Happy happy!!

2011 is going away and 2012 will be here to stay (at least until the next full revolution around our Sun).  It is customary for those celebrating this common celestial occurrence to have a glass of champagne (or beverage of choice) and sing a tune called Auld Lang Syne at the turning of the clock.  You know the melody.  You hear it every New Year's Eve, if you stay up late enough, or if you've ever watched any TV program or movie that has any sort of plot centering around the changing of the years.

Auld Lang Syne, lyrically, is based on a poem written by Scotsman Robert Burns in 1788.  The melody is a traditional folk tune.  The words can very generally be translated as: "old long since" or "long, long ago."  Basically, the song rhetorically asks whether or not we should forget the past and reminds us to remember our good friendships.  Which reminds me of something:  You know the end of the movie It's A Wonderful Life, where the town turns out to help George Bailey in his time of need?  Well, everybody starts singing Auld Lang Syne, and inscribed in a copy of Tom Sawyer, from Clarence the Angel: No man is a failure who has friends.

The song is sung all over the world for many different events, but usually in a context of farewell or remembrance.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

A-caroling we will go

After years of resisting, I have broken down and picked up a Christmas carol book to play on the piano.  The years of resistance is largely due to my relative inability to play the piano well, but I've been practicing a lot lately, and so can now play some easy arrangements well enough.  I was playing through some tunes and got to thinking, when and where were the first carols sung or played?

It is probably worth mentioning that Christmas is built around a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice and that Jesus was probably born sometime in the spring.  Because the Christian religion appropriated the solstice holiday, the first Christmastime hymn with a Christian focus appeared in 4th century Rome.  The hymns were in the traditional Latin and were basically theological doctrines.  A Parisian monk named Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs in the 12th century, and these are a little closer to the modern Christmas carol. 

"Wassailing" was a tradition that began with songs that were meant to be sung by groups of people (and also probably has some pagan background; wassail is an Anglo-Saxon toast for "be thou hale" or "be in good health.")  The group of singers would go from home to home singing carols.

The "golden age" of caroling is believed to have been between the 15th and 16th century in England, and the word carol is of medieval origin that meant a dance song or circle song with singing.  Most of these songs had a verse and refrain form.  Remarkably, caroling fell out of fashion for about 200 years, experiencing a revival of sorts in the 18th century, where most of the carols we know today come from.

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too!

Skating

This time of year, it's impossible to go anywhere without hearing, at least once, the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas.  The jazz-soaked tunes are the work of Vince Guaraldi, a pianist known as Dr. Funk from San Francisco, CA.  He had some previous acclaim in 1963, winning a Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Composition for Cast Your Fate to the Wind, which became an instant hit.

The Peanut's connection was formed when Guaraldi was hired to write a score for a TV documentary called A Boy Named Charlie Brown.  Through this, Guaraldi met Charles Schulz (the author of the Peanut's comic strip), director Lee Mendelson, and artist Bill Melendez.  Unfortunately, in true Charlie Brown irony, the documentary never aired, but it did lead to the Christmas special, thanks to some attention from sponsor Coca-Cola.  The TV special finally aired in 1965 on CBS, though production was pessimistic about the jazzy soundtrack, worrying that they'd "ruined Charlie Brown."

However, it has now become a yearly tradition for many families, and the smooth jazz from the Vince Guaraldi Trio is (usually) a welcome change to the often cloying, melodramatic Christmas music I must endure for nearly two months every holiday season. 

Happy winter solstice!!!

Coda

Rock and roller cola wars  In the 1980s it was popular for soft drink advertisements to use well-known pop celebrities to promote their sugary beverages.  Some people used to sell soda: Pepsi-Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, David Bowie, KISS, and Mariah Carey.  Coca-Cola-Max Headroom (not a music celeb, sorry, but don't you remember Max Headroom!?), Paula Abdul, Christina Aguilera, and Weird Al Yankovic. 

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

Variation 6

Heavy metal suicides Music outside of the "mainstream" is typically regarded with wariness.  Especially when the music is heavy, hard, loud, and makes full use of the right to freedom of speech and expression (i.e.offensive language).  In other words, if the music isn't pleasant and positive, it is targeted for being a "bad" influence on its listeners and performers.  While this may be true in some isolated cases, it has been my experience that heavy metal music is simply another genre of the long list of musical styles.  Most of the performers and fans of metal music that I've encountered have at first given me an impression of hardness or cruelty, but in talking to them, I've realized that they are just normal people who happen to like their music to have a certain edge.  I like jazz music, but that doesn't make me a brainless coke-fiend (I have no good reason for using stereotypes from the 1960s).

Of course, there are isolated cases.  Such as the case in 1985 where two families sued the metal band Judas Priest.  Their claim was that the music of Judas Priest drove two young men to kill themselves after listening to the band's music.  For me, this brings up an interesting question, not unlike the question that Rob Gordon asks in the movie High Fidelity.  "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"  In my case: Am I  neurotic because I am a woodwind player?  Or am I a woodwind player because I'm neurotic?  The whole chicken vs. egg thing.

So, does metal music make people behave violently or have an adverse reaction (how's that for a euphemism?), or are people who are predisposed to this kind of behaviour attracted to metal music?  Just as many violent things happen to (and are caused by) people who listen to other kinds of music. 


What do you think?

Variation 5

Punk rock is a form of popular music that developed in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia between 1974 and 1976.  It is characterized by fast, short songs, minimal instrumentation (think a guitar or two, a bass, and drums), and lyrics that often proclaim dissent on establishment and government.  In the U.S. the three most influential punk rock bands were The Ramones, The Clash, and the Sex Pistols. 

Punk evolved a bit into the 1980s, becoming even faster and more aggressive.  The original punk rock movement influenced other bands that emulated, or were clearly inspired by, the earlier punk bands.  These bands include Green Day and The Offspring, two bands who were eventually accepted into the mainstream, and in the case of Green Day, is still popular and relevant today.  Ironic, no?

"In its initial form, a lot of [1960s] stuff was innovative and exciting. Unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere. By 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock 'n' roll." --Tommy Ramone

Variation 4

Chubby Checker is a popular singer-songwriter of the 1960s.  His big break came with a recording he made called The Class which had Checker singing Mary Had a Little Lamb in the style of Fats Domino, Frankie Avalon, and The Chipmunks.  His really big break came with the recording and release of a cover of the Hank Ballard song The Twist.  The song was an instant smash and in some ways typecast Checker as a dance artist and not a singer.  Nevertheless, Checker went on to record lots of dance songs, including The Hucklebuck, The Fly, and Let's Twist Again. 

Bob Dylan Nee Robert Allen Zimmerman, American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has become a living cultural icon of the folk music and early rock movement.  His unusual voice and singing style is a hallmark that has distinguished him and made him a target of criticism.  But his music is good.  His well-known All Along the Watchtower was written in 1967 and features lyrics derived from the Book of Isaiah.  Jimi Hendrix did a "definitive" cover of Watchtower, but the best version in my book will always be the studio recording and any and all live cuts of the song done by the Dave Matthews Band. 

Woodstock was a music festival that took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY in August 1969.  Over half a million attendees flooded the grounds to witness four days of music history.  Headliners include Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Joe Cocker, The Band, Johnny Winter, Blood Sweat and Tears, Sha-Na-Na, and Crosby, Stills and Nash, among others.  I'm exhausted just listing the talent.

Waldstein madness

The Theme and Variations has been temporarily suspended, due to some struggling with Beethoven's Piano Sonata,  No. 21, Opus 53, the "Waldstein".  Named for and dedicated to Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabril von Waldstein of Vienna, Austria in 1803 (he was a patron and friend of Beethoven's).  I'm in the throes of trying analyze this monster.  I chose it for my paper because I like how it sounds, but now I'm kind of wishing I'd chosen an earlier, simpler sonata.  Oh, well. 

I think you may have heard this famous sonata opening in a car commercial within the last couple of years and in the opening sequence of the HOUSE episode guest starring Dave Matthews (YAY!).  The opening driving eighth-notes of the Waldstein is the sonata that Dave's character is playing before his brain starts to blow up.  And then he becomes the Patient of the Week.  Dave's character, not Beethoven.  Though Beethoven may have benefited from some medical diagnostic assistance from Dr. House...poor Ludwig.  His health was never very good throughout his life, then he went deaf. 

Music Zombie will return shortly with the concluding Variations.  BTW, if you haven't figured out where the Theme and Variations are derived from, you just aren't paying attention. 

Cheers!  :-)

Variation 3

Rock Around the Clock is a blues-based song, written in 1952.  It was written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers, and performed and made famous by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954 and became the No. 1 single in the US and the UK.  The song can be heard at the theme music for the television program Happy Days, and the original Bill Haley recording is on the 1973 American Graffitti soundtrack.

