My Takeaways After Reading DAILY RITUALS by Mason Currey

I've been reading the 2013 book Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. In the form of mini profiles, the author details the creative habits of writers, artists, composers, and other makers from the past couple hundred years or more. Everyone from Stephen King to Maya Angelou to Beethoven to Frank Lloyd Wright to Georgia O'Keeffe. The author scoured biographies, interviews, magazine articles, obituaries, and other sources to find descriptions of these daily routines. Not everyone was like this of course, but I did notice some common themes showing up again and again.

These artists and creative types...

-Are very routine oriented. They have very consistent and not very glamorous work habits.

-They don't wait for inspiration or the muse to strike. They show up every day and put in the work, honing their craft. Many have personal goals such as 2,000 words a day or three hours of dedicated focus.

-Most keep a strict schedule that varies very little from day to day, even going so far as to eat basically the same meals every day.

-They keep their plate clear so that there are not a lot of other interests or obligations competing for their time. They avoid things that would prevent them maintaining these daily patterns.

-They are often insomniacs or have trouble sleeping and use pills or other drugs to turn their mind off or on. Frequently they are also alcoholics or heavy drinkers. Sound familiar?

-They are totally dedicated to their art. It comes before everything else. Some are even guilt-ridden if they take a day "off".

-Even those who worked a 9 to 5 job on the side found time to be productive, perhaps with a concentrated three hours in the early morning before going to work, or from 8pm to 11pm after being at their day job.

-The repetition itself seems to be the important thing. It creates a pathway for one's mental energies to flow. 

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When I moved to the West Coast two years ago it totally disrupted my daily schedule - in a positive way for music practice and in a negative way for fitness and exercise. When I was living on the East Coast I didn't start work until 9am, and during the years of 2020 to 2024 I would exercise and strength train for about an hour every morning. I wasn't playing much music during this time but I got in the best shape of my life and lost over 40 pounds. 

Now that I am on the West Coast, my "9 to 5" is 6am to 2pm so now I get out of bed and immediately start working my day job. I don't set aside much time for banjo playing during the work day, but having afternoons off means that I've been able to keep a fairly consistent weekday practice schedule which allows me to put in an hour or two of dedicated music practice each afternoon. My practice consists mostly of learning and re-learning tunes while continuing to develop my ear. I don't work on technique or ornamentation all that much, except in the context of a tune. Because I go to a couple sessions each week, I can always think of tunes to better learn, re-learn, or review.

My West Coast Saturdays are actually pretty similar to how my East Coast Saturdays were. I try to keep weekend mornings entirely clear. My favorite way to start a Saturday is get up early and start working on music. I might play or practice anywhere from 7am to noon, with only a few breaks in between. It depends on whether I have any music sessions or jams that day. If I have a session or a jam to go to later that Saturday, I might limit my playing and practice time during the lead up so that I don't overdo it before going to the jam.

Sundays are pretty similar but I often play in a Sunday afternoon Irish session, so my Sunday mornings usually consist of a light practice session where I run through tunes I might want to play if called upon to lead or suggest a tune that day. I'm a list maker so I usually make a list of tunes before going to the session.

I think tune learning practice can be a form of creativity. Especially if you approach it with the routine of listening to an existing tune then creating a tune of your own that sounds like the existing tune. Rinse and repeat. You might start off with a version of the tune that doesn't share many notes with the source recording. Over time perhaps you can eventually match the source recording note for note. Or perhaps you simply trust your ear even though the notes you're playing may not be exactly as the tune is written. Once you have close to a 100% match, then you can veer off again, knowing that at any time you could go back to the original if/when you want to. I think it's as simple as that.

First Time Attending the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, OR

This is my third summer living in the Portland, OR area, but yesterday was the first time I had been to the annual Waterfront Blues Festival, which is held each summer around July 4th in South Hawthorne Waterfront Park along the Willamette River. 

