Take a look at musicradar's photographic tribute to Sun Studios and Sam Phillips.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Other Beginnings
Slowly but surely I have been getting some 50something guys together to make a band.
We certainly don't have expectations of being the next big thing. The main thing is to socialise more or less once a week and have some fun together with music the glue that holds it together. Sometimes our practices are as much chatting as playing. As long as we're enjoying ourselves!
So far we are (left to right) Bill on Bass, Peter (me) on rhythm guitar, Mike vocals and guitar and Ilidio on rhythm and lead guitar. The masculine leaning is not intentional we are interested in anyone in the right age group who will fit in.
We're still looking for a drummer.
We certainly don't have expectations of being the next big thing. The main thing is to socialise more or less once a week and have some fun together with music the glue that holds it together. Sometimes our practices are as much chatting as playing. As long as we're enjoying ourselves!
So far we are (left to right) Bill on Bass, Peter (me) on rhythm guitar, Mike vocals and guitar and Ilidio on rhythm and lead guitar. The masculine leaning is not intentional we are interested in anyone in the right age group who will fit in.
We're still looking for a drummer.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Learning Cycle
Any athlete who is going remain truly competitive for their entire athletic career must always be open to learning and improving themself in whatever ways necessary during their career.
In my experience it is valuable for a coach and and an athlete to understand the learning cycle for an athlete to progress and continue learning and improving. Once someone understands the learning cycle, the dynamics involved in moving through the cycle, where resistance to learning and change comes from and how and why to overcome resistance the more likely that person is to continually improve as an athlete or as a coach or simply as a human being.
The stages in the learning cycle present both obstacles to improvement and opportunities for improvement. A coach needs to understand how each athlete responds or reacts to the obstacles or the opportunities in each stage and how to leverage an athlete's personality to minimise those obstacles and maximise those opportunities.
There are a number of "learning cycles" the one I will focus on here involves the following four stages:
- Unconsciously Incompetent
- Consciously Incompetent
- Consciously Competent
- Unconsciously Competent
Unconsciously Incompetent - I don't know or I am not aware of what I don't know or can't do.
In this stage the athlete is not aware of what they are not doing or what they are doing incorrectly.
It is a state of sometimes blissful ignorance. Sometimes the athlete may actually be incredibly frustrated because they are working really hard and not getting the desired results.
Unless an athlete develops an attitude of wanting to know what they can change or improve they can limit themselves enormously by remaining unaware of the areas where they can change or improve.
Consciously Incompetent - I know or I am aware of what I don't know or can't do.
This stage can be immensely challenging. It requires an athlete to acknowledge something they are currently incompetent at.
Fragile egos can block development at this stage by refusing to acknowledge incompetence. There are societal and peer pressures to pretend that we know it all and that we have no 'weaknesses' and that to acknowledge incompetence in an area is to be weak or inadequate as a person. The opposite is true as it takes courage, self-belief and self-love to acknowledge our own incompetence and to accept that we are less than perfect.
An athlete can improve when they frame their thinking something along these lines:
If there is nothing that I am incompetent at then there is nothing I can work on to improve so I will never get any better than I am now.
I need to welcome recognising those things that I am incompetent at because they hold the opportunities for me to improve.
Consciously Competent - I know or I am aware of what I know or can do
In this stage the athlete knows what they need to do but it is a constant challenge to do it. They need to consciously concentrate on the thing they are trying to do.
It often does not feel natural. They need to fight old habits, move out of comfort zones, build new habits, exercise sometimes extreme patience, become self-aware and positively self critical and self-correcting. Sometimes an athlete has to put pride aside and take steps back to be able to move forward again.
Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Self-disicipline, self-disicipline, self-discipline.
What is new can feel so "wrong". That feeling is actually a reaction to the unfamiliar. Sub-consciously most of us consider things that feel unfamiliar as wrong and so we fight the new and unfamiliar. Another reframing is needed here to understand that what is unfamiliar is not necessarily wrong. The new new thing feels unfamiliar because the old habit wants to be obeyed.
Here is one of the greates lies I have ever heard in coaching: "Practice makes perfect."
This cliche is trotted out time and again, the lie perpetuates and the athletes suffer. Here is what should be said:
Practice makes permanent. Imperfect practice makes imperfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Unconsciously Competent - I don't know or I am not aware of what I know or what I am doing correctly
This is the stage we strive for, where the athlete does a particluar thing correctly without being consciously aware of doing it correctly. The hours of repetitive practice, correction and self-correction are paying off. The correct technique is performed without the athlete having to consciously instruct themself to do it correctly. The mind is now free to do other things while this aspect of the athelete's skill set is performed effectively.
