The Glass Mausoleum

Lilith: A Sketch for Piano and Timepiece

2010-09-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

As promised, let's talk about one of the pieces coming up on the September 30th concert. Over the summer, I came up with character and plot ideas that I hope to turn into a novel one day. One of the major characters of this novel is Lilith, and she is the subject of my latest solo work for piano.

What you need to know about Lilith is that she is a woman who lacks any emotion. I don't mean this in the typical "suppresses her emotions in an effort to appear strong or avoid being hurt" fashion. I mean this woman's mind cannot process even a hint of feeling, good or bad. In this piano sketch, I sought to portray this aspect of Lilith's character.

First, I developed a motive, a set of four notes spaced a tenth apart that could not be easily interpreted as light or dark. My aim from this point was to develop this four note motive somehow, but then something occurred to me. Any sort of development, any change to these four notes would reflect some sort of color-shift. For a piece that seeks to have no discernible color, this would be counter-productive. At the same time though, I would be cheating my listeners to simply repeat the motive throughout the piece.

The solution? The notes in the motive are ordered in 24 possible permutations over the course of the piece. Then, to ensure that the piece lacks any rhythmic interest, the notes are played exactly 2 seconds apart from one another. Slap on a measure sustaining the final note and a measure containing 13 seconds of silence and the net result is a 3'33" piece "sans émotion."

Naturally, the piece requires a timepiece, in my case an iPod, to keep track of the precision counting, and since the performer has to keep such a close eye on the timer, the music must be memorized. This presents an interesting difficulty, as the piece's monotony does not lend itself very well to memorization. The easiest way to memorize the piece is to memorize the permutation pattern and execute it in performance. In other words, it takes math! This must be accomplished while watching the timer like a hawk. The piece takes a lot of focus and meditation, and that's what I love about it in the end.

Lilith will be premiered at the September 30th Project 21 concert, details for which are listed in my previous entry. I hope to see you all there!

Speaking of math, here's an awesome electronic piece I stumbled on that's based on granular synthesis.

P.S. If you like the picture above, it's not a person. It's a doll! Check out the artist's page here!

Back from hiatus.

2010-09-19T20:25:00.000-05:00

So, I pretty much took the summer off from blogging to work my butt off, but I'm settled into school right now and ready to get things going again. Sorry for my absence.

A lot of creative stuff has gone on since my last entry. Of course I'm still working on that song cycle, (more on that later.) But, in the meantime, I've completed a piano sketch titled Lilith and a song for The Glass Puppet titled "To Echo." I'll get around to talking about these pieces individually, but for now I want to mention the biggest, most recent bit of news.

I've been selected to write a live cello underscoring for TheatreOCU's production of Othello. It will be a massive project for the amount of time I have to compose it, but I'm excited about it. I'll keep this project updated as well.

A date you need to know: September 30th is the first Project 21 concert of the year, and my new piano sketch and song will both be featured. The concert will be held at 8 pm in the Medium Rehearsal Hall of OCU's Bass School of Music. It should be exciting stuff!

Anyways, I may post again as soon as tonight, but I've got to run for now. Stay tuned for lots more!

A New Glimmer of an Idea

2010-04-23T14:40:00.000-05:00

It's been too long. Naturally, it's the end of the semester's fault. I haven't had much free time, if any, to post anything. That, and I'm running short on time to compose, so I haven't had any new material to talk about. I'm only posting right now, because I'm waiting to present my Theory Analysis Paper at Undergraduate Research Day, and they're running a little behind. It should be cool. It just needs to go faster.

Turns out, I do in fact have something musical to discuss. In addition to a musical and ballet, I now have an idea for a song cycle I want to write. The truth is, I can't discuss it much, because I don't know enough about it yet, but what I do know I will tell you.

The song cycle will be for solo soprano, piano, and track, and I'm in the process of concocting a mythological story line to base it on. The soprano will represent the main character and will narrate the story. What I have so far of the story is a woman who jumps off a ship to escape an unwanted marriage and undergoes an inner journey of transformation. I'm playing around with the idea of composing in an electronica style for the track, but I still have to get to developing material, so I won't know for sure until then.

In other news, the performance of "II. Hearts" went extremely well, and I'll be letting everyone know once I make the recording available. Additionally, I finished composing the opening number for "The Glass Puppet", and while I've had to take a break from the musical since then, it should prove to be an amazing jump start.

I think that's basically all I have to say right now. I imagine once the summer rolls around I'll have a lot more to talk about. I have so much music to work on. It's terribly wonderful!

And at that, I'll leave you with an entertaining video, as always.

P.S. If you like the image above . . . I have no idea who the artist is.

II. Hearts, Glassblowers of Time. A Narrative.

2010-04-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

So, back towards the beginning of the year, I gave you an extensive look at the second movement of "Joker's Interlude" before I'd even composed it. Well, for some time, it's actually been a completed work, but only yesterday did I get a first reading of it. In light of this event, and actually for the benefit of my performers, I will give you all a fresh look at this piece. Now, my first explanation of this piece was an interpretation. Today, I’d like to give you more of a narration. If you want to read about the background, context, and overall message of the piece, read here. Otherwise, I’ll get right into it.

The piece begins with a section titled “Condensation”. A glass bell is rung seven times in a passage marked “Meditativo senza tempo” or “Meditative without time.” After the ringing dies away, the tonic note pours from a wine glass and then is doubled a major second above. This sweet sounding but penetrating harmony is held for long enough to cleanse the ear’s palate of all other sounds and we begin to enter the dream.

The mystical scale on which the piece is based glissandos downward from the harp. The glissandi are performed with cards to give a slight pop to each note sounded, imitating pattering rain. Underneath this trickling, a four note motive oozes in various forms from the violin, cello, and oboe. These offset variations play harmony for just a moment before fading away underneath the trickling harp, leaving bare the two glass notes which never ceased to vibrate. The two notes shrink back to the tonic, over which the bell rings seven more times and the four note motive rings distantly from card-plucked piano strings.

Here, bubbling triplet figures rise gently from the harp, punctuated by plucks from the piano. After this foreshadowing has faded, the piano takes up the triplets and begins to churn them from their slow tempo. Once the tempo has reached its peak, a sustained noted from the cello regularly repeats like a heartbeat above the churning piano. Gradually, the violin and oboe join this heartbeat, building harmonically. The harp plays a dancing melodic line and the wine glasses sound the four note motive.

The energy of this section increases until the harp and piano break the repetition with an ascending figure that climaxes with a majestic shout of the four note motive. This shout is followed by more churning energy from the other instruments, and after one final shout, this energy fades away, and what is left underneath is the familiar major second from the wine glasses.

