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gandgtowing-blog · 7 years ago

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A Teacher Speaks Out About Reading Notes

Before we start, let me introduce myself. My name is Mike Ellis. I live in Dallas, Texas, and have been a musicologist in the true sense of the word for forty-three years. I have taught guitar, bass guitar, banjo, keyboard and sitar, and have nineteen years of full time teaching experience and fifteen years of part-time teaching experience. I played by ear in numerous bands for ten years before I began teaching. In 1972, I had the good fortune to be taken under the wing of the late Mr. Terrill Gardner, who taught me music and how to teach it. Terrill took me from playing by ear to the completion of three volumes of "Modern Method for Guitar" from Berklee College, in Boston. This was note reading to the fullest extent. Terrill told me that if I was going to teach, I had to be qualified in all areas, not just playing by ear. He also taught me music theory and chord theory in a manner that allowed me to author two chord theory courses in later years. Now, let us get started.

How important is note reading?

So many parents are told the necessity of note reading and the values of a "classical" approach to learning music. Why is that? I won't address that until later. First I want to ask you a couple of questions. Who were the most successful contemporary artists of the twentieth century (and maybe of all time)? The answer, of course is the Beatles. The second most successful and undoubtedly the longest lasting artists are the Rolling Stones. How many of them could read notes during the peak of their careers? There were four Beatles and five Rolling Stones and NONE of them could read a note. They spawned the "British Invasion" of which most of the artists could not read a note. How important, then, is note reading? It is certainly not necessary to write monster hit songs like "Yesterday," "Something," "Satisfaction," and a huge list of others. At one time, the Beatles held five of the top ten hits on the charts all at the same time. And they could not read a note.

So what is the importance of note reading? Well, some say it's so you can communicate more ideas. A young musician can read the dots on the page and play the music written by another musician. A little dispute may be necessary here. In the first place, terms like legato and pianissimo are used to try to convey the mood and emotion of the author. This is supposed to be true, but any musician who only reads dots on a page is not a musician at all. Anybody can play the piano like a typewriter, but very few (comparatively) improvise well. The term jazz implies improvisation on a theme. Its roots lie in the southern United States where the local musicians would get together and jam songs and blues progressions. Therefore, when my son entered "jazz band" in high school and had to read the notes to play, I was appalled, literally. This is the antithesis to jazz as a concept and an art form and I taught him that, as well as how to improvise.

So what is the importance of note reading? The answer is that it is important for people who want to be musicians. It is for people who cannot make music without a crutch, or without the ideas of somebody else to read, instead of improvising and creating their own ideas. Now, do not get me wrong. You do not just spring forth with your own unique ideas. All music is evolutionary in that it is based on learning what others did. Therefore, note reading can be a useful tool in learning what other artists composed, but you can never translate those dots on the page into the absolutely true feel and meaning of the original artist. It is just not possible without hearing the original artist perform the piece. In doing that, imitation becomes much more pure and inflections that give music its true meaning can also be copied.

Should you skip note reading? I did not and I do not ever recommend it. However, be careful how you approach it and with whom you approach it. The worst example I can relate is the graduate of the University of North Texas who held a degree in music, but did not know where a middle C was on the guitar. All the guitar note reading methods I have ever seen pretend that middle C is on the 3rd fret of the 5th string. This is because if you say that middle C is truly on the 1st fret of the 2nd string, all the notes on strings 3, 4, 5, and 6 would be in the bass clef. So what, you might ask, is wrong with that? Well, in grade school, you learn the treble clef. Remember? Every Good Boy Does Fine and F-A-C-E? But most kids do not learn the bass clef, so the music community somehow agreed to all pretend that middle C is on the 5th string, putting all the notes on strings 4, 3, 2, and 1 in the treble clef.

Just a side note, did anybody tell you that if you look at the "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "F-A-C-E" notes sequentially through the lines and spaces of the treble clef that it turns out to be E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F? That is right, it is just the alphabet! But they never told you that. How much easier would it really have been if you figured that out? It's just the alphabet! That's not so hard.

