stress is the animal within

What is meditation?
I used to think it was letting your mind wander to far-off lands and becoming one with mountains and other such silliness. Now, not only do I think it's not silliness, but I've greatly expanded my definition of meditation.

1. Think about the Japanese - they live all huddled together on that tiny island - so they very badly need something to withdraw from the worlds pressures. Thus, Zen is born.
2. Zen is the art of clearing your mind and controlling your breath. This is the first step towards dealing with stress, and ultimately, reaching enlightenment.
3. At first look, stress comes from social pressures. Up to a point, stress helps us learn and perform better. After this point, stress becomes damaging. This is the famous "Yerkes-Dodson Law." see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes-Dodson_law
4. According to Zen, all suffering comes from ignorance. Stress can be advantageous, but if you can not control it, you are damaging yourself, and are then suffering. My biggest realization is that thoughts cause stress. If you are thinking - your mind is sending signals to your body to prepare to move around - these signals are chemicals which are known as stress. To calm the mind is everything! So we must meditate.
5. Stress is the animal inside you - to be unleashed only at your will. If you let social situations and circumstances get to you - you are not leading a controlled, Zen lifestyle. Your inner animal is controlling you, and it is damaging you. Reclaim your mind by putting the animal back in the cage. You should reach a point where the animal only comes out when necessary; you are no longer preconditioned to becoming stressed-out.

More reading - Highly recommended: The Breakout Principle


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Improving timing in life and the life calendar

Lately, my mantra has been to improve my timing in life - hopefully that will make my music playing more precise, rhythmic, and feel better. Anything that has to do with timing, scheduling, driving, speaking, eating...I'm trying to improve.

So, regarding scheduling, I've come up with this thing called The Life Calendar. I realized that the month-view of a normal calendar makes a lot of sense to me...so I made a year-view, where a season is a week (4 seasons in a year), and a month is a day (12 months in a year...so each season gets 3 months). This made me think, well, can we do this with a decade? Yes...there are 10 years in a decade - so I decided to make the half-decade a week...5 years in a half-decade...and 2 half decades in a decade. So, naturally, from there, I decided to make a life calendar of 100 years. I suppose I don't have to stop there...but that seems good for now.

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It's always both - the yin-yang interaction (YYI)

There seems to be a roadblock to understanding certain concepts. For example, if there is freewill, then how can there be determinism? Many philosophers take the stance of compatibilism, which says that both concept live together in sweet, beautiful harmony, we just have to let go of the idea of one being "right" and the other "wrong." (See Daniel Dennet's book Freedom Evolves.) This is the idea of a "false dichotomy" where two things seem to be opposites, but really are two sides of a coin that are complimentary, rather than conflicting. (Immanuel Kant's writings on the "antinomies" is exemplified here.) These complimentary things form a paradox - two conceptually opposite terms that seem intrinsically related to each other. I call one side of the paradox "Yin" and the other side "Yang." I refer to Yin as the negative pole and Yang as the positive pole.

From Wikipedia: "Yin–yang, thus, always has the following characteristic: yin and yang describe opposing qualities in phenomena. For instance, winter is yin to summer's yang over the course of a year...It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite: yin–yang are rooted together. Since yin and yang are created together in a single movement, they are bound together as parts of a mutual whole. A race with only men or only women would disappear in a single generation; but men and women together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two gives birth to things."

The basic paradigm of a paradox is Unity versus Duality. The interaction of Yin-Yang is the Unity and Yin-Yang treated separately is Duality.

I assert that there is a limit to understanding/describing how both sides of a paradox work together, but we can experience their interaction. This forms a basic Yin-Yang Interaction (call it YYI). I have a huge list of YYI's that seems to grow everyday. Here's a top 10 list:

1. Love: Attraction (Romantic, Friendship, etc), Repulsion (Independence, Ego, etc)
2. Good, Evil
3. Infinitely large, Infinitely small
4. Freewill, Determinism
5. Feeling (experience, art, hedonism), Understanding (rational thinking, criticism, making distinctions)
6. Jung's Psychology: Introversion, Extraversion (etc). Subconscious, Conscious. Type A, Type B. Nature, Nurture
7. Mundane, Divine
8. Night, Day
9. Teleology, Goal-less-ness
10. Mysticism: Collective Consciousness, Personal Consciousness.

