Clearing way for the new sound

As those of you know who have been patient enough to follow The Daily Improvisation through its fallow fall, my improvisations have developed a lot lately, spurred on by some wonderful lessons with the improviser Joy Kane.

As a result I’m creating two jukeboxes, one from the advent of the “new sound” as it were and one archival. The new jukebox is http://cognitive-eurhythmics.com/latestjukebox and the archival is http://cognitive-eurhythmics.com/archivaljukebox . Both are linked to in the “play the jukebox” sidebar.

While I’m making some announcements, you might be happy to know that three of my improvs have hit more than ten thousand downloads, and a few dozen more are between one and two thousand listens. A lot of the downloads are coming from China but I am having trouble figuring out from where, so I can’t make contact with whatever fans these are.

This is always a tough time of year for improvising but as any of you following me long term know, I always pick myself back up and get improvising again when time allows. Happy Thanksgiving and you’ll hear more from me before the holidays.

One more week

Sorry folks, I’ve hit one of those periodic bouts of overwork/exhaustion I sometimes get. So I’m going to keep the blog on ice for another week. Should be back after the holiday weekend. Thanks for listening.

Baby

Just letting you know that posting has again ceased abruptly, due to the arrival of our new son. It is not the end of the blog and I hope to resume again soon.

Komputer in Kansas

I have some improvs to post but I left my computer in Kansas. So several will appear later in the week.

My Talk at Philoctetes Center is Broadcasted

I gave a talk on “The Rhythmic Brain” at the Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination about a month ago. It was a combination of lecture and lively discussion, and is the best elucidation currently available of the ideas and theories behind my Cognitive Eurhythmics work, in roughly the form they will take in my upcoming book. You can watch at:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fxgnp1dvHEI

Big Jukebox Update

The jukebox is freshly updated up to the most recent improvisations. Unfortunately without adding titles into the playlist, it just reads “undefined” in the display. The actual number of the improvisation is down in the left hand corner, though, if you look. Enjoy the last 150 or so improvisations in jukebox form!

Jukebox, Finally, Truly, Works

Talk about an auspicious start to the new year – you can now, finally, get a successful random-playing jukebox at http://cognitive-eurhythmics.com/jukebox. It will play you shuffled tracks from the Daily Improvsation archives back to track 38 (before 38 I had a sample rate that doesn’t work with this player).

And the accursed parrot, that taunted me from inside a malfunctioning jukebox for months, only shows his face for a moment before dissolving into ominous black. Rather than banish him entirely, I leave him in this little limbo-purgatory.

Be warned about one thing – this thing is cache-sticky. If you find it going back to the same track a lot, empty your browser cache and you should be fine.

Nothing This Week

Nothing this week, I’ve got too much else going on. Should get back in the saddle middle of next week. Sorry I haven’t responded yet to recent comments but I will.

Upcoming Talk: The Rhythmic Brain

On Thursday, October 26, I will be giving my first public talk in Manhattan on the ideas and method of Cognitive Eurhythmics, the method of music and movement therapy I designed to address balance, attention, coordination and cognition in developmentally disordered children. The talk will discuss how the brain creates an internal model of the world through action and movement-based experience, then synchronizes this model rhythmically with the present moment in order to act. I will also demonstrate activities from Cognitive Eurhythmics that develop the brain’s internal self-image and its rhythmic deployement.

 If you know of anyone in New York who might be interested in this talk, they can go to musicofthespheres.org to get more information and buy tickets. The talk will be at:

Christ & St. Stephen’s Church

120 West 69th Street

New York, NY 10023

Fall Strikes

Fall is here and I can see it will be a struggle to keep the Daily Improvisation afloat. With any luck, I’ll be able to get a few improvisations out each week, but less than before. Do check in and thanks for your continued listening.