For Elvis Presley, look up the post "Thankyaverymuuhhch."

Peter Pan is the title character from a series of novels and short stories written by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, the most well-known one, Peter and Wendy, published in 1911.  It was made into a musical in 1954.  The 1954 musical featured Mary Martin as Peter, and she reprised the role in the 1960 film version of the musical.  The music was written by Mark "Moose" Charlap, with additional music from Jule Styne, and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh (with additional lyrics from Betty Comden and Adolph Green).

Buddy Holly was an American rock artist from Lubbock, TX.  Born Charles Hardin Holley in 1936, his career was cut short after a fatal airplane crash in 1959, but not before making an indelible mark in rock and roll and pop music history.  He is credited with innovating the rock sound and inspiring and influencing countless other musicians after him, including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones.  He released only three albums, but they have been enough to show his talents as a singer-songwriter, and many of his hits are still covered by other artists and given radio play today.  Buddy Holly and the Crickets are known for great rock hits: Peggy Sue, That'll Be the Day, Everyday, and Oh Boy (and many others.) 

Holly, "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Richie Valens, and the pilot of the small charter plane died en route from Clear Lake, IA (his last performance at the Surf Ballroom) to Moorehead, MN in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959.  We can only imagine what he could have offered the world had this tragic event been avoided, while not forgetting the lost talents of the other two musicians on board. 

On this somber note, Variation 3 comes to a quiet and pensive end.

Variation 2

Liberace Walter Valentino Liberace, or just Liberace (pronounced lib-er-ah-chee) had his debut at age 20 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  He is one of the highest paid musicians and pianists of all time.  A West Allis, WI native, he made his film debut as a honky tonk pianist in South See Sinner in 1950.  His trademarks include a candle-lit candelabra and increasingly gaudy outfits (he was Elton John before Elton John was Elton John!).  He was a virtuoso in the truest sense of the word, taking already complicated piano rags and solos and adding even more flash and flare.  The candelabra idea came to him after watching the 1945 movie, A Song to Remember, based on the life of Chopin.

Prokofiev Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) is best known for his works Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet (the ballet), and the Lieutenant Kije suite. 

"Another time after a concert (Prokofiev) told a famous singer, who had just performed a few of his songs, that she did not understand anything about his music and had better stop singing it. He said it in the presence of a large group of startled onlookers and in such a boorish way that he brought the poor fat lady to tears. 'You see,' he continued reprimanding her, 'all of you women take refuge in tears instead of listening to what one has to say and learning how to correct your faults.'"

Nicolas Nabokov, (1951) from Old Friends and New Music

Toscanini  The Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) began as a cello and composition student at Parma's Royal School of Music (Italy).  He graduated with honors and was noted for his photographic memory.  At age 19, while on tour with an Italian opera company, (he was playing cello in the orchestra ensemble) he was asked to fill in for the conductor.  The opera was the enormous Aida, and Toscanini conducted it from memory.  He continued to accumulate conducting experiences and by age 31, he was conducting Milan's Teatro alla Scala (the most distinguished opera ensemble in Italy).  After proving his world-class abilities, he was made director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1930.  He retired from the New York Phil in 1937, but then accepted a position directing the NBC Symphony, an ensemble of musicians of the highest caliber for weekly radio programs.  He retired completely at age 87 and died in his home in the Bronx a few years later, just shy of his 90th birthday.

Variation 1

Marilyn Monroe is better known as an actress and model, but she did do a fair amount of singing in her films.  Some of her more notable tunes are Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend from 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and I Wanna Be Loved By You from the hilarious Some Like It Hot (1959).  On May 19, 1962, she sang Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy, ten days before his actual 45th birthday.  It was one of her last public appearances; she died almost three months later. 

Marlon Brando isn't a musician.  He did, however, have the starring role as Sky Masterson in the 1955 MGM movie-musical Guys and Dolls.  Frank Sinatra wanted the role of Sky, but instead got the role of Nathan Detroit.  The film was based on the 1950 Broadway production, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser.  There was no vocal dubbing, so what you hear is really the actor's voice.

The King and I is a musical about a British governess hired to work for the King of Siam.  It is based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam (1944) which itself was derived from the written memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who was the governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the 1860s.  The stage musical was an instant hit, winning three Tony Awards.  It was the fifth musical hit from the music and lyrics duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. 

THEME

Doris Day is an American actress and singer.  She made her start as a big band singer in 1939 and gained recognition in 1945 with the hit Sentimental Journey.  She has appeared in 39 films and released 29 albums.  As a big band singer, she has worked with Jimmy James, Bob Crosby (brother of Bing Crosby), and Les Brown.  She is now 87 years old and a strong supporter for animal rights.

Johnnie Ray was a popular singer throughout much of the 1950s.  He is noted for innovating the theatrical style of performance: crying, banging on the piano, falling to the floor, tearing at his hair, all done with strong emotion.  Two of his first big hits were Cry and The Little White Cloud That Cried.  This 2-sided record earned him the distinction of being the first pop singer to hit the 2-million-sold mark. As a kid, he'd lost hearing in his right ear and later lost much of the hearing in his left ear due to an operation.  Whether or not this influenced his performance style is unclear.

South Pacific is the 1949 Broadway musical, music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.  The book was written by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan.  The plot, set in WWII, centers around an American nurse who falls in love with an expat French plantation owner.  The musical explores racial prejudice and the subject of interracial marriage.  Hit songs to come from this great musical include: Bali Ha'i, I'm Gonna Wash the Man Right Outta My Hair, Some Enchanted Evening, and Younger Than Springtime.  The show has won 10 Tony Awards, and the 2008 Broadway revival was a colossal success, earning the show another 7 Tony Awards.

Still crazy

Last night I got to see a living legend.  Live in concert.  Paul Simon at the iWireless Center (though, to me it's still the MARK) in Moline, IL.  Surprisingly, not sold out, but those people not in the empty seats sure missed a great show.  First of all, Simon sounds great.  His voice still carries its characteristic timbre and he maintains full vocal range, singing the high notes with ease.  His guitar playing is solid and more than once he took out a harmonica and played it flawlessly.  It's such a treat to see on stage a group of people who look like that are doing the very thing they were born to do, and Simon and his band members do just that.

Can I talk about the band for a moment?  WOW!  Such musicianship!  The band was an 8 piece (plus Paul), but every player contributed more than just one sound (except for maybe the drummer, but he was kept pretty busy throughout the show.)  The lead guitarist played a bari saxophone and whistles.  The tenor player played soprano sax and marimba.  The trumpet player was also the accordionist and auxiliary percussion. 

These guys have my dream job!

After an impressive half set from the opening Punch Brothers, the concert began with the welcoming strains of the accordion from The Boy in the Bubble (Graceland album.  I've discussed this album before.  Look for the post about Links and Paul Simon.)  Throughout the rest of the nearly 2-hour show, Simon played a well-balanced mix of old hits and new songs from his latest album So Beautiful or So What (that you are now hereby commanded to go out and listen to.  It's really good.  Go!  Listen!)  A smooth sounding 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, a sweet Still Crazy After All These Years, and a couple of covers from Bo Diddley and George Harrison.  I'm not an obsessive Paul Simon fan, but I've yet to hear something from him that I didn't like. 

I love his world music sound, and he pulls a lot from South African and Zydeco influences, and plays it well.  Before leaving the stage, he took a moment to personally introduce each band member, including the bassist, Bathiki Kumalo, who Simon introduced as his bassist from the Graceland album and friend of 25 years.  Kumalo is responsible for that famous bassline you hear on the You Can Call Me Al track.  He wrote the line and Paul had him play it forwards and backwards.  That's just awesome.

An Innocent Man

Well, apparently Billy Joel has taken up residence in my head.  For the past several weeks, lyrics from We Didn't Start the Fire keep floating in an out of my brain.  I think it's my mind's way of trying to memorize and make rhythmic sense of the barrage of historical headlines.  The video is great, incidentally, as it takes the viewer through four decades of iconic imagery. 

William Martin Joel, of the Bronx, NY, was born May 9, 1949 and began learning the piano at age 12.  In 1971, he signed a solo contract, but eventually moved to the west coast to evade fallout from a contractual dispute. There he performed in piano bars under the name Bill Martin.  However, his talent couldn't keep him hidden and a leak of a tape of the song Captain Jack in Philadelphia resulted in Columbia Records tracking him down and offering him a recording contract.  Piano Man was his first top 20 single and first gold album.  The rest is history, as the saying goes.  The video to We Didn't Start the Fire, incidentally, currently has over 7 million hits on YouTube, a trend that follows with many of his other videos from the 80s.  Fire also reached #1 in the Billboard singles charts in 1989. 