The second section “Transformation” begins here. Marked “Oceanico senza tempo”, a repeating set of watery chords washes over the wine glass resonance in 7/4 time. These chords sound with unceasing repetition and at an incredibly slow rate. Above these unfaltering waves of sound, a serene, expansive melody sings forth from the oboe. This melody, though as infinitely slow as the waves underneath, seems to fly freely through evolving rhythmic variation.

Once the oboe has sung its song, the waves take an altered form. The piano uses the original watery chords, but rather than sounding every beat of the 7/4 measure, sounds only the first, fourth and fifth. This breaks the measure into a “3-1-3” beat pattern, like trinity reflected in a mirror of unity. It is over this new wave pattern that the violin responds to the oboe with a transposition of the previous melody. This new melody makes different choices rhythmically, but remains in slow motion.

At the end of this melody, the tonic rings once again from the wine glasses followed soon by the major second. Above this resonance, the violin ascends and slows rhythmically until it reaches its peak. This celestial note combines with the wine glasses to create a suspension that is held for a full seven beats before releasing into silence.

Here, an aleatoric passage begins. It is a simplistic and meditative two measures both of which are comprised of four notes. The first four descend and are repeated seven times. The second four ascend and are repeated three times. These last four notes represent the starkest break from the definitive scale of the piece.

After this simple and spacious passage completes itself, the final section "Ascension" begins. The harp and piano sound the same "3-1-3" pattern, the harp recalling the watery chords of the previous section, and the piano reinterpreting the notes from the aleatoric passage. Surrounding this pattern, the oboe, violin, and cello sound different transpositions of the four note motive which play harmony, as at the opening of the piece. Underneath all this, the wine glasses bloom into their major second one last time.

The four note motives and the wine glasses crescendo as the piano and harp diminuendo. After three measures, all but the harp and piano disappear like dross, leaving a chord of pure glass. This chord sounds the “3-1-3” pattern for three more measures, joined in the second by the ringing of the bell. On the seventh measure of “Ascension” and on the seventh ring of the bell, the glass chord sounds one last time and decays into eternity.

And that is a narration of “II. Hearts, Glassblowers of Time.” Thanks for reading. The piece will be premiered at Project 21’s last concert of the semester on April 16th; see my myspace under "upcoming shows" for details. Again, I would highly suggest reading the interpretation of "II. Hearts" to get a fuller idea of what it all means. I’ll be sure to post again when the concert gets a little bit closer, just as a reminder. I know this is going to be a great premiere, and I thank all of you for your support.

If you like the image above, check out the artist's deviantART page!

Full recording of "Elysia" on youtube!

2010-03-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

It took a long time, but I posted my entire piano/marimba duet on youtube with colorful accompanying visuals in honor of the duets' premiere on March 25th. Check it out. I promise it will be worth your time. I suggest viewing the big screen on youtube to get the full effect. Also, don't forgot to subscribe while you're there. There will be much more to come.

The Best Ideas Come at Night!

2010-03-23T02:22:00.000-05:00

I've had an idea!

What I most get a kick out of from this blog is exactly what I would get shot for if I were a magician, telling everyone how I did it! Believe or not, I often don't even know how I get from A to B in composing until I process my thoughts on this blog. It's very helpful for clarity and archiving, and as an added bonus you all get an inside scoop on my music. So, here's my idea.

I have a number of previously composed works about which I haven't written. I'd like to go back to these pieces "posthumously" and create detailed descriptions of each. This way I will ultimately have an archive of every work I've composed so far! It will take some time, but I can't wait to get started.

Of course this will carry on along with the upcoming setting of "Jabberwocky", which I will be sure to keep updated. I love having lots to create. One can never get bored this way!

So, I hope you keep up with your reading. I'll be sure to keep writing! Look for my next entry soon!

P.S. I revamped my youtube page, so check it out. I'm still waiting on a few recordings which I plan to upload, and I'm playing with the idea of vlogging as well as blogging. Anyways, please subscribe, and I promise to keep it interesting.

P.P.S. The sketch above is totally mine!

P.P.P.S. (New P.S. record!) Eric Whitacre's latest virtual choir performance just came out, and I think it's spectacularly put together. It's also a great performance considering none of the singers can hear each other. Go Whitacre!

Elysia Premiere this Thursday!

2010-03-22T13:29:00.000-05:00

The title explains most of what you need to know. "Elysia", the sketch I've been blogging about considerably over the past month, will be premiered in a Project 21 concert on March 25th at 8:00 pm in Petree Recital Hall at Oklahoma City University's Bass School of Music. I will be at the piano, and composer/percussionist Joseph Craven will perform the marimba. If you ever need a reminder, check my upcoming shows on myspace.

In other news, I'm on twitter now, and I'm looking for people to follow and vice versa. Follow my page and I'll keep you updated.

Sadly, that's all I have to talk about today. I've been busy with preparing this sketch for the concert on thursday, so I haven't gotten around to newer projects, but you can be sure that they will come around soon. One thing of which you can be sure is that "Jabberwocky" will be entertaining. I've developed some clever ideas for the piece, and I'm excited about working with them.

I'll leave it at that. Don't forget. Check out Thursday's concert. I've been told that this may be Project 21's best semester of concerts yet. I'd hate to miss it.

Well I'll see you there.

P.S. This is the absolute funniest fail video I've seen in a while. You will not regret watching this.

Friends to support!

2010-03-15T02:09:00.000-05:00

Hey, I'm doing something different today. My blog is usually all about my music, but today I have some wonderful people who need support, and I want to do what I can for them. Here in a second, I'm going to ask you to simply view a couple of youtube videos (aka just open the video to give it a view, you don't even have to watch it if you don't have time.) First, if you want to know who these people are and why you should help them, here's a short summary of both cases.

First case, two church buds from back when I was in Jr. High are in a video contest to, get this, win an engagement ring. I may be melodramatic, but that's a noble cause if ever I heard one. Their youtube parody "Ring in a Box" needs as many views as it can get.

Second case, fellow OCU student and youtube artist some of you may know, Arielle O'Keefe has entered the Ingrid Michaelson "Everybody" contest, and if you've heard her performances, you know she deserves to go far in this. Her video also needs views like crazy.

So here are both videos. Click on them! Watch them if you can. Even spread the word if you're as crazy as me.

