Lectures Recommendation: Understanding the Fundamentals of Music (2007), by Robert Greenberg

Understanding the Fundamentals of Music was published by The Great Courses (also known as The Teaching Company), one of many lectures given by the composer and professor, Robert Greenberg. It's comprised of sixteen lectures designed for audio-only learning, covering the basics of music theory.

Prof. Greenberg starts with defining terms used to describe and explain music, then traces the development of musical expression from when it was first transcribed onto parchment and paper, to the present (at least as of 2007). He includes clips of musical recordings and also provides demonstrations on a piano keyboard.

He's a very engaging, enthusiastic speaker, in addition to being well-organized and clear. A few of his pop culture references do date the lectures, but, otherwise, the lectures stand the test of time. The course really gave me a fresh, deeper appreciation for music.

I've enjoyed a number of his other lecture series for The Great Courses over the years, which review the vast historical span of the classical music genre and its composers.  And I discovered that I haven't listened to all of them yet, so have more to look forward to.

Recent Landscape and Cat Artwork

Book Recommendation: Tales from Outer Suburbia (2009), by Shaun Tan

Tales from Outer Suburbia defies bookseller categorization. At my local bookstore, it's found in the "young adult" graphic novel section.

The "tales" are fifteen vignettes accompanied by gorgeous illustrations. Both the illustrations and book design play an integral role in telling the stories, and the vignettes wouldn't quite work without them.

Outer suburbia, we find, is filled with an admixture of wonder, whimsy, sadness, and cruelty.

All the tales have a fantastical, dreamlike quality to them. Most of the vignettes feel nostalgic, rather sweet, but also a little sad. But "Stick Figures" is, if anything, nightmarish. "Alert" and "The Amnesia Machine" are dystopian. And "Wake" is downright depressing.

I found Tales from Outer Suburbia to be an engrossing and moving experience.

The End of a Story

Exciting news! I finished the novel I've been working on for this past year. Here's the paperback cover design, and the landscape painting beneath it.

The violets in the foreground are there because of their relevance to the plot rather than really fitting the painting composition. I'd also have have shifted the building to the left if the painting was standalone.

I used Krita for this artwork.

Recent Landscape and Cat Artwork

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is what I've been working on from late December until now.

Landscape art, using Procreate software:

Cat art, also using Procreate software:

Happy Holidays and recent artwork

I originally created this as a "no soliciting" sign earlier this year, but have changed some elements and the text and repurposed it to a much friendlier message.

Original version:

To wrap up the posts on this blog for 2025, here's some recent artwork of mine:

Selected Artwork from 2025 (Part 2)

 Second of two posts of some of my artwork from 2025 through November.