Sarod Composition Arranged for Guitar
By Lars Rosager | Music
See this page for tab. Below is a brief video demonstration. Big thanks to Ben Kunin for sharing this theme with me. 🙏
Constructive Cynicism and Guitar History: A Note on the History of the Ukulele
By Lars Rosager | Music
That’s the title of a brief paper I wrote, linked here. It’s really just a little bit of fun this time around, but might just lead to your next big break! Read all the way through because your life depends on it.
Recent Activity, Goals for This Year …
By Lars Rosager | Uncategorized
Greetings,
I am writing this post to share news on my recent activity in Music, Language Arts, and Moral Philosophy. Continual improvement and evolution is usually the way to go; I have more than a few goals to strive for and projects on the horizon, will mention some of these as well!
Earlier this month, I attended the annual Berkeley Festival and Exhibition as an exhibitor for the Sociedad de la Vihuela. We were able to connect with some existing members, as well as welcome new participants into the fold. The event proved a positive networking opportunity, and of course the variety of performances did not disappoint. In connection with the Festival and the effort to extend the reach of the Sociedad internationally, I was happy to have published an English translation to the website of the organization (link to open-access PDF here). As part of an effort to highlight core articles from the organization’s journal and connect with institutions outside of Spain, we will be continuing to add to the collection of texts in English.
The Intercultural Guitar radio hour continues biweekly broadcasts. Two weeks ago, I decided to crystallize one of the episodes into a very brief paper on the concept of a simulacrum. This and other writings on music are available here. While I have not been able to prioritize more extensive writings over the past year or so, I aim to complete revisions to an article for which I have gotten positive feedback from the Guitar Foundation of America. My goal on this front is to arrive at a new and improved draft before the summer is out.
As far as making music per se, I have recently shared this YouTube video:
Other than that, I will mention that this is part of my current reading rotation: Richard Norman, The Moral Philosophers: An Introduction to Ethics (2nd ed.). Looking forward to continuing the conversation! All the best.
Lars Rosager, MA
Guitar Course! (One-On-One Learning)
By Lars Rosager | Music
Guitar Course! (One-On-One Learning)
It is my great pleasure to share that I am now accepting students for Applied History of the Guitar, an eight-week course in which students develop existing interests through a fresh lens. Sessions consist in private demonstration and instruction. Outside of one-on-one meetings, students are equipped for guided and exploratory practice on their own, in addition to a weekly two-hour drop-in video call for further discussion with the instructor.
Please visit the online learning platform Tissimo for more details and contact information (link below).
Christmas Miracle …
By Lars Rosager | Moral Philosophy
The winter holidays may verge on overload, with their frantic errands and taxing traditions–at least for many subscribers to the season in the US, where a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” precedes a hasting away to the next to-do. Wherever be the origins of such perfectly unseasonal demands for hurry and unnecessary stress (brr!), they are no reason to deny a moment for pondering the Christ in Christmas, and in due course the broader and more syncretical implications. Miracle and mystery define the Advent and Christmas seasons. The occasion is the birth of God on Earth–of a virgin mother! This allegorical event is inherently revolutionary, as well as offering an axis on which more ample discussions may turn.*
Conveniently enough, I embarked on Richard Norman’s The Moral Philosophers (1998) as Advent began this year. Norman’s opening explanations on Conventions and Nature in the context of the Sophists–Socrates notwithstanding–could not have found me at a better time. In short, Conventions are social norms. They are important and useful, but may beget moral relativism† and other shortcomings, owing to their potential, if not habitual, dissonance with that which may be described Nature. Nature here refers to metamoral examinations of the ironies and imperfections of ethics as applied by human beings in real situations. Frustrating or even impossible though they may be, the ethics and morals of Nature aim for reason and universal truth. They do not settle for the nominal authority of cultural comforts. It occurred to me, Jesus lives for exactly this occasion.
He is born in a most improbable way, jolting one’s expectation. Not only in birth but in life, death, and resurrection He evokes all that is new, even inexplicable. Therefore Christmas is the beginning of a break with convention. Jesus was a devout Jew before he was the Messiah. He inspired over 2,000 years of Biblical exegesis and inquiry both ecumenical and interfaith. Injustices notwithstanding, it is no daring statement to call the history of Christianity complex, colorful, or collaborative.
Society evolves and debate brings new views on old principles. As a symbol, the virgin birth of Jesus breaks one’s expectations of that which is possible and necessary, signaling freshness and purity of spirit. Following this miraculous birth, God is now among us. In other words, we are in the immediate company of that which unites us all–truth, beauty, the greater good. Thus Christianity is, at its best, an eagerness to confront the problematic situations our Conventions may pose, and invite all that is just and lovesome into our lives on all levels–individual, joint, and collective.
