London’s Burning

How does a first world country – one of the wealthiest and most influential in the world – with a democratic government, free education for all, a free health service and freedom of press and speech descend into the anarchic chaos of the past three days? Children privileged enough to own Blackberry phones who don’t even know the meaning of the word “disenfranchised” recklessly destroying their communities in the name of “The Forgotten Youth” (or “Yoof”).

We all know things are far from perfect in the UK. People have taken to the streets to make their voices heard for legitimate reasons several times since the Tories took the helm. Let’s not confuse genuine protest with the gratuitous violence of these riots. Perhaps some of the people involved genuinely can’t afford a new pair of trainers. Neither can I. Perhaps many of them have been directly affected by the austerity measures taken by the government. So have I. The demeanour of last night’s young criminals was not that of people driven to desperate actions by unbearable circumstances. Reports of people trying on trainers and clothing before making off with them; waiting for the green man before crossing the road at a leisurely pace, stolen laptop and camera tucked under each arm and casually stealing from vulnerable people unable to protect themselves were widespread.

I’m loath to describe this as mindless. While the behaviour certainly appears mindless, the people behind it are not. It would be a wonderful excuse for them if they were: no free will, no exposure to or understanding of the concepts of right and wrong. What more could we expect of such beings other than ‘monkey see monkey do’? It seems to me the main motivating factor behind these events was an attitude of entitlement coupled with the victim mentality of those unwilling to take responsibility for the improvement and enrichment of their own lives.

There are of course hundreds of theories circulating on just what is behind the shocking, disaster-movie-like scenes. Anti-government, anti-cuts, anti-police, justice for a dead drug dealer… even the Illuminati have been sited as the cause. I’m a fairly outspoken critic of the current government, but I have an unshakable feeling that this would have happened regardless of who was in power. I certainly think Cameron has been disgraceful in his determination not to let it disturb his holiday, but that’s a different point entirely. As for the police, they are facing pay cuts and job cuts. Their morale is low too. If anyone involved in the riots thought that they were making a statement against police brutality, I would invite them to pay a visit to Zimbabwe where they can sample the true meaning of that concept. The death of Mark Duggan may well have been a catalyst, but anyone who believes that last night’s events were an act of solidarity needs a serious reality check. The Illuminati suggestion does not even deserve derision let alone analysis.

Here is my personal favourite: these riots are happening because we have abandoned the Youth of this country. Actually I agree with this notion, but not in the way it is being presented. Minors have more rights, and are more AWARE of those rights than ever before. Basic respect for elders – a polite greeting, opening a door, offering a seat on the bus – is non-existent. Teachers in schools are so hampered with child protection laws that teaching methods are becoming more geared towards avoiding litigation than providing education. We fear feral groups of children because of their collective aggression and our certainty that even if we could gain the upper hand against them, it would be us – not them – appearing before the Magistrate. It seems that the more emphasis we place on the importance of Human Rights and the Individual, the more we forget that while children are also humans with rights, they are CHILDREN. They know less, understand less and need considerably more and the average adult. It seems that adults on the other hand, are expected to respect children, regardless of their behaviour. I believe we have let our Youth down by treating them in many respects as adults, not children.

We can’t ignore the very depressing fact that a sizeable minority of our population are nothing more than spoilt brats who expect something for nothing. Perhaps there is nothing unusual about that, but recent events have highlighted just how little it takes for such people to turn to violent, criminal behaviour.

What happens next? Do we bring in the Military to assist the police? Do we sanction fighting fire with fire? Personally I’m all for taking all necessary measures to put a stop to this – whatever it takes. But what then? Now that people know just how easy it is to undermine public order, will we find our free society slipping away as we try to wrestle it back from the lunatics? Or has this been a freak occurrence that will fizzle out as quickly as it started?

How can this behaviour be justified?
Children in need…?

-Deryn Cullen-

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Basic Improvisation for Classical Musicians (via Cellostudio’s Blog)

A great step by step guide to basic improv – perfect for classically trained musicians interested in exploring improvisation. Exercises and sound files available to download for free (or donation).

For those of us with classical music training the concept of improvising often inspires feelings ranging from uneasiness to abject terror. We spend so much of our time bound to complex scores laden with incredibly specific instructions that the concept of making it up on the spot is foreign and frightening. Depending on what you do as a musician, you may never be confronted with a situation that requires you to improvise and therefore never feel … Read More

via Cellostudio's Blog

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Professor Richard Dawkins: the Voice of Reason or Narrow-minded Arrogance?

I caught the last 30 minutes of Professor Dawkins’ documentary “The God Delusion” last night. I have never been a fan of Dawkins, but I was curious to see how he would assemble his views this time, and to see whether I had perhaps jumped to conclusions about the man. By the end I found myself irritated senseless.

