Weekend of Discovery

After much effort I figured out yesterday all of the major guitar chords in the song "Queen of Skye." I consider it a major milestone in my learning of the guitar and music theory in general. The biggest challenge was figuring out one note. I tried guessing at first and should have been able to identify the opening D that way, but it must not have sounded right because I didn't figure it out.

I moved to plan B. I played the song over the speakers and used an online guitar tuner to pick out frequencies at different points in the song. After that I found a chart listing the frequencies of all the notes and compared it to the frequencies I had heard in the song. I learned that there were a LOT of As and something close to B. I also found some Ds and an E or two. I studied yet another chart that I use frequently for transposing songs in hopes of figuring out, based on that information, what key the song was in. That didn't get me real far.

The easiest note to hear in the song was the first one, so I strummed A, B, and then D and realized that the note was definitely a D. I figured then that the song was probably in the key of D and used that as the basis for figuring out all of the other notes. Within a half hour I had figured out most of the song... until the last verse.

Suddenly, nothing sounded right anymore. Key change! Who makes a random key change like that?  I had to try 4 different keys before I found the right one. After that it was pretty simple to finish the song. Now I just have to get good at playing it. The key of D is okay. The key of E is much more challenging for me.

That evening I had planned to watch a French movie but my friend had forgotten to loan it to me. I decided to go back and re-watch "The Hunt for Gollum," a fantastic fan film based on the writings of Tolkein. However, when I got to the website I saw a news item about another fan film that had been created called "Born of Hope."

I watched it, and I would have to say it was an enjoyable use of my evening. The story takes us back to just before the birth of Aragorn (the king in "Return of the King"). It tells the story of how his parents met and fell in love. The birth of their child, the next king in the royal line, was a ray of hope for the Dunedain, a race that struggling to survive the constant threat of Sauron and his orc hordes.

It is perhaps not quite as impressive to me as The Hunt for Gollum, but it is still a well-done film. It does not feel quite as authentic to me, particularly because of the love rectangle that is introduced to the story, but for the same reason it will probably appeal to more than just the hard-core Tolkein purist. The lines (and plot lines) feel a little forced sometimes but they are still better than much of the junk that normally makes television.

The movie makes the debatable move of having a woman warrior as one of its primary characters. It does a much better job of explain and positioning this bizarre phenomenon than Disney will ever attempt to do in their quest to remake the female image. Even so, I don't think Tolkein would have bought it and his fans might choke on it also.

As for spirituality... it is set in middle earth, and like the Lord of the Rings there is an entirely different universe behind the story, including different types of beings and a very different God figure. Some lines about the origin of the Dunedain and the elves will not make sense at all unless you have read the Silmarillion, and some elements (such as the funeral bonfire) may have been inspired by Tolkein but are also similar to ancient pagan rituals.

And a final disclaimer, these movies involve battle similar to that in Lord of the Rings, so there is a good deal of violence and some blood.

If you wish to check out a new film or extend an insane day-long Lord of the Rings marathon by another hour and 45 minutes, you can check out The Hunt for Gollum and Born of Hope at the links below:

The Hunt for Gollum

Born of Hope

Finally, just tonight somebody left two CDs on the freebie table from a not-known family band called "Seasons." It is a band made of four homeschooled siblings who are immensely talented, have played all around the world, and prefer to play songs that reflect their Christian faith. They look promising. I'll listen to them tomorrow and give you a report.