You know your back is better when
Jan. 31st, 2004 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillI must be getting better. I still hurt and my foot still feels funny and sometimes I have shooting pains in my calf--but I keep walking off and forgetting my cane. I've had several days now when I haven't had to lie down at work. I went to my mandolin lesson today (at the right time, yay!) and didn't even *take* my cane.
My mandolin lesson today was really great, by the way. I took the mp3 recorder and "taped" it and listened to it over again on the drive home to try and help me remember what we worked on. Roy is introducing me to improvising jazz-style, and it involves diving back and forth into different modes to accomodate the chord changes--though mostly the pitches stay the same; you just think of a different note as being the starting point. Fascinating. On the way we passed through the minor pentatonic scale, how it can be expanded by playing dorian from the same starting note, and how playing either against a set of major chords influenced rock and roll. Wow. It was like glimpses of a whole undiscovered country and then the mist wraps 'round again and you know you'll have to work your way down the snowy ridges to really see that green and pleasant land. But I think it's the key to improvising with a new-to-you melody the way Callie can.
I also got paid! (chortle) It has been six weeks since I started, so it was a bigger paycheck than I'll normally get. I've felt rich ever since. I keep having the impulse to go buy this or that thing that I've wanted; more CoolMax long underwear (the kind the wicks the sweat away from your skin--it really does work better), or another mesh bag for putting delicate things (like high-tech long underwear) in the laundry. I found myself *suggesting* to Kip that we get chicken nuggets from McDonalds for dinner. I'm completely out of control. ;-)
My mandolin lesson today was really great, by the way. I took the mp3 recorder and "taped" it and listened to it over again on the drive home to try and help me remember what we worked on. Roy is introducing me to improvising jazz-style, and it involves diving back and forth into different modes to accomodate the chord changes--though mostly the pitches stay the same; you just think of a different note as being the starting point. Fascinating. On the way we passed through the minor pentatonic scale, how it can be expanded by playing dorian from the same starting note, and how playing either against a set of major chords influenced rock and roll. Wow. It was like glimpses of a whole undiscovered country and then the mist wraps 'round again and you know you'll have to work your way down the snowy ridges to really see that green and pleasant land. But I think it's the key to improvising with a new-to-you melody the way Callie can.
I also got paid! (chortle) It has been six weeks since I started, so it was a bigger paycheck than I'll normally get. I've felt rich ever since. I keep having the impulse to go buy this or that thing that I've wanted; more CoolMax long underwear (the kind the wicks the sweat away from your skin--it really does work better), or another mesh bag for putting delicate things (like high-tech long underwear) in the laundry. I found myself *suggesting* to Kip that we get chicken nuggets from McDonalds for dinner. I'm completely out of control. ;-)
