Very Secure

TheFleet Post-Mortem

June 25th, 2020

TheFleet (Dec 14th, 20191 - ~April 13th 2020)

TheFleet, a project I undertook proposed by Diana Coman on Dec 14th, 2019, came to a halt around April 13th, 2020. The project failed for multiple reasons, perhaps all of which stemmed from a lack of drive to see it completed. I thought it worth some time to reflect on what I learned from the project I undertook for 4 months. To do that reflection I've collected a list of the articles I wrote about TheFleet and have reread each one to see what are the takeaways I should remember for my next endeavour.

1. Setting up Trinque's Logbot on Centos 6 With SBCL Quiclisp, Swank, and Postgres

Writing this article saved me time later on. I'll always document a server setup procedure (or any other setup) going forward.

2. TheFleet - A Systematic Exploration of the IRC Space

I recall that when I first discussed this project with diana_coman I thought its purpose was to find other productive individuals conversing on irc. But she informed me that it was better to aim for a "systematic exploration," i.e. see what's there - instead. This is a key piece of advice when approaching anything. Goals need to be changed as you gain information, so it's better to stay goalless, minus the aim of shedding light on what you're exploring.

Given how long this (incomplete) endeavor took in the end, it's amusing to read diana_coman refer to TheFleet as a small project. To excuse be fair to myself I was bussied with other tasks as I worked on TheFleet: building a computer, saltmines work, and writing a couple of articles a week. But because I don't have neatly organized timelogs, I don't know exactly how/where I was losing time.

Another small point - when I outlined the project I thought one of the objectives should be to create a nice visual interface for viewing the data. This is probably because of a value system I've picked up from working in the Silicon Valley world, where one is incentivized to build a nice displaying dashboard for management dishing out cash.

3. Progress Report on TheFleet

In this progress report I address my "lisp problem." I was acting like a day trader while programming - clicking and turning knobs until I found the correct lines of code to get a list of channels from different servers. Again, I should have focused on building up an understanding of my program. There were various issues I was running into with regards to threading, memory management, lisp itself, how the irc protocol worked, etc. Instead of trying to fix my gaps of knowledge I kept tweaking the code - in the form of taking stabs in the dark - until I got a list of channels from some networks.

4. A Few Thoughts on Lisp and Programming in General

In the above article I go over the points about lisp I just mentioned. I also question the usefulness of Common Lisp on a modern machine because of the bloat sbcl adds, but jfw notes that sbcl has a smaller source than the code required to interpret my other choice language, python. In any case, I think that I've greatly overestimated the power of CL. This came from some masturbatory reading of all the hyperbole of how great a language it is. It has perhaps slight syntactic advantage over python, but it is not in and of itself a magic language vastly superior to all others - at least not without a competent operator using it on an actual lisp machine.

5. Fleetbot Pseudocode Bugs and Fixes and The New Next Steps

This article is painful to reread. What makes the article so terrible is that I am attempting to write the pseudocode of TheFleet but I just end up writing this bloat that is more tedious to read than the code itself. This came from my misguided attempt to be thorough. What I should have produced is a reduction that highlights the main points of the code. But I did get something out of writing this article - the careful review of the code I did in preparation revealed bugs.

6. Ircbot No Suicide on Reconnect

This is one lasting accomplishment of TheFleet - a published fix of a bug found in a few pieces of republican software. I could have written a fix that allows the bot reconnect in more scenarios. But this would have required a slightly larger vpatch. I choose the smaller vpatch so that it would be more didactic.

7. TheFleet Overview

This article was a revision of my bloated pseudo-code piece. The stupidity detected here was that I claimed to be concerned about paying some paltry amount of fiat to rent a server. This reveals how my financial decisions are often completely illogical and emotionally based. I actually didn't even cancel my subscription for TheFleet servers until I wrote this article, so clearly I didn't really care about the money.

