Victoria BC cannot say that it experiences 'winter' in the wider Canadian sense. People are mowing lawns today. I've very much enjoyed rediscovering my love of ice skating this year. In a small way, it connects me to colder friends in far flung places. No matter where you are, you can enjoy this curation of classic...
Travel by plane 45,926km Proudest Moment Helping my wife Jenny Ambrose move The Makehouse into its new location and seeing it do so well. Honourable mention: getting to know Shane Kelly and learning how to take better photos with him. Funnest Gig (witnessing) The single best gig I was at was Eugene Chadbourne at Logan’s Pub, Victoria BC. Honourable mentions...
"Waldesnacht" (excerpt) from Op. 62, Sieben Lieder (Seven Songs), for mixed chorus (1874) Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) The Patrick Boyle Chorale Patrick Boyle - soprano Patrick Boyle - alto Patrick Boyle - tenor Patrick Boyle - bass Recorded at the bottom of the stairs by Patrick Boyle using a Shure SM57 https://soundcloud.com/patrickboylemusic/boylesingsbrahms ...
One of my biggest problems is not stepping on records and CDs when I wake up. They consume my house and my office, and before my very tolerant wife decides to go back to Philip Glass, I thought I could try and make these stacks of wax more urgent. I have a weird and wonderful collection...
Photo: Patrick Boyle Teaching music at university is simultaneously a constant joy and a constant dance of compromise. If I am being completely honest, I can’t teach music. I can show it. I can listen and guide. I can be an example of my own best self, including all manner of new and evolving flaws and...
One cold Saturday night in St. John's around 2005, I was kicking through the slush from one gig to another. I lugged a trumpet, guitar, and amp - part Tinker, part Sherpa. And I was angry. Angry that the gigs paid so poorly, that I wasn't into the music, that the crowds sucked, that it...
Mark Levine wrote about as comprehensive and practical a book about jazz theory for beginners as I've come across. More than most texts out there, his book highlights specific concepts in context. One such example is this list of Intervallic Movement in Various Jazz Compositions. This is helpful in getting students out of the "My Bonnie"...
Photo credit: Studio Bee Creative. During my undergrad, I did most of my elective courses in the Summer session so I could exclusively concentrate on music during the Fall and Winter. This was a great move because university in the summertime is a paradise. You get the whole place to yourself. All bathrooms become your bathrooms. One summer,...
Many teachers at the end of summer experience the contradictory feelings of "I can't do this" and "I can't wait to do this." The rumble in the gut is real. Students also live on a dotted line between excitement and fear at the end of August. The hardest thing is a good start, so I've made...
There are the truly great, impossibly lovely gigs at the top. They often have nothing to do with music. If July 23, 2001 was not the very best gig I've ever been a part of, it surely ranks way up there. More than that, it always will remain at the top. I didn't really join The Discounts...