The festival got onto my calendar this year because the famous (famous to me) Ethiopian musician Hailu Mergia was going to be there on the 3rd day of the 3-day festival, but I procrastinated on buying tickets. Despite a strong Thursday lineup that included Rose City Band, Garcia Birthday Band, True Loves, and Cymande(!), we hadn't planned on going all three days, just Saturday, July 4th. Another reason for hesitancy was because my wife had major knee surgery four months ago and she wasn't sure until recently whether she'd be ready for all the walking and standing that comes with a music festival, but she was! When I found out earlier this week that Hailu Mergia wasn't going to be able to make it my initial reaction was "oh no!", but we decided to check it out anyway. 

I didn't know what to expect other than to expect it to be crowed, which it both was and wasn't. The festival entrance is a short walk from the Yamhill District MAX light rail stop so we took the train down. Very easy to get to. Not knowing what the food options or lines would be like, we didn't want to show up hungry so we stopped into Paddy's, a great Irish pub just across the street from the MAX stop, and got a late lunch and watched the first half of the France vs. Paraguay World Cup match before going in. Our plan was to just go to the festival from about 3pm to 8pm and be back home before the fireworks and we pretty much stuck to that plan.

There are three stages total and the way they have it set up is pretty cool. The two stages in the primary part of the festival grounds are angled at opposite ends of the same riverfront area, and it's timed so that when the music on one stage ends the band on the opposite stage begins almost immediately. If you position your chairs a certain way you can see both stages and have an idyllic view of the river. There's also a big video screen set up between these two stages. To get to the 3rd stage you simply walk under the Hawthorne bridge and there it is. The whole festival area is relatively condensed and they definitely make great use of the available space.

We saw full sets by Brittany Davis, Jujuba, and Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, and most of the performances by Ural Thomas and the Pain and Jenny Don't and the Spurs. Due to overlapping stage times we completely missed The Seratones and Orquestra Pacifico Tropical but you can't be in two places at once. Even though it has the word Blues in the festival title, the music that we saw ranged from jazz to African to soul to Grateful Dead meets Motown to honky-tonk country. It was quite diverse. The Waterfront Blues Festival reminded me of the Richmond Folk Festival in Richmond, VA that I used to attend every year.

The weather was absolutely perfect and the overall vibe was very easy going, respectful and relaxed. You can bring in empty reusable water bottles or factory sealed water bottles. You're supposed to bring low-profile lawn chairs but after knee surgery Laura said that ain't happening, so we just brought a couple cheap-oh Dick's Sporting Goods folding chairs and that worked out fine. We were able to position our chairs near the Stay and Sway stage then walk over to the other two stages as needed. No hassles whatsoever. It got more crowded as the day went on but it was easy to get drinks and there wasn't even a line for the porta potties until right when we were leaving. I love a good city center music festival and next year I might plan for all three days. 

A lot of people come down to the Portland waterfront to watch the 4th of July fireworks, so the volume of people was increasing rapidly as we made our way out in the opposite direction of the foot traffic. We don't really care about fireworks, and it was time to get home to our dog, plus we've seen Tank and the Bangas before so I didn't feel compelled to stick around after dark. We got home just as the sun was setting. It was a perfect day.

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The Note D in Irish Traditional Music (jigs, reels, hornpipes, and such)

After a very unscientific observation I've determined that the note D is the most common note in Irish traditional music. I have a sort of half-baked idea built around this note that I'm hoping to flesh out by writing a post about it. Here goes.

First off, you have to know the pattern of the major scale: 1•2•34•5•6•71•2•34•5•6•71 and so on. For brevity, lets think of the major scale as this: 1•2•34•5•6•71.

OK, so the D-major scale looks like this: D•E•F#G•A•B•C#D. In other words, in the D-major scale D is the 1st note of the major scale. However, it is also common in Irish music for D to be the 5th note of the major scale. That looks like this: 5•6•71•2•34•5 or D•E•F#G•A•BC•D (one sharp key signature, also known as D-Mixolydian). Note that the only difference between these two is whether the C note is a C-natural or a C-sharp. D whistles can also play in this key.

