In Or Out?

 
A few people in the world will know that my favourite car is the Oldsmobile Aerotech.
In the early nineties I bought one of these Matchbox toys. I bought it because it so closely resembled the picture in my head of what my perfect car would look like. That's how it became my favourite car, because of a Matchbox toy.
Many moons later when the internet came along I was able to do some research about the Aerotech. I wasn't disappointed and so to this day I still like this car best. The only thing missing was that original Matchbox car. It had found its way onto the open road over the years and I lamented its disappearance.
I'll never own an Aerotech because it was only a concept car. Apparently you can still see them at car shows but that's as close as you'll ever get. I decided that the only way to own (another) one was to try and track down a model. I was in luck. The internet didn't disappoint.
So here I am with a brand new, still sealed in the box Matchbox Oldsmobile Aerotech. I'm happy but one question remains. Shall I leave it in the box or take it out?
I just don't know.
 

Writing In Scale

 
I've never been one to write in scale but I thought I'd try.
The reason is that I'd like to be able to work out a melody to a new tune I'm writing. Thing is it tougher than it looks. Knowing the scale is the easy part and I have an app that'll show me all the chords in the scale. Unfortunately that app isn't conducive to writing tunes. I used an app that was supposed to suggest chords in a scale but that let me down by producing a double b and so that approach was abruptly halted.
My new approach is to write as I always have done, without a key, producing chords that I like. What I'll do afterwards is to change the out of key chords into in key chords while trying to keep the same structure. It has to be easier than limiting myself from the start.
Write free, knock into shape later is my new mantra.
Let's hope it works.
 

Does What It Says On The App

 
A few days ago I watched a video from The SoundTestRoom about an app called Genius Songwriter.
 

I was suitably impressed as it seemed to me to sort the age old problem of being stuck in a rut and churning out the same chords. I thought I'd challenge myself today and see if it really would work so here's what I did.
Firstly I wrote down a simple twelve bar blues sequence in Chordbot. Then I added the root notes of those chords to Genius Sonwriter and let it do it's thing with a couple of minor adjustments from myself. Then I wrote the new chord progression back into Chordbot and made a couple of changes until it all sounded right.
I have to say that I would never have got to that chord sequence on my own and what I ended up with I really liked. What's more is that once the sequence is in Chordbot you can mess with the feel until you're close to something you'd use.
Genius Songwriter is an app I'll use a lot. Thanks to TheSoundTestRoom for bringing it to my attention.
 

 
Here's what I ended up with.
 

My Idle Life List

 
My constant companion starting this year is a book.
"The Book Of Idle Pleasures" by Dan Kieran and Tom Hodgkinson is an inspirational guide for the modern Flaneur. It gives one ideas for spending time doing not very much at all. All the activities are free and easy to complete. Rather than merely reading the book and imagining myself indulging in the tasks I've decided to get out there, at a moderate pace, and see if I can tick off all the pleasures before slipping off this mortal coil.
I'm not going to try to do this in a year or two, there's no rush.
The idea is to create an audio recording with a few details of how I've worked through each task and post the podcasts here. As I've said, there's no timeline. I'm looking forward to trying to complete all of the pleasures.
Slowly.
 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Idle-Pleasures-Tom-Hodgkinson/dp/0091923328

 

Contemplating

 
This year is going to be different.
This isn't an idle statement but it certainly is a fact. A lot has happened and this directly influences what will happen in the future. The latter part of that sentence isn't ruled by a strict timeline and the result of future events are planned but yet unknown.
At this point you may well wonder what I'm going on about and if what I'm saying is a good or bad thing.
To reassure you, it's good and this year, with a lot of effort, will work out just fine and cover over the misery of years past.
Something to aim for and smile about I think.