The Practice Journal

The Practice Journal Series

Don’t worry! This is not an announcement of another project, but rather a name to categorize already existing creations. I mentioned in Tuesday’s post that I did something new which was live-streaming. It was awesome! I also recently mentioned that I’m vlogging now and will be releasing vlogs and other types of videos on YouTube. Instead of leaving all of these creations nameless, I’m going to call these part of the practice journal series. So, it’s just a name! A logo, because all projects need logos, is forthcoming.

This is also an opportunity for me to tell you that the first livestream that I did on twitch has been uploaded to YouTube. Twitch streams only stay on twitch for 14 days and I want to keep them since they’re my ‘journal’ entires so that’s why they’ll be uploaded within 24 hours of having ended on twitch. Can’t wait for the vlog which will be out next week!

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Until tomorrow!

What I’m Listening to Wednesday: No. 2

Happy Wednesday! I would be remiss if I did not mention today’s inauguration here in the US. I’ll consider this a win for today, but I am committed to holding all elected official accountable for what they said they would do so here is to continuing to do so.

I have new to me music to share with you! In my newsletter, which you can subscribe to here, I mentioned that I am absolutely enamored by Jazmine Sullivan’s Heaux Tales. I have been a fan of hers for a very long time and this album was worth the wait.

One thing that I’ve realized though is that I love listening to live album recordings. I feel like this used to be more standard practice before video redistribution became more popular, after all, what is the point of an audio-only live recording when you could just watch the video? There’s something special though about a live album recording. There’s a mixture between something that is both ephemeral and permanent. Musical moment after moment happens, so it’s fleeting, but continually still.

We’re lucky that there are tons of live recordings from the 80s to late 2000s. Granted, people are still making them, but not with the same energy. All of this thinking came after I discovered Gerald Clayton’s latest recording, Happening: Live at The Village Vanguard. Though this recording was released in 2020 and is pretty new, it takes me back somewhere and brings back those aforementioned feelings around these types of recording.

Take a listen using the player below. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Also, I use both Spotify and Apple Music. If there is one way you’d prefer that I share music players, let me know. I’m happy to do both or something else entirely if it’s more accessible.

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Until tomorrow!

Trying Something New

I did it! I finally streamed on twitch. A few weeks back I had announced that I would be streaming on twitch, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was feeling massive resistance to doing this even though I had decided that this was going to be something that I wanted to pursue as a creative endeavor. After talking it over with a friend yesterday, I decided to just take the plunge officially and so I’m a twitch streamer now.

It was a lot of fun and really, really weird. For the past 14 years I’ve practiced guitar exclusively in private and by myself. While I think that was necessary and is necessary, I have ideas that I want to create and share and part of how I want to do that is on twitch. I’m sure I’ll capture more thoughts about this in a future post.

I’m not keeping myself to a schedule just yet because my weeknights change a lot due to various meetings and commitments. I will though announce beforehand future streams in social media. Don’t worry if you didn’t catch it either. All the videos will be available on twitch and my YouTube channel as part of what I’m calling The Practice Journal because projects get names!

You can subscribe to my twitch at ciyadh.live

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Until tomorrow!

Playing with People

Playing with People

It’s likely not a surprise, but I miss playing with people in person. I play a lot as a soloist which I love, but I love playing with people even more. There’s something so incredibly special about making music with other people and I miss it. I’m super fortunate to have a duo partner that is willing to make distance collaborations and work on these super outlandish ideas. I’ve also been in a position where I have been able to play with people, but virtually.

Live, virtual collaborations are new for me. I did a few last year over Zoom and they were so much fun! Technology has allowed me to participate in these really awesome virtual performances where we are all playing at the same time.

Currently, I’m rehearsing for chamber-improv show that will run in April. I’ll share more about that once it is closer, but I just wanted to reminisce about this after we had rehearsal today.

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Until tomorrow!

