Maybe not hugely creative but necessary knowledge anyway. And with the immininent departure of our resident command-line guru, it’s sort of a self-preservation measure too. Should know it anyway though…
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Yup, Chapter 5 done & dusted. Quite straightforward really, especially considering the minor scales chapter. Also settled on a text for the choral piece – Edgar Allen Poe’s sonnet on Silence. Yes, I get the irony of writing a piece for multiple voices on ’silence’ but nevertheless, I think it’s the best poem for the task in hand.
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Understanding a LOT more than ever before, thanks to new book’s approach focusing on pentachord/tetrachord combinations rather than just lonely scale degrees. Trying to hammer in basic info about modes too (Ionian – Dorian – Phrygian – Lydian – Mixolydian – Aeolian – Locrian. ‘Major’ modes are Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian; ‘Minor’ modes are Aeolian, Dorian Phrygian. See how I didn’t look any of that up? I bet you’re impressed, huh? 
)
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for the choral piece that’s to be my project to begin this weekend. I’m thinking a psalm, but using both Latin and English versions, mixed up together.
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Wow! What a book. That’s just totally shaken me up. And I just totally devoured it. I did kind of feel that I should be taking an Artist’s Way approach to it and only doing one chapter a week, to really let it sink in, but I couldn’t let it alone – I couldn’t wait to see what she’d say next, so I made myself keep at least to just one chapter a day so the ideas didn’t get too muddled. I’ll write a review of it sometime soon and post it here.
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A productive day! I’ve started reading and making notes on Walt Whitman’s essays, via my iPod Touch. I typed up and did a rough edit of an article I’m working on. Spent 25 minutes on the 2nd Whitman song in which I managed to iron out all its rhythmic niggles. Balanced my petty cash. And right now I’m installing the Pro Tools Snow Leopard upgrade so the MBox will be installed so I can set up Hyperscribe to allow me to improvise directly from the piano into Finale. Not bad!
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It’s a book on creativity by Twyla Tharp and I’m finding it very interesting – so many creativity books are written from a writer’s perspective so it’s great to see one coming from the point of view of a performing artist. Looking forward to chapter two!
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Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life which I’ve been salivating over on Amazon for quite some time, and which has made it to my house at long last thanks to an Amazon gift voucher Christmas present from a lovely friend (also Wii Fit Plus which I can’t wait to go on once the wretched sprained ankle is fixed!). First thoughts: Ooh, nice typography!
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No, not literally! The latest issue of Creative Review is dedicated to creative workspaces, which is something that fascinates me, so indulged and have subsequently consumed. Mmmm.
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It’s been a while since I’ve just randomly read a book but since loading an e-book reader on the iPod Touch it’s so easy to have books with me that I’ve got quite a lot of reading done. So I’ve just finished Frank L. Baum’s The Emerald City of Oz. I always loved the Oz books as a child and while the writing’s a little on the simplistic side, they’re hard to beat for sheer innocent imaginative storytelling. And now I’ve started on John Buchan’s The 39 Steps which I’ve seen many, many times but never read.
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