Some Qi Exercises with commentary from Mike Sigman

 Mike Sigman's comment:

this movement is the essence of power store and release in Chinese Martial Arts. He's basically using a reverse breath to pull up the elasticity from the Huiyin/Perineum, pull it up to the Mingmen, and then release with an exhale as the store area at the mingmen drops forward into the abdomen. 

 
Hun Yuan Qigong from Mike Sigman on Vimeo

Stepping Exercise

I learned this stepping exercise from Chen Xiaowang back in the 1990's, but I didn't understand it very well and therefore didn't do it very much. Now I do it a lot more. I assume it's a fairly standard Chen Village exercise because Chen Bing showed it to me, also, and I saw a video once of someone else from Chen Village doing it.

It looks fairly simple and I don't want to over-describe it, making it seem complicated, so let me just say a couple of things:

As in all the Chinese martial-arts, you should constantly keep your weight and the weight of anything you hold or lift in the sole of your foot/feet ... without ever letting the forces rise above the soles of your foot/feet. If you're just standing, always allow your complete weight to rest in the soles of your feet. If you're holding something, feel the weight of that something always resting in the soles of your feet. If you lift a leg for a step, feel the rising leg's weight rest in the sole of the other foot. And so on. If someone put their hand on your rising leg, they should feel the sole of the grounded foot.

As you lower the raised foot, let your weight first sink into the grounded foot, going into the other foot only when it is positioned properly.

This exercise will stabilize your walk and balance very well. It's the first exercise I do in the mornings.

I like to inhale as put my weight onto the new foot, pretending that my leg is a suction-hose pulling my foot down and tight into the floor. The inhale also pulls up the tissues that are lifting the other leg. FWIW 

Stepping Exercise from Mike Sigman on Vimeo

Chen Bing reportedly using the same stepping movement as part of a form
Master Chen Bing’s 13 Energies Form from Embrace The Moon on Vimeo.

Stepping Exercise: Part 2
I said that I did the slow stepping exercise, just about every day, as a warmup, but I usually transition into another forward and backward stepping exercise that is taken from the Oblique Walk and the Step Back Whirl Arms (Repulse Monkey) of the Laojia Yilu. I'll put a brief clip of Zhu Tiancai showing the movements from the form; mine look slightly different, but it's the same natural winding of the body. The idea is to do the stepping while including the whole-body winding and unwinding (Open and Close) as it moves.
When you're moving forward, as an example, think of your molecules as all moving forward as one group, but imagine/feel that there are elastic spider webs attached to each molecule, slightly resisting your forward movement. Same idea as imagining moving through water, more or less, but I like this particular visualization sometimes.
BTW, a lot of people forget the imagined resistance to the legs (like "Mud Walking" in Bagua). It's important, though.
   

windinggong from Mike Sigman on Vimeo.

Maiden Voyage Notes

Here is a chart of the chord changes:
http://brunojazz.com/images/maiden3.jpg

Fareed Haque teaches Maiden Voyage as modal progression rather than a chord progression.  Thus for the chords in the above chart, the corresponding modes would be:

A-/D = D Mixolydian
C-/F = F Mixolydian
Bb/Eb = Eb Mixolydian
C#- = C# Dorian

For smoother transitions from one mode to the next, I thought it would be useful to work out which notes do not change - these notes could be targeted to anticipate the change in modes.

D Mixolydian to F Mixolydian = D, G, A, C
F Mixolydian to Eb Mixolydian = D, D#/Eb, G, A#/Bb, C
Eb Mixolydian to C# Dorian = D#/Eb, G, G#/Ab, A#/Bb
C# Dorian to D Mixolydian = E, F#, B

Cleaning up the enharmonic equivalents, which I used above during my analysis, this should be an easier to read repeat of the above note sets:


D Mixolydian to F Mixolydian = D, G, A, C
F Mixolydian to Eb Mixolydian = Eb, F, G, Bb, C
Eb Mixolydian to C# Dorian = Eb,  Ab,  Bb
C# Dorian to D Mixolydian = E, F#, B

Random Jazz Notes (no pun intended)

From Tim Miller - arpeggios ideas for jazz-blues song form.

