Radiance Creative

Strike the Harp

2009-10-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

I've been working with a "free harp" (piano harp) for over a year now. It's now located at the new studio at the 490 building. Somewhere along the line I settled on Eb as a tonal center...oh this is such a waste of time, the thought of trying to explain something like this. It is meant to be experienced! I've made a few recordings on my camera and cell phone but am getting ready to do some higher end stereo recordings.

So it's a Justly tuned freed piano harp and it sounds GREAT! One can hear the "modes" as they are meant to sound. The 3rds and 6ths SING! And more and more I'm finding it so PLAYABLE! I've got the JUNO 60 set up next to it with a self powered monitor. The Juno of course makes possible exploration into the harmonic series. The two instruments together (and analogue synth and an ancient harp) can and will achieve some amazing sounds.

Feel like blogging...let it b-e-E

2009-09-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

I know I've kinda let this blog rest in peace for some time now, but I have the urge to record some stuff here for what it's worth.

I spent over a year and a half experimenting with Just Intonation and experienced a major shift in both my hearing and my consciousness. I'm now back to straight frets again but have found a very simple solution to achieve pure 3rds and 6ths in "almost" standard tuning.

I'm calling it the "Let it Be" tuning or more accurately let it b-e-E, because it involves slight shifts in the b and e strings...both high e and low E. Seems like a lot of trouble I went through, ripping my frets off then glueing various curved wire on the fretboard. There was a deep and rich purity I found there but I had to admit some limitations in the modern setting. This new arrangement does require some selectivity in comparison to standard tuning but it does contain much familiar territory fingering wise while allowing pure (and very near pure) 3rds and 6ths round the "circle of 5ths"

I'm not sure if anyone reading this will even care (if there is anyone reading this) but I like the idea of having it recorded here and accessible. Need I go into how Equal Temperament is merely an approximation of Just Intervals? Need I point out that though the "4th" and "5th" in the tempered system are only 2% "off" that the other more emotional intervals are upwards to 15% off? I think for the musician seeking the truth in these matters that the harmonic world speaks for itself and should leave no further question in one's mind as to the reality of these natural tones.

What I've discovered is what could be termed a "hybrid". So I may as well just dive in.

Tune your A - D - and G as you normally would. (A4=440 is fine although I've been experimenting with A4=432) but that is another post. So we have 3 strings tuned in tempered 4ths from which we can derive the Root 5th of several (in not all) Major chords. Fine!

Now to tune (or should I say "tame" the dreaded B string! This is where we are going off the conventional rails of modern western intonation. Don't get the "B" from the 4th fret on the G! I say another way: The 4th fret of the G string is not a pure ratio of the G and therefore shall NOT be used to tune this pivotal string! We shall instead look to the natural harmonic world and struggle and strain to produce the 5/4 harmonic which is APPROXIMATELY found near the 4th fret, or 9th fret or any other location which divides the string in 5 parts. When we tune the "B" to this tone we are left with a B which is around 14% of a tempered semi tone lower than standard. So now when you play your D G and B strings together you will hear a pure major chord. This B string is now firstly devoted to being used as a pure 3rd in Major chords. We shall see how else it can be used shortly.

So we have a lower than usual B! what shall we do with the E? Well how be we tune it like usual to the B? Great! now between your G string and high E we have a just major 6th! OK now we have one more string to deal with and that is the low E. Well why don't we simply tune it to the high E?

So a way to check these freq. is to play the 4th fret harmonic an the A string and match it to the "C#" (2nd fret on B). Then play the 4th fret harmonic on the D String and match it to the "F#" (2nd fret on the high E). These harmonics are a lot easier to access than the G string because of their thickness. You can also match the harmonic on around the 3rd fret of the low E with the 12th fret harmonic of the B string. Voila! you are ready to play around the "circle of 5th" (because to the tempered "mid section" of A - D - G ) with the B - E - E which have been justified to reflect a more natural tone.

now if you play your low E with your G you will get a VERY close to pure minor 3rd. because the E is "lowered" it creates a wider interval (which is what we want for minor 3rds) - we want narrower intervals for major 3rds.

something to remember is that since we have dedicated the B - E - E to these tones we may not be able to use them as octaves or 5ths

Obviously it would be more effective to demonstrate these things on the guitar which is what I intend to do in the near future.

