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Solving the Puzzles of Music

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Chronos/Kairos – A Powerful Mental Model of Time

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Whenever you learn a new word or concept, it can change the way you view the world. Often it also adds a useful tool you can use to navigate life differently. For instance, the 80/20 Rule (aka Pareto Principle) can help you look for key things and actions that really produce results and as a consequence let go of the small stuff. The concept of Antifragility might change your view of volatility and risk – how to live with uncertainty and how to not only survive, but rather gain from shocks to the system. “Black swan” is another term that neatly summarizes a larger concept and can provide a clear mental image for a (complex) chain of events.

Recently, I’ve reflected a lot on a set of terms that have their origins in Greek mythology: the chronos/kairos distinction. Apparently, the greek had two words for time: chronos and kairos.

  • chronos: linear, sequential time
  • kairos: numinous, qualitative time

Origins in Greek Mythology

Before going into the actual differences and some ideas on how to experiment with chronos/kairos, let’s briefly dive into the fascinating world of Greek mythology to get some additional background information.

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Mastering the Polyrhythm in Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu

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Chopin’s “Fantaisie Impromptu” has always been a bucket piece for me. What’s a bucket piece? The same way people have a bucket list, where they list all the things and experiences they’d like to accomplish before they kick the bucket (aka die), a bucket piece is something you just have to learn at whatever the cost. Hopefully not due to some weird kind of social expectancy, but ideally because you just like the piece and it would make your life more complete, fulfilled and enjoyable.

Frederic Chopin – photo taken in 1849 by Louis-Auguste Bisson

I’ve always liked the elegance and that nostalgic, yearning, melancholy quality in Chopin’s music. The funny thing is that I heard the “Fantaisie” for the first time either by Tony MacAlpine or some other neoclassical shredder. After reading the CD liner notes, I became intrigued and then researched the source. Similar to what happened with one of my other fav pieces, the Adagio by Albinoni (or not?), which I wrote an article about a few years ago: The Albinoni Adagio Mystery.

Anyways, the “Fantaisie” is a virtuosic piece. Arpeggios, runs and speed – all the necessary ingredients of a virtuoso showcase. But there are also extremely beautiful lyrical and flowing passages.

Chopin is such a master. Due to his deep understanding of the piano and the idiomatic writing many of the passages actually are not as difficult as they initially seem. Don’t get me wrong, they are still hard to play, especially when you bring them up to speed and try to maintain the required lightness and elegance.

The big hurdle however is the polyrhythm between the left and right hand. Triplets in the left hand accompaniment while the right hand plays 16th notes. It doesn’t look that difficult on paper, but when you haven’t played pieces using that polyrhythm before it’s a frustrating initial experience.

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How to Build a Resource Database

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Without Using a Clunky Database Program

Databases? Seriously? What is this all about and why would you need this? Let me ask you a few questions:

  • If somebody finds out you play an instrument and asks you to play something for them and your mind goes blank … what do you play?
  • Do you have a plan on how to improve on your instrument? Do you know what exercises/pieces to practice? In which order?
  • Do you have quick access to all your relevant information? Can you quickly pull up the exercises, sheet music, repertoire pieces etc.?
  • You know you have the perfect exercise/piece for a student somewhere – but don’t know where that elusive somewhere is?
  • You’ve just purchased a plugin/VST because it was such a great deal, only to later realize that you’ve already purchased the same plugin two years ago and had totally forgotten about it.
  • During some soul-searching moments you ask yourself why you keep getting analysis paralysis when looking at your 17 SSL console emulations and 12 EQ and 26 compressor plugins. Where are the times where you simply focused on the music?

Welcome to the club! I’m not making fun of you, although you have to admit it’s a somewhat hilarious situation. We have more choices and tools available than ever, yet it’s getting more difficult to simply focus on creating. Guess why?!

In this article I’ll share some general strategies as well as step-by-step breakdowns of how to set up resource databases without actually using clunky database applications. So no need to worry – we won’t have to put on jackets with elbow patches to channel our inner engineer. 😉

We’ll stay in somewhat semi-nerdy territory and the concepts and tools to actually do that stuff are easy to use and accessible.

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Android Apps for Musicians/Creatives

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In 2012 I had just gotten my first real smartphone. No more Symbian or other proprietary OS. I was excited to dive in and discover the world of apps. After lots of experiments and discoveries I shared my findings in an article appropriately called “12 Android Apps for Musicians”.

The post didn’t go viral (meaning millions of visitors) but pulled in a decent amount of traffic. I’ve received lots of comments and messages and subsequently wrote a follow-up featuring more apps.

Even today there are still people discovering AdvancingMusician via Google for the first time landing on those 2012 articles. I’m not complaining about that, but 9 years later – obviously a lot has changed and it’s high time for an update.

  • some apps have been discontinued (I had to remove quite a few broken links in the original articles 🙁 )
  • some are outdated
  • some don’t get maintained anymore
  • there are better options available
  • I’ve developed a more restrained use of my phone
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How to (Not) Use Your Phone as a Musician/Creative

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Thanks to mobile devices we have access to all the digitized knowledge of the world and a gazillion hours of incredible video performances and tutorials at our fingertips.

We can install apps that can help us:

  • run our finances
  • manage our tasks
  • stay on track to reach our goals
  • keep databases of valuable knowledge
  • video chat around the globe

Basically, we could improve our effectiveness, productivity, our workflow, manage our responsibilities and learn valuable skills from anywhere – anytime.

But instead we often get suckered into:

  • watching silly cat videos (meow, kittie, kittie!)
  • low-quality content that is nothing more than an infomercial selling us on something
  • attention-robbing apps that “steal” our time, focus and energy with nothing much to show for in return
When a phone was a phone …

FOMO

We musicians/creatives seem to be especially susceptible to that. We are curious creatures and we often like (or need) to be on the edge of technology. Just think of our complex DAW set-ups integrating hardware, various controllers, scripts, plugins etc.

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