So sometimes if I’m trying to write about something and I get writer’s block, my approach is, think of a really interesting title, and work from there. So what the devil is this title about then? Well, for the last few years, I’ve gone to Woodpoint to play my saz, an instrument that allows you to play what is called 24-Tet music. I’ve a blogpost on that here.
And this is Woodpoint, a place so wondrous it almost forces your brain to think of new musical ideas:
This time, instead of the saz, I brought along my new 24-Tet guitar, which allows for more possibilities for playing 24-Tet chord structures then the saz does. Here is that guitar:
Thinking up melody lines in 24-Tet is doable, what is much harder is thinking up 24-Tet chords. It takes a lot of thought and patience, because with those type of chords, the line between what sounds beautiful, and what sounds like a herd of screeching cats, is very thin indeed. I know cats don’t be in herds but that sounded good so I went with it. So a good way for me to force my brain to work through a difficult musical problem, is just go to Woodpoint with a musical instrument, so that the scenery soothes my brain and I can push through it. But this time, I didn’t have just the wonderful scenery of Woodpoint to inspire my music, this time the sight of magnificent insects flying around were also my inspiration.
These chaps are called six spotted burnets, and there was an absolute load of them at Woodpoint. Also there was a dragonfly. As mentioned before, I’ve only ever successfully managed to get one photo of a dragonfly ever. I actually feel bad for that dragonfly. I worry that his other dragonfly friends are laughing at him, and they’re saying, “You were actually photographed by a human, you’re such a loser.” I worry that the other dragonflies don’t invite him to their dragonfly based merriment anymore.
Also, there were a lot of bees. Bees are the best.
I tried to play some music on the guitar that was really joyful, and at that same moment, I saw a bee flying around the place. Watching one of my favourite animals flying around so peacefully made me really emotional, and what I was playing on the guitar just added to that feeling, and I felt so overwhelmed with joy that I thought I might cry! A strange thing to explain if I did cry, “I was playing my guitar and then I saw a bee!” What can I say I’m an emotional person.
And on the journey back from Woodpoint to Courtmacsherry, I saw something that made me quite happy, even though maybe it made me happy because I’m anthropomorphizing it, but anyway, here’s what I saw.
So yeah, I did find this sight of a red tailed bumble bee and a six spotted burnet to be really nice. As if, if they’re two different species and they can get along, maybe there’s hope for humanity? Though in truth I don’t know what’s going on here. Maybe one hates that the other is there. Maybe one is actively trying to drive the other off. We don’t know. But, there’s so much nastiness in the world, let’s just convince ourselves that the burnets and the bees have achieved a peaceful society of wonder and happiness!
And I saw a really big red tailed bumble bee. The red tails are one of my favourite type of bees. When people see me, they cross the street thinking, “He’s going to talk to me about red tailed bumble bees for four hours.” Which isn’t true. I’m going to talk to them about red tailed bumble bees for eight hours.
And, since I started this post by talking about music, let me introduce you to the bombus pascorum, or common carder bee. What has this got to do with music? Well, you will not convince me that the bombus pascorum is not in an eighties hair metal band. Look at that get up!
In Courtmacsherry is a really nice beach, where I was greeted by many wonderful birds. They didn’t actually greet me, perhaps they hate me in fact, I was talking metaphorically.
So I hope this post about seeing loads of interesting wildlife while trying to solve the mysteries of the 24-Tet musical system is of interest to someone somewhere. I will leave you with this picture of a hoverfly with adorable puppy dog eyes.
Ponderings Of An Autist 