dougbmusic

My nephew, Eliot!

2009-07-27T10:57:00.005-06:00

These pictures have been a long time coming. They're just too cute not to show to everyone I know. What follows is my little nephew's first experience with dogs! My bro's wife describes it best:

"A few weeks ago Eliot had his first up close and personal encounter with man's best friend. Our friends, (NAMES REMOVED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT) have a couple of pugs, Jack and Oscar, who were anxious to get to know Eliot. We got a big kick out of Eliot's reaction. You can practically see the words written on his face as skepticism leads to curiosity and finally gives way to friendship."

Next up is a picture of my nephew trying to understand the mysteries of a mirror. Note the adorable puzzled look on his face!

That's it for now!

CATcerto!

2009-07-26T22:24:00.004-06:00

Unbelievable! Mindaugas Piečaitis, a conductor presently living in both Germany and Lithuania, has taken an unaltered piano improvisation by A CAT, and arranged (with help) an orchestral accompianment for it! I couldn't believe it until I heard it.... He makes it sound like beautiful music. Watch it all the way through!

a quickie

2009-04-08T13:03:00.002-06:00

Do you love animals? I love animals. Here are two wicked videos with animals in them. Watch out for the first one.... you may dehydrate yourself from crying (tears of joy) so hard.

And here's one about a freaking awesome penguin with a freaking awesome backpack that does a freaking awesome thing:

a musical update

2009-03-30T12:46:00.006-06:00

Some interesting things have popped up on the radar these last few weeks. I just had my University of Alberta Mixed Chorus concert at the Winspear Centre (where I work!) on the 28th. It went just dandy, other than a few complaints from other choristers. Thankfully my ear isn't developed enough yet to hear these erroneous nuances. Ignorance is bliss, sometimes.

Our conductor sent out a kind e-mail to all of us. At the concert he was presented a gift and a card from the chorus, which appropriately played Motown music from his teen days. In the e-mail, he described a card he thought suitable for all of us:

"You work hard, you laugh hard, you bring dedication and energy to all
that you do. Your kindness, generosity of spirit, and enthusiasm are
all greatly appreciated. The song? I'm leaning toward Queen singing
'We Are the Champions.' It seems quite suitable for all of you!"

Doesn't that make your heart smile? He's definitely one of the kindest, most warm-hearted people I've met. I'm thankful I've had the privilege of meeting so many inspiring and influential music educators in these past few years. They certainly have made a mark on me, and given me something to aspire to as I pursue my music education in these next few years.

As I look to my future, I always find myself flabbergasted (what a fun word) when I consider the fact that I—if everything goes as planned—will one day will be up on the podium conducting some ensemble. Isn't that a scary thought? Maybe I'll be conducting YOUR children some day. Thankfully I have a few years to prepare before that all happens.

Anyways, enough about my dreamy dreams. Sorry for all the mush! Musically, I'm preparing for two upcoming gigs. The first one will be on box drum (aka a Cajón, wikipedia link for picture/info) and possibly a little guitaring. I'm substituting for 'The Martingales' drummer when he's out of town, for an acoustic gig of theirs. I work with one of the members, and let me tell you, they're some great songwriters. Take a look at their MySpace for a sample of what they do. Make sure not to skip 'Manitoba.' The gig is on Friday, April 17 at Hulbert's (near whyte ave, 7601-115 St). Cover is $10. Hope you can make it, it's gonna be a blast.

Secondly, I'm working on guitar with an as-of-yet nameless rock project with a few of my high school buddies. We should have a gig lined up pretty soon, which will most likely be free (yay!). We've got a little bit of Radiohead, mixed in with some classic Weezer, some Sublime, and even a little Hawksley Workman.

Finally, and I know this-is-the-longest-post-ever-oh-god-please-let-it-end, I've been listening to a great guy by the name of Luke Doucet. Here's a link to a music video of one of his best songs, It's Not The Liquor I Miss. It's totally terrific! The feel is just great, it's got some great guitaring, and a Baritone Sax solo! What's not to love?

And here's another feel-good tune, 'Arms Tonite,' this time by Mother Mother. Trust me, these catchy songs will be popping up in your head for days!

And that's it! Trust me, I didn't anticipate for this to be long at all!

Doug

i'm an uncle AND we have an office puppy

2009-03-19T13:44:00.006-06:00

No way! I'm an UNCLE! Can you believe it? As of last week, I am the Uncle of my brother Spencer and his wife Nora's baby, Eliot Arthur Young. What a beautiful name, in my opinion. A co-worker pointed out that this is the first relative I'll have the honor of knowing from birth! What a beautiful thing that will be. Boy, do I feel like an old man now. Isn't he handsome!?