8. TheFleet Test Run Results

This was an overview report on the results of the first (and ultimately only) collection of data. Nothing to note here really other than I may still want to study how virtual memory works, since my first attempt at logging was screwed up by an OOM error that I never figured out.

9. TheFleet Next Steps With Data Collection

In this final article before TheFleet project was abandoned all together, I sidestepped the current goal of analyzing the data I had by saying I needed to fiddle with something else first. The main problem is I give myself a timeline that is not concrete. I said "Once I have a system I am content with for assigning the next channels to my VMs running TheFleet, I will plan how to analyze the collected data." A system I am content with is unspecified and thus I can forever stall as I work on this unspecified goal.

***

After a small amount of contemplation, I think the import points to remember for my next project are:

I. Pick something I'm excited about.
II. Set concrete goals with timelines, updating them as new information comes to light.
III. Keep a work timelog that is specific. An example is the timelog found in my guitar practice series.
IV. Document anything that may be used again in the future.
V. When choosing what to work on next, tend towards that which increases understanding.

  1. My birthday, coincidentally. [↩]

Posted in Reflection | 2 Comments »

Unnecessary Muscle Binding - The Great Impediment To Musical and Athletic Performance

June 22nd, 2020

Contracting unnecessary muscles hinders one's ability to execute a motion. When performing a physical task, irrelevant muscles should remain relaxed. A musician cannot play gracefully if the fingers they are not using flail around. An athlete becomes fatigued more quickly if they overwork themselves by contracting unnecessary muscle groups.

Knowing that proper technique requires the contraction of specific muscles while keeping irrelevant ones relaxed is paramount for performance. Because of this I've wondered why we often err by binding unnecessary muscles to movements and how to break these bad habits/prevent them from forming in the first place. I've come up with a hypothesis for the former and found few techniques for the latter that I believe are worth sharing.

Why we contract unnecessary muscles

My guess as to why we contract some unnecessary muscles when attempting a task is that our brain thinks like this:

I know I need to contract one of these ~ten muscles. But argh, which one? Let's send a signal that contracts them all! One of the muscles will get the job done. *contracts a bunch of muscles* Oh hey that worked, kinda. Good enough, now I know how to do this!

This faulty logic is described as the pin-ball syndrome in The New Voice: How to Sing and Speak Propery1

If you have ever watched someone play a pin-ball machine you will recognize the following description: After the ball is hit and it begins to touch pins that light up or it rolls close to holes the player does not want the balls to fall into, he usually begins to roll his head, twist his shoulders, screw up his face, and generally tense and distort his body to "help" maneuver the ball in the direction he'd like it to go. Of course, the ball will follow its own course.

Something similar to this happens during the process of learning to voluntarily move the necessary and specific muscles into the Basic Shape.2 There is a tendency for secondary muscles to "help." For example, while attempting to "yawn" the Adam's apple down there may be: distortion of the lips, tensing or raising the shoulders, even knitting the eyebrows and tensing muscles in the forehead. I call this the Pin-Ball Syndrome. The student wants so much to maneuver the correct muscles that he unconsciously calls on other areas of the body for help.

These are secondary and unnecessary tensions. They hinder rather than help.

In a word, the problem is: impatience.

What happens when one binds unnecessary muscles

Sometimes contracting irrelevant muscles prevents one from completing the task at hand. In this case, the brain will keep searching for different signals until it finds one that keeps the hindering muscles relaxed. But other times the brain may register a signal as a correct way to contract the muscles necessary to perform a task, even though that signal also contracts additional, unnecessary muscles.

For example, an opera singer may learn the brain signal that causes the throat/oral muscle movements necessary to sing a high note with the side effect of squinting. If the opera singer is only judging her success based on what she hears, her brain will think it has found how to send the correct signal to perform the high note. If left unchecked, the squinting that comes along with her high note remains a habit and thus a quirk in her performance.