F9 - 1-2-5-7-1-3 (scale degrees) arpeggio in the 2121 format
Bb13 - Bb Mixolydian arpeggio or Dmin7b5 2121 arpeggio
F7#9 - F# min/Maj7 arpeggio (transpose up one step 1-b3-5-7
Gmin11 - Gmin pentatonic or G Dorian arpeggios or

Songs to learn (source long forgotten):

Song for my father
Maiden Voyage
Solar
Scrapple from the apple
Blues heads in Bb,F
Rhythm changes in the same keys
All the things you are
Stella by starlight

From my own experience, the jazz songs that get called frequently in jam sessions are Blue Monk, Autumn Leaves, Take the A Train, Well You Needn't, and so on.

The songs that vocalists call a lot are Bye Bye Blackbird, God Bless the Child, Blues in the Night, etc.

https://www.keyboardmag.com/lessons/5-ways-to-play-like-keith-jarrett

How to slow down Amazon Music Player tracks in iPhone:
1. Use IOS' built-in screen recording feature to record myself pressing Play on Amazon Music Player and let it record the song as a video.
2. Use the BeatTime app to open the video directly from Camera Roll (in the Photos app).
3. Use BeatTime to slow down the video

http://www.ralphpatt.com/

Tips for tweaking your amp for playing live vs. tweaking your amp at home

 Posted on the Boss Katana FB group by Alse Elseth

A tip to those who find their sound lacking bottom going on a stage after tweaking your amp at home (I take it for granted that you tweak at stage levels):

Scenario 1
- if it's s in a corner you get approximately 9 db added to your low/mid frequencies.

Scenario 2
- if it's against a wall approx. 6 db is added to your low/mid frequencies.

Scenario 3
- if it's standing free on the floor with around 6 feet from walls you get approx. 3 db added to your low/mid frequencies.

Scenario 4
- if you lift it of the floor nothing is added to your low/mid frequencies.

If you tweak in Scenario 1 and move to a stage with Scenario 4, you're down 9 dbs in the low/mid frequencies and your amp will sound shrill and lacking bottom end.

If you tweak at home in Scenario 4, and move to a crammed stage forcing Scenario 1 placement, your amp will sound bass heavy and dull due to 9dbs added to your low/mid frequencies.

So, the trick is to tweak for the expected scenario to get optimal sound transition from practice to stage.

PS. If you tweak a big fat bottom end to your sound at low levels you'll get an amp that "farts out" at higher level settings.

PPS. Some reading from Universal Audio's blog:https://www.uaudio.com/blog/how-the-ear-works/

Xynthesizr: How one guy used it to play MoogFest

Tips posted in one of video comments:

Xynthesizr tips:

Conway’s Game of Life is just one type of Life. You can select other rules, and even cooler, you can create your own with custom birth and survival rules! That said, Life in the morph section is fun, but more in an academic way than in a purely musical one (IMO)

However, the “Rand” setting between Off and Life, is truly musically useful. Here you set the “Chance” of a random change (between 0.00, aka no change; and 1.00, where things change on each cycle through the pattern. So 0.50 means 50% of the time on a new cycle there will be a change.)

What’s really cool is that you can change the amount of change for X and Y axis independently. The numbers go from 0 (no change) to 16 (meaning the note will move up to 16 steps away in that axis) Since you can set different amounts to the X and Y axis you can control the type of randomization you get. E.g. if you set X to some value, but Y to zero, you will keep the same pitches in your pattern, but the rhythm will change. If you set X to zero, but Y to some value, the rhythm stays the same, but the pitch will change.

What I find works best is to select a small Custom area for the randomization (usually in an upper octave) and set the Chance to a low value and either the X or Y to a small value, while the other remains zero. What you get is a pattern that mostly repeats, but every once in a while a subtle change happens. IMO subtlety in random events is what makes them magical.

 The coolest features of Xynthesizr however are the transposition options.

