Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Deep Bass Sunshine

A side effect of our "Gingerbread in June" party was that the back room (a.k.a. "The Everything Room") got a very thorough cleaning — so much so that it's now the emptiest, neatest room in the house. Deborah even cleaned her desk. The empty space is inspiring, as is the afternoon sun shining in the window.

Sunday afternoon, while waiting for my internet connection to return, I realized that I could be doing something instead of sitting there being frustrated. My bass amp sits beside the computer; why not keep the bass there, too, and just practice a bit while waiting for other things? For that matter, why not just sit there and play? As I've discovered again, you really do play a lot more if your instrument close at hand, and not sitting in a case halfway across the house.

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Somewhere along the line, I discovered that Fiona has a way with words for music. The Call's Let the Day Begin — one of my favorite driving songs — is "Happy music! It makes me want to jump around!" while a soft, moody piece I wrote for the bass is "a song for relaxing outside, sitting under a tree in the sunshine!" I've started trying to find new and interesting bass lines to play, just to see what she'll say about them. (The theme to Inspector Gadget, incidentally, is pretty much all accidentals. How appropriate.) It's fun to watch her stop, and listen to each new riff, as she tips back and forth from foot to foot, just drinking it in and smiling before she starts dancing around the room, a different dance for every song.

This kid is made of music.

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