A little less common, but D can also show up as the 4th note of the major scale: 4•5•6•71•2•34 or D•E•F#•G#A•B•C#D (three sharps key signature, better known as A-Major). D whistles might have to skip any G# notes in the tune. I've also seen D function as the 2nd note of the major scale: 2•34•5•6•71•2 or D•EF•G•A•BC•D (all white keys on the piano, this is called D-Dorian). Whistle players use a special whistle for tunes in this D-Dorian mode.

I can think of one more place where D might pop up and that is as the 6th note of the major scale: 6•71•2•34•5•6 or D•EF•G•ABb•C•D (key signature has one flat, maybe G-Dorian or D-Aeolian). This one is quite rare though and whistle player might just sit this one out entirely.

You're not going to have a D-natural note in the key of E-major (E•F#•G#A•B•C#•D#E) or the key of B-major (B•C#•D#E•F#•G#•A#B) for example, but those keys aren't really part of Irish trad in my experience. With me so far? I'm not even sure that I am! 

When D is the first note of the major scale, let's call that D-1. 4th note of the major scale = D-4. 5th note of the major scale = D-5. 2nd note of the major scale = D-2. And 6th note of the major scale = D-6.

Now let's add a slash to indicate the tonal center, because in Irish music the tonal center isn't always D. It can also be E, G, A or B. Maybe even F! 

• D-1/D = D is first note of major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: Lady Anne Montgomery)
• D-1/E = D is first note of major scale and E is the tonal center (ex: Morrison's Jig)
• D-1/A = D is first note of major scale and A is the tonal center (ex: High Reel)
• D-1/B = D is first note of major scale and B is the tonal center (ex: Musical Priest)
• D-5/D = D is fifth note of major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: Banish Misfortune)
• D-5/G = D is fifth note of major scale and G is the tonal center (ex: Far From Home)
• D-5/A = D is fifth note of major scale and A is the tonal center (ex: Lilting Banshee)
• D-5/E = D is fifth note of major scale and E is the tonal center (ex: Rights of Man)
• D-4/A = D is fourth note of major scale and A is the tonal center (ex: Boys of Malin)
• D-2/D = D is second note of major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: Julia Delaney's)
• D-6/D = D is sixth note of the major scale and it's also the tonal center (ex: The Sailor's Wife)
• D-6/G = D is sixth note of major scale and G is the tonal center (ex: The Golden Castle, Splendid Isolation)

I think that covers most of the scenarios except for maybe some Liz Carroll tunes!

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How Ben Franklin Improved His Writing (Putting Tunes Into Your Own "Words")

I recently went to Powell's and found used copies of the following self improvement and learning books:

-Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Rodiger III, and Mark A McDaniel

-Peak: Secrets from The New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

-Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

-Mindset - The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Fulfill Our Potential by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

I'll probably be sharing any tips or points that I extrapolate from these books, starting with something I read in Peak.

When he was a young man, Benjamin Franklin came up with a way to improve his writing. He was a fan of the British magazine The Spectator so he devised a way to teach himself how to write as well as the articles in that magazine.

Franklin's idea was to attempt to reproduce the sentences from an article he had read after he had forgotten the exact wording. He wrote down brief descriptions of each sentence - just enough to help him recall what the sentence was about. After several days of not looking at the articles, he would then try to reproduce the article from memory based on the hints he had given himself. He wasn't trying to recreate it word-for-word, but come up with his own reproduction in the style of the original. Then he compared the original article to his own sentences and made corrections and improvements as needed.  

This sounds like an excellent way to learn fiddle tunes! How would you go about this? Maybe just try listening to the tune for a few days. Then, without listening to it again, try to recreate it on your instrument. Make up your own tune that, phrase by phrase, sounds as close to the original as you can remember. Play your version for a day or two then go back and listen to the source recording and make refinements as needed. Over time you'll develop your own take of the tune! This is probably similar to how it used to be done in the days before recordings.