Within art is a load of YYI paradoxes...here's a short list:
Practice, Performance
Talent, Education
Form, Content

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Joe Diorio and John McLaughlin

Cruising the net one day...
I came across an article by Joe Diorio entitled "Keep Yourself Inspired."
http://www.visionmusic.com/diorio/rightbrain.html
From the great jazz guitarist himself comes advice on how to stay musically and creatively inspired every day of the week. (here is a brief version)
Monday: Gesture improvising, all day. Shut off the thinking process and let your fingers and your feeling or intuition take over.
Tuesday: Melodic playing. Simple intervals. Think melodically.
Wednesday: New chords. Experiment.
Thursday: New melodies and new chords. This day we take some of the melodies created on Tuesday and add some of the new-found chords from Wednesday and put them together.
Friday: Listen to music all day long, new and old CD's.
Saturday: Research. This is the day to investigate further and go deeper into the subjects that interested you the most.
Sunday: Repose, silence, and meditation. Be still this day and listen for the inner voice to guide you.

For now, I might add a day on rhythm. John McLaughlin has opened my eyes to indian rhythms. Here's a link to his stuff.
http://www.mediastarz.com/shopKonokolDvd.php - free PDFs on the left.
http://www.mediastarz.com/shopThisIsTheWayIDoIt.php - free PDFs here too.

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The Inspiration Box

If you are like me, you keep everything. You have been called a "pack rat." The specials on the discovery channel about "compulsive hoarders" makes you slightly uncomfortable because of how close to home it hits. I've recently come to understand why I keep so many seemingly useless things - for inspiration.

Inspiration from nostalgia
Memories seem to give me inspiration. For instance, take a receipt for a bag of chips from a gas station on the way to the destination of a road trip. Mitch Hedberg would wonder "why do you need to bring ink and paper into this?" Here's why. I was in a "state of mind" that is not achievable any other way, besides being in the middle of a road trip. By looking at this receipt, I might feel more relaxed, more in anticipation of good things to come in life, just like I felt on the trip. Usually, though, I get this weird feeling that I don't know what to do with, then I shove the receipt back from whence it came. Upon realizing my 99% useless tendency, I found a solution to the problem. If I have a little something that I'm reluctant to throw away, I write down what I'd like to remember in a journal. That way, I develop the feeling, have a record of it, then I can get rid of the thing.

Lists, drawings, writings, fortune cookie fortunes, programs, and cards - I can not seem to throw these things away. My solution was to make a concentrated area for stuff that doesn't need to be in my immediate vicinity of productivity at my desk. I found this nice, blue fabric box to put little trinkets and pieces of paper in. I also put in a beat-up old folder for full 8+1/2 X 11 pages that I didn't want to get crinkled up. The programs and cards are in separate magazine holders. Now, whenever I want to feel nostalgic or need some sort of venture out of the ordinary, I go to this area.

So far, it's a seedling of a thing. I haven't been instantly inspired to go write a symphony or something from this collection of sheets - partially from leftover guilt and ambivalences. One thing that has happened though, has been to add things to the box that truly inspire me. I recently added a drawing of the sun, I realized how much I love it. Spring had sprung, and I've always had a fascination with the star that makes life on this planet possible. I've been adding little drawings and inspirational quotes here and there. I think it's getting better.

See my music theory blog for more on inspiration:
Joe Diorio and John McLaughlin
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Dipolar Cosmology and Positive Thinking

What I've been trying to resolve lately is how the world, or God, can be dualistic yet unified at the same time. How can there be unification when there is chaos? Why is there far more matter than anti-matter? Why are we not merely collapsing under the merciless powers of physical forces? My "explanation" is as follows.

