Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers )
Video Friday, with 1 1/2 hours to spare! We realise that we could have Posted this tomorrow (and call it Video Saturday…or just have a Video on a Post that happens to be Saturday…instead of Friday…but then, that would be crazy!)
So rather than try to come up with a full Post, watch today’s Vid and if you have any questions, write us a Comment!
…some threes…
The Three Stooges: Moe (roger), Larry (clark) and Curly (scott)
The Wizard of Oz: the Scarecrow (clark), the Tin Man (roger) and the Cowardly Lion (scott)
Casablanca: Rick (scott), Victor Lazlo (roger) and Ilsa (clark)
Star Wars: Luke Skywalker (roger) Princess Leia (roger) and Hans Solo (roger) and the gay sounding robot? C-3PO (roger)…Chewbacca finally (scott) …Yoda (roger!) R2D2 (clark) damn!
WestSide Story (?!) Maria (clark), Tony (roger) and Bernado (scott)
Well, that about wraps up another Video Friday….remember tomorrow is Saturday which can only mean one thing! The Wakefield Doctrine Saturday Night Drive! Call us…if you have the:
- (the) balls
- (a burning) desire
- nothing better to do
- a long and lonely night stretching out
- an insatiable curiosity
- manic streak
- temporary lapse in the effectiveness of your medications… (‘drug holiday’)
- a question that no one you know can answer
- a growing anger at the world around you that makes you want to laugh as you tear up your old journals
So tomorrow between 8:00 and 8:45 pm EST go to your phone and dial this number: 218-339-0422
This number is to somewhere in Idaho, the conference call facility that we use, the cost of the call will be whatever your phone plan charges for long distance at night…usually hardly anything at all…a couple dollars, less than you’ll spend buying drinks, trying to get the courage to talk to that person that you know is so out of your league, but what the hell you are here…they are here…. buy her/him a drink and then you can both call us….damn that’s it!! the first genuinely new, novel, sincere-sounding (you know how much girls love sincere-sounding pickup lines!)
“Hello there! I am a participant in an international live blog show, would you care to join me as I call my associates?” How cool will that be? and not to worry…when you call in there will be scotts and clarks and even rogers available…we will so back your move!
…ok you dialed that number? the lovely voice will talk to you and then you must enter an access code, which is 512103 and then you hit the pound sign ( #) ….and you are there…”surrounded by Wakefield”
see ya tomorrow
About clarkscottroger
Just wanted to let you all know I won’t be able to make the call tomorrow night. ‘Tis the season… I’ll miss you all.
Oh, and 218 is Minnesota, not Idaho. I double checked. Have a great call!
lol Rocky!! damn! I knew there was something I liked about that area code…. ( for our younger Readers MN is the homestate of one Rocket J Squirrel, of course).
We will be thinking of you…and (will note and foward) any Caller Questions that require your attention …
Thanks Molly. It won’t be the same without you of course:) You realize don’t you that there will be a shift of quantum proportions being down 1 clark….. Quick! We need a clark understudy stat!!
Alright. I am writing my comment here because it’s the most recent post. Since questions/comments from readers have been sparse of late, I would like to contribute via personal experience my observation(s) concerning the world as viewed by a clark and by a roger. In this case the same situation but seen as completely different!
I am a clark. My SO is a roger. Of recent months my SO has been attempting to teach me to play bass. To my own disappointment I do not spend nearly enough time “practicing” and or playing. Further, I have contended that I really must learn the scales and technical shit (typical clark there, no?) that my SO seems to know so well as this certainly will help me to learn faster. (yes, but no, Virginia….)
I found the chord changes to Chrismas Wrapping, presented it to my SO and last night we put on the song. He quickly went to the A minor pentatonic scale and fiddled around with it from there. It was going along pretty well. I listened. (I have the better ears although he has gotten wa-ay better in that dept. over the years)
Anyway, there is a certain part of the song almost halfway through where he faltered. I don’t know theory but instinctively I told him the next 3 notes he should play (G, F#, E) as this “sounded” right to me in my head. Do you know that he resisted playing those notes because they did not fit into the scale! Because those notes were not part of the scale he was playing in, they could not possibly be right never mind sound good or otherwise be part of the song. (for you advanced Doctrinaires this also exhibits a rogerian/clarklike dynamic better left for someone else to elaborate)
This morning I told my SO it frustrated me that he refused to play the correct notes simply because in his mind they did not conform to the scale. He admitted that he resisted because initially, in spite of knowing better his own damned self, he was trying to find the notes within the Am pent. scale first. It was difficult, but he admitted I was right and those notes sounded good.
rogers are not known to first think out of the box. They must first explore every last centimeter of the (inside) box before they will consider there is an “outside” to the box. Note: this is not a “rag on a roger” comment for there is something to be commended in their unrelenting persistance but in this case…..
