spinning drum blog

It’s all about being mindful.
No matter where you are, what you do.
Simple or complex,
presence is to be mindful.

Of what you do,
pay attention,
to detail and
sensation,
inhale through every pore.

In the breath of this attention,
requiring the broadest of mind
and most enduring focus,
arrives the no mind.
In analysis to awareness,
the conscious is lost.

The me thinking about me,
imaging the contortions of my future,
putting myself in what if,
placing myself there and then,
when here there is simply the action.

The dance of gravity’s receptacle,
where sight to mind
and hands settle on contact,
no matter where you are, what you do.

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Play is an experience in receptivity. Not only in learning but in finding the coordination to obtain the aim. It is listening and allowing the body to respond, finding the common comprehension where pursuit and pleasure meet. From basketball to ballet, the awareness, practice and eventual release of thought into simple movement results in what often not only looks beautiful, but for the performer feels right.

What does that mean, vague to say something feels right. Still more often than not this denotes the activity is performed “properly.” It is at that moment the student, in body as well as mind, understands the teacher’s instruction, and it is at that moment that once again the love of the activity is renewed.

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The other day following a contact dance class, where the focus was on intuitive movement (meaning listening and letting the body move with no prescribed thought), I noticed afterwards both my musicality and technique seemed enhanced. My ability to translate thoughts from my brain to fingertips met with an easy flow. Sure I was relaxed if not a bit playful following the class, but what impressed me most was how much the preceding hours paying attention to my entire body’s impulses had honed my scratch aptitude so.

I have noticed this to a smaller degree when I practice after dancing or exercising. I took a class once in vocal performance and kinesiology. The day’s exercises were an introduction on using body awareness to enhance performance ability. I recall a warm up the teacher suggested that consisted of simply alternating left arm to right knee and right arm to left knee. The teacher repeatedly emphasized the importance of getting both parts of the brain connected. So I will take her cue and drop a reminder that this marriage between the two, meeting in the intuitive rhythm of the body, is the natural parent of art.

I found a place live for all those who registered curiosity and concern. A new home and studio is found, so I can relax and write, right. Well not until after a few laughs. Ok, the funniest thing I saw this weekend. Check out http://www.lejo.nu. Finger puppet animation, this is minimalist brilliance, truly an example of making something from nothing. Composed of no more that the puppeteers bare hand and two wooden eyes, Lejo’s cast of characters are rich, and his videos are hilarious. Click on the phonograph video for some finger puppet scratching. The robot vid is just as funny. The videos need a flash plugin to watch. The home page arrives in Dutch, for English click on GB (Great Britain).

The second funniest if not the slickest video I saw this week was from some pro x crossfade company that me and my friends have never heard of, but agreed they make sic videos. Check out. http://www.zippyvideos.com/3328389063290496/eb_proxfade_400_225_web/original

ok back to the decks
For a while I’ve wanted to write something about the chirp. This is very similar to the basic scratch, but demands quicker fader play. Start with the fader open on the tip of the sound fading it out as you play it and then pull back with an open fader. You only want to hear a bit of both the forward and back strokes

To do it fast or with speed control I reckon takes 3 or 4 sessions. At that point your fingers can start to behave. Combos can be created by speeding up the sound and switching between basic scratches and chirps. It’s a beautiful scratch that makes for high pitch percussive play over a track. Still it is one of those that require constant practice to keep it sweet and clean.

BTW, I saw a scary new feature this week in a Revolutionist practice jam. These have in part turned into serato appreciation sessions since Tim sprung for the lap top and serato box. After about an hour of heavy jamming our serato man Tim takes a pause to check how is needle is tracking on the groove. Serato gives you a visual representation of this, which kind of looks like a green coated infrared image of a rotating circle. The blur on the circle’s lines shows you the state of the needle. Holy begezuzz, Tim’s shure fuzzed out big time at 2 o’clock, and consequently both me and dj bad bowed out of testing our needles afraid of what we’d find. Kind of like what you can’t see won’t hurt you, just your records. Made me think though of replacing my needle soon, and I swear to god they must of got backing from Shure and Stanton to develop this feature.

Speaking of Stanton, the new SA-5, a fairly low-priced entry level mixer has fader eqs. This is another point for the fader family – did we say one handed eqing. I’m still wanting to try the Vestax 08 and have been trying to find a living reviewer for this new “ dj instrument.” In the meantime, I’m putting together a mixer compare as I’ve noticed it’s a favorite dj topic, but one that’s laden with more machismo than knowledge and in our commercial world more shaped by product placement than product worth. I’m taking the objective approach because I above all know the emotional attachment one can have with a mixer. Thus this is just a tech spec table. You decide what’s important to you, which at the end of the day is how you should pick your mixer.