And so the athlete and coach look for further opportunities to apply this learning cycle and work on gaining additional improvements.
Any coach worth their salt should also always be searching for ways to apply the learning cycle to themself to be able to continually progress and continually increase their value to their athletes.
In my experience it is valuable for a coach and and an athlete to understand the learning cycle for an athlete to progress and continue learning and improving. Once someone understands the learning cycle, the dynamics involved in moving through the cycle, where resistance to learning and change comes from and how and why to overcome resistance the more likely that person is to continually improve as an athlete or as a coach or simply as a human being.
The stages in the learning cycle present both obstacles to improvement and opportunities for improvement. A coach needs to understand how each athlete responds or reacts to the obstacles or the opportunities in each stage and how to leverage an athlete's personality to minimise those obstacles and maximise those opportunities.
There are a number of "learning cycles" the one I will focus on here involves the following four stages:
- Unconsciously Incompetent
- Consciously Incompetent
- Consciously Competent
- Unconsciously Competent
Unconsciously Incompetent - I don't know or I am not aware of what I don't know or can't do.
In this stage the athlete is not aware of what they are not doing or what they are doing incorrectly.
It is a state of sometimes blissful ignorance. Sometimes the athlete may actually be incredibly frustrated because they are working really hard and not getting the desired results.
Unless an athlete develops an attitude of wanting to know what they can change or improve they can limit themselves enormously by remaining unaware of the areas where they can change or improve.
Consciously Incompetent - I know or I am aware of what I don't know or can't do.
This stage can be immensely challenging. It requires an athlete to acknowledge something they are currently incompetent at.
Fragile egos can block development at this stage by refusing to acknowledge incompetence. There are societal and peer pressures to pretend that we know it all and that we have no 'weaknesses' and that to acknowledge incompetence in an area is to be weak or inadequate as a person. The opposite is true as it takes courage, self-belief and self-love to acknowledge our own incompetence and to accept that we are less than perfect.
An athlete can improve when they frame their thinking something along these lines:
If there is nothing that I am incompetent at then there is nothing I can work on to improve so I will never get any better than I am now.
I need to welcome recognising those things that I am incompetent at because they hold the opportunities for me to improve.
Consciously Competent - I know or I am aware of what I know or can do
In this stage the athlete knows what they need to do but it is a constant challenge to do it. They need to consciously concentrate on the thing they are trying to do.
It often does not feel natural. They need to fight old habits, move out of comfort zones, build new habits, exercise sometimes extreme patience, become self-aware and positively self critical and self-correcting. Sometimes an athlete has to put pride aside and take steps back to be able to move forward again.
Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Self-disicipline, self-disicipline, self-discipline.
What is new can feel so "wrong". That feeling is actually a reaction to the unfamiliar. Sub-consciously most of us consider things that feel unfamiliar as wrong and so we fight the new and unfamiliar. Another reframing is needed here to understand that what is unfamiliar is not necessarily wrong. The new new thing feels unfamiliar because the old habit wants to be obeyed.
Here is one of the greates lies I have ever heard in coaching: "Practice makes perfect."
This cliche is trotted out time and again, the lie perpetuates and the athletes suffer. Here is what should be said:
Practice makes permanent. Imperfect practice makes imperfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Unconsciously Competent - I don't know or I am not aware of what I know or what I am doing correctly
This is the stage we strive for, where the athlete does a particluar thing correctly without being consciously aware of doing it correctly. The hours of repetitive practice, correction and self-correction are paying off. The correct technique is performed without the athlete having to consciously instruct themself to do it correctly. The mind is now free to do other things while this aspect of the athelete's skill set is performed effectively.
And so the athlete and coach look for further opportunities to apply this learning cycle and work on gaining additional improvements.
Any coach worth their salt should also always be searching for ways to apply the learning cycle to themself to be able to continually progress and continually increase their value to their athletes.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tube Amp Project - In the Beginning
This is first manifestation of my tube guitar amplifier project.
The components and speaker should be arriving in the course of February. Living in South Africa we are at the wrong end of expensive shipping pipelines.
As this project is intended to provide the basis for learning and experimentation with tube amps the cabinet has a definite separation of the speaker and amplifier compartments.
Initially the amp will be 5watt single ended and the speaker 10 inch. The amp compartment allows easy access to the amplifier and the speaker compartment will accept a 12 inch speaker.
The cabinet is made of 20mm South African pine. This is a pretty soft wood and probably not the best wood for a cabinet. It is cheap and easy to work quickly with. As the amp develops and I feel I have a decent cabinet design I will then get higher quality wood and work it more carefully and accurately.
