Rachel’s practice retreatI had a few projects on my plate for my practice retreat week, but the most interesting by far turned out to be a musical transcription project. Over the course of the month of January, I participated in Fun-a-day where people in cities all over the US choose something creative (and fun) to do every day for the month. I chose to write a "fiddle-tune-a-day." Some days I had to do a little make-up work for days that I missed, but by January 31, I had a tune for every day. The only problem was that they were recorded, but not transcribed. Through the process of transcribing them via a computer program this week, I've listened and played through these tunes a lot more and have gotten to know which ones I like and which I don't. I noticed some patterns I follow in my writing and improvising as well as some interesting experimental deviations from the patterns of the traditional fiddle tunes that I aim to emulate. I've had fun coming up with names for the tunes, too (such as "Crazy Burger"). In the end, I have a compilation of waltzes, jigs, reels, marches, hornpipes, and hambos that I never would have created otherwise. I'll be performing a few of these tunes at the "Fun-a-day Providence" opening which is on February 11 at the WBNA building. Tunes will be happening between 8:00 and 8:30 pm. More details are here. -Rachel Panitch, CMW staff |