Starting to Sketchnote

You probably could have assumed this, but I take lots of notes! I take notes and have scribbles of notes from nearly everything that I’ve done since some point in high school. The large majority of these notes are in handwritten form and are somewhat neatly organized in binders and folders spread through my studio. I love it! Science says that handwriting things helps with memory and I agree that this is true. The more I write things down, the more likely I am to remember them. It’s also a part of how I learn. I want to try something new though in addition to the kind of note making that I already do.

I want to create and share sketchnotes.

I’ve known about sketchnoting for a while now. Sketchnotes are a mixture between doodles and words. Think mind maps, also something I do from time to time, but with pictures. It’s a way to help retain or to memorize things in a way that is more active than an outline.

There are a few reasons that I am going to try sketchnotes. The primary reason is to bring a little more whimsy into my life. There’s something really neat about that relationship between notes and doodles or pictures. I also want to work on the different types of things I’m creating and how I want to share them with the world. In other words, you can expect to see a picture of a sketch note in the near future.

Here are some resources that I’ve found helpful when learning how to and understanding sketchnoting:

• https://rohdesign.com/sketchnotes-1

• https://faithbasedproductivity.com/sermon-notes-6-28-20/

• https://www.wildstory.com/blog/note-taking-with-sketchnoting/

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Until tomorrow!

Research Diaries Pt. 1: A Book to Read

Welcome back to the research diaries! The research diaries are posts chronicling what it means to be a researcher, especially one who researches art and music. Writing is a huge part of research. Part of why I am choosing to blog everyday and to publish it everyday is because I want to become a better writer and communicator. Another part of researching, and this is likely obvious, is that research involves a lot of reading. Learning how to read for research is a skill and getting in that habit and feeling good about it is also a thing. So, I’m reading a book to help me with this.

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis is the book that I’m choosing to read to help me with this. I’ve read a few other books in this same genre that were somewhat helpful, but getting started is still a challenge. The internet says this is the next book to read and that it is really helpful so we will see! Finishing or being as close to finished as possible is my big goal for 2021 and I’m starting here.

Lots of reading seems to be happening in my life these days which is just how I like it. I decided that I was going to read this specifically to help me with dissertation research which is why it’s a part of this series and not my other reading blogs.

It’s a short book so I should have a review post up soon!

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Until tomorrow!

Morning Writing vs. Night Writing Experiment

I have a problem. I am bad a going to bed. This is something that I’ve struggled with for a very long time. While I was completing my course work for my doctorate, it was not uncommon for me to stay up until 2am and then wake up by 7:30am. This is not healthy and I realize this. At the time I had a job that was a 3 hour round trip commute once or twice a week and by the time I would arrive home and needed to finish work, it was late. I was teaching and at some points traveling almost every other week. This blog isn’t necessarily about my sleep habits, but more about something that I want to try and change or at least experiment with in the coming weeks.

As an artist, lots of performances, engagements, and networking happens late at night. Never have I been to a guitar conference or any conference for that matter where people are hanging out at 6am. It’s more that people are going to bed at 6am if anything is happening at that hour. 10 years of music school and working as an artist has turned me into the quintessential artist type. I go to bed really late and wake up early enough to do things and then work all day into the night to do my work. It’s a cycle that I’ve adapted. I don’t hate it, but I know that in the long term as life habits and routines change, I’ll want to not go to bed as late. Plus, I like my partner and I know my work habits could be better balanced.

As of late, one of the things that I spend my time at night doing is writing for this blog. I love it and I want to keep doing it and want it to get even better! I look forward to this quiet time every night after I finish practicing and before I start on freelance or administrative work. It’s my time to be creative, to explore, and to share in a different way. I have been wondering though, would this writing be better if I did it earlier in the day? Would my editing capabilities or sentences make more sense if I work on this at 8:30am or during my lunch break? These are the questions that keep me up a night.

