Metronomes and Hurricanes

My friend Dr. Beat

Sometimes he's there to push me

Sometimes calm me down

Gahhhh my focus sucks tonight!  I got my mind on the approaching hurricane, and a bunch of music I have to and/or want to learn.  Right now the metronome's job is to slow me down.  Sometimes it's there to nudge me faster, bit by bit; sometimes it's the CSI unit to sniff out rhythmic or technical crime scenes; right now it's the old granny lady forcing me to calm the hell down and concentrate.  

(Well, right now I'm taking a break to post this, and am gonna go visit Nat next door.  Concentration may have to wait for another hour.)

I have water, extra batteries, and other important emergency supplies for me and Diesel (you know, like beer, and cookies).  I also have extra 9V batteries for my metronome.  Irene, I think I'm ready for you.  

Incidentally, if you haven't yet, I hope you'll check out my "Lullabye" video (below). 

Weekly Wish VIDEO - "Lullabye"

Here is the latest Weekly Wishes video, filmed on location at my friend Matt Dinsick the Drummer's apartment. Singing is my friend Adam Reich, and joining us off-screen is Adam's friend Danny Reisbick the Bass Player.

This is the video that got tabled for logistical reasons back in the spring - it's hard enough to get two busy people's schedules to line up; four was a little ridiculous. But now it's the end of summer (read: not very lucrative, but less hectic at least), and we were able to find a couple hours the other afternoon to get together Matt's apartment in a leafy part of Brooklyn near Prospect Park.

Now, I'm a pretty considerate musician-neighbor. Matt is even more so because he's a drummer (neighbors are a lot quicker to get annoyed about drum practicing than piano practicing). He wanted to be wrapped up by 5 p.m. We got a couple decent takes at the beginning, but I decided to use this, our last take, what I like to call a f***-it take. I don't know that it was any better or worse than any of the others (as always, there are a hundred things I'd like to do better), but it was fun. And the dog outside seemed to enjoy it, too.

I have been wanting to learn to play that piano solo for a long time. Yay!

Weekly Wish VIDEO - "Lullabye"

Here is the latest Weekly Wishes video, filmed on location at my friend Matt Dinsick the Drummer's apartment. Singing is my friend Adam Reich, and joining us off-screen is Adam's friend Danny Reisbeck the Bass Player.

This is the video that got tabled for logistical reasons back in the spring - it's hard enough to get two busy people's schedules to line up; four was a little ridiculous. But now it's the end of summer (read: not very lucrative, but less hectic at least), and we were able to find a couple hours the other afternoon to get together Matt's apartment in a leafy part of Brooklyn near Prospect Park.

Now, I'm a pretty considerate musician-neighbor. Matt is even more so because he's a drummer (neighbors are a lot quicker to get annoyed about drum practicing than piano practicing). He wanted to be wrapped up by 5 p.m. We got a couple decent takes at the beginning, but I decided to use this, our last take, what I like to call a f***-it take. I don't know that it was any better or worse than any of the others (as always, there are a hundred things I'd like to do better), but it was fun. And the dog outside seemed to enjoy it, too.

I have been wanting to learn to play that piano solo for a long time. Yay!

Rush Hour

Inner monologue:

OUTTA my way! STOP TEXTING!

Midtown: 5 p.m.

Weekly Wishes, Revisited

Ok, people.  I am back in New York.  It's been very refreshing to be gone most of the summer.  Now to recombobulate my discombobulated self.

To the garden variety blog reader, it will seem as if I've been very flaky these past couple months.  Those more closely acquainted with my life, however, will know that some matters of business have required my attention, and that I've been on the road an awful lot since about mid-June.  (Jacksonville, Cape Cod, Denver, El Paso, Silver City, Tucson, Phoenix, Memphis, the Hamptons... rough life I lead.)

Weekly Wishes require consistent access to a piano.  My little 25-key midi controller is fine for half-ass-memorizing the basic structure of a song, but isn't sufficient for learning to play a piano transcription.  Weekly Wishes also require what I will call Advanced Discipline.  Patience.  Perseverance.  Attention to detail.  