But there is more. It must have been almost half a year of piano lessons before I was introduced to the unnatural black notes; those hard to play notes that were shorter and harder to reach had two names each! And you were supposed to memorize them, the sharps and flats. I had no idea that there was really a note between F and G, but not one between B and C. If somebody asked me (and when I ask my students) the note above F, they always say G until I explain to them the way the notes really move. All this brings up the subject of key signatures and the memorization of them and how many sharps and flats are in each key and more complications. I first heard about the circle of 5ths from Terrill when I was an eleven-year veteran of guitar.

While writing music on the staff line, it is easier for the author to put the key signature at the start of the piece instead of notating a sharp every time it occurs in the music. This is supposed to be easier. But the player has to remember that when they see an F note in the key of G, for example, it is not an F note at all, it's really an F# note, any time it occurs. Well, sometimes the author may want an F natural note, so on those few occasions, they can add a natural sign preceding the F dot on the staff line. More confusingly, this F remains natural for the rest of the measure, but not the rest of the song. So an F in a previous measure is really F#, but if the F in a particular measure has a natural sign in front of it, it is played as F natural because of the natural sign, but the next F in that measure that does not have a natural sign in front of it is not played as an F#, it is played as an F natural, then it goes back to being F# after that measure. Did you get all that? Whew!

And all of this detracts from the intent of the creative idea of the original musician. Believe me.

As long as you are thinking about how to play each note, you are missing at least some of the feel of the piece. And I have not forgotten the question in the first paragraph of this section. Why are so many parents told the necessity of note reading and the values of a classical approach to learning music? I will be perfectly honest here. What takes longer, showing a student where to put their fingers to get a cool sound or running them through six months or more of "Mary Had a Little Lamb?" So what will take a week to complete and what will take a semester to complete? Can you say "More Money?" What can they write a test on, how you play something or the memorization of lines and spaces on the clef? Can you say "More Money?" I mean it, can you say "MORE MONEY???" Yeah, the school teachers and quite a few of the private teachers paid big bucks for their music education and by golly it had better pay off, even if you do not know where middle C is. The title of this essay is "A Teacher Speaks Out About Reading Notes" and if you do not want the truth, just stop reading now. I tell my students the complications of note reading to justify why I do not start their lessons with the staff line and note reading. We play music first, then read notes if they ask me to teach them that. Most don't.

Lastly, consider one other culture. In India, it is customary to go and live with the master to learn to play the sitar. He shows you the physical attributes of the instrument and then dictates the notes you are to play and how you are to play them. Literally, he or she speaks the notes without writing anything. You repeat the process until you master each section of the music. Ours is not the only culture with music or music training and reading notes is not a worldwide practice. When the great Ravi Shankar came to America to perform a piece he had composed in honor of the late George Harrison, he brought about thirty musicians from India with him. They were to perform the piece with American performers. He dictated to each of the Indian performers their part. When he tried to dictate the parts to the American musicians, there was a huge problem. They had to get somebody who could hear the dictation and write it down for them on the staff lines. This was pretty frustrating to Mr. Shankar, as he voiced his frustration in a subsequent interview (see the DVD "A Concert for George"). Later, when he wanted to make a correction or modification, he dictated the change to the Indian musician(s) and it was done. When he went to the Americans, you guessed it sort of, they not only had to have the change written down, they had to re-write the whole piece to include the change so it would not be scribbled in by hand. Mr. Shankar was more frustrated with this and it embarrasses me to this day for all the American musicians that were involved and all that would have made the same requirement of him. That's most of the educated musicians in America! Again... whew!

What about interval studies? Do players really use them?

Let us be realistic. Of course players use interval studies. You need to be able to tell how far up or down one note is from another. The problem with music educators is in the way that these studies are presented. A quick example is that selecting a note then using the note that is up a major third interval, and then using the note that is up a minor third interval from the last note creates the major trichord. Now did you get that? How about this: playing a note, then playing the notes that is four notes above it, then playing the note three notes above that one gives you a major chord. I mean, trichord just means a three-note chord. Here is a quote from an encyclopedia: "The most commonly used chords in Western music, triads, are the basis of diatonic harmony, and are tertian chords." What? It continues, "That is, they are composed of a root note, a note which is a third above the root, and a note which is a third above that note, and therefore a fifth above the root." Well, actually the last interval is a minor third above the second note, but who is counting? Since the type of third mentioned last was not specified as being a minor third then if you used a major third, you would not have been making a major chord at all. You would have been making an augmented chord. If you do not know what I'm talking about, go through my Chord Theory program. If you do know what I meant, then you can easily see that how things are said can be very important.