Just Muse Studios

2008-09-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

Analemma

2008-04-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Analemma

curiously a lot like x-88, infinity and the Metis flag huh?

From the Center

2007-10-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

In faith, I am now blogging from the center at (you guessed it!) From The Center
I've even changed my location, (as you may have noticed) to Winnipeg Manitoba.

I believe that "Winnipeg Man Can" in Winnipeg Man Can. I know the new abreviation is "MB" for Manitoba but whatever.

Manito = Manitou = Great Spirit
ba = speaks & moves

I believe this is the month that it's going to happen, I am thanking God for it now as if it is already an actuality.

2 years ago (2005) Lydia Penner (Winter) died. When I returned home there was an unconscious call "home". Last year Oct 2006 I was in Red Deer where I had a bit of a meltdown, but also met several Manitobans. It was shortly after that that Debbie and I made the decision to move to Manitoba. Sooooo....according to my "calculations" this is the appointed time.

So aside from dropping back in here at "radiance creative" to adjust or respond to various posts you can find me over at From the Center

see you there

That drum has been around the world

2007-07-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

Verse 3 of Athabasca / Manitoba song

"I'm coming from Athabasca....

Sarah's got the drum in Kathmandu

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

something that rhymes with Kathmandu"

names of children to follow, but that is my Sarah

not THAT kind of evolution

2007-07-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Been watching some interesting tapes on Creation. I don't jive with all his "doctrine" but some facinating stuff on Creation. This guy, Dr. Hovind, is offering a quarter million dollars to anyone who can prove evolution.

Now here is an intereting site Evangelical Environmental Network

Infinite Evolution

2007-05-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

Guitar Recital for my Gibbons and Fort Saskatchewan guitar students was held tonight. May 23rd at 7:00 at the Dew Drop Inn. As I was setting up I happened to to place a number of my infinity X-88 fretboards against the piano. It's great to see how things evolve. The lowest one is the most recent yet it is the most simple.

When you find what you need, Isn't it beautiful?

Check out this nifty on line guitar tuner look up in the right hand corner of the web page, very cool

Drum and Mug

2007-05-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

drum_and_mug
Originally uploaded by radiancecreative.

By my daughter Rachel Seburn

Athabasca

2007-04-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

I'm coming from Athabasca

I've got my little black drum in hand

I bring it back from the river house
where it stayed 365 days

_______________________________________________

The drummers drummed,

the dancers danced.

the piper played in true romance

Got me thinking of cypress hills

where humans have gathered for 7 thousand years

Manitou? Could everything be Manitoba?

(Manitoba : "where the Great Spirit speaks and moves")

______________________________________________________________

What have we done to Alberta?

We scraped the earth to mine "the sands"

Pump Oil down to America

But there's no quenching the Imperial thrist

the rivers that once gave the children life,

can't drink, can't fish, don't even wash your shirt

what are they gonna think in a hundred years?

when they see our shame written in the dirt?

Manitou? Could everything be Manitoba?

Manitou? Could everywhere be Manitoba?
_________________________________________________________________________

Words, Music and image display by Paul Seburn

none of us are free..

2007-04-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

..if one of us is chained

none of us are free

song and flash

are we listening? will we do something?

Parousia by Kevin Beck

2007-03-19T17:54:00.001-07:00

Hope you don't mind Kevin but this really spoke to me.

Parousia
March 19, 2007
By Kevin A. Beck

Listen Closely

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
--Psalm 19

The Psalmist looked at the world and did not see a fallen place in need of reclamation. He didn’t believe that the earth required remaking in order to announce the glory of God. Instead, David looked up and saw the hand of God in all things. He opened his ears and heard the voice of God in every sound. God had not left the building. God was intimately immanent everywhere.

From his perspective, the apostle Paul affirms this ancient Hebrew belief in his own way. He wrote that there “is one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4).

The belief that the world is an inherently corrupt place hinders us from recognizing our daily encounters with God. It causes us to turn our eyes away from the natural world and look for God elsewhere in an ethereal realm of our own creating. If you want to find God, we suppose, visit God in a building that we call the “house of God.” There you can hear God’s music and listen to someone speak God’s message in a twenty-minute sound bite. Maybe you can even greet someone with a holy handshake while you breathe in the aroma of artificially cooled or heated air.