How to correctly do a movement

The first step is to figure out which muscles you need to contract to do the action. Then you measure success by your ability to control those required muscles in isolation. By measuring success by your muscle control, you avoid the situation where you are nominally able to perform a task but have also bound unnecessary muscles thus making your form tense and awkward.

As to how to actually learn to contract a muscle while keeping all others relaxed, I have found a few helpful techniques.3 The most important piece of advice to keep in mind while using these techniques is: be patient.

The first technique for learning how to isolate a muscle is to discover where that muscle is. You also will want to learn the location of all the surrounding muscles that are likely to accidentally get bound to the target muscle's movement.

The second step is to learn how to relax that muscle and its surrounding muscles. Relaxation can be tricky since it's inaction that you're aiming for. Thus it is possible to create even more tension when one tries to relax.

It can be difficult to relax a muscle if you are not aware of what your body looks like or how it feels to have that muscle relaxed. Sometimes it helps to touch the muscle under examination with a finger to get additional biofeedback. The extra tactile sensation aids in letting you know if the muscle has softened. It also can be helpful to try to tense the muscles first and then release that tension, taking note of the contrast between the tensed and relax state.

Once you're able to tense and relax a muscle at will while keeping all other muscles relaxed, you can improve your control by attempting the same while keeping your eyes closed and without touching the muscle with a guiding finger. You can then check your success via a video recording.

There are various other techniques and methods for learning how to isolate various muscle groups. I am no expert myself so I won't expound on the subject. But from simply being conscious about the importance of learning how to tense and relax the correct muscles, I've seen significant improvement in my ability to learn technical skills on the guitar. Without a doubt, studying the art of muscle control will aid one in any physical endeavor.

  1. By Alan Greene, Pamela Hyde, and Susan Greene. [↩]
  2. This "Basic Shape" is the shape required of the throat for singing, described in detail in the book. [↩]
  3. A full guide on how to learn how to isolate the major muscle groups can be found in the book Muscle Control by Maxick. [↩]

Posted in Music, Reflection | No Comments »

Guitar Practice Log 9

June 3rd, 2020

This practice was done on June 2, 2020

I. Warmup

Spidercrawl (Focus on not looking at fret)
String Crossing (M & A)

II. Music Theory

Dorion Mode and Mixolydian Mode Scales - M&A Exchanges.

III. Technique

Thumb climb, keeping hand still.
Tremolo
Rasgueado
Vibrato

IV. New Repertoire

Continue work on Bourree.

==

Review

I. Warmup (15 min) - Still struggling with tirando with m&a.

II. Music Theory (15 mins)

I learned a scale for the Mixolydian and Dorion Mode.

I should review this again to get it to stick to memory:

http://www.guitarorb.com/guitar-scales/

III. Technique. (30 mins)

Right hand was fatigued so I stopped the practiced early, but tremolo is coming along smoothly. working on m&a independence seems to be helping a lot.

IV. New Repertoire

Skipped.

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Guitar Practice Log 8 - How To Pentatonic

June 3rd, 2020

This practice was done on June 1st, 2020

I. Warmup

Spidercrawl
M & A Major Scales

II. Music Theory

Learn a Diagnol Scale

III. Technique

Bradford Tremolo Exercises

Watch a video on vibrato + practice vibrato.

Rasgueado.

IV. New Repertoire

Continue work on Bourree.

==

Review

I. Warmup

- 5 mins, skipped M&A scales because of left hand fatigue. Doing finger cross m&a instead.

II. Music Theory (44 mins)

Wound up Learning Major / Minor Pentatonic Theory

Major Pentatonic = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th scale degree of Major Scale.

C Major Pentatonic is:
C, D, E, G, A

Minor Pentatonic = 1st, flat 3rd, 4th, 5th, and flat 7th scale degree of Major Scale.

To play the diagonal scale you can take many different paths, to make life easier you do one shift per string / every other string.

III. Technique (50 mins)

Skipped vibrato, barely did rasgueado.

The staccato drill for tremolo seems to help me get speed, but perhaps creates a staccato effect. I also noticed I have a problem with my nail catching, I should focus next time on simple tirando.

