immerse (one's hands or feet) partially in water and move them around gently.
take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way.
I’ve done both today. Come to think of it, I’ve done both over the past several months. I reject the idea that everything has to be for profit. Why should the thing you love become your side hustle? There’s evidence of pointless activities all around us; how many of you doom scrolled today? Yeah…me too. Distractions aside, there’s a lot of enjoyment in dabbling both for the simple act of exploring an activity but also for how it enriches your life. And sometimes, it will influence the thing you care most about.
If you read my last blog, you know that I did a series of recordings harmonizing tonal centers to see where it would take me…you know, just dabbling. The past month, I’ve been dabbling with learning songs quickly and recording arrangements of them. I’ve learned from my past that I can get easily distracted. To keep me on task, I used the wind synth as a bass line and four tenor sax tracks as harmony, and one main melody saxophone track. The first two I did were by St Vincent. She’s the main artist I’m listening to right now. Between the incredible songwriting and the amazing band, she’s everything I need. Before I go on a tangent (too late) let me tell you more about these two videos: New York and Happy Birthday, Johnny. Both songs are off of the St Vincent album Masseduction. I tried to stay true to the original but a saxophone solo snuck into Happy Birthday, Johnny. Each part is one take and there’s no editing; if I made a mistake, I did it all over again.
Back to St Vincent: I’ve been watching this concert video daily. It might be the only chance I get to see the tour.
In the “new-to-me” music category, we have the CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso Tiny Desk Concert. Again, watching it daily.
So, I’ve been dabbling in learning music and recreating it. I’m not sure why or what the point is…but that’s the point. I’ve also pushed myself to dabble in rethinking about musical equipment. For the past few years, I’ve created and dialed in a pedalboard set up for my saxophone. It allowed me to create Lines & Lineage. It allowed me to define my sound in ENGLISH. But much like a Buddhist sand mandala, it’s only temporary and any attachment leads to sadness. After talking myself into taking it apart, it got me thinking creatively: “with the Strymon TImeLine on the AKAI EWI (wind synth) I now have a more creative synth setup of delay plus looping with more control…with only the Walrus Audio SLO pedal on my saxophone, I don’t have anything in the way of my playing.” This last statement originates back to lesson I had with John Waugh. We were doing a video lesson and I had sent him some demo tracks in advance of the lesson. During the lesson, I grabbed my saxophone and played the musical line and he sat back in his chair and said: “I just got more from your playing just now than all of the demos you sent me. The effects can clutter up your playing.” After I rewired the two boards and discovered that two other pedals were not necessary, I recorded the following idea…again, just dabbling.
About a year ago, I purchased Jay Vigon’s book Color. The title of the book is what Jay wants you to do to his book; color it. His wife Margo said to me, “please promise me you’ll color it. Most people don’t and that’s not what Jay wants. Come back and show us what you’ve done.” So, I’ve been dabbling in coloring.
Austin Kleon is somewhat of a hero in our household. We have all of his books. We quote his books. We reread his books. And, fun fact, his weekly newsletter was the only way I knew it was Friday during the pandemic. I’ve been writing in the Steal Like an Artist Journal for the past year. It’s disrupted my regular journalling and that’s a good thing. Sometimes, I write about the same thing. So having a prompt like “Once upon a time…” or “Trace a shadow” or “Leave a message for alien explorers” has given my brain a good work out. Again…just dabbling.
Cooking is what I dabble in the most. What better activity than to nourish myself and those I love? And more than anything I’ve mentioned, cooking can be messy and messy is fun. For tonight’s meal, I decided, without much thought, to prepare things that can stain everything: beets and pomegranates. I chopped and boiled the beets. After letting them cool, I poured some balsamic vinegar on them. How do I cut up a pomegranate without making a mess? I’m not sure where I learned this but I cut into the skin and then place it under water. Once underwater, I break it apart. The edible parts drop to the bottom and the inedible floats to the top. My daughter, Tal, introduced me to broccolini. It’s broccoli but a little more special. I buy it whenever I see it. Tonight, I baked it for 15 minutes with olive oil. Dabbling tonight resulted in a very earthy meal with arugula, walnuts, and Parmesan.
And, the obvious is that writing is something I dabble in. When I was young, I never wanted to read or write. A book report always seemed like the worst form of punishment. My cousin Sam told me, “if you want to be a better writer, read more.” He was right. Writing is something I enjoy doing. There’s something delightfully pointless about typing these words onto a computer screen but I’m getting something out of it and I hope you are too.
Until next time, take care of yourselves, please vote, and go dabble in something.
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