With that in mind, I want to try an experiment. I want to try writing at a different time of the day and I want to try it in the morning. Does this mean I’ll need to go to bed earlier so that I can wake up earlier…yes? I sometimes waste time in the morning just moseying around because not every moment of my day needs to be hyper-focused or productive so I mosey. I think I could mosey a little less and write a little more though. Possibly time block moseying in at a different part of the day. Inspired by this post by Elliot Bonneville, I’m going to experiment with writing in the mornings. I haven’t decided how long I’m going to try to do this. I’m thinking that taking this experiment one day at a time will be best for me as I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself right now. Even if I don’t write in the morning, I know that I’ll get a post done regardless so there’s no need to be too obsessive. Plus, there are some other schedule things that I’m working to implement and I don’t know how much of my moseying morning time I want to give up.

All of this to say, next week at least once or twice, these posts will be written and hopefully uploaded in the morning. I like hearing people talk about their experiments and the results of such so figured it was time to start my own.

In order to see if there is a difference, my plan is to journal, just two or three sentences about if I notice any changes or feel differently about this change. We’ll see. Not projecting any results, just wanting to see how it works.

I’ll report back the results once I have enough data!

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Until tomorrow!

First Ever Margins Guitar Collective Online Concert!

I’ve written at length and will of course, in the future, talk about my work with the Margins Guitar Collective. In the meantime though, I wanted to make sure you knew about an upcoming event we’re having.

On Saturday, January 23rd at 8pm ET / 7pm CT we will be having our first ever livestream concert. So cool! I’m going to play, but this organization is really about the other artists and the work that they make. We’ll also talk about our upcoming plans for the year and ways you can get involved if you’d like. Check out the page here to sign up. It’s totally free and 100% of your donations will go directly to support the artists which helps us to continue our mission of creating a supportive guitar community for everyone.

Email marginsguitarcollective@gmail.com with any questions!

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!

My Podcast Bookclub is LIVE!

Following up on yesterday’s post, the first episode in the Musically Cogitating Bookclub is out right now. You can listen here.

It was so much fun to talk with Jess and about all of the things related to non-profits in classical music. The next show in this series will be out in early February. Please let me know what you think!

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!

Creative Plans for 2021 Series: Podcasts

Tomorrow is the first Wednesday of the 2021 which means that the first episode of the Musically Cogitating Podcast will be published! I love podcasting and it is by far one of the most exciting things that came from 2020. Podcasting is one of my absolute favorite mediums for sharing, creating, conversations, and everything else. Although I know some people say everyone shouldn’t have a podcast, I think everyone should have a podcast.

Starting the Musically Cogitating is unlocked my podcast flow and I have what I believe to be at least 4 other podcasts which I am planning to produce at some point in the future. The first of these ideas is The Faithful Plate Podcast. This will be a limited series of shows focused on the intersections of faith and animal welfare. I’ve been supported to complete this project through my fellowship with CreatureKind so that will be out in a few months!

The other shows I’m thinking about are one about productivity, music, but different from Musically Cogitating, and then a live-recorded / live-streamed show about practicing which will be clips from Twitch most likely. These shows aren’t a big priority right now as my main podcast will continue to be Musically Cogitating, but these are just ideas that I’m continuing to think through and will take action on once school is finished and I can focus even more on my creative pursuits.

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Until tomorrow!

Currently Reading: January 2021

I wouldn’t say that I’ve found more time to read over the last year, but more that I’ve decided to put some energy and focus into it. I love reading and without any sort of tangible goal, was able to read an amount of books that I was happy with considering the circumstances of the world.

I have a goal number that I’m hoping to reach this year which I’ll share in a separate blog later this week, but for now I’m going to quickly update you on what I’ve read so far this year and what I’m currently reading.

Currently Reading

• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp

• Time Off: A Practical Guide to Building Your Rest Ethic and Finding Success Without the Stress by John Fitch and Max Frenzel

• Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Finished in January

• Miles Morales: Spider-Man

• What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli

I have some special books that I want to read in February so I won’t be starting any other books this month, just finishing up what I’ve started so far. More updates to come!