"Elysia: A Sketch for Piano and Marimba"

2010-03-11T19:12:00.000-06:00

Oh happy day! How long did it take me? A week? I've thoroughly outdone myself this time. Of course I'd better get used to having to finish pieces quickly. It's just part of life, for a composer anyways.

Minus the fact that I'm meeting with a percussionist tonight to discuss any passages that need changing, my piano/marimba duet is finished. Elysia is the name of the lead character from a ballet cantata I hope to write in the future, and I've called this duet "a sketch" because it is basically a fragmented summary of this character's development through the course of the ballet.

Before I talk more about the duet itself, you have to know about my ideas for the ballet. The ballet is set in a sort of prehistoric fantasy realm, (by prehistoric I don't mean cavemen and dinosaurs, I just mean before history). Elysia is a young girl who lives sheltered in a lush and luminous forest where essentially her whole world is her playground. Having grown up under these paradisal conditions, she is too naive to understand what "bad" is. In many ways she is still a child, although she has matured in her capacity for compassion and selflessness through looking after the living things that surround her.

Her sanctuary is penetrated when a stranger appears in her forest and in a "pied piper" fashion lures Elysia by an elegant melody, which is augmented by her intense curiosity. The stranger brings Elysia to the gate that has sheltered her all her life. She has never ventured this far, but although she is apprehensive, she cannot resist her wonder or the seduction of the music. She makes the earth-shaking decision to venture outside of her forest, and upon passing through the gate her perception of life is turned on its head. She is thrown suddenly into the outside world, which is harsh, cold, and dying. Without a sun in the sky, and now separated from the glow of her forest, the world is shrouded in eternal night.

The stranger turns out to have been an agent appointed to fetch Elysia once she had come of age. Previously unknown to her, she is in fact sacred to the people of the outside world, who have been waiting for this time to come. Finally ready to leave the paradise appointed for her safety, she is intended as a ritual sacrifice to revive the world, as was every member of her race before her.

I won't reveal the story line beyond this point, but what you should know is that there are three major movements to Elysia's development as a character. She begins in her ideal state of naivety, optimism, and playful joy. Then, facing the prospect of death and unable to return home, she is emotionally shattered and plagued by despair. It is from this state that she eventually rises to meet her fate with a victorious, selfless spirit. Believe it or not, you can't glean the ending from this.

But, this is as much as you need to know to understand the duet, because its three sections "sketch out" Elysia's transformation. The material I used to compose the piece will likely be used in some form or another in the final ballet, but the piece itself will not be quoted directly. You can sum the piece up as three snapshots of Elysia's life based on melodic material intended for the ballet.

Now, for some of the strictly musical aspects of Elysia. The piece is one movement, although divisible into three ideas. The first idea, Elysia's paradise, begins with a slow, shimmering introduction with contrapuntal melodic fragments that imitate twittering birds, rustling leaves, or what have you. All melodies and harmonies are based on a tone set which I selected to give the piece a blue-green sound (completely subjective, I know.) The slow segment suddenly bursts into Elysia's theme of playful innocence, employing frequent time signature changes and offbeat accents. The main melody is tossed between the piano and marimba and one always doubles the other at some dissonant interval, usually a seventh or ninth, giving the music a slightly unrefined, ancient timbre.

After a short moment of silence at the end of this segment the marimba quietly rolls the harmonic underpinning of the first segment, but in a much lower register, giving it a new feeling of sadness. This begins the second idea, which is Elysia's despair. Here, above the rolled chords, similar contrapuntal fragments to the opening behave as distant echoes of happiness, as if Elysia were taking refuge in memories of her former life. However, these gradually fade and are supplanted by a despondent variation of her theme, which in turn fades to silence.

From the silence begins to arise the third idea. An ascending ostinato on the marimba, hesitant and barely perceptible, slowly takes shape and becomes steadily more confident. Above the ostinato is iterated a new melody, which breaks the tone set of the previous ideas and trades 9th and 7th doubling for octaves. The melody borrows from the opening theme of the Rite of Spring, signifying a rising sun and the birth of new life, as well as the main melody from Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, dedicated to the new world. After the melody is stated in part and comes to silence, the marimba ostinato is heard faintly, but now with unwavering resolve. Over time it grows more fiery and jubilant, and the melody returns in full. From here the ostinato and melody develop alongside one another and ascend without falter to a spacious and energetic climax, as if dancing in midair. After achieving this climax, all sound comes to a sudden halt. Then there is a momentary shimmer, which darts in and out of the silence at unpredictable intervals. After this moment of wonder, like a spark trying to catch fire, the shimmering begins an unceasing crescendo which culminates in the final triumphant note, closing the piece.

Its a mouthful, but I'm proud of it, so I had to share it with you. The premiere will be with Project 21 on March 25th at 8pm, and I hope to get a quality recording out of it. So, I'll leave you with that. I can't wait to hear this live. Everybody wish me luck, because I'll be covering the piano part.

P.S. To give a you a little picture of the artistic color of Elysia, watch the cartoon below. It first inspired me to write the ballet, and it shares the same theme of life, death, and renewal which characterizes Elysia.

P.P.S. If you like the picture above, check out the artist's deviantART page

They're Relentless!

2010-03-05T02:06:00.000-06:00

I have yet another project on my hands, so I'm really having to rethink the order in which I'm composing these pieces. Here's an update for you.

The oboe solos, which I've titled Sketches of Pan are almost complete! The last two movements are composed, and my immediate project is to finish the first one, which will hopeful get done over the weekend. The movement titles are as follows.

I. The Giant Toad

II. The Pale Man

III. The Faun

To anyone who hasn't seen Pan's Labyrinth, there is really no coherence to these character pieces. If you have seen the movie, then you know what I'm talking about.

As for my setting of "Jabberwocky", I'm still in the preparation stages, aka, I've finished reading Alice in Wonderland and am currently reading Through the Looking Glass to familiarize myself with Lewis Carroll's style as well the context of the poem. I still plan to score the piece for marimba and singers, although I'm still not sure which voice types/how many. It will come, but I have a lot on my plate, so I'm sticking to reading for now.

For anyone who caught my Facebook updates, it's Joker's Interlude that's making the biggest advancement. I've scored II. Hearts from top to bottom and am now in the "cleaning up" process. I hope to have it performance ready in time for an April concert, so be on the lookout.

Something I haven't mentioned in depth yet is the hard work I've been putting into my musical The Glass Puppet. I finally decided an instrumentation one day and got to composing some of the billions of ideas I've gleaned over the years, and I'm well into the opening number "Blasted Days of School." So far, it's scored for a small handbell choir, chimes, and two pianos, and of course our singers. It's been quite a ride already, and I can't wait to see where it goes, so I'll keep you all posted.

