Making Music Essential

I have this romantic ideal of what making music should be like.  There is always seems to be some reason that I can’t spend my days living the bohemian lifestyle of the independent composer.  You know, things like bills, providing for a family, the need to shower, etc.

One thing that I can always count on, is that the orchestra playing in my head always plays for free.  After my “real” job is over, I can always come home and forget that I have any responsibilities in the world, and write music all afternoon long.  That is, until my bedtime of 7:30.

Why do I go on and on about this you ask?  Well, I have recently realized that music is often better and more satisfying when written, performed, and/or heard when found in the cracks of time one finds in their day.  When I have an hour or so to write music, I turn out a better product than if I had all day to do it.  There is something about having to concentrate your energies over a short period of time that will draw on resources that you didn’t know were there.  The bohemian lifestyle that I have always wanted to live is right here under my nose.  It has been here the whole time.  Every time I think that I have lost it, it comes back to help me work out all the musical frustrations I have gathered.

This all leads me to probably the most important aspect of my philosophy of music; maybe even the central core of it:  Music by any means necessary.  It is the central theme of this blog, and what drives me to exist within music as much as possible.  The bohemian existence is essential to any musician who wishes to gather enough experience in order to make put something real into the music they are creating.  The same is true for the music listener.  It falls on them to place their own desires, experiences, and emotion in to the music listening experience.

I guess all there is to say about this simple concept is that one should always carry music with them.  Create instances that they can bring that music out either by creating it, or listening to it.  The only difficulty is remembering that I have time to do it.  There will always be time enough to appreciate the majesty of the musical moment.

Was that a cheesy enough tag line for you?

Goodbye August, Hello September

Wow…what a summer.

In two words:  TOO SHORT.  I don’t feel like I have had much of a vacation from school at all.  I won’t bore you with the details of my summer, or what I have done toward being ready for school in September.  If you want to read about that, visit my other blog bandguys.wordpress.com.

It has been a musical reawakening for me this month.  I have been writing a lot of new music lately.  I have been getting into Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 quite a lot lately.  What a marvel of mid-twentieth century fare!  I particularly like the size o fthe group.  It creates such an interesting texture to have such few instruments.  I am finding patterns in his music that intrigue me.  His choice to change meter at certain times is interesting, and his orchestration is awesome.

Enough….my nerd gland almost ruptured…….

I find myself attracted to mid-twentieth composers of all kinds; I always have.  I think my musical psyche is just drawn naturally that way.  Growing up, I was mostly epxposed to earlier styles of music (baroque and renaissance), and the obligitaory romantic standards.  My parents were no lovers of Opera, and mostly listened to sacred music or 1950-1960’s pop music.  Somehow, out of all of that, I ended up with an ear for Schoenberg, Stravinski, Zappa, Copland, and Britten.  Beethoven will always have a special place in my heart, but the other neo-romantics and modernists have always intrigued me.  Not that I’m complaining.

I have been thinking aobut my philosophy of music, music-making, creating music, etc.  I will not share it with you here.  At least, not all at once.  The first thing I discovered about trying to nail down a singular philosophy of music for yourself, is that it is like trying to nail a glass of water to a tree….it is foolish.  **(Interesting analogy I think)**

What I will try and do is give little snippets of what music is to me, and why it holds the place in my life that it does.

Here is one facet of my philosophy:  Music is about speaking a universal emotional language.  Don’t let silly western rules of melody and harmonic progression get in the way.

That may sound funny coming from someone who just declared his enthusiasm for Schoenberg, the master of control and rule-making.  I do not mean to imply that I would like to go the way of John Cage and adopt a completely aleatoric method of music making.  That just isn’t me.  I mean to say that I think one ought to find what rules they are drawn to, and feel free to break them.  Schoenberg rejected the idea of traditional musical rules and theory as being the end all in musical construction and technique.  He knew there was more out there, and new ways of communicating himself to the world.  He found it alright.

I, on the other hand, do not want to invent something new.  I just want to become masterful at using what materials I have at my disposal.

More musings to be told….but too tired to write them down.

