The Regaining of My Musical Perspective

I am still trekking along on my journey back to the violin lifestyle. Today I hit a very special place in my violin advancement. Somehow I regained my musical perspective. Something just clicked and I found fluidity in my bow arm, intonation in my left hand and the glories of proper phrasing. I am currently playing the Giga of Bach's 3rd Partita. I will eventually go back to the Preludio, which is exciting and very fun to play. I am taking it one measure at a time, working in smaller chunks of measures per day. This might not seem like much, but I am in essence, choreographing each phrase, sculpting every element of the passage.

Knowing which notes to play short on an up bow and long on the down bow...Knowing when to crescendo over the full measure or in short bursts over groups of 16th notes. I have regained this perspective. The ability to see the shape and form surrounding the sound that I create. This is as important as the intonation. I have been working the past few weeks on some various scale exercises and technical etudes in hopes to train myself a little bit before working on a piece. Of course I will continue my technical practice, but I have now added in some actual music to play. I feel like I've earned it now. Also, I am excited to begin recording my practice sessions. Little excerpts here and there. 

It has been a very long road for me and my violin. I've been studying the craft for 17 years. My parents have sacrificed a lot over my lifetime in order to provide me with some of the finest instructors and musical experiences. I majored in violin performance in college. It's just something I need to do, if not for anyone else, for myself. It is very hard to jump back in once you've stopped playing for a few years. I would say it is the equivalent to being on the football team in college, going cold for several years, then expecting yourself to jump right back in at the same physical level you used to be at. Yes, your mind may be there, but your actual physical skill may not match. That can take a toll on your confidence, as it has mine, but as with most things in my life, I continue to push forward, depsite how many times I stop. If you have stopped doing something you were once good at or once loved, push through and begin again. It feels great. It is reviving. 

Charlie Loves

Violin Practice Session 1&2

I think I figured out how to keep myself connected a bit more to my practice sessions. Usually, I begin with hopes of reigniting the old flame, but then I am unsuccessful because I expect myself to fall right back in where I left off in my music major highness. When this does not happen, I am left stunned and unimpressed with myself. Instead of wallowing in the reality of a talent gone cold, I have decided to begin journaling a short summary of each run through of a study or piece. I write down exactly how I felt I did, as if I were critiquing a student. I jot down what I did wrong, what I did right and what I need to work on for next time. I also notate the thoughts I had while playing, keeping track of my state of mind. I enjoy writing so combining the two really gives me an eagerness to begin my next session. This eagerness is not something I have experienced in quite sometime. It is refreshing and beautiful.

Excerpt 12/29/15: My goal is to get a fuller, richer and more fluid sound. I think my problems with my right arm fluidity and confidence spawn from my timid nature of practicing, not wanting to be heard or to disturb. I need to get over that as well.

Excerpt 12/30/15: This run was the best so far. Clear and confident. Tone much better, larger percentage of correct notes. Caught 4th finger mistakes early in the etude. Trouble with 4th to last measure, need to spend time practicing that measure. 

Taking it slow I am. My usual problem: Wrap myself up with such energy towards something and end up overdoing, overshooting, overexpecting...and then I burn out. The flame burns rapidly and then it dies just as fast. This is not ideal when trying to begin again on a path once steadily traveled and most recently abandoned. I want it again. I really do. Such a shame to let something so precious go to waste. I will practice a bit every day, and then once I make that habitual, I will practice a bit more every day. I will write after each run through. My husband got me this journal for Christmas. As soon as I ripped through the wrapping I knew it was something special. 

Charlie

Yelawolf My Box Chevy Collection: A Review on Greatness

The first time I discovered Yelawolf was about two years ago. I had an instant adoration of his work. I never had to sit and convince myself that what I was hearing was good (like I do so regularly with a lot of music). It was just genuinely good music on every level. He is incredibly talented. His music is wonderful vocal, and equally musical. A good experience all together. You just have to listen to all five, as they get better and better. The beats though!

The perfect marriage of his voice to the style of music composition and production is superior. His natural vocal timbre (The quality of the sound made by a particular voice or musical instrument) seems to fit comfortably within a sweet spot of an audible range that the human ear finds pleasing. You'll have to excuse me, being a musician has made me a wavelength and frequency enthusiast.

There are plenty of timbres and frequencies that we humans are either naturally in sync with, or it's an uncomfortable clash. I say all of this to try and explain that I feel as if Yelowolf's vocal timbre is one that is naturally pleasing in addition to his Alabama accent and incredible flow. Some people's timbres are raspier in nature (TBoz from TLC [a lower pitched range]/Erykah Badu[a mid pitch range]).

