Monday, January 6, 2020

2020 Projects/Goals

An-other year means an-other post detailing how well (or how poorly) I did on my musical goals from last year and what my goals for the present year are.

2019 Projects/Goals


 Scales
I'm going to continue in my cycle of scales.  I stick with one scale for five days, practicing it on piano, bass, guitar in open D tuning, mandolin, and guitar in standard tuning.  I follow the order of the scales in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and every time I complete a cycle, I move up a fret on the stringed instruments (save for mandolin).
Somewhere along the way, I jettisoned moving up a fret.  In early/mid October, I shuffled the premise a bit:  instead of having the schedule dictated by instruments, it's now dictated by the scale.  Every week, I move on to the next scale and play it on whatever instrument I happen to pick up.  This saves me from having to catch up four or five days at a time.

Lyres, Harps, and Cymbals
I'm going to continue with the schedule I've been doing for two years:  a recording of a hymn tune on Sunday (I've been going through The Lutheran Hymnal, although I occasionally skip a tune, and recently, I started doing all four voices [played on two mandolins, guitar, and bass] rather than just three), a post tracing the Biblical sources of a hymn on Wednesday, and a post about a musicological feature (usually just a small point) on Friday.
I did this, although in June I took a hiatus from recording hymn tunes because I travelled to two weddings.  In July, I also started re-posting commentary on Handel's Messiah that I originally wrote on this blog.

Cover Projects
For the record, here are links to the blogs and what band(s) they cover:
For all of these, I'm going to continue learning parts for the songs, and I'll probably end up writing some posts about various musicological features I notice.  I also have a few specific plans for some projects:

For Beatle Audit, I'm going to listen to one of the Live at the BBC albums every month, alternating between Live at the BBC and On Air - Live at the BBC, Volume 2 and listening to disc one on the 10th and disc two on the 20th.  Since 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road,  I'm going to make a concentrated effort to learn parts from that album.

Since I started House of Four Doors only in March, I haven't done as much work on that project as on the others.  In order to "catch up," I'm going to listen to a Moody Blues album every Tuesday (because the year started on a Tuesday and ends on a Tuesday and because one of the most well-known Moody Blues songs is "Tuesday Afternoon").  I don't yet have all of the Moody Blues albums, but I'm going to cycle through what albums I have:
  • The Magnificent Moodies
  • Days of Future Passed
  • In Search of the Lost Chord
  • On the Threshold of a Dream
  • To Our Children's Children's Children
  • A Question of Balance
  • Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970
  • Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
  • Caught Live + 5
  • Long Distance Voyager
  • Sur la Mer
  • Keys of the Kingdom
In the event that I acquire more Moody Blues albums during the year, I'll include those in the cycle.

This isn't so much of a concrete plan, but I'd also like to listen to the Zombies' Into the Afterlife with some regularity since most of the songs on that compilation were recorded in 1968 and 1969.
Aside from listening to Into the Afterlife regularly (I listened to it four times in January and twice in October, and I think most if not all of these markt 50th anniversaries of releases of certain tracks that appear on the album), I did all of these.  I learned parts for Abbey Road and now know at least a little bit of each track (although, admittedly, what I know of "Her Majesty" probably isn't very accurate).

In November, I started yet an-other of these projects, this one focusing on Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band (although, as I explained in the introduction, I have only seven albums for the project).

FAWM and 50/90
I'm going to attempt both of these again.  I'd had the notion to use only piano and flute for FAWM in an attempt to get better at those instruments, but I think I'll have a better chance at completing the projects if I don't put any restrictions on them.
I completed FAWM (although only five songs turned out very well), but 50/90 was something of a disaster.  I ran out of ideas and motivation at the end of July and wrote only eight songs, only two of which (maybe three and possibly four) are any good.

