I hate to do this, but you may be interested in seeing the show I’m MDing for the next two weeks: High School Musical, presented by Mystic Vision Players. Bring the kids! It’s a romp!
This is a very special day for this blog. Today, I introduce my newest musical gimmick, Ditty a Day. Here’s the basic premise: every weekday, I will create and publish a little bite-sized morsel of music, and post it here. This is all at once tons of fun, absolutely terrifying, and excruciatingly difficult for someone like me, who tends to lack the discipline for an ongoing daily exercise like this. I figure it’s a win for everyone; I force myself to write at least a little bit of music every day, I learn more about Logic Pro, I get (potentially) more traffic to this here site, and you all get something hopefully entertaining on a regular basis.
So, check back later today for the first ditty, and stay tuned for more, each weekday. I have no clue how long this will go on, but I plan on doing it for the foreseeable future, as long as life doesn’t seriously get in the way. So buckle up–this will be fun!
PS – If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe to the podcast version. Click here to subscribe in iTunes, or use this address in any podcast aggregator: http://www.johnlago.com/feed/podcast/.
I just found this video of some really interesting “electronic” music (sorry this has become a video blog lately):
Now, I’m on the fence about this one. This is one sick set of musical instruments, with some really innovative alternatives to sequencing and sampling, and their hearts seem to be in the right place.
My problem, though, is with the creative choices that these people seem to be making in performance. I just don’t like what they’re doing musically. And it’s a crying shame, because the instruments and sounds they’re using all seem like they could add up to something a lot more listenable and interesting. It all just sounds like an elaborate proof-of-concept to me.
The beat structures aren’t particularly stable, the synth chords don’t really go anywhere, and nothing has much shape. I’m not saying that all good music needs these things, but in a situation like this, when the variable and novelty is the sonic pallet itself, I’d much prefer something with traditional structure interpreted through novel sounds. (The one exception in my mind is the marimba chairs at the end, but that’s not even part of their sequencer setup.)
Has anyone heard these guys play anything else? Are there better songs around?
My family knows me pretty well. This is why I’ve wound up with Guitar Hero World Tour as a graduation present. I played it a fair amount in school, as we had it in our house, but never with the drumset until now. And it’s gotten me thinking; I’m pretty sure this game could actually make you better at the drums. I’m not saying it’ll replace lessons or owning a real kit, but as an introduction to the principles behind drumming, this is much closer to actually playing an instrument than its guitar counterparts.
The drum parts seem to be pretty well transcribed, too. The fills the game has you play on Hard and Expert are generally what the original artist did, and playing these fills and odd patterns actually causes you to examine nuances you had never noticed in classic songs. The physical layout of the kit is decent, and they’ve programmed the parts to mimic the actual placement within a real set: hihat on the left, snare right under that, causing you to cross over.
What really intrigued me was the MIDI-in port on the back. Apparently, Guitar Hero will accept any V-Drum kit with a MIDI output (as long as the note assignments line up). This means that you could hook up a less toyish kit, and actually get some real practice going. Taking it one step further, you could use the sounds from your kit’s brain instead of the in-game samples, and feel/sound like you’re really playing the music, while the game grades you.
I’m probably the 400th person to make these observations, but it’s still really cool. I’ve wanted to get better at drums for a while now, but I don’t own a set, and can’t justify buying one for what would essentially be playing around. So for people like me, or kids experimenting with instruments for the first time, this is a decent introduction to one of them.
I need to share this here:
Jon Fuller, Jonathan Bannigan and I wrote this for Matthew’s Minstrels for our final concert this past Friday. This is how we spend our time at this institution of higher learning.
Just wanted to drop a quick thank you to everyone who came out on Friday. If you’d like to relive (or just live) the experience, here’s a playlist of the whole show, minus the last song in which I thought the tonic was a whole step lower than it actually was. That selection is omitted for everyone’s sake.
Alright, kids, it’s shameless plug time! Make sure to come out and see…
THE EIGHTH SEA
LIVE AT SULLIVAN HALL
(formerly The Lion’s Den)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 15
With
THE ACADEMY BLUES PROJECT and CAPE KIDNAPPERS214 Sullivan St.
New York, NY
Show starts 7:30pm, Eighth Sea on about 9:30
Just sayin’.
On vacation I took the time to listen to a few versions of Little Shop of Horrors, since I think I’m supposed to be playing it soon. It’s fantastic in all its forms (though what the heck were MD and album producer thinking in the original Broadway recording? Speed everything up so it’ll fit on an LP? Drench it all in reverb and delay?), but it got me thinking about revivals and such.
People get attached to original cast recordings, and I never gravitate to them when another option is available. I’m zeroing in on why I never like them, and I think it comes down to orchestration. When a show is first let into the wild, the emphasis is, and shoul be, on the content itself. The singing, the lyrics, the melodies–the things that make it a show. That’s great, but oftentimes the orchestrations are the afterthought. They’re usually prepared a couple days before they need to be played, and the orchestra is just wallpaper for the singing.
In a revival situation, however, the time that would normally be spent composing or actually changing the show is sent on polishing, like fixing problem areas, and reorchestrating. It happened recently when Les Mis was brought back to New York, and dear God were those orchestrations nice.
The same happened when Little Shop was revived. The band got an additional trumpet and reeds section, the tempos were standardized, and the piano became a little more subdued. And, man, did it sound nice and full. It made the whole thing sound really polished, and this is why it’s my favorite recording of the show now.
There are certainly exceptions, but this is why I favor revivals so much. They get a similar budget and rehearsal time for a work that’s already been through its paces. As long as the casting was done right and the director has some sense, the music and arrangements are really given a chance to mature, and this is what makes them sound so much better.
