Room 8
Added 2021-04-01 12:15:52 +0000 UTCWell, it's April fools day, but this post is no joke.
Welcome back everyone. This month let's have a look at Kottke's 71 recording of "Room 8."
Room 8 was the name of a cat who lived from 1947 to 1968 who had a unique story. It is said, one day in 1952 the cat wandered into a classroom in an elementary school in California. The cat basically lived in the school during the year, leaving during the summer and returning each new year. Unfortunately I'm not much of a story teller, you can learn more about the little fella here: https://www.thegreatcat.org/room-8/
This is early style Kottke. He would have played this with fingerpicks on thumb, index, and middle fingers. I mention in the lesson video that this may be the first piece he actually composed that makes use of his ring finger. I do not believe he would have used the ring for the 6&12 material, but I believe he did adapt some of the material to use the ring later on.
Focus on breathing life into the first half of the piece. If you can't make a profound musical statement with the slow part, the fast section will lose its charm. Transitioning from the slow to the fast material is not an easy task. One can easily become complacent in the first half, enjoying the beauty of the harmonies and sustain of the notes. If you get too carried away the fast section will sneak up on you. Being able to hit it with power and punch is the key. Dig in, contrast the first half with some power.
Looking forward to some discussion on this classic solo.
Performance video: https://youtu.be/6w6uM15OrsM
Lesson video: https://youtu.be/vqirfn6BdCk
Note on the lesson video, it currently has 17 seconds of black screen at the beginning, I tried to trim it on youtube and it has been processing since yesterday. I'm going to add time stamps for relevant sections after the video has finished processing.
Transcription attached.
Comments
Gee if Only I found this page earlier, you must have fantastic ears, or saw him playing this many times(?) years ago I learned some of his tunes from a guy who video filmed him, most of those I don't remember, and slide doesn't work with nylon strings
Peter Neski
2024-10-19 22:33:19 +0000 UTCYes, absolutely correct. I found some video in my small archive of Leo playing a Quiet Man in the late 70s and ended up writing it down. Maybe it will show up here some day, a real nice tune.
Andrew Lardner
2023-11-15 20:31:35 +0000 UTCThis is a really excellent transcription and lesson, thank you Andy. You mentioned early on in the lesson video that you weren't sure if Leo had used this tuning (ECGCAE, high to low) for any other of his compositions. I could be wrong, but I think it is used for "The Quiet Man" on Burnt Lips. Actually, before that thought occurred to me, I was watching you play Room 8 and thinking "you know, this sounds a little like The Quiet Man"... then I looked at the tunings for both... Best, Simon.
Ambient Lands
2023-11-15 20:00:02 +0000 UTC
