Auld Lang Syne 2020 — on the Kite Guitar

All this year, I've had a note on my task list to write about how I've been continuing lessons with video chat (so far sticking to the free/libre/open tool Jitsi Meet instead of Zoom or other proprietary options). I have a lot I could (and will later) say about this whole situation. It's been working out surprisingly well, continuing with most of my students and adding new students who are local, out of state, and even overseas.

Of the many reasons I haven't gotten around to writing articles about video lessons, one issue is the time and energy I've been putting into the Kite Guitar! This new system of guitar fretting and tuning fulfills a dream I've had for 20 years to be able to play more harmonious chords and expressive melodies in a flexible-enough, practical way. I will be publishing much more about that soon.

In honor of the New Year (and played extra slowly so that astute listeners might notice the special qualities of the tuning):

I'm resisting the urge to go on about the guitar, the tuning, the arrangement, my process of updated video production (using all free/libre/open software), and more. It will all come in due time. Looking forward to a productive and prosperous 2021, and sending my love and well-wishes to everyone in the world! Happy New Year!

I Finally Wrote Another Song

Summer 2018. A couple years into fatherhood. Still holding onto all sorts of creative dreams but making little progress. I was juggling compulsions, goals, responsibilities, thoughts, worries…

I was getting into mindfulness meditation. I dabbled in meditation since childhood, but I had not previously made it a routine practice. Meditation now is among a slew of efforts toward getting my routines and life in better order.

One day in August (2018), I took a break from some chores. I put on some random music. I heard some singer-songwriter stuff I liked well enough. I felt inspired (and perhaps also looking for an outlet to procrastinate and push away some stress).

I picked up my guitar, and a new song came out. It was just a bunch of thoughts that had been on my mind. Thoughts about my relationships, my compulsions, my procrastination. I recorded a better take a couple days later. Now, in early 2020, I'm finally posting it:

My Tribute to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Fred Rogers photo by Robert Lerner

In this article, I describe my recently renewed appreciation of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In particular, the artistic intentions and the marvelous music.

Raising kids in today's media reality

I wish for everyone in the world to know and embrace love, compassion, curiosity, creativity, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and so on. Of course, it takes regular investment to maintain and strengthen such things in my own life. And as one person, I only have so much influence and only so much capacity to support others. I do what I can with my students. And as a father, I bring these concerns to raising my now two-year-old son.
An enormous threat to these values happens to dominate today's media: manipulative advertising. For perspectives, see my older post: I hate advertising, and check out the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Putting ads themselves aside (ideally blocked by a good adblocker), our ad-driven economy creates a race-to-the-bottom toward whatever spectacles or addictive designs get the most attention. It brings us enormous quantities of unhealthy, annoying, hyper, and dumbed down works. In the worst cases, we get the deeply traumatizing perils of YouTube's "kids" videos…

My new Strum & Sing group class

Over my career, I've taught a variety of group classes covering a range of topics from general blues-rock/jam to classical ensembles to music-theory-and-cognition. Most of my students were school-age kids.

Now, I'm starting a new adult-focused (but younger students welcome too) beginning Strum & Sing class. Here's the flyer:

A new, more flexible approach to beginning guitar

The focus of the class will be students keeping a good rhythm while playing simple chord progressions and singing songs. Depending on each student's preference, any option that works will be fine including power chords, single-note bass-lines, small bits of chords, open-tuned bar or slide chords, various strummable instruments, or even muted percussion strumming. This addresses one of the biggest challenges of a group class: how to work with both absolute beginners and more experienced students playing together.

Unlike the way most teachers do this, I'm going to focus on the flexibility of some basic music theory contexts. We'll learn songs using common letter counting such as 1, 4, 5 which could be A, D, E or C, F, G, and so on.

The main emphasis: that there's no one right way to play any song. We can adapt and adjust to fit what works for our level and context. So, we'll explore multiple approaches so that each student can find a comfortable way to fit with the group and learn to be flexible musicians going forward.

For those in Portland, contact me if interested in joining the class. For consideration of the pros and cons of classes versus private lessons (versus other learning approaches like watching online videos etc.), see my old article on comparing learning options.

The rest of this article gets into some initial thoughts about the folk-song / pop-song focus of this new class…

I was a guest on Music Manumit podcast

I was honored to be the recent guest for a podcast called Music Manumit, a show focused on Creative Commons music. Check it out: http://www.musicmanumit.com/2015/10/aaron-wolf-151005-music-manumit-podcast.html

I regret that I didn't specifically name the folks I mentioned in passing. My teacher I referenced was Steve "Oz" Osburn. The barbershop songwriter friend I mentioned who used a Creative Commons license is the wonderfully talented Paul Olguin (who I need to help get his own website up sometime!).

I mentioned also my barbershop arrangement of Copying Is Not Theft. More significantly, this podcast prompted me to finally get more of my old recordings posted. I had some up before, but now I'm finally sharing more thoroughly and specifically updating my old music under CC BY-SA license. For a start, I posted my 15-year-old album, Conspiracies & Racketeering on Archive.org along with some of the source files (MIDI tracks). I hope to post more albums and other backlog of music soon…

I Hate Advertising!

My formative years were especially influenced by MAD Magazine. I started reading in the late 1980's, but I quickly amassed a large collection of back issues and book collections going back to the magazine's start in the 1950's. In fact, my introduction to many cultural icons was through MAD's satire of them before I'd even experienced the original. MAD was full of ingenious political and pop-culture satire but perhaps the primary target was advertising.

MAD even attacked the subtle details of things like the proportions of cereal boxes. Every manipulative detail of the ad-biz was ridiculed and laid bare.

Most substantially, MAD magazine itself had no third-party ads from 1957 through 2001. This practice went against all business assumptions about the publishing industry. They did everything backwards. Cheaper paper, black-and-white, no ads, and they purchased the rights to submitted artwork outright so they could use and reuse it freely. They savagely satirized all of America's consumer culture, ad-biz, and celebrity obsessions. Their interests were aligned solely with the readership.

Guest on the Unformatted podcast with Ryno the Bearded

This past week, I was a guest on a podcast show called Unformatted. The host, Ryno the Bearded, does podcasts dedicated to Creative Commons music, and Unformatted is the looser chat/interview show.

Check out the podcast at http://rynothebearded.com/2014/09/mere-exposure-effect

The show is a bit over two hours long and covers topics including: copyright, music business, economics, participatory vs performance-based music, philosophy of art, barbershop harmony, software freedom, and more. Overall, it's a good casual summary of my whole personal story of my life and career and how I came to my current understanding and feelings on these topics.

Move to Oregon, announcing Snowdrift.coop

Up to now, I've been negligent in updating this site in 2013. Here's the brief explanations and highlights:

After 15 years of teaching in the Ann Arbor, MI area, nearly moving on to various other directions over the years (a time in a touring rock/jazz/jam band that was also a barbershop quartet, an almost move to California for a PhD), I've moved on to a new stage. My wife got a fellowship position through Portland State University and, on unfortunately short notice, we moved 2,300 miles across the country to our new home in Oregon City. We don't know how long-term this is, whether we'll stay in Oregon after this or what.

(UPDATE: We stayed in Oregon! Moved into Portland in August 2014! Future not absolutely certain, but, at this point, we're settling in here.)

I plan to keep teaching and may try video-chat lessons over the internet, although I know that won't be the same and won't work as well for certain sorts of lessons.

Most importantly, this move has allowed me to focus on the major project that has become my main passion over the last year: Snowdrift.coop.

Opportunities vs life circumstances: music vs environment...

I've been through a lot since my last post. I went from being quite certain that I would move across the country to pursue a PhD in Musicology (with a cross-cultural focus) to changing plans and now staying in Ann Arbor while my wife, Samantha, does a MS degree in Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. I won't get into discussing the complex issues of different universities, my general feelings about academia, the issues about the prospects of UofM for me, other alternatives, etc (maybe another time...). Simply put, every opportunity comes in a package with all sorts of issues, pros and cons, open or closed doors, costs, etc. Making decisions about these things is very complex. It is impossible to truly know what unchosen decisions would have brought. Among many other factors, I am sincerely excited for Samantha — and not just for her sake, but because I also find biology and environmental issues fascinating and important.