Like many great artists, listening to the current Billy Joel is just as good as listening to the vintage Billy Joel.  He has a very distinctive piano style, kind of like how you can usually pick out Elton John's piano playing.  Joel's style is 50s pop inspired,  with conventional chord progressions and driving rhythms. But his lyrics and powerful voice are what set him apart from other piano-playing songwriters.  Hopeful, optimistic, but always rooted in reality, which makes him come across, at times, as a bittersweet, sad sort of soul. 

I truly appreciate his creativity, as evidenced in his sometimes wild music videos (Pressure) and lyrics (Allentown).  And:  in the The Longest Time, a doo-wop styled song, (written in 1983, released in 1984) Joel is the only voice you hear.  He recorded 14 tracks, with himself on lead vocal and the backing vocals, then mixed them all together.  Nifty!

As far as I'm concerned, there are worse artists to have living in one's head, so I'll try not to complain too much.  But I just might start talking to you in song lyrics for a while...

Words, words, words

“The music is not in the notes,
but in the silence between.”

 “What's even worse than a flute? - Two flutes!”
  --- Maybe Mozart...

 Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.
--- Charlie Parker (Bird knows, man. Bird knows.)

Without Elvis, none of us could have made it.
--- Buddy Holly (This may not be entirely true, but it sounds good.)

Without music, life would be a mistake.
--- Friedrich Nietzsche (Good ol' Nietzsche.  Telling it like it is.)

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.
--- Frank Zappa (This is how I feel much of the time.)

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
--- Hunter S. Thompson (Thompson sort of said this.  It wasn't originally penned about the music business, but it sums it up nicely.)

Wanna dance?

Before I continue analyzing Mozart's rondo movement of the Divertimento K 563, I'd like to take a moment to share some interesting things about Johann Strauss.  The Waltz King.  King of Waltzes!  Titan of three-four time!  In a deeply interesting book about Viennese musicians* I read about the Strauss empire.  We've all heard Strauss's name from time to time (and the waltzing Strauss is not to be confused with Richard Strauss, who is famous for an entirely different kind of musical contribution) but many of us don't know much more about this interesting person aside from his contribution to dance music.  Johann was born in Vienna in 1804, and though he wasn't the first composer to write dance music in 3/4 time, he was the one to make it wildly popular.  And he wrote a lot of them.  He was also a marketing genius, using many of the same techniques used by music promoters today.  He organized festivals and charged admission, he was careful to have sheet music available and pre-printed at each event so that it could be sold immediately (and then people could go home and play it themselves.) 

An interesting note about the waltz itself:  It was considered obscene and erotic by the chaste city population at the time of its introduction (early to mid 1800s).  Instead of daintily holding hands, the dancers would hold their arms around each other and whirl around until sometimes falling down from dizziness.  Because of this, waltzing was considered crude and vulgar.  Though the public outwardly claimed to find such performances repulsive, they inwardly enjoyed themselves too much, and so made the waltz a part of their society.

The Strauss empire included Johann Strauss (the Elder), and his sons, Joseph and Johann Jr. who only entered the profession due to the urgings of Strauss's wife, Anna (they eventually separated, but the care of the children was in her hands).  It was Anna who encouraged her sons to learn violin, piano and composing and they went on to make a name for themselves in the City of Music and the world. 

Ah-one-two-three!

*Vienna: A Guide to Its Music and Musicians.  Franz Endler.  Amadeus Press: Portland Oregan.  1989 translation.

City of Music

Guten Tag!

Before Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago or New York City, there was Vienna, Austria, the original Music City.  Vienna is the capital city of the Republic of Austria (pull out your globe, we're going to Eastern Europe!), and a hotspot for musicians, opera, and theatre since the 15th century. 

The list of heavy-hitting composers who have either come from or worked in Vienna is impressive:  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gustav Mahler, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Johannes Brahms.  The Classical style developed in Vienna.  At the end of the Romantic era, in the early 1900s, Arnold Schonberg began his "Second Viennese School."  Schonberg is now remembered by historians as spear-heading the atonal and twelve-tone serial music (to be explained another day, but you can safely assume that it doesn't sound anything like Brahms! {though Schonberg had a great respect for the music of Brahms})

Guest artists and composers to this Musical Oasis include: Carl Maria von Weber, Gioacchino Rossini, Antonio Vivaldi, Frederic Chopin, and Hector Berlioz.

Auf Wiedersehen!!

Make it stop!

Barney the Dinosaur's I Love You, song has been used by the U. S. in Guantanomo Bay's military detention camp to get information from the detainees.  Other songs used as torture devices:

The Real Slim Shady --Eminem

Enter Sandman --Metallica

We Are the Champions --Queen

Killing in the Name --Rage Against the Machine

Shoot to Thrill --AC/DC

Drrty --Christina Aguilera

Sesame Street opening theme song

The Meow Mix commercial theme song.  Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow! Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow!! 

Sorry to get these tunes stuck in your head.  Please come back.

> : )

*Source: Mental_floss magazine, Nov-Dec 2011, Vol 10, Issue 6

Fire!!

I like Billy Joel.  Who doesn't?  I like a lot of his songs, but one that holds a special place in my nostalgia bucket is We Didn't Start the Fire, written and released in 1989, included on the Storm Front album.  The song is nostalgic not just because I remember hearing it a lot as a kid, but the song itself is nostalgic as it is basically a list of  headlining topics spanning forty years of history.  Which is how Joel wrote the song.  He started with the year he was born and began listing major people and events.  In the year 1949, the year of his birth and the starting year of the song, Harry Truman was president, Doris Day was a hit singer (and Johnnie Ray), Joe DiMaggio was a popular athlete and Walter Winchell was a notable journalist.  And so on. 

There are a few interesting touches, though.  Because it's what's called a "patter song," there is no melody to speak of (except for the refrain).  However, when Joel sings Brooklyn's got a winning team (1955, Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series before moving to California) the crowd cheers!  The bit about the horror movie Pyscho (1960) is mentioned over the trademark screeching violins.  In 1969, we land on the moon, moonshot.  Four items are out of place, chronologically: Begin, Reagan, (these were relevant in 1977), Palestine, terror on the airline (these belong in 1976).  Rhythmically, the transposition sounds better.

Not the most profound song ever written, but I still get a kick out of it.  And it's interesting how much of the list is still relevant and well-known to much of the population.  Sort of a distillation of world history into a four minute song.

Oh, yes.   HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

NASA and ICA

My nerd quotient just went up.  Not only am I a member of the International Clarinet Association (Go clarinets!), but I am now also a member of the North American Saxophone Alliance, or NASA. Go saxophones!

Clarinetfest (ICA) is in Lincoln, NE next year, and it is on my agenda to attend.  I attended my first Clarinetfest about four years ago when it was held at Kansas City, MO.  Kansas City is also home to the legendary 18th and Vine jazz district, which I made a point to visit while attending Clarinetfest.  At 18th and Vine, I visited the American Jazz Museum (as I recall, this was actually the first non-Clarinetfest thing I did while visiting Kansas City, MO).  There I  paid my respects to Charlie Parker and saw his plastic Grafton (the alto he used on occasion when his good horn was in hawk at a pawn shop.) 

Anyway, the purpose of these groups is to provide performance and educational opportunities for anyone interested and enthusiastic about the respective subjects.  Both organizations publish periodicals (The Clarinet and The Saxophone Symposium) and hold conferences where members can hear players, new music and learn new things.  Considering I love saxophones nearly as much as I love clarinets, membership seems like a logical choice. 

WOODWINDS RULE!!!

Vortex Cortex

Really feel like my mind is being pulled in a million different directions right now:

Beethoven's Tempest and Waldstein piano sonatas.  These are just fantastic pieces of music.  I'm now fully appreciating the genius of Ludwig van Beethoven. 

Diminished and octatonic scales.  I know them, and can write them, but translating them to my fingers (and to chord symbols) is a bit of a challenge, still.

Charlie Parker and bebop jazz.  Because everyone thinks about Charlie Parker and bebop jazz from time to time, right?

The music of Tom Waits.  Why has it taken me so long to discover this guy?!  I mean, really!  He's creative, musically interesting, and just the right amount of crazy.  Must look into more of his music.  Expect to hear more from me about this.

Preparing one of my clarinet students for the Iowa All-State Music Festival.  Yes, I am now the proud teacher of an All-State student!  I can't describe how wonderfully happy this makes me!

If you need me, I'll be huddled on the floor, organizing and refiling the contents of my brain.

Not Squidward

A friend recently posted on Facebook a screen shot of SpongeBob Squarepants that featured the clarinet stylings of Kelpy G.  This cracked me up.  Obviously, Kelpy G is a parody of the saxophonist Kenny G. Kelpy even kind of looks like Kenny.  Or does Kenny look like Kelpy?  The mind boggles.

Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (the G of Kenny G), born June 5, 1956, is a smooth jazz, contemporary, "easy listening" American musician.  In 1973, while still in high school, G was hired as a sideman in Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra.  After studying accounting at the University of Washington in Seattle, he signed on to the Arista Records label in 1982.

More recently, aside from being one of the top-selling solo instrumentalist in America, he makes an appearance in the Katy Perry video Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) as Uncle Kenny (playing on the roof at the party).  Interestingly, the actual saxophone player you hear on the track is Saturday Night Live musical director and tenor sax hero, Lenny Pickett. 

While I fully applaud G's success at making a name for himself, and at furthering the popularity of the saxophone, I'm a bit indifferent with regards to his music.  A bit too monotonous for my taste, but perhaps that's what "smooth jazz" is supposed to be like.  On the other hand, whenever I tell someone who asks that I play the saxophone, I get the maddening response: "Oh, I love the saxophone.  I love Kenny G."  Why maddening?  Because there are so many other truly fabulous and talented saxophonists out there, historically and currently, that it seems a shame that the only saxophonist that people are aware of is Kenny G.

Oh,well.  Play on Kenneth.

COFFEE!!!

Did you know that J. S. Bach wrote a Coffee Cantata?  Amazing!  I was looking through an old book about the music of Bach and came across this gem of a piece.  After researching it a bit more, I can confidently tell you that it is, indeed, one of the coolest things to come from the Baroque era.

The work is labeled as a cantata, but is actually closer to a comic opera.  Here's the backstory:  Early 18th century Leipzig saw the introduction and subsequent fanaticism of the tasty, brewed stimulant.  Bach was the director of a group of student musicians known as the Collegium Musicum between 1732-1734.  This group met each Friday at Leipzig's Zimmerman Coffee House to give concerts.  It is likely that the cantata was written for this group.  The libretto was written by Christian Friedrich Henrici.
A libretto is the text to a large musical work, like an opera, oratorio, cantata, or musical.

The story is about a father, Herr Schlendrian (literally, Mr. Routine) and his daughter Lieschen, who loves coffee.  She loves it so much that she is willing to give up all luxuries and fine things for her coffee.  A conflict arises when Schlendrian refuses to let Lieschen marry if she will not give up her coffee habit.  Lieschen finally relents, but when her father is absent, decides that her allowance of coffee must be included in the marriage contract.  In other words, she will marry no man who will deny her her percolated beverage of choice.

 If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat.

A reading from the book of Hepokoski and Darcy

I'd like to read to you a passage from one of my music theory texts*.

WAIT! COME BACK!!

It's good, you'll see:

Similarly problematic MC deformations also occur from time to time in Beethoven. 

[I'm not going to bother explaining what an MC deformation is.  Sorry.]

In the first movement of the String Trio in C Minor, op. 9 no. 3, the triple hammer blows of the presumed I:HC MC seem so vigorous that in the third hammer blow (m. 20) the upper voices are chromatically knocked out of their usual places.

[Isn't that great writing?  There's more!]

Or one might recall the witty finale of the Symphony No. 8 in F, op. 93.  Here TR (beginning in m. 29) gets stuck--like an eccentrically ramshackle, mechanical contraption with out-of-control gears, levers, pulleys, and puffing pipes--and cannot accomplish the articulation of the MC.  The requisite sonata-gears shift nonetheless, and the contrasting S breaks in unmistakably in m. 48, although at first in A-flat major (bIII), the "wrong key."  One more swelling gear-shift, mm. 56-59, smooths out the S-process into the correct key, C major. 

If I can make my analysis paper even half that interesting to read, I'll consider my semester in Tonal Analysis well-spent.

* Elements of Sonata Theory.  James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy.  Oxford University Press.  2006.  Pages 49-50.

Theoretically speaking

This semester of immersing myself in music theory has been exactly what I needed.  It's been good to revisit ideas that I sort of knew but only half-remembered from the first time around in my undergrad classes.  Right now, the concepts and ideas are all floating around like a ball of disorganized Christmas lights.  The minor modes and synthetic scales are still a bit jumbled and the chord functions are less than crystal clear, but I can see now where my confusion lies.  I can see more easily the little traps I tend to fall into while analyzing the harmonies of a piece of music.  The more ways I can think about each idea, the more untangled they become and can be nailed down in the proper spot.  (The nailing down of ideas floating around in my head was actually a big motivation for me to start writing Music Zombie.)

The two courses also seem to compliment each other.  In Jazz Theory, scale and chord function are being hammered down, and the same ideas will pop up from time to time in Tonal Analysis.  For example, to figure out the key center of a particular part of music (or in the case of a jazz tune, the tune itself) both professors mentioned (spookily, at about the same time) looking for the dominant.  In music-speak, this means to look for the chord built on the 5th scale degree of a key.  In the key of Eb, the dominant is Bb7 (because Bb is the 5th scale degree of the key of Eb: Eb-F-G-A-Bb.)  And, if you'll recall, a chord is a stacking of intervals of thirds.  That is, notes that are separated by a note in between them.  C-E-G is a C major triad.

The 7 part of the chord symbol means to add a lowered (flat) seventh scale degree on top of the chord.  The chord without the 7th is usually strong enough for Western ears to hear the pull down to the tonic (home key), but the addition of the 7th scale degree makes it even more obvious.  The lowered seventh makes the chord really want* to resolve to the tonic key.  By resolving to the tonic key, the listener can establish key.  If the dominant instead goes to a chord that is not typical, such as a VI chord, it becomes a Deceptive Cadence.  (A cadence is the music-speak term for the harmonic ending of a musical phrase.)  In a Deceptive Cadence, the composer fools our ears and brains and catches us by surprise.  "HA! Fooled you!!"  When the cadence resolves in the way that our ear expect it to, we call it a Perfect Authentic Cadence.  "Practically perfect in every way."

Anyway, lots of other things seem to cross over too, and everyday I get a clearer picture of how music works.  Music isn't random and the little parts fit together beautifully when one takes the time to see it.

*Our brains actually "want" the resolution.  Notes and tones, being non-alive things, can't really want anything, but I digress.

The Mendelssohn-Bach link

We owe a lot to Felix Mendelssohn.  Besides writing some lovely works for voice, piano, opera, and orchestra (not to mention some wicked hard clarinet licks), Mendelssohn brought the music of J.S. Bach back to life and re-introduced it to the world.  Without his "Bach revival" we may not now have a full appreciation of all that the Baroque master gave us.

Mozart studied some of Bach's writings, and Beethoven studied the preludes and fugues of the Well-Tempered Klavier as a student.  But after Bach's death in 1750, his music wasn't given much regard.  In 1829, however, a twenty year old Felix directed a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, the first such performance of the work since nearly 70 years after Bach died and almost 100 years after the first performance of the piece (directed by the composer).

Listening to the Passion now, I am grateful to Mendelssohn for reminding the world how truly beautiful the large choral works of the Baroque era are.  A restorative for the soul.

Wilkommen

Last night was the preview for Chicago.  A preview is basically a dress rehearsal with an audience.  While the audience was entering the house (that is the term for the auditorium), there was music being played over the PA.  Finding-your-seat-music, perhaps.  Playing was the soundtrack from Cabaret, a show that also features the work of John Kander and Fred Ebb.  I loved this soundtrack when I was in high school, and, now that I revisit the plot, I realize that, as a kid, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. 

Cabaret is about a Berlin nightclub, the Kit Kat Klub, and is set in 1931, just as the Nazis were rising to power in Germany.  I had initially thought that it was a love story, and in a way it is, but it is a tragic love story.  There is a love triangle, a pregnancy, an abortion, a pineapple, and forbidden love in a time when Jewish people were in very real danger of losing their lives (found in the sub-plot between the boarding house owner and a Jewish fruit seller).  The Emcee's songs in the Kit Kat serve as a commentary on the action: dancing with an ape to show how love is blind, how greed and money carry more influence on day to day life than we'd like it to, and how terrifying prejudice and the desire of power can disrupt ordinary people's lives.  It's a brutal satire of the politics of that time period, wrapped up in a seedy, musical bow. 

The music is great, though.  Originally produced on the London stage in 1968, there was a Broadway revival in 1987, and yet another London revival in 1993, featuring Alan Cummings as the Emcee (this is the recording I'd listened to).  Joel Grey was the Emcee in the Broadway revival, and played the role in the 1972 film version, starring Liza Minelli as Sally Bowles, and directed by Bob Fosse (Fosse haunts me.  It's like that movie The Number 23, where the number 23 shows up in permutations, direct relations, or indirect relation to the character.  Fosse is my number 23.  He's everywhere I look.)  As with most film adaptations, the movie plot is slightly altered from the stage show, but the elements are still there.