Michael Jackson

You know when people say “I swear I wouldn’t do this,” when they  cry at a funeral?  Well, I didn’t say that today; I said I didn’t KNOW I would do this.  There were more than a few times I was teary during the broadcast of the Michael Jackson’s funeral.  I thought it was well done, classy and artistic.  There didn’t seem to be anyone there who was simply trying to enterprise on Jackson’s death to further their careers.  I normally don’t get emotional at funerals, but this one seemed different somehow.  Whenever they played music sung by Michael, I felt the loss of a great superstar.  Whenever they sung music by him, I felt the loss of a great musical force.  And whenever they spoke of him, I felt the loss of a great human being.

Now, I am no saint.  I had my doubts about his dealings in his personal life.  I tried my best to keep them at bay during the many trials he went through, remembering that this was hard for him and those that accused him.  I still don’t know whether I believe him or them, but today it doesn’t matter.

It didn’t happen to me.  I can’t judge the situation.  I mustn’t be involved.

As for his humanitarianism.  It is undeniable.  It didn’t need to do the things he did and give the money he did for any other reason than he felt he had to.  It had nothing to do with public relations, or managing his image.  He didn’t publicize the charity events he put on, or the many outings he made or the benefit of others.  At least I am not aware of an egotistical drive to meddle in the lives of others.  I don’t beleive he felt that way.  I believe he had a simple, straight-forward goal of leaving this world better than how he found it.

Thank you.

Hello Sweet, Sweet Summer!

I think I am having the perfect evening.  So perfect in fact, that I had to blog about it before it faded into the ether….

I am sitting at dusk in my house with my wonderful family, listening to a Wind Ensemble transcription of Bach’s O Mensch chorale.  AND I had lasagna for dinner.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  Not even the fact that I have to get up and go to school tomorrow (during Summer break, no less) is getting my spirits down.

I feel the need to discuss our man Bach.  This is one of my favorite chorales that he wrote.  I mean, let’s face it, he wrote a billion chorales, and I like a dozen or so, but this is one of my favorites. To me, Bach is more than a master composer.  He is a titan of music.  More than a demigod, but a full-fledged heavenly body of musical proportions.  Music flowed out of him on a scale unheard of today.  He wrote and improvised with such ease it was like breathing for him.  I could only dream of such a talent.  As a matter of fact, Bach had more than talent, it was if he thought through music.  He didn’t think like the rest of us.  Nature had provided him with the facility to think musically as if it were a sixth sense.  Ah, but I wax romantic…

I was listening to NPR the other day and there was a classical music critic talking about what song he was going to play for his new born son the minute he walked threw the door.  If you don’t have any kid you wouldn’t understand, but this is a big moment for anyone who is a massive music nerd.  I mean, you potentially inspire genius in this little bundle of potential.  It made me think back to when my son was born in 2006, of having the same dilemma. He chose Bach because of the absolute mastery and balance found within its hallowed verses.  I went another route.

Long story short I chose the entirety of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.  Of course, I considered the mastery of Bach or Brahms, the balance of Mozart, the simplicity of Haydn, or the wild abandon of Strauss, Berlioz, or Liszt.  I chose the genius of Beethoven because I consider myself to be a Beethoven fanatic, and have become enamored with his passion.  It may be that I chose him also because of how much I know of him.  All I know is that Beethoven blows minds, melts faces, and busts guts.

Over the past thee years, I have exposed Benjamin to a multitude of other composers and styles of music.  For now, he is sticking to Twinkle, Twinkle and London Bridge.

It was a day…

It was a day to say the least.  School was crazy, the students were crazy, I WENT crazy…

That is okay, I guess.  I had some deep conversation with a few students about music, so that made up for the craziness (I had a whiteboard fall…that was fun).

Our conversation and three focusses (foci?…):

1.  What is a “key”?

2.  What is the purpose of harmony?

3.  What is performance?

I could go on for days about all three of these topics, but I will answer them all here very simply:

1.  A “key” is a perspective;

2.  The purpose of harmony is to add emotional bang-for-your-buck (depth of perception);

and

3.  Performance is the internalization and telling of a music story.

I will let these three ideas marinate before I blog about them.  More to come….

A tough question

I student asked me today…out of the blue…”Why did you get into music?”

It took me by surprise.  One, why was this student even interested in the first place?  Second, I didn’t think I could answer the question.  In the first place, when you work with teenagers all day, every day, it is easy to become cynical about the attitudes and world view of teenagers.  Fortunately, that attitude is usually proved wrong.