(Bleh.  I have to give myself a C- at the midterm... )

Last year was a survey course of Self-Discipline with my song-a-day project - just show up and do it, whether or not I feel like or not, even if some days I'm just going through the motions.  Weekly Wishes are harder, because the timeline is longer, and the while the goal (learn to play a piano piece well enough to tape) is more concrete, the path to get there is longer and more nebulous.  While song-a-day was almost exclusively about Process, weekly wishes have an element of Product (videos that are non-cringeworthy enough to post online).  

It was easy to cop out when I was traveling and only had my little wee keyboard, especially because I really did miss learning a song a day.  I wish I had time to do both.  But as long as I have regular practice time on a full-size keyboard, it's time to work the discipline and the details.  

To that end, I'm picking up a project I tabled months ago for logistical reasons - my Lullabye guys are still around and interested in recording with me, so I'm going to revisit that song and awesome piano solo and hopefully record the next Weekly Wish video sometime next week!

Walking in Memphis

Visiting my roots

With blue notes and "bellypads"

Dixie feels like home

I fell in love with Memphis last week when I was there music directing for theater camp.  It is not hard for me to fall in love with a place that plays good music and feeds me well, but there was also the fact that my Grandpa was from the Mississippi  Delta just a couple hours south of Memphis.  

Grandpa made awesome, thick pancakes he called bellypads, and I ate them on a pretty regular basis growing up.  Grandpa smoked like a chimney from age 15 to age 85, and I nagged him to quit but still sometimes find a very faint cigarette odor comforting.  Grandpa couldn't hear so well as he got older, but he liked to listen to me play, and the night before he died, I called him from a practice room at school and got to play one last time for him.   This was in 2000, when cell phones kinda sucked and I barely got any reception in the practice room, but boy was I grateful for it that night.  

Grandpa and Grandma were married over 54 years when he passed away (she's still alive and causing trouble at age 93).  They met during WWII - he was a wounded soldier with tickets to a ballgame; she was a nurse/physical therapist with a car.  She liked his blue eyes, and I reckon he liked her moxie.  They were married six months later, and then he drove back with her to her hometown in Missouri to meet her parents (the nerve!).  

They tried farming in the Midwest, but, well, farming's tough, and Grandma developed severe arthritis in her mid-twenties and needed to live in a drier climate, which is how they ended up in New Mexico and West Texas.

So anyway.  I got Southern roots, and this song has a good piano part, so I'm making friends with it in honor of Grandpa and my week not far from his old stomping grounds.

Don't Be Cruel

if you must get fat
try to do it in Memphis
what a way to go

I'm being sort of cruel to my stomach this week, and my clothes are not getting any looser, but it's all so yummy I really don't care. The staff at the Orpheum theater is providing us with delicious sandwich and various-types-of-salad lunches (someone told the woman who's arranging the food that we like to eat healthy because we're from New York, so I do at least get enough veggies mixed in with Southern deliciousness). Every day, I swear I'm going to take it easy on my digestive system for dinner, and every night, I have a really good reason to forget that foolish midafternoon oath.

Sunday: BBQ chicken nachos on Beale St., at a place that also serves "Big Ass Beer to go"
Monday: pint night at Flying Saucer Draught Emporium
Draught Emporium! $3 pints of GOOD beer!?!? Sign me up! I must really be a Yankee now, 'cause I went for the spinach-artichoke dip and goat cheese pizza, but I did at least try a pecan brown ale from a Mississippi brewery.

Tuesday: Gus' Fried Chicken ...I don't think I've ever bothered to pick the bones that clean. Also, fried pickles.
Wednesday: pizza ... WHAT!?!? I live in New York, and

I came to Memphis and had pizza!? Let me 'splain.

Michelle the Choreographer and I got off early enough this afternoon to go visit Sun Studio, where Elvis was discovered and he and dozens of other important musical figures recorded and still record. We took the tour (highly recommended) and looked at Elvis' cowhide guitar case, social security card, old recording equipment, etc. Awesome. I LOVE ROCK & ROLL. I LOVE AMERICAN MUSIC. THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR. You should go there too.

Anyway, I bought some stuff in the gift shop, and as I was paying, a guy walked in with three pizza boxes, from which was emanating the most mouthwatering aroma in the history of BBQ pizza. To paraphrase Liz Lemon, I wanted to go to there. Michelle and I trekked across empty lots and trolley tracks (ok, it was like 2 blocks) to the Trolley Stop Market, where we had some slices, some pale ale from MS, and the best blueberry pie I've had in years.