1- you can create your own scales by setting the number of semitones between steps. Because you set the number of steps and transpositions between steps you can create complex, possibly non-repeating scales (based on 12TET). It’s not microtonal, you can’t shift notes off of 12TET (unless you set a receiving synth to a microtonal scale), but it allows for complex transpositions. E.g. create a custom scale where step 1 (the interval up from your root) is set to 1 semitone. Step 2 is up 2 semitones. Step 3, 3; step 4, 4; and step 5, 5. If your root was C0 you would have a scale that goes: C0, C#0, D#0, F#0, A#0. Then the next grouping would be D#1, E1, F#1, A1, C#2, and so on.

2- each repeating grouping (an octave in a traditional scale, but anything in a custom scale) can be routed to a separate MIDI output channel. Each grouping is individually addressable, so you could have most set to Ch1, but the second grouping set to Ch 3 and the 5th to Ch2.

3- Pressing the Key button (D0 in what’s shown in the video) brings you to the transpositions page. Here you can set the root note and octave. But best of all, you can adjust the scale mode to musically transpose your pattern to that related scale mode. Since you can create those scales, you can create very interesting transpositions, but even using traditional scales, you get very musical results. This transposition can be controlled by incoming MIDI notes, so you can have Xynthesizr follow another sequencer. Add in some subtle randomization and route the outputting notes to various MIDI channels and you get a very sophisticated sequencing system.

Things I've Learned From Barry Harris Episode 2: Scales for I Got Rhythm

I've started working on the exercise taught in Episode 2.  I will continue practicing the blues changes exercise in Episode 1 as the execution isn't quite there.  Anyway, here's the 2nd episode:

For my own convenience I typed down the scales to practice for the 32-bar rhythm changes exercise.

First 8 bars:

BbMaj7 up
F7 up
BbMaj7 up
F7 up
Bb7 up
Eb7 up
BbMaj7 up
F7 up

2nd 8 bars:

BbMaj7 up
F7 up
BbMaj7 up
F7 up
Bb7 up
Eb7 up
BbMaj7 up
BbMaj7 down

3rd 8 bars (bridge):

D7 up
D7 down
G7 up
G7 down
C7 up
C7 down
F7 up
F7 down

BbMaj7 up
F7 up
BbMaj7 up
F7 up
Bb7 up
Eb7 up
BbMaj7 up
F7 up

10 hacks all guitarists should know!

Things I've Learned From Barry Harris Episode 1 Scales on the Blues

Barry Harris is a respected music educator, particularly in the realm of bebop jazz.  While reading discussions on the Internet about his workshops, I stumbled upon a video series called Things I've Learned From Barry Harris, recorded by a student of Harris' weekly class.  This is the first episode:

The instruction on the video is quite clear and well demonstrated.  But for my own study I decided to write down the scales for the 12-bar blues scale exercise, so that I can just refer back to this page, instead of having to rewind the video a bunch of times or look at the comment by one Youtube viewer - he got a couple of scales wrong by the way.  So here are the scales for 12-bar blues in the key of C, listed in groups of 4 (a total of 12 bar) for easier reading:

C7 up
F7 up
C7 up
C7 down

F7 up
F7 down
CMaj7 up
CMaj7 down to 3rd of A (C#)

G7 up
G7 down
CMaj7 up
G7 up

Pitches of each scale:

C7 = C D E F G A Bb
F7 = F G A Bb C D Eb
CMaj7 = C D E F G A B ascending, A G F E D C# descending
G7  = G A B C D E Fb

While the exercise is good for practicing picking technique, the main emphasis is to drill the sounds of the blues changes into one's head, in relation to rhythm.  I believe that is why the scales are named in relation to chords. Note also that the scales are never played tonic to tonic.

Note that the metronome click is on the 2 and 4.  So in a 4/4 bar, the metronome is silent on beats 1 and 3, and is clicking on 2 and 4, just like a snare in a basic drum beat.

Introductions to Functional Harmony

This video introduces Roman numeral analysis, then functional harmony, which is the categorization of chords into tonic, dominant, and subdominant functions. 

This video explains the how functional harmony can be used for jazz improvisation.  Mainly for guitar players but I think other musicians can benefit.

