Welles Park original map

Mental | Physical | Spiritual

Goals and Education

Playing By Ear Demo – Hold Music

I have a thurough self-led lesson about playing by ear in the works. For now, I thought I’d leave you with this. My advice on how to learn to play by ear. https://vimeo.com/902038361?share=copy How to Play by Ear First, seek out financial institutions who provide one minute of music on repeat when you’re on hold. Next . . . OK. While that video is just kind of a kidding around, playing by ear is a goal of many of the people I work with.  Here is a video I made awhile back demonstrating one of the processes I use to learn a song by ear.  Blog Post: How I Learn Old Time Tunes – Learning to Play the Tune, Nancy, from a Recording by Jonas Friddle

Cover photo of Tisa and Jason
Chicago

Tisa Batchelder on Her New Album, Dream Girl

I think probably everybody has some sort of healing dream. And so as you journey through the different songs, maybe little, little parts of the dream are falling into place or coming true.

Practicing Greyscales cover
Goals and Education

Revisiting My “Practicing Greyscales” Sketchbook

I stepped up to the paper and realized, almost immediately, that I did not have control of the necessary skills to complete the piece as I wanted. I could understand the process intellectually, but it wasn’t going to come out of my pen without more practice.

The bulldog Toro sleeps while Maria sings and plays guitar.
Guest Journal Entries

Can I Sing You to Sleep? – Maria McCullough Shares a Sweet Moment with a Dear Companion

The sweet moments in this video took place on June 5, 2021. Toro was one of my dearest companions and rest teachers. Can I sing you to Sleep? was inspired by and written in a workshop guided by Octavia Raheem. Amongst all the layers in the world that might have you feel and do otherwise… May you feel loved. May you find rest. May you experience moments of ease. May you sing. Maria McCullough (she/they) loves to share and explore with others through music, movement, laughter, love and rest. Maria is grateful to be living on Tiwa Land/Tewa land in so-called Albuquerque, NM and is at the beginning of a relationship-building journey with the land and beings here.You can contact Maria and learn more about her offerings here.

Banjo

Slideshow – Celebrating Tradition Retreat 2022

Maria was one of the teachers at this year’s Celebrating Tradition Retreat in Spring Green, WI and I was lucky enough to be invited to tag along. What a rare gift to visit without the responsibilities of being a organizer, a teacher or a student! I thought I would take that opportunity to document the retreat. The slideshow follows, more or less, the unfolding of events. I did make the amature mistake of leaving my battery charger in New Mexico, so I missed much of the last day, and the goodbyes. It takes a moment to load, so if you see a black screen at the beginning wait 5 seconds and the first photo will come up. If you would like hi-res jpegs of any of these photos, feel free to download them at https://photos.app.goo.gl/o4MM4juVk7tg1R66A Thanks to the Peggy, Maura and Lou and the kitchen staff, and the friends old and new for making me feel so welcome.  

Goals and Education

Common Bass Walks for Guitar with Alternating Bass

A student and I were working on finding ways to play these bass walks more naturally, rather than having to think through them. I made these short videos (all under 2 minutes) with that in mind. This is a play list of five videos. Each video features a different duo of chords and their bass walks. A to D and Back to A A to E and Back to A C to F and Back to C G to C and Back to G G to D and Back to G These videos are recorded with a priority of watching my hands and listening to the sound of the music. You can scroll through the videos to find the one you want by clicking the three lines and arrow in the top right corner of the video player. Sometimes it’s important to intellectually examine these concepts. Other times it’s advantageous to concentrate on the sound and let the music come out of our fingers. If you would like a handout component to follow along with, or use to practice with later, download this .pdf which has all the bass runs that are covered in the video. One thing the video does not cover is why you might use these in a song. If you are interested in learning more about that, drop me a note at gettingtoknowtrees@gmail.com and we can set up a time to meet over Zoom. Enjoy!

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