So now I am continuing to teach private lessons while also considering how else to make the most of the next couple years. I have several projects to pursue. I already have more than a dozen planned blog articles on many subjects. I have an endless reading list. I want to record and compose new music. I ought to get out and perform more, perhaps get together an ensemble with other musicians. I intend to pursue formal publication of some of my academic research. I may take and/or audit various classes. And I just got started working with a programmer friend with the goal of realizing some of my computer-based music theory education ideas. I could even start on finally writing my guitar method (given that I've reviewed over 700 related publications and still haven't found anything quite like what I want), but I think that project may have to wait...

Today I want to share two specific items:

(A) I fully revised my page here: Lessons: Details, Philosophy
The updated page describes much of my attitude as a music teacher and clarifies (I hope) my wacky philosophical title of this site. I had trepidations about trying to explain in a few sentences some philosophical concepts so complex that I'm not sure I fully understand them. But, as Professor Bob Woody replied recently when I commented on his blog, maybe writing controversial or simplistic things might encourage more comments! I have certainly gained more understanding by sharing my thoughts and making them open for criticism than by trying to hold onto my ideas until I think they are flawless (which is never). As that static page doesn't allow comment, please comment here regarding that page.

(B) I thought of a way to be more environmentally responsible in my teaching:

The background: I feel happy and responsible that my wife and I share a single car — and still, it is rarely used. We put much less miles on our shared car than the average single-driver car. This is possible for many reasons, including our decision to run errands by bicycle or foot as much as possible and to avoid other unnecessary driving. But the main reason I drive so little is that I teach out of my home studio most days. The problem is: while this saves me a lot of money, it doesn't actually reduce cost and pollution overall because my students still drive to come to me. Yeah, it's still better than if my students and I both drove to meet at some separate location, but it still isn't an ideal sustainable  arrangement considering environmental and energy costs (and I don't believe in the absurd premise that electric cars or similar can somehow be efficient enough to make sprawling, commuting suburb life sustainable). If my career is to be feasible and responsible in the future, this needs to be addressed.

There is the possibility of online teaching with video conferencing and such, and maybe I'll try that sometime. Online can never be quite the same as in-person lessons, but maybe it really could be a fair compromise in some cases. But I thought of a more immediate solution:

I just need to encourage students to take public transit or bike (or even walk) to lessons. I had hesitated to do this in the past because I know it is hard (though not impossible) to bike with a guitar, but I realize now I just need to have enough various instruments of my own so that students can use one of my guitars in their lessons. Yes, it is better for me to see how they play with their own guitar, but it is more important to encourage students to save money and reduce pollution and waste. I want to live in a world where people are healthy and responsible and bike more, and I'm thrilled to have thought of a way to directly encourage that. I added a note to my official policy and will mention it to my students in the future. I hope it works out for at least some folks!

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Thanks for reading. Check back here (or subscribe via the form to the right) to keep up with future updates. The vast majority of my planned posts are about general insights in music and related things, in contrast to the largely personal nature of this post. Thanks goes out to the numerous folks who helped me in so many ways throughout my grad school application process — I gained a lot of perspective and understanding even though I will not be going back to school yet.

Improvisation on Chapman Stick, thoughts on creativity

When I was young, I was thrilled by each lesson I learned, each discovery I made in the course of my musical development. When I found a new chord I liked or composed a piece of a melody, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I was inspired to flesh out full compositions for each idea.

Eventually, I learned so many forms and tricks that I had far more ideas than time to work on them all. Then something shifted. I realized that I was able to easily come up with an infinite number of ideas and quickly. That awareness made each idea less special, and I was less motivated to develop them. My compositional output dropped, even as I became a more skilled musician.

At a more mature level, motivation comes from deeper purpose. Instead of working on ideas for their own sake, I consider particular goals such as expressing something or teaching a particular concept. Still, being more knowledge of all the possibilities, it is far more time-consuming to realize the ever-more-detailed ideas in my imagination.

I miss the pure, creative drive I used to have. I probably can't return to my childhood experience of seeing almost everything as novel; but I can just decide to sit down and create something with the limited time I have and learn to accept that it won't be perfect.