Tips on using reverb for Mixing/Recording from Audiobus forum

Source:  Audiobus forum thread

Here is an excerpt from a guide I wrote for this studios blog

Panning
The farther something is from you, the smaller the difference is between any left or right signals. Image a room 20 meter long room. You are facing the drums. The low tom is on the left, hi hat on the right. If you are at the far end, the angles to your ears may only be a few degrees. If you move the drums to a meter in front of you, they may be at 45 degree angles to your ears, making it much more obvious which is to the left and right.

So anything intended to be far away should be panned more to the center. Close items can be panned anywhere, those are just perceived as being to your left or right.

Pre-Delay
Imagine again you are in the back of a room, a singer is in the middle. When they sing, the sound of their voice will go straight to your head. That is the ‘dry’ signal. Their voice is also radiating in multiple directions, off the walls, the ceiling, and the bass player’s vinyl pants.

The pre-delay parameter adjusts the delay between the dry signal hitting you and the wall or ceiling reflections. If the singer is farther back in the room, some of the reflections would hit you much closer in time to the dry signal. If a guitar amp intended to be at the far wall, you might use a pre-delay of near zero.

If you are trying to match overdubs or a specific hypothetical room, note that three milliseconds is about 1 meter.

Reverb Mix or Wet/Dry- Far away sources tend to have more reverb overall. There is more opportunity for more reflections on the way from the source to you. In some scenarios it can even mask the dry signal - remember the way it sounded when you locked your accordion player in the basement? Raise the reverb mix to move items farther away.

Equalization or Damping- High frequencies get absorbed more easily than low frequencies. So things that are farther away will have a high frequency cut or added dampening. It is difficult to give a default starting point here. I may use anything from 1000Hz to 6000Hz, but that is as much subjective taste as near-far positioning as different surfaces absorb frequencies at different rates.

At the other end of the frequency spectrum, you tend to have a tighter window of what is cut. A roll off up to 200Hz is not unusual.

Decay Time or Room Size - Things will tend to be perceived as farther away if the virtual room is larger. This one is more obvious, but note that if you are trying to ‘glue’ your mix, having a long decay on some tracks and a short one on another will sound unnatural. A slight variation though just makes the room sound irregularly shaped. Remembering regarding pre-delay that three milliseconds is about a meter, note that big concert halls may have just 2 seconds of decay.

@Max23 said:

» show previous quotes

panning and reverb in this context are a little tricky because most reverbs are not true stereo and or the aux send is mono ...
so you most likely get a sound panned to a side with a reverb that just sits in the middle - but the reflections are supposed to come from the other side ...

Good points. Good things to check. My comments I should note are in the context, I dont mix on iOS. Ive never seen a mono send in a desktop DAW, but yes that would be an issue for the near verb. I often have almost no pan on the far anyway. A true stero reverb helps, but as long as things are panned, it just sounds like a very regular room, you still get a sense of depth.

SOMA Lyra-8 Tutorial Videos

Tim Lerch - Counterpoint Musings

Youtube description:

Here is a bit of a discussion of melodic counterpoint in a jazz context.

Making music using OP-1 and iPad together

Article on how to use a Teenage Engineering OP-1 and iPad together.  The article mentions a popular workaround for the inability use an iPad to browse and move files on the OP-1, which is to use a wireless storage device for OP-1 file management. 

A list of wireless storage devices for IOS, which I may update time to time:

RAVPower FileHub
SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive
Kingston Mobilite Wireless (needs SD card, sold separately)
Western Digital My Passport

Apologies for not publishing direct links to the above products, but the product names and links change frequently, so it's better to just copy-and-paste a product brand/name into your favorite search engine and find it yourself.

K-On! An unexpectedly beautiful moment

This is a brief clip from Season 1, Episode 4 (Training Camp!).  Mio the bassist has been frustrated by the rest of the band's seeming lack of enthusiasm for practice.  Then her bandmates put on this show for her.  There is so much left unsaid in this scene - very little explanation other than a reference to the club's "Budokan or Bust!" goal.  The viewers hear next to nothing of Yui's actual guitar playing here - instead we hear a soft, instrumental ballad kick in, perhaps reflecting Mio's emotional reaction.