Life is a cabaret, old chum.  Come to the cabaret!

Cold gin, hot piano

Last weekend, I played for the musical "A New Brain".  That show is over, but I still have some of the melodies stuck in my head.  That may soon change because this weekend, my second musical of the month opens: Chicago. 

Chicago opened on Broadway on November 14, 1996.  By June 1997 the show had won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival and Best Choreography.  In March of 2011, the show has become the 5th longest running in Broadway history, with 5960 performances.  The music, book and lyrics are by the outstanding John Kander and Fred Ebb (who are also the musical forces behind Cabaret and The Kiss of the Spider Woman).  The original director and choreographer for the show was Bob Fosse, though, sadly, he died before the show opened.

Set during Prohibition-era Chicago, the music is mostly ragtime and early jazz, with just enough contemporary injection to make it sound fresh.  And, as I can personally attest, some of the clarinet and piccolo licks are tricky!  I think the original pit calls for at least three reed players (there is a bass clarinet cue in one of my parts), but this production will use just one (so I have consolidated the music from Reed 1 and Reed 2 to cover the really cool stuff.)  Also in the pit are trumpet, trombone, violin, bass, drums, and piano.

I couldn't help but notice that this particular musical has a sinister ending.  I mean, the murderers get away with murder!  The musical is based on a play that was inspired by the murder case and trial of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner in 1924 in Chicago.  The play was written by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins.  Roxie Hart was based on Annan, who was accused of killing a man, then listening to the foxtrot record "Hula Lou" repeatedly before calling her husband.  Velma Kelly is based on Gaertner, a cabaret singer, who was accused of killing a man in her car.  Both women were found not guilty.  The lawyer character, Billy Flynn, is based on the two lawyers who represented the women. 

It's just a noisy hall, where there's a nightly brawl. And all. That. Jazzz!

Brainy bones

This weekend I am playing in the orchestra pit of a musical called A New Brain.  It is a recent musical, created by William Finn and James Lapine.  It opened Off-Broadway in 1998, and to some degree, is autobiographical, describing Finn's personal experience with Arteriovenous malformation.  I had to look that one up.  An Arteriovenous malformation is a congenital deformation of the connections between veins and arteries.  This means that the blood travels directly from arteries to veins without first travelling through the capillaries.  It is genetic, which explains the song Gordo's Law of Genetics.  The musical centers around songwriter Gordon Schwinn's medical crisis and the healing power of art.  The music itself is good, for the most part, but with an unusual orchestra ensemble of reeds (alto sax, clarinet, piccolo, and flute [that's why I'm in it]), French horn, cello, drums and piano (and a variety of keyboards/synths). 

In the spirit of the show's opening this weekend, here is a giant brain cell.  Just for fun.  :-)



Take a look at those dendrites!

 On a completely unrelated note, here is a blue trombone:

It's a P-Bone, a plastic trombone, endorsed by trombone artist Jiggs Whigham.  Yes, it's a real instrument (not to be confused with other instrument-shaped-objects that may be found elsewhere.)  I got the opportunity to try the blue one and it plays reasonably well, though a bit thin in tone.  The slide moves well and it's really light!  They are also available in red, yellow, and green.

B A C H Part 3

More fun from Herr Bach!  Let's take a look at something he wrote just three years before his death: The Musical Offering, or Das Musikalische Opfer.  The Offering is a collection of fugues and canons, a trio sonata calling for a flute, violin, and a basso continuo (I'll explain that in a minute), and two ricercars. 

Before I go on to the good stuff, I'll briefly explain what basso continuo (pronounced: bass-oh continue-oh) means.  In the Baroque era (basically defined as the time between 1600 and 1750, and ending with Bach's death) it was common practice to have a solo or small ensemble of solo instruments accompanied by any instrument capable of playing chords, like a harpsichord, guitar, lute, or organ, or any bass instrument, like a cello, bassoon, or double bass, or, in some cases, a combination of these.  The continuo instrument was "realize" their music, which was basically a line of bass notes plus symbols that told them what kind of chord to play over the bass notes.  This means that continuo parts were largely improvised.  (There was actually a lot of improvising going on in the Baroque era, but that discussion must wait for another nibble.)

Continuo-ing with the Offering canons:  Bach wrote a couple of interesting canons (canons are like fugues, which, you'll remember, are two or more voices, with staggered entrances).  Some of the more interesting ones are called "crab canons".  These pieces can be read forwards, backwards and upside down (progression, regression, and inversion.)  A musical palindrome.

B A C H Part 2

I love J. S. Bach.  His music tickles the brain cells.  Another person I greatly admire, cognitive scientist, computer scientist, writer, and all-around smart person, Douglas R. Hofstadter, also likes Bach.  Last time I started discussing The Art of Fugue.  In his deeply fascinating book, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Hofstadter reminds us that in the Art, Bach encoded his name.  But, wait! you say, musical notes don't include H!! You are correct, but in some countries, what we call B (natural) they refer to as H, and what we call Bb (flat), they refer to as B.  Get it? 

So, in the Art, we see Bach entering his name. B. A. C. H. --->  Bb. A. C. B-natural.  Introducing it into the melody of the final fugue of his final work, The Art of Fugue.  In fact, the work itself is unfinished, the final Contrapunctus stops before it reaches a conclusion. 

This is so much fun!  Tune in next time!  

:-)

B A C H Part 1

I was looking through a piano book, trying to find a Bach piece that I could play reasonably well (I'm still at an early intermediate level) and in the informational section of the book (you know, the part with words, not musical notes) I read an interesting blurb about Bach and his membership in a group called "The Corresponding Society of the Musical Sciences."  The purpose of this group was to find connections between math and music.  Telemann and Handel were also members of this group, and Bach joined in 1747.

It is believed that this group inspired Bach to write The Art of Fugue, a monumental work, and a mainstay of the keyboard canon.  The series of fugues in The Art are intricate and complex, are all in D minor, and are given the rather boring title of Contrapunctus.  There is some speculation that the fugues were written as a sort of treatise, never really meant for performance.  No instrumentation is given, so it's heard performed on piano or by ensembles of like or un-like instruments.  It may be argued that the entire collection is a study of counterpoint.  Counterpoint is the way notes move against and with each other and is the basis for musical harmony.  An interesting thing to realize: in the very early years of tonal music history, chords weren't the basis for everything.  Harmony was only the result of separate, moving lines.  If two singers lined up on a pleasant sounding interval, that was noticed and developed.  Certain intervals, therefore, were considered "bad".  Which really means that they were dissonant.  Hence, the eventual ban on the dreaded "Devil tone" or tritone (the most dissonant interval in tonal music.)

Rockets and steamrollers

I've been jotting down notes about things I'd like to write about.  If I don't, I'll forget the idea.  These are just a few of the things I've been thinking about this week:

--J. S. Bach, Douglas Hofstadter, and The Art of Fugue and The Goldberg Variations.

--Glenn Gould

--the Mannheim school/Mannheim style

--opus numbers and cataloguing systems for the works of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn.

--music theory history

--Beethoven's symphonies

The only one I'm prepared to talk about right now is the Mannheim school.  I'm sure you've heard of the popular music group Mannheim Steamroller.  The group takes their name from an interesting and important source.  The Mannheim school, of Germany, was influential in the 18th century, and was responsible for the eventual changes in style of the symphonic work of Haydn and Mozart (who in turn influenced everyone else).  The style of symphonic development that the school promoted entails soloistic use of woodwinds, prominent melodic lines, slow moving harmonies, and dramatic dynamic shifts.  This last thing is where the modern group takes its names.  In large scale symphonic works, extended crescendo passages were used, referred to as a Walze, or "roller" (now referred to as a steamroller).  The Mannheim symphonies were highly regarded for their technical precision and large ensemble size (up to about this time in music history, most ensembles weren't very big, not like the modern symphony, which employs between 35-50 musicians). 

Interestingly, Grove Music Online tells me that some of these stylistic innovations were actually originated  from earlier Italian schools and Italian operas (Italian operatic repertoire were used in the Mannheim school).

There is also something called a Mannheim rocket, which is made up of an ascending triad (three notes) theme in equal note lengths, a "sigh", and something called a Bebung, which is a trembling effect, created by a rapid shaking of a finger on a string, or a key on a clavichord.

Now you know.

Shiny Happy Lenny B

REM are "calling it a day," according to their website.  After three decades, they are breaking up.  The Athens, GA band, made up of Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry, was formed in 1980, but really hit it big in the 1990s with the albums Out of Time (1991), and Automatic for the People (1992). 