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Until tomorrow!

Creative Plans for 2021 Series: YouTube Videos

Last year I started and failed to finish a year long video projected where my goal was a post one YouTube video per week featuring a piece for guitar by a women composer. I was doing great and then the pandemic happened and it became more and more difficult to do that project as other projects and work because more important. I’ve decided that that project will just always been happening so I’ll continue that project as a series rather than what was originally supposed to be a year-long endeavor. I failed in public and that’s okay! I tried something out, learned a lot, and will keep on moving.

This year I’ve also decided that I am going to vlog! Vlogs are video blogs. Vlogs are by far my favorite things the to watch. I’ve wanted to create vlogs for a really long time, but it didn’t feel right until now. Strangely enough I’m not really going places right now, but now feels like a good time to get that going. I’m doing a lot of projects and things that I want to remember so I think that in addition to the other places that I document these things, vlogs will allow me to do that.

I recorded a vlog this weekend as a result! It’ll likely be up at the end of January as I want to add a few things that I’m doing to it before it goes live, but this is exciting. I’m a vlogger?!

Like I mentioned above, videos of me playing guitar will continue. I don’t have too many specific plans yet for the frequency of those videos, but they’ll come up as they do which is good.

I’ll share the first vlog here when it goes up!

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!

My Todoist Year in Review 2020

In 2020 I finally want ‘all-in’ on a task manager. I like to think that I’ve always had the same number things to do or tasks to complete, but writing them all down everyday when I’m managing 10+ projects just wasn’t going to be feasible in the long-term so task manager it is! Don’t worry, I still keep lots of paper lists but having duplicate lists of tasks helps to make sure that I don’t miss anything.

In my email the other day I got an email from Todoist with my year in review so I’m going to share with you how productive I was or wasn’t in 2020!

Here are the stats:

Completed 1501 tasks in 2020

Averages:

1. 4 tasks per day

2. 28 tasks per week

3. 125 tasks per month

Most productive month: December

Most productive day of the week: Tuesdays

Most productive time of day: 11pm

In top 7% of Todoist users

There are some caveats here though. For the first few months of the year I was using two separate Todoist accounts so I think had I been using the same one the whole year I’d have completed a lot more tasks. Additionally, I upgraded from the free subscription to the premium subscription. There were some features that only became available to me once I upgraded and I can say that it has been money well spent. Adding the widget to my phone home screen has also supercharged my productivity because it makes it too easy not to forget something.

Todoist is my main task manager. I do have a few other to-do apps that I use in conjunction with Todoist and will continue with that because it works for me! I’ll write about those at some point in the future.

So that was my 2020 Todoist year in review! Todoist has been good to me and so for the foreseeable future I’m planning to continue using it.

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Until tomorrow!

Creative Plans for 2021 Series: Social Media

Here we are with another installment in the Creative Plans for 2021 blog series. I think that this post about social media is pretty explanatory so I’ll keep it brief today!

Social media is a tough one for me admittedly. I go back and forth about the efficacy of social media and whether or not I need to both consume or create this type of content. It’s hard and I find myself taking frequent breaks from the various platforms. Don’t get me wrong, I like social media. I think it’s a good thing which is part of the reason I always come back. Lately the good has outweighed the bad so for now I’m using it.

Occasionally I’ll reshare or link posts that I’ve made on various social media platforms to the blog. It won’t be as frequent as the other types of content mainly because you can just see that stuff on those platforms. My reshares will mostly provide any extra or additional framing that I want to share, but that doesn’t need an entire additional blog write up.

I’m currently on the following social platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitch, YouTube all @ciyadhwells.

Social media is shall we say, interesting, and it’s only the 8th day of the year so I’m sure I’ll have lots to share soon!

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!