There's just something about how the animation, the joy on Yui's face, Mio's reaction, and the music all come together for a few seconds of extraordinary beauty:

Today's Music Discoveries

Nice recording of Holdsworth/Warleigh Quintet -begins with amazing violin solo by Holdsworth.  Check out the other 3 tunes as well.

Other lovely discoveries...

Simple And Sinister - First session

Yesterday was my first session under the Simple & Sinister kettlebell exercise program.  My introduction to the kettlebell as an exercise tool was via Pavel Tsatsouline's Russian Kettlebell Challenge VHS videotape and book of the same name.  I still have the same 16kg kettlebell (KB) that I ordered from Dragondoor, back when that company was the only source in the US for KBs and KB training books and videos.   

Simple & Sinister is, I believe, Pavel's latest book on KB training.  It describes a simple training program focusing on just two exercises to  - in a general sense, not for a specific sport.  The program looks ideal for those of us who desire an exercise program to improve our strength, stamina, mobility, and athleticism but have to conserve time and energy for other activities.  The program appears to be an improved version of the minimum training program described in the Russian Kettlebell Challenge book, and kind of a return to the minimalist approach espoused in Pavel's Power To The People book (the two barbell exercises that Pavel thought that regular folks only really need), and his Naked Warrior book (only two bodyweight exercises regular folks need to focus on for maximum strength).  The two exercises of choice in Simple & Sinister are the Swing and the Turkish Get-Up.  As with Pavel's other books, all I can say is read the book to see why Pavel thinks these are the only two must-have KB exercises for people who aren't training for some specialized purpose, like a competitive sport.

I love the warmup routine for Simple & Sinister.  Only 3 warmup exercises to do, and they're done in 3 circuits.

I did the 5 sets of  10 2-handed swings with a 24kg KB as recommended in the book.  They got my heart rate up, but I was able get through this portion of the program without much trouble.  I'm not going to try to jump to the next weight level (32kg) yet, as I need the leftover energy to focus on prepping myself for the Turkish Get-Up.

The Turkish Get-Up (TGU) with the 16kg KB was a different story.  When I first heard about this exercise, there was some instruction given to start the movement, but not much detail was given on how to progress from lying on one's back with the KB held perpendicular to the ground, to standing with the KB held overhead.   My form in this movement was never particularly good, even when I was regularly training with KBs.   My form was pretty bad in that I nearly lost my balance and felt close to dropping the the KB.

Simple & Sinister teaches a much more detailed version of the TGU, broken down into specific positions.  It is different from the version taught by Pavel in the Enter The Kettlebell video, in which Pavel transitioned from the prone position into the bottom of a sort of overhead squat, then stood up.  In the book, the TGU instruction has the trainee gradually transitioning into a lunge position, then standing up from there.  I can only suppose that he refined this movement over the years.  I'm sure the book explains better than I can why he arrived at the present form of the TGU.

The book recommends practice of the TGU while balancing a shoe on one's fist instead of holding the KB.  Not only does it recommend practicing the TGU in its entirety with the shoe; it also recommends practicing the TGU in segments, as transitions between the prescribed positions.  The idea is that if you can do the TGU with the shoe in this manner in your sleep, without dropping the shoe, you will be ready to start practicing it with a KB.

So I'm going to practice the "shoe TGU" after the prescribed warmup and before the swing portion of the program.  After the swing portion, I will replace the TGU portion with a mini-circuit of KB presses and reverse-lunges with a racked KB.  Control of the body while going into and out of the lunge was a weakness of my Turkish Get-Up, so practicing the reverse lunge should help with that.  The presses would be just a way to keep strengthening the shoulders and practicing locking out the arm with the KB overhead without losing the shoulder pack.  I don't care about how many reverse lunges and presses I can do - these are just exercises I can use for strength training until I'm ready to do KB TGUs.  Perfect form with the shoe TGU will determine my readiness for it.  I'm guessing it will take at least a week of shoe TGU practice before I can take on the KB TGU with less risk of an accident.  One key element of the movement that was causing me trouble was placing the heel of my bent leg too close to my butt.  The heel has to be further out to create the necessary leverage to drive the body up onto the elbow.

The cooldown portion of the program is short and sweet, just like the warmup - a circuit of the 90/90 and QL stretches, optionally followed by brachial hanging from a pullup bar.


