So where can one find the cd "pieces of time"? I guess it's out of print and a quick search did not illuminate me Best Robin
On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 8:41 PM, Pat Murphree <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Mike, me again. > > After hearing you play last Saturday night I went back and re-read your > declaration below. Either you've improved immensely already or you are damn > hard on yourself. So am I, but I tend to forgive myself too easily. (There I > go again.) > > Anyway, re-reading your personal renewal statement and hearing and seeing > you play has re-inspired me. I got the CD "Pieces of Time" and I've > committed myself to learn the mando breaks in all the tunes note for note, > or damn close to it. When I say learn them I mean play them just like they > sound on the CD, or real close to it. There's some good tunes on there in > tempos I think I can handle. I'm shooting for about a six month target, two > weeks per tune. My 70th birthday is next October so this will be my present > to myself. I may need a little help from you from time to time and will > holler when I do. I see you did some playing on the CD too but I can't tell > you from Monroe. > > No need to respond to this note. Just wanted to make my commitment known > for a little added pressure. > > Pat > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "mistertaterbug" <[email protected]> > To: "Taterbugmando" <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 5:25:48 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > Subject: Starting from scratch....sort of. > > Okay, I've decided to go back to the drawing board. It's been looming on > the horizon for some time, bugging me, nagging at me in the back of my mind, > one of those things that I know needs doing. So here goes... While it's true > that I've taken some flack of late from uneducated n'er-do-wells with snappy > comments regarding the "slop" I play and how I'm apparently luckier than > Kenny G in my musical success based upon my apparent lack of ability to be > an actual musician, this is not the basis for my conclusion that things need > to change. There's a lot of things that need changing around here really, > and the musical aspect is only one of the pieces of the puzzle. I'm getting > fed up with feeling like the weak link in so many chains, not all of them > musical. Call it a delayed New Year's Resolution list, if you will. As > middle age comes and settles in more firmly I find myself wanting to play > better, to understand more, to feel a connection with what I'm doing that's > not been there in quite some time. Yes, I've been winging it. But then I > suppose I've not fooled everybody judging by the latest flurry of comments > and my own personal feelings of musical unrest. I need a feeling of > belonging to what I'm doing, I need to feel I'm doing it well, that it's a > part of me. So far, no cigar. I sat here today and played "Black Joke > w/Variations" as I do every couple days(or so...there's part of the problem > right there; lack of consistency and regularity) and made a greater effort > to play the notes cleanly and with character. Egad. You'd think I never saw > this exercise before. I used to play at it every day, every morning first > thing, out on the porch with the mando and the 'dola to do my ritual, my > mando-meditation. But now I'm playing it and paying attention to detail in a > different way. I am reworking my right hand some due to feeling some wear > and tear over the last 38 years and it's hard, REAL hard. I'm working on > making it work smoothly and relaxed, but feeling strong and sure. I'm > watching my pick angle. I'm watching how much motion I use to make the > strokes, how I cross over strings to get to the next, listening to the sound > of the notes, the evenness of the tremolo(or not, in this case), watching my > pick angle, etc. Everything I can think of. And I know that the more I work, > the more things will turn up that need attention. Truth is, I spend a lot of > time working, but not efficiently. I waste 30 minutes here, an hour there > not focused on anything. Now I don't mean to say that putting one's brain > out of gear now and again is not a good idea, but being on auto-pilot all > the time, not filtering what goes in and comes out, is not really a good > idea. So, the tune books are out, the paper is out, the iTunes list is open, > lyrics are at easy reach. I'm not sure I even know how to accomplish what I > want to get done. If I sit and ponder it too hard the task will just seem > like too much of a mountain to climb. Maybe in pieces small enough to chew > is the way to go, but I feel like now I have to chew all the time to get > ahead and see real success, real progress. Real progress will instill > passion for success. I find I've got a lot more things I want to get done, > and feeling I'm playing at the level I think I should be is high on the > list. I have raised my standards for myself. I have quite a collection of > material I want to learn and explore. The list grows and I just sit and > watch it without whittling any of it away. I know myself well enough to know > that this will all nag me in the back of my mind until I do something about > it. Here I go... mistertaterbug > -- 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]<taterbugmando%[email protected]>. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. > > -- > 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]<taterbugmando%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. > -- 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.