Bonus points: Franklin expanded upon his exercise in an effort to improve his vocabulary. After recreating the articles in prose he started re-writing them as poems conforming to a certain meter/rhythm and rhyme scheme. This forced him to search for words that he might not have normally used. What would be the musical equivalent of this? Maybe taking something that is in 4/4 time and converting it to a jig or waltz? Or maybe it's taking something that is pentatonic and making it diatonic? Or maybe it's trying to write a harmony line to go with the melody? I'm not sure! 

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Sheet Music is the Answer (Key)

When you're doing a crossword puzzle do you start by looking at the answer key, or do you wait until you've solved as much of the puzzle as possible before looking at the answers? If you're like most people you probably wait to look at the answer key. Solving the puzzle is the whole point, right?!

So why do we treat music differently? Let's say that you're trying to learn a new jig or reel and you have both the audio recording and the sheet music handy. Why not approach this the same way that you would a crossword? The audio recording is the puzzle and the sheet music is the answer key. Try to solve the problem (how does this tune go?) before being shown the solution (the notes on the page).

Take some time to just listen to the recording and find the notes on your instrument. If you're not in any rush, maybe give it a day or two of listening and playing before you cheat and look at the answer key (AKA the sheet music). It doesn't really even matter if you misheard parts of the piece and were playing it "wrong". 

When you try to come up with the answer yourself - what notes are these - rather than having it presented to you it will lead to better learning and longer retention. Maybe there were some measures in there that completely baffled you. When you finally do look at the sheet music and get the answers to the puzzle, chances are you'll later be able to recall how to play those measures because of this struggle rather than by trying to have memorized it through sight reading.

Disclaimer: I had the idea for this crossword puzzle analogy before looking at Peter Brown's book Make It Stick, but reading his chapter titled "Embrace Difficulties" helped me find the words to put this into writing.

To continue this puzzle comparison further and refence something else that I learned in Make It Stick, if someone says to you "wow you're really good at solving puzzles", then you might be inclined to pick easy puzzles going forward so that you can maintain this image of being really good at puzzles. Whereas, if someone says to you "wow, you must work really hard at solving puzzles", by saying you work hard that will motivate you to want to continue to work hard by choosing more and more difficult puzzles.

Now apply this to music. Do you have a natural ability hear pitches and play by ear? Probably not. But are you willing to work hard at solving the puzzle of playing by ear? Hopefully yes is the answer to that! I definitely still like to have the answer key, but I'm willing to follow the advice of this post and delay my looking at it.  

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Learning Music as an ISTJ Personality Type

I’ve done the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) multiple times over the years and each time it comes back ISTJ. Here’s a description I got from Psychology Junkie:

I = Introversion. ISTJs focus inwards before responding to the outside world. They gain energy from alone time when they can reflect on their own thoughts.
S = Sensation. ISTJs prefer taking in information that is tangible, realistic, and concrete. They would usually rather focus on what exists than hypothesize about abstract possibilities.
T = Thinking. ISTJs step outside of a situation in order to see it as objectively and logically as possible.
J = Judgment. ISTJs like having things settled, having decisions made, and having a sense of control or structure to their life. They are typically work-before-play people.

I can see why an ISTJ might be drawn to playing traditional music. ISTJs seek security in the tried and true and what music is more tried and true than traditional music? It’s a form of creative expression that merges an ISTJ's appreciation for structure with artistic output. It rewards discipline and attention to detail.

Traditional music sessions are not really performances. You can kind of blend in. You don’t have to be in the limelight like a lead vocalist or soloist would be. The music itself as well as the session environment adheres to established forms and conventions, providing a sense of familiarity and comfort and a place where you get to put the knowledge and skills you’ve learned to good use. These are all things that would appeal to an ISTJ type of person.

ISTJs are independent learners and traditional music is something you can easily work on on your own, especially if you are melody player since the monophonic nature of the music makes the tune “complete” even when only one instrument is playing the melody. When it comes to practicing, our ability to focus and maintain concentration for long periods of time comes in handy. An ISTJ has the time and dedication to do a deep dive while researching and studying a topic. ISTJs will put their “all” into it.

