Reactions to the Apple Event

Really enjoyed sitting down today and checking out today’s Apple Event during quiet time in our house. Kids sleeping/resting and having lunch with dedicated relaxing time seemed to be a rare alignment of the stars. I jotted down a few thoughts as I watched:

• I definitely see a HomePod mini in our future. We have a few Echo devices and I’d love to see how much I use one of these. Specifically, I can never hear my podcasts over the noise from the shower and having one in the bedroom in the mornings seems like a great way to get the news, weather, and have a great speaker for any listening during the morning routine.

• The intercom system would also be really helpful. Studio AB is in the bottom corner of our house and I know my wife and I would use this feature throughout the week.

• The iPhone 12 Pro looks amazing and I’m especially excited about the continued evolution of the camera. It feels like every year Apple doubles down on the previous camera improvements, which has been a big selling point for me. These cameras are by far the #1 way I document my kids’ childhood and I value having such a high quality camera on my phone despite having just bought a “big kid” camera.

• Though I loved the Bond theme music, I don’t see the desire for an iPhone mini. I’m excited to be proven wrong, but for me, I don’t really see an obvious use case at the moment.

• I think I am most excited about the MagSafe system and how flexible it is with iPhone accessories. I love the idea of a shared charger for the iPhone and Apple Watch as well!

Apple Event Tomorrow

Apple has announced its next Apple Event, scheduled for Tuesday October 13th at 1:00 PM Eastern—that’s tomorrow! It also has some fun AR functions if you take a look at the announcement with your smart phone.

I’ve got time blocked out to enjoy the keynote which is rumored to focus on the new iPhone 12 release later this month. Other items speculated to be included are the new AirPods Studio (headphones rumored to be their highest-end product with noise-cancelling and worn over the ear), possibly a new HomePod, and the new AirTags (their Bluetooth tracking devices similar to the Tile product).

While I’m due for an iPhone upgrade and excited to hear the latest in hardware, these other products are equally exciting. I have a ton of equipment in my Gear Cage that I would love to have tracked with the AirTags, and have been considering finally purchasing some noise-cancelling headphones especially to be used while flying (you know, when we can do that safely again). We’ve also dipped our toe into the Echo scene, and having something in the Apple ecosystem would be something I’d definitely give a good luck before continuing to outfit our home with more smart technology.

Nevarro’s Hottest Tracks

One of my favorite videos I’ve come across on YouTube recently is this one, documenting the creation of the score for The Mandalorian by Ludwig Göransson. I’ll never forget how much this music immediately drew me into the Mando universe, which has become one of my favorite titles of all time. It set the tone for such an amazing adventure, and me and the kiddos frequently blast it in the car while running errands. I can honestly say I’ve never had a desire to learn to play recorder until now! Always inspiring to see the creative process of others.

Season 2 fires up at the end of October, and can’t come soon enough. This is the way.

Personal Practice Journal: Day One + Siri Shortcuts

For over a year now, I’ve been working on refining my journaling habit for my personal practice sessions. I’ve always been a believer that journaling (not just for practicing) can be helpful in a couple of ways, two in particular:

• First, it allows me to quickly review at the end of the day how my plan went, so I can properly divide my allotted time the next day to be as impactful as possible.

• Second, I find it helps my mental health tremendously. Writing down how my practicing went helps me unload that mental weight, think critically about how to respond, and then leave it alone so I can move on with my day.

I’ve done a lot of homework on which tool to use for journaling, and for me, Day One is definitely the app of choice. Day One has apps for iOS and Mac and I really love writing in them, especially on the iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard.

The journal entries can easily include pictures, microphone input for dictation, and much more, and I’m finding more uses for the rich features each time I’m writing. Siri Shortcuts was the tool that made this really take off for me. By pre-populating a list of prompts, the input is very easy. I find my entries are faster, yet more thorough using this shortcut, and it takes me very little time to enter.

If you’d like to give this a whirl, download my Shortcut and give it a try! Open the shortcut and simply replace my repertoire list with yours, then at the bottom redirect to your DayOne Journal and you should be off and running.

Sounds from Studio AB: Alicia

Alicia Keys’ new album ALICIA kept me moving last week in Studio AB, but also got me thinking about the way we digest music vs. information. Listening to an album in full feels more like a commitment, much like reading a book. Often I'll get in the car and play whatever is on my top playlists, which leads to hearing the same tracks, but also to consuming at a much lower level of focus. By spending a week with an album I can usually get through it a few times, and I get to know it better—I get the arch the artist was intending, and thus get to hear the entire story, just like reading.

Conversely, I wondered what it would be like to listen to tracks of our favorite books or podcasts in this less-focused state. Wouldn't it be nice to get the highlights from these things in three-minute “playlist style” versions every so often, just to keep those principles front of mind? I guess maybe it's time to finally check out Blinkist.

Big Screen Evolution

I was catching up on some old Mac Power Users episodes this weekend while mowing my lawn, and learned from Stephen Hackett that I am apparently a card-carrying member of the “Big Screen Club.” As an Apple user I’ve migrated to the iPhone XS Max, the 12.9” iPad Pro and have owned a 27” iMac as my main machine for nearly a decade. Combine these with my recent 32-button Stream Deck XL and the addition of a reference monitor to Studio AB, and I appear to have displayed a preference for larger sized workspaces as all of these (monitor excluded, I suppose) are the largest sizes of their product families.

