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Archive for May, 2007

Sometimes It Works After All

mbietz May 14th, 2007

Experimental DataI got this graph today. I’m not going to go into what it means right now. Suffice it to say that it’s real data from my experiments. It’s preliminary analysis, but I think there’s something there.

I started working on this study ages ago. It’s been months of planning and pilot testing and running subjects and data crunching to get to this point. Months of not knowing whether or not there was anything to see. Was I barking up the wrong tree? Does my argument make any sense? Am I even measuring what I think I’m measuring?

But today I typed a few commands into my trusty R Console, and saw those magic asterisks that said that my model was significant. Kind of anti-climactic, in a way. But still way better than not seeing the magic asterisks.

Of course, I’m not done yet. I still have to run all kinds of error checking and double-check my work. And I have to go over all of the lab procedures to make sure that everything worked the way it was intended. And then there’s that little step of writing it all up. But today I have a graph that I can explain using my theory. Yeah!

Theme & Variations

mbietz May 3rd, 2007

There was a time in my life when I hated the Theme and Variations musical form. I couldn’t stand it. I’m sure that I said some malicious and hurtful things about T&V. But in the past few years I’ve come to realize that my opinions were ill-informed and far too negative. In fact, I think it’s time for me to formally apologize to T&V, and renounce my earlier position. As the politicians say, “If I had known then what I know now….”

So why this change of heart? Or, why blog about it? It’s simple: we saw Brad Mehldau last night.

Before I tell you about the concert, though, I want to explain why I hated T&V. I think Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations has a lot to do with it. I think it’s a stupid stupid piece of music. Can’t stand it. Like many (thought not all) T&Vs, it starts out with a cornball theme, and then spends the next umpteen minutes piling on the drivel. Heart IThe embellishments twitter and twirl around the theme, changing the rhythms, or the key, or the harmonies, or the timbres. But in the Rococo (and other bad examples of the form), these embellishments are about as interesting as dotting your i’s with a heart. It’s cute and all, but it ain’t art.

But then I discovered that those embellishments don’t have to be insipid. Continue Reading »

Slice

mbietz May 3rd, 2007

Sharp knives are a good thing.

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