Author: Tom

“Why do double sharps/flats and natural exist?”

December 20, 2022 /

Each morning, whenever I’m reading my various news feeds, there are a few subreddits I review, too. This morning, in r/musictheory, I read this question:

i’m a beginner beginner and i just cant seem to wrap my head around the concept. Like a C double sharp is D so why not just put D instead of C double sharp.

Also, from what i know, Nature cancels out the sharp or flat, and so why not just write the regular note?

As someone who’s played instruments in band in junior high and high school, and someone who still plays guitar and dabbles with other instruments, I was interested in the answers (especially because I don’t read music nearly as much as I once did).

Of all the answers provided, this was my favorite. Here’s an excerpt (emphasis mine):

Why is to, two, and too all to?

Just because they sound the same doesn’t mean they’re spelled the same, and more importantly, it doesn’t mean they have the same meaning.

…

E# is NOT F. Fb is NOT E. They may be produced by the same physical key on a piano, but they are NOT the same note.

And the reason why is, they have different meanings so they must remain separate things. That’s the way the system evolved. That’s the way it is.

The sound has a name that represents itself in the key it exists. In other words, the sound has name for the world in which it exists and, in music, there are multiple worlds.

At least that’s how I conceptualize it.

I was gifted a Nintendo Switch OLED recently and I’m a big fan of it.

I know some of the pundits argue that the storage, screen, and table-top stand and improved dock aren’t enough to warrant the upgrade, but I disagree.

If you’re someone who spends plenty of time on your Switch (that is, you’re hardcore on games like Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey or Mario Kart or you’re one to pay for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass), then I recommend it.

Until you see the screen and experience the device itself, it’s hard to describe. You won’t get it, until you get it, if you know what I mean.

I won’t say it’s like going from HD to 4K, but going from SD to HD? Yeah, that’s fair comparison.

Using SongShift for the Highest Quality Audio

December 15, 2022 /

For as much as I love the audio quality of Apple Music and as much as I’m digging features like , the service doesn’t do as good a job at helping me discover new music.

That’s why I can’t quit Spotify. Nothing beats it, pun intended maybe 🥁, when it comes to surface other music that I also like. (And yes, I’ve probably given every single service a try).

But I want to be able to listen to my favorite music from Spotify at the highest level of audio quality and that can be done on Apple Music.

This is where SongShift comes into play. Another pun, yes.

Using SongShift

Use SongShift to transfer music playlists across streaming platforms

Here’s the gist of how I use it:

  1. When I find music on Spotify that I like, I create a playlist.
  2. Once the playlist is created, I transfer it to Apple Music using SongShift.

There are a few additional things I do, too:

  • I’m one of those people who still loves entire albums rather than just a few tracks, so I’ll usually create an entire playlist from a single album.
  • I occasionally make playlists that are mixes of individual tracks so when I get about 30 songs, I’ll create a custom mix.
  • I keep my playlists organized by year so at the end of each year, if I haven’t already done so, I’ll sync the playlists from Spotify over to Apple Music.

This makes sure I can continue to find new music and sync it across services and get the highest quality version, if it exists in Apple’s library, for listening to it later.

All of the elements of a great Metallica song crammed into 240 seconds.

I could write pages on my thoughts about Metallica. I’ve been a fan since junior high school and they’re part of the motivation I ever picked up a guitar.

But when this video and an album announcement dropped out of no where two weeks ago, I was skeptical as to if I’d like it or not. My feelings on their last few albums are mixed.

This track, though, reminds me of some of their best stuff. And the fact that it’s got all of the elements of a great Metallica song shoved into three and a half minutes makes it all the more interesting to me. 🤘🏻

Your Voice Deserves Its Own Site

December 13, 2022 /

Over the last 11 months or so, I’ve pulled back a lot from using social networks. I’m not one of those who believes it’s inherently bad (or inherent good, for that matter) but there’s been enough reading and thinking about the matter that’s motivated me to want to get back to writing regularly on a place that’s my own.

The thing is, I’ve got a place where I’ve been writing for over a decade at this point. It’s very niche and doesn’t allow much outside of a very narrow topic.

In other words, it doesn’t make sense to share whatever it is I want to share in the moment.

But a place like this? It provides a place for me to consistently write and reference for others when it comes to something I may have shared:

  • Oh, if you’re interested in an app then go to [this page].
  • If you want to see a cool video about [this thing] then go to my site and look up [this title].
  • I’ve posted a link to that particular song [in this category]; maybe you can check it out there.

Much easier than trying to find a place to dig up a tweet or a status update, isn’t it? And that’s what I think I’m going to do with content here: Share anything about whatever it is I want if for no other reason than for myself and the three of you who are reading this. 🙂

Its Own Site

I can’t say this whole thing didn’t have it’s own catalyst, though.

When I stumbled across GetBlogging.org I couldn’t help but remember I had an unused domain and an unused hosting account. Pair that with the desire to write about anything and everything and I ended up throwing this together.

Remember that your blog is yours! Your posts can contain exactly what you want them to: a sentence of text or a novel-length essay; photos and videos; audio; links and bookmarks. What you want to share is entirely up to you

Here’s the thing I love about Get Blogging: It motivates the reader to share what they want to share that’s unique to them in a way that keeps the information as close to them as possible (that is, without belonging to a walled garden such as one of the major social networks).

Even better, though, doing so allows you to syndicate it across those other networks. Start with your own place and push outward rather than cross-post from one walled garden to the next.

The Best Part

Finally, it’s be lame for me to leave what’s arguably the best part: Doing this reminds me a bit of what it was like to be a kid when I was just learning to use the Internet and was building static pages, updating the content, and pushing them live.

That’s obviously more of the nostalgic take and not something for everyone. But it carried enough weight for me to want to get back into the fun stuff.

Not everything we share has to be motivated by something other than the fact that we want to share it.

What’s Up?

December 12, 2022 /

If you’re a 90’s kid, whenever you where in junior high or high school and someone would write you a note that inevitably started off like this:

What’s Up? Nothin’ much here.

And that’s kind of what this is all about it. It’s random stuff I’m wanting to share that really doesn’t fit anyone for anyone.

So it’s what’s up but it’s not really anything at all.

👋🏻 Bye for now!

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