IV. New Repertoire (30 mins)
- No notes

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Spanish Study Log 2 - The Imperative Mood Notes

June 3rd, 2020

I. Read 3 Chapters of Spanish Short Stories Book.

II. Go over imperative conjugation

III. Listen to audio clips (youtube 10 mins)

==

Review

I. Spanish Short Stories Book (50 minutes)

Ríndete - "Surrender!"

(Rendirse = give up)

mantenerlo a salvo. - to keep it safe

una coleta - a ponytail

el pasillo - espacio largo y estrecho de un edificio o una casa que comunica unas estancias con otras. (an aisle)

la puerta trasera - the back door

el sótano - the basement

la ametralladora - the machine gun

una bombilla - a light bulb

una alfombra - carpet / rug

un mozo - a kid / a dude (Google translate incorrectly says that this means "waiter")

cabello rojizo - redish hair

era muy saludable - he was very healthy

"normalmente, actuaba con timidez" - normally, he would act in a shy way

el mostrador - a counter (of a store)

la nariz quebrada - the fractured nose

Capítulo 2

el anciano menudo - el viejo pequeño

Lily sujetó su bolso marrón - Lily held her brown bag.

El anciano señaló el bolso - The old man pointed to the bag

me atraparán - They will catch me

la embajada - The Embassy

confiar en mí - Trust me.

Él alargó la mano para alcanzarlo. - He extended the hand to reach it.

Con la otra mano le cogió la muñeca - with the other hand she took his wrist.

usted entró en mi casa por la fuerza. - you broke in

fallar - to fail

el alrededor - the surrounding area

está mintiendo - He is lying.

la sobrina - the niece

Si les ganamos a los nazis - if we beat the nazis,

David le apunta con una pistola - David points a gun at him.

Capítulo 3

un almacén vacío - an empty warehouse

conseguí la carpeta. - I got the folder.

la mitad - the half

un fracaso - resultado adverso en una cosa que se esperaba sucediese bien. (a failure)

volver a salir - to go out again

traicionar - cometer traición contra una persona, idea, doctrina, etc. - (to betray)

Lo acercó a sí misma - he brought it closer to himself

II. Go over imperative conjugation (about 40 mins)

Source of information: https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/spanish-imperative-mood

A. Affirmative tú commands

To form an affirmative tú command with ar verbs, add the third person singular ending -a to the stem.

i.e.

Compra la camisa - "buy the shirt"

For er, and ir, use the third person singular ending -e.

aprende español - "Learn Spanish"

escribi el ensayo - "Write the essay."

Note: Keep the stem changes

Examples:

Cerrar - cierra la puerta.

Mover - Mueve esas sillas.

Incluir - incluye tus datos aquí.

Irregular Affirmative Tú Commands

Verb Affirmative Tú Command Form
ser sé
ir ve
tener ten
venir ven
hacer haz
decir di
poner pon
salir sal

Pronouns are attached to the end of affirmative commands. If two pronouns are used than a tilde is used to mark the verb's original stress. Example:

cómpraselo - buy it for him.

B. Negative Informal "Tú" Commands

Use "no" and the present subjunctive second person conjugation.

comprar - no compres
aprender - no aprendas
escribir - no escribas

If the verb is irregular in present subjunctive, the informal command keeps the same irregularlity.

No hagas la tarea.
No seas injusto.

Pronouns are placed between the negative word (no or nunca) and the verb, i.e.:

Nunca les compres dulces a los niños. Never buy candy for the children.
Nunca se los compres. - Never buy it for them.

C. Formal Affirmative and Negative Commands

Usted and ustedes commands are the same as the present subjunctive ud. and uds. forms.

Hablar - hable, hablen
Comer - coma, coman
Vivir - viva, vivan

Pronouns are placed at the end of the formal command, i.e:

Tráigamelo - Bring it to me.
Mírelo - Look at it.

