Ducks & Drake

Just released for the holiday season.  This is what I am referring to as a fantasia, a bit of a romp around a musical idea, or in this case, more from an inspirational event, in the form of some ducks in a pond.

Last week I picked up a guitar that I have been ignoring for a while, my La Patrie nylon concert acoustic and tuned it to itself and started improvising.  The guitar usually sounds of a different personality from the daily driver I play, a Yamaha NTX, which has a bit of a parlor guitar sound, when it is not amplified.  I hit on some chord progressions that put me very much in mind of the sound of the great Nick Drake.  I love his music, the warm natural sounds that come with stringed instruments playing with other stringed instruments.

Turns out that I had tuned the guitar a half step down from standard but that made it sound so new to me.  I just played for a while and ended up with what I thought was some fun and interesting musical ideas .  I had enough there that I thought I should build a piece on it.

Lately, especially in the mornings, I can hear the ducks down the road in my neighbors pond.  They talk a lot and always sound like they are laughing, maybe telling jokes or busting on each other, or passer's by.  They make me pretty happy.  Their pond was dry for a lot of the summer and Fall this year and they got jailed in a pen to keep them from leaving for wetter territories.  They usually stay here year round.  They didn't sound as happy while the pond was dry, understandable.

Some how the idea of Nick Drake, and ducks and drakes kind of seemed like a good foundation for a new musical piece.

At first I added piano with the idea of creating a fuller sounding seasonal offering, but the piano line soon took over, and with inspiration from Vince Giraldi and Liz Story, and George Winston, and even Bruce Hornsby.  I wouldn't expect anybody else to hear them in this piece but I know I was trying to channel all the great music I have enjoyed from them into what I could awkwardly pound out of the keys.

This time of year used to be very challenging for me what with the short daylight hours and the cold, and more cold to come, but eventually I got to recognize the cheery reality that the Solstice means the sun is on it's way back to the north, back to us here, bringing with it all the promises of Spring and Summer and renewal.  Besides, snow looks so lovely.

When I started teaching myself to play guitar I chose to begin in the DADGAD tuning, for a few reasons.  One, I couldn't make the shapes with my fingers of most of the chords in standard tuning.  Even bar chords where hard, my fingers are made up if digits, not bars.  In this alternate tuning I could play fewer strings and still make sounds that really pleased me.  Secondly, I wanted to compose my own songs rather than play poor covers of songs I knew and loved.  Hearing myself play a cover badly was more discouraging than inspiring to become a better player.  I think I liked the instant gratification of making up a phrase, or entire piece, using fewer strings, and not having it judged against the original, or against people who are technical wizards on the instrument.

Turns out that this inspired me to play often, I mean a lot, I mean all the time, I mean ALL THE TIME! I composed and played and got some facility in my hands.  After a few years and some gained confidence that comes from creating music that I liked, I tuned up to standard and tried to learn the way most people do.

Piano is a bit of a similar story for me.  It is my first favorite musical friend.  I have spent countless hours improvising on about 2 or 3 themes, over decades.  It was enough to keep my interest, but not really enough to play for others.  Eventually simply because of time playing I got better, even played for others occasionally.

This song, this seasonal offering, this celebration of the brightness of the sun on snow, and a half frozen pond and some ducks, can be heard on Youtube, at Bandcamp and on Soundcloud, (links below).  Peace and Happy Solstice and New Year (soon)

BoatShopMusicStudio, Youtube

R A Maldonado on Youtube

richardamaldonado.bandcamp.com/track/ducks-drake

soundcloud.com/ramaldonadobsms-4986569/ducks-and-drake

The actual ducks that inspired the piece are in the artwork. 

artwork, R A Maldonado

original photo image, Elizabeth M Rodgers

The T.O.

(the Titanic Orchestra) 

Above: The brave members of the Titanic orchestra (Top row L-R: Clarke, Taylor. Middle row L-R: Krins, Hartley, Brailey. Bottom row L-R: Hume, Woodward), from The Illustrated London News, May 1912. Bricoux is not shown.

