Eric
My blogs
Blogs I follow
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Industry | Education |
| Occupation | Music Instructor |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Introduction | I work too much. But when you are in a profession that you enjoy it's hard not to. That being said, I'm very much into having fun as it presents itself. I'd like to do more travel. On the road of life, some walk on the sidewalk, some drive down the middle of the road at top speed. As for me...I'm not sure where the road is...but oh...what's this...this is cool. I spend a lot of time outside of the box, but I love it when I do something inside the box that forces people to look outside of it. |
| Interests | I like to play and write music. Build furniture and generally build and create things. Legos are awesome. Anything artistic intrigues me. Though I don't get out nearly enough, I love being outside and soaking in the fresh air of a beautiful day. I've been known to play a bit of pool. I throw an occasional strike or two at the lanes. Karaoke. There's nothing better than a finely crafted micro-brew. I'm not one to lead the crowd when it comes to dancing, but if I have enough alcohol in me I can nerd-ify and destroy the coolest of dance moves. Above all, my favorite activity is laughing with a good group of friends. You know...that infectious kind of laugh that just keeps going and going... |
| Favorite movies | Godfather Part 2, The Dark Crystal, Team America, Moulin Rouge, Lost in Translation, Leon: The Professional, 50 First Dates, Any Monty Python, The Red Violin, Love Actually |
| Favorite music | This is a very loaded question for a musician. Here's the technical answer: I enjoy asymetrical musical forms with chord progressions that are simultaneously simple and yet have surprises. A story, whether abstract, literal, or both, must be conveyed. Beauty, technique and artistry in the performers is not necessary, but it certainly helps. Contrapuntal harmonies, the more complex the better, as long as the final product is something smooth and effortless. Dissonance is generally much more consonant than you might think. Superfluous notes are necessary to grow. Bareness is necessary for introspection and sometimes I, vi, ii, V, I is the only way to say what needs to be said. My favorite harmonic extension is the #11...it's resolution is unnecessary. To be more specific...Stephen Sondheim, Loni Mitchell, Jason Robert Brown, ELO, Richard Strauss, Leonard Bernstein, J.S. Bach (especially later works), Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, The Who, Sting, Billie Holiday, John Adams, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Claude Debussy, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff...I can keep going, but the above paragraph sums it up much better. To be honest, there's so much great music out there that I have no idea I would like. I can't wait to discover more of it. |
| Favorite books | G.E.B: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstatler showed me that there is beauty in the complexity of all things. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Stephen Sondheim: A Life by Meryle Secrest Though not technically books in the most literal of senses (notice the clever linguistic pun...no?...anyway, moving on...) I find it immensely enjoyable to sit down with a great orchestral score and play the musical drama in my head. As is the same with handwriting, a lot of philosophical and personal stories can be told through the construction of such an analysis. |