Today, I feel quite sore in the glutes and hamstrings, which was not unexpected given this was the first KB training session I'd done in years.

A TGU tutorial by Karen Smith, who is shown demonstrating the TGU in the book - she mentions the use of the hip hinge as part of the transition into the lunge:

Octatrack Tutorials by Kenny Zhao and Ezbot

Kenny Zhao's tutorials are focused on Octatrack Mk2 but they should apply, for the most part, to the original model.

I'm feeling kind of lazy so just navigate via the video to his Youtube channel to see his other Octatrack tutorial videos.

Ezbot's Youtube playlist.  He might have other videos that he forgot to add to it.

Random tip seen on Elektronauts:
Like on all Elektrons there’s a test mode. Hold Function + power on.

2018 Anime Favorites

Just some quick thoughts on favorite 2018 anime.

Hinomaru Sumo

I've been dabbling in a modern martial art that might be described as a re-imagined Japanese martial art.  It started out as a re-imagined Aikido, with all Aikido movements distilled into five "great themes", but quickly evolved to incorporate influences from Judo and Sumo, so that the practitioner would, in theory, be comfortable with body-to-body grappling.  Aikido is typically practiced with one's partner kept about arm's length away, but in real situations, an opponent is likely to come into closer range than that.  Anyway, I've enjoyed a few sports anime, but the emphasis on sumo was a new one to me.  As is typical of sports anime - Chihayafuru being an obvious exception - female characters are kind of just decoration, but at least they're not subjected to fanservice.  The characters in general are a fun bunch.  So far, it's one of the better sports anime I've seen, with a better than average pace.

Ms Koizumi Loves Ramen

It's just like the the title says - about a girl so obsessed with ramen and antisocial that I wondered at times if she was autistic.  I'm kind of a sucker for foodie anime, so it was easy to dismiss the lack of character development, and the girl who has a mad crush on Koizumi-san provides comic relief.  My only complaint really is the one bit of fanservice in which Koizumi-san appears in a bikini for no apparent reason. Favorite scene: Koizumi-san tries Muku Zweite Ramen, as Kraftwerk-style music kicks in. The scene appears around 17 min:

Apparently, Muku Ramen might no longer be available at the ramen museum, but this article supposedly has the recipe.

Violet Evergarden

This might be the closest thing I saw this year to a true shoujo/josei anime, although it doesn't have the obvious tells like flowers appearing in the background for humorous effect, though comedy is decidedly not the focus of this show.  The titular character is a former child super-soldier who has been led into a new career as an "Auto Memory Doll".  Her new job is to type letters for clients, but unlike the old-school secretaries, "Dolls" are typically expected to assist in composing the letters, in accordance with the client's requirements, not just type what a client is saying word-for-word.  This sets up some scenes that are intended to move the audience, but the emotional connection isn't consistent.  That said, the episodes involving a child do tug at the heartstrings quite effectively.  The world setting resembles Victorian age Europe, but it's clearly not set in the past of our world.  This might very well be the most beautifully drawn, colored, and animated show this year, except perhaps compared to Iroduku,  which is equally stunning visually, but doesn't quite make my favorites list.

Laid Back Camp (aka "Yuru Camp")

This is what I believe anime fans would call textbook "moe" anime - aka Cute Girls Do Cute Stuff (for a male demographic), for better or worse.  But it's "moe"-ness is not an issue here, because our gals love cold-weather camping, and cooking mouth-watering dishes to enjoy at their campsites.  I had to look up the voice actress for Rin to make sure she wasn't the same one who played Koizumi-san (above).  Rin, however, is not a borderline Asperger's sufferer or anything like that - she's depicted as a mentally healthy girl who just happens to enjoy solo camping, and none of her friends make a big deal about it.  This quickly became my favorite show to watch before going to bed at night, because it's so relaxing and peaceful.  I absolutely love how the show ends too.  The music is quite wonderful as well. 

