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Mermaid Guitar: On your bike
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/05/on-your-bike.html
Me for a day album. Saturday, May 14, 2016. The ubiquitous bike. On your bike. The May tune from Setsu. Is an ode to the Japanese bike, ridden by school kids, office ladies in mini skirts and octogenarians. Not so much a mode of transport as a way of life, a great equalizer of young and old, the dignified and the grungy. I wanted this tune to convey the sense of freedom bestowed a warm May day and your own two wheels. Plus, it rocks. For musical notes check the next post. Text on this blog is CC-BY.
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Mermaid Guitar: Shakuhachi man {musical notes}
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/05/shakuhachi-man-musical-notes.html
Me for a day album. Thursday, May 5, 2016. Shakuhachi man {musical notes}. Ok, some musical notes to accompany my first post about the ideas behind the song. That opens the Setsu album. Musically, the song evolved out of the guitar riff/chords that you hear in this final version only in the opening and final verses. This bit:. Played by these monks, as with pretty much any shakuhachi music, is hardly jaunty: rather it's haunting and melancholy. Hence the lines in the middle 8:. High up on a hill, looking...
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Mermaid Guitar: Temple Garden / Karesansui
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/04/temple-garden.html
Me for a day album. Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Temple Garden / Karesansui. Temple Garden 枯れ山水 (かれさんすい) is the closing tune for the Setsu album, though not the last in my release schedule. It's actually set in March; I'm just late in getting this one out (it now being mid-April). The schoolgirls from Cosuplay. The Yankee Girl from the track of the same name (coming in July - but also referenced in Practice Perfect. Another watcher is the character at the centre of this month's track, the おばあさん (. It's main ...
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Mermaid Guitar: Practice Perfect
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/02/practice-perfect.html
Me for a day album. Saturday, February 20, 2016. I went to my first one, after school on a blisteringly hot August afternoon. We did various drills, passing, dribbling, etc. This went on for about an hour-and-a-half. I, having come from a Southern Hemisphere winter and just generally out-of-shape, was thankful for the Mugi-cha. I stuck it out in the heat and was pretty glad when we finished. When is the next practice, I inquired? I didn't make it back for another practice. Text on this blog is CC-BY.
mermaidguitar.blogspot.com
Mermaid Guitar: Practice Perfect {musical notes}
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/03/practice-perfect-musical-notes.html
Me for a day album. Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Practice Perfect {musical notes}. Here's an early version (without drums but including mistakes) in 4-4 time. The effect is quite different. Also of interest, to those paying close attention throughout the Setsu tracks. Is this motif that appears in several tracks. These chords are the main riff in the November track Harvest. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Text on this blog is CC-BY. Music is hosted elsewhere @.
mermaidguitar.blogspot.com
Mermaid Guitar: On your bike {musical notes}
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/05/on-your-bike-musical-notes.html
Me for a day album. Thursday, May 19, 2016. On your bike {musical notes}. Yes, a video! Guitar riff from On your bike. The riff is another incarnation of one of the musical themes across Setsu, where this or a similar ascending 3-chord riff is heard on Harvest. In an E7-chord shape, rather than the A7-chord formation above); but the riff appears even more similarly on the June track (coming up), except in a minor-key guise. Here, in On your bike. I get up on a Monday: gotta get off to school. ね—母さん...
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Mermaid Guitar
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2015/09/so-like-i-said-in-my-first-post-on-this.html
Me for a day album. Monday, September 21, 2015. So, like I said in my first post on this. Life in Japan is all about rhythms. I love this photo, which I came across while looking for an image that suited the salaryman returning home in my tune. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Text on this blog is CC-BY. Music is hosted elsewhere @. Mermaidguitar@gmail Attribution: Text=CC-BY Music CC-BY-SA Artwork (c) Catriona McKillop. Picture Window theme. Powered by Blogger.
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Mermaid Guitar
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2015/09/setsu.html
Me for a day album. Thursday, September 17, 2015. I lived in Japan for seven-and-a-half years. My new album, Setsu /. Is a tribute to the country and the friends I made there. Anyone who has lived in Japan any longer than a tourist will be bemused by Japanese friends' and co-workers' constant talk of the changing of the seasons (kisetsu / 季節. Is an attempt to capture this spirit: twelve stories in twelve months told by twelve characters. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Text on this blog is CC-BY.
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Mermaid Guitar: Bizen-yaki
http://mermaidguitar.blogspot.com/2016/03/bizen-yaki.html
Me for a day album. Friday, March 4, 2016. Once I was lucky enough to visit the house of a potter, one who made bizen-yaki. This was, in part, the inspiration for the story in Practice Perfect. Brownness is it's main characteristic. But like many things that first seem plain to a foreigner in Japan - what with our being used to gaudy brashness - the subtlety of bizen-yaki grows on you after a while. This potter had this massive kiln, something like this one:. Next post: musical notes on Practice Perfect.
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