A few years ago, while trying to expand my rock band knowledge, I picked up a copy of Out of Time.  Mostly for Shiny Happy People, a song the band eventually hated, but I loved.  I've also always really enjoyed It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) 1987, which is interesting to me because of it's James Joyce-esque stream of consciousness style and the interesting back-story of Michael Stipe's reason for the list of people in the lyrics with the initials of L. B.  (He had a dream where he was at a party surrounded by people with all the same initials.)  The comic Pearls Before Swine did a strip with Pig and Rat dancing around with beer hats on, singing gibberish until they both scream in unison "LEONARD BERNSTEIN!"  (Homer Simpson does a great parody of this song too, and now I can't hear it without simultaneously singing Homer's version.)

Anyway, Shiny Happy People, reportedly, is a commentary on some loosely translated piece of Chinese propaganda with regards to the Tienanmen Square protests of 1989.  "Shiny happy people holding hands" is the oft-repeated refrain at the end of the song.  Making an appearance as a guest vocalist is Kate Pierson of The B-52's (another band from Athens, GA).  Supposedly, Stipe's aim was to be ironic, but it wound up being just a happy, bouncy song.  It was later parodied by Sesame Street as Furry Happy Monsters.  The meter change by the mandolin in the beginning and the middle of the song was a way of making a bridge section.  Peter Buck is the mandolin player, and he also plays it on Losing My Religion, of the same album.

SAW

Recently, I watched a great French film called Delicatessen.  It's one of those wonderfully wacky, almost surreal sort of movies, with great style, subtle wit, and a bit of gore.  It's about a butcher, who is also a landlord, who kills people to sell to his tenants, a la Sweeney Todd.  One of the main characters is a clown, who, in addition to performing some neat soap bubble tricks, plays a musical saw.

All I know about the musical saw is from an old Betty Boop cartoon, where Betty goes through a Looking Glass (or was it a grandfather clock?), Alice-style and meets all sorts of characters, one of which plays a saw.  The sound is ethereal, like a theremin, and from what I have researched, fairly easy to play, unlike a theremin.

It seems uncertain exactly who first got the idea to put fiddle bow to saw, but it seems to have originated in the Appalachian region of the US.  They became more popular in the vaudeville circuit, during the 1920s and 30s.  The saw is "played" by friction of a well-rosined bow, either violin or 'cello, and bending the bow to a shallow S curve.  The changes in how the bend is manipulated creates the different pitches.  That's really all there is to it, and with some practice, the sawer can play anything she can sing.  The saw is called for in some major works, including George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children, and movie scores.

Another music joke

There once were two clams, Sam and Tom.  They were good friends and promised to stay friends even after they died.  When Tom Clam died, he went to heaven and was given a harp to play.  Unfortunately, his friend Sam Clam, had apparently made a few mistakes, because when he died he went to hell and was given an accordion. 

Well, one day Tom Clam was given permission to go visit his friend Sam Clam for a day.  He was told to always remember to have his harp with him so that he would be allowed back into heaven when he returned.  When he finally got to his friend's new home, they had a great time together, having lunch, taking in a movie, and ending the night at a disco club for some dancing.  Tom Clam had so much fun, that he forgot to take his harp with him when he went back home.  When he got to the Pearly Gates, he suddenly remembered:

"I LEFT MY HARP IN SAM CLAM'S DISCO!!"



give it a minute...

sound it out....


there it is.    : D

Tim the Alien

Today's post is a Tim Reynolds appreciation post.  I realize that I haven't heard every guitar player on the planet, but Tim is definitely up there on my list of super-amazing guitarists.  Thanks to my love of Dave Matthews and Band (is there nothing this man can't do?) I was introduced to the music of Tim Reynolds. 

Tim was born in Germany, to extremely religious parents, and after moving around the world and through the US Midwest, he eventually took up residence in Charlottesville, VA.  This is where he met Dave.  I was fortunate to see him and his band, TR3, play in Davenport in 2008 and 2009, and was completely blown away.  He's a bit difficult to understand when he talks, and in interviews, he's talked about being from a different planet, but good grief, the man can play a guitar.  As a guitarist friend of mine commented, after we went to see TR3 play, "'that's a lot of notes."  True, but all good and really innovative notes.  Listening to Tim's music is like going through a soundscape of different jagged edges.  At first listen, it seems chaotic, but actually it's all very logical.  TR3's first studio release was Radiance in 2009, and this album would be a good one to look into as a first time listener. 

He's experimental, using different technologies and sound loop systems to create, and makes full use of time signatures, styles, and melodic harmonic devices.  I am generally hard to impress, especially when it comes to the ubiquitous guitar player, but I am thoroughly impressed with Tim's skill.  And if you see TR3 in concert, you may be lucky enough to see the Pooh Bear Wearing Gas Mask and Cow dancing around onstage.  Large dancing animals is always a plus in my book.

Equally competent on electric and acoustic, he's been known to pick up other instruments such as the banjo and sitar.  TR3 tours the country, and Tim can be seen as one half of the Dave and Tim acoustic duo and he's appeared on nearly every one of DMB's studio albums.  As a personal record, in addition to the couple of times I saw his band play, I've seen him perform a Dave and Tim set at the 2011 DMB Caravan and at every DMB show I've been able to attend.  Rounding out the TR3 trio on bass is Mick Vaughn, and Dan Martier on drums.

If you get an opportunity to see Tim play, as a part of a DMB show or as TR3 or just by himself, I highly recommend it.  And who knows, maybe we are all aliens.

Ascending

This blog post from a Mac!  Weird computing machines...

Anyway, thinking about something:  Why are so many people afraid of classical music?  Pop music is accessible to most people, and jazz and blues to a fair extant.   However, you have someone listen to a piece of classical music and their eyes glaze over.  First off, let's define classical music.  Classical is a heading with lots of little subheadings.  Classical music, little C, is a broad heading for all music from the "old world" European tradition.  This is a collective term for all of those composers that people think of when they hear the term "classical" (i.e. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms [the Big Bs], Mozart, Tchaikovsky, etc.)  Under this classical heading is a whole list of subheadings: Usually starting with the Renaissance, then Baroque, then Classical (big C), then Romantic, then Impressionism, and 20th Century.  So, when I say "classical" I mean all of that music, as a whole, and many music people are implying the same thing when they talk about classical.  Bach is Baroque, Mozart is Classical, Beethoven was a bridge between Classical and Romantic, and Brahms was a Romantic.  More on these later, I could go on about this for a while.

Now we have the formalities out of the way, back to the original question: Why are people so afraid of classical music?  Most people can identify this kind of music, and most people find it pleasant to listen to, but when asked what composer they are listening to, or what movement of a work, or even what symphony or lieder set they are listening to, most average listeners couldn't answer.  Why?  Many years ago, I read a great book, that I highly recommend to all music lovers, called The Musical Ascent of Herman Being.  The author's name escapes me at the moment, but it's a fascinating look at the answer to this question. 

I'd love you all to check into this book and read it yourself, but I'll give you the main idea: repetition and length play a huge part in how we respond to a piece of music.  Pop songs are usually short, no more than 4-5 minutes, ideal for radio play and those with short attention spans (the origins of the 4-5 minute cut off has something to do with the history of recording technology, but I'll spare you the details) and they are played repeatedly.  Because the songs, let's use Cee Lo's F**K You as an example, are short, catchy and are played a lot, your brain is given time to process and memorize the form and structure.  In short, you learn the song really quick.  You hear it in the car and sing along, you hear it on your MP3 player as you go for a run, you hear other people singing it, and you can watch it on YouTube without tying up the computer for too long.  You may now even be singing F**K You to yourself, now that I've suggested it to you.

Now, let's look at a classical piece, Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 as an example.  The movements of this work are longer than 4-5 minutes, and symphonies as a whole generally run longer than 30 minutes.  So, it takes some commitment to listen to the whole symphony.  With repeated listenings, though, if you can make it through the first few times, you'll start to notice parts of the music starting to become familiar.  Maybe you'll start to hum along with parts of the melody and begin to anticipate mood changes.  Eventually, you get to the point where you can sing the main melodies and may even have them stuck in your head (you know, like TV and radio commercial jingles that are short, catchy, played incessantly, and stick in your head.  Does that formula sound familiar?)

Now go out there and ascend with Mr. Being!!

Links. And Paul Simon!

One of my favourite albums of all time is Paul Simon's Graceland.  I love the lyrics, the rhythms, the collaboration with the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the jumpy bass lines.  It also has the hit You Can Call Me Al, a song that, as a kid, I always thought was about the TV show Quantum Leap.  (You will remember that there was a character named Al in Quantum Leap, and my family watched this show a lot.) 