Now, my "yet another project" arose out of a recent necessity. I discovered that the oboist who was going to perform my Sketches couldn't make the particular concert date I had in mind. So, since I can't go a single concert without presenting, I've decided to compose something new from some material I haven't gotten a chance to use. It's a melody/harmonic experiment I started where, basically, I determine a set of playable tones from the keyboard and then compose from only those tones. So, far it's created some interesting effects, so I'd like to experiment further.

The result I hope to make into a duet for piano and marimba which, God help me, I can have ready to perform by the aforementioned concert. I'm excited about seeing where it goes, but for goodness sake, isn't there such thing as two many ideas at once? I'm sure there isn't.

Anyways, like I said, I'll keep everyone posted. Wish me luck. I'm going to need.

P.S. The photo is from the Joffrey ballet's rendition of you-know-what. That ballet served to inspire the story from which I'm getting this material for the duet, but I can't tell you about that yet. It's not ready. Shhhh . . .

P.P.S In case you haven't already watched it, this is a must-see for anyone who knows composers.

Another New Project!

2010-02-10T11:19:00.000-06:00

I stayed up late last night and wrote a poem, and I only knew half of what it meant until I titled it. I began to write the poem about one of my characters from "The Glass Puppet", and while that is still relevant, the poem doubles as a reflection of a musical device called a lacuna. Lacunae are extended silences often used to build or release tension, to accent a musical point, to allow for reflection. The curious thing about these devices is that, while they are a type of music in themselves, they are strangely able to evoke totally different colors without sounding them.

For example, in my piece Joker's Interlude - I. Spades I use a great deal of lacunae in order to haunt the audience and give a sense of empty space. On the other hand, a lacuna could be placed at the end of a piece to allow the audience to "settle down", the same way a conductor will often allow for a moment of silence after a piece has finished before lowering the baton. At any rate, it is not a term I've heard widely used, but it's a concept I've thought about, and it happened to fit perfectly with the poem I wrote.

The title of the poem is "ad Lacunae", and it basically portrays two sides of the same coin, how silence can be both heavenly and hellish.

hers, the Crystal Liturgy; she, the Silver Lark
Flitting Forth like Fragrance from Flowery Fountains.
in Circles she Spins, Dashing Light upon Sound
Ringing Round like Haloed Heaven Hallowed.

she, the Cradled Lunatic; hers the Secret Longing.
Praying Puppet from Purgatory, like Pain's Pendulum
upon Creation she Swings, Drowning Luster in Silent
Gleaming Glass like Silken Seraphs Sunken

So, the new project. I'd like to set this poem for choir, but only have the choir whisper the text. There would be rhythmic complexity and maybe some prescribed inflection in the place of actual notes, but no one would be singing per se. Anyways, I'm intrigued by the idea, and I obviously have a lot on my plate right now. Keep watching out. I might come up with more ideas.

P.S. For anyone clever enough to notice, the poem did make reference to Quatuor pour la fin du temps.

P.P.S. If you like the picture above, check out the artist's deviantART page.

New Projects!

2010-02-08T00:07:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! One of my objectives this semester is to write for as many instruments as I can that I've never written for before. As a result, I've naturally come up with a couple of ideas, which I'd like to share with you.

First, and one I've partially completed, is a set of character pieces for solo oboe inspired by creatures from Del Toro's film Pan's Labyrinth. I've written what I believe will be the final piece in the set, which explores the character of the Faun. In the film, the Faun is introduced as ancient and mystical, yet seemingly untrustworthy. As the film progresses, he regains his youth and becomes steadily more benign. The oboe piece I've written reflects this transformation through metamorphosis of color and rhythmic patterns. The other two pieces I have in mind for this set will portray the Giant Tree Frog and the Pale Man.

Second, I have an idea for setting a poem that I've long been fond of. If you've ever been fortunate enough to have read Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", then you already know what a witty and unique classic it is. For those of you haven't read, first you should look it up, but I'll also explain it a bit. As with much of Carroll's work "Jabberwocky" employs non-sensical words that amazingly make perfect sense to our ears. It tells the story of a boy who, having been warned of the dangerous Jabberwock by his father, takes a sword, faces the beast, and bravely overcomes it. It's a heroic tale, but the language makes it very humorous at the same time, and this creative feel makes it one of my favorites.

So, my idea is to set this poem for a small vocal ensemble accompanied by marimba. I know the piece has been set before, but I'd like to throw in my own interpretation. This also gives me a chance to write for two mediums I've never tried before. I only had this idea today, so I haven't done any work on it, but I'm really excited about how it may turn out.

Anyways, those are pieces to be looking out for in the future, as well as the second episode of Joker's Interlude, which you can read about below. Speaking of Joker's Interlude, this coming thursday (2-11-10) I'll be having I. Spades performed for the second time, and this time there will be a recording made. I am thrilled to say the least!

Also, as a final note, I have a Facebook artist page set up, which everyone should check out. There's music to listen to, and I'll be updating it regularly as I add material to my various webpages. Gotta keep everyone current.

Okay, I'll let you go, but what would be a blog post without a youtube video embedded at the end.

Perhaps my favorite Super Bowl ad this year.

II. Hearts, Glassblowers of Time

2010-01-09T18:29:00.000-06:00

Here comes the second arc of Joker's Interlude. For an explanation of Joker's Interlude scroll two posts down to my Spades entry. A brief recap of the previous arc: I. Spades, Wardens of the Void is a dream concerning death and absence, everything that defines life and eternity without God. The Jack is an impish envoy who lures the Joker into the void. The Queen is the beautiful but heartless ruler and judge who condemns the Joker to death. The King is the hulking, beastly executioner who ultimately becomes the Joker's devourer. The Ace embodies death and the sword, acting as punctuation in the piece.

The second arc of the Interlude is meant to be the antithesis of the first, so we begin with the theme of life and eternity with God. Since the piece is based on the suit of Hearts, love is obviously going to be discussed. Now take the ideas of death and absence and reverse them, and you get life and substance. I take the idea of substance even further and call it transformation, because if anything is more substantial than substance, it's substance in motion. Combining eternity, God, love, life, and transformation, we see God's love transforming life into eternity. This is the story behind this arc of the dream.

Now, in defining the setting and characters for this arc, we look at the symbolism in the suit of Hearts. In tarot, Hearts are known as Cups. Cups associate with water and the clergy and deal with creativity, compassion, love, healing, and new beginnings. Thankfully this works perfectly with my own ideas about the piece. The setting and characters for the piece are hard to define because they all deal with a process, not a place. The best way I can describe this arc is through metaphor. I would ask you to close your eyes, but you obviously have to keep reading.