My 2021 Daily Driver

When people in the everyday carry community (EDC) talk about their daily drivers they're usually talking about wallets, watches, pens, flashlights and a various assortment of other things that fit into their pockets. People with more than one car often refer to the car that they might be using that day as their ‘daily driver’. Like most people, I carry a variety of those items because they’re useful and well, because I need them. I have yet to see anyone talk about their journal as part of their EDC and what they’re daily driver journal is so that’s what this post is about.

I do various types of journaling. I do mostly freeform things. I'm separating journaling from planning although in some communities the two are the same. My journaling is pretty free form. I just write about literally anything and everything. Sometimes it happens in the morning and sometimes is happens at night. Rarely does it happen at both times, which is okay! As long as words hit a page at some point in the day then I’m a happy camper.

In addition to the longer stuff which is sometimes inconsistent, I wanted add something cute and simple and this brings me to my new 2021 daily driver. For 2021 I’m journaling in the 2021 Standard Memorandum made by Word.notebooks. It’s a small, pocket-sized notebook. It’s numbered and each day receives three small lines. This video here gives a great explanation. For the longest time I’ve wanted to try out this method and this journal since I’v known about it for so long. Until April of 2020 I was doing a one-line a day journal that I really liked, but you can probably guess why I stopped. This journal is my second attempt at a one-line a day style of journaling. I have a good feeling about this one!

I don’t have the leather cover that is made specifically to fit this journal, but am strongly considering it once it’s back in stock. I’ll update you all if I end up buying it. The odds are in my favor.

So my EDC includes a journal. What is in your EDC? Let me know! I love watching these videos and reading blog posts about what people consider their everyday essentials and necessitates.

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Until tomorrow!

What I’m Listening to Wednesday: No. 1

I lied. I’m starting another series on the blog! In a stroke of inspiration today while listening to music I decided that I wanted to create a regular-ish series on the blog titled What I’m Listening to Wednesdays. This series will exclusively be focused on the music that I’m listening to and the music that I am enjoying.

Last year I realized that while I was spending a lot of time listening to podcasts, I wasn’t spending enough time listening to music and that’s not good. I love music and I enjoy music and I need more of it in my life so here’s the first post in this series.

Today, my music listening consisted of Matthew Garrison's 2004 Live CD+DVD. It’s new to me and I’m so glad that I happened upon it today. Electric bass has a really soft spot in my heart and this album made that spot even softer.

Check it out and let me know what you think of the album and of this new series.

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!

Creative Plans for 2021 Series: Blogs

Welcome to the second installment in the Creative Plans for 2021 Series.

The most recent post in this series was about streaming and in that post I announced the date of my first twitch stream which will be this weekend.

Doing a blog post about blogs seems very fitting for this blog. How much more meta can one sentence be?

Since I also love a good blog series, I have several currently going on this blog which I’ll discuss at the end of this post but, I wanted to do a quick post about blogs because I love blogs.

It might be obvious but I’ll be writing blogs as part of my creative plans for 2021! I was reading another blog the other day and the author said that he feels like blogging might be dying in the wake of other types of content: newsletters, videos, podcasts. While I do create those other types of things already, I don’t agree that blogs are dying. I read and subscribe to tons and tons and tons of blogs. Honestly, that is where I receive most of my news. Blogs will always exist in my opinion.

Blogs, in my opinion, are some of the best ways to learn things. Want to learn about practicing? Read a blog. Trying to understand how to pickle onions? Read a blog. Looking for a gift for someone? Read a gift guide that will, of course, be published on someone’s blog.

Blogs can be long or short. They can be first person or third person. They can be deeply personal or largely informative and everything else in between.

Blogs are ways for us to communicate with one another but in a more thought out way. Blogs are ways for all of us to think and process in a public way. The thing I also love this medium is that there is a lower barrier to entry to a personal blog than more traditional types of publishing.

Excluding this current series that I’m writing, I have a few other series that I'll be writing. These series allow for me to connect themes and topics across several posts and it helps with organization as well. One of those series is my Research Diaries series. This is a series where I chronicle my work and journey in my dissertation research and any other research projects that I’m doing. I’m also planning to do a series titled The Practice Journal where I talk about the what, when, and how of my creative practice-guitar.

