Minor Wisdom

Amazing Grace

When I was a freshman in college seminary back in the 1970s, I got the chance one morning to sing the psalm after the first reading. Many things conspired against me that day. First, this particular psalm was written for a tenor, while I was (and am) a baritone. The first and second verse started with a high E note that I could just barely reach on a good day. Second, I had a bit of a cold, and my throat was a little raw. Third, this Mass was first thing in the morning. Fourth, I didn’t understand then that vocal chords are muscles, and like any other muscles, they need to be warmed up before peak performance. So I decided that my best strategy for hitting that high E was to do as little singing as possible immediately before.

If you know anything about vocals, you’re thinking “Oh, no!” When the moment came to hit that high E, my voice broke — while singing solo into a microphone, amplifying the break for everyone in the church. Fortunately I was among friends — my brother seminarians. I felt bad mainly because my terrible performance probably distracted them from their prayer.

Fast-forward to October 18, 2009. Since the 1970s, I’ve had some experience leading the congregation in singing. But this was a lifetime first: sing a solo while accompanying myself on an instrument (guitar) that I just started relearning eight months ago. The song was “Amazing Grace,” sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” (a la Blind Boys of Alabama). The audience was not a couple dozen brother seminarians, but a couple hundred or so churchgoers, who would either love the song or hate it.

So how did it turn out? Okay. I nailed the vocals. And though my hands were sweaty and shaking, I didn’t make any major mistakes on guitar.

So, next time I’m standing at a podium talking to three appellate judges or seven Louisiana Supreme Court justices, I may be nervous, but I won’t worry. I’ll remember that I’ve done harder things than just talking to a bunch of judges.

Amazing Grace, bluegrass style

Here is a little tablature (PDF) I worked up yesterday for “Amazing Grace.” Actually there are two versions of the song here: one with slide (indicated by the little arrows) and one without slide but with more robust chords. Both  versions are written for open-G tuning (the tuning is indicated on the tablature). This is the traditional version of the song, not the “House of the Rising Sun” / Blind Boys of Alabama version.

The song sounds great on my little resonator guitar (pictured at left). I bought it about 4½ months ago, hoping to learn how to play slide on it. I’ve been practicing some lessons from Getting Into Slide Guitar by Steve Dawson, which I highly recommend for anyone wanting to learn the basic techniques of slide playing. Amazing Grace is my first effort at applying those lessons to my own arrangement of a song.

Yesterday

Yesterday was either a bad day or a good day, depending on one’s point of view.

Bad:I start my car to go to work, the engine just barely turned over. Uh-oh, sounds like the battery is about to die. Even worse, I have a dental appointment in the afternoon. How will I get there if my car won’t start, or if it’s in the shop getting a new battery?

Good: The repair shop is on the way to work, and about six blocks from my office. And unusual for July, the humidity is low; it’s a lovely morning for a little walk. And if they’re still working on my car when it’s time to go to the dentist, I’ll just grab a cab.

Bad: The new battery ended up costing $126.33, including the electrical-system test (to make sure the problem was the battery and not the alternator or other part), the battery itself, and labor. Good: At least I didn’t get stranded somewhere with a dead battery.

Good: My car was ready in time to drive it to the dentist’s office. I made it there in plenty of time.

Bad: I was in the chair for about 4½ hours. Two teeth needed work. Some video of the procedure below.

Good: The dentist didn’t say “yee-hah!” And 4½ hours inhaling nitrous oxide.

Bad: Final tab $1,260. Most of that for a porcelain onlay. (Apparently silver-colored fillings are passé.)

Good: I have a Blue Cross/Blue Shield dental plan.

Another root of the family tree

A year or two ago, my sister Kendra gave me copies of pages from a book on the Ward family’s genealogy. Recently, I finally got around to digging into it.

The story starts with William Ward of Sudbury, Massachusetts. He was born in England around 1603. In the spring of 1638, he emigrated to the Colony of Massachusetts with his second wife, Elizabeth, and five children. He and Elizabeth had eight more children born in Sudbury, including Samuel Ward.