A Place Further Than The Universe (aka "Yorimoi")

Yorimoi is not only the best anime I saw this year, it's one of the best anime I've seen in my lifetime.  The premise sounds simple:  Four teenage girls go to Antarctica.  But just a look at the four reveals this anime is something different - each girl has a distinct face, unlike a lot of anime where everybody pretty much has the same face and is only differentiated by hairstyle and/or hair color.  A quick Google search will turn up tons of reviews, blog posts, etc. about Yorimoi, and some lively discussion of which of the four protagonists is the "best girl".  Some favorite articles:

Japan: Yorimoi vs. Real Life
Singapore: Yorimoi vs. Real Life
AnimeFeminist Winter 2018 Recommendations (includes Yorimoi) 
NY Times: Best 2018 TV Shows

A moving video love letter - but it does show some spoilers:

So there's not much I can add that hasn't already been said.  The NY Times comment is spot on: it’s an absolutely authentic depiction of how friendship can overcome adolescent anxiety and grief.  The show Violet Evergarden also explored grief, but I haven't seen an anime cover it as effectively as Yorimoi and the equally classic Maison Ikkoku. 

Why is has Yorimoi left such an indelible impression on me?  For one thing, it caught me at a point in my life where I'm mulling next steps - whether I should move to take on a new job, or stay in town; should I change my career, etc.  The desire to make a change in one's life, maybe even make a bold move is a big thing in Yorimoi.  If I do move to another place, the friendships I have would inevitably be affected, so Yorimoi's depiction of friendship, and the nature of friendship also connected with me.  The scenes of kids being, well, kids, was also quite enjoyable as well, as I was reminded at times of the goofy parts of my own childhood.  Before you can cry with a character or four, you need to be able to laugh with them first and this is a show that has the perfect balance between comedy and drama.  On top of all that are occasional displays of Studio Madhouse's stunning virtuosity as animators.

I wrote about some of the music here, which includes clips from the show that might give some impression of what the characters are like.  While there is some strategically placed monologue and no shortage of dialogue, the characters also say a lot without uttering a single word, through their facial expressions, glances, gestures, etc.  Oh, and Crunchyroll put up Episode 1 in its entirety for free on Youtube:

Music Discoveries - Anime edition

Some anime series that were released on Crunchyroll in 2018 had music that caught my attention.

The Hinamaru Sumo end theme has high-testosterone feel befitting a show about a high school sumo team, making male listeners want to get up and shiko stomp.

Laid Back Camp, aka "Yuru Camp", has a pleasant, folk-heavy, somewhat Celtic-tinged soundtrack that fits perfectly with the theme of the show, which is, well, about camping and enjoying mouth-watering Japanese cuisine while chilling out next to one's campfire.  The Jackson 5-inspired opening theme is a bit jarring compared to the rest of the soundtrack, but has a feel-good vibe that fits.

A Place Further Than The Universe, aka "Yorimoi", is my favorite anime of 2018, and now sits in my personal Top 5 all-time great list.  I could clarify why it left such an impression on me, but it'll have to be another post.  I admit these insert songs are not typical of the music I listen to, but they fit the scenes in which they are used so effectively.  My Japanese comprehension isn't good, but the lyrics to all these songs have something to do with going on a journey, despite various obstacles and scuh.  So instead of posting the full versions of these songs, I think it's fitting to just post the clips where they're effectively used as part of the soundtrack.

Clip #1, Song:  Koko Kara,  Koko Kara ("From here, from here")

Inspired by her new friend Shirase, Kimari finally goes on her first out of town trip - a small step towards an even grander journey

Clip #2, Song: Sora Wo Miagete ("Lift up the sky")

The teenage would-be Antartica explorer group has grown to 3.  They run upon Shirase's command, despite not fully understanding why.  For Kimari, the experience quickly becomes a joyful celebration of youth rather than a fearful one.