It’s really not that I disagree with everything Dawkins has to say. Quite the contrary. I share the conviction that organised religion has a great deal to answer for, and I despise the way it has been used through the ages to justify unspeakable atrocities. I shudder at the ignorance and close-mindedness perpetuated by fundamentalists from any religious group.

My problem with last night’s documentary was the unshakable feeling that Dawkins was using it as a vehicle to proclaim himself as the superior spokesperson for science and reason by stating the blindingly obvious and picking extraordinarily easy targets to shoot down in flames. It really doesn’t take a professor of biology to highlight the deep-seated prejudice endemic amongst conservative and fundamentalist religious groups or the silliness of stating with certainty that the earth is 5 – 10,000 years old. It is also easy to delve into religious texts such as the Old Testament and select highly questionable verses advocating extreme intolerance and violence. By selecting these choice phrases which make up a tiny fraction of a compilation of texts written thousands of years ago and using them to substantiate his views, I really feel that Professor Dawkins is using exactly the same tactics as those used by the very people he targets in his passionate war against spirituality.

The man certainly can’t be criticised of sitting on the fence. The overwhelming message in the documentary was that religion without exception is the root of all evil. What about Stalin, Hitler and Mao – none of them religious men? What about the millions of people who derive a sense of peace and well-being from their religious belief, using the principles as a guide, not as justification? Are they buying into something evil too? For a scientist I find Richard Dawkins incredibly close-minded.

What was he seeking to prove with his “I’m right and you’re wrong” hatchet job of a documentary? He would have us believe that science is the only means of understanding and relating to the world around us, but conveniently forgets about the radical changes in scientific thoughts, models and findings over the years. He uses the word “proof” a lot. He concludes that his belief system is based on that which can be proven; that which can be described by science.

What then about the great many things in our unfathomable universe that science fails to describe, that scientists themselves throw their hands up at and say “We just don’t know…”? If there is no conclusive evidence for how and why things work on a quantum level, where does that leave Professor Dawkins’ tidy and unshakable belief system?

Rant over for now – I’m curious to know other people’s thoughts on this. It seems that most of the reviews on his literature and documentaries have been written by equally militant atheists and are consequently glowing but completely unbalanced.

Sanyo Xacti Sound Recorder Review

I’ve been a fan of Mobile recording devices since I was given an Edirol R-09 a few years ago to replace my overly complicated minidisk recorder, which proved to be enormously useful for a host of professional musical activities: recording rehearsals, performances, lessons and found sounds to name a few. So I was excited to have one of the very first Sanyo Xacti recorders come my way to play with and write about.

The Modern Pocket Studio

The Xacti is remarkably small and slim with a sleek touch sensitive design. The complete package includes a docking station, stereo headphones, a 2GB microSD card, a USB lead for transferring files to your computer and charger for the lithium battery. My package excluded the docking station and battery charger, but neither item was a necessity. The battery can be recharged via its USB connection and the device can easily be connected to a pair of external audio speakers via the headphone input. It also features very basic built-in speakers, which don’t offer great sound quality but are useful when using the recorder on the go.

The Xacti also benefits from being very easy to use. Getting started takes no time at all with its user-friendly and intuitive interface. Despite this it packs in a lot of useful features, and it is worth spending time with the manual to fully acquaint oneself with all of these. It offers three different recording environments: Meeting, Interview and Music. Individual recording settings can still be adjusted within each of these environments, allowing you to fine tune your recording. Files can be recorded as WAV (44.1 kHz) or MP3 (320, 198, 128 and 32 kbps). The recorder has an internal high performance microphone with fully adjustable sensitivity, making it possible to reduce wind or breathing noise when recording outdoors or speaking into the mic.

I was astounded at the quality of my first recordings. I recorded my cello, a notoriously tricky instrument to capture well and found the results to be better than a number of condenser microphones I have tried in the past. For this reason I did not try recording with an external mic, but it’s worth mentioning that the recorder offers this option too.

Overall, the Xacti sound recorder is a wonderful device: nicely designed, very easy to use, full of excellent features including a recordable FM radio and music player functionality. With minimal tweaking it delivers crystal clear recordings and the battery life is impressive too. Transferring files to and from your computer is also very straightforward if a little fiddly – the manufacturers recommend using the “safely remove hardware” tool rather than simply disconnecting the USB lead. If you’re prone to loosing things you’ll probably need to wear it as a necklace – it really is very tiny!

The Mists of Io

A new track with a definite nod towards Eastern/ Oriental sounds. Another cello meander from Entropik.The Mists of Io – click here to listen

The Extreme Sport of Meteor Spotting

That’s right. Extreme.

