Stevon Russell - Stevon Russell Music Blog

GUITARISTS FINGERNAILS REVISITED

12/1/2020

Some of you may have read my blog, Guitarists And Fingernails [https://www.stevonrussell.com/stevon-russell-music-blog/guitarists-and-fingernails] published on 10th October 2020.

Anyway, in my constant quest to get a smooth, silky and yet strong nylon string tone, Max Brenner, founder of the SoundFile [https://www.facebook.com/thesoundfile/] came to my rescue kindly sending me one of his fantastic nail files to try out. The SoundFile is specially created for guitarists aiming to get their perfect sound.

The first thing I noticed was how different it looks to any other nail file I've seen - and that's a lot of nail files let me tell you! It's beautifully crafted out of glass and wood and and has it's own similarly beautiful, velvet case.

Now, I'm lucky enough to have two superb, classical guitars, a Ramirez Class 1A and a Marcelino Lopez which sound absolutely wonderful.....however, neither of them hide scratchy tones from any little nicks and ridges in my nails - quiet the opposite, if anything they make them sound worse!

I remember along with my fellow guitar students at the Royal College Of Music in London being impressed with John Williams, nonchalantly filing his nails with the side of a match box as he walked up to the stage to play flawlessly at the Segovia, memorial concert there back in the late 1980's.

As for me, I've spent hours and years scraping away at my nails with various bits of sandpaper which often left my hands so filthy that they needed scrubbing before I played! Now I've got my SoundFile, I can super quickly and cleanly file my nails and create the sound I love. Thank you Max, my SoundFile has pride of place in my guitar case!

FLAMENCO & RAP

21/11/2019

I've been listening a lot to flamenco and rap lately and reckon there are many similarities.
The rawness and energy in live performances are definitely connected -

Check out the spontaneous 'sing alongs' in Stormzy's SHUT UP with Tomatito's Bulerias.......

Read Modern Books, Listen To Modern Music, Do Modern Things

16/11/2019

I wrote this mantra to myself on my phone the other day so every time I look at it [which is probably too much] I'd be reminded to keep on my toes as I often have a tendency to read old books, listen to old music and do old things!

I'm reading Derek Jarman's, 'Modern Nature' at the moment. It's the diary Jarman wrote whilst living in Dungeness. Simon Fisher Turner, whose evocative music can be heard in Jarman's films is often mentioned and is an inspiration for me. Turner's musical diversity and variety really appeals to me.

I've been listening to the rapper, Mist and electronic music composer, Else Marie Pade [modern, I think] and also the classical guitarist Segovia and piano and harpsichord player, Wanda Landowska [definitely old]. The thing is, I'm inspired by old and new music in a wide variety of styles. I love it!

I'm just about to put my old shoes on and go and get a samosa in my new neighbourhood.....

SOUNDS AND TREES

5/11/2019

The other day, I overheard someone on a bus talking about the famous, philosophical point, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" It got me thinking about the nature of sound in general - can a sound exist without it being heard? We know recorded sounds exist but if the recording isn't played then maybe the sound doesn't exist....

You can look at an instrument that isn't being played and imagine the sound it would make if it was being played .....

For those of us that can see and hear, it's possible to 'hear' with the eyes and 'see' with the ears. Like many people, I've learnt to read a music score and 'hear' the notated sounds without the music playing.
With this in mind, it's also possible to hear a sound and know how it would be written as notated music.

Wikipedia says, 'The Music Of The Spheres is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets as a form of music'.
You can't actually hear this 'music', but maybe that's because we've always heard it and would only notice it if it wasn't there! I often only notice the hum of the fridge was ever there when it turns off.

Does visual art only become art when the viewer looks at it....
arghh, I don't know the answers to any of this, I think I need to get out more!

MUSICAL ECO WELFARE!

23/10/2019

I've been buying instruments from charity and second hand shops for some time now. So far I've added an autoharp [which isn't 'in tune' but I reckon sounds good anyway] a flamenco guitar, lots of different percussion, a keyboard an erhu [a Chinese sort of violin] and some bagpipes. I'm planning to record some music using only instruments I've bought from charity shops. I've got some fancy instruments too, however, I feel I don't have to always use those instruments to make the sort of music I like [and hope other people do too!]