Classical Music Queue
I'm starting up the Classical Music Queue again.  Whenever I hear a classical piece mentioned, I add it to a list, and then I listen to the pieces one a day.  I still have three years' worth of pieces to listen to, so there's no chance I'll get caught up during the year, but I'll make some progress, at least.
I did this from January to February.  I gave up in March, but then, feeling inadequate and thinking that familiarity with classical music would help (?), I started it again in July and kept to it until the end of the year, so this was mostly a success.

Bach Cantatas
Since March (specifically since Bach's birthday on the 21st), I've been listening to a Bach cantata every Saturday, going in order by BWV number.  I'm going to continue that throughout the year, going from BWV 43 to BWV 95 (some cantatas aren't included in that range; I have a box set of the sacred cantatas only).  Occasionally, I print out the scores (from IMSLP) and write notes about the music or Biblical references with plans to write about the cantatas on Lyres, Harps, and Cymbals at some point in the distant future.
I kept to this schedule, and I did write some notes.  Sometimes, when a Bach cantata was a CMQ piece, I followed along in the notation (if I had it printed out) and made a few notes then too.

 Nord Electro 5D
This is probably my most boring goal, but it's also the most essential:  I want to have earned enough money by the end of the year to be able to pay off my keyboard.  I'm still technically unemployed, but I make some money by transcribing receipts over the internet.  Lately, the availability of work has been more capricious than ever, and the work itself is becoming a drag, so I want to be rid of it as soon as possible.
In the event that I do have enough to pay off my keyboard, I'm going to start saving for a clarinet, which I'd like to get before February 2021.  I'm constantly thinking of more instruments I want to get, but clarinet is at the top of my list, followed by a Moog synthesizer and then a violin.
I achieved this by June, and since then I've been saving for a clarinet.  In early July, I got an alto recorder and a glockenspiel (but I bought them by redeeming gift cards, not spending money).  My "job" of receipt transcription abruptly ended in August when the receipts to be transcribed suddenly vanished, so since then I've been scraping together funds by doing online surveys and other such menial tasks.

Piano Practice
Every time I see something about piano, I'm going to practice for eight minutes (8 minutes because 88 keys).  I'm putting some restrictions on this, though:  I'm not going to practice at nighttime, and I'm not going to count online posts from piano companies and that sort of thing.
I did this in January, but I took a break in February, reasoning that I'd be practicing enough as I write and record parts for FAWM.  I think I did it a couple times in March, but I guess after that I wasn't really paying attention.  I'm not that concerned about it though, because I've practiced daily since the end of October.

1,000 Parts
This might be a bit too ambitious, but I want to try to figure out 1,000 parts this year (it averages to less than three a day!).  Maybe "bits of parts" is a more accurate wording of my goal.  In 2017, I figured out a part (or a bit of a part) every day, with a total of around 860.  In 2018, I purposely didn't figure out a part every day (I didn't want the pressure of trying to continue my streak), but I still figured out around 720.
Part of this goal includes learning a bit of any song I happened to run across a reference to, provided I have it in my collection.  Already, I've had to venture into the dustier corners of my music library and learn some parts to songs that were mentioned in clues on Jeopardy!  I'm still not exactly sure what I'm doing to do in the event that I run across a reference to a song for which I already know a part.  That's happened twice already; for one song, I learned a bit of a second part, but I don't intend to do that for the second song.  I'm also exempting the Beatles songs I read about in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (which I aim to finish reading by the end of the month); I'm already trying to figure out parts for all of those, and I don't need the extra pressure from this project.
I actually did this.  I learned 1,020 parts (or bits of parts), but I sort of cheated on three.  I figured out the chords for the Yardbirds' "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl" in August, but when I finally got around to writing them down a month or two later, I discovered that I'd already figured them out in December 2017.  I figured out the guitar phrase at the beginning of Les Paul & Mary Ford's "Mockin' Bird Hill" on 18 July, but by the time I finally went to write it down, I'd forgotten it, so I re-learned it on 22 August.  I learned half of the bass part for the Monkees' "The Day We Fall in Love" on 30 September, and then I learned the rest of it on 16 November.  It's only one part, but because I learned it in halves on two different days, it's counted twice.  As it stands now, there are fourteen parts I learned that I haven't either written down or filmed, so I may have forgotten some of those too.