Additionally, there will be a third series that is going to appear on this blog for at least the next year and those will be part of The Productive Creative (TPC) Series. Announcement forthcoming, but I’m going to dedicate a lot of time to writing, sharing, and creating content around what it means to be a productive and creative person. So more on this soon, but these will be the series that I focus on the most throughout this blog.

Here you have it, a blog post about blog posts!

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Until tomorrow!

I have been Published!

As you know, I love writing. Aside from musical things, writing has for many years been one of the things that I really enjoy doing. I haven’t always made enough time to do it, but that is changing as you know! I’ve been looking for more opportunities and outlets to write things for and it just so happens that I’m now contributing to I Care If You Listen. This is so cool!

My piece titled, “Du Yun and JACK Quartet Embody Antormorphized Insects on A Cockroach’s Tarantella” was published today on I Care. So yes, I wrote a review of an album in which the title track is about cockroaches. I would love to know what you think!

Until tomorrow!

Creative Plans for 2021 Series: Streams

As promised, I wanted to do a short series called Creative Plans for 2021 where I dive deeper into each of the types of things that I’ll be sharing on this blog on a daily basis for the next year. Up first in this series is a little inspiration about streaming.

I did a recent post, which you can read here, about streaming. As previously mentioned, streaming is one of the things that I am planning to create in 2021. I think streaming allows for a different type of community, a different type of connection. I think these relationships are necessary and important connections and essential part of the way that our communities are built.

I also have plans to stream with others! My duo will be doing lots of streams from streams featuring just the two of us to our Taking Imperfect Action series. I’ll be doing some streams where I am sharing mostly music and those will be on various places on the internet. 2021 will be a stream party!

I have a date for my first stream! My first stream will be Saturday, January 9th at 7pm CT. I’ll probably be doing some writing and organizing for about an hour.

Please join me! If you would like to be reminded of when I go live, you can set up a reminder by following my twitch channel.

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!

Why I Love Newsletters

Newsletters are cool. As much as I complain about the amount of email I receive, much of it is due to the number of newsletters that I subscribe to. At one point I was receiving so many newsletters that I created an entirely new email address just to keep all of that media in one place.

Newsletters are just so great though! Earlier this year I decided that I was going to focus on receiving much of my news from newsletters and more controlled inputs rather than the inundation that comes with being on social media. Don’t get me wrong, I love social media and so much good comes from there and before now, it was how I received much of my news. It works and again, there’s nothing wrong with it. I think thought that I am often looking for something deeper from the things that I consume. Also, the pandemic has made social media a place where I want to spend less and less time and so this is where newsletters come in for me.

Newsletters are now my way of keeping up with what people are doing. If I want to hear about a new album, an upcoming application deadline or something else, I’ve noticed and realized that the best way to share AND receive that type of information is via a newsletter.

Newsletters have also become more than a way for people just to share news and updates about the goings-on in their lives though. It’s a way to curate and share more personal and intimate details about things. Curation is a big, big part of why newsletters have become so ubiquitous now too. Content creators are also curators. The job of a curator is to take all of this information and things that they consume and distill it down and share said information out to people. Curators are supposed to do the work of figuring out what is worth our time and what is not worth our time. I love curating too, if you didn’t already know. Newsletters have also become community spaces. Entire internet groups are dedicated to and find community in newsletters. It’s great!

If you didn’t already know, I run a few newsletters. One of them is to be announced soon, but I send a monthly newsletter called Ciyadh’s Corner. It is part original creation / announcements and the other half consists of curated content. You can subscribe my newsletter here.

What do you think of newsletters and what the people on Twitter are calling the Newsletter Renaissance and the Golden Age of the Newsletter? Are you receiving more or attempting to receive less? I would love to know what you all think about this!

If you’d like to support the blog you can always share or visit my Ko-fi page.

Until tomorrow!