Pre-Practice Routine

When I get home from work I feed my cats and turn on the kettle. I have a pre-practice routine going: I sip a cup of Bengal Spice herbal tea and eat some dark chocolate (90% cocoa). It tastes awful, but the theobromine (a natural compound with a similar effect to caffeine) in the chocolate puts me in a relaxed, aware state of mind.

Then I strap on my arm braces and practice for 30-45 minutes. Today I imagined there was a piano teacher beside me, whispering instructions in my ear (not as creepy as it sounds). It seemed to work. I caught some bad habits and made corrections.

Tonight I also downloaded the sheet music for September by David Sylvian. It's a short, wistful, hauntingly beautiful song I'd love to be able to play someday. September is, in my opinion, an example of a third stream song (a genre of music I discovered only two days ago). Third Stream, Wikipedia tells us, is a synthesis of jazz and classical music.

Another excellent example of third stream music (that's agreeable to my ears, from what I've heard so far) is the album Arbour Zena by pianist-extraordinaire Keith Jarrett. I look forward to kicking back and checking out the full album after church tomorrow.

As for the "math jazz rock" thread found yesterday, I made a quick playlist this morning before work. You can check it out on Spotify. Two bands not mentioned in the thread that belong are Troyka (I added tracks Dropsy and Rarebit to the playlist) and Vixu. The latter is experimental rap-jazz (no rock) but with very interesting time signatures.

Thanks for spending this time with me. Talk to you on Monday.