Creativity and the Wife of a Musician

Today has been taken over by composing - again.
It is the only thing I know that will keep Robin away from his guitar for more than a few hours.
It's all Pat Metheny's fault.
If we hadn't listened to 'Last Train Home' the other day Robin wouldn't have got out both his electric sitar and traditional sitar.
From that a riff was created and recorded.
Tabla added, yes we have those too, and Robin is something of a frustrated percussionist.
Before you know it we have a piece of music reverberating around the house.

Son number one was enlisted to add some vocals and I thought that was the end of it.
But no.
A new, extended version is now being created, with choir and orchestra.
The score becomes more elaborate by the minute.
When I ask what is to become of this new piece I'm told, "That's your department, I'm composing it and playing it, you do the rest."
Err, OK.

We had set aside today to complete many outstanding jobs.
Suffice to say that none have been dealt with as yet.
This is the problem for the wife of a musician.
You can't plan ahead.
Just when you think you have his attention for a couple of hours to get things done, he goes and has a musical idea, and you know you might as well go with the flow as nothing will distract him.

I'm sure most people wash the car, mow the lawn, that type of thing, on a Sunday.
Ohh well, I can't get in the way of creativity.
I learnt long ago to just let him get on with it and enjoy the music.
I guess I'll have to go and rehang that door myself...

Robin Hill and his Electric Sitar

I knew this would happen.
After listening to Pat Metheny the other day Robin just couldn't resist getting out his electric sitar.



He plays a Jerry Jones Electric Sitar and as you can see, there are the conventional strings as you find on an ordinary electric guitar, but also there are 13 sympathetic strings.
These are designed to resonate as you play which, along with the special bridge, gives the 'sitar' sound.

I do have some recordings of Robin playing this but at the moment we are compiling a CD worth of music to release at a later date....
So watch this space for more information.

Everybody's Doing It...

We listened to three pieces today, which were all connected with trains, and all fantastic.
The first was Arthur Honegger's 'Pacific 231'.

Honegger was actually born Oscar Arthur Honegger but never used his first name.
He was one of 'Les Six', the name given to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse, Paris.
The other five being, George Auric, Louis Durey, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre.

Honegger was widely known as a train enthusiast and once said, "I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses."

Pacific 231 gained him early notoriety in 1923 and is well worth listening to.

The second train related piece was from the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Villa-Lobos was deeply attached to the music of Bach and believed similarities existed between Bach's compositions and Brazilian folk music.
He explored this theory in a series of nine suites, 'Bachianas Brasileiras'.
The final movement of Suite No.2, 'Little Train of Caipira' represents the train journey that local farmers made in the Sao Paolo area.

The third piece is a very different style but equally as enjoyable.
It is by the American jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny.
It's called 'Last Train Home' and is played on a Coral Sitar which is a cross between and electric guitar and a sitar.
The result is a fantastic and unique sound and beautifully played.