I remember I was recently listening to Ali Abdaal discuss how he tries to direct as many activities as he can to his home machine, including text messages, because his typing speed is lightning fast on his keyboard. I guess I feel the same way about these larger spaces. Though, I’ll be the first to jump if the iPad is ever released in an even larger form, as I would love a 16+ inch version for score reading specifically. In the meantime, I’ve just started hooking mine up to a 32” TV…

The Calm Inbox Course

The Sweet Setup team, led by Shawn Blanc, recently released the Calm Inbox course. The course is discounted 20% for launch week, down from $99 to $79. I’ve signed up for several Sweet Setup courses, and have really enjoyed going through the video tutorials. I’m always looking for ways to keep my attention and focus on one thing at a time, allowing me to live my best creative life, and Shawn and his team are definitely advocates of this approach. The discount ends today, so those who are interested, should hop on board now.

Friday Inspiration Boost

It’s an immediate inspiration-Dynamax (yes, I’m down with the Pokémon) when my two favorite drummers drop new tracks on the same day. I had to think about that statement for a moment, but in the last year I’d be hard-pressed to name two drummers whose playing I’ve enjoyed more than these two gentlemen.

Dafnis Prieto released his latest album Transparency today on his independent label with his Sextet. His most recent album Back to the Sunset has been on loop in my car for almost a year now after hearing him live with Michel Camilo in November 2019 at PASIC. That concert was transcendent for me; I don’t remember being that moved by live music since hearing Stevie Wonder here in Knoxville back in 2015. Both of these concerts along with a small handful of others are moments I will never forget in my life. I’m listening to Transparency now as I wrap up my week at my desk, with the cool October breeze coming in through the window, and it’s setting all the right vibes. Dafnis is one-of-a-kind.

As if that’s not enough of a gift, this afternoon Larnell Lewis released his latest track Change Your Mind on YouTube, from his forthcoming album Relive the Moment. I found Larnell through his work with Snarky Puppy and of course through his viral video on YouTube, where he walks through the process of learning a song in one listen. I’ve got November 20th marked on my calendar for the release of the full album over on Bandcamp. Bob Reynolds’ latest video teased some upcoming behind-the-scenes footage of Larnell in a Snarky Puppy session last week, which I’m also looking forward to checking out.

Top all of this off with the EA Release of Star Wars: Squadrons (affiliate link) hitting shelves today for PS4, and I’m pretty sure I am all set heading into the weekend. If you need me tomorrow, you’ll find me in Studio AB, gunning down TIE fighters with some sick background tracks.

On a New Artistic Practice

I’ve been using my time this summer to begin building a new creative output, centered on composition and improvisation, and largely using the drumset and various technologies as the medium. Breaking away from decades of work that has largely revolved around performing through interpretation, this has been a refreshing endeavor and a journey that promises to challenge me.

I’ve been inspired for several years by Ed Sarath’s writings on the performer-composer-improviser model of training university music students, and have applied this widely throughout my teaching and mentoring. It is refreshing to have my own work catch up to that of my teachings, but has also posed a number of thought-provoking questions:

What Does a Productive Practice Session Look Like When I am Improvising?

I spend many hours each week teaching students how to apply deliberate practice, break down learning into chunks, and to appreciate a slow and methodical method of engraining material the first time. As interpreters we work on setting attainable goals so every session feels like a “win.” It’s clear that with this shift in artistic practice, I’m going to have to re-learn how to create efficiently and re-define what it means to have a good day.

How Much Constraint is Needed to Effectively Compose?

I’ve known for quite some time that the best artistic product often comes from various constraint systems. However, one of the drumset’s most appealing elements is its orchestrational possibilities. This dichotomy immediately poses creative dissonance. Bags of mallets and non-traditional implements, cymbal stacks and effects, drum sizes and tuning, and setup configurations all create a limitless amount of combinations that is both extremely exciting and paralyzing all at once. I’ve already found that it can be difficult to find a way in.

Where is the Line Between Breadth and Depth When Using New Technologies?

I’ve been exploring a few pieces of software and hardware that were the original inspiration for this journey, but these systems pose similar constraint issues. I’m working hard to avoid shiny-object syndrome and each new piece of technology feels like learning a new instrument from scratch. So much potential and I want to make sure I’m respecting the range of each thing I consider adding to the arsenal of sounds. 

Will I be Able to Recognize my own Voice Among These Sound Sources?

Additionally, many DAW setups can produce some incredible varieties of beats natively. At my core, I’ve always been drawn to rhythm, and there’s nothing to say that many of these will not be appealing. After all, very few creatives are only drawn to a singular style or medium. I’ve depended on my curatorial ear and instinct thus far as an artist, however the combination of these mediums has roots in genres I have far less background in. I believe it is going to take some time for me to find a mode of creation that feels authentic, and exposure and listening to new-to-me artists is going to be an important (and equally refreshing) part of that journey.

Facing these questions at the beginning of this journey is daunting to say the least. It can make it difficult to begin most days. But I am energized by the idea of creating my own body of work, of developing my own meta-instrument, and of weaving in and out of many genres that inspire my soul. It remains to be seen if this journey will more closely resemble Taylor Swift pivoting from country music or Michael Jordan playing for the White Sox. Either way, I am doing my best to embrace these challenges and as always, enjoy the process.

Sounds from Studio AB: The Pieces That Fall to Earth (Christopher Cerrone + Wild Up)

I’m really happy for my friend Christopher Cerrone for his new release with LA-based Wild Up, out now on New Amsterdam Records. I’ve been listening to the album now that I’m back home from IL this week and am really enjoying the extended work, which comprises three vocal cycles. In fact, today NPR Classical named it one of their top albums for July.

I’ve loved Chris’ music for quite some time. We recently played his percussion quartet + voice Goldbeater’s Skin at the Nief-Norf Summer Festival in June, and I have a performance of his new ambient percussion solo A Natural History of Vacant Lots lined up for my 2019-20 season. If you’re looking for a soundtrack for your work this week, I highly recommend checking this out and supporting these folks.