Imagine you are on the ocean. There is nothing in sight but water. You drift comfortably, yet you are also lost and helpless. This has been the story of your life and it is all about to change. You feel motion in the water as the ocean before your eyes starts to ripple towards you. The ripples slowly become tiny waves which rock against you as if you were sitting on the shore. Eventually the wave are washing over you, cleansing you and warming you. The next thing you see is an enormous tsunami rising in the distance. The waves running before it crash over you, each more forceful than the last, but you are never dragged under or made to suffer. The tsunami comes nearer and soon you are at its feet. As you climb its belly, you are slowly turned skyward, and the wave never lets you fall. You are turned by the barrel of the wave until you are upside down, hanging from the crest. Here you are held until you reach into the roof of the wave. You break through the water and find yourself upright, staring across the ocean, but this time riding on the head of tsunami. This is a place of solace and bliss, the absolute peak of existence. In past experiences you have always had to come down the back of the wave and resume life as you know it, but this time something different happens. Instead of rolling back down to the ocean you are carried from the crest of the wave into the air, like a mist. You are lifted higher and higher until you forget everything of life on the ocean and remember only the infinite sky.

That is the best way I know to describe this piece. It resembles the highs of life like marriage, dreams fulfilled, salvation, only that this time, the high does not end. It ascends to heaven and lives forever. This is the setting of the piece. It divides into three stages, Condensation, Transformation, and Ascension. The Jack, Queen, and King oversee their respective stages. Together, they are what I have decided to call the Glassblowers of Time. The blowing of glass consists of gathering sand, melting and shaping it, and allowing it to cool in its new form. Since the glassblowers in this case are molding life itself, they are glassblowers of time. Interestingly sand and time are synonymous when one considers an hourglass.

So, it's a mouthful of metaphor, but that is the piece. It is not yet written, but I am extremely excited and already have a major melody written. I also know that I will be dealing with six performers, as in my last piece. The piece will be scored for oboe, piano, harp, violin, cello, and wine glasses. The wine glasses are a nifty feature of the piece as they are both symbolic and musically beautiful. If you've ever seen the old party trick of making wine glasses vibrate and sing, then you know how they work and sound. The instruments are symbolic as they contain water, are made of glass, and correspond to the suit of Cups. The sounding of wineglasses will represent the Ace in this piece, the same way the bowed cymbals did in Spades.

This all I can say about the piece until it is written. I will be sure to announce its debut. I hope to have it ready for performance in time for the second Project 21 concert of the semester, but we will see. In the meantime, here is a video of me and my brother playing wine glasses. On a side note, I know that wine glasses as an instrument are often called a glass harp, but this presupposes that the wine glasses are arranged in a full scale. I intend to only use enough glasses to play a particular motif, so I don't consider them a full glass harp.

Enjoy the video. Pray for me and wish me luck for the piece.

P.S. If you like the picture above, check out the artist's deviantART page.

New deviantART page!

2009-12-27T14:21:00.000-06:00

Check out my brand new dA page. I've posted an excerpt from my musical "The Glass Puppet". Read, definitely critique, spread the word if you like it.

Chamber pieces? We've got those in spades!

2009-12-16T11:53:00.000-06:00

Well, I had to drop out for a little while, because it's my first college semester and it was extremely busy. Now that I'm back, I'd like to fill you on the piece I completed this semester. It's the first of a a collection of chamber pieces with varied instrumentation based on the four suits in the world of playing cards. Although named for Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds, the pieces draw symbolism from the parallel suits in the tarot deck: Swords, Cups, Wands, and Pentacles.

In tarot, the equivalent to the joker is the fool. The fool represents an individual who is child-like and about to embark on a journey to experience life. In tarot, the fool does in fact embark on what is called "The Fool's Journey", a metaphorical journey through life which cycles through cards known as "The Major Arcana". In my collection of pieces, I wanted to mirror this idea, but through the lens of the popular playing card deck. So, each of the suits represents a stage of a dreamlike journey taken by the Joker.

This idea of a dreamlike journey in which an innocent man is made wise by encountering the world sounded much to me like a medieval morality play. In morality plays, the main character represents humanity and embarks on a journey during which characters representing vices and virtues battle for his soul. To me the idea was very similar, so I decided to make tribute to the morality play in the title of my collection. The morality play has also been called an interlude, which, conveniently, is also a type of musical piece.

So, in the spirit of the morality play, using characters from the playing card deck, and with reference to music, I named the collection Joker's Interlude. Now, on to the first piece.

I decided to tackle Spades first. I began with my personal interpretation of the suit. For purely subjective reasons, I've always perceived the suit as having a very dark, near hellish aura. To this I added the symbolism of the swords suit from tarot. In Tarot, swords represent air and the military. They deal primarily with cold intellect. Combining this stoic and hollow feel with my own abysmal interpretation, I created I. Spades, Wardens of the Void.

The Spades are jail keepers who imprison and execute those who enter their realm. The Jack is servant and messenger of the King and Queen. He is the impish lunatic who first lures the Joker into the void. The Queen is a beautiful but stoic tyrant who acts as judge over the Joker's trial and ultimately condemns him to death. The King is the executioner, a monstrous, devouring creature to which the condemned are thrown to die. The Ace, while not a character, symbolizes the essence of the Spades' realm, the sword. It symbolizes the idea that death waits for all.

The piece, which narrates the Joker's encounters with these characters, consists of three sections which flow together seamlessly. They are called "Summoning", "Inquisition", and "Execution", and correspond to the Jack, Queen, and King respectively. The ace, appears throughout the sections, most importantly to begin and end the piece. This subtly signifies that despite all that lies in between, death is the alpha and omega of the void.

The piece is scored for oboe, piano, violin, cello, and two double basses with suspended cymbals. Although, each instrument is involved in the entire piece, they do, in a sense, represent particular characters. The oboe and violin act as the joker, the two instruments often passing his melody back and forth to illustrate his fragmented mind. The cello represents the beautiful and cruel queen, combining its sultry tone with the queen's dark melody. The piano, while representing the void itself, often works together with the cello, since the queen is the void's ultimate ruler. The two double basses represent the king, their deep, growling tones imitating his beast-like nature. The suspended cymbals are bowed by the double basses and signify the ace. When bowed, cymbals produce metallic tones that resemble wailing or screeching, this being the perfect representation for both the sword and death.