The world must be kept in balance by a dipolar (two-poled) mechanism. There seems to be two poles, one positive and one negative, that steer the world depending on its current state of balance. You can attribute it to something mechanical, rather like a thermostat, that keeps the universe balanced, or you can attribute it to something with judgement and volition, like God, who seeks divine justice. The idea of a volition constituting the unity of the universe is a bit extreme (Aristotle, Hegel, many others), but I think an angel of justice certainly sounds cooler than an appliance. That's all a matter of personal preference, but I will continue to argue in favor of God (whether he is a conscious deity or not).

I believe that there are good people in the world, who feel it is their God-given duty to do good. They are the direct disciples of God who attempts to restore the balance of the world. I believe in freewill, and if a good person chooses to ignore the voice, the world will continually steer in the negative direction. Freewill is the main reason why I don't think we live in a purely mechanical universe. I believe that freewill truly exists and is outside of deterministic properties. It is how chaos balances with law - they come together in the momentary decision.

Embracing positivity and only positivity seems to be the path of God. I hate senseless positivity (like saying that everything is always going to work out without taking responsibility because "God wants it") and middle of the road thinking (Every one is right and things are always OK just how they are). So, I need to qualify what I mean by positive thinking.

1. Positivity is the way. Have faith in life - there is a reason you are alive. Your true inner voice is there and must be followed.
2. Take action - life is a process of doing, then self-evaluating. You must never insult yourself and always seek higher and truer standards.
3. Your place - do not live in excess, don't take on more than you can handle. Always go on your journey.
4. Learn everything you can. Learn how everything relates, yet is separate and distinct.
   
5. Love, trust, let go, laugh, live in the now, and treat yourself right.
6. Creativity - be an artist, teach, blog, organize, write, speak, walk, listen. Allow God to reward your creativity.

Whether you are religious or not, it is the human experience that binds us all together. We can only be comforted by the words of others, we can only love when we feel the love of others, and it is our duty to help humanity.

(Further reading - Rational Mysticism, by John Horgan)
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#4. The Diminished Scale and its Harmony

I've been thoroughly enjoying the 8-tone, dominant diminished scale lately. It's also called the "half-whole" (HW) diminished scale. Here's how it's built:

root-H-W-H-W-H-W-H-W or
1 b2 b3 3 #4 5 6 b7

What's cool is that it's a symmetrical scale and all kinds of weird parallel harmonies can be found in it:

1. Diminished Seventh chords can be found on every chord tone.
2. Dominant Seventh chords (with tensions: b9, #9, #11, 13) can be found on the root, b3, b5, and 6th scale degrees.
3. Minor Seventh (or Half Diminished) chords can be found on the root, b3, b5, and 6th scale degrees.

I find this mind-boggling, that both major and minor chords are found on the main chord tones of the scale!

This is a mode of limited transposition (thanks Messaien) so there are only 3 unique diminished scales!

There are some crazy harmony tricks you can use to add a diminished sound to your compositions/improvisations. Here's my favorite: A very wacky set of triads can work over a C7 chord if you use the dominant diminished scale. Each triad will resolve to a chord tone in F major.

• C major triad
• Eb major triad (#9, 5, b7)
• Gb major triad (tritone substitution! #11, b7, b9)
• A major triad (13, b9, 3)

...bizarre, but awesome.
http://www.guitar9.com/columnist331.html
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REVIEW: Songs of the North & There and Back, by The Devin Arne Quintet

I'm excited to be reviewing the debut album of my good friend and fellow composer/guitarist: DEVIN ARNE

Songs of the North and There and Back is a journey through landscapes, emotional depth, atmosphere, and soulful groove. Devin Arne's debut album features an ensemble of fantastic musicians from the McGill University in Montreal, Canada where the album was recorded. Listen for elements of the styles of some of the jazz greats including Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Ben Monder, Jim Hall, as well as pop giants Radiohead, Zero 7, and Sigur Ros in Devin's work. One can find a dazzling variety of guitar textures and sounds accompanied by the expressive power of the trumpet and saxophone duet and stylistic brilliance of the drummer. Arne carefully balances his three-sectioned album with finely-crafted ballads and head-bopping jams. There is a feeling of continuity and unity as you listen to the album, along with myriads of harmonic and tonal variety. The album opens with "There and Back," which is one of my favorites - in a true jam style. Over a grooving ostinato that permeates the track is a unique call-and-response melody which can also be found in "Early Spring." The melodies, solos, and eventual final tutti jam all have the undertones of this awesome groove. Another favorite is "Sympathetic Vibrations" which tells of other worlds with its advanced harmonies and rich, singing melodies. One can not help but nodding their head along the bouncing 6/8 groove. "Broken Heat" opens immediately outlining the augmented scale and telling of deep, chilling sorrows. Free-flowing improvisation may catch you off-guard, but the track eventually swells to an all-encompassing depth that makes this track another favorite. The album closes with the sensitive "Ingmar," combining pensive melody reminiscent of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "How Insensitive" with some more modern harmonies. For sheer simplicity and beauty, this arrangement is another one of my favorites.