Some vocal tones can be really soft and sweet (Aaliyah/Janet Jackson/Ciara) or even strong and powerful (Beyonce/Jennifer Hudson/Christina Aquiliera). Some timbres can be good, but can also get a little whiny sometimes depending on the range that vocalist is in (Justin Beiber/ Rihanna). Just to name a few examples. Not sure why I went on a timbre tangent but I felt it had to be said!

Getting back to Yelawolf, I enjoyed his five part Box Chevy collection. This needs to be noted and recognized for what it is....brilliant. Of course it is still rap, which comes along with its own territory of potentially explicit lyrics and subject matter. That's just how it is and how it's always going to be. So for those who don't watch any programs on TV higher than a 14 year old rating, hip hop may not be the best genre of music for you.
 

I didn't hear the Box Chevy tracks in their original order, I heard them out of order discovering different versions as time went on. I wanted to make an effort to collect them all here on one place surrounding them with favorable reviews and recognition. Yelawolf, you've done a great job my dear. Well done indeed.

Art is truly about expressing yourself through a skill that you have acquired (on which ever level you happen to be at) and using actual inspiration from one's life that helps pave the path to a finished project. Obviously there is a percentage of actual physical and actionable execution necessary to result with an existing product. Too often dreams are not realized, and remain in the form of an idea or dream.

I love his accent as well. That makes up a huge part of his whole package. The distinct southern twang that flows as briskly as the momentum of his word execution. On top of his southern vocals, he also has the ability to freely speed up his flow as fluid and precise as one applying steady pressure to a gas petal on a powerful but contained engine. It is so very seldom an industry gets hit with something that cannot be recreated or manufactured like so many companies try to do



It's so very hard to say which track is my favorite, or to even rate them in order. It's just so hard. They all have such different qualities. I tend to play 3, 4 and 5 the most often, but 1 and 2 are newer experiences for me and they both come with great qualities that make me want to hit replay over and over again.



Part Four. The beat is just unbelievable. I turn it on, and even though the sound travels seamlessly through my headphones to my eardrums, my brain refuses to believe that something could sound so good. It just can't happen this way. What have you done Yelawolf? What have you done to us..This is too good for the ears to understand. That musical composition hits areas in you that you didn't know received sound signal.
    

Then there is the last one. My Box Chevy Five. The beat is just so funky crazy cool. That bass line...Everything is just on....point. Yelawolf, I give you your credits a thousand times over and one extra for good measure. I suggest the people who have had the pleasure to experience Yelawolf's talent, to recognize its brilliance. Why is it so easy for me to give people credit where credit is due instead of finding non exisitent things to complain about? Because I am an artist of my own sorts as well.

I get great joy from the act of uplifting another person. It's actually a quite distinct feeling that has its own type of joy and positive sensation attached to it. The one truest thing an artist wants from his or her creation is for it to be recognized as his or her own work as well as see it for what it was meant to show. Man I have such a passion brewing over for creation and its creators. We [creators] construct the details of existence, more so rearrange them. Oh it's lovely. I could go on and on....
    

Again I will say that this is just great music. To me it is indisputable, but of course everyone has their tastes. If he didn't make any other music ever again, these five tracks are amazing enough to represent his brand, talent and greatness.

Aziza

Some of My Favorite Choreography: Aaliyah More Than A Woman

Can't speak too much on this one. Too hard for me knowing there was a time watching this video and learning the choreography and she was alive doing it too. She was such a role model for me even outside of her music because I felt as if I could identify with her when I was a younger gal. Seeing someone who wasn't built like most of the other women on tv (in the hip hop culture), let me know that black people consider lean and thin beautiful too.

Hey it's hard growing up in black culture at times (as it is true for every culture). The crazy part is it's the girls who hold the standards for how girls should appear if they want to be accepted into society. I've come to realize that most guys don't care to grave detail. There are some (and I know I'm kind of going off tangently) guys who are more particular than others, but overall, the girls hold the standards. But back to what I was saying...

To see such an elegant tomboy blew my mind as that is how I feel myself to be. I truly loved her so much and still do. I feel like she has to be the one singer that everyone truly feels like that took a loss on, like in their own personal lives. True mourning for real. Not the celebrity mourning where it's kinda faded after a day or so. You think back on it later like "dang, I can't believe he died..." But with Aaliyah it's different. It's much different. I can't explain it, but it's not the same with her. It's real. She was before her time. Usually those are the ones who go out that way as well. Let's hope that's not the case all the time.

I really loved the camera angles in this video. Camera angles can really elevate your shot to another league if done correctly in relation to the nature of what is being filmed. That is why I adore Spike Lee. Such a great master of those angles. Spike Lee is one of my favorite filmmakers. Truly gifted. The world is filled with such brilliant creators.

