Cup of Coffee

November 24, 2013: Homeward Bound

46 Comments

It looks like I'll be in Minnesota from the 11th-15th of December. I'll probably be able to pull off a WGOM Caucus/CdL Shindig on either the 11th or the 14th.

Oh, and don't tell my mom I'm coming. We're surprising her. I sure hope she doesn't lurk here.

46 thoughts on “November 24, 2013: Homeward Bound”

    2. Snodgrass didn't play, so it looks like Sturridge and his goal will get added to my lineup!

  5. Threw my back out on Friday morning, bending down to put my gear into the car. Toughed it out on Friday to do what I needed to get done. Still not able to stand up straight today. This kind of injury happens a couple time a year, usually when I lift something wrong, but this is the longest I've been out of commission as a result, and easily the worst I've felt.

  6. Dear musically inclined,

    I have a question (which as I type sorts turns into me thinking out loud). I'm working on "Perfect Day" and there's a key change to A major. But why is it called A major? I have a F#, C#, and G#, yet it's name is A. About music offers this - "If the key signature has sharps, look at the position of the last sharp and raise it by a half-step to get the key" as a how, but not a why. It is because it's the first unaltered note? Because that doesn't really explain C major then, unless it to do with the lack of B#.

    1. Sit down at a piano and play the 8 notes of a C-Major scale (start at a C and play the next 7 white keys ending back at C again). No black keys needed (no sharps or flats). Now do the same starting at an A -- you'll need to use three black keys in order to play the A-major scale. The key is determined by which 7 notes you use (ie: the combination of white and black keys (if any) on the piano) -- barring any accidentals which may be thrown in periodically, of course. This is simplified, of course, since minor key signatures can share the same notes as a different major key signature; it all depends on where your scale starts.

      Most of the time the key which is chosen is to accommodate the voice(s) singing (or the skill of the musician(s) playing), but certain keys have a different feel to them than others; I can't tell you the reason behind it, but it does.

    2. Really good question, Mags. Been a while since I regularly played an instrument, so I talked this one out with Mrs. Hayes, who took theory about ten years ago.

      Major scales in Western music adhere to a pattern of intervals or steps between the notes: 2-2-1-2-2-2-1, or whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. That pattern determines the number of sharps in the key signature, which itself is simply a shorthand reminder for the musician. The key you're using must be A because the number of sharps must be consistent with the intervals or steps. Calling it something else would yield a different pattern of intervals if the key was to remain major. That's why C major works: no B#, so the interval remains congruent with a major scale pattern.

      1. Thank you and Mrs. Hayes. I start at A and play up in the order of 2-2-1-2-2-2-1, and doing so leaves me with hitting 3 sharps. It's as result of the 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 pattern and the name comes from where I start that pattern, not the resulting notes.

        1. And then from Rhu_Ru - minor key signatures can share the same notes as a different major key signature; it all depends on where your scale starts. That explains the A major-F#m connection. The circular repetition of the pattern and key layout will inevitably result in duplicate results from different starting points.

            1. I knew there had to be a reason. I need the why under the how, except every music theory thing I look at is just complete jibberish to me. There needs to be an Alton Brown for learning music.

              1. It also has to do with mathematics, which you will notice with frequencies and harmonics. Certain intervals (3rds, 5ths) will sound pleasing because they compliment the root note.

                A above middle C is 440 Hz, but one aspect of music I find fascinating is pitch inflation among many major orchestras.

                1. That's a bit too much why for me at this point. I just trust the underlying math will make the notes sound good if I get them together correctly, but to name a scale "A major" then seeming not have anything to do with the A note vexes me.

      1. A last-second Vikings collapse would have been better, but the Packers tried their hardest to prevent that.

    2. that game was like a loss-loss-win, the win because a tie throws a monkey wrench in the Packers wild card position.

    4. also, if the Vikings are going to have a historically awful season, spice it up with cool things like a tie!

  8. When you are 2-8 and have a chance to punt on 4th and 5 from near midfield with under 2 minutes to go in overtime, you have to do it.

    1. More surprising to me was that Green Bay didn't make more of an effort to get the ball downfield in the last two minutes. They still have a shot at the playoffs, and they never really tried to pull out a win.

      1. The team had 0 energy at all on all three drives down the field. Honestly, if I was McCarthy I would've given it to Lacy two more times at the 3 yard line in overtime. You win the game, or you make them drive a heck of a long way to get the score.

        1. yeah, I dont understand why they went away from Lacy. He was pounding the Vikings defense. I think McCarthy just doesnt like the run the ball.

          1. He doesn't. And I guess I can understand that a bit more when you have Aaron Rodgers under center, but when you have Seneca Wallace Scott Tolzien Matt Flynn under center, you need to make adjustments to your gameplan.

    1. Whoa, I didn't pay much attention to that at the time, but yeah...everything DeepDiscount does is bogus.

  11. The Kanye-John Mayer mega-awkwardness makes me feel like we need a counterpoint - Snoop being super smooth.

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