I now can't hear about Graceland without Simon's voice singing in my head: "I'm going to Graceland, Graceland. Memphis, Tennesee!"  This will almost immediately send my head to another song about Memphis, Walking In Memphis, by Marc Cohn.  The mention of W.C. Handy and Elvis are wonderfully nostalgic for me, not just because I remember hearing these songs a lot while growing up, but as my musical knowledge grows I get a greater appreciation for them.  From my early American music research, Handy is like an old friend to me now.

Also appearing on the album is Linda Ronstadt on the track Under African Skies.  Gumboots, the fourth track, is based on a recording of an instrumental of the same name by the Boyoyo Boys.  Simon heard it and wrote lyrics over the tune.

I also can't think of Paul Simon without thinking about his Sound Of Silence (the tune with Art Garfunkel, before Simon became a solo act) or an SNL clip I saw of him where he's dressed up like a turkey.  It's funny where the mind goes.

A joke

No time for a proper post, so here's a joke:

What do you do with a horn player who can't play?

--Take away his horn, give him a couple of sticks and make him a drummer!!

What do you do when he still can't play?

--Take away one of the sticks and make him a conductor!!!!

What do you do when he still can't get it right?

--Take away the stick, make him a choral conductor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, sorry to any drummers, conductors, or choral leaders I may have offended. 

It's still a funny joke.

Peace, yo.
: D

Let Hugh talk

I have a friend who accuses me of buying all of my music from Starbucks.  This isn't true, of course.  I have bought a few select CDs from my favourite coffee place.  I have found a great compilation of radio music from the 40s, a disc of relaxing French songs, and even a DMB compilation that could only be found at Starbucks.  My latest music purchase is from Starbucks, and I may not have found it otherwise, because I hadn't heard about it until coming in last weekend for some tasty coffee and some free WIFI. 

Hugh Laurie is one of those terribly gifted people who possess comedic and dramatic acting skills, cunning wit, and musical talent.  If you don't know who Hugh is, you aren't paying attention.  He is the British actor who plays the acerbic, but effective doctor on the TV show HOUSE.  I loved this show from the beginning, and can now only watch it through DVD marathons because I'm never home at normal times to watch TV.  Through the magic of Netflix, I was also able to watch Laurie's earlier work as part of the sketch comedy show A Bit of Fry and Laurie (very funny, with the unmatchable Stephen Fry as the Fry of Fry and Laurie) and the duo's turn as Bertie and Jeeves in the British series Jeeves and Wooster (based on another gem, the P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" novel series).  The point is, in many of these appearances Laurie can be seen playing a piano or a guitar or singing.  Which brings me to the new music I've been listening to.  Hugh Laurie has released a blues album called Let Them Talk. 

I've listened to it several times, and though his voice, at times, doesn't really lend itself to blues singing, he does it with passion, which makes it endearing.  His piano and guitar playing is superb, though, and he has selected a good mix of blues tunes.  As I write this I'm listening to his rendition of Police Dog Blues, by Arthur Phelps.  I've heard this tune before by a Delta bottleneck guitar player, and Laurie's version lacks fire, but only in the sense that I can actually understand the lyrics.  In so many of the older recordings I listen to of blues men singing, the words sometimes get buried in the rhythm or the guitar or the singer just isn't enunciating enough.  In many ways, I prefer this.  I like some dust in my blues.  To me that seems more authentic. 

I do like many of the tracks on this disc.  I had never really had an interest in St. James Infirmary, but I do now.  Laurie's piano playing is wonderfully clean, precise, and, for lack of a better phrase, hits just the right notes.  You Don't Know My Mind really caught my ear, and the tunes Tipitina, Buddy Bolden's Blues, and They're Red Hot are great fun.  What strikes me most is Laurie's admittance that he is a "white, middle-class Englishman, openly trespassing on the music and myth of the American south," but he does it with more love and devotion than many other musicians I've heard.  He truly loves the music and has obviously taken steps to see that it is treated with the due reverence. 

He is a successful actor, releasing a blues album for no other reason than that he loves to do it.  He doesn't need the money (not that there is a lot of money anymore in blues music), nor the recognition (he's on TV every week), and the album wasn't heavily publicised.  And, if it turns on more listeners to the music of that time in American music history, I do consider the album a success.

The best of what's around

 A while ago a friend asked me who I thought the best band of all time is/was.  Naturally, I went to my favourite band, but mostly because of bias.  I think my favourite band is the best band of all time, but that's why it is my favourite, but this is not really fair in an objective sense.  And, really, this question is kind of subjective to begin with.  Is the best band defined by record sales, popularity, influence, or true talent?  Is musicianship considered, or technological advancements?  Maybe the best band of all time existed before recording technology was available or perfected and the only people who ever heard that great band is now dead and gone.

As far as wide appeal, I'd have to nominate The Beatles or the Rolling Stones.  These bands have proven their appeal to a huge audience base and, even though The Beatles were together for only about a decade, their music has continued to gain new fans and influence younger generations.  The Rolling Stones have been together for what seems like forever, even after repeatedly declaring their intention to stop touring, and still sell tickets to their concerts.  Is wide appeal the measure for best band of all time?  Is longevity the mark of a great band?  Or does it mean that the band just can't do anything else but play (this isn't a criticism, I think that it's a great reason to continue playing).

For influence on younger generations, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Who,  and, again, The Beatles are contenders.  These bands tried new styles and sounds and were largely successful.  Pete Townshend made it fashionable to introduce feedback into his guitar (Jimi Hendrix did this too) and Zeppelin and Pink Floyd made archaic lyrics and funny time signatures acceptable to rock musicians.

What about talent?  Talent is really important, but in a rock music sense, showmanship is almost as important.  Jim Morrison was more of a poet than a rock musician, but he knew how to sell his image.  Is the defining factor innovation or creativity?  The Doors had no bass player (only Ray Manzarek's left hand) and still managed to groove.  The White Stripes is a duo of guitar and drums but still create a big, rock band sound.  The Dave Matthews Band pulls from a variety of genres, including rock, jazz, funk, and world beat, and includes a violinist and a saxophonist as core (and founding) members, and has proven that this mix can appeal to a mainstream audience. 

Furthermore, who says the best band has to be a rock band?  Why can't the great big bands of the 1930s and 40s be considered?  The bands of Ellington, Basie, Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman did tremendous things to advance musicians and popular style long before the rock bands made the scene.  Or, thinking further back, consider the Delta blues musicians who started the whole thing.  Were it not for their creativity, we may still be singing parlor songs and Italian arias to each other.

What is the best band of all time?  I can't really give an answer to this question.  Not in good conscience, anyway.  No matter which one I choose, I know I've left out someone who deserves the title too.  There are a lot of facets to being the "best" and a lot of reasons for each choice.  The best band is the one that makes the listener happy to hear it and makes their day a little brighter.

Modes, one more time

The ancient Greeks believed that music could be used like a presciption drug.  Certain kinds of music would remedy certain ailments.  For example, the Dorian mode (mode based on the second scale degree of a major scale) was majestic and masculine, perfect for times when a person felt fragile.  I'm simplifying, of course, but you get the idea.  When Renaissance era humanists began looking again at the classics, they misinterpreted some ideas about the Greek system of modes and harmony, but I find it interesting that they found correlations at all. 

Why am I so hung up on modes lately?  Well, in music history class in college I remember learning about how the church modes were developed and how they have continued to have an influence on musicians since.  In fact, several modes are still used by jazz musicians.  Dorian and Mixolydian are commonly discussed by jazz musicians and theorists, and the Aeolian mode is really just a natural minor scale.  Ionian is the "classical" term for a major scale, but hardly anyone actually calls it that.  They are used to describe a "species" of scale.  It is simpler to tell someone to use the Mixolydian mode than to repeatedly tell them to play the major scale with a lowered 7th scale degree.  In some cases, using a mode while improvising a solo is easier to keep track of than a whole string of chords.  When a mode shares in common the notes of that progression of chords, the soloist knows that they can choose notes from a specific mode and can stay within the key and within "good taste" for the solo. 

During this research I learned a bit more about music and the ancient Greeks.  I'll tell you about that next time.  Interesting stuff!

SAX o phoooone!

Many years ago, while listening to CDs in the music library of WIU, I came across a recording of a piece called Saxophobia.  It was written by Rudy Weideoft, an American saxophonist from the turn of the century.  As much as I wanted to play that piece, it's probably good that I didn't find music for it until later.  While it isn't technically too difficult, stylistically, it's a bear.  Like most of his other pieces. 

