reached out to the other musicians involved and they’re into it. So it’s time to start thinking about when and how. No matter what it looks a long time before there’s any gigs, but that’d give us time to develop our sound.

Going the Distance

We just got back from a summer vacation of sorts, a trip upstate to visit family and friends for a few days in this strange year. Slow down for a while, if that’s even possible in these times. Still, it came and went too fast.

We stayed with my parents, who obviously are older. Before we lit out from home we spent a couple weeks isolating as much as possible to reduce the risk of anyone catching the virus. On the ride up we brought sandwiches with us and at a picnic area in a rest stop. Upstate it seems the virus never hit as hard, so people are a bit more mellow about it although still cautious. Everyone wears masks when going indoors, but not so much outside if there’s adequate space. Like around here, you see alot more people going for walks and hanging out in the park than you used to.

It was unusually hot up there the whole time, as is usual for us when we go on a trip. I did go rollerblading two days in a row. The neighborhood is nice and flat and the streets are very smooth, with very few cars. We had thought of going for a hike, but it was too hot for that. Going shopping or to the movies was right out.

Lizzy and her boyfriend came over, and we all hung out in my parents’ back yard. On the fourth we went over the visit Larry and Jackie, and hung out in their backyard. All the town firework shows were cancelled, but Larry’s neighbor across the street set of a pretty huge amount of fireworks, so we got a show after all. The next day we went to visit Denis and Sara and hung out in their back yard, and even went for a swim. And everyone doing lots of barbecue, yum.

We also watched the musical Hamilton. I must say I kinda like the straight recording of the stage show better then something like Cats or Les Miz, where the effects and sets and all overpower the music and the story. Michelle went thru a phase a while back where she listened to the Hamilton soundtrack over and over, so I’ve heard it and liked it alot, but in a disjointed way. I’m glad I saw it cuz it’s a good as everyone says, and the music makes alot more sense when you see the characters singing it and have the context of the stage performance. We listened to the soundtrack on the drive home. It’s very powerful and there’s alot of information to take in, so we’re going to have to watch it again.

Origami USA Unconvention

This weekend is usually the Origami USA Convention, four days of fun and folding, and reconnecting with my origami friends, sharing great origami and learning new stuff. It’s always a super-intense experience.

This year of course we didn’t have a convention due to the pandemic. So we did what we could. OUSA organized an unconvention, an online, virtual convention. It was two days instead of four, and had a single stream of classes. Robert Land, Beth Johnson, Michael LaFosse and a few others taught over Zoom video conferences. Wendy acted as host and led some sessions such as the opening and closing, the awards and the annual meeting.

All in all it was really good, given the limitations. Technically and presentation-wise, it came of smoothly and without a hitch. I learned a few cool new models and got to connect with my origami friends, and it kept the feeling of the convention alive.

Perhaps the best part of all is Adrienne Sack and Jared Needle organized a late-night folding and hangout session. There were only 20 or 30 people (over 1200 attended the main unconvention), but they were largely the ones I’d have hung out with late night anyway, so it definitely hit the the social folding vibe. I even taught a model. It was an international crowd with some CFC people there too like Ilan and Dascha. On Saturday night five continents were represented. I ended up staying up until after 3 am both nights.

There was talk at the annual meeting about whether the fall convention in Chicago would be happening, and the criteria they’re using to make that determination. If it’s on I can back to rewriting the scheduling tool. If it’s not I guess and could anyway. We’ll see what they say.

In other new my new book is lurching towards completion. I redesigned my Martian for inclusion. I’m renaming him Wise Martian rather than, says, Martian Mark II. I improved the folding sequence and the sculptural aspect of the face, as well as the stability of the standing pose and the lock. Now it’s down to finishing updating the layouts of diagrams for the last two models.

Sugar-Free Jazz

I updated my web site with a new page for my new work-in-progress album, whose working title is BZIV. You can see it here:

https://zingman.com/music/bziv.php

I realize my web site is long overdue for some updates, so hopefully I’ll be getting around to some of that soon. For now, it’s one new page.

I even created a stand-in for album cover by taking a couple photos of my origami (a Stellated Dodecahedron, a.k.a a 3-D star, and an Astronaut) are ran them thru some photoshop filters. It’s a nice image and seems to go well with the tone of the album so for.

I have three completed songs: The Story Lies, Who Speaks on Your Behalf, and Sun of the Son. Together they’re just about twenty minutes, or an album side. Halfway there. I must say this is a very good rate for me, twenty minutes of produced music in a year.

I’ve finally gotten to work on the long-waited and much hyped Plague of Frogs, although I’ll be changing the name because nobody wants to hear a song about the plague these day. Probably something like It’s Raining Frogs, or Battle of the Snow Frogs, or Frogs of War. As mentioned before it’s a 10-minute sci-fi epic. It’ll take a while to complete.

