Visiting the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire

Makers Faire Blog

Last weekend, I visited the Vancouver Mini Makers Faire Picnic. It was an exciting community and collective of often-DIY craft makers brought together to share/exhibit their wares with the world and to sell some of their pieces. The brochure/program guide announces: “Build. Hack. Sew. Play. Learn. Farm. Invent. Create. Make.” It incorporated all of these elements and more! The Faire was a great way to participate even as a spectator because, like the final project, it gave form and application to all the readings and texts we have studied and responded to over the course of the term. In addition, it was fascinating and fun mingling with the vibrant maker’s community. The best attribute, for me, of the Faire was that it animated and brought to life all the things we have been studying together in the class.

I think one of my favorite features of the Faire was the robot/mechanical snake. One of the reasons I was so drawn to the gigantic, slithering robot snake was because it was so visually arresting. Moreover, as a student of design, I could appreciate the fact that it was obviously a well designed, aesthetically interesting, and an effective, well-oiled machine. I also really liked that the mechanical/robot snake encouraged a type of participation and an involvement with the audience; as it slithered around, you had to step back or circumvent it accordingly.

As I wandered around the Faire, many of the different readings seemed to pop up in my mind. For example, in Hiten Samtani’s, “Meet the Makers,” it says that, “A maker space, she says, serves as an active breeding ground for such skills, a place where swarms

of inquisitive young people can come together and absorb new learning paradigms. (Samstani 6). The Faire was an example of this exact contention. Another refreshing aspect of the Faire was that, rather than the normal reality where large corporations focus their energies monopolizing the world, at every juncture along the way in the Faire, you were faced with innovations by individuals, not corporations or behemoth companies:

“Rather than top-down innovation by some of the biggest companies in the world, we're seeing bottom-up innovation by countless individuals, including amateurs, entrepreneurs, and professionals.” (Anderson 11) This excerpt taken from Chris Anderson’s “The New Industrial Revolution” was especially pertinent with regards to the Faire.

            Overall, I thought it was a great way to see, participate, and be a part of the readings, texts, ideas etc. from the class. I encourage anyone from the class to go and check it out for yourself (if you missed this year’s Faire, maybe you can make it next year or to another event with the same theme and approach).

I didn't get a good shot of the robot/mechanical snake, but here is one I found online:

More information can be found here about "Titanoboa": http://titanoboa.ca/

Singing, Recording, Audio, and the "Final" Product

Singing, Recording, and the Audio

If there had not been such tight time constraints, one of the things I would have changed the most, worked on more, and tried to improve would be 1) My anemic singing 2) My guitar playing and 3) More time on the lyrics. The singing component of the project was without a doubt the aspect that I had the most trouble with. In fact, listening to the various recorded fragments of the song was a humbling process because I had to hear the ignominious tones of my voice over and over again. I don’t know about you, but hearing a recorded version of my voice is a jarring experience. I hate the sound of my voice and it makes me stomach turn just hearing it. If I had more time, I would have met with a voice teacher and worked a lot more on the vocals. That is my main regret about the project. Learning, listening to, studying/reading, and, just generally, absorbing the rich, textured, and brilliant folk/blues tradition was a definite highlight of the project for me.

In terms of the recording, I recorded dozens, if not more, versions of fragments of the song, and, if I am going to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t happy with any of them. I was able to borrow and use a very basic analogue 4-track recording device and I experimented with using a demo version of Pro-Tools, which is one of the standard recording devices/programs for recording musicians in our contemporary time. The problem is that the digital recording devices do not have the warmth, the fatness, and the scope of sound that the analogue recording devices do. In the end, I used the four-track and then uploaded the various fragments/recordings to my computer. Here is one fragment of the song I recorded:

Link: https://soundcloud.com/jun-lee-36/voice00041

 

Learning How To Play Guitar: The Long Hard Road

Learning How To Play Guitar: The Long Hard Road

This iteration of the final project, along with the singing, was incredibly challenging; part of it indubitably was from my insecurities and diffidence both about playing the guitar and singing. For the project, I was fortunate to make use of a family friend as a guitar teacher. He taught me some basic chords, bar chords, and power chords. At first, I could not hit/strum one note or chord without hearing the dissonant mash of flat notes. Nonetheless, even after playing for a few weeks, my fingertips have begun to harden. I don’t have any impressive callouses yet, but they are improving. With the hardening of the fingertips, you can play longer and keep your fingers on the strings longer and more precisely. Another thing I noticed was that, particularly for my left hand as I am right handed and hold the neck and the fret of the guitar with my left, that agility is heightened when you can manage to stretch your fingers adequately, which was also very tough in the beginning.

            For my song, I took a basic group of chords, which my guitar teacher taught me, and put them together to string together the main rhythm and melody. The main progression, which the words are then sang over, goes like this: A minor, C major, and E major to A minor, C major, F major bar chord, and back to the E major. The beginning picking-segment before that verse/main chord progression is slightly different; it starts with an A minor that is supplemented with the pinky finger hitting the high E string off and on, on the 3^rd fret, then the D minor chord is played with the addition of the pinky hitting the high E string off and on, on the 3^rd fret, then the C major is played with the addition of the pinky hitting the B string off and on, on the 3^rd fret, and then the E major, and then the open A string is picked, then the 2^nd fret A string, then the 3^rd fret A string, and then back to the C major. This then is followed with the main A minor, C major, E major, A minor, C major, F major bar chord, and E major chord verse progression.