Much of the phrasing in this piece follows a pattern of three, hinting at the Spades' mockery of the trinity. I incorporated a handful of different scales, as well as the use of quarter tones to create the sound of these characters. For the joker's melody I employed the Lydian mode, which usually has a light sprightly sound. In this case I scored the playful melody over a much darker undertone played by the piano, foreshadowing the darkness within the seemingly harmless character. When the void is entered at the beginning of "Inquisition", very hollow whole tone chords are used, creating an atmosphere that is empty and floating.

For the queen's melody I chose a gypsy scale, giving it an exotic "egyptian" sound. This reminded me of the harsh and unforgiving desert, and it fit perfectly for the merciless ruler. The king does not have a melody, per se. Rather, he owns a rhythmic and harmonic motive which threatens throughout the piece and dominates "Execution". The motive is in 5/8 time, which when played quickly feels like it skips a beat. This combined with a set of jagged chromatic harmonies gives the king a ferocious "chomping at the bit" sound.

That's about all I can say concerning the development of this piece. The exciting news is that it will be premiered tonight at Oklahoma City University, and I'll be conducting for the very first time. The performers will be as follows: Will Smith - oboe, Kaelyn Neal - piano, Michele Esch - violin, Summer Suffridge - cello, Brendan Bradford and Hamilton Pyburn - Double Bass. They are fantastic and are definitely worth seeing perform.

Anyways, now you know about Joker's Interlude and I. Spades, and you can be looking out for II. Hearts next. I plan for it to be the antithesis of this piece, so expect something extremely bright and celestial. Pray and wish me luck. I'm going to need a lot of help.

P.S. If you like the picture, check out the artist's deviantART page.

P.P.S Minus the layering and extra reverb, this is what a bowed cymbal sounds like. Unless you have a double bass bow you're ready to destroy, don't try this at home. Fortunately for me, percussionists just happen to have old bows lying around.

2009-10-04T03:40:00.000-05:00

I'm having a restless night which started as a restless day. I have a lot of creative energy which I'm trying to get out so that I can sleep. I've been listening to music, browsing youtube, updating facebook, searching for a new wallpaper, and updating this blog. It's been one creative ride.

My official compositional concert debut was on Friday. Thank you all of you who came. It was a spectacular night. I enjoyed everyone's pieces so much, and it was nice to hear mine performed full-fledged for the first time. It was a special moment.

"5 centimeters per second" is a must-watch anime. It creates a pristine emotional atmosphere which definitely has struck a chord with me. It is romantic, profound, and visually beautiful. I watched it for the second time recently, and I blame it for starting me on this creative binge to which I am now a slave. It is available in full on youtube. Do yourself a favor and watch it more than once.

I think that's all for tonight. I believe I can finally sleep.

"Heart of the Furies" at Project 21 Composer's Concert in OKC on Oct 2nd, 2009!

2009-09-13T12:07:00.000-05:00

A fantastic opportunity has arisen. Project 21 is the Music Composition Organization at OCU. Their first concert is on October 2nd, and I was encouraged at the last minute to submit one of my pieces to be performed. Well, I chose "Heart of the Furies", a piece inspired by the story of "The Count of Monte Cristo". The piece is written for two sopranos and violins and a piano, and it has never been fully performed before.

I encourage everyone to come see the concert, not just for my piece, but for the other submissions as well. I've heard some of the work these other composers have done, and they are phenomenal. It will be hosted at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University. Come to the medium rehearsal hall at 8 pm for a premiere event. I am excited beyond belief. Can't wait to see you there.

2009-09-03T01:28:00.000-05:00

Almost three weeks have gone by now. I'm learning a lot already. I'm practicing music 3-5 hours a day, because I'm a lunatic composer. I've written 4 or 5 new melodies since I arrived. I'll say something if I develop any of them.

Something for everyone to check out, I now have a composer bio on the Project 21 website. Project 21 is the organization comprised of OCU's undergraduate and graduate composition students. I also encourage you to learn more about the program while you're there. I've only been here for three comp class periods, and I can already say the students and faculty are phenomenal.

If you go to my bio, you'll find links to my music on youtube. I'm about to post my latest upload, the full version of "Echoes of Melancholy" sung by the beautiful Breana. The picture in the video I found on deviantart, so I give full credit to the artist, of course. I was very fortunate to find it. It perfectly fits the feel of the music.

Well without further ado, I wish you a wonderful september, and here is "Echoes of Melancholy"

2009-08-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

This is me sitting outside of my first class as a college freshman, Music Survey. This should prove to be fascinating. Apparently I overdid the waking up early part, because the class doesn't start for a half-hour. I figured it would take me longer than 20 minutes to down a gargantuan breakfast. Oh well.

Concerning Romeo e Giulietta, I spent a full day composing two days ago and wrote the piano part for the second of the five movements. I've named this piece "I Fiori-L'Amore", meaning "Flowers-Love". The piano is mostly atmospheric, which will leave room for the soprano and tenor lines room to shine. I'm very excited about working on this piece more. My first lesson with Dr. Knight is this evening, so we'll see what I'll learn.

Well keep up with me in these coming months. I'll be posting dates and times for major events, performances of my music, etc. Wish me luck!

This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Thanks for introducing me, Kenneth!

2009-08-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

So, the dash towards college life continues.

So, I've been doing some research on John Corigliano, who I've dubbed "my compositional grandfather", as he was one of the notable teachers of Edward Knight, from whom I will soon be learning composition. At any rate, listening to Corigliano's music, and watching interviews with him have somehow caused something to click inside of me. I was afraid for awhile that I didn't know where I was going with "Romeo e Giulietta", but now even though my ideas may change in the future, I feel I actually have ideas at present.

"Verona - L'incontro" is still on its way, by the way. Thanks to what I've learned from my research, it improves with each work session, but it will likely be a while before it is where it needs to be. After all the story of Romeo and Juliet is one the world's greatest; this piece simply cannot be messed up.

Another project I've begun work on, which should be finished sooner, is a solo piano response to the book "Sounds of the River" by Da Chen. I will be entering my piece into a contest at OCU a week from today, so pray that it gets written the way it needs to be so that it can do well in the contest. If I win, I'll receive $250 and an invitation to a dinner with the author. Wish me luck!

I will leave you with a clip of music from Corigliano's Symphony no.2. I would advise listening to the whole symphony, but this is my favorite movement.

2009-07-21T00:18:00.000-05:00

I am sitting on my front porch, locked out of my house for the time being. In a little while, I'll call again to see if my little brother will wake up, but I'm not in a hurry. It's a gorgeous spring-like evening full of crickets, wind brushing through trees, an occasional raindrop, and a midnight blue sky. I feel the need to just stop and listen for a while.

