OK, here’s the plan.

I’m going to put together a book of my fingerstyle arrangements of songs from the ‘30s and ‘40s. Smart people will ask “Why?”, and they’re right to. I’m pretty such a book would be hard to publish, mainly for two reasons:

            - rights to the songs are expensive

            - I’m not sure who would want to buy it.

But I don’t care, because I don’t really aim to publish it. I just want to finish it.

Most people who learn these tunes look at them as source material for music theory studies (AABA song structure, ii – V – I progression, etc.), as vehicles for improvisation, or as material for wedding or society gigs. All well and good, but not what I’m after. (If that’s what you’re after, you can’t beat WorkshopLive’s Jody Fisher.)

My arrangements are like nice, handmade chairs. A chair has to work. You have to recognize it as a chair. You have to be able to sit comfortably in it. Handmade chairs usually use familiar materials – wood instead of carbon fiber, upholstery instead of titanium webs. My arrangements sound like the songs they are. They’re comfortable. They use familiar materials.

My contributions to this blog will tend to focus on this project a lot over the next several months. I may drop in the occasional gripe about contemporary music (really, what the hell are these guys thinking with this crap?), but I’ll try to keep things above board, for the most part.

[TJH]

Comments

[www.musicthingz.co.nz]

I concur.

www.musicthingz.co.nz

[www.musicthingz.co.nz]

I concur.

-www.musicthingz.co.nz