It only follows that diversity and plurality are part and parcel of this continuing conversation. There is no demand for tradition to fall; this is rather an invitation to live metamorally and in ways that encourage learning and growth. No miracles for miracles’ sake or in order to drag on with the customary. We need teaching tools and a willingness to learn.
* As a cursory reference to religions besides Christianity, the following Wikipedia page offers some points of departure. As should always be the case with Wikipedia, the following citation is not to be taken as the final word on a given question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculous_births
† Moral relativism is a view, on questions of right and wrong, that does not go beyond comparisons. For example, to deem something evil is nearly impossible, owing to such a thing’s acceptability in a certain context. One may only state that this thing seems evil to someone unacquainted with the sociocultural context in which the apparently evil act is right at home.
New Applications of Historical Concepts
By Lars Rosager | Music
I have recently made available an original instrumental composition for the five-course guitar, titled “En flor,” and a brief paper titled “Personalizing 12TET on the Modern Guitar,” on how 12-tone equal temperament on the guitar is not as symmetrical or stagnant as one might think. As a more overarching theme, the creative application of historical studies has increasingly defined my perspective on music, language, and life in general.
With this in mind, it is fitting to mention my preparatory work on a lesson series titled “Applied History of the Guitar.” I hope to solidify all the scheduling and begin offering the course this fall. Broadly speaking, the curriculum tracks technical trends and evolutions throughout the vast history of the guitar and its related instruments. The ultimate goal is to offer as thorough a sonic palette as possible and apply it to any and all stylistic preferences of the student.
Modern guitar music is shaped significantly by timbre, meaning one must be attentive to the mechanics of the instrument and sensitive to all possible options with regard to tone color and how changes in tone color build a musical narrative. With this in mind, it seems only natural that the rich diversity of the guitar’s history should have a part to play in contemporary contexts. In my estimation, historical research is an incomplete pursuit without answers to the questions of how and why the research is useful in the present.
new writing on compositional square-ones
By Lars Rosager | Uncategorized
what prompts our creative processes? when it comes to the meaning of a preëxisting piece of music, what do we know about the composer’s intentions? prompted by a how-to publication on writing guitar riffs, i discuss these questions in a short essay available here. please feel free to enjoy similar reads from the page “writings” under the heading “music” in the drop down menu.
new work
By Lars Rosager | Moral Philosophy , Music
greetings! i am posting here to let you know there is a new recording available in the textual chordophonics store, as well as an open-access bit of writing, the first entry on the page “assorted writings” in the moral-philosophy section of this site.
both works take for main themes life’s problematic, troublesome aspects in a general sense. beyond just expressions of hardship or disappointment, i see in these new pieces a reminder that the most beautiful is the most real. while music as entertainment may imply a solution to our difficulties that borders on escapism, or may be helpful just as symptom-level treatment, music as moral inquiry is at best a practice of emotional exploration, scientific inquiry, and patient reflection.
a bit on tunings and an original tune (video!)
By Lars Rosager | Uncategorized
in addition to the video linked below, i would like to share a working list of guitar tunings i utilize. i have divided the tunings between standard and scordature for the various types of guitars i play. register contrasts are indicated by a capital for a lower octave (5-course), or with an apostrophe to indicate a note higher than that which appears previously (chikari of raga guitar). all tunings are low to high.
standard: e, a, d, g, b, e (6-string); a, e, a, d, g, b, e (7-string); gG, Cc, ff, aa, d (5-course); c, g, c, g, c [chikari: g, c’; b, c’; f, c’] (raga)
scordature: d, a, d, g, b, e; d, g, d, g, b, d; d, g, d, g, b-flat, d; e, a, d, f-sharp, b, e (6-string); a, d, a, d, g, b, e; a, e, a, d, g, b, d (7-string); gG, B-flat b-flat, ff, aa, d (5-course)
one interesting fact about this list is that, with the exception of the minor second in one of the chikari tunings, no two adjacent strings are tuned to any interval besides perfect fifths, perfect fourths, major thirds, and minor thirds. i would venture to say this is probably a very common set of intervals for adjacent open strings throughout the history of tuning for both plucked- and bowed-string instruments, though a thorough analysis must be saved for a format more extensive than this.
i would love to hear your thoughts about standard and alternate tunings. feel free to get in touch!
the original tune linked below is played in the g-minor scordatura (d, g, d, g, b-flat, d) on a steel-string guitar (tab available in larsrosager.com store).
YouTube video of “Dobro Dreams”: