Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Attept 2

I created another HNIC Anthem, which I tried to make more driving and thicker in texture.  Listen to it here at:

http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/309968

I am surprised at the lack of primacy of theme in the other entries!  Most either concentrate on orchestration or the style or virtuosic use of guitars, and though there might be a lot of rhythm or activity, there’s rarely a good and prominent tune.  Given that what everyone seemed to love about the old HNIC theme was its singable tune, I would have thought this is what everyone would be going for this time.

It’s probably time for me to move onwards from HNIC, though I’ll be open to new ideas that pop in my head.

Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge

Though hockey isn’t usually my cup of tea, (or bottle of beer, as my mother added), I ventured to put forth an entry to the Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge. It is a rare opportunity for me to write short catchy themes and get instant feedback from a wide variety of listeners. The first one can be found here: http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/302802?channel=389&sort=upload+DESC&filetype=2%2C3&moderationstatus=1&offset=1

Energy/Money-Smart Building Tactics

Imagine how much money and resources could be saved if homes took advantage of the free energy sources of sunlight, wind, and other natural phenomenon around them. Am I starting to sound eco-geeky? I recently watched a documentary entitled “Building with Awareness: The Construction of a Hybrid Home” that followed a home designer in the process of building his straw-bale adobe home in New Mexico, and thought it outlined some energy-smart and resourceful home design features that could be easy to incorporate in most homes. I should clarify that I do not support environmentalism and I believe that man, and his progress, is as natural and rightful as the other animals that inhabit Earth. But in our quest to gain greater and more intelligent control of our environment, and to live sustainably so as to flourish for a long time, I think it is logical to seek the most value for the least resources, energy and money. Here are a few home design ideas for energy efficiency and aesthetics that I gleaned from “Building with Awareness” which would be easy to incorporate in most homes but are not always used on today’s building scene.

Crow Epistemology

As music, architecture and all other arts are created exclusively for the human being to perceive, process, and understand, it would make sense for the creator to keep in mind the nature of the human mind when designing his art. One essential limitation and strength of the human mind, that would strongly effect the tangible communicative power of a given piece of music in particular, is outlined in the concept “Crow Epistemology”. I first heard this term in connection with music composition in a lecture entitled “Ayn Rand: Music Hypothesis & Musical Integration” by David Berry, http://www.sdavidberry.com.

Play in Creativity

I have recently been reading an inspiring book entitled “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art” by Stephen Nachmanovitch, 1990, which has put into eloquent words many concepts that I have found true about the creative process in my various pursuits of music composition, playing oboe, writing, and making art. One key element that Nachmanovitch identifies as essential to creativity and art, and more profoundly, life, is play. He defines play in the chapter “Mind at Play” on page 43 as “the free spirit of exploration, doing and being for its own pure joy.” I think it would assist in communicating his point about play and creativity for me to reprint the first paragraph of this chapter, found on page 42:

Thinking Outside the Box

I thought I would start with a topic a little more “close to home.” In January of 2006 I couldn’t resist purchasing the unique, striking geodesic dome home pictured above. Since I was young I was fascinated by geodesic domes, and when our real estate agent took us to this “golf ball home” as a joke, I felt like this was the chance I had been waiting for. After seeing box house after boring box house, this one was like a breath of fresh air. I was willing to overlook some of its dilapidation in favor of the open lofty space inside and the bright skylights.