conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

instrumentation

Peter was sick of being a pop star, the guitar god, and so he decided to teach himself other instruments. Among the instruments that he picked up was the mandolin.

- Michael Stipe

A friend of mine is coming over for breakfast. So, I am cleaning the kitchen. The aroma of the coffee is wonderful. I have a new bag of beans from Alchemy. Zimbabue AAA. I have no idea what this means...other than the coffee smells like chocolate.

Last night several of us met at Community Church to talk about fasting and discipline. I think it went well enough. It's good just to gather over some lentil soup to speak with one another about God. I will always wonder if meetings like this can be more...I don't know...focused? Educational? I am not sure that I even know what I am asking. That may be the first step.

Anyway, one of the disciplines I shared about is playing the mandolin. I do not get to practice as often as I would like. Playing the mandolin is meditative for me. There is something primal about that little fretted beast. The strings are tuned in open fifths. That relationship encourages playing everything in a pentatonic scale or some mode...anything but a western scale. It resonates more fully when the 4th and 7th are ignored...or used rarely.

This may just be me.
Can you listen to this?

Posted by tripp at March 22, 2007 06:36 AM