I did fairly well with figuring out parts to songs I heard mentioned; there are only nine that I didn't get around to.  I failed to note this in my original post, but I also wanted to figure out parts to the albums I listened to, as a sort of toll.  I didn't always do that, but I usually did.  (I was pretty lax on the live albums.)

Other Things from 2019 to Mention


I added ten albums to the list of albums for which I know at least a little bit of every song:
  1. The Monkees - More of the Monkees
  2. Sam Cooke - The Best of Sam Cooke [not counting bonus tracks]
  3. The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
  4. The Beatles - Abbey Road
  5. Electric Light Orchestra - On the Third Day
  6. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - Hi, We're the Miracles
  7. The Mamas & the Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
  8. The Drifters - All-Time Greatest Hits
  9. The Drifters - An Introduction to the Drifters
  10. The Moody Blues - Caught Live + 5 (albeit only the + 5 part)
I didn't know any parts for Hi, We're the Miracles when the year started.

In September, I started a project/blog dedicated to the Hohner Pianet.  In some ways, it's a reason for me to maintain and develop my keyboard skills.  My main goal with the project is simply to record pieces with the Hohner Pianet sample on my Nord Electro 5, sort of as an extension of the first side of the Pianet demonstration record.  Including a Telemann minuet I recorded back in March (before I even started the project), I've done seven (one is yet to be posted).

2020 Projects/Goals


Many of these are just repeats from last year.

Scales

Carrying on from October, I have a designated scale each week (it's Bb major this week) that I play on whatever instrument I start playing (provided I can play the instrument well enough to be able to play scales).

Lyres, Harps, and Cymbals

I'm going to stick to the schedule I have going now - a recording of a hymn tune on Sunday, a re-post of old comments on sacred classical music on Monday (I should finish Handel's Messiah this year, and then I'll move on to Saint-Säens' Christmas Oratorio), a post tracing the Biblical sources of a hymn on Wednesday, and a post commenting on a (usually small) point in a hymn on Friday.

Cover Projects

Here's the updated list and what band(s) the projects cover:
I have a few old notes I need to get around to writing about (some as old as 2018), but my only quantifiable goal is to learn a part (or a bit of a part) to every song on Manfred Mann's As Is.  I got the album in late October and immediately loved it (which I suppose is part of the reason I started the Manfred Mann cover project).  There are twelve songs, so it works out to one song a month.  I already figured out a few bits in "Trouble and Tea," including the alto recorder part (so getting an alto recorder in July was worth it).

Because it's 2020, I'm going to listen to the Beach Boys' 20/20 on the 20th day of the month, but only from January to June and excepting February.  I'm hoping that this will give me more time and motivation to work on FAWM (in February) and 50/90 (from July to September).  I do NaNoWriMo in November, and December is usually busy with holiday things, so it doesn't seem worth it to pick it up again for those months (or October).

FAWM and 50/90

When I set goals about using specific instruments for these projects, they usually don't end up going very well, but I would like to use trombone more, especially in FAWM.  I have a cousin who's in a band that uses brass instruments, and they're releasing a single on 31 January, so I'm sure that at least at the beginning of FAWM, I'll feel something along the lines of "he's in a band with brass, so I should be able to use my trombone again!"

As a general comment:  I've noticed that since I got my Nord Electro 5, I haven't been as particular as I used to be about using sampled sounds.  I always felt that that was cheating a bit, but the mellotron sounds especially have changed my thinking.

Bach Cantatas

I'm going to continue listening to a Bach cantata every Saturday and occasionally print out the notation and take notes.  This year, it'll be BWV 96 to BWV 150, but the box set I have doesn't include BWV 118, 141, or 142.