Does this clarify roger / clark stuff for anyone?
Yo, Progenitors! Yeah, you clark and you roger! What say you guys? Sound about right? What is up with that rogerian resistance to clarklike input? You know when we are right but damn if it doesn’t take a whole lot of convincing! LOL
P.S. FINALLY! And still there was resistance to these 4 simple notes (ended with the F# btw)
Like pulling teeth to get a roger to do exactly as instructed!!!! Unless instructed by another roger!!!
Known, confirmed, acknowledged, accepted, qualified resources. A roger will not hesitate to accept that which emanates from an already (universally) accepted authority.
You have, my dear, discovered the essence of jazz; find the box, learn the box, then get the hell out of the box.
And technically, in an A pentatonic scenario, the F# can be seen as a simple passing tone between the E and G. Happens all the time. Or use an F to give it a distinct minor flavor, without actually being minor at all. Depends on the progression- if it’s an A maj or A minor tonic and changes to a Dm, use an F; if it goes to a D maj, use the F#. ( Theory lesson courtesy of JS Bach, he who rules us all.) And yes, that is absolutely a wig on his %#$@ head.
Wig wearin’ aside…..aay carumba! I already have trouble with the passing tones never mind being in possession of actual theoretical musical knowledge of a jazzlike nature! It is all very intimidating. But not to you. You know it. It is part of you. Because, in part, it is a finite knowable thing. What you do with it creatively is the gift.
It is a frustration for me to hear something inside my head, but not know the language that is theory. But I don’t mean to speak of my own self. It is the stubborness of your people that still to this day amazes me sometimes!
As much as I appreciate you sharing music theory with me (I really do) I can’t help but notice you sidestepped a hole buncha other stuff. Come on. I’m sittin’ here wearing decent women’s daughters clothes….talk about the other….stuff.
Other stuff…hmm…
Sounds like your SO is in the throes of RIM. ( Rogerian Inflexibility Mode.)
Contrary to popular belief, we don’t always wear hats and attend rigorously structured Thanksgiving feasts.
But we do get just as intimidated by things like music theory as anyone else might. In our case, the remedy is usually to spend endless years studying scales and modes, and of course memorizing giant chord bibles.
Acquiring all the tools without actually knowing ( and this is critical- actually considering ) what they’re all for.
It’s like having a good set of ratchets but only believing in the 1/2-in. socket.
And if a composer breaks what seems to be a rule…they’re Wrong. They composed it wrong.
The poor hapless roger has no choice but to deny his own ears ( and yours too, apparently.)
Solutions? Here’s one. RIM- proof.
A) Duct-tape the roger into a comfortable chair; strip back the insulation on a piece of 16 gauge speaker wire, and insert into a wall outlet; play some mildly inaccessible music, say John Coltrane or Charlie Parker.
Whenever the roger denies what he’s hearing, complete the circuit on whatever body part seems to your liking.
You’ll have a jazz fan in no time.
B) Have the roger investigate Bach’s system of music theory; not just the ” what “, but the ” why “. Triads and chord construction, mostly. All the music in the Western world stems from this. And once you’ve seen the glorious simplicity of it, forget all the details. Step out of the box and just play, dammit.
C) Repeat as necessary.
And always remember what Jimmy Bruno says about too much theory; ” nah, you don’t need all that crap.”
See? RIM is gone, and now you can share some of those F#s with your SO.
Although maybe now after the treatment, he wants to switch to alto sax and start obsessing on horn fingering?
RIM. Excellent acronym! An extremely salient point you make and one most useful for those attempting to understand the rogers around them….”Acquiring all the tools without actually knowing ( and this is critical- actually considering ) what they’re all for.”
Intimidated perhaps but you allay your fear(s) knowing you can submerse yourself(s) within established “rules and regulations”, in the example of music theory. But it actually, doesn’t matter if you are learning scales or learning how to take an engine apart and put it back together. There is comfort to be found in the order and consistency of a known quantity. If you follow a it leads to b which cannot lead anywhere else but to c.
So true (for a roger), that learning a thing as completely as possible because that is “what you do”, not stopping to consider that simply because “this is the way they say to do it”, that it can’t be done some other way. Differently. “As it was in the beginning, who am I to mess with sucess”, etc.
I have observed that for rogers, the thing that fits within, that is of a universally accepted nature will trump that which stands apart. Now, if I were to stand nearby wielding a 3/4-in socket instead of that 1/2-in job and a huge hammer maybe, just maybe I can change your mind……? :)