Week 85: Time to Raze the Tree (folk-rnn v2 w/ beam search + Sturm)

I was asked for a tune for an online gig and so took a quick look in “58,105 Irish Style Double Jigs” and found this one. It appears as tune no. 48,490 on pg. 7,199. I spent some time with it, made a few modifications, and gave it the name – appropriate for this time

Week 81: Toivo’s Marzipants (folk-rnn v2 + Sturm)

This jig comes from folk-rnn (v2), and celebrates a new arrival: a boy named Toivo whose loving parents claim his poopy diapers have a scent of marzipan. Welcome to the world Toivo! May your pants always be marzipants.

Week 80: The Docent (folk-rnn v2 + Sturm)

This jig comes from folk-rnn (v2), and was selected by a critic for me. At some point I picked up and thought it would be a great tune to play at my docent lecture. Here’s the slide that tells the legend. It’s history now!

Week 75: Sparkle with Criticism (folk-rnn + Sturm)

This jig comes from a folk-rnn model I fine-tuned on the jigs in O’Neill’s 1001. The title comes from a wonderful malapropism committed by one of my PhD students. He said, “I will sparkle with criticism when I review your work” when he meant to say, “I will sprinkle criticism while I review your work”.

Week 74: What are the odds? (Tradformer + Sturm)

I learned this jig from Tradformer, and recorded it on a trip to see family. I couldn’t find much quiet time to record, so my father-in-law stars in this take when he comes to ask me a question about a game he is playing. I can’t really talk and play at the same, but I

Week 68: Wordle’s done. Now what? (folk-rnn v2 + Music Transformer + Sturm)

This week I learned a jig generated by folk-rnn (v2). The title refers to the short joy of playing the popular word puzzle game Wordle first thing in the morning with a cup of fresh coffee. Since I have to wait 24 hours until the next puzzle is released, I kind of sit there wondering

Week 67: Optoly Louden (folk-rnn v1 + Sturm)

This week I return to a jig I learned a long time ago from the first version of folk-rnn (v1). The machine-titled “Optoly Louden” appears in folk-rnn v1 Session Book, Vol. 10 (of 20). My previous execution five years ago is rather poor, so I thought I would return to it and see if I

Week 62: Chasing balls in winter (folk-rnn v2 + Sturm)

This jig appears in “58,105 Irish Style Double Jigs” as tune no. 38,699 on page 5,737. It’s a fun tune in both parts, and with a few changes here and there it holds together pretty nicely! My dog Shoogee slept in the same room as I recorded it some 30 times before I had a

Week 61: We are just an advanced mold, and other Christmasy thoughts (Tradformer + Sturm)

This jig was created by Tradformer, and named by me after one of my PhD students exclaimed, before the Christmas break: “We [humans] are just an advanced mold.” It’s a somewhat dramatic tune, where the A-part is kind of withdrawn from being called mold. But then the B-part happily reconciles with the fact that we

Week 56: The Cunning Storm (folk-rnn v1 + Sturm)

This jig was created by folk-rnn (v1), and appears in The folk-rnn (v1) Session Books Vol. 4 of 20. I actually learned the tune at the beginning of 2018, and tried to play it with my wife Carla: I have learned a thing or two since then, so I decided to give it another go,