So we should drop the lingo and talk. A major third interval really is four notes up. If I do not have your definitions, I do not know what you're talking about. And yes, a minor third interval is three notes up, but the same thing applies here. A seventh chord is made by playing a note, then go up a major third, then go up a minor third, then go up a minor third again. What? How about taking a major chord and add the note that is two notes below the root note (the note you started on)? Is that still true? Of course it is. And what do thirds have to do with sevenths?

You could say that to make a tetrachord (four note chord for all of the normal folks out there), such as the dominant seventh chord (like G7), you make the major tertian chord and add the note that is a major second below the tonic note. What? You could say that the dominant seventh tone is five major second intervals above the tonic. What? When was the last time you needed to find the dominant seventh scale note by going up five major second intervals? Ever? Well, interval studies dealing with ear training are very useful. But to make a written test full of "what are the major and minor intervals for so-in-so?" is simply more stuff to take up a semester at school and get a good grade in class. When I hear a flat seven scale note followed by a lower flat third scale note, it is familiar to me because I heard it used in a song and liked it, so I figured out how to play that sound that I liked. Well, if you don't know what my lingo was talking about, you should go through my Chord Theory program. I concede on the fact that you need definitions, like what a Root is and what a flat third is, and so on, but it can be done so much easier than it is usually presented. The music scholars say that a minor third (or a flat third) scale note is a major second and a minor second above the Root. Major and minor? Second? What the heck? It is true, but a major second interval is just two notes up and a "minor second" interval is one note up. Let us hear that again... a minor second interval means go up one note. Why not say, "Go up one note?" So a minor third note is really just three notes above the root. Oh, that is too easy. You cannot say it that way. A major seventh scale note is a major third, a minor third, and a major third above the tonic note. What? It is a minor second below the tonic. What? Go down one note from your Root. Oh... wait, that is too easy!

So how interval studies are presented is what I'm speaking out against, not the interval studies themselves. I know that a major seventh note is one note below the Root. That is interval study at work, but in a practical way. This brings me to the next point.

Who made music so hard? Is it really so complicated?

There are, I am sure, music historians out there who actually know (or think they do) the answer to the first question, "Who made music so hard?" I have suspicions of my own. In the early days of what we call "Western" music (I don't mean Country and Western), which is the music of Europe and North America, the music was primarily formally composed for religious reasons, for the Holy Roman Empire. Consider the Roman calendar having twelve months, and the twelve disciples, and the chromatic scale having twelve notes. There is another one for you, chromatic just means every note, and so what is chromatic about it? Consider the Roman calendar having seven-day weeks, and the seven days of Creation, and our major scale having seven notes. Wait, it has eight notes. No, it has seven and you repeat the first an octave higher as the eighth (the octave). Consider the Holy Trinity from the Roman Catholic Church and the major chord (also called the major triad). Now, I cannot say for sure that there is a relationship there, because I am not a music historian, but while the common man sang his little stories while playing a lute or whatever, the guys writing for the Emperor and/or the Church and were writing more complex music were getting paid big bucks! Would they want to share their knowledge and lose that income? If not, how could they protect their income? Maybe by explaining what they did in such a way that the common man just could not grasp it right off. Only with months of studying the lingo they used and following the hugely complex rules and memorization could they ever get it. Well, the girls liked the little story songs, so why get so involved with it all? The ethnomusicology course I took in college said that the average person can retain in memory phrases of about five to seven notes in length, and that is all. Sure, people could hear and appreciate complex music, but they could not remember and reproduce it. This brings up another point. Our contemporary music is still simple little stories, but now they have drums and bass and keyboard and synthesizers and distortion pedals and other effects. But they are still pretty much just simple stories set to music. The common man is still in the majority. Ask yourself, "Is music in other countries this complicated? How about the music in Borneo?" It is music, too.