Negative Formal Commands

Just add a negative word like "no" to the beginning of the formal affirmative command.

No saquen sus libros.
No ponga su bolsa aqui.
No vengan.

Pronouns are placed inbetween the negative word and the verb.

Nunca se los compre.

D. Nosotros Commands

There are two types of nosotros commands:

i) Subjunctive form commands.
ii) Vamos a + infinitive commands.

Nosotros commands with the subjunctive:

Trabajemos juntos. - Let's work together
Comamos aquí. - Let's eat here.
Leamos los periódicos - Let's read the newspapers.
Vamos al restaurante. - Let's go to the restaurant.

Note that the present indicative form is used for the verb ir

Nosotros commands with Vamos a + infinitive.

Vamos a ir a la playa. - Let's go to the beach.
Vamos a divertirnos - Let's have some fun.
Vamos a nadar - Let's go swim.

Negative Nosotros Commands

Put a no in front of the affirmative command.

No nademos. - Let's not swim.
No salgamos - Let's not leave.
Nunca vayamos allí. - Let's never go there.

Note that you DO use the present subjunctive form of the verb ir - "vayamos" - for negative commands

Pronoun placement for nosotros commands is a tad complicated. For the subjunctive command form you need to: drop the final -s from the verb; attach the pronoun to the end of the subjunctive command form, and accent the second-to last-syllable of the verb.

I.e.

Sentemos + nos => sentémonos aquí. - Let's sit here.
Hagamos + se + la => hagámosela. - Let's make it for her.
Vamos + nos => Vámonos - Let's go.

For the vamos a + infinitive form, just attach the pronoun to the end of the infinitive as usual.

Vamos a sentarnos aquí - Let's sit here.
Vamos a dormirnos - Let's go to sleep.

For negative commands, pronouns are placed between the negative word and before the verb.

No lo comamos - Let's not eat it.
No se le demos - Let's not give it to them.

E. "Que" Commands and Infinitive Commands

Indirect commands are given "through a third party or to an unspecified recipient."

To form a que command write "Que + present subjunctive"

Que pase. - Let him in.
Que me llamen. - Have them call me.
Que tenga un buen dia. - Have a good day.
Que no vea mi madre. - Don't let my mother see.
Que venga el cliente. - Have the client come in.
Que ponga Anita la camisa Negra. - Have Anita wear the black shirt.
Que lo haga. - Have him do it.

Infinite Commands

Just use the infinitive, no conjugating. These are the commands that would be written on a sign or in a set of instructions, but one would not use these while telling a specific someone else to do something.

No pisar el césped - No walking on the grass.
Mezclar los ingredients en un tazón. - Mix the ingredients in a bowl.
No fumar. - No smoking.
Ver las notas abajo. - See the notes below.
Batir los huevos. - Beat the eggs.

III. Spanish Listening Exercise (15 min)

Coronavirus Spanish Listening Exercise

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTgwagSjUko

Some vocab:

cueste lo que cuesete - whatever it takes
un cumplido - a compliment
la verguenza - embarrassment
un morciélago - a bat
un pangolin - a scaly ant-eater
las cifras - the numbers

Posted in Español | No Comments »

Spanish Study Log 1

June 3rd, 2020

This session was done on June 2nd, 2020

I'm reading Spanish Short Stories for Intermediate Learners by Olly Richards. The stories are pretty awful, but they are engaging enough and they are both bite size and at my reading level. There are 8 in total and I plan to go through one every day for the next few days.

Note: I didn't know how to use diacritics when I made this practice log, so accents are missing. For some words I capitalized a letter that would otherwise have an accent mark.

I. Read Short Stories
- Read 1st story from Olly Richards Book.

II. Listening Exercises.
- Listen to 10 mins of a Spanish listening exercise video on youtube.

==

Review

I. Vocab

Persevera y triunfara's

Capitulo 1:

parado frente a nosotros = standing in front of us

adecuada - que se acomoda a ciertas condiciones

portapapeles - una herramienta que se usa para tener algo atras de papel para escribir en la papel mientras se esta de pie.

