vesterberg.se

There is some kind of evil principle in the world and also inside us that wants to pulls us apart from one another. It is active between mates, inside a group and between groups of people.

Today I reminded myself of this: we have to appreciate our relationships and the time and experiences that we have shared together. Having spent 5 or 10 years together is valuable. Every shared thought or event is like an investment, a deposit in a bank. It should not easily be thrown away.

I think we have to move towards one another. Because there is a force that wants to pull us apart, we have to be active and apply some force in the opposite direction. How do we move towards each other? We can do it by small choices every day or every time we meet, by reacting positive instead of negative, by encouraging instead of criticising, by trying to understand the other persons thoughts and feelings. Parents can put themselves in the teenagers shoes and husbands can study their wives world.

Love gives a new chance, again and again. Let’s put some energy in it. Let’s invest in our relationships. The investment will return to us. An old saying states: “Cast your bread over the water and it will came back to you”.

On Saturday, a few days ago my band Soundrise played at a wedding nearby. We were scheduled as the last event and we played for 2 hours. There were about 75 guests. They wanted us to be careful with the volume so we used digital drums live for the first time. All went well and the bride and bridegroom were very satisfied.

Playing at weddings is difficult because you have a very differentiated audience, from children to old grandma’. We make it very clear when they hire us that we primarily play rock, blues and funk. The building was very odd, a wooden house in the form of an cone (something like a cot or indian wigwam) with a fire place in the middle and many animal skins on the walls. The midrange of my bass sound disappeared and I was not really prepared for that. Yes, we made a soundcheck, but it all got worse when the guests arrived. I did not use my equalizer this evening and was not enough familiar with the Line6 Bass Pod to adjust it in a hurry.

Lesson learned: always be prepared for midrange to be sucked out. What sounds like a nice fat sound in rehearsal place, will became an undefined tone in reality. It should sound like to much mid where you stand at stage, then tone is good out among the audience. This is a real problem sometimes. The lows are unaffected but the mid or highs disappear. In a situation like this, if you boost the low frequencies or use the “smiley” setting, you will make things worse. Your instrument will sound like rumble.

Now, the good thing about the Line6 Bass POD is that you can have several alternate settings and change between them quickly. I doubt that I will ever use more than 5 different sounds during a gig. The different banks could then be alternatives for different type of auditoriums.

What has been spinning in my mp3-player the last week?

Massive Attack – Blue Lines (1991)
A groundbreaking album in the trip-hop genre. A blend of hip-hop, soul and dub. I think this is their best album. I appreciate the variation of songs, styles and vocal voices on this album. Many of the other trip-hop groups have conformed to just one single style. Also, we have several catchy bass lines in this album. I will get back to this album again and again. I give it top rating, 5 out of 5.

Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine (1992)
This is a pioneer album that merge Rap and Heavy Metal. It is intense and rebellious and with an urgent message to the listener. Tom Morello on guitarr, the vocalist Zack de la Rocha and the bass player Tim Commerford create a unique sound. One of the songs is theme in the film Matrix, the movie that started out so good but ended in a bunch of clichés. The first time I listened to the album I did not like it at all, but after a while I was able to enter into the rage against the machine. Strong opposition demands fierce words. Tom Morello and Tim Commerford moved on to the group Audioslave. Tim Commerford is an notable and powerful bass player. Though I like the album my rating is 3 out of 5. It is interesting, but I do not love it.

Horace Silver Quintet – The Cap Verde Blues (1965)
The pianist Horace Silver is one of my favourites among the jazz hard-boppers. The album Songs to my Father is best, but this one is also very enjoyable. He plays funky, relaxed and not to complicated. My rating is 3 out of 5.

I have discovered that I can help my thinking process by expressing my thoughts in words, either by telling someone or by writing it down. It seems that deeper understanding can be birthed when you explain what you are trying to understand. Expressing things in words are like kneading a dough. Something eatable might be the result! So this blog is a kneading of words and thoughts and even if no one reads it, I have gained understanding myself.

Efficiently handling complexity is one of the main reasons to modularize software. As hardware has become cheaper, we can build, combine and integrate as never before. Our success in combining the building blocks, is dependent on how modular they really are. Equally important is that we understand their function, by themselves and as they are combined. As human beings, we can handle only a limited amount of complexity and if this limit is exceeded, much time will be spent in support and debugging. Therefore we constantly have to work on modularization. We have to get better at it.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have strange things growing in my garden just outside my house. This is a photo from July 2006.

Using equalizer for shaping the tone of your bass is not that useful. You will often end up having different levels for different strings. If you want a fatter sound and you decrease treble, the higher strings will sound weaker. Equalization is most useful to cut harmonics above the range you are playing or compensate for the characteristics of the amp, speaker or room. At least I want my strings to sound evenly.

Better than equalization is to use your fingers. You can change a good deal by playing with your fingertips or with your fingerpads. Also the angle with which you hit the string affects the sound.

Something I have explored lately and found very useful is to play with my thumb only and at the same time dampen the strings slightly at the bridge. This gives you a fat tone with short sustain, almost like an upright bass. G-string needs less dampening than the thicker strings so you will have to move your hand towards the bridge as you move to a higher string. Some songs that we play just begs to be played this way.

You can look at the role and function of a teacher in many ways. One picture in particular has evolved in my mind during past teaching experiences and that is the role of a mediator. I see myself standing between the student and the subject, holding the hand of the student in one hand and the subject in the other. I need a deep understanding of the subject that I am teaching on, but also a good understanding of those who listen to me.

A mediator has to know the worlds of both parties to be successful. I have to frame my words, choose my examples and begin at the appropriate level for my audience. I have to monitor their reaction and response and be prepared to take an alternate route. A mediator has to be prepared for a compromise. Sometimes, if not most of the time, you cannot lead your audience to full understanding.

For teaching to be efficient the students have to be guided by someone walking together with them. If I instruct and stand at a distance, my mission is difficult to accomplish. If the teacher has a desire to see the students really learn he has to get to know their world also. The study of youth culture and how young people think, should have high priority at the teaching department of the University. When I teach Java-programming I have to find out at which level the audience is. I mean, not just passively give them a questionnaire beforehand, but actively “study” my students. Challenging! It is as much didactics and psychology as software science.

This week I have been struggling with some jazz concepts. I got frustrated that I did not “get it” faster. When I calmed down and took a step back, I realized that I had to be patient and use some principles of life. This is what dawned to me (nothing new):

I try to grasp too much at a time. I have to divide the task into smaller parts and conquer them that way. However sometimes it is hard to know how to divide. Then take a step back and think it through.

I have to practice the concepts more often, a few minutes several times a day. The most efficient learning is taking place when you repeat often. If you let several days pass, maybe only 50 % is left when you hit it again and you feel as if you are skiing uphill every time.

The third thing is to become more aware of what I am doing, to climb up to a higher level of concentration and stay there. It is easier to learn things mechanically, play what you already know or hone your slapping technique, than to intelligently steer your playing. Know why you play things. Play on purpose. Awareness can be trained. Drifting away and thinking on something else is an easy habit.