Sometimes I feel like there's more pressure when cooking. If I screw up at the stove somehow, either by getting too far out or burning onions or starting something that it turns out we are missing a crucial ingredient or dumping in too much of something, I feel like it's a bigger deal than when I blow a solo or hit the wrong chord. Unless a botched note is the last note of the show, I can always use the next song to make up for it. Sometimes the next meal has to be made right now. I dunno, maybe I'm feeling this one because I just turned a huge pumpkin into puree, wondering why my wife wanted so much, only to remember, after pureeing it all, that she only wanted a pie's worth of puree and the rest to be cooked as chunks for a different dish, which is why there's a box of fresh basil in the fridge. Now I gotta figure out how to make the dish with puree, not chunks. All a matter of texture, I guess. But I'm sort of feeling like my guitar player moved a tune from D to Eb...
erik On Nov 5, 4:27 pm, Robin Gravina <[email protected]> wrote: > Lots of cooks here > I also have been pretty much the cook for a family for many years, and > although art is involved in cooking and music, we have a time > difference. Cooking is great as it involves taking ingredients and > applying them to a meal using one's instincts and experience. On the > other hand, the actual technical side is not so intense as when > playing: if you can cut well, you can cut well, and if you can sense > when the olive oil is at the right temperature and so on then you can > do a good job. > > I think that this creativity is a great foil for music, where you have > to be so totally under control technically, and where one slip can > mess the whole thing up. If you can get the technique and > then,cook-like, use your creativity knowing that your hands will > follow, then I guess that's the epitome. With cooking you can mess up > and still come out smelling like something worth eating. That's why > music is so hard. > > > > On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:56 PM, Linda <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Having had to cook for a family for more years than I wish to own up > > to...one thing comes up here. We have always been paycheck to > > paycheck people and sometimes over the years the day before > > payday ...arrived and there was nothing obvious in the fridg for > > dinner. So, the cook had to improvise to feed everyone. Some of > > those offerings were a wonderful surprise, as new combinations had to > > be developed to get a feed that did not leave one with the feeling of > > making do or worse yet, doing without. > > This fits with the concept of developing a style that is created out > > of limitations in technique, understandings, etc. > > Making something out of a perceived nothing. There must be a general > > principal of creativity in all that somewhere. > > > Since mainly these days my efforts are put into learning, to get to a > > more complex level, I work mainly on new finger patterns, new chord > > understandings, and understanding a range of rhythms. What suffers > > here, when playing a tune solo and/or playing a lesson tune for the > > mandolin guru (deep and humble bow here), is the polish on a given > > tune, leaving one that awful feeling of "I s..k at this" . Whereas in > > an ensemble or group, the polish is not needed except for a brief solo > > break, a section of tremolos, etc.. So far that polish is missing > > from my playing and I wish its wasn't so. Its too easy to let the > > quality of solos be a source of discouragement. So, for balance, to > > retain the 'feel good' aspect, I find playing any kind of music in an > > ensemble balances that. > > two cents from Tassie. > > > On Nov 6, 7:50 am, Trey Young <[email protected]> wrote: > >> This has been quite the interesting discussion. For myself, I'm > >> definitely not to the point of mastering anything. I have been playing at > >> the mandolin for about 4 years now, the first two years or so playing it > >> as a funny little guitar and only getting serious about it for the last > >> year and a half to two. I right now feel like I develop just noodling or > >> jamming and haven't felt like I need to sit down and really learn the > >> nuances of any one style yet, just b/c I still have so much to learn. > >> Plus, my feelings about playing music (for right now with a full time job > >> and a long commute and a toddler and an infant) is that it is a stress > >> reliever and the one thing I do for myself, so if I don't want to sit and > >> run scales or play with a metronome then I'm not going to do it. I am > >> sure that one day I will feel the urge to go into the more technical > >> aspects of playing, but until then...and that's my $0.02. > >> Trey > > >> ________________________________ > >> From: erik berry <[email protected]> > >> To: Taterbugmando <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Thu, November 5, 2009 2:18:17 PM > >> Subject: Re: Norman's sage advice > > >> This has been a very thought provoking discussion and I'm enthralled > >> by everyone's takes on the subject. It's totally dancing around the > >> BIG QUESTION (why do you play?). Except we all see to know why... > >> Anyway, I wanted to chime in my 2-5 cents. > > >> "I have certainly smoothed it out, however, can't seem to come up with > >> improvised stuff on it" > > >> This happens to me too. I'm pretty good at playing some variations on > >> fiddle tunes and whatnot, but when I write my own "fiddle tune" I > >> can't. It's almost like I go through so many variations during the > >> composing process that when I feel I've got it, my brain and hands go, > >> "That's they way it is, buddy, now you want me to play around with it > >> some more?" > > >> I work through a classical book specifically because it's not my bag > >> and I just want the gist of it. I figure it's good for my hands to be > >> forced into different shapes. But I just don't have the desire to be a > >> good, or even fair, classical mandolinist. There's definitely a "good > >> enough" quality to that music for my purposes, that I can feel > >> improvement in my band or on my fiddle tunes. And as the years go by, > >> those classical pieces I work on do get a little better. I've even > >> played one or two in public, but finally debuting them in front of an > >> audience brought out all the struggles involved with live performance > >> (nerves, sound, people staring at you) that I'd already gone through > >> on a different kind of music, and I didn't with to work on again. I > >> love classical music but don't wish I could play it. I practice it and > >> think "good enough." I love bluegrass and do wish I could play it. I > >> sort of do, but, y'know, it could always be a little better. I play it > >> and think "not good enough--and I got a gig this weekend." > > >> But on the other hand, I don't want to spend so much time working on > >> Monroe or Compton that people say, "Boy, you sound just like some of > >> my bluegrass records." I just want people to think it sounds good. I > >> guess I do pursue the personal "as good as I can play it" route, since > >> I'm always sort of pushing myself to make it sound a little better. > >> Being in a gigging band helps a ton with this. > > >> Add me on the lazy list too, I should be practicing mandolin instead > >> of reading a mandolin player's chat group. But this is just more fun > >> right now. Plus I'd have to dig out my metronome... > > >> Adam has got me thinking about cooking, too, because I'm a decent > >> enough cook, decent enough that I don't generally use cookbooks > >> anymore and I'm starting to think that the lack of further "education" > >> in my cooking is starting to be reflected in my prepared meals. > >> Retreading the same ground in my seasonings, my cutting, my whole > >> approach and maybe my culinary output has become stale. I need a new > >> "fiddle tune book" for my kitchen, maybe. > > >> Anyways, that's enough. thanks for reading > > >> erik > > >> On Nov 5, 8:15 am, Mando Chef <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> > Bill wrote: > > >> > "I have to sit down and "compose" solos to stuff I write- I can't just > >> > take off and let > >> > it flow out of me. Maybe someday..." > > >> > I have "written" only one tune... I recorded it and put it on youtube > >> > the day I came up with it so it is very rough and rocky. I have > >> > certainly smoothed it out, however, can't seem to come up with > >> > improvised stuff on it, I don't have anyone to "jam" it with, I know > >> > that would help... There was a certain groove that I put on the tune > >> > that I can't seem to stray from. I play it note for note the way I > >> > did it. I can improvise on most of the generic bluegrass tunes... > >> > When there are more than three or four chords we may have some "WTF > >> > did the mando guy just play" looks, may come out, but, for all > >> > intensive purposes it will be recognizable. I can not seem to > >> > improvise on my own tune... How weird is that? > > >> > I wish I could do that with my recipes. I cook from my heart much > >> > better than I play mandolin from inside. I guess I am at different > >> > stages of enlightenment (to get back to the "sage" reference in the > >> > topic). The stuff I cook is going to be good, potentially really > >> > good, everytime and occasionally for me and many times for people who > >> > are at my mandolin "level" in the cooking world, may think my food is > >> > out of the ballpark more in the realm of Tater or Monroe level(I'll > >> > keep Thile out of the lot of Monrovians). I usually feel I just > >> > played the tune the way it was supposed to be played. To me those > >> > little variations that Dasspunk mentioned that Mike and others notice, > >> > I notice in my food so I can certainly relate to attention to detail, > >> > however it is more sub-conciously achieved, I would need a camera man > >> > to record my every move to tell someone the recipe. > > >> > I saw a show with Chef Jacques Pepin and Maesto Itzhak Perlman going > >> > back and forth sharing and relating the two careers. Finding > >> > similarity in learning the "words", "phrases" to be able to use > >> > "sentences" later and then stop worrying on the how is my technique > >> > (because you have practiced it so much it is 2nd nature) and just play/ > >> > cook express your creation from your soul. > > >> > Ok, I'll take a breath and head back to my hole. > >> > Adam- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