Samuel Ward was born on September 24, 1641 in Sudbury, Massachusetts and died on November 15, 1729 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. His first wife was Sarah Howe. They had seven children, including Joseph Ward.

Joseph Ward was born in 1670 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, where he died on June 30, 1717. He married Abigail Wheelock, and they had seven children, all born in Marlborough, including Phineas.

Phineas Was was born August 5, 1705 and died on October 19, 1756. He married Mary Wright, and they had six children born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, including Reuben.

Reuben Ward was born on December 28, 1746 and died January 8, 1800. He married Sarah Kendall, and they had eleven children, among them a son named Levi.

Levi Ward was born on April 12, 1785 in Marlborough, New Hampshire. He married Nancy Whitney, and they had six children, including a son named Daniel.

Daniel Ward was born on February 1, 1818 in Keene, New Hampshire, and died on August 30, 1894 at Indian Falls, New York. He married three times. His first wife was Catherine Phelps, with whom he had two children, including a son named Albert Wesley.

Albert Wesley Ward was born on November 8, 1842, in Pavilion Center, New York, and died on February 13, 1923, in East Pembroke, New York. His first wife was Lydia Jane Austin, with whom he had five children, including Roy Albert.

Roy Albert Ward was born on March 14 in either 1873 or 1874 (the book says 1874, but a handwritten correction says 1873) near Indian Falls, New York. He married Ida Mae Keller and became a pharmacist. His oldest son was Kenneth Roswell.

Kenneth Roswell Ward, M.D., was born on May 26, 1897 in Batavia, New York, and died in January 1976. He and his wife, Gladys Smith, had two sons, Robert Barnett Ward and Roderick Sartwell Ward.

Roderick Sartwell Ward was born on May 3, 1928, and died on August 2, 1977. He was an Episcopalian priest. His first wife was Molly Jean Landis, with whom he had four children. Among those four was yours truly, born October 7, 1957 in Corning, New York.

For some family-tree roots on my mother’s side, see this post.

Guitar update

If (outside of Jazz Fest) I haven’t been blogging as often as before, it’s because some of the time I used to spend on blogging is now spent attempting to learn guitar playing. That’s good news. It’s been three months since I resolved to revive my guitar-playing hobby, and so far I’ve kept my resolution.

One way to keep your resolutions is to spend money on them. At least that works for me; I hate to see an investment go to waste. So even though I already owned two guitars and one amplifier, buying and amplifier and (later) a guitar pushed me to keep on keeping on. Also I’m taking lessons, which I’m paying for. My teacher pushes me; so does the fact that I’m paying him to push me.

At my last lesson (a couple of weeks ago, before Jazz Fest), my teacher, Vincent, gave me some homework: “Record yourself.” Lacking the equipment to do that, I went to International Vintage Guitars for advice. They sold me a hardware and software bundle from Line 6 that lets me plug my guitar into my computer and record. The bundle include a guitar port (to plug my guitar into the computer), Gear Box (an on-line amplifier), and Riffworks (an on-line recorder). Once I got everything installed, I started playing with it, and I must tell you: This shit is fun!

So I made a recording, just like in a studio (meaning bunches of takes for each 12 bars). I won’t inflict it on you; it’s not for entertainment; it’s for Vincent to diagnose. I just want to say that, if you play some guitar and you want to have some fun recording yourself, give this stuff a try. And if you’re serious about your hobby, spend some money on it.

New mistress

In early February, I decided to revive my interest in playing guitar. I had lying around the house an old Ovation Deacon electric guitar and an Alvarez 5014 acoustic. I bought a new amp, re-strung both guitars, and made some inquiries about a guitar tutor. My friend Ernie recommended his friend Vincent, and I’ve since started taking weekly lessons with Vincent.

At my last lesson with Vincent, I suggested that I might buy a third guitar, which would always be tuned to an open major chord, and use it to learn slide. Vincent’s reaction: “Cool.” Taking that as an endorsement of my idea, I started shopping around.

Yesterday at International Vintage Guitars on Tchoupitoulas, I spotted her. I asked whether I could play her; the nice man said I could. A little strumming and a little finger-picking later, I knew I had to have her. I slept on it last night, returned to the store today, asked if the price was negotiable (it was!), and closed the deal about 5 seconds later.