"fruncio el cen~o"
Nos habiamos puesto guapos.

mi hombro flacucho. -

Era apuesto - muy guapo / bien vestido

"Puso los ojos en blanco" = rolled his eyes

una cuerda de terciopelo = terciopelo es el color como purpulo para los ricos

nego con la cabeza - he shook his head.

"Te pille" - I catch you

me hizo a un lado = he pushed me aside

rellenos = lleno

"Nacho no se parecia en nada a Aron" - Nacho was not at all like Aron.

arriesgado - con valor

las golosinas = la comida dulce "the sweets"

el camarero = el trabajador que trae la comida en un resteraunte

se encogiO de hombros = he shrugged his shoulders

suspirE = I sighed.

me cruce de brazos = I crossed my arms.

rojizo = que tiene un tono rojo.

hazme un favor = do me a favor.

asintieron con la cabeza = they nodded in agreement.

la pelirroja = the redhead.

(no tiene) nada que ver con (algo) = it has nothing to do with

Apetecer - desejar, querer

"Ni siquiera os conocemos" - we don't even know you

IntentEmoslo - let's try it.

se miraron entre sI. - they looked at each other

Capitulo 2:

me dio un codazo en las costillas - he gave me a poke in the ribs.

amedrentador - intimidating

menor de edad -

la pista de baile - donde se baila

se llevan bien - como se cayen bien.

chavales - ninos

Lo espantaste a Aron? (espantar a - to scare away)

tu amigo es raro - extraNo / weird

ya espantaste a tu novio -

"no te metas con (alguien)" - don't mess with

una sonrisa burlona - a mocking smile

el concurrido bar - the crowded bar

se mordio el labio - she bit her lip

EchE un vistazo al club. - I took a look (at something)

altavoces - speakers

es una indirecta? - is it an insinuation?

se agregO a sI misma - she added herself

callarme - shutup

Capitulo 3

sE tu mismo - be yourself

EstAs actuando raro - you are acting weird

una noche extraNa - a strange night.

un mayordomo - a butler

una docena - 12

rio a carcajadas - she laugh out loud

grosero - rude

"Ese tIo" (but its not tio like uncle) - this guy

Me dio pena - i felt sorry for him

me visitaba a menudo - me visitaba con frequencia

Estas equivocado, chaval. you're wrong, kid

II. Listening Exercises

10 mins of "Why Not Spanish?" Listening exercises.

Posted in Español | No Comments »

Guitar Practice Log 7

June 2nd, 2020

This session was done on May 31st

I. Warmup

Nail care
Stretches
String climb + spider crawl + chromatic scales

II. Technique

Vibrato
- Practice relaxing fingers without guitar

Tremolo
- Work on stability of hand with thumb (keep thumb straight instead of bending back)
- 10x of PAMA, PMAM, PIMI, PMIM at 60bpm

Rasgueado
- Rotate accents 60bpm with speed bursts

III. New Repertoire

Go over first page of Bourree

Review

I. Warmup

I shouldn't file the left edge of my right hand nails because it is too difficult to remove the corner. I should order nail strengthener.

Stretches 30min

Notes on Finger independence stretches.
- Fingers were splaying too far from each other, sign of tension.
- I need to remember to bend both the 1st and 2nd phalanges.
- To ask: is it possible to fully disconnect M & A?

II. Technique

Vibrato (5 mins)
- Practiced some, still struggling with pinky / index.

Tremolo (35 min)
- Recorded from new camera angle. I realized that I need to push my fingers forward and contract a bit. I also noticed that each pluck I am relaxing the last part of my finger before playing. I think my fingers need to be fully relaxed when they are "on deck" for plucking so that the pluck step is just a contraction rather than a relax-then-contract.
- Try the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ukbQysEehk technique tomorrow.