Here's a product of this effort, an impromptu improvisation on Chapman Stick:

This wasn't the most satisfying achievement, but it feels better to have done it than not. I still hope to find the optimal perspective and situation that will get me back to really enthusiastic inspiration. Perhaps I will find that in collaborative settings, in graduate school or elsewhere... But for now, I intend to keep making music where I am.

Getting old stuff in order still

I've reworked the old content from my previous website to be at least functional finally. While most stuff is now included in this blog, the site has some autobiographical details on my music background, information about my compositions and published recordings, and a good selection of streaming music.

Check it out here: www.wolftune.com/music

Further thoughts & a link on purpose, meaning, motivation

My personal struggles with ethics and purpose are described a couple posts ago:
http://wolftune.blogspot.com/2010/04/massive-blog-post-revalation-on.html

There I described my questions about Kant's categorical imperative and the stress of responsibility I may have had due to the implication that one should be a role model for the world. I decided to let that go.

However, I have not become comfortable with the idea of simply pursuing purely selfish desires. I recently was referred to an excellent video featuring Dan Pink. This particular one happens to be an entertaining and accessible, illustrated version of a talk he has given a few times that is also available in live video such as from TED. The illustrated version is here:

He describes the well-studied, essentially proven fact that external rewards actually reduce achievement for tasks that are anything more than mindlessly mechanical. When people are faced with complex challenges with no obvious solution, they are motivated primarily by three things: A. autonomy, B. desire for mastery, B. purpose (no particular order).

This isn't dramatically new to me, but it always helps to be reminded of things, especially with such clarity. Here's how these relate to my situation:

A. I am autonomous. I'm self-employed. Despite mixed issues with that, I'm very hesitant to give it up to go join some business or academic bureaucracy. I appreciate my autonomy and am definitely motivated by my ability to make of my business whatever I can. I do have desire for collaboration though, and I'm still working to figure out the best decisions in that direction.

B. Desire for mastery: the challenge that music presented is a large part of why I ended up in music. Mathematics and science were interesting but very easy for me as a young student. Being more understanding of mathematics than most of my peers or teachers, I felt unchallenged and had low motivation. Music was an area where I felt just talented enough that I believed it wasn't impossible for me to achieve something but still felt very challenged and humbled. On a side-note, I read that renowned biologist Richard Dawkins claims the reverse: that he had a knack for music and could pick up tunes on any instrument. He liked the music but found it un-motivating and never really pursued it with any seriousness. Science he found more challenging.
Anyway, today I have an issue with this mastery/challenge. I have progressed to the point where I am no longer completed awed by musical skills. I know that if I invest certain levels of time and energy I can achieve things I once found baffling and impossible. I am definitely still challenged. If I decide to pursue a musical skill, I do not find it boring and easy. But I have lost some of the passion I once had now that I know enough about what to do and what it is like to master something.

This brings me to the most important element:
C. Purpose? What purpose does music have? For what purpose am I working at what I do?
In previous posts here I have described music's functions and benefits. Great, that's something, but what purpose do I have in that? I am unconvinced that anyone needs me to make new music in order for those functions and benefits of music to be available to the public. I do realize that my particular students appreciate and gain from my teaching and that's motivating to a certain extent. If I have a student who is happy, well-adjusted, and not especially desperate for the benefits of music but is motivated and interested enough to still work hard... well, it's fun to teach them but it doesn't seem of extreme importance in the grand scheme of things. I don't think of music as clearly superior to most other fields as some musicians seem to believe.
Perhaps music therapy would be worth pursuing. There are other angles I've thought of as well. Perhaps I just need to develop my teaching in a direction that is even more purposeful and focused and promote it as such. Sometimes I think I really should have gone into science or engineering after all, and maybe I still should...

At this point, I don't know all the answers, but it is nice to have an answer as to a framework for thinking about it all. The need for purpose is what drove me to think about Kant's categorical imperative, and maybe if I interpret the imperative as just meaning that everyone should be purposeful and consider the greater public interest in their actions, then maybe I can still hold on to that value without feeling like I'm responsible for anyone besides myself. For now, autonomy and mastery are successfully keeping me going and I'm fulfilling my desire for purpose by putting in time and energy exploring the question.

massive blog post: revelation on morality, welcome to new version of blog

This is the first blog post I've made in over 18 months.

This morning I had a revelation that seems potentially life-changing.