It’s time that we went outside. You don’t have to be a druid to experience God in the crackling leaves. The crashing waves, rolling hills, and verdant flora all announce the presence of the divine.

I knew a woman named Jessie, and she loved to tend to her flower garden. She told me that touching the soil, seeing the plants, and smelling the aromas were the times she felt closest to God. You don’t have to grow a garden to know the outside world hymns God to our hearts. You’ve probably witnessed a sunset that brought tears to your eyes as the curtains were pulled back and you entered into the numinous.

Perhaps it is because we live in an ever-increasing urbanized world that we have lost a collective sense of natural holiness. Industrialization and the demands of the modern world force us indoors where we decorate with plastic plants. We plug in our lamps that provide artificial sunlight instead of going outside to feel God’s sun shine on the just and the unjust. We filter our water because of pollutants we’ve dumped into the streams. We take loads of allergy medications because of the particular matter we’ve pumped into the air. In losing our ecological heritage, we lose a deeper sense of God.

The fourteenth century English spiritual writer, Julian of Norwich, experienced God while contemplating something as small as a hazelnut. She observed: "In this vision he showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, and it was round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and thought "What may this be?" And it was generally answered thus: "It is all that is made." I marveled how it might last, for it seemed it might suddenly have sunk into nothing because of its littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: "It lasts and ever shall, because God loves it."

To revitalize your spiritual connection to the planet, go outside. Visit a park, go on a hike, plant some greenery, or look up at night and view the stars. Feel the breeze, the sun, the water. Smell the blooming flowers or the changing leaves. Listen to the birdsong. In just a few days, the seasons will transform—to Spring in the northern hemisphere and to Autumn in the South. This brilliant time of year can be the perfect occasion for you to witness the glory of God, to view God’s handiwork, and to hear divine speech uttered through all the earth and beyond.

These Things That Move Me

2007-01-22T16:09:00.000-08:00

these things that move me

do you see the candle burning?
the way it draws you into darkness
can you feel the earth turning round in space

will i always have this burning?
soft light relected on your warm wet skin
can i touch you cause i'm yearning for a taste

these things that move me
they pass right through me
these things that move me
how do they choose me...choose me

do you see the sun rising
the way it touches everything here on earth?
do you ever marvel at your birth?

beneath our feet there's something rising
like a fountain but as sure as stone
liquid rock, but don't it feel like home?

these things that move me
they pass right through me
these things that move me
why do they choose me?

Paul Seburn 05-06

What am I?

2007-01-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

IT IS COMING FROM THE HEART

IT IS COMING FROM THE LAND

IT IS A SOUL INSTRUMENT

YOU FEEL IT.

IT IS THE SOUND OF MOTHER EARTH

GET THE TRACK HERE Rhymes with Fridge

Metis Flag and infinity

2006-11-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

I was driving up 124th Street yesterday and this symbol caught my eye. It was at a Metis Dance place. I went in and found out more. This was the 1st Canadian Flag which pre-dates the Maple Leaf by 150 years!

The guy I spoke to said it represents the mixing of blood but also relates to the infinity symbol.

This all leads me further to believe that the X-88 is very much something I have stumbled upon rather than "invented" and that there is a deep connection with the universe. The similarity IS striking.

I have a great deal of respect for the Metis and am reminded once again of my interest in St. Boniface, what with Festival de Voyageur just around the corner. More on this over at From The Center

Not complicating something so beautiful

2006-11-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

when you find what you need
isn't it beautiful?
you can give and receive
a whole lot of love

when you finally see what it wants to be
when you find what you need
isn't it beautiful?

A few less questions like "why is this important?" or resignations like "that's confusing" or "I don't get it" and a lot more playfullness and adventurousness are required to find the beauty and simplicity of X 88. As the saying goes "this is not rocket science". It's more like smelling flowers than repairing small engines.

