Improvisation

TAKEN from an article by Terri Windling on the art of Stu Jenks: “Circles, Sprials and Stu,” as it appears on the Endicott Studios website: Art historian John Berger, in a recent essay (“Steps Toward a Small Theory of the Visible”) comments: “The modern illusion concerning painting (which postmodernism has done nothing to correct) is [...]

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More Alex Grey

ART is communion of one soul to another, offered through the symbolic language of form and content.” (p 19) “The only way to formal inventiveness and technical ability is to work and work, studying and perfecting the craft.” (p 19) “Technique is just the way to arrive at a statement. Great art is a concentration [...]

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Words with Rufus

A few months ago, I came across the website of an old teacher of mine. I wrote to him just to say hello, see how he was doing and tell him some things I’d never had the chance to tell him before our time together ended. He was very gracious and interested in what I’d [...]

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Folk Art

“FOLK art is an expression of one’s life, not one’s culture. The past and the present co-exist. Local artists have an instinct for creation. In a place without tradition, they make art that does not look like art. Let’s call it community spirit, its sensitive and open-minded. Human-centered…. A folk artist takes pride in bringing [...]

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Session Playing is the Great Equalizer

SOMETHING John Brennan, one of the best guitarists in the Philadelphia area, once told me between sets at the Commodore Barry Club. It was a St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and John and a couple of folks had been down to play the Kimmel Center on Broad St. in Philadelphia. Their set wound up being an [...]

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Session Thoughts

Had a really great time at the O’Lacy’s session in Batavia, NY last Thursday night: the music was flowing BIG time.  It was one of those nights that you don’t want to end, when it all just gels, and the music carries you. This put me in mind of an earlier entry where I talked [...]

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Bowing & Breathing

The pressure used in fiddle bowing technique roughly corresponds to the use of the diaphragm in breath control in flute playing. So…just as a fiddle player will use varying amounts of pressure when bowing to put a lift into his/her playing, so a flute player would use his/her diaphragm to this same end. The important [...]

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Embouchure & Lung Capacity

A discussion between flute players: “Two questions right off the bat for you: A) How can I build up my lung capacity? I can’t ever seem to make it through just one phrase without taking a breath in a too obvious spot! B) I am still have problems with that buzzing sound in the high [...]

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Embouchure/Tone Experiments

Lately I’ve been experimenting with changing my tone. While I’ve developed a nice, full sound, I’ve noticed it lacked a certain “edge”: a sharpness of attack, or a “reediness” that I really enjoy when listening to other players. So I started to fiddle around with things like headjoint orientation, tongue placement, throat shape, etc. A [...]

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The Passing of a Good Friend – Liz Crehan Anderson 2/20/05

I received this email at my work account last night, and only found it when I got into the office this morning: “To friends of Liz: It is with great sadness that I am notifying Liz’s friends that she passed away today at about noon, the 20th of February. She suffered cardiac arrest yesterday while [...]

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