Our office at work had another addition of its very own - a brand new puppy! We've got the cutest little doggie running around now. He's a playful little guy, even though he seems to sleep half the time :). Our manager named him Petey. Not only do we have him, but his brother Charlie is just upstairs from us! Two dogs in the Winspear! Sometimes he comes down and plays around with Petey, which is just cuteness overload for me. Just another reason I have an awesome job!
Here are some pictures (Petey is the white one; Charlie is the black one):

thanks goes out to Andrew at work for taking these awesome pictures (except for the one with my nephew of course!).

piano/violin house

2009-03-10T14:46:00.004-06:00

i just had to post this.

"If you thought you've had enough of crazy architectural styles in Shanghai, wait till you see this piano house in Huainan, Anhui. Inside the transparent violin is the staircase to the house upstairs. Apparently, the building has been built by the local government to draw interest to the newly developed area."

a little update

2009-03-04T10:35:00.004-07:00

a lot has happened in my life recently - bad things and good things. i recently heard news that my chemistry 20 teacher in high school passed away in a car crash on the way home from skiing in the mountains. a friend at work also had one of her parents pass away. that is something i cannot imagine, and she has my deepest condolences.

in addition to that (but nowhere near as tragic) my family's cars have had a bunch of problems this month. thankfully our 20 year-old cadillac was fine. that thing is in great shape and is built like a tank - and consumes gas like a tank too. it was the last car my grandparents ever owned together, and it has lasted THREE generations of my family. it still drives like a charm, and i definitely prefer it over some of the newer cars we have. i'll have to post a nice picture of it on here.

my guitar studies are going great. i'm drilling one-octave scales and triads, sight-reading (single-note and chordal), improvisation (terribly) and my audition piece. i can play the piece all the way through now, so i just have to work out a few kinks, which i thankfully have two weeks to do. i'm nervous for the audition, but i think i should do just fine. it's the competition i'll have next year that scares me. i've only been playing for a year, so i'll be playing with guys who are light-years ahead of me. oh well. if there's one thing life has taught me, its that lots of pressure and responsibility makes you learn really quick. i might try to record my prepared piece, and will for sure post it on here.

i've also started to work on a solo album of mine. granted, i only have one song near-finished, but i hope that by the end of this year i can compile a cd of original songs i can give to friends for fun. it seems like a fun goal, and i'm sure i'll learn some things about songwriting/recording along the way.

anyways, it was my birthday on monday, and so i've decided for my birthday party that i want to go and see WATCHMEN, the movie. i've read the book - i mean graphic novel - and it's absolutely fantastic. it's a must read for anyone looking into the genre, and is one of TIME magazine's one hundred best books of all time! it's got a very complex storyline, so there's alot of pressure on Zack Snyder - the director - to do it justice. his last movie was the famous 300, which is also a graphic novel adaptation, if that's a good sign at all. there's a bunch of trailers out there right now, but i'll link my favorite one. the music and mood is JUST right for the movie. here we go!

oh gosh, just watching that again has me SO excited. they just look like they've got EVERYTHING perfect. if you've read the book please let me know so i can excitedly talk with someone about it.

oh boy, my hands hurt a bit from practicing. hope that's not a bad sign!

-doug

obamarama

2009-02-25T12:23:00.002-07:00

as some of you may know, obama spoke to congress yesterday (tuesday) about the economy, his focuses during his term, and some important goals.

one goal is to cut his country's deficit by half at the end of his first term - that's quite ambitious.

obama's other goal is that by 2020, America will (once again) have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. that is, despite obama acknowledging that America has one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation, and half of the students who begin college never finish. he also requested that "every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training."

"we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow.. (and) I speak to you not just as a president, but as a father, when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home. That is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. That's an American issue." i don't think it gets much truer than that.

obama may have a lot of lofty goals, high expectations, and overly-optimistic views of the future,
but you know what?

"we are not quitters."

obama's placed his faith in the american people, and i think that now it's time for that to be reciprocated. feel free to comment/bash this!

obama's full speech

brett dennen

2009-02-23T10:31:00.004-07:00

so a friend said i should recommend some more music to her. there's a lot of weird music that i listen to, so i thought that i'd try something more listener-friendly. this is where Brett Dennen comes in. he's got one of the most uniquely beautiful voices in the world. he was at the edmonton folkfest last summer, and i missed him. don't you hate it when you fall in love with an artist AFTER they visit your hometown? it's happened too many times to me. anyways, i'll list three songs i like from his most recent album 'Hope for the Hopeless'.

San Francisco:

Make You Crazy (complete with his own cheesy video):

Heaven:

Juan Enriquez: How mindboggling science will outlast the crisis

2009-02-17T16:36:00.002-07:00

you MUST watch this talk. this is a recap of some of the most important technological advancements you DON'T know about. absolutely incredible. and yes, i know it's long, but trust me, your mind will be blown.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/juan_enriquez_shares_mindboggling_new_science.html

look around the site for an endless amount of deliciously interesting presentations on anything and everything.

you HAVE to see this!

2009-02-12T13:27:00.002-07:00

wow, this is absolutely and positively the coolest music video i have ever seen. there is really no match for this. seriously. you HAVE to watch it. please, do it now.

thanks goes to kaitlin hickey for showing me all these cool things at work today.

black cab sessions

2009-02-12T11:20:00.005-07:00

at work today someone showed me a very cool site, called 'Black Cab Sessions.' they're video recordings of musicians playing a song in the back of the cab. they've got some nice ones on there like death cab for cutie, the new pornographers, and fleet foxes.

http://www.blackcabsessions.com/

one of my favorite artists is ryan adams, and he does a song from his new album 'Cardinology' called 'Sinking Ships.' it's a great song with a really awesome bridge. take a listen!

http://www.blackcabsessions.com/sessions.php?id=1231499191

my solo piece

2009-02-11T13:28:00.007-07:00

so i was going to describe my guitar practice schedule, but holy crap that'd be boring for you so i didn't do it. instead i'll share a song that i'm working on. it's called 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore' by Duke Ellington. ironically this was one of my first big pieces as a drummer, and now it's one of my first as a guitarist! it's a fun tune that sounds better when you try to play it like your drunk. i called up Michael Buble and he decided to do me one last favor and record it on youtube. thanks again mikey. so here ya go:

what i've been listening to lately...

2009-02-09T10:49:00.007-07:00

for the past few weeks i've been pretty crazy about radiohead. most of you would know them from their big hits 'creep' or 'karma police.' at the grammys last night they performed '15 Step' from their recent album 'In Rainbows', accompanied by the USC marching band. yep, you heard me right - a marching band. there were two versions of this on youtube, and i picked the one that has slightly worse quality only because the other one had no bass (and what a crime that is). might i add that thom yorke (the vocalist) looked pretty darn stylish last night. here ya go:

i'll briefly list a few of their songs that i have been obsessed with lately:

wolf at the door (with a neat user-made video):

no surprises (watch thom yorke almost drown!):

paranoid android (a classic with an interesting music video):

if you've taken the time to listen to any of this stuff, please let me know what you thought and leave me a comment! i'd love to hear what you think about this stuff.

some material from ted greene

2009-02-06T13:02:00.006-07:00

ted greene was an amazing guitar player, but was most famous for his role as a guitar instructor. he released four famous guitar books during his lifetime, which are a must-read for many guitarists: chord chemistry, modern chord progressions, and single-note soloing vol I & II. i'll link his website, where you'll find some of his lessons in pdf.

http://www.tedgreene.com/teaching/default.asp

there's also a great recording of him on you-tube during a workshop, playing on his signature telecaster. he's got just great tone and amazing vibrato as well.

Fender used his collection of vintage telecasters as a reference when they made their 52' vintage reissue telecasters. truly an amazing guy. he was taken away much too early from us.

amazing - the four finger pianist

2009-02-06T12:09:00.002-07:00

no joke! it’s absolutely incredible how well this girl plays with her limitations. what a wonderful mother to see and foster the potential in her daughter like that. what an inspiring story.

my first blog post (with a useful theory site)

2009-02-06T12:04:00.002-07:00

so i come by a lot of useful info throughout each workday (i work at the Winspear Centre). i thought it’d be good to blog some of this stuff, so others can get what i get out of these things.

for my first blog, i’d like to share what has for the last while been extremely helpful. that would be
- www.teoria.com -. if you’ve got a crappy ear like me, or you want to hone your already perfect aural skills (which i’m extremely jealous of), this is the perfect place to do it. not only does it have several ear-training exercises, it has double that in theory exercises. now i know musicians are quite divided when it comes to theory junk, but i’m on the liking-theory side of things. i’m preparing to go to grant macewan for guitar, and because i’ve only been playing this tonal instrument for a year (and three years of percussion/drums before that) my ear is just taking it’s first baby steps. anyways, i hope this is as useful to some of you as it is to me. now go and flex those ear muscles!

www.teoria.com

www.good-ear.com - this is another good site that focuses just on ear-training

note: i’m cross-posting my blog on facebook, and i’ve tagged you if i think you’d like it.

credit: i’ll have to thank my guitar teacher, Lane Arndt, for pointing ‘teoria’ out to me.