Tonight, I learned "Don't Be Cruel" on my little 25-key midi controller here in my hotel room, in honor of the King and his city which is making me fat (but very happy).

Memphis - Turn, Turn, Turn

green, green blues city
that humidity's got to
be good for something


In the past week, I've been in Denver, El Paso, my hometown Silver City, NM, Tucson, Phoenix, Atlanta (just flying through), and now Memphis for a week. I think I'm going to like it here.

First time to Memphis, I told the cab driver. She was delighted, in a slow, drawly way, and asked me what I'd heard about Memphis. Well, BBQ, blues, and Graceland, I replied, all of which I hope to experience while I'm here.

The first thing I noticed about Memphis was how green it is compared to the Sonora Desert I had left the night before. Then I noticed how friendly everyone is (you can take the girl out of New York...), and then I noticed how I wanted to take my jeans off after a few minutes walking in the midafternoon sun down Beale St. You can wear jeans in 100-degree dry heat; 100-degree humidity, not so comfortable.

Lately, it's been a time to do things other than learn new songs. It's been a time to celebrate marriages, travel, see family, focus on music that's more directly related to work. Turn, turn, turn. I do it when I can (when I have access to a keyboard) and when I need to (when my family is driving me bananas and I need a little music meditation).

Last week:
"We Are the Champions" (who'd have thought an anthem such as this would have diminished chords?! I love you, Freddie Mercury!)

"Turn, Turn, Turn" - because I was contemplating all the things I want to do w/ my life, and how I just can't do them all at once. Thanks for the wee taste of changing meter, Pete Seeger. Turn, turn, turn indeed.

Old Cape Cod

I arrived on the Cape for the first time in my life two nights ago. I'm here for Trish Larose is Bulletproof, and I rode up with our drummer. We drove (well, he drove) through heavy traffic and torrential rain and arrived over seven hours after we'd left my apartment (it's usually a 4.5 hour drive). Luckily, we get along well, so it was a pleasant long drive when it could have been a torturously long ride, and now the Bulletproof crew is teched and rehearsed and ready to open tonight.

Some recent songs (I had aspirations of posting about every one; giving up on that for now): Beyonce's "Ave Maria" (What must Schubert think?), LeToya/"Not Anymore", Cee Lo Green/"F*** You", and of course, 1957 song "Old Cape Cod", written by Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus, and Allan Jeffrey, and sung by Patti Page.

Charming chromatic harmony & background vocals, and a tempo that matches the pace here. It's a foreign land to me, where people come to relax, and people live who like to have a certain amount of relaxation in their lifestyle. I could get used to this. I mean, I'm from New Mexico; I am well-acquainted with the concept of doing nothing and then resting afterward. This is a lot like that, but with a beach and more humidity.

More later - the world beckons from beyond the cute bedroom where I'm being housed. I'll try to remember to take pictures, but my brain is currently set to "keep warm" when I'm not working, so no promises.

He Lives in You (06/24/11)

from The Lion King

Today we have a very practical song-of-the-day - I have to play this on Sunday for a rehearsal workshop. An unsuspecting group of travelers who have tickets to see the show will be coming to this workshop. Someone from the show (usually a member of the ensemble) will be there to teach an excerpt of choreography from the show, and I will teach the vocals.

***Note 6/30 - I ended up doing two of these workshops. The first was a group of high schoolers from Australia. The second was a group of bankers, most of whom were from South Africa or Zimbabwe. Yeah. I taught Swahili to Africans. What!?!?!?

Sunshine of Your Love (Thu 6/23/11)

by Pete Brown, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton

BPM: 114ish, give or take a few (remember when everything wasn't quantized and autotuned within an inch of its life?)

Left me wondering: how do I really make this sound good on piano?

Geekery: check out the drum part. One of the few songs in the realm of groove/pop music where the high-overtone hit is on 1 & 3 instead of 2 & 4. And awesome fills. Yesssssss.

Fond memory: My best friend from college, Erin, and I lived together for about a year and a half. One of our favorite activities was grocery shopping together. I should mention - I hate to cook, but I love grocery shopping. One time, we were literally rolling in the produce aisle, amusing ourselves by having a puppet show of sorts, funny voices, etc., with an item we had just discovered and decided to call the assquash. Said the assquash: "I refyooooze to let you boss me around!!!" "Hah hah hah..Rah rah rah..."