This album is available from the iTunes store and on Devin's Website:
http://www.devinarne.com/home.html
See more from Devin: http://nujazzinternational.ning.com/profile/1r0jctdse0is7
www.myspace.com/devinarneguitar
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#3 CAGED guitar system

Over the past couple of days, I've been working on the CAGED guitar system. It's an intense process of visualizing scales based on the 5, common guitar chord shapes: C major, A major, G major, E major, and D major. http://coldbrains.com/CAGED/index.html is a good resource. But anyways, I'm trying to get into the nitty gritty of logical scale fingerings on the guitar...my recent discovery was that most good scale fingerings for major are not the "3 note per string" thing, but the "3 note per string" with the exception of one string having 2 notes. There are 2 good 3 note per string fingerings...but I'm not sure how they fit in yet. The goal is to have an improvisation approach that is firmly based in a chord system...it may not be CAGED, because symmetrical scales don't really follow CAGED logic...but that's the goal.

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#2 Two tetrachords? I think not.

Why do we think of 7 note scales as 2 tetrachords? There are only 7 notes, so why would we think of the scale as piling 2 tetrachords (4+4=8) and include the top octave?
Let's see what happens if we think of it as 123,4567 - in other words, a trichord, then a tetrachord. Let's use the 7 modes of major (in intervallic order of "widest" to "most compressed"):

Lydian - major 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a phygian tetrachord
Major - major 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a lydian tetrachord
Mixolydian - major 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a major tetrachord
Dorian - minor 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a major tetrachord
Minor - minor 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a minor tetrachord
Phrygian - phrygian 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a minor tetrachord
Locrian - phrygian 1 2 3. 4567 belong to a phrygian tetrachord

What's interesting to note is "modes within modes," such as the lydian tetrachord in major, and the fact that Lydian and Locrian both have phrygian tetrachords, though they start on different notes.

This particular way of thinking seems to undermine the fact that major, dorian, and phrygian have dual tetrachord symmetry, which is pretty cool.

I think what this all comes down to is "tetrachordal" thinking...if you have 4 scalar notes in a row, it's some sort of tetrachord. I guess you can hack a scale into whatever bits you like, to expose particular mode pieces within a scale.

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Microcosm and Macrocosm

warning: deep stuff :)
Youtube: The Awakening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T7346dFnkE
Your feelings are the key. Your feelings are the feelings of God, not consciousness. Grow your own food, take responsibility, acknowlege your feelings.
Thoughts and emotions directly affect the world around you. The one connecting principle is love, and disharmony is caused when we deviate from the rule.
There is a battle that has waged on since the beginning of time, it is a war between good and evil. At every moment, we must choose love and fight evil.

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Blog #1 = progressions in major to minor

it's finally here...
A place where people who like music theory can mention their deepest, darkest, nerdiest theory revelations.
I have much to share. Let's start with an idea I had.

Take progressions in the major key...let's do "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles (this may become a recurring example.)
Chorus: iii | vi | iii | vi | iii | vi | ii | V
Verse: 12 bar blues in C, with dominant 7 chords

Let's transform it into minor keeping the relative chord placements:
Chorus: bIII | bVI | bIII | bVI | bIII | bVI |ii half dim| V |
Verse: 12 bar blues in C minor, with minor 7 chords

Wow, that really doesn't work! bIII will sound like a tonic chord in a major key! I think minor keys need more emphasis on that tonic minor chord, known as i.

Comments rock.

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