Rasgueado: (20 min)

- I realized I've been contracting my hand and need to remember that I only should be using the extenders, and I should place the right hand so that extending strikes the strings.

III. New Repertoire

- My ability to play this piece regressed after my break.

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Guitar Practice Log 6

May 25th, 2020

I. Warmup
1. Pepe Romero exercises
2. Spidercrawl

II. Music Theory
1. 20 mins of interval ear training.

III. Technique
1. Tremolo Practice
2. Rasgueado Practice
3. Double Notes

IV. New Repertoire
1. Continue work on Borree

V. Play around

==

Review

I. Warmup

Pepe Romero Warmup: (30 min)
Spidercrawl (5min)

III. Technique

Tremolo: (40 mins)

- I learned to: keep hand/fingers at a slight angle to the strings. I can do speed bursts that almost begin to sound like tremolo, but I can see shakyness in my hand. My hand can't shake because my fingers need to stay in a precise spot to keep even articulation. Occasionally my thumb knocks my hand out of position by shaking the hand.

Take a look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tOYiRv3_rY
a. Ring finger is at 90 degree angle to strings while middle / index stay at about a 75-80 degree angle

Rasgueado Practice (10 mins)
- Sounding smoother, hold fingers at angle (e and continue to work on ring finger + pinky isolation.

Double Notes: (S: 1.08) (4 mins)
- Same problem with

IV. New Repertoire

(24 mins - No Notes)

V. Play Around

(~15 mins. Listening to some recordings of my pieces, it seemed my high e has a less than pleasant twang sound.)

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Guitar Practice Log 5 - Pepe Romero Stretches and Basic Shoulder Anatomy

May 25th, 2020

This practice session was done on May 24

I. Warmup

1. Pepe Romero exercises
2. Spidercrawl

II. Music Theory

1. Learn the basic 7th Chords.

III. Technique

1. Tremolo Practice
- Add no guitar "bicycle" technique.
2. Rasgueado Practice
- Try to relax pinky while flexing the ring finger.

IV. New Repertoire

Write out the notes I know so far in the Borree (for memorization)

Next 4 measures in Borree.

V. Play around

==

Review

I. Warmup (1hr 10 mins)

Notes on exercises:

Always make sure head and neck are relaxed. Do each drill 10 times.

1. Raise hands over head, then bring them hands from the side.

2. Shoulders up, hands up, shoulders down, hands down.

3. Shoulder circles, rotating backwards.

4. Shoulders up, head left to right and back, keeping shoulders up the whole time.1

5. Three part exercise that goes through three shoulder joints:

i. While touching the shoulder joint with the opposite hand, move arm outwards by lifting elbow.
ii. Use shoulder joint to rotate arm out and pull arm back in with palm facing upwards.
iii. Raise elbow while touching glenohumeral joint. Then raise arm while touching Aromioclavicular joint. Then move arm inwards while touching the sternoclavicular joint.

6. Prayer pose, trying to put elbows together.

7. Rotate arms starting with arms out in front with palms facing each other, then lower them and pull them back, lift them back up again with shoulders.

8. Put arms forward and rotate wrists in and out.

9. Contract fingers, relax, flex fingers, relax..

10. Single hand clapping.

11. Extend fingers, wait, relax, repeat (do not extend with max tension.)

12. One hand keeps fingers relax, while other hand knocks them out of position. They naturally return to their relaxed position.

13. Bicycle fingers.

II. Music Theory

- Skipped

III. Technique

Tremolo Practice (20 mins)

-Speed is indeed easy after learning Romero's technique, I need to work on even articulation and steady timing.

Ragueado (40 mins)

IV. New Rep (1 hr)

I didn't do the exercise where I write what I have remembered of the score, in part because it is annoying to write music without having staff paper.

V. Play Around

Skipped.

