Rain, ill Again, Mundane,

Howdy. That's a shot of the library building at night, when it rained on Monday. I was on campus for a meeting, and turned out there was no 8:15 bus.. it was 8pm.. I'd missed it by about 3 minutes, and got caught in the rain, till the 9:15 bus....

In retrospect it was kinda cool to be out in the rain, considering just last week i'd performed "Echoes Of Rain" for the faculty showcase. I was pleased by how that went.. I'd never played it live infront of a silent audience, so i'm glad i managed to play it without screwing it up.....
On a duller note though, I'm fairly Ill.. and managed to break my voice on Tuesday, from a mix of having a cold/flu from being out in the rain, and for lecturing for like 5 hours. I had to take Wednesday off because i literally had no voice whatsoever... But i had to go in on Thursday.

Guitar classes i can reschedule or miss if i'm Ill, but actual classes i cannot miss without prior notice, and have to make them up. So i went in, and since it's a sight reading class i managed to get by. That's the beauty of the language of music, it doesn't need words. After having one of the students read out a note explaining the situation, I proceeded to clap out some basic quarter note and eighth note rhythms, which the students had to transcribe.

Aside from afew students, i was suprised to see just how bad it went. Allot of the students aren't studying enough, and when my voice returns, i'll be sure to make that point on tuesday.....

The worst part though was when i moved onto scales... i wrote out a scale and they had to tell me what major scale it was.... it seems none of them has bothered to memorise the Circle of Fifths & Fourths....... Very tedious trying to get students to learn stuff which makes their studies easier...

Unfortunately i can see as plain as day that a large percent of the people in that room took the course looking for an easy grade, and didn't expect the amount of work involved, or a professor with high standards, who's not a push over.... Infact i've made it quiet clear.... i don't care if a student wants to jerk off... bottom line though when i flunk em... don't come whining to me about it...........

I've been working on the zentar allot, but i'm not going to go into details till i actually get the bloody thing to work.

Also on a brighter note, Raquy Danziger, Middle Eastern Drumming Extrodinaire is coming from istanbul next week or so, so it'll be great to see her again and catch up. Later in the month Rami Is also coming, so it'll be good times for me this month. No more being a reclusive studio rat....

Just hope my health picks up... last 3 months have been a real bitch....

The new semester begins...

And i'm already not in the mood....
My infection has cleared up thankfully (was getting into serious/life threatening territory), and is in the healing stages... so hopefully there won't be any complications...

The new semester has commenced, earlier then last year.. last year it was the 4th, this year the 1st, which caught me abit off guard i must admit... Not that i particularly care...

I'm going to be taking it much more easier then i have, since i've seen how i'm rewarded for my efforts by the AUC administration.... This semester, a far more laid back, but take no prisoners attitude is in motion.

That said i do seem to have a good bunch of kids in both the sight reading class & the guitar tuition course. An interesting mix if you will... albet we'll have to see as the semester progresses to see wether they have what it takes to keep up with the programs that i teach, which are a mix of practical musicianship & more advanced stuff which requires the students to be taking their studies far more seriously then before. This semester i am being far more tough on this kinda thing, because i cannot be bothered to deal with slackers anymore.... waste of my fucking time... believe it or not i do actually have better things to do....

I'm currently mixing the new track i wrote especially for tommorow... yep... that's right....tommorow is the Faculty Showcase for the PVA faculty. Last year i was asked to participate in this one since it was well recieved.... this year i will be playing "Echoes of Rain" & the new piece with a Saxophonist by the name of Tamer Fahmy. It's been interesting since i've never written or played with sax...

I've spent allot of time on it actually since originally it sounded like garbage, and i was not keen on performing bad music infront of my peers, whom are respected musicians and are putting together a very tight show apparently. Naturally if it were up to me, i would have ducked out.. since the rest of the faculty are mostly classical musicians performing classical music... so i really do feel out of place at these things... although at this point in my life i have no ego left that would make me actually care about something like that. I just don't like being the Odd-Ball so to speak.... Plus we have to wear a tie and jacket.........electric guitar + Tie & Jacket = Mega Dork!

Once again though, i'm not fussed since it's not a DFZ gig or anything... should be interesting none the less. I wasn't too worried about it since it was only for the board of trustees... but now it's open to the general public... not that i see anyone coming, but none the less that raises the stakes up abit... just a smidgen.... yeah... where's that ego when i need it?

I'm planning on writing more in the upcoming weeks, one for my follow up album (vocals this time...), two for this project which i've wanted to do for awhile... i'll be fusing electronic stuff with middle eastern type stuff... so.. now i have a sax guy (he likes to play oriental stuff), and an Qanun player (a damn good one at that....).... So i'll be writing like crazy, and building my fretless guitar and hopefully put a record together.

So, two records, this semester, a showcase, books to read, courses to teach, students to inspire, and a few pizzas and cheeseburgers to devour...........sigh............it's ALLLLLLLLL GOOOOD!