The Common Link

Graduate Orientation: a great reminder of all the facts about music history and ear training skills that I have forgotten, lost, or never had at all. The only thing making Wednesday's placement exams endurable was the knowledge than I had a sweet ride ahead of me to get home. Home - I've lived here a week, in this room I rent, in a place I've never known and yet it's become a sanctuary and a welcoming sight as I turn the last corner onto our block. The mind adjusts quickly, I suppose. Sure, I miss Pittsburgh and everyone I left behind, but at the same time I've never felt more aware of my surroundings in the city.

As I left the test, I felt an urge to play and I hurried off to put in my obligatory hours of isolated practice. Scales, long tones, excerpts, solos...It all melts together eventually and just becomes playing. It's amazingly similar to riding: hills, downhills, sharp curves, pot holes, aggressive drivers...it all just becomes "the ride". It's why I can say I'm a cyclist and a bassist, not a climber and scale expert. In these moments of self-discovery, it's great to have kindred spirits, which I found, not surprisingly, at the railing where we all lock up. Upon leaving, I ran into some new friends, who at the time never struck me as the biking types, but there we were, putting away our U-locks and getting our bags squared away. After some geeky "what's your setup" talk, we rolled out together, taking almost the same route to our respective homes, and for the first time since moving, I felt connected. There's something beautiful about riding with new friends in a city where we're all strangers. Riding roads we'll ride everyday, and carry our adventures around like our bags on our back. Legs, pedals, cranks, gears, wheels, road, the globe. It's all connected.

Ryan

I've graduated, now what?

As I sat down to start this blog, I was forced to take stock of what I'm actually doing in Hartford, CT - 400 miles away from everything I've ever known. What will this new degree entail, what will it be like to start fresh in a city where no one knows who you are, how will I keep riding when all I want to do drive the 3 miles to school so that I can sleep in just a little longer? It's a chance to reinvent Ryan, to grow as an artist, and to whip myself into shape by riding even more than I was at home. With all the goals set for the next two years, it was easy to fall into an enraptured state of "just keep pushing, just one more hour of practicing, just one more mile." and in that state I realized I was missing the enjoyment and simplicity of creating music on my bass and being connected to the road on my bike. In this way, playing music and riding are natural compliments to each other. There's a certain harmony that comes from a perfectly straight chain-line and well tuned brakes, just as there is a great physical connection between my body and bass, pulling out each stroke as though my bow is clipped in to the strings. The 3 mile ride to school is getting easier, and gives me a great time to clear my head each day as I wiz past the traffic, stretch out my legs from a not-so-good night's sleep, and get my body in motion. A majority of my concept of Hartford thus far has been formed on two wheels, from short rides down to Bushnell Park or just up the street to a few nice long rides through West Hartford. I think I could get used to this place.

More than falling in love with riding and playing all over, this new experience is a time to change and start a new lifestyle. A lifestyle where I take more time to enjoy something as simple as greasing up a chain or changing strings. A lifestyle where I spend more time worrying about what line to ride than what song is on my stereo or how cold my car's AC actually gets. It's a time to live a little more simply and be more intentional about everything that I do.

Naturally, in trying to simplify and combine areas of my life, I've been looking for ways to use music and cycling together. As this blog develops, I'll post links to songs I write about my bike, things my bike reveals about music, and maybe even make a few music concrete projects from recorded bike sounds.

Keep the rubber side down,
Ryan