Now, for the second question, "Is it really so complicated?" If music were really necessarily so complicated, the "British Invasion" would never have happened, the Delta blues players would never have existed, and the minstrels would never have existed. That was in reverse order on purpose. We have not really changed, as said before. No, music can be really easy to understand and fun to play. You do not need to read notes (see the Beatles reference, above) and you do not need to learn all of the extremely complicated interval lingo, and you do not need years of schooling to grasp playing any instrument. You may need to physically practice to become proficient on an instrument. Some people are naturals with the physical aspects. But, if I can do it, you can do it. If he or she can do it, you can do it. Of course there is going to be some complexity to it, but before you go enroll in your community college or local university, try to find a teacher who will present music to you in ordinary terms. It may be hard to find one, but they are out there.

Closing remarks.

My son was attending Dallas Baptist University on a music scholarship. When writing out the G# major scale, he ran into an F## terminology. Since # means go up one note (you could say go up a minor second interval), then ## means go up two notes. Up two here from an F note is a G note. He called it G and his professor said, "You must call it F##, John." John replied, "It is a G." The professor impatiently said, "You have to call it F##, John." John replied, "It is a G," emphatically. The professor said, "I will have to dock your grade unless you call it F##, John." John replied, "It is a G. Listen to it. It is a G note." Well, he got his grade docked, but he never called G by the name F## and I was never more proud. By the way, if they had been working on the A flat scale instead of calling that same note a G# to begin with, the F## would have been called a G!

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gandgtowing-blog · 7 years ago

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The Tangible Benefits of an Invoice Processing Solution

It has never been more important to align your strategic objectives with your IT budget; each project spend proposal must be supported by a coherent business case, including a comprehensive study of the return on investment (ROI). The ROI case should be developed using a combination of:

- The tangible benefits that directly affect your bottom line - Cash flow - The intangible benefits that may affect such as employee satisfaction and retention rates

Streamlining and automating the key cost areas of invoice processing with solutions such as an invoice processing solution can result in significant savings. According to a recent Aberdeen report, best in class enterprises experience, on average, 84% lower invoice processing costs than their peers. With a typical return on investment (ROI) of less than a year, it is a worthwhile project for any company processing over 1000 supplier invoices a month. The benefits listed below illustrate where an invoice processing here could reduce your accounts payable costs:

Tangible Benefits

Dramatically reduce data entry costs: an invoice management solution will significantly reduce manual data entry and its associated labour costs.

Cut the cost of invoice authorisation: an invoice management solution will automate the process of authorising invoices for payment and can save up to 50% of the costs involved.

Virtually no filing costs: receive massive reductions in labour-intensive filing and retrieval, and benefit from immediate responses to suppliers or internal enquiries. Invoice management solutions also minimises the risk of losing invoices.

Maximise supplier discounts: increase the amount of supplier discounts achievable through prompt payment of invoices. Best in class organisations can expect to receive, process and pay invoices within 5.8 days, compared to 14.1 days for companies not employing any invoice automation.

Reduced accounts payable (AP) headcount: automating invoice processing leads to a more efficient AP department and can reduce staff volumes by up to 50%.

Cuts storage costs: filing space can be reduced by up to 95% as approximately 20 filing cabinets full of documents can be stored on one optical disk.

Reduce office costs: reduce the costs and time taken to photocopy and distribute documents internally. Benefit from a reduction in telephone bills as instant retrieval of invoices and related documents eliminates the need for costly call backs.

Decrease in alternative storage costs: invoice processing applications remove the cost of any other type of electronic storage, including microfiche and microfilm.

Automated invoice processing solutions should have the following functionality:

Capture of invoices from paper, email, EDI, XML

Extraction of index data (header and line level) via OCR

Matching and exception handling for PO invoices

Automated coding, distribution and authorisation of non-PO invoices

Posting to ERP

Integrated retrieval of document image from ERP

Full document audit trail

Management reporting

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gandgtowing-blog · 7 years ago

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Home Roasting Coffee Beans

Home roasting is the process of roasting green coffee beans in a small quantity for your personal consumption. People have actually been roasting their own coffee for centuries and prior to 1914 it was quite common.

Home roasting became a thing of the past for most when commercial roasters became commonplace and the convenience of "instant coffee" hit the market.

Now, as with any process, the newness of instant coffee has long worn off and people are increasingly trying to find the finest, freshest, best tasting coffee. Coffee is often thought of as one of the "simple pleasures" in life and a new refining is taking place. In order the get the ultimate cup, with the freshest and most tailored taste, people are turning to home roasting.