See the completness of eight. It's balanced. left to right, right to left. Most music we enjoy in the western world anyways is based on the 7 note "diatonic" system. 8 completes the path. returns you to home. You've heard of the octave right? Octave like Octagon or Octapus? Yes music involves some math but we ain't talking trigonometry here. Can you count to 12? Can you count to 7? Can you count to 3? can you count to 4? can you do all that in reverse? And finally can you see an eight pattern? Can you trace it in the air with your finger? can you make your feet walk in a figure eight? Can you reverse the direction of all the things we just talked about?

don't try to "comprehend it" or "analyse it to death" just play around with it and I promise you will find the music, or maybe better put the music will find you.

when you find what you need, isn't it beautiful?

Another Mystified Mystic

2006-11-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

FROM THE CENTER

Another Mystified Mystic

No shortage of regret for moments lost forever
the portage has been so hard and yet
there's still some hope to capture
to have lived so long so far from home,
disaster after disaster
what kind of ears will hear the groan?

just another mystified mystic

Many will say you ask for what you get
you get too old? - It's over
don't go chasing some childhood dream
there's plenty of 3 leaf clovers
But still a heart pounds in my chest
the feedback keeps me spinning
so impossible to rest, what's the game? what's winning?

just another mystified mystic

Visions known but never seen
so the same old views prevailing
prophets owned have always been
a thing of our own making
still there's a scrambled signal hanging in the air
and perhaps a few are listening
loose my tongue and I will dare
the light of love still glistening

just another mystified mystic

Music Biz

2006-10-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

card
Originally uploaded by radiancecreative.

I'm going to Red Deer tonight to play at the arts touring alliance annual thing. Will be playing at 8:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Red Deer College. You can view my "EPK" (Electronic Press Kit) here

Nice little October road trip.

Update: This was perhaps THE single worst "roving radicals" showcase EVER. I arrived late on Friday night, crashing into the Theatre Lobby dragging all my stuff. Saturday night I spent hours setting up only to play for 15 minutes for people as they wisked through the lobby only to later lose my wallet and remain stranded in Red Deer a day longer than I anticipated. "Roving Radicals" should mean that the radical can truely "rove" and basically play wherever and whenever he thinks he can make a splash. This business of having a 15 minute spot when presenter's attention is fleating is not a very good design.

Despite all that (realizing at 3:00 a.m. that my wallet was gone, retracing my steps and places I drove till 6:00 a.m. accepting the offer from a really strange stranger to stay at his place and leaving after becoming really freaked out, losing my cell phone at a diner on the way home and having to drive back adding an hour and a half to my trip, sleeping in the car, etc.) Having quite the little melt down over it all... yes despite all that there were some good moments and contacts made that I'm glad of...

...noteably:

Talking with Cam Penner about common roots in Manitoba, speaking with the guitar player playing for him that day, Tim ? (can't remember last name) and his little boy. Having lunch with the crew from Brooks, what warm beings. Hanging with Brian and Patsy who I never see except at these things but want to see more cause we're in the same town and it would be fun. Seeing my little guitar students, Billie and Mickie and their family, having them the first through the door where I was playing. Meeting Nathan Rogers and Amber, talking with them about Al Racketti, seeing their new yellow bird and more sharing of Manitoba, specifically Winnipeg Westend (Wolsley) where Marky lives (on the tuning fork). Jamming with the guys from The Dust Poets (more southern Manitobans) even though it all digressed so quickly. The kindness of Randall and Laura in sympathizing with my wallet woes and lending me 10 bucks each for gas. Having Jake Peters hear me and notice my ailing D-18 S Martin and offering to take it back to his shop for repair.

Step into the light and be transformed. (Or perhaps it's "fall into the darkness and be obscured")

regardless, now that I've "updated" this post perhaps I can move on to a new one.

X 88 Templates

2006-10-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hanging out and Hanging in

2006-10-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

This post refers back to "Falling into One" read it first

top down prevails
and the doughnut hole persists
since there's been no "falling in"
tell me who can then resist?

falling out

Stepping over the rim

once you're done the hymn

falling out and just drifting away

Ya it seems that you all
do so solemnly agree
and you're calling for others
to see just as you see

outside of that circle
we all have to go
and we know it's the same
so there's no need for show

falling out

stepping over the rim

once you're done with him

falling out

and just drifting away

I'm able somehow
to hang out and hang in
does that seem odd?
do we serve the same god?

since there are no more" seems":
there's no more coming apart
I'll just hang in and hang out
there you'll locate my heart

falling out

stepping over the rim

once I've finished the hymn

falling out and just drifting away

Paul Seburn Oct 6th 2006

Enter, Zen Guitar

2006-09-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

What timing. What a responsive Universe. A new student of mine (older in his 50's) lent me this book this week. Really good stuff.

