14 posts tagged “music”
So, one of the things I’ve gotten to spend some more time with during my – err – sabbatical from gainful employment – is my piano.
For those who’ve been around here a while, you might recall that a couple of years ago, I was stressing about and then actually enjoying learning a little music theory in the last piano class I had before I started taking private lessons.
So, last year, after I’d settled in and developed a bit of rapport with my teacher, I’d described the things I’d liked and not-liked about the classes I had taken. One thing I’d said I’d appreciated (and that maybe it was my analytical-science side coming out) was the introduction to music theory that I’d had – how it helped shaped the way I heard and learned new pieces. She suggested that I start a series of workbooks on music theory for the piano.
I think this series is pretty good, and after a year or so I’m right in the middle of the set. I’ve really enjoyed learning the hows and whys of how a musical composition is put together. We’ve covered meter, scales, keys, intervals, chords, ornaments, motifs and have begun to analyze different compositions for melodic phrase structure. There are also sections for ear training and sight-reading. Altogether, I think they’ve really helped me be a better (and I use this word very generously) musician.
So, of course, reading and dissecting music naturally began to make me curious about how it gets created. Do you start from a motif and build? Do you start with a feeling and go? What are the “rules” that make something sound “good”? And so on…
And so, last month, I started another series: “The Craft of Music Composition”. This also has several levels and naturally I’m starting at the entry level, since I’ve never written music in my life. The first book has a sort of a lead-you-by-the-hand way that takes some of the intimidation out of the idea of putting notes to paper (or notes into Finale’ as the 21st century equivalent might be…) – while learning some of the common techniques used by composers.
I’ve never really considered myself a “creative” person. Insightful, maybe. Analytical, for sure. So composition is way out of my comfort zone – and maybe that’s good. I don’t know that there will be any critical successes coming from my brain, but it sure is fun to sit and plink-plunk-plink at the keys and decide what you think sounds good.
Wish me luck!
This goes out to all those parents sending kids back to the classroom over the next week or two...
Good luck!
One of the things that I know will get a good workout while I’m off is my piano. With a pretty wide-open schedule, there’s really an opportunity to spend some time really getting better (and I mean relatively, I’m not sure I’ll ever be “good”…) at this thing.
The piano is a funny thing. In this digital world, it is a bit of a throwback: wood, wires, cloth, metal, interlocking mechanisms. It is, however, I think one of the world’s original and best gadgets. This thing has thousands of individual parts all operating together.
I read a great book a couple of years ago that describes how Steinway’s big grands are produced.
Bookishly Fabulous had a good rainy-day meme today that I thought I’d copy. The rule is put your iPod on shuffle and write the first line of the song and see if folks in your neighborhood can guess. I chose our “Happy Hour” playlist, which includes songs from the 1940s until today. A few are dead giveaways. The only songs I skipped past were instrumentals (of course).
1. Well, you can’t turn him into a Company Man, and you can’t turn him into a whore… (Last DJ, Tom Petty, Saris)
2. Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away… (Come Fly With Me, Frank Sinatra, Hannahbanana)
3. His head was a city of paper buildings and the echoes that remain…(Long Division, Death Cab For Cutie, Grandma-P)
4. Heading up to San Francisco, for the Labor Day Weekend show… (Come Monday, Jimmy Buffet, Eli's Dad)
5. Come up to meet you, and tell you I’m sorry. You don’t know how lovely you are. (The Scientist, Coldplay, Saris)
6. Well, well, well… here it is again. (Well Well Well, Lucinda Williams.)
7. I may not always love you, but as long as there are stars above you, you never need to doubt it. (God Only Knows, The Beach Boys, Hannahbanana)
8. The lights go out and I can’t be saved… tides that I tried to swim against. (Clocks, Coldplay, Joie)
9. Don’t know why… there’s no sun up in the sky…stormy weather (Stormy Weather, Etta James, Kevin Wolf)
10. I’ve been a long, long way from here. Put on a poncho, played for mosquitoes. (If It Makes You Happy, Sheryl Crow, Little Odd Me)
11. Well, it’s been almost a year to the moment… when I finally realized it was over. (Bleed, Anna Nalick)
12, People… keep on learning. Soldiers… keep on warring… (Higher Ground, Stevie Wonder, Kevin Wolf)
13. I hold you in my arms, as the band plays... (Brilliant Disguise, Bruce Springsteen, Little Odd Me)
14. Here comes the weather… it’s looking like another storm (Angelyne, The Jayhawks)
15. Left behind everything I knew. All the colors are bone-white and sky blue…(Antarctica, The Weepies)
16. If you came to make some trouble, better make it good. (Trouble, Over The Rhine)
17. You keep sayin’ you’ve got something for me… (These Boots Were Made For Walking, Nancy Sinatra, Bookishly Fabulous)
18. So the saying says… an elephant never forgets…(People Have a Lot of Nerve, Neko Case)
19. Sit back, matter-of-fact, tease and toy and turn and chat and charm and hiss and play the crowd (A Million Ways (To Be Cruel), Ok Go)
20. Well, there’s a light in your eye that keeps shining, like a star that can’t wait for the night. (Fool In The Rain, Led Zeppelin, Bookishly Fabulous)
I'll mark them off as they're guessed. Time's up -- good job though -- not many left. Unguessed answers in blue.
One of our networked computers has ~20000 songs loaded up on it... here's what I'll be listening to this afternoon....
So, I’ve been listening to Coldplay’s new album Viva La Vida, and it's ok. To me, it sounds good, but the lyrics banal at best. I think what gets me is that Coldplay sounds like they’re trying to be really deep – and they’re just not. There was a piece in Time a few weeks ago, where it said that the band was the biggest thing going and that they were the rock/pop heir to U2. It also offered sort of the backhand compliment that while many people liked Coldplay, few people loved them.
And so I ask you to weigh in:
Cruising Wikipedia, I noticed that yesterday was Icelandic National Day, which celebrates their independence (in 1944) from Denmark.
To celebrate that (and because this song played on my iPod on the way into work this morning), I thought I’d share a little of my favorite Icelandic export – the band Flis.
And no, I can’t pronounce the name of the song, but I sure would love to play the piano like that someday.
Of course, I’m talking about the new Death Cab For Cutie album, Narrow Stairs, which was released this week – because nothing says cheerful like Death Cab.
By my analysis, the album breaks down like this:
Disillusionment: 3 songs
Empty relationships, settling: 4 songs
Stalking: 1 song (technically two, one radio-version, one long-version)
Life post-break-up/hitting rock-bottom: 2 songs
California wildfires: 1 song
Any yes, the wildfire song is the most uplifting of the bunch.
These songs in general seem more produced than on their last (fantastic) album “Plans”. Overall, it’s a good collection – incorporating the interesting musical twists and carefully wrought lyrics that fans have come to expect.
After my initial listenings, I think it falls a little short of “Plans” because this collection lacks enough examples of the wry-dark-humor so well captured in songs like “Someday (You Will Be Loved)” and “Crooked Teeth”.
My early favorites are the stalkerriffic song, “I Will Possess Your Heart” (which has been pre-releaesed for a little while) and a great song “Cath…” about a bride settling for an empty marriage.
Grab yourself a couple fingers of scotch and hope that you don’t recognize yourself in this album’s songs.
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