Home Coffee Roasting Machines

Home coffee roasting machines are becoming more widely available. They are easy to operate because they automate the roasting process and provide a controlled and even roast.

The most commonly purchased units are fluid bed roasters. These type roasters are less expensive than drum roasters. Fluid bed roasters can roast coffee beans in approximately 7-20 minutes at temperatures between 205 C (400 F) and 250 C (480 F) to reach peak flavor. They are also popular because they and are easy to clean and easy to maintain.

Fluid bed roasters are designed similarly to a hot air popcorn popper. They have a glass roasting chamber so you can view the roasting process. This also allows you to be able to check your roast and to stop the whenever the perfection achieved.

An average yield from these types of roasters ranges between 8 - 20 cups. This, however, is dependent on how strong you like your coffee and also the type of brewing system you use.

Fluid bed roasters are priced around $80.00 to $180.00. They are an inexpensive and rewarding way to explore home roasting.

Benefits of Home Roasting

Depending on the storage method, coffee flavor peaks approximately 24 hours to 7 days after the roasting process. With this in mind home roasters have the freshest roast possible.

Home roasters are able to roast in more exact amounts. This means that what they roast is what they consume and within the 7 day peak of freshness.

Green coffee beans are estimated to have a shelf life of one or more years when properly stored so the home roaster can keep an ample supply.

The home roaster is generally able to consume fresher coffee than typical commercially roasted coffee. The home roaster has control over exact roast times so they can tailor each batch to their individual preference.

With all recent interest in home roasting, and specifically the formation of home roasting cooperatives and internet green bean suppliers, there are now a very wide selection of high quality green beans available to the general public.

Things to Consider

Home roasting appliances have a small capacity. They vary from 75 grams (2.6 oz.) to 300 grams of green coffee.

Most home use roasting appliances do not have the capability to cool the beans rapidly enough. This can lead to dull or flat flavored beans.

Coffee roasting will produce smoke and fumes. It should be done in a well-ventilated area. Some kitchens do not allow for adequate ventilation. Roasting outdoors is not always an easy alternative, as the outdoor climate often requires difficult adjustments to produce a consistent roast.

Most people suggest to either have a dedicated circuit for the machine or not to use any other appliance while the roasting process is taking place.

Do It Yourself Home Roasting

Because people are always inventive and trying to get the best results, there have been many interesting home inventions devised to roast coffee. This has lead to kitchen appliances being morphed from their original purpose, to a higher use as a home roaster.

Some common morphed appliances include hot air popcorn poppers, stove-top popcorn poppers, heat guns, bread machines and barbecue roasters. The most popular methods are the hot air popcorn popper and the modified bread machine.

This method is particularly popular in Australia where the device has been named a 'Corretto' after the online nickname of its inventor.

The Best Method for Home Roasting

So, now that we have discussed some of the roasting machines available and methods, you want to know the final question. What is the best method for roasting coffee beans to perfection? As with all questions regarding people and tastes there are so many variables, there is no one way that is the best for home roasting.

Some home roasting machines will do a superior job at light roasts or some are better at dark roasts. Some people prefer an automatic roaster that is just "set it and forget it"; while others want to be involved and customize whole process. It all boils down to preferences for each individual.

The best way to find a home roaster for you is to first determine your specific preferences such as:

· Type of roast preferred: light, medium or dark.

· How much time do you want to spend? Some machines roast more quickly than others.

· How involved do you want to be in the roasting process? Fully automatic roasting, semi-automatic.

· How much do you want to roast at a time? The amount a roaster can handle vary. Some machines only roast in small batches and for serious here drinkers you will want a machine that can handle 2-5 lbs.

After determining your specific preferences, you will want to cover the basics as described above under things to consider and then start your research on what types, brands and models deliver the features you want and you may want to consider the warranty provided.

So, start small at first with a basic model or go for the gusto and buy the top of the line home roasting machine. No matter what your choice on roasting machines, it is always rewarding to roast you own beans and know that you have the freshest coffee beans possible.

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gandgtowing-blog · 7 years ago

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Give Predatory Towing The Boot

Over a three-year period, 3,000 cars disappeared from a lot near downtown Fort Lauderdale, Fla., not too far from my home, according to a recent investigation by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. (1)

At another lot, in Broward County's vast Sawgrass Mills shopping complex, 300 people returned to empty parking spots on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) in 2011.