Titanic Musicians

Theodore Ronald Brailey – Pianist (aged 24)

Roger Marie Bricoux – Cellist (aged 20)

John Frederick Preston Clarke – Bassist (aged 30)

Wallace Hartley – Bandmaster, Violinist (aged 33)

John Law Hume – Violinist (aged 21)

Georges Alexandre Krins – Violinist (aged 23)

Percy Cornelius Taylor – Cellist (aged 32)

John Wesley Woodward – Cellist (aged 32)

    Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. -Lawrence Beesley, Titanic survivor

100% – the number of these musicians who perished. Showing great courage, and looking to soothe the nerves of others, all 8 are believed to have continued playing as the crew loaded the lifeboats.

1 shilling – the monthly salary of a Titanic band member.

352 – the number of songs contained within a book of music given out to First Class passengers. The musicians were expected to know them all, in case passengers made requests.

*All data for this topic was gathered from only one source, and thusly has not been verified, but it does serve the intentions of my use of it here.  https://titanicfacts.net/titanic-orchestra/

I think that given the reality of the situation only a few options seem worth considering.  After having given it some consideration, about a decade of mindful consideration, I came to the position that the example set by this small group of musicians would be a good model for how I might proceed as I come face to face with what we have sown, and what we are in the midst of.  So onward I go, trying to provoke smiles, and lightness of heart.  Yesterday I watched a grown woman dancing thru a farmer's market to my music and giving me a big thumbs up, smile beaming from her face.  I saw little kids, nervously approach my guitar case and drop in a dollar that their mother's had provided, make eye contact with me, and then scamper off with a grin.

    What else is there to do, given the reality of the situation?

From: https://guymcpherson.com/only-love-remains/

After all, as I’ve known for a long time, birth is lethal. Nobody gets out alive, a notion that applies to cultures and species as well as individuals. My perceived lack of empathy led some to conclude I was a sociopath. Or a psychopath. My two-sizes-too-small brain can’t customarily distinguish the two. Those insulting me cannot distinguish between sociopathy and psychopathy, either.

Long familiar with his talent as a guitarist, I didn’t think the words of Jimi Hendrix applied to my world: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Recently I’ve begun to question my earlier sentiments.

    I suppose if I ever had a band I might have called it "The STO" the acronym for "The Sinking of the Titanic Orchestra".

I'll keep playing as long as it's fun, and then I might do an encore.

Peace

An excerpt from "The Moonflower Waltz"

 Another Thursday at the Farmer's Market.  Really nice day today.  It's really fun to get people saying how much they like the lyrics to the songs and my singing.  Well, as long as it's fun, right.  

Michael Evans and Susan Hefner at Mudlark, 2013
https://youtu.be/TiUCMmo_Df0

    

 It's been a year and a day since we lost a lovely spirit, musician, chef, and a mentor...  My time with him was quite brief, if you add up all the minutes, but his words and actions and manner are a part of my life to this very day, to this very moment.

    Some people are jus fearless in the way they go at art.  He was one of those people.  There is a bravery in his creation, and thus his life, that I have never been able to rise to, though I have been trying all my life.  Maybe that is the key, I have been trying to be brave in life and art, and he just was.

    He gave me some of the best advice about performing my music.   His words now always come into my mind and then are followed by the voice of Bob Dylan, echoing the sentiment but with a different phrase.

    As with most thoughts, ideas, theories, philosophies, I have to digest the words and then regurgitate them in my own unique way.  I suppose that is actually part of what I got from "The Bob" and from Michael.

    I have to know my song well before I sing it(B. Dylan), I am only nervous playing my music for others if I don't know it well enough(M. Evans), Ya got to give yourself the shivers before you can give'm to someone else(J. Cragie), I need to own my music (Various voices).