You had to be there.

Anyway, once I set a just-purchased bag of canned goods on the counter at home, and the cans as they settled played the main riff from "Sunshine of Your Love". We both noticed it and thought it was amazing and hilarious. (This may have been the same trip as the assquash trip. And no, we were not on any kind of mood-altering substance. Our own creative minds were plenty, thank you.)

So yeah. Even my groceries are musical.

The Lazy Song (Fri 6/17, Jacksonville, FL)

Written and Performed by Bruno Mars
87-88 BPM
Left me wondering: what were they smoking when they decided that monkey breakdancers would be a good idea for the video?

Also: Bruno, zip up your fly! (watch about 10 seconds from 2:35)

Conclusion: I am getting old.

Celebration

Performed by Kool & the Gang
120-122 BPM
Left me wondering: Who wrote the horn parts?

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh I'm so busy!!! This week is a little extra crazy. It is the first week of my thirties, that must be why.

I wanted to make a relatively big deal out of my birthday this past weekend, since it was the first really scary one. Two problems: 1. my bday weekend was sandwiched between two busy weeks of work, the first of which was in Florida. 2. I am terrible at planning social occasions.

Luckily, Nat (of Nat & Kat) is good at organizing parties. She organized people and places and grocery lists, and dispatched her boyfriend to help me pick up the latter Saturday afternoon before the party. (I like grocery shopping with someone who can help me rationalize buying the family-size bag of Cheetos.) The weather was perfect, and I got to hang out with some of my favorite people, and a good time was had by all.

Greetings from Jacksonville!

Hello, dear readers, from sunny FL, where I'm music directing at musical theater camp for the week. I've been trying to post all week, but for some reason either the blogger site (I just accidentally typed blooger) or the hotel wifi has not been allowing me to post.  

News - in keeping with my long-established tradition of changing my mind/breaking my own rules, I have decided to go back to learning a song a day.  I miss waking up and wondering - like a kid in a candy store - what song I'm going to learn today.  But only on weekdays!  I'm not totally crazy.  

This week I've learned: 

"Happiness" (from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown)

"It's Raining Men" 

"Teenage Dream"

"Forever and Ever, Amen"

More later, and perhaps a return to geekery - for now, time to sleep off the Thai food I had for dinner with the other musical director.

Weekly Wish 06-06-11 - Reality and Madness

This one's for all you Geminis out there, in particular my bestest buddy Sarah, who's having a birthday today.  We've been friends for twenty-four years, since we were six.  She's thirteen days older than I am, which makes me a Gemini too, as will shortly become clear in this short story featuring our old friends, Katgut and the Voice of Reason:

"Ok, people.  Here's the deal," I began to type.

I went on to say that I'm preparing my first audition since I had some bad experiences a couple years ago and decided I needed to stay home and get my shizzle togizzle, so to speak. 

"So, I quit," I said.  "I quit this dumb Weekly Wishes bullsh*t, I'm tired of arguing with myself about how to spend my time. I'll put that energy into finding the next step in my career.  It's the Reasonable Thing To Do."

Really, Kat?  Not even 20 minutes in a day, as a kind of meditation, to work on something just because you love it and not because it pays the bills or might lead to the next step in your career?  You can't take that time to stay true to yourself as a musician, and build a sort of armor to shield yourself from the downsides of what can be a very unforgiving business?

Apparently Katgut has been reading Hunter S. Thompson:
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

Well, damn.  As a talisman, to ward off vampires like Disappointment and Fear of Failure, I will spend a little time each day going back to practice and delve deeper into one of my favorite songs from last year, for which one day did not suffice: Billy Joel's "Summer, Highland Falls".

I'm glad I have a mind that can see and argue both sides of a case.  Not that this trait just for Geminis, but it's a good excuse to wish my fellow twins happy birthday season!

Weekly Wish 05/31/11 - Eine Kliene Mozart

What day of the week is it?  I went hiking yesterday, and forgot to post. 

This week's wish: a little Mozart, first movement of K. 311 sonata in D.  It's been a while since I've worked on classical music, but right now there are some technical things I need to work, and something like this is called for. 