The problem is serious, and it has spurred residents and local officials to action. But the issue isn't car thieves; it is towing companies using predatory tactics to jack up profits. The cars that were removed were all in violation of at least minor parking restrictions and were legally, if not reasonably, towed.

Private property owners have every right to decide who can park on their property and under what conditions. They can set hours for parking, reserve spaces for their own customers, and even prohibit certain methods of parking, such as backing into spaces. They can also take action to enforce their rules.

In some situations, such as when an improperly parked vehicle blocks the entrance to a lot or causes a safety hazard, prompt towing is the most responsible course. But while property owners' ultimate interest is simply maintaining their property, that's not the case for towing companies that enter into agreements to tow offending vehicles. Towing companies want to remove as many vehicles as they can, whether towing is reasonable under the circumstances or not.

One common approach is for the tow companies to hire "spotters," who patrol lots and report violations, relieving property owners of inconveniences they haven't yet noticed. When the tow trucks arrive, they work fast. With the help of some lock-picking tools, one Fort Lauderdale towing company removed a pair of improperly parked cars in no more than 90 seconds, the Sun-Sentinel reported. (1)

Once towing companies have a vehicle in their grip, they can essentially hold it for ransom, demanding whatever the law allows before they release their prey. Washington State Rep. Gerry Pollett, who sponsored legislation to combat such so-called "predatory towing" practices in Seattle, reported hearing from constituents who had "been towed and charged from $500 up to $2,000 to get their car back after a simple parking mistake."

Controversies over predatory towing have played out across the country, from Washington state to Washington, D.C., which a survey by the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America revealed to be one of the worst cities for towing.

Not atypically, California's regulations are among the strictest. This is one of the rare cases where I think that state's regulatory fervor is, at least for the most part, justified. Under California law, tow truck companies must obtain authorization from property owners for each individual tow, rather than simply signing general contracts for entire properties. The authorization request must include the specific vehicle's make, model, VIN and license plate number. The law also prohibits companies from towing vehicles within an hour of when they are first observed, except in exceptional circumstances.

Other states, including Utah and New Jersey, have also taken regulatory action.

My own Broward County has adopted some of the same measures as the California law, including the provision mandating that towing companies obtain authorization for individual tows, though without the specific requirement of VIN numbers, which I think is a step too far in any case. The use of paid spotters has also been prohibited.

But so far, these regulations have had little effect in my town. Several towing companies and property managers interviewed by the Sun-Sentinel said they had not heard about the new regulations until they were informed by the journalists. Unlike laws passed in neighboring Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, the Broward regulations do not require licenses for towing companies, so the county has little recourse against repeat offenders. (1)

Tow truck companies claim that the wave of restrictions on their business stops them from doing their job. In a blog post defending his industry, David Kimball, a consultant and former tow truck operator, coined the phrase "predatory parking," essentially arguing that those who violate posted rules get what is coming to them. (2)

That argument would hold more water if there were never dark nights, or rain storms, or tree branches that obscure signs. Or if there was no legal concept of proportionality of damages. If your child's baseball breaks my window, I can rightly ask you to pay for a new window. I don't get to keep your child until you reimburse me. (Not even if you ask me to.)

Often enough, people who are towed have no idea that they are parking where they shouldn't. Even if motorists are willfully ignoring property owners' rules, the punishment ought to fit the crime. When the crime is parking in a private lot without permission, the punishment of hundreds of dollars in here fees doesn't fit. A more fitting compensation would be a fine paid directly to the property owner, perhaps equal to the value of a day's parking in that locale. Booting is a more logical approach to dealing with the problem than towing.

Property owners may see no harm in giving tow truck operators the run of their lots. In fact, some even make money from kickbacks - another practice Broward County regulation prohibits. In the long run, however, widespread predatory towing discourages people from frequenting certain areas. This is particularly problematic in tourist-centric Florida, where the local economy depends on pleasing out-of-towners, who cannot be expected to know the ins and outs of every private lot. It is hard to have a great vacation when you're touring the local impound lots, rather than the beaches or museums.

Maybe my hometown will switch to booting rather than towing; maybe not. Either way, towing practices that punish minor infractions with disproportionate costs need to be given the boot.

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