The rest of the album was going to be three to five other half written songs I have, but I might save them for a potential new rock group in the offing. This might get off the ground sooner than expected. Lagond, my main rehearsal studio, just sent out an email today that they’re opening back up soon.

Meanwhile, Sun of the Son came out so well I’m now thinking of making a whole record of digital studio jazz-like music. Get deeper into the aesthetic, bring in influences like Material, 80’s Miles, Kamasi, King Crimson, and who knows what else. I have three songs I wrote for Haven Street that are good for adaptation: Lift Off, Mobility and Winter Wolf Whisper, which I many change the name of to something like Autumn Eyes or Dolphin Eyes. After that I have two more, half-written jazz jams, currently called Heavy Water and Bluzoid. I might even tack on my version with lyrics of Jay’s balled Slope.

That’s alot of music to work on. The key is break it down into manageable tasks. I can play all these songs on sax, and I’m re-learning them on piano. I’m also trying them out on bass and even guitar so when it’s time to start recording I’ll know what I’m doing. Before I can get too far I’ll have to decide how to approach the drums. It’s going to be some combination of midi, loops and layers. I realize I don’t know precisely what Eric was doing on the drums, so I have to go back and listen. We never cut a record with this songs, so I have to go back thru the recordings I made of our gigs. With luck I’ll find some takes that are good enough to put on our web site, so watch this space.

Searching for a Ghost in the Machine

I’ve been low key looking for a new gig recently to compliment the Global Jukebox, either another consulting project or a something steady that would let me work from home. Luckily (if you can call it that) the software industry these days has shifted largely to remote work and it seems the trend to a large extent won’t be reversing. On the downside, many startups have miserable attitude towards their employees that begins with the hiring process. They say the only want the best of the best, and then start pushing you around like you have nothing better to than stick around and take it. Some want you to take a coding test before you ever talk to a human. One place recently asked me to submit a video, like an audition tape, in lieu of an interview. You must be kidding me. One place a few months ago asked me to take a one-hour coding quiz that turned out to be three hours. I ignore all these places cuz my time is valuable. If they’re like that when they’re recruiting they’re probably not very good to work for.

So it was refreshing today when I had a second interview (the deep tech one) at a place that actually cared about my experience, my approach to problem solving, how I work in teams and all that, rather than treat me like I must be some kind of liar trying to bluff my way into a their precious organization.

There was the usual coding quiz, where you have to write a working program on the spot. I must say I usually dread these. They tend to focus on low-level stuff you may not have used in a long time and you can just google if you need to in real life, and often as not they throw in arbitrary gotchas or they’re hung up on syntax or some library or something. In short, not modeling a real code situation and not testing high-level ability.

As luck would have it, the quiz was something I implemented just a few days ago in the course of work on the Jukebox. Basically it was to take a list of strings that might contain duplicated and return a list with no dupes. I did this to provide autocomplete prompts in our search component. When I was writing it I thought to myself, gee this is just the kind of thing they like to ask on coding quizzes. Maybe I should google it to see if my solution is optimal. I did and it was. So when the quiz came today I just flew right through, literally just writing out some code that was already in my head.

New Mix: Sun of the Son

I thought I was done with this song last fall, but after listening to my new mixes I thought I could make it better. The main thing I did was to tone down the effects on the snare drum because it was kinda overpowering in a couple sections. While I was in there I cleaned up the phrasing on the horn a bit, and added some percussion to the jam section to give it more of a Kamasi vibe. Hopefully this one is now finished, and it’s on to some new songs.

https://zingman.com/music/mp3/bziv/SunOfTheSon50b.mp3

Warning: it’s a ten-minute computer jazz jam, so the can enjoy the radio edit if you’re into the whole brevity thing:

https://zingman.com/music/mp3/bziv/SunOfTheSon50b_radioedit.mp3

New Song: The Story Lies

Well the exciting thing that happened this week was that Lizzy came home for a visit. We haven’t seen her since the start of her semester back in January.

In music news, my other new song, The Story Lies, is done, and you can hear it here:

https://zingman.com/music/mp3/bziv/TheStoryLies23c.mp3

As mentioned before, the song was originally written by my brother Martin. I’m quite happy with the way it came out. It’s very much a groove song compared to WSOYB, and my version is much funkier and jazzier than the original. Instrumentally it’s a blend of bass and drums, keys and guitar, with a sax jamming out over everything. It’s got a great chord progression that lends itself to the John Coltrane sheets of sound approach, so I managed to work a little of that in. The lead vocal is a single track with no harmonies, and like the vocal delivery. On the original version there were some backing vocals, so I ended up adding a synth part on the chorus to take up that space.