On the other hand, I couldn’t answer the question outright.  Why did I become a musician and not an auto-mechanic?  Besides the obvious lack of ability in putting a sandwich together, let alone a car – I don’t know.  I mean, I could learn how to be a mechanic.  I know it has something to do with desire to become something.  But, where does that come from?  Is it genetic?  Is it environmental?  How could I find out?

It is important to start at the beginning.  First, I was born.  This is significant because I believe that when you are born you are a blank slate for the most part.  Obviously, everyone is born with certain instincts to keep them alive, and some physical and mental benefits such as big muscles, or a big brain.  Those are just tools though.  It still requires someone to nurture you in a particular direction.

This is where one can go wrong.

Let’s say, for example that your a new parent and your staring this new born baby in the face, and thinking, “What is this baby going to become?”  In most cases, the next thoughts dwell consciously or subconsciously on your own failures and struggles in life.  You become determined that this baby will be the first person in history to go through life without those missteps and stumbles.  Pure folly.

The fact is that it is the missteps and stumbles that accrue to create experience and enrich life.  If you were sheltered from those things that we see as being set-backs, you wouldn’t really achieve anything.  You wouldn’t have the benefit of those mistakes to grow from.

OK – back to being a brand new parent.

After you struggle with reliving your own mistakes, you decide what it was that you wanted to be when you were young and unspoiled, and decide that, since this is your kid, he/she will want the same things.  WRONG. Or, at least potentially wrong.  The world is filled with those notorious “Stage Moms and Dads” that we like to watch on reality TV so much.  The inevitable “living through your kids” syndrome.  In reality, it is OK to live through your kids a little.  As long as you don’t stop living your own life too.  The trick is to keep a healthy distance from their life.

In my childhood, I was fortunate enough to have parents that didn’t overtly puch me in any direction.  They simply wanted me to succeed.  That being the case, they continued to enjoy the things that they always enjoyed which was music.  This provided me with an environment filled with music, which I became naturally attracted to.  I think that nature provided me with some facilities that helped music become part of my personality.  Science has provided evidence that suggests that people that have brains with certain facilities greater than others will have talents that are stronger than others.

Let me carefully explain this, so you don’t think I am setting up some weird “I’m smarter than you are” argument.

It is a fact that music uses both hemispheres of the brain.  So it stands to reason that foks with a more developed Corpus Collosum (the part of the brain that is the go between of the two halves of the brain) might be more musically talented.  That is not to say that those that do not have this facility built in are doomed to a music-less life.  Just that they might have to spend more time practicing something to get it right.  Nothing wrong with having to spend more time doing what you love!

So, I think I was born into a musical environment and developed certain musical instincts as a result.  In addition, I believe that all babies have the facility for emotion, and I think that music was a way for me to communicate those emotions more readily than speech.  If you have ever spoken with me, you would know that the spoken or written word is not my immediate forte, as this post is evidence.

I you take all of this into consideration, I can say that I am a musician because I was born to be one.

Well….it’s been a year, and Ive decided to blog on…

It’s the end of my second year of teaching music.  What can I say…I’m glad it’s the END of my sedond year.

I haven’t blogged in a long time.  I have found myself getting mired in depression, anxiety, and caught up in the negative press the has been around the blog-o-sphere.  Let me explain that last comment.

It seems that whenever I hear of some high and mighty “news journalist” talk about blogging, it is in the pretense that “Any rube with a computer can put him/herself out on the internet…thus there is a ton of crap out there”.  Well, this idiot has some things to say that might interest other people.  Namely my sister who the only person who reads this blog.  Be that as it may, my sister kicks ass, and I don’t care that she is my only intersted reader.  The other thing that has been keeping me away is the factr that when I get dpressed, I tend to shy away from activities that are seemingly contrived, or better yet, pointless.

I am trying to come out of my year long funk by force.  I am going to hi-jack my psyche, and tell it to get over whatever is keeping it down.  I am just plain tired of it.

So, let’s go through what I have learned in this year away from the blogging havens:

1.  Yes, it is possible for me to get fatter;

2.  It turns out that when I get backed into a corner, I fold;

3.  The friends I had in highschool were actually REALLY great people;

4.  I can still play drums…sort of;

5.  My brother is good enough to go to a major American music conservatory;

6.  I still am not;

7.  I am still working on the same projects I was a year (or more) ago;

8.  I still hate reality T.V., and my wife still enjoys it;

9.  I don’t have that many interesting things to talk about, but I am starting to come to terms with it;

10.  I drink too much Diet Coke.

Looking over this list, I see that some of it seems like I feel pretty darn sorry for myself…well, someone has to feel sorry for me (JOKING).  I really don’t, but sometimes when I look inside myself for things to say, there aren’t a ton of great things there to talk about.  It is a simple fact of observation, not a winey complaint.  I might as well be honest with you (my sister, and only reader).