In the meantime, a quick news flash: I've made the decision to add a violin part to "Romeo e Giulietta". I've also changed the name of the first segment to "Verona - L'incontro". I completed the piano for the section and had it pointed out to me that it sounded like background music and desired a solid melody. I agreed completely, but there was nothing about the piano part I wanted to change, however I think allowing a violin to carry the melody would fit in exquisitely. I'm even considering adding a soprano line in later movements.

I adore nature, and I don't get enough of it. I am convinced that more music lies locked in natural beauty than just about anywhere else. I encourage everyone to get outside as much as possible while the weather is nice. It is a gift that Oklahomans of all people ought to savor.

In honor of nature, here is one of the most simply beautiful nature-inspired pieces of which I know. Below is my tribute to the Raindrop Prelude, Cloudburst, and a few other "rain songs". Umbral Shower:

2009-07-17T15:24:00.000-05:00

I consider Eric Whitacre one of my great inspirers, so much so that at times I have feared copying his style. I have suspected this by ear until now, when I had the opportunity to examine some of his actual written work. I played the pieces on the piano, and I am proud to announce that my musical style is distinct from, although inspired by, that of Whitacre. Granted his music is still much better than mine. Nevertheless, I am confident that I will close that gap one day.

Speaking of Whitacre, his latest blog entry contains an amazing youtube video which I would like to share with you all.

I think that is fantastic. It's amazing what people can pull off when they work together flawlessly.

Just a note, there is a likelihood of an even newer musical project in the midst of working on Romeo e Giulietta. We shall see.

2009-07-08T17:19:00.000-05:00

I've begun writing a new work, a suite of piano solos inspired by Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". As the story takes place in Italy, I have titled the suite Romeo e Giulietta (Italian for you know what). The first piece of the suite is titled "L'incontro", literally "The Meeting", particularly a meeting of two people for the first time.

When I write music, I will often come up with a handful of artistic works that I will consult for inspiration. This particular "handful" consists of art and music from the Romeo X Juliet series,

as well as Eric Whitacre's "Nox Aurumque". The piece is saturated in bittersweet harmony, and reminds me of the similar feel I am trying to achieve. A video of the song is posted below. Wish me luck for this new collection. I'll keep everyone posted.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T12:41:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy week, so I've had very little time to update my blog, (very little time in which I wouldn't rather be sleeping anyways). I have an interesting story to tell . . .

Two days ago, I was working at the ice cream store, and a quirky work of God began to happen. A regular customer began to talk to me and inquired about my plans for college as well as aspects of my spiritual life. Ultimately he told me that there was a study bible he wanted me to buy. He said it had changed his life, and it would change mine as well. Well I have great respect for this man, so after work I took the information he wrote for me and headed to Mardel to investigate this bible.

After rummaging about the bible section for some time, I found three copies of the bible tucked away on the NIV shelves. The bible was one of the fancy sorts with leather binding, thinner-than-paper pages, and gold edging. The bible was full of notes, maps, translations, and much more, which had me excited about buying it. Then, I checked the price and it stood at $79.99. I was a little taken aback by this. I'd never realized bibles could be that pricey. So, defeated and wondering what to do, I went to skim the store to think a bit.

Out of nowhere I bumped into my mom who just happened to be visiting the store as well. She asked why I was there, so I told her my story up to that point. We happened to pass through a clearance area, and she asked me if I'd checked here yet. I said no and proceeded to finger through the options. By chance I happened to find two copies of the bible on the shelf marked "50% off blue-sticker price". I checked the blue sticker and it doesn't say 80 dollars, but 50. So, also being half-off, the bible is in fact 25 dollars. At that moment, my mom reveals that she had come to Mardel to spend a 25 dollar gift card for which she had no use.

So, I walk out of Mardel with an 80 dollar bible for no money at all. Apparently, someone wanted me to get my hands on it.

In other news, I am currently working on a rather lengthy piano piece inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Stay tuned.

I'm back!

2009-06-22T00:29:00.000-05:00

Well I'm at my dad's house now, so I have internet. It's a huge relief.

I'm really excited now, because I just ordered Romeo X Juliet, (which I know you all are probably tired of hearing about), but anyways it has me stoked. I have my true love on the phone right now, and she's playing piano but has no idea I'm writing about her. I'm enjoying the music though. I tell you what, she is such a musician and doesn't know the half of it. If you want to read her musings, she also has a blog here. She's so fantastic she even surprised me at work today and made my day. For the record, I love her.

So, I hope everybody did something special for their fathers and/or father figures today. I have no idea what a task it is to guide, support, and raise a family. I only dream about it. Anyways it's hard work, and dad's need to be loved too. Happy Father's Day. The cool thing was that while I was at work, the last customer of the night told me "It's probably premature, but speaking into your future, 'Happy Father's Day!'" I was pumped about that. I can't wait to be a dad. On the other hand I've still got time, so I'll wait anyways.

So I bid you good night, and I leave with this week's video.

When I'm a father, I want one of these . . .

Rawr!

2009-06-20T13:06:00.000-05:00

Yeah, our internet has been dead, which has totally ruined my daily posting streak. I'm irritated at that, but at least I can post now. I'm actually sitting in a noodle restaurant using Camille's wifi to access the internet.

Essentially I am getting the feeling that something is about to happen, which either means that something's actually going to happen, or I'm just going to create something artistic. The past few days have been pretty awesome. I've been making great strides writing my choral arrangement of "Heart of the Furies". Breana and I finished Romeo X Juliet, which was amazing! Everyone anime inclined should watch it. Having finished that series, I am more than ready to create something inspired by it. We'll see.

Breana and I were discussing last night how even the most unlikely things can be artistic. It started as I was reliving the story of Final Fantasy X, and considering how it was on the level with some of my favorite stories of all time. It may not be for everyone, but it certainly was capable of impacting someone. I believe that video games have the ability to great art. If you put enough spirit and excellence into something, you can really make art from about anything.

Well I don't have a lot more time, so I'm going to look for a good video for you all to watch. Hopefully we'll get our internet back, soon. :P

Here are a couple of examples of how awesome just the music from games and anime can be.

Exciting News!

2009-06-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

I just got Sibelius 6 in the mail. In other words, my sheet music software has been updated. The best part about it so far is that the playback voices work on my computer, so now I don't feel ashamed each time I write something. It gives me a feeling like something great is about to happen. Anyways I'm excited. Everybody celebrate!

