iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I've been hearing O Fortuna wrong my whole life?!? I always heard 3 groups of 2 but it's 2 groups of 3. I am genuinely shook. youtu.be/aZUSQUWLqj8?...

youtu.be

1.- O Fortuna (C. Orff) Score Animation

YouTube video by ScoreAnimation

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

It's weird how quickly I can vacillate between "there are already a million good songs in the world, it really doesn't need any more" and "what a tragedy for humanity it will be if no one ever hears my latest masterwork in progress".

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I've been playing the piano for over 50 years and today I learned that the standard fingering for a left hand F major scale starts with 5.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

My Ship of Theseus is that he ends up with the Minotaur.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

The best moment in rock performance is when you barely get back to the mic in time to sing your backing vocal.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

One of my favorite moments in all of rock is the simultaneous mixed modes of A-B-C# ("this will be") over an F9 chord in "This Will Be Our Year". I love to do this sort of thing and I bet this is where I first got it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm4E...

youtube.com

This Will Be Our Year

YouTube video by The Zombies - Topic

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Hello Boston-area folks, I (and a lot of crazy-ass music) will be featured in this concert at MIT of lots of modern music for Balinese gamelan and sometimes Western instruments this Saturday afternoon: www.eventbrite.com/e/gamelan-sh...

eventbrite.com

GAMELAN SHOWDOWN: A Balinese Battles of the Bands

MIT’s Gamelan Galak Tika and Queens College’s Gamelan Yowana Sari come together for a joint concert—a Balinese mebarung (melody competition)

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

A songwriting tip I haven't seen elsewhere: in a rhyming couplet, put the more interesting word in the second line. The reaction you want is "Whoa, I didn't see that rhyme coming!", not "Cool word, but will they just use a generic word to complete the rhyme?... yep."

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Any DM can tell that Mamdani just cast Charm Person.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

For what I paid for this Scotch, you'd think they might bother to use more than just a single malt.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Tonight marks the transition from everyone incorrectly writing EST to incorrectly writing EDT.

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Reposted by Dan Schmidt

Python Software Foundation @python.org · 27/10/2025

TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-... 🧵

python.org

The official home of the Python Programming Language

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

A long chat with Łukasz Ściga of the Wookash podcast about my career at Looking Glass Studios and Harmonix Music Systems, making games like Ultima Underworld, Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, and Guitar Hero: www.youtube.com/watch?v=II9L...

youtube.com

Behind Great Games | Dan Schmidt

YouTube video by Wookash Podcast

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

I would pay handsomely for Pedro Pascal's voice in my GPS as long as after informing me of the optimal route he would always add "This is the way".

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

William Bolcom straight-up trolling me with an A♭♭ dominant seventh chord (the key signature at this point is Oops! All Flats)

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

A sign that you're playing too much Blue Prince: you get excited when you see this while walking down the street

A pile of dirt on the sidewalk that looks like a "dig spot" in the video game Blue Prince

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Writing lyrics is usually kind of a pain but sometimes you get to rhyme soapbox with roadblocks.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Attention all musicians: the chance that I will buy your record goes up by around a factor of 10 if an excerpt of its sheet music is on the album cover.

Album cover of Defiant Life by Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

An inordinate number of my dreams take place in restaurants.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Love to sight-read music in A# minor

Piano sheet music with a key signature of seven sharps

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

RIP Tom Johnson, an incredibly original and vital voice in modern music. If you know one piece by him, it's probably "Failing"; if you don't, now you do: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM9N...

youtube.com

Failing: A Very Difficult Piece for String Bass

YouTube video by Robert Black - Topic

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

The six most common answers on r/piano, in no particular order: 1. The time signature's fine, that's a triplet. 2. That staff has two voices. 3. It's a turn. 4. It's cancelling the previous accidental. 5. I can't tell unless you provide the clef and key signature. 6. Is that from musescore.com?

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Today's belated discovery was Dopesmoker by Sleep, and it's glorious, the For Philip Guston of stoner metal. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq1o...

youtube.com

Dopesmoker (2022 Remastered Version)

YouTube video by Sleep - Topic

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

I can finally confidently claim that I've memorized all the Bach Inventions. Biggest unexpected benefit: I always have something to do with my mind when it's not otherwise engaged. On to the Sinfonias?

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

A bandmate just reminded me of an old customer review of one of our CDs: "It doesn't get any better than this. ★★★★☆"

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Carry-On: Snakes on a Plane but it's luggage

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I knew a bunch of these dots individually but was unaware of many of the connections. A great intro to an amazing cluster of creative scenes.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Doing editing passes on my text writing usually means cutting material. Doing editing passes on my music writing usually means adding repetitions.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Sometimes a song needs to be 8 minutes long. shrubbies.bandcamp.com/track/memphi...

shrubbies.bandcamp.com

memphis in texas, by Shrubbies

from the album memphis in texas

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

I went to look up the original music to Jingle Bells to see if it had a secondary dominant under "one-horse open" and boy was it not what I expected. Full score at drive.google.com/file/d/12gOf...

Original sheet music to the chorus of Jingle Bells

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

I've been managing to do okay for the last few weeks but I don't know what's going to happen when I run out of Nero Wolfe novels.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Reading through a bunch of scores of da capo arias and it feels kind of passive-aggressive that they all end with "Fine."

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

5 authors whose books I will buy without reading the synopsis: - Andrew Crumey - Steve Erickson - Thomas Pynchon (hoping for one more!) - Jack Vance (I mean, I bought all of them) - @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social Not counting mysteries/procedurals since that feels like cheating.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

The way John Fogerty sings "Put me in coach" always makes me think that he's buying an airplane ticket.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Today's #A-Haydn-A-Day symphony is #45, the famous "Farewell". What jumped out this time was the brutally square opening theme with a full stop after 16 measures. I can hear him taking a deep breath and saying "OK, even this I can turn into a masterpiece."

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Alpacas are what happens if you make a new animal and forget that you had "snap to grid" enabled.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Since this topic is going around again:

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

In case you needed any more proof that all the social media energy has now moved to Bluesky, this morning I found myself in the midst of a heated but polite debate on Bruckner tempi.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

It seems to have fallen to me to commemorate the 25th anniversary of The 3 Way. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pT3...

youtube.com

Socs Hip

YouTube video by Lilys - Topic

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Apparently I'm the first person to ever say "Hepokoski" here. Anyway I'm finally reading Elements of Sonata Theory and the combination of technical bespoke jargon and hand-wavy vibey interpretations is actually really charming. Maybe it's a hermeneutics thing.

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Dan Schmidt @dfan.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

This one was working for me