There are a couple more observation I could make, but I need to save more stuff for later posts.  And, don’t worry, they won’t all be like this one.  I always recover.

Recording your band…where to start?

After going through the hectic and trying times of recording some applicants to the All-State Band, only to find out that none of them made it, I decided to purchase some recording equipment to get as high quality as I can.  I am convinced that the reason that some students did not make the cut was because of the recording quality.  The fact that this factors in is for another blog-rant, so I will spare you.

Where do I start?  What do other directors use?  I have been looking online for something affordable and I have found a few items:

1.  Zoom H2 Handy Two-Track Recorder.  This device is an all in one set up.  It has a left-right-mid mic set up, so you supposedly get a stereo recording.  The nice thing about it is that it is all self-contained.  The recording controls are on this device, as are the mics.  Also, it comes with a USB output so you can dump the recording onto your Mac or PC (more on this in a minute).

2.  Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic:  $87.95 (Amazon).  This is just a microphone.  You would have to lug it into your laptop or desktop computer, but it would deliver a decent sound.  I hesitate at its price.  I have purchased microphones before, and this price seems a bit low.  I would not want to buy it, wait for it to be delivered, then regret it.  This is just one of two pages of results I found when I searched for “microphones USB”.  Here is the link for the page of results:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_etk_ce_av_/002-4711038-4340050?url=search-alias%3Daudio-video&field-keywords=microphones+USB&x=0&y=0

3.  Audacity:  (FREEWARE).  I have been using this program for years.  It is easy to use, and it includes powerful editing features.  Sure, you can buy other programs to edit (Peak, Cakewalk, etc.) but those programs have a ton of other stuff you really don’t need when it comes to making a decent all state or audition recording of your band.  Audacity will record your track, display a sound wave, and allow you to fade in, fade out, splice out bad clicks or pops, record multiple layers, and a bunch of other stuff.  It is a free download from audacity.sourceforge.net.  Keep in mind that you will need to download something called the “lame lib” if you want to convert your recording to an .mp3.  If you guys want me to, I will do a post on how to use Audacity later.

That is all I have found that has made it on my potential shopping list.  There is a ton of crap out there, so be careful.

I am a naughty, naughty man…

I have negelected you….my adoring reader. For that, I am sorry.

I have been busy finishing my first year of teaching high school music, and have found it, well, busy. I well return…oh yes….I WILL return!

God Bless the OSO!

I did something I never thought I would do. I promised myself that this would never happen: I quit. I didn’t quit my job or my marriage or anything dramatic like that. I quit the Olympia Symphony Orchestra. There is a small chance that I will finish the season, but I am definitely not coming back for the next season.

There aren’t any hard feelings at all. As a matter of fact, I feel honored to have been a part of its development into a first class, first rate orchestra. It is this very reason that I cannot continue as its principal percussionist. True, I am going to miss the rehearsals, the conductor (the Great Huw Edwards), and the camaraderie that I felt with some of its members. But the orchestra is moving past that of a casual, community group and into the fast paced, tense world of the professional orchestra. It isn’t that I couldn’t make it work. My abilities as a musician are not in question. It is the fact that I am a first time band director in a school that needs 110% of my attention, and I feel that if I spent one more ounce of my energy than I already do on the group, I would be neglecting my students. That is something I will not do.

Even more important than my students is my son. I have a two-year old that spent almost the entire weekend with relatives so my wife and I could participate in the last concert. I cannot let this time slip by! I missed him terribly while I was gone, and the only time I had with him, he was asleep. It seems like between the orchestra, and my job, I never see him. Since I cannot scale back work to accommodate, and we need the income, I had to let the only thing that was not contributing to my familial situation…yes, you guessed it…the orchestra.

Let me give another example. The next concert happens to fall on a weekend that some of my students will be in Ellensburg competing in the State Solo competition. I CANNOT miss this opportunity to support them. I missed the Regional competition because of another district obligation (not to mention there was a symphony rehearsal that day as well), so I would have to neglect the orchestra anyway. I might as well make it a clean cut.