            While listening to the verse progressions in myriad blues and folk songs, I realized that most of the verse sequences followed an ABAB pattern. My song does this, too, as it shifts from the A sequence (A minor, C major, and E major) to the B sequence (A minor, C major, F major bar chord, and E major). This is sometimes called the Strophic form. I probably sound a bit alien and the language of this stuff does become, at times, rather esoteric. Although I have never written, composed, or sang an original song, apart from this one, I did have some piano lessons when I was a young boy and they surprisingly came in handy as I was working on this project (especially apropos of the chord structures, melodies, verse patterns etc. because they have correlates with the guitar).

            I also chose that particular combination because I could hear how the words would work in that rhythmic context (I tried to imagine Mississippi Fred McDowell singing it or someone great like that). I also picked that sequence because of how the chords sounded together. The blend of these specific chords gave the song the tone of a lament, somewhat mournful, but also like a ballad, and I was drawn to other folk/blues songs that had that same feel. I still haven’t been able to play it really good or make it sound like I hear it in my mind, but I tried.

The A minor chord 

The C major chord

The D major chord

The E major chord

The F major bar chord

Lyrics

Figuring Out the Words and Fitting it with the Music

Of the three main parts of the final project, I think I found the writing (and the overall development and editing) of the lyrics to be where I excelled the most. My guitar playing is very primitive and my singing abilities are lacklustre. Nevertheless, I think the lyrics turned out okay. Here is the final/edited version of the lyrics for the song I now call “Mysteries”:

Under a blood-red moon,

I dream of you.

All across the Western skies,

Constellations shine like her brown eyes.

Some call her the midnight sun.

they’re wrong;

I call her heaven.

But I was kicked out of the kingdom

Because of a pin, Lord, and its poison.

You know the story,

Here it comes again:

I was a bad, bad, bad man.

I carried two guns everyday.

Draw on me and I’ll blow you away.

Of all the mysteries I cannot comprehend,

You’re easily my favorite one of them.

Of all the mysteries I cannot comprehend,

You’re easily my favorite one of them.

The first section was influenced by this year’s (actually 2014/2015’s) unusual occurrence of having a tetrad of lunar eclipses. More on the tetrad of lunar eclipses (blood moons) can be found on the NASA website: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/27mar_tetrad/

On top of the blood moon, I reference the “constellations,” “the western skies,” and “the midnight sun.” Part of the reason for this is in sync with blues/folk tradition of invoking these symbolic natural themes, but the other reason is that I have been fascinated by astronomy for many years, moon cycles, star formations etc.

I have to mention that although I am reading into the lyrics right now, most of it came unconsciously, free flowing, and then I edited accordingly. I intentionally placed the lines “I carried two guns everyday” in the song as a gesture to the traditional folk tune “John Hardy,” as homage in line with the great tradition of folk and blues music.

Another theme in the song, I suppose, is religion, but I blend and contrast religious imagery like “heaven,” “kingdom,” and “Lord” with the secular love for a woman. I probably did this as a result of listening, studying, reading, and absorbing so much folk and blues music; in a lot of the great blues songs, the spiritual and the secular exist side by side, intertwined with each other. One thing I noticed during the research segment of the project was that a lot of the superlative folk songs incorporated salvation, suffering, and sensuality, which clearly combine religious elements with secular elements.

I know the lyrics are the product of an amateur “maker,” but I did my best, within the time constraints, and I had, at least, a modicum of satisfaction with what finally came together. The other challenging part was pairing the lyrics with the chords and the picking. I sang the main the verse over an Am, C, E chord progression and an Am, C, F (the F bar chord), E Chord pattern.

Thinking About the 3 Iterations of the Project

Blog #2: The Final Project

The Discussion of the 3 Iterations of the project:

At this point, I have met with a guitarist to learn about the blues/folk modalities on the guitar, chord patterns, some picking etc. I also have been practicing singing along with iconic, important folk songs. I have, additionally, written down some ideas, themes, and tropes to begin the rough draft of the lyrics. In this post, I will enumerate and describe the processes for the above-mentioned developments in the project.

First, I will outline my tentative explorations into the guitar. I met with a family friend, John, to get some bearings on playing the guitar. The first couple of chords he taught me were the E major chord, the A minor chord, the C major chord, and the G major chord. So far, so good, but the tips of my fingers hurt from pressing the strings down. My guitar teacher assures me, with time and regular practice, I will develop callouses on my fingertips, which will allow me to play better and for longer amounts of time.

This is the type of guitar that I will be using for the song:

It is a Fender acoustic guitar and the tone of it is apposite for the type of folk/blues song I am intending to create/write/develop.

Second, I have been trying to absorb as much folk and blues music as I can. I am doing this to make myself inured with these traditions and for inspiration. Here is a list of a few of the blues/folk songs that I have found to be helpful, informative, inspiring, and they just sound great:

Eva Davis- John Hardy (1924): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJKj12xm_tk

The Mississippi Sheiks- Sitting On Top of the World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqeW7-tmVU4

Ralph Stanley- Man of Constant Sorrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mndlk0qbIbE

Leadbelly- Goodnight Irene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmQXmqbZ3Pc

Geeshie Wiley- Last Kind Words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKfy2W70Qg

Blind Willie McTell- Searching the Desert for the Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLXq6pJnr_c

Blind Willie Johnson- The Soul of a Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MdI2xPHw_k

Wanda Jackson- Hard Headed Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzJ3hiqsi0U

In terms of the writing portion of the project, I have written down a few ideas. A potential first few lines of the verse are:

Under a blood red moon,

I dream of you.

All across the Western skies,

Constellations shine like her brown eyes.

I also want to incorporate the mythology of John Hardy into the song, particularly the line about carrying two guns everyday:

Some other fragments of verse I might use are:

Some call her the midnight sun,

They're wrong; I call her heaven.

But I was kicked out of the kingdom

because of a pin and its poison.

You know the story...

Here it comes again:

I was a bad, bad, bad man.

I carried two guns everyday.

Draw on me, and I'll blow you away.