There’s also the theory and math-like aspect to music. A typical traditional musician may not get into the theory side of it, but I bet an ISTJ could explain what Dorian or Mixolydian are, for example. In terms of creativity, tune writing is not always a big part of the individual experience of learning traditional music, but an ISTJ can use the established framework of traditional music to be adaptively creative and write original tunes that conform to the conventions of the style.

OK. That might explain it. As an aside, I was entirely focused on writing this piece and could not stop until I got it done. Now that it's done I can move on to the next project!

My Favorite Double Stops in Mandolin and Irish Tenor Banjo GDAE Tuning

Disclaimer: I'm no music teacher, just a hobbyist musician. However, I like to "fill out" a tune with double stops and there is one double stop interval that I like the sound of the best. First off, a double stop is like a mini two-note chord. When you're playing a melody you can create a double stop by playing a harmonizing note on the string lower than the one with the melody note. Playing both notes simultaneously helps fill out the sound.

To explain the double stop that I like the most, I'll give an example in GDAE mandolin/Irish tenor banjo tuning. Here it is: Whenever you're playing an F# note on the 2nd fret of the E string, you can also play an open A on the A string. You can't really go wrong with these two notes together. This combination of notes - F# and A - is most likely going to function as a D-major chord because a D-major chord has the notes D-F#-A in it. But since you're only playing two notes, this combination of F# and A could also ambiguously work as an F#minor type of chord. Worst case scenario is if the person actually laying down the chords to the melody is playing a B-minor chord (B-D-F#) at the moment you play that F# + A double stop. To my ears this hasn't really conflicted with the harmony because what you're suggesting with the notes F# and A resembles a B-minor7 chord which is just a jazzier version of a B-minor chord. It'll work there too.

What I'm saying is you don't really even need to know what the chords are to the tune to play this double stop since it's entirely based on the melody. I've never really been able to hear chord changes per se and I have zero opinion on what the chords to a tune should be. I have never been able to just strum chords to a song and know where to change from one chord to another. I'm just a melody player. But by using this system I am still almost always able to add a harmonizing note to any melody note in the tune without even having to think about it.

That same shape or concept works when you are playing a 3rd fret G note or a 5th fret A note. When you're playing a 3rd fret G note on the E-string, add a 2nd fret B note on the A string. When you're playing a 5th fret A note on the E string, add either a 3rd fret C or a 4th fret C# on the A string. I say "either" because most Irish tunes use the notes D, E, F#, G, and A, but they can use either a C-natural or a C-sharp note or both, depending. So you kind of have to have studied the tune or experimented to decide whether you like harmonizing that A note with a C natural (to give it a minor-ish sound) or a C# (to give it a major-ish sound). If the tune is Sliabh Russell then A + C is going to sound better/correct, but if the tune is High Reel then A + C# is going to sound better.

By now you may have noticed a pattern. All you're really doing is taking the note that would be a 3rd up from the melody note you are playing (in the context of the scale or mode you're in) and then playing a lower version of that note. In other words, the note D is a 3rd up from B, so if your melody note is on B then play a lower open D as your harmonizing note. Following that same logic, F# is a 3rd up from D, so if your melody note is on the 5th fret of the A-string (a D note) then play a harmonizing note on the 4th fret of the D-string (an F# note). Note: there's a slight chance that the F could be an F-natural if you're playing a D-dorian tune such as Sgt. Early's Dream or Maids of Mitchelstown.

Chords are made up of stacked notes in thirds, so this interval is completely within that theory. There's a reason that it works almost every time. Below I will insert a picture of this concept in tablature format. 

One thing I haven't mentioned is what about when your melody note is on an open string? In that case, something I hear banjo players such as Theresa O'Grady doing all the time is playing a harmonizing note on fret 2 of the lower string. So if a melody phrase is ending on the open D of the D-string, a good harmony note to add is fret 2 of the G-string which is an A note. And if your melody note is on the open A of the A-string, then a good harmony note that will work more times than not is fret 2 of the D-string which is an E note. 

Give this a go!

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