Ben’s Blog

I really like getting music with iTunes because keeping track of physical CD’s, and the space and etc, has always been a bit of a challenge. So, that’s what I love about iTunes. What I can’t figure out though, is why in the heck can’t you get the liner notes as part of your purchase?

The liner notes are so important. I’ll give you three examples.

1. Weather Report, Heavy Weather.
The liner notes on that recording really intrigued me as a kid. I remember thinking, “Jaco plays mandocello? Cool, where can I get one of those?” I tried to hunt one down, but they were very expensive then, and still are now. (Funny that you can get a mandolin for $150, but the cheapest mandocello is $2500. I guess that’s supply/demand? Anyway.)

2. Egberto Gismonti, Danca dos Escravos
I love this album. At the very end of the liner notes, past what looks like the last page of the mini-booklet, you turn one more page, and you get this picture.



Don’t you just love that? Somehow I think I would have had less of an understanding of Gismonti as a person if I hadn’t seen that.

3. Capritio from Tragicomedia
AT lent me this fantastic album last week. Like most recordings of this type, the liner notes are a really good source of information about the works themselves. And, the liner notes in this case, were totally essential. Ah, that’s a lirone, what a tone, what sustain! And just knowing the composers and instrumentation on each track was essential. The Sonata a mandolino, e basso, by Carlo Arrigoni, is definitely one I’m going to learn on mandolin. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. So, I’m going to have to buy this album physically.

So, that’s a long way of saying, I think I might want to rethink my strategy of iTunes, and think about getting organized with CD’s.

But, it sure would be nice if the full liner notes could be available as a PDF and synced right in with iTunes. Maybe that’s coming down the road.

bentorrey :: Sep.28.2008 :: W.O.T. (Way Off Topic) or is it? :: No Comments »

The Adagio movement is really great. It’s really fun to study all the embellishments that Anth0ny Pl33th puts in there. Here’s a first take practice clip via the YouTube instant upload (A=415). I don’t quite have all the embellishments memorized, so there’s a few goofs.

One note on approaches to bowings. I think sometimes there’s a temptation to follow the bowings almost too closely. Say for example in measure 3, maybe articulating the first note only, and doing all three notes on one string with pulloffs. While I experiment with that approach from time to time, I think the non-articulated notes, on pizzacato bass, just drop off too much, so they should be articulated, maybe a bit lighter.

bentorrey :: Sep.21.2008 :: Repertoire :: No Comments »

Here’s some more work on the Marcello Sonata No. 6. Here’s the 2nd movement, which I can’t quite play up to tempo with the great recording I have (A=415). I’ve got some fingering and raking approaches that are really working here, but it’s not quite under my fingers at this tempo. I’ll keep cranking it with the metronome, and hopefully will record it with AT on harpsichord one of these Tuesday nights.

bentorrey :: Sep.14.2008 :: Repertoire :: 1 Comment »

I have to tell a quick story. Back in the days, my cousin AC was the first one to get a license and we used to drive around with him to the Burger King and other key attractions of the South Shore. One time though, we were going on a ski trip to New Hampshire and AC was driving. He had gotten really into that tune Footloose, so he got the LP from the library and taped it continuously on both sides of a 45-minute tape. He made me and my brothers listen to it the whole way up. Boy, that was a long ride.

But, I still think of that sometimes when I’m learning pieces, I’ll do my “footloose” listening, and loop it enough times to really absorb every detail. Of course, these days it’s a lot simpler to do that. My car’s CD player has a repeat track option, and very easy with an iPOD of course.

When I got the latest Avishai album, I did my “footloose listening” with Pinzin Kinzin (Like I had with Remembering on the last live album). It’s funny how much you pick up by that type of absorption listening. I really enjoy that. There’s a spot at 0:56 that seems like a real “in the bass/drums groove DNA” type moment, when the bass drops down the octave and the drummer switches to the ride cymbal. That’s such an instinctive moment.

Anyway, I went to the Avishai show last week with my mentor, teacher, and good friend Wesley Wirth. Great show! Wes and I had a really good time catching up, it had been quite awhile. He’s working a really cool project with a great pianist in the area, and he dug hearing about all the early music stuff I’m up to. It was a really special night all around.

bentorrey :: Sep.13.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: 1 Comment »

I remember last year getting my (rental) gamba on Tuesday, September 11, 2007. I remember feeling a bit selfish about that. It felt selfish to sit at home and play it, discovering this whole new world of sound. But then again music uplifts the spirit, and we all need that.

I generally never put other videos on my site, in fact, I can’t remember having ever done that in my 130+ posts. I saw this one some time ago and played along on my upright for a good long time. Driving home from ensemble just yesterday, I heard the piece again on HRB and it reminded me to post here in case you hadn’t seen it.

bentorrey :: Sep.11.2008 :: The Life Pie :: No Comments »

So, I’ve got a cello now! I’m borrowing my Mom’s for a week or two and then will rent one at Johnson String if I feel I can get back on track with the instrument.

Boy, it’s been a long time. Probably since before 1990 that I really sat down and worked on cello. In fact, I think I had sold my last one around 1988 or so, but did grab one occasionally during high school.

Here’s a pretty bad practice session that I just figured I’d record for posterity, always good to have a benchmark, no matter how painful on the ears. Anyway, I’ve got a really great teacher lined up, looking forward to working with her, and really looking forward to seeing what I can get together for cello chops. Hopefully good enough to do the Concerto Grosso # 8 in concertino format with a few co-workers. And then, hopefully good enough to do some community orchestra stuff in about 6 months. I had planned to do that on bass, but going back and forth with upright and gamba with respect to bowing has been difficult, so I decided to try cello for a bit.

bentorrey :: Sep.07.2008 :: Instruments :: No Comments »

I’ve been thinking about getting a mandolin for a really long time, and I finally took the plunge last Sunday. In general, I tend to play a bit too many instruments really, so I had to sell this to myself as part of a larger project. That larger project is getting a cello again. So, I decided that in getting a mandolin, I’d work on my fluency in 5ths. That has really been the case. I’ve had it for 8 days now, and after running scales and patterns up and down, and playing through some Bach, I’m really starting to feel that fluency come back a bit. And then some! While I’ve played in 5ths for years, both on cellos and on my bass, I’ve never played in 5ths at this short a scale, and it’s really amazing what’s available in one position without shifting.

Here’s a pretty junky video I recorded on day 6 of my mandolin journey, hacking through the beginning of the beautiful Gigue from Partita No 2 in d minor. Not very good, but I think this will come together pretty well in a few weeks.

I found a guy that really nails this. He’s on the west coast, but I hope to take some distance lessons via Skype with him down the road.

Anyway, I think I’ll work through the entire suite actually (maybe minus the Chaconne for now) as a way to get my chops together on mandolin. In fact, this thing is so tiny that I’m even thinking of bringing it into work and taking it outside to practice on my lunch hour.

bentorrey :: Sep.01.2008 :: Instruments :: No Comments »