Weidoeft, (pronounced weed-oft) was known for his virtuosic style, using double tongue, slap tongue, and his ability to make the saxophone "laugh" by pitch bending.  When he started playing the saxophone, in the early 1900s, the saxophone was still a bit of a novelty instrument.  His playing style isn't really jazz, but more along the ragtime/fox trot style.  Which would place Weidoeft a more of a pre-jazz sax player.  He did a lot to promote the saxophone as a legitimate instrument, at a time when it was still regarded with some disdain. 

Some other of his hits include Sax-O-Phun, Sax-A-Doodle, Valse Vanite, and Saxema.  His main horn was the C melody saxophone, which isn't seen much today, but was a popular choice at that time.  The C melody is bigger than an alto, but smaller than a tenor, and its voice sits right between them.  A bit too throaty for an alto, but lighter in quality than the heavier tenor saxophone.

Weidoeft had some personal troubles, with his wife stabbing him and nearly killing him in 1937, and problems with alcohol abuse.  He died in 1940 from cirrhosis of the liver.  But his music lives on, for better or for worse, as a novelty sound and an example of how far the saxophone has come.

Model modality

In jazz theory class this morning, we got a good workout with modes and chords.  In addition to my decision to bring my alto sax in to work on, instead of the easy-to-transpose Bb instruments like clarinet or tenor sax, this was a great way to start my morning.  (I really need work on my Eb transposition skills, they are less than stellar...)  After figuring out how to transpose quickly-er from concert pitch, I was starting to get the hang of it.  The modes are useful to jazz musicians because they describe scales that can be played over a single key.  As I mentioned in the last post, modes are scales built on the different scale degrees over a key.  There are seven commonly used modes, though way back during the Medieval and Rennaissance (and actually even further back to the ancient Greeks) as many as fifteen different modes were used.  These modes are referred to as church modes and were, obviously, used in Gregorian chant and in the church masses.

To make this really long, involved evolution of church modes story less long and involved, different modes were used for different things.  The monks singing the music for the early church services would use modes because music notation wasn't really formed or set at that time.  By knowing which mode to sing in, the monks could all sing together and knew how to end a chant.  Go take a listen to some Gregorian chant, and you'll hear how the notes used are limited and everything sounds, to our modern ears, somewhat predictable and bland.  There are other reasons for this, too, but that will have to wait for another nibble. 

still here! and modal!

Okay, it's been really busy on this end, so I've been away from the ol' blog for a while.  But, I have started my fall semester with two music theory classes.  This actually makes me happy.  Weird, considering I've never really loved theory.  I find it more interesting now, though, because I'm starting to think about how music is constructed and why some of it makes sense and why some of it does not.

My early morning class is Jazz Theory.  I think I'm going to like this one.  According to the schedule and the syllabus, we're going to go over exactly the kind of stuff that I need.  Today we discussed modes.  Modes are scales that are built from different scales degrees.  For example: if you started on the fifth scale degree of the key of C, (that would be starting on G) and obey the key signature of C (no flats or sharps) that would result in a scale with a lowered 7th scale degree.  In this case, the F# that is normally in the key of G is lowered to an F natural.  This mode, a major scale with a lowered 7th scale degree, is called Mixolydian.

The second class I'm taking is Tonal Analysis.  It is a more in-depth look at sonata form.  More on that later.

pianoFORTE

Going through a burn-out phase of a different sort.  All I feel like doing lately is playing the piano.  I still love my clarinet and saxophone, but for some reason, every time I get a free moment while in my lesson studio, I'll get out the piano books and plonk away.  In college, in addition to the hours and hours spent practicing my instruments like I was supposed to, I would spend some additional time playing whatever I could on the piano.  Maybe I'm reverting.  Anyway, I'm not too concerned at this point, music is music, but I know that I will need to start practicing my clarinet seriously again.  Just kind of enjoying the "down-time." 

Have I told you how a piano works?  Well, the keys on the keyboard are attached to a sort of lever that is attached to a hammer.  When the key is pressed down, the hammer is made to go up and hit the string.  Because pianos were developed during a time when keyboard instruments could not easily make dynamic (loud and soft) distinction, it was termed the "pianoforte."  Hitting the key hard will get a loud sound, because the string is hit with the hammer with more force.  Hitting the key gently produces a soft sound, for the opposite reason.

Oom-pah-pah

In the last post I told you that I'd show you some common circus instruments.  Most of them you've seen in other places.  You know, the usual suspects of band music: cornets, trombones, clarinets, drums.  But, holding down the bass end of these groups are tubas.  Tubas were used before other bass instruments were widely available, and were popular because, in comparison to a string bass or a piano, they were portable.

At the Circus Museum I found a few displays with the older, retired instruments.  Of course, I got a picture:

You can see the cornet on the left, lower corner, a saxophone and, in the upper right, is a helicon tuba.

Here is a closer view:

A helicon tuba is the direct predecessor to the sousaphone, which was developed by march king John Phillip Sousa.  The helicon is a type of marching tuba, designed to wrap around the player's body, making it easier to carry and play while walking around.  Sousa redesigned the helicon so that is was lighter and even easier to march with. 

The helicon is usually a BBb bass pitch, but sometimes was pitched in EEb.  The helicon itself was developed from another instrument called the saxhorn or saxtuba.  (I'll have to wait on the explanation of a saxhorn, because, after some preliminary research, there is a lot behind those horns.)  The saxhorns and saxtubas were used in military bands, and because it was a common band arrangement at that time period, it is logical that circuses would include the same configuration.

Before bass guitars and even before string basses were found in early jazz music, tubas were used.  Because the tubist had to breathe, the feel of that early music is more of a "two-beat".  Once "walking bass" was possible, jazz began to change in feel and style.

A soothing circus march

Still going through the circus museum stuff.  Music is a big part of the circus production.  It attracted audiences to the circus, and the circus depended on large audiences to keep the lights on, so to speak.  Music was used in the parade through town when the circus arrived, accompaning the floats and wagons that rolled down the main drag to the circus site.  Music was neccessary behind daring acrobatics and the clown's comic routines.  It was used pretty much the way you'd think it would be: as a soundtrack for the thrills and spills, the oohs and aahs, the elephants and sideshow freaks.

An interesting fact I learned, though, is that Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever march was a 'disaster' signal.  If something serious happened in the big top, the band would play it and help would come running.

Tune in next time for a look at some old band instruments!  Like the ones seen in this picture!

Loud whistles

Some more circus music knowledge to lay on you!  In one of the halls at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, there was a collection of novelty instruments.  Most were of the hit-with-a-mallet variety, but there were also a couple of calliopes.  A calliope (pronounced cuh-lie-O-pee) is a steam powered instrument.  Kind of like a organ, but instead of pipes, the tubes that the air is forced through is more whistle like.  This creates a less rich, more shrill sound than that of an organ.

Here is a calliope inside one of the wagons.  Calliopes are also loud, and except for note pitch and duration, it's impossible to play with any expressiveness (like dynamics). 

This one travelled all over the country, including some performances with the Barnum circuit.

Really exotic Wisconsin

After a rather lousy beginning, day one in Wisconsin has wound up being a nice day.  While picking up my rental car, I had my truck (BLAZERFORCEONE to the initiated) checked at the next door repair shop.  It was really loud and driving a bit funny.  Long story short, it's an expensive fix, but I need it to drive safely and well...so when I will pick it up later this week, hopefully all is repaired and in good working. 

So, trying to get on with my vacation/road trip, and trying not to get too bummed over how much the past few days has run me in terms of car repair bills, I went to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo.  In addition to riding a real, live elephant (I had mixed feelings about this.  Am I exploiting this animal?), I heard and saw some pretty nifty circus music stuff.

While exploring the circus wagon hall (which sounds a bit boring, but was actually very interesting-and it was cool inside the hall) I found this:

Which was attached to this:

After considering whether or not it actually worked and if I was willing to sacrifice 50 cents to find out, I dropped in some quarters and waited for something to happen.  After a gentle roar of whooshing air, the wagon screamed to life.  I say screamed because these things are LOUD.  It is a band organ.  An automated musical device used to attract attention to circuses as they come into town and create excitement for all possible circus goers.  This was, I must say, the best 50 cents ever spent, as it made me smile like an idiot until the tune ended and a couple other people around me stuck around to investigate how it worked.  I found another one nearby, and a gentleman who watched me turn on the first one turned on this second one.  The one I played had a cheery circus march.  The second one was a medley of waltzes.  Also extremely loud. 

There are several of these types of air controlled, automated machines at the House on the Rock, also in WI, but I'd never really considered their practical use, like in circuses.  They work by air compression, like organs, and reams of cardboard or paper, that control movements of the the mallets and bellows.  Think of the reams of paper used for player pianos, and you'll get an idea about how the movements are controlled.

It is amazing to see something so innocent looking move and animate itself with such glee.  And for a moment, I was able to forget my car woes and enjoy some happy circus music.