The sales slip says she’s a Republic R3 Miniolian. But that’s not her real name. Her real name I have yet to learn; maybe she’ll tell me. She’s “parlor size,” meaning she’s petite—the photo at right shows her next to my Alvarez. As you can tell from the photos, she’s a resonator guitar, commonly known as a dobro. This means she likes to be touched with both fingers and a slide. I’ll be spending an indefinite amount of time figuring out exactly how she likes to be touched. I hope my wife doesn’t mind.

New toy

Big news in the Ward household yesterday: My wife and I finally traded in our Sanyo SCP 4500 phones (picture at right, photo credit here). We had these phones since May 2001 — nearly eight years ago. Back then, they were state of the art. Today they are antiques. Mine still worked fine, but hers started showing signs of rigor mortis.

Our first stop was the Radio Shack two blocks away, where we had bought the 4500s. Unfortunately, our account was so old that they were unable to upgrade us at the best price. They sent us to our friendly neighborhood Sprint Store on Tchoupitoulas. My wife, wanting a simple device, got the Samsung M320, a basic phone with the now-mandatory built-in camera. I wanted a basic phone too, but I decided to get something with features that I might use later. I ended up getting the Samsung Rant (picture at right). It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard (picture below), very nice for typing text. And if I decided to sign up for the Sprint data package (or some subset of it), I’ll have access to the Web, GMail, music, GPS navigation, and other goodies.

Knocking off the rust

Taking another step toward reviving my guitar-playing, today I re-strung both my guitars. My acoustic, an Alvarez 5014, now has a new set of Martin SP medium gauge strings. My electric, an Ovation Deacon, has a new set of D’Addario XL super light gauge strings.

While looking around in the Ovation’s case, I found the original sales slip. It was originally purchased from a Guitar Center store in Seattle, Washington (corner 8th and Virginia) on July 8, 1978 for $299 plus tax. I seem to remember buying it from the original owner in 1981 or thereabouts for something like $200. Since I’ve barely played it since the mid 1980s, I guess I could have sold it any time since then for a few hundred. For some reason, I hung on to it. Now I’m glad I did. [Feb. 11 Correction: I took a closer look at the receipt; it says the guitar was purchased “used” on 7/8/78.]

As for the Alvarez, I’ve had that since the summer of 1979. I bought it second-hand for around $150—I don’t remember exactly how much. Near as I can tell, it dates back to around 1975, give or take a couple of years.

Reviving the music (maybe)

It had been a long time since I bought myself a toy. So last Sunday, after picking up some home-office supplies at a local Office Max, I went next door to the Guitar Center to see about getting a small amplifier for my guitar, an Ovation Deacon (pictured at left). After a little trial and error, I found a knowledgeable salesman, TC, who steered me to the Peavey Vypyr 15 (also pictured at left).

It’s been a long time since I played guitar regularly. I was strictly a flat-pick player who never learned how to do anything with my right hand other than rake the pick across all six strings. So like Guitar George, I never learned how to play lead—I could only play rhythm. If I’m going to get it right this time, I think I need a teacher to teach me how to do more with my right hand, preferably in a blues style. So if you know anyone who can fill that bill, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail. Thanks.

How to set an ancient digital watch

Years ago, my wife bought me a Citizen GN-4-S watch, just like the one in this photo.¹ It has both analog and digital displays.

There is one minor and endearing problem. The digital display can only handle years between 1989 and 2004 inclusive. Apparently when Citizen built this watch, they thought it would last 15 years max. Mine is at 19 years with no sign of running down. Today I had to change the battery and re-set the digital display. How does one set such a timepiece to display the date and day correctly when it can’t handle 2008?

Calendar Home to the rescue. It has a like-years calculator, ideal for programming old VCRs or antique digital watches. To set my watch today, I just asked the calculator for a year when December 30 fell on a Tuesday, then set my watch to 1997. So if you have some old timekeeping electronics that can’t handle the post-Y2K world, bookmark Calendar Home.
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¹ Photo credit: Vintage Restoration.