Zen Guitar

I've already got the screen saver insalled on both puters.

DNA ? of NRG?

2006-09-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

guit_dna_smaller_dark
Originally uploaded by radiancecreative.

I bumped into Francis down at the galleria last Saturday and we had a talk (among other things like chi, energy and balancing left and right) about my X-88 guitar DNA.

He said (and I quote) "people are gonna think you're crazy". I've been thinking about this choice of the DNA to understand this way of playing the guitar and feeling that DNA is perhaps to complicated a concept. I have to admit that I am no scientist but when I start extending this simple pattern around the guitar it is reminiscent of DNA strands. There is I believe a parrellel to the "double helix".

Helix meaning six of something and there being 2 of them harmonizes perfectly with the "Whole Tone Zone" theory which is behind and supports the X-88 guitar view, system, mental model, whatever we want to call it. If DNA appears to be behind all life as we know it including the galaxies.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I am heavy on the right brain in my approach to music and life and spirituality for that matter and I'm trying my darndest to harness these concepts and "methods" (such a poor word to describe this) into a manageable form which can benefit others. Meditation, energy balancing, moving from left to right all play a part in having this make a difference to your view and practical application on an instrument.

What I realize is that there is no one or perfect analogy or metaphor for what I'm proposing so like Jesus parables describing the Kingdom of God I must use the many to describe the ONE.

Energy, Frequency, Vibration all come into play and must be sensed and entered into which lead this whole study naturally to Spirit, Gaia , earth community and a host of other realities.

That's all for now

2006-09-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Evelyn at Capilano

Galleria of Crafters and Artisans

Reflections

I mean business!

But don't worry I like to have fun. Going through old clothes, found this "KornStock" shirt. hehehe

Photos posted by request for the "sexy beast".

X 88 guitar DNA

2006-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

guit_dna_smaller
Originally uploaded by radiancecreative.

This is a cropping of the photo taken of "Evelyn". It's a pattern / symbol / mental model which I have drawn and explored many many times since December 2005. I find it very beautiful so I continue to pursue it. It has transformed my guitar playing and never ceases to amaze me in it's simplicity and it's "key like" quality to unlocking deep complexities.

Meditating and contemplating this image is not a complex procedure like pouring over heaps of school material to get ready for an exam. It is in fact a most natural process and one that is connected to universal energy.

In my quest to effectively pass this beauty and grace on to others I am working to create a learning environment for students to explore these realities. To begin the journey I am suggesting a 3 part structure for implementation. As you will see, this is "mmm, mmm good".

1. Mental Models (theory)

2. Muscle Memory (excercise)

3. Making Music (performance)

Faithful Evelyn

2006-09-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

HPIM0883
Originally uploaded by radiancecreative.

Here is a picture of my little Toyota Tercel, Evelyn. She found me 2 years ago this month. It bears a small plaque of dedication which reads:

"This fine Toyota was especially prepared for Evelyn Sept 29th 1984"

Evelyn was reportedly a school teacher who received the car as a gift and drove it for nearly 20 years. I have used it primarily in my offering of music education in Edmonton and surrounding area.

I purchased it with a cheque from Fred Penner dated Sept 29th 2004, for playing bass for him at a few Alberta concerts.

$500.00 and all ll I've had to do is put a starter in it! So a toast to Evelyn the faithful! May she continue to find favour with me.

As you can see I've placed an ad on the side with the URL radiance.ca which for now is forwarded to this blog which for now contains nothing pretaining to the ad

So if you are here at radiance.ca because you saw this car, don't fear, you are in the right place. This simple image and the mental models and theory behind it has revolutionized my experience on the guitar and this is the only place that I know of where you can learn more. So check back or send me an email