Thursday night was the peak of the Perseids meteor shower. Amazingly our dismal August weather cleared up at just the right time to get a spectacular show. We started out in the back garden, but found that the light pollution was far too intense to see any but the brightest meteors. So we decided to relocate to Temple Newsham Park which happens to be just up the road from our house.

For those not familiar with Temple Newsham, it really is one of Leeds’ crown jewels. The house itself is rather dour and imposing, but the grounds are acres of spectacular cultivated and natural beauty. The perfect spot for a night of stargazing then. Except we didn’t stop to think about how much it would appeal to drug dealers, noisy drunk teens with exceedingly poor taste in music and cars, and unmarked transit van drivers. Amazingly the presence of two police cars doing a slow sweep of the park didn’t put the shady elements off their pursuits either.

We found what we thought was a quiet, secluded and suitably dark spot for our meteor spotting, spread our blanket out and got down to the business of gazing at the sky. Within two minutes a low slung VW Golf GTI with tinted windows, a stereo complete with sub-woofer large enough to cause an earthquake and what seemed like about 20 chavs on board came tearing into the gravel parking lot. We all know that gravel parking lots have very specific rules in terms of driving conduct: a minimum speed of 50 mph, creating a dust cloud similar in size and shape to a mushroom cloud, screeching and screaming loud enough to be heard over the car stereo, and of course the obligatory hand brake turns designed to leave those aesthetically pleasing doughnut marks for marking one’s territory.

How wonderful it is to be surrounded by nature, to be immersed in the sounds of nature: the gentle breeze rustling in the trees of the nearby woods, owls softly hooting in harmony, a hedgehog scuttling through the bushes in search of food and of course, the mating call of the Halton Estate teenager: “Kell you sket come get some gear innit”, “safe bruv”, all to the dulcet tones of Ice Cube and The Dogg Pound.

The arrival of another similar brigade made us seriously consider calling it quits and retreating to our small back garden, but fortunately the chavs seemed to have another pressing appointment and left en mass. All seemed quiet, but we decided to move close to the car where we could make a quick getaway if necessary. The next arrival was a large white transit van with single occupant, blinding us with his high beams. He chose a spot at the far end of the parking lot where he turned off his engine and thankfully his headlights. We assumed that he was not there for the same reason we were, but whatever his purpose we were clearly of no interest to him. Fine then.

A clapped out M-reg BMW was next to pull up, making its way directly to the van. Two doors slammed, muffled voices were heard and apparently the transaction was complete. No doubt a perfectly innocent and above-board exchange of goods for cash. Both cars left and we were alone once more with the odd strains of chav activity from the far side of the park.

We had just begun to settle down, having enjoyed some spectacular shooting stars when we found ourselves blinded once again by the headlights of a very slow moving vehicle heading in our direction. Like a pair of frightened rabbits we decided by means of telepathy that it was time to go. Unceremoniously dumping the blanket on the back seat of the car and scuttling to the front doors, a very sedate and civic voice from the now stationary car said “Everything all right here?” My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the suddenly bright light yet, but I was pretty sure from the tone of his voice that this was a police car, not some shady merchant or axe murderer. Having already made ourselves look extraordinarily suspicious, I heard an incredibly shrill voice come from my mouth saying something along the lines of “Absolutely! All fine here – thanks, guys!” Great. So having been literally the only people to arrive at Temple Newsham with non-lawbreaking intentions we made ourselves look like two of the most suspicious.

It did turn out to be the most prolific meteor shower either of us has ever seen, even with the relative light pollution that is impossible to get away from unless one is deep in the countryside. I wonder if the police made a note of our number plate?

A Recording Session to Remember

A Day to Remember

Entropik String Orchestra of One

Yesterday we put the finishing touches on a new track called A Day to Remember, and we’ll not forget the session in a hurry!

This track is uncharacteristically light-hearted and joyful for us… we tend to gravitate towards minor keys and Mahlerian pathos in our music. Every now and then it’s wonderful to break out of your mould and try something outside of your comfort zone. Of course we don’t think for a second that we came up with anything unique or ground-breaking here. We have one of our favourite bands to thank for the inspiration and are quite happy to describe this track as an Elbow sound-alike with an Entropik touch.

Recording, which took place on the 12th of August 2010 was an absolute blast. The most fun we’ve had in ages! We wanted a string orchestra that wasn’t made up of midi instruments. Cello obviously isn’t a problem, and is very much at the heart of the arrangement. We then decided to challenge my general string knowledge and put my double bass and violin which have otherwise been collecting dust to good use. 20 string parts later we had the sound we were looking for! The only missing instrument is viola, but I managed to mimic a viola sound in the higher register of one of my cellos. Yes, we used not one but two different cellos to get the subtly different timbres one would expect from a full string orchestra.

So without further ado we present to you: A Day to Remember – composed, performed and recorded by Entropik.

A Day to Remember