    I think that Michael's impact and music still vibrates thru the universe.  I feel it. ☮

Festival Mode! 

Back in the social mode, with the music.  It's been a while.  The time away was well spent.  I feel so much more ownership of my songs and the playing of them.  Sometimes ya just need time.

    Seemingly, as easy as just doing it, I am performing regularly, twice a week.  They say half the battle is just showing up.  In this case it seems to have been more than half.

    Well I am trying to do more than just show up.  I guess I am trying to step up.  The Vanagon is on the road now and set up for regular performing.  We have the extendable awning to cover our spot, provide a little shelter from the sun and rain, but not too much.  I had a graphic magnate made for the side of the van, it's from the album cover of "Summer Sessions".  I think this makes sense as this project is a bit of an endless summer adventure.  The van goes in full festival mode on Sundays at the Haverstraw Market.  From my seat their in the doorway I can gaze out at the sky and clouds and just be with the music until I come back down to meet the eyes of the generous listeners and passers by as we give each other nods of approval.  People have been truly lovely and kind.

    The amp rig is now solar powered!🌞. We've got plenty of energy in the little power station to last thru the markets and it is constantly recharging.  It's works so well that it is hard to figure out why it hadn't happened sooner, or why we hadn't used this kind of system for other things.  Our rig is made by Westinghouse and we bought it thru Lowe's.  

    Sticking with my "nano music" career attitude, I am playing at the Nyack Farmer's market before any of the normally booked musicians.  That's early, when the market opens, or close to it, and no true musicians want to be awake at that time, let alone, be playing a gig.  So I take what others do not want.  it leaves more for them.  In this case, a fee, and I get the freedom to play for as much as I want for the 3 hours before the real talent shows up.

    On Sundays at the market in Haverstraw, which is just barely able to be called a market, though it has been happening for TWO decades, maybe more, there is just the one farmer's stand, and me, so far.  It's very low key and it's kind of like doing my regular Sunday thing, but out in public.  Over the past few years I have tried to play on Sundays as if I was performing, though it was just me and the chipmunks and birds, and trees.  That time allowed me to develop some skills, or at least kept me from forgetting how to play in front of people.  The rest of the week I played just for me, informally or worked on songs.  

    So far I have had a friend show up and hang out with me.  Coffee and muffins, or breakfast burittos from the farmer (mmmmmm!) and just play music.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the reception from all the local people.  My music is mine, and it seems far from the music of the local culture, but even so people seem to get a smile when they pass by.  Maybe it's just the van, it is pretty great looking.

    I am pretty content with this situation.  I get to play my music for others and watch it's affect on them, without all the pressures that can come with some gigs.  These two markets feel like my neighborhood, familiar, safe.  I think that a degree of pressure or nervousness can be good for a performer, but I know that for myself that bar is very low and to much of it is really destructive.  This is supposed to be fun or why would I be doing it, right?

    My friend commented that my guitar strings seemed tired, that I could use new strings.  I have grown used to them.  I generally don't change them til they break.  This time when one string broke, I changed the whole set, my friends comment in my head, and the result was like getting a different instrument.  I need to store that away in the brain for future reference.

    I hope that I will post here a bit more often now that I am playing out again.  I still have not done the work needed to be able to publish the two albums worth of music that I've had compiled since before the pandemic, and I have a few new songs as well, so there maybe things to think and write about.

Until then, Peace.

The January wolf moon.  I lifted this shot from Pintrest.

 "There's a full moon shining, on a January night,

Reflecting the sun, while we're hidden from it's light,

and I'm being followed, everywhere I go,

By moon shadows laid out on untouched snow"

"Casting Shadows" 

https://richardamaldonado.bandcamp.com/track/casting-shadows-a-song-for-gretel

    It snowed a few days ago, so I got to live out one of my songs as well as sing it to honor the occasion.  The "wolf moon" hung low and orange as it cleared the ridge.  The song "Casting Shadows" is a song of gratitude for being.  That's what I felt, gratitude, as I stood in the single digit temps, the fading light, looking east.