Clarinet

I've been saving up for a clarinet since June, and according to my spreadsheet, I'm about 78% of the way there.  As I mentioned a year ago, I want to have one by February 2021, but because I'm wary of shipping in the wintertime, my goal is to have it by October.

The other instrument I'd like to get this year is the Hammond XPK-130G - a bass pedal unit to use with my keyboard.  The music store that I got my Nord Electro 5 from also offers a financing deal on the XPK, and - after I get a clarinet - my plan is to save half of my money for the bass pedals and half of my money for a college education.

I never liked the university I graduated from, and over the past few years, that dislike has swelled to disgust and loathing.  I transferred universities in a moment of desperation so I wouldn't have to live in a dorm anymore, but this turned out to be the worst mistake of my life.  Among other failings, the university I graduated from was two steps backwards academically, and part of me feels that had I stayed where I was, I would be much better off now (at least I would have a quality education, and I wouldn't be embarrassed and ashamed by the university I graduated from).  I've been unemployed since I graduated almost six years ago, and I've been rejected for every job I've applied for.  Now, I desperately want to go back to university to overwrite my stupid and useless degree, but I don't know if I'll have the courage, mental capacity, or the finances to be able to do it within a year.

At the end of 2018, I applied to and was accepted by a different university from the same university system as the one I originally attended, but I had to decline because I couldn't even afford the tuition deposit.  One of my goals is to have at least that amount by the end of the year, whether I apply or not.  I'm going to get a good college education or die trying.  In the meantime - because no one wants to hire me - I do these music projects.


As I noted above, I started a project/blog dedicated to the Hohner Pianet in September.  So far, it's mostly been recordings I made with the Pianet sample on my Nord Electro 5.  In August, I got a book of excerpts from Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena, and in practicing and learning those, I've become a better keyboard player (although I'm still not as good as I want to be).  I'd like to continue learning and recording those, along with some other pieces (I've done a couple from James Bastien's The Older Beginner Piano Course Level 2, and I'm currently working on a Gavotte by Handel).

I'd like to work more on the other aspects I mentioned in my introduction:  "showcas[ing] Pianet parts from other songs, like the Lovin' Spoonful's 'Summer in the City,' the Buckinghams' 'Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song),' and the Beatles' 'Tell Me What You See'" and "transcrib[ing] and translat[ing] the text from the demonstration record."  I have a start, at least:  I made a video on "Tell Me What You See" that I plan on posting this week, and I have one section of the text from the demonstration record transcribed and (mostly) translated.

Haydn

Partially because there's an excerpt from his F major sonata (Hob. XVI:23) on the Hohner Pianet demonstration record, I listened to a fair bit of Haydn last year.  I have a CD of three keyboard concerti (Nos. 3, 4, and 11) that I'm quite fond of (as far as I know, it's the only recording in my collection that uses pianoforte), and for Easter, I got a 5-CD set of his London symphonies (which I'll admit I didn't listen to until December).  I want to listen to at least one Haydn piece every Thursday (Thursday because it's the only day of the week that has an H).

Summer Breeze

In 2015, in my introduction to Beatle Audit, I wrote, "I started wondering what would happen if I tried regularly listening to an album while also trying to learn all of the parts to it."  I did this for a while with A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale before giving up on that aspect of Beatle Audit, but when I wrote that, I was actually thinking about Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze.  This year, I'm going to do it.  The original idea was to listen to it every week, but I'm changing that.  My goal now is to listen to it on the 10th of every month, but - as with the Beach Boys' 20/20 - only from January to June and excepting February.

Parts

I'm going to continue figuring out parts but not with the fervor of last year.  For the last few years, I've figured out a part for one of my cover projects every time I see an old high school classmate post about his or her creative endeavors, and I'll be continuing that.  I also aim to learn a part to any song I hear mentioned.