This way, I can feel good about supporting charities and up cycling!
Some of you will know how much I like to use found sounds in my music - I'll definitely be sampling the sound of tapping my charity bought, hand blown, Spanish vase, I've already sampled the sound of screwing up an empty crisp packet and managed to keep it out of the ocean a bit longer!

GUITARISTS AND FINGERNAILS

10/10/2019

Like many guitarists, I've spent a lot of time caring for my fingernails in the quest to get the perfect sound from plucking the strings. When in my teens, my guitar teacher at the time got first hand information from his beautician wife about nail care and passed it on to me. I learnt to file each nail following its 'grain' from each side to the middle and to use a very specific, diamond dust file which became increasingly difficult to buy. I once bought an industrial consignment of super fine, Crocus paper used by model makers and err.....my old guitar teacher and I. The minimum order was several thousand sheets, I used them for years but eventually got rid of the sheets I had left as they started to deteriorate!

Later, I graduated to nail repairs using super glue and bits of stuck on ping pong balls [the cheaper and thinner the better] to fix cracks and splits - a tip I learnt from my next guitar teacher. Lots of guitarists do this apparently!

These days, I go to nail parlours and get acrylic painted on them so I can thrash away at the guitar to my heart's content without fear of breakages. Recently, I went to a nail parlour that refused to serve me as I'm a man....I had a little insight into the sexism that many women put up with daily!

If you look carefully, you can see a piece of ping pong ball glued on one of my nails in this video.....http://bit.ly/2m5YKQJ

Stevon Russell plays Flamenco Guitar

FOUND SOUNDS

3/10/2019

So many times when I'm out and about, I hear sounds I want to sample and use in my music. I record them on my Zoom H5, or if I haven't got it with me, I make a mental note to always remember to carry it and record with my iPhone instead. The Zoom is a pro, portable recording device and always records brilliantly. My iPhone records well, although I usually need to process the sounds on my computer before they sound right in a song.

I'm constantly listening out for sounds I can record and use around my house - doors slamming, clocks ticking - I even used a toilet lid crashing down and used it as a drum sound on several of my tracks! Sometimes I record road works as you'll hear on my track 'US' [explicit lyrics] from my album 'SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED'

http://bit.ly/2oJzUr8

OLD PIANOS

19/9/2019

I've been thinking what to do with my old piano with keys that don't work that has out of tunes strings that are too far out of tune ever to be tuned back. Firstly, I've learned that 'out of tune' means different things to different people. Some say that out of tune means when a pitch is different to the standard, accepted frequency, others when the tone [timbre] doesn't sound right to them or both of these things. There are loads of other variations on these points! Anyway, there are a few options....not playing the piano with the black and white keys but allowing the strings to sympathetically vibrate with the sustain pedal on. Playing the piano as usual and not worrying if it sounds 'out of tune' - putting thumb tacks on the hammers to make a honky tonk sound - out of tunes strings are a benefit to the honky tonk tone. Or, perhaps the best option for my old piano which is probably around 90 years old and has been left to languish for years - remove the frame and use it as a garden ornament. I went on holiday to a beautiful, communal farm in Cornwall this summer and the people that lived there had done just that and had created a beautiful garden space complete with fish pond and an old piano frame. Lovely!

MYTH AND RHYTHM

3/9/2019

I'm fascinated by the spaces between sounds. A metronome click of 60 beats per minute is a click per second, but what if we really slow down those beats? I'm planning to write music that has 1 beat per year and beyond - for example, a composition could have a person make a sound on a specific day and time and 70 years later the next sound could be made by someone else. Pieces written over these sorts of timescales could go on for generations.

YOUR WHOLE BODY IS AN EAR

28/8/2019

I went to Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday, 25th August, 2019 and felt the love and unity of every person of every shape, size, sex and race there. At the Mastermind Carnival Stage I had a fantastic reminder of how music is a common language that can unite everyone and that sound and vibration can and should be heard and felt by your whole body - the bass drove through my stomach, guitars through my chest, and singing through my head. All the sounds and vibrations passed through my ears, through the air and the ground below. I was blown away and so was everyone else there.