More posts as the project progresses.
The components and speaker should be arriving in the course of February. Living in South Africa we are at the wrong end of expensive shipping pipelines.
As this project is intended to provide the basis for learning and experimentation with tube amps the cabinet has a definite separation of the speaker and amplifier compartments.
Initially the amp will be 5watt single ended and the speaker 10 inch. The amp compartment allows easy access to the amplifier and the speaker compartment will accept a 12 inch speaker.
The cabinet is made of 20mm South African pine. This is a pretty soft wood and probably not the best wood for a cabinet. It is cheap and easy to work quickly with. As the amp develops and I feel I have a decent cabinet design I will then get higher quality wood and work it more carefully and accurately.
More posts as the project progresses.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Popups From Hell -1
This is is from Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows XP. I used a right button drag on a mapped drive. I was expecting the options I normally get when I use a right button drag on my local drives but Windows displayed this popup.
So it recognises that I could be wanting to copy or move the folder. But what is a zone? I am a seasoned Windows user and do not know what "zone" means in this context. How much more the use of this term must confuse a less seasoned user.
Rather than presenting the options as I am used to I am now asked a question. So the idioms are inconsistent.
Then I am presented with two buttons; Yes and No.
Who ever thought that Yes and No are the logical possible responses the the question "Do you want to move or copy files from this zone?"?
Its like the silly, nonsensical response we often make when we're asked a question like "Do you want tea or coffee?" and we answer "Yes".
Which button do I click to move the files and which button do I click to copy the files?
So let's itemise the issues in this one little popup:
- Inconsistent idiom for right button drag in Windows Explorer.
- Use of obscure terminology.
- Option labels totally nonsensical when compared with the option selection I need to make.
Oh ... did you notice the banner on the popup? Remember I was using Windows Explorer.
And the icon ... What? Why?
So it recognises that I could be wanting to copy or move the folder. But what is a zone? I am a seasoned Windows user and do not know what "zone" means in this context. How much more the use of this term must confuse a less seasoned user.
Rather than presenting the options as I am used to I am now asked a question. So the idioms are inconsistent.
Then I am presented with two buttons; Yes and No.
Who ever thought that Yes and No are the logical possible responses the the question "Do you want to move or copy files from this zone?"?
Its like the silly, nonsensical response we often make when we're asked a question like "Do you want tea or coffee?" and we answer "Yes".
Which button do I click to move the files and which button do I click to copy the files?
So let's itemise the issues in this one little popup:
- Inconsistent idiom for right button drag in Windows Explorer.
- Use of obscure terminology.
- Option labels totally nonsensical when compared with the option selection I need to make.
Oh ... did you notice the banner on the popup? Remember I was using Windows Explorer.
And the icon ... What? Why?
Defaults from Hell - 1
Microsoft Word 2007 - Insert Picture
I create a lot of mockup images in my design process. I insert these into my specification documents. My project folders are structured so that different types of images for different projects are in different folders.
The MS Word Insert Picture function forces me to go to a default folder every time I want to insert an image.
When I am working in an area of a design I tend to use images in a specific folder for a while then later I will use images from a different folder.
I don't mind having to navigate to a specific folder the first time I use an image from that folder. What gets me really hacked off is that the Insert Picture function does not bother to remember where I went the last time because I will probably go there the next time I need an image. I don't mind navigating to a different folder when I start using a different folder. The function makes me navigate from the same starting point every time I want to insert an image.
I don't want to change my default folder, I want to keep my default folder as the overall basket folder for all my projects. The navigation to any one of the image folders is not that onerous by itself. It just gets terribly annoying when I have to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME I GO TO THE SAME FOLDER!!!!!!!
This is not a radical concept ... Corel, for example, have used this approach for years.
I create a lot of mockup images in my design process. I insert these into my specification documents. My project folders are structured so that different types of images for different projects are in different folders.
The MS Word Insert Picture function forces me to go to a default folder every time I want to insert an image.
When I am working in an area of a design I tend to use images in a specific folder for a while then later I will use images from a different folder.
I don't mind having to navigate to a specific folder the first time I use an image from that folder. What gets me really hacked off is that the Insert Picture function does not bother to remember where I went the last time because I will probably go there the next time I need an image. I don't mind navigating to a different folder when I start using a different folder. The function makes me navigate from the same starting point every time I want to insert an image.
I don't want to change my default folder, I want to keep my default folder as the overall basket folder for all my projects. The navigation to any one of the image folders is not that onerous by itself. It just gets terribly annoying when I have to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME I GO TO THE SAME FOLDER!!!!!!!
This is not a radical concept ... Corel, for example, have used this approach for years.
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