May Playlist, by John Davis & The Cicadas

May Playlist

by John Davis & The Cicadas

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	1.	Saz Practice 1 04:53
	2.	Saz Practice 2 02:01
	3.	Saz Practice 3 04:36
	4.	Saz Practice 4 02:35
	5.	Saz Practice 5 03:13
	6.	Saz Practice 6 06:47
	7.	Saz Practice 7 03:37
	8.	Saz Practice 8 06:15

about

I took 10 weekly Saz lessons online from newtonmusichall.com in the LA area this spring. I had started using this instrument, which I've had for 7 or 8 years, to write parts for the upcoming Folk Implosion record and wanted to get better at it. I used it on We'll Teach Them How to Privatize from the El Pulpo album and really liked how it sat in the mix next to conventional rock instruments. I never really learned to play scales when I took guitar lessons in 5th grade, but I started out learning a few here. It was interesting to see how there are notes in these scales that are in between - exactly halfway between - the notes on western music scales. One of the hardest parts of learning these melodies that my teacher taught me was to teach my ear to distinguish between these semi tones, and to unlearn my conditioned reaction that they sound "off." The frets are not evenly spread out as they are on a guitar and I really enjoyed the challenge of acclimating my hands to that. I am not sure yet how learning this stuff will change the parts I had written for the upcoming FI project - the tuning I've been studying in is different than the one I had learned online for example. But I am really enjoying the way it's all seeping into the well water, so to speak. The teacher gave me an apple by saying I was a top student, and persuaded me to spring for a Tar and a Tombak. He felt I should move up to these because they are the lead instruments in Persian music. He also said, correctly, that music is 75 or 80% about the rhythm, and that my next step in learning this musical style is to play hand drums to learn how to accent and frame these melodies in time signatures that are not 4/4. I'm going away to visit family and friends and record with Lake in the Northwest next week, but I'm looking forward to resuming this study when I get back.

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released June 12, 2022

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John Davis & The Cicadas Durham, North Carolina

John Davis is a musician who works solo, with Folk Implosion, with a backing band called the Cicadas, and with Dennis Callaci. He also works on defending and transforming public education as a teacher - organizer with the Durham Association of Educators. ... more

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