Looks like I ended up speaking a lot on this, despite my prior disclaimer.

Z

Some of My Favorite Choreography: Janet Jackson Rock With U

Everytime I watch this video, I stare intensely at the dancers trying to somehow absorb the moves from just watching it. I'm not great with learning choreography in traditional ways. I remember certain advanced dance courses I took involved almost instant memorization and performance after like one practice of the routine. Not trying to do all of that....

Random: I want cookies. Chocolate chip cookies, but with mini m&m's instead. Or just nothing except the cookie. Still no name for chocolate chip cookies sans chocolate chips? We gotta do better than this as a human race guys.

Chocolate Chipless, 

Z

Trey Songz Trigga Album Review

Prelude

When I first played Trigga, I got through the first few songs not really knowing what to expect. I already had been estranged from Trey Songz for a while. I was initially kind of turned off from the first portion of the album because I thought it was just going to be an overly explicit mess of cheating and lies. But one night I gave it a thorough listen and was able to find the vibe Trey aimed to create with his 6th studio album.

Hip Hop Playlist No.1

I must say, this playlist is a collection of tracks I have been listening to most recently. It is not a list of my number one hip hop tracks. I will have to make that mix soon though. Either way, Schoolboy and Kendrick would still be present. As of the date of this post, it is what I have been listening to most recently. The music I listen to is quite vast in size, and I hope to represent that over time with my playlists.

1. Forbidden Fruit- J.Cole ft. Kendrick Lamar 

2. Michael Jordan- Kendrick Lamar ft. Schoolboy Q 

3. Bicken Back Being Bool- YG 

4. There He Go- Schoolboy Q 

5. Pound Cake- Drake ft. Jay Z 

6. On Me- Freddie Gibbs 

7. Fantasy- Schoolboy Q ft. Jhene Aiko 

8. Piece of Love- K Camp 

9. We Dem Boyz- Wiz Khalifa 

10. Light Years Ahead- Schoolboy Q ft. Kendrick Lamar

R&B Playlist 1.

This playlist consists of some R&B songs old and new that I enjoy listening to. I always make playlists made up of any song I like, it doesn't have to be currently over playing on the radio, just a genuinely good song. I tend to gravitate toward classic hits that seem to be timeless. Those are always fun to dig back up and listen to after a while. I've decided I'm going to just keep creating playlists just to have available for when I can no longer stomach the radio and I want a dose of some old favs.

1. Body Party- Ciara

2. Buy You A Drank- T Pain

3. It Won't Stop- Sevyn Streeter ft. Chris Brown

4. Already Taken- Trey Songz

5. I'm Sprung- T Pain

6. 21 Questions- 50 Cent ft. Nate Dogg

7. Superhuman- Chris Brown

8. B*tches Be Like- Rico Love

Cover Collection: Rolling Stone Rihanna

Sun to Shaded

This cover shot of Rihanna has always been one of my favorite shots of her. There is a lot of beautiful photography of Rihanna out there, but in my opinion, this one takes the cake. Those who at least minimally follow the hip hop/ pop world, know that Rihanna has transformed since her Music of the Sun days. It is quite evident that she would now seem to prefer her music a bit more shaded. But we do see periods of light sometimes within her music, and I think this is why I enjoy this cover so much as it shows the duality of her nature. I understand duality, as we all should.

Artistry

I enjoy Rihanna's music, although I usually stick to my favorites that I tend to keep stitched into my rotation. She truly possesses the key to making very successful hits, whether or not her subject matter reaches for the nearest line to cross. When I look at musical artists, I try to find the radiating ball of artistic energy and presence within that person. I can always tell if it is there or not. This is what I would call the artist spirit. A deeply rooted desire to create, to express, to output. 

Desire to Create

My desire to create came from heavy influences, as my mother was an artist, and also through pain and the will to survive. There is a reserve of passion bubbling at the brim beneath the body of a true artist. I usually kindredly connect, even across far distances, with a true artist. And I must say it is always an absolute delight. I may not agree with their primary ideas, or even have anything else in common with them except for that similar perception/reflection of the world through thought and creation. As a side note, I am completely aware that I have ventured off into something far from the mention of Rihanna's name. 

Forever Over Worded, 

Z

Schoolboy Q Ink and Videos

I have been obsessed with Schoolboy Q recently. Favorite track so far is Break the Bank. I also am endorsing Sony as the PS3 truly is an amazing piece of technology. Love Duty, still on MW3 as I am boycotting Ghosts until we get our PS4. Somehow I kept getting crap pixel riddled versions. Anyhoo, Lemon Lime Rickey is a delightful non alcoholic treat made by Arizona. Thank you Arizona for such a bold move.