Plus - rule number one: I like Mozart.  He was a theater dude. 

Flowers, Chocolates, and Booze

Tonight was the final concert for a chorus I play for. Before the concert, the conductor winked and indicated the bottle of liqueur she'd slipped into my bag. After the concert, the choir members presented me with a box of chocolates and an enormous bunch of red and white roses.

It was a pretty casual concert - dress code all-black with just a hint of bling.  On this side of town, a few blocks east of the theater district, people don't immediately take me for a performer. Lone passersby shot me looks of envy; happy couples nodded and all-but-cooed (gross) in knowing comprehension. Two teenage girls on the subway kept pointing and eyeing my humongous bouquet until I finally assured them:

"Oh, this isn't from a boy, it's from a performance."

"Do you dance?" asked one of the girls.

I explained I was a pianist. "But it's fun to pretend they're from a boy. And the keep the riff-raff away while I'm shopping." And, wouldn't you know it, all three of us mimed holding the flowers out like a cruxifix.

Who says there are no perks to being a musician?

Weekly Wish 05/23/11: FAIL

I played Nat's recital last week, and we did enjoy performing "Every Time We Say Goodbye."  I also played "'Round Midnight" at In the Pocket's recital yesterday.  Both performances were videotaped.  I don't really feel like posting either performance.  They were ok, audiences enjoyed them, but I didn't accomplish what I'd wanted.  That's what happens when you only put an hour into something very detailed like music - audiences will still dig it, if you're a pro and manage to make it musical. But You the Pro will not be satisfied with the details of an hour's work. 

The two main reasons I'm doing this Weekly Wish project:
I wanted to continue growing as a musician the way I did last year with my song-a-day project, but
A) I wanted flexibility to have a little more of a life
and
B) I wanted to go into deeper musical detail. 

I have gotten to have a little more of a life, since I'm not constantly thinking "I gotta go home and learn my song".  I know you all really miss how much cathartic personal stuff leaked onto my blog last year.  Maybe sometime I'll share some haiku I've written over the past few months. 

Regarding deeper musical detail... it's great.  Yeah, it's awesome.  WHEN I put the time in, it's fantastic.  But I haven't been real clear with myself on what my goal is every week; it's kinda open-ended.  Consequently, it's real easy to just... have a life. 

And of course, it's easier make the choice to focus on career-work than it was last year, with my maniacal but simple directive to memorize a pop song every day.  So these past couple weeks haven't all been fail: aside from being busy enough that I can afford a couple slower weeks during the summer, I got to music direct, play and "orchestrate" (for piano, violin and cello) a production of The Secret Garden.  I got to meet the composer and original music director, both of whom seemed pleased with my work. 

But until I'm working at a level where I'm constantly being challenged to grow at my paying work, I need these little projects.  So this week's catch-up week (Oscar Peterson, and maybe Nat and I can re-record), and then next week I start again. 

Thinking... or not

You know, I secretly like these weeks where there's no time to think.  Yesterday was a four-show day of Secret Garden (dress rehearsal and performance with each cast).  The week leading up to it was filled with writing charts for my string players, figuring out what I was going to play (since that was a bit different from what I had been hammering out during rehearsal), a few regular gigs and students, and, oh yeah, rehearsal.  I haven't overthought anything for several days! Amazing!

Oh, The Heck With It

 I am taking a break from coaching and organizing people and rehearsals and madly writing charts to bring you this bulletin:

Life does not fit neatly into hours or weeks right now.  Just GOOOOOOOO! The deadlines are coming, the deadlines are coming!  (Russians? Post-Cold War era summer camp games? Anyone?) So no "Weekly" - but I still have a couple ways to play my little deadline game with myself: On Thursday May 19, Nat and I will perform at her studio recital.  The following Sunday, I will play "'Round Midnight" at In the Pocket's recital.  I'm in crazy madness until this Sunday with Secret Garden.  So... what gets done will get done.  The rest... won't. 

Wish-wise, when I can snatch a few minutes, working on Nat's stuff first because we have to rehearse (ha! oh yeah, that!) before Thursday - chillin' with Oscar Peterson and "Every Time We Say Goodbye".  Then back to hang with Monk.  Then schedule will be downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm.  (Being too busy = excellent problem.)