Beautiful

2009-06-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

"Pretty isn't beautiful, Mother.
Pretty is what changes . . .
what the eye arranges
is what is beautiful!"

That's a stanza from Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George". Sondheim has a knack for making concise philosophical statements in his lyrics that I can meditate on forever. Pretty isn't beautiful. Pretty is what changes. What the eye arranges is what is beautiful. I don't know how much sense those statements make to everyone else, but I get jitters. On the surface, they appear to be stating that beauty is relative, that true beauty doesn't exist, only "what the eye arranges". But having listened to Sondheim for quite some time, I think he's smarter than that.

After all, his music is an expression of true beauty. He's never written something worthless just to be postmodern. His music may not always be pretty, but there's always purpose behind his methods, and that gives even the clashing and clanging "Epiphany" from Sweeney Todd a beauty of its own. I believe that Sondheim recognizes that true beauty exists, but that it expresses itself in infinite patterns, sometimes hidden ones. "What the eye arranges" is a perspective that brings the hidden beauty in something to light.

I believe that, as God created everything, there is beauty in everything. Pretty isn't beautiful, because pretty changes; it fades or becomes damaged. But even looking at the most unattractive things in the right perspective can reveal what is truly beautiful.

Now speaking of something which is both pretty and beautiful, one of my favorite anime is coming out on DVD in the US, and I am stoked. It's called "Romeo X Juliet", loosely based on the obvious classic. Below is the trailer for the imminent release of the first half of the series. Woot!

Well the music and fonts in that trailer are really bogus as far as I'm concerned, but there you have it. Next is an actual clip from the series. Yes the characters use funky Shakespearean/Modern speak, but it's growing on me.

Orchestra for the win!

2009-06-15T00:27:00.000-05:00

I must say, I love orchestras. I can't write for one very well, although I can certainly whip a number of songwriters at it. Despite the fact that I probably won't write decently for orchestra until I get to OCU, I still love trying. Right now, as crrrraaaaaaaazy as it sounds, I'm trying to compose an orchestral piece (of unknown variety to be honest) inspired by the anime Full Metal Alchemist. Yeah, I'm a weirdo when it comes to music inspiration. I'm tending lately to just watch movies and anime and then write songs about them. It works really well though.

Anyways though, this orchestra piece, while probably fraught with error, is very rewarding. It looks really wacko on paper, like all the music I write.

But, once my imagination pushes past the crappy MIDI playback voices, it actually sounds pretty good.

I pray that one day I will be able to rewrite my early orchestra works and make them spectacular. Needless to say, I pray that they get performed as well.

I also want to write an epic choral piece, epic here meaning "really complicated". After "Heart of the Furies" I can tell I have a knack for complicated harmonies. I just hope that fleshes out and becomes something exquisite. Eric Whitacre, here I come.

Well, I'd better wrap this up. I've got work in the morning. Here's the youtube video of the day. I use the hammered dulcimer in my orchestra piece, so here's an awesome example of what that sounds like.

Be More Inspired

2009-06-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

I adore rainy mornings. They are so hard to wake up to, but so amazing to be awake in.

So I just saw an amazing little commercial on OETA, or at least I thought it was amazing. If I can find it on youtube, I'll post it at the bottom of this entry. Anyways, the commercial . . . It was one of those ads that was sponsored by the TV station and didn't advertise something you could buy, kind of like "Stay in school" or "Read a book". The black and white ad began with a man in his apartment, at a piano, doodling on staff paper. He would write out ideas, scratch them out, crumple the paper and throw it away.

He began to be frustrated that he couldn't write the song he was looking for, when suddenly he looked out his window to see a few pigeons land on telephone wire. The wires were one on top of the other, resembling a music staff, and the pigeons were situated in a pattern like notes. The composer gets an idea, and pings out the few notes. Soon more pigeons land, giving him several notes, and eventually an entire tune. The man pings out the tune first, and then begins to play an awesome, jazzy piece based on that melody.

The ad ended with the written words "Be more inspired". It's silly, but I really like that ad, and I wish I could find it, but I probably can't. I love inspiration. To me, it is God's way of plugging something of his own into my art, and I don't mean that to say that everything I right is church related, because it's not. But every inspiration I've had, from "Gankutsuou" to "The Firebird Suite" to a rainy day to people I love, all of them have breathed the living element that I could not generate on my own into my music and stories.

To finish up, I will give you my "Firebird Suite" inspiration. I've based an entire musical on the story of life, death, and renewal narrated in this wonderful cartoon from "Fantasia 2000"

Guitars etc.

2009-06-13T12:19:00.000-05:00

*Yawn* Yeah, I got up at noon today. Don't judge me.

You know, for all the downright cynical things I've said about guitars, I really adore the instrument. When a person really unlocks the sound of which that instrument is capable, I could listen to it forever. I'll also admit I'm probably a bit jealous that guitar playing is considered an attractive quality whereas piano only gets you attention at talent shows, or if someone wants to know how to play "Clocks". Don't get me wrong, I'm not that jealous; I love my piano, and I don't have time or patience right now to learn guitar, and I'm okay with that.

It's fascinating as I look at the most popular instruments of today and think about their origins. The guitar is he uberfied child of instruments like the lute, the sitar, the harp, and the zither. The piano of course had the harpsichord before it, but even further was back the hammered dulcimer, which by virtue of hammers hitting strings is almost like a very early piano. Of course there have been woodwinds all over the place ever since someone learned how to whistle.

Anyways, thinking about such things makes me wonder if we will ever invent newer and better versions of the instruments we have today. It'll be a very long time until then I'm sure, because we are still discovering new ways to play these instruments which have already been around for centuries, in addition to the fact that we are electronically minded now and have way too much to keep us busy where music is concerned.

That's one of my secret, not-very-likely dreams though, to invent a new instrument. That would be fantastic!

To close this post, here are my favorite guitar performances from youtube. Are they better than August Rush? You'd better believe it.

These first two videos are to different versions of the same song, one short, one long. Choose at your convenience, but I recommend listening to both.

This third one opened my eyes to the idea that there is more than one way to play an instrument.

Waking up

2009-06-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier. I can't get my own website, and myspace is too complicated, so I should get a blog instead. Even great composers like Eric Whitacre have one, so why not me? So, I hereby christen this blog for the purpose of anything I want, be it sharing my musical ideas or posting awesome youtube videos. Today, I will do the latter . . .

This is long, but worth it. If nothing else, listen from 7:45 on.

P.S. I have started my own channel on YouTube where I will post my music, so be sure to check it out here.