Clip #3, Song: Sora Wo Miagete ("Lift up the sky")

Same song as Clip #2, but now used to set the excitement shared by the group, which now numbers 4, as they gaze at the sunrise after spending their first night together in close quarters:

Clip #4, Song:  Haru Ka Tooku ("Far Away")

The 4 girls introduce themselves to the Antarctica expedition team, which is in a somber mood for a reason that is revealed by watching the show.  Shirase overcomes her issues, not the least of which is stage fright, to cheer up and rouse the team:

Clip #5, Song: One Step

The girls have been seasick onboard the icebreaker, and are doubting whether they can really handle the challenges of an Antarctica expedition.  But then they spontaneously decide to do something a little crazy to snap themselves out of their funk - the timing of Kimari opening the door and the beat of the song kicking in as the air blows her hair back is one of the most beautiful sights I've seen in anime:

Song: Mata Ne ("See you again")

No clip here.  You'll have to watch the show to see in what scenes this song is used, though I suppose I can say it first appears in the scene in which one character tries to end her friendship with her best friend; and believe it or not, there's an even more emotionally devastating scene later on in the show that uses this song.  The emotional power of a couple of those scenes relies heavily on the character development and attention span of the viewer.  The emotional impact seems to be intensified by the sparse guitar-and-vocals arrangement.

Funtional Qi - aka "The Suit"

A recent explanation by Mike Sigman:

Generally speaking, the functional "Qi" or "suit" of the human body tends to be all of those things that are under control of the subconscious (or unconscious; it's just vague terms) mind. So your functional qi tends to be things like the involuntary muscles of the vascular system, the involuntary muscles of the skin (think of goose bumps and hair-raising) and subdermal layers, sheets of fascia that are connected to each other, to muscles, to bones, etc., by myriad small involuntary muscles, and so on. When you look at this whole involuntary system as a whole, it is a supplement that can assist your muscular strength, your physical structure, it can affect involuntary control of balance forces within the body, and so on. That's the functional "qi" and the more important qi because all the other things called "qi" tend to be what that functional qi/suit can do.

There is a belief in an etheric or energetic form of qi that travels through the body and that etheric qi is always related to strength and where it goes. The etheric qi was probably (IMO) postulated as a form of fudge-factor, long ago, to make up for incomplete understanding of physical and chemical processes within the body. The existence of an etheric qi is what a lot of people argue about ... but most people are simply unaware of the functional qi as an artifact/process within the body.

The functional qi (or "suit") can be thought of an overlay of the muscle-skeleton-organs-tendons of the body. For a simplified illustration model, let's think of a coherent (connected from end to end) "suit" as being like layers of Saran-Wrap (Polyvinylidene chloride wrap) that go length-wise through the body and which can stretch and also close/contract. So, in other words, imagine a muscle-skeleton-organs body which can Open and Close, but all the muscles, skeleton, organs, etc., are wrapped and connected by a "Saran Wrap" that can also Open and Close, if we take the time to train it and strengthen it.

Training it and strengthening the imaginary Saran Wrap and its association with the Subconscious mind is what qigongs do. Since good and complete 6H CMA's use the qi and 6H movement, such arts are technically just a "moving qigong" (a lot of westerners mistakenly translate that as "moving meditation", but it's really a qigong that involves, yes, the Subconscious mind).

If we go back to our visualization the functional qi as being in some respects like length-wise layers/sheets of Saran Wrap that interpenetrate and cover the body from head to toes, there should be a way to walk and move with the body that optimizes our ability to utilize the imaginary Saran Wrap that can Open and Close. That optimal way of utilizing the length-wise Saran Wrap is mapped in the channels/meridians of the body and the central control point is the main dantian just below the navel.

Secondary dantians and anchor points for the imaginary Saran Wrap are found at other points: the top of the head, behind/between the eyes, the juncture at the lower throat, the meeting of layers at the sternum, and also the nexus/junction inside the perineum between the legs.

If the layers of imaginary Saran Wrap are used most efficiently, the body must be re-trained to use as a unit and the muscles of the body have to be re-coordinated to move in that manner. Yes, you can move the body without so much patterning away from "normal" strength, but you will be leaving money on the table by not maximizing the available power in the head-to-toe imaginary Saran Wrap.

BTW, you should be able to extrapolate why doing the magical appearance and choreography of some form like Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua, etc., doesn't really do anything qi-wise. Doing a bunch of powerful and impressive martial techniques, etc., has nothing to do with qi-development, either. The whole of Chinese/Asian martial-arts is built around the existence and utility of qi and the subconscious ...