A Nano-career as a professional musician, singer-songwriter.

 Which is smaller micro or nano?
A nanometer (nm) is 1,000 times smaller than a micrometer. It is equal to 1/1,000,000,000th or one-billionth of a meter. When things are this small, you can't see them with your eyes, or a light microscope.

(you may have to use your heart)

From this moment in time, considering the larger realities of the world, I find myself inclined to think about my so called career in music and performance in the past tense.  It's not that I wouldn't like to continue on the path I began, but that path really doesn't seem visible to me.

"Geared up with hiking boots, a back pack, a walking stick I come to the edge of the land. I look out, look left, then right and see only sand and sea.  I left the forest a year ago now, or almost, and haven't seen a tree or any other thing that might be used as a boat or raft.  I can't continue on the heading I have chosen.  A way forward is invisible to me. Way out over the water are dark clouds and lightning that make even the ridiculous idea of trying to swim toward my goal, unthinkable."

 Maybe it was a small career in music, very small, micro, no even smaller, a nano career in music.  You might think that thinking of my "career" in music in the past tense would be painful, but I tell you it is definitely not, in fact, maybe it's better this way.

I a very short time, I feel that I have accomplished a lot, or at least that I have done what I set out to do and so much more than I dared imagine possible from me.

I set out to learn about music, not to master an instrument, but to become versed and skilled enough to enjoy expressing myself with it, and to create music, the music that I felt was inside of me.

That is a pretty vague requirement.  It could have been learning to play "Twinkle, Twinkle little Star".  It also could have been playing and creating something that would resonate around the globe and over time.  I did not require that my experiment with music be affirmed by anybody else other than myself.

I have enthusiastically appreciated music for as long as I can remember.  I have been in awe of those who created and performed it.  It has accompanied me even when I was alone and far from a radio or recording.  When I could not hear a human caused bit of music I listened to the music of the earth and universe as it spun, and hummed along, or let it lull me to sleep.

Why my Nano-career satisfies me.

First,

    For a few years I was payed to play for people, and during that time I have never publicly played a song that I hadn't created myself.  I was asked to play my songs for others.

Second,

I made an album and a few people bought it, but only a few.  I made that album because a couple of people asked me for it.

Third,

I have had the privilege of affecting people in a direct and positive way.  I have watched people who were in a hurry, slow down for a moment and listen to my song.  I have been told by people that I have changed them, with my song, from a dark mood to a happy one.  I have made children want to connect with me, but really, I believe, with live music.

    My career may have been very small, on a nano scale, and been short, a few years, and reached only a small number of ears, but it accomplished all it was suppose to and more.  I have gained so much from this short, small adventure.  I have gained things that I did not know were there to be sought.  What more can somebody ask for.

In truth, I will go on.  I have many songs that have not been released to the public, and I have ideas for songs that I have not yet created.  I have curiosity and enthusiasm for playing more, and often and taking music down avenues new to me.

I listen to my own music, not all the time, but often.  I eat the food I make and it makes me happy.  I sail the boats I built and enjoy them.  I live in the house that I have worked with my own hands and tools and it gives me great comfort.  Why should I not enjoy the music I make, not just in the making of it but also listening to it?

I have heard some actors say that they never watch themselves on screen.  If it's true, I find that sad.  If they can't find some joy in watching their own work then why should we?  Learning to accept my shortcomings, as well as my strengths, being happy with who I am is something that performing music has taught me, and that is a lesson I can use all my life.  I've learned, not to take it all so seriously, laugh at myself, not just with myself.  It' OK.

I want to thank all of those people who have taken a moment and listened, especially those who had a kind word or smile or a thumbs up, or even a coin tossed into my case.  You gave me something I never dreamed would be for me.  I hope that the songs were an equitable exchange for you.  I definitely think I got the better deal of it. 💗☮️🎵