  1. Notes on Shoulder anatomy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3GVKjeY1FM

    The bones of the shoulder are:
    a. Humerus (upper arm bone)
    b. Scapula (shoulder blade)
    i. Acromion - Roof of the shoulder is formed by the Acromion, part of the scapula.
    c. Clavicle (collarbone)

    The joints of the shoulder are (4):
    a. Glenohumeral joint - The main joint formed where the ball of the humerus fits into the scapula. (Shallow socket is called the Glenoid)
    b. Acromioclavicular (AC) joint - Where the Clavicle meets the Acromion
    c. Sternoclavicular (SC) joint - Where the shoulder connects to the main skeleton.
    d. Scapulothoracic joint (false joint)- Shoulderblade glides accross back of rib cage.

    Ligaments - Connect bone to bone.
    Tendons - Connect muscle to bone. Muscles move bone by pulling on tendons.
    Bursa - Water tight sack found in many places of the body between moving surfaces that contains lubricating fluid. [↩]

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Guitar Practice Log 4 - "Relax faster" With Notes on Chord Progressions

May 23rd, 2020

I. Warmup
1. (RH) String Crossing - Alternative i & m up and down strings 4x per string 3x, 2x, 1x... (120bpm)
2. (LH) Spider Crawl whole neck (Ascend high e and then descend B, try not to look) (60bpm - focus on concentration)
3. (LH) Chromatic scale in first position, paying attention to pinky legato.

II. Music Theory
1. Proofread yesterday's open fingerings
2. Take notes on chord progressions and what scales to solo over them, specifically minor chord progressions.

III. Technique Development
1. Left hand legato pink placement. Play A Major and E Major open scales (51bpm but only 1npb)
2. Tremolo PAMI
- 60 bpm Legato
- Rotate accent (P, A, M, I, No Accent)
- 60 bpm Sticatto
- 60 bpm Ascending / Descending thumb.
3. Double Notes (Play with dynamics between p and ima)

IV. New Repertoire
1. Go over Bourree by Bach first 16 measures.

V. Repertoire Review

1. Mauro Giuliani C Major Piece incorporating double notes.

==

Review

I. Warmup

String Crossing (3min) - upon descending I don't always drop my finger lower enough to reach the higher pitch string.
Spider Crawl (6 min) - Pay attention to moving the right hand in accordance with the left hand.
Chromatic Scale (4 min) Noticeable improvement on pinky placement. Focus on not extending fingers instead let them return to the string through relaxation.

II. Music Theory

1. Proofread open fingerings - I noticed I missed bolding a root. Corrected. (15 min)
2. Minor Key Chord Progressions (20 min)

The minor key chord progressions are just the shifted version of the relative Major Key.

So for CMaj / aminor

I. C Major (tonic)
ii. d minor (supertonic)
iii. e minor (mediant)
IV. F Major (subdominant)
V. G Major (dominant)
vi. a minor (submediant)
viio. b diminished (leading tone)

If we start on a minor chord the progression is:1

i. a minor
ii. b diminished
III. C Major
iv. d minor
v. e minor
VI. F Major
VII. G Major

III. Technique

1. Pinky Legato - (10 min) (good improvement!)

2. Tremolo (1 hr 4 min)- Notes from Watching Pepe Romero video:

1. The return of the finger to prepare for the next pluck is done via relaxation. The return of the finger to its position is subconscious. Only the plucking of the string is conscious.
2. You should mentally group the tremolo as "AMIP" not "PAMI"
3. I stumbled upon Pepe Romero's video on Rasqueado. This is the technique where you fan out the fingers. The interesting part of this technique is that you need to have the finger's flexers completely relaxed the entire time, which is the opposite of normal guitar playing where you are always tensing the flexers to pluck notes.

New Repertoire Practice: (about 1hr)

Repertoire Review - Skipped.

Overall:

Lots of distraction despite having turned off my phone. But the tips from Romero were a good discovery.

  1. I'm not sure the names of the roman numerals for the minor chord progression, but I believe they are: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic [↩]

Posted in Music | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »