Posted in Music, tagged classical music, Music, relearning old skills, viola, violin on 30 Mar 2015| 5 Comments »
While I’m taking a hiatus from writing (and if you didn’t realize I’m on hiatus, you haven’t been paying attention), I’ve been reconnecting with the musical avocation I put down when I picked up the author’s pen.
David T Stone and company did an excellent job repairing my instruments, including fixing the divots left in my viola when a mic boom fell on us during a performance. Natalia (my viola) looks wonderful, and my violin is once again in playing condition.
I, however, am not. (more…)
Posted in Music, Seattle, tagged alternative music, Kaoru Ishibashi, kishi bashi, Music, Seattle on 13 Nov 2014| 2 Comments »
The week started badly, and ended with a… What? It’s only Thursday?
Well, Hell.
So, it’s been a trying week, so far. I’ve had injury (wrenched back), illness (rhinovirus), family issues (no comment), excitement (took our neighbor to urgent care after an accidental toddler-induced head-butt), day-job frustrations (left hand…have you even met the right hand?), and finally, last night, disbelief (I pressed the button to close the garage door and watched as the motor bucked, juddered, and then, with a thunking crunch, deposited bits of plastic, pieces of metal, and one long, greasy chain onto the top of my car).
And it’s only Thursday.
So, what’s a cowboy to do? Or, more apropos, what’s a crabby old fart with barely a scintilla of patience to do?
As I did before this wretched week started, I shall turn to music. (more…)
Posted in Culture, tagged aaron copland, cazadero, classical music, fanfare for the common man, Music, music camp on 11 Jul 2013| 2 Comments »
There is one piece of music that is so imbued with power, so pregnant with history, so…epic…within the landscape of my mind, that it never fails to raise the hackles on my neck and make my vision swim with tears of memory.
I hope you have one of these because for me, when it begins, when I hear it after an age-long absence, I am instantly transported. I am young. I am vital. I am uplifted by the notes. I feel the chill of the dawn air. I hear the notes echo across the decades.
This video was taken this past July 4th, at Cazadero Music Camp, in the California redwoods. It is the traditional 4th of July reveille. played to rouse the campers from their sleep. But I remember when the tradition began. (more…)
Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged adiemus, creative writing, e s posthumus, Music, music for writing, novel writing, soundtracks, thomas bergersen, two steps from hell, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 27 Nov 2012| 4 Comments »
As a music major, I never really listened to music for the lyrics; I could rarely understand the singers anyway. (That’s why, during the final seasons of BSG, I missed the fun when they started quoting “All Along the Watchtower,” but that’s beside the point, really.)
Naturally, therefore, music has been incredibly important to my mind. It’s always been there, providing a soundtrack to my life, driving me onward or soothing my savage breast, lifting my spirits or challenging my assumptions with new and unusual combinations of sounds and tonalities.
When I switched from being a working musician to a struggling writer, music continued to play a big part. A very important part, as it turns out.
Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, muse, Music, novel writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 06 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »
Aeons ago, when I was young and was still a serious musician, there were performances—I can count them on one hand—when the Muse was with us. We all knew it, every musician on stage; we knew. This concert was special.
Once such concert was when I was studying in San Francisco. It was in an old stone church in off Van Ness Avenue, a grand old place with soaring, pieced-stone walls and a nine-second hang time. We were playing Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique and everything was perfect, everyone was “on.” (more…)
Posted in Culture, Seattle, tagged college, concert, halloween, halloween costume, Music, rain, Seattle, trick or treat, viola, violin on 31 Oct 2012| 3 Comments »
All Saint’s Day. All Hallows. All Hallows’ Evening. Hallows Even. Hallowe’en. Halloween.
Not my favorite…well, you can’t really call it a holiday…not my favorite festival. Not even my second favorite. To be honest, my least favorite, which is to say, I really dislike it. A lot.
Growing up, it was just another example of social stratification, another peer-review spotlight that illuminated my inner nerd. You must understand that, back then, at that age, carrying a violin to school on a regular basis did considerable damage to one’s street cred. So did liking to read. Wearing glasses didn’t help. Neither did being sports-deficient. So, being a scrawny, gawky, four-eyed kid who walked to school, a violin in one hand, while reading a book with the other…it pretty much guaranteed that I was going to peg the lower end on the Cool Scale.
Halloween just rubbed it in.
There was only one time where Halloween and I got along. One night. In college.
Posted in Writing, tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, creative writing, Dreams of the Desert Wind, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Music, novel writing, novels, soundtracks, writing techniques, writing tips on 02 Aug 2012| Leave a Comment »
Before I started to write, I studied music. Classical music, ancient music, and modern; in orchestras (symphonic, chamber, and pit), in bands (marching, symphonic, jazz, and swing), and in trios, quartets, and quintets; as a student, as an amateur, and as a professional; as a violinist, a violist, on the tuba (Sousaphone and miraphone), with bass guitar, on percussion, and as a conductor: I did it all. For the first three decades of my life, music was my sole creative outlet.
When I swapped music for writing, music did not disappear. I brought it with me.
The world is filled with distractions, and it can be a challenge to block them all out so I can concentrate on the world inside my head. Music helps me do that.
Each of my books has a soundtrack. Sometimes it’s related to the subject, building an ethnic backdrop (like the Arabic pop music I played while writing Dreams…) but more often it’s completely unrelated, just providing the beat, the drive, and the mood (like all the Symphonic Metal music I’ve been listening to while writing FC:V). I specifically ignore lyrics—I was never good at picking them out, anyway, so ignoring them works fine. Foreign language and instrumental works are especially well-suited, and movie soundtracks are often the perfect choice, evoking a mood and drama.
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Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 