Longer answer — many opinions within the heavy metal community
The Unholy Trinity of Protometal — Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple (though nowadays people consider Led Zeppelin to be “classic rock”)
Heavy Metal music was written during the 60s to late 70s — “Much of the development after that, while being both heavy and metal, isn’t considered Heavy Metal” by musicians in the genre. Taxonomy!
Riff based featuring tritones, half steps, flat 9s, flat 6s, “and other dissonant and atonal gestures”
“Good riffs can sound heavy even if you play them acoustic” — not just a matter of tuning everything down. But, “though dissonance is the seed of heaviness, it’s not the whole story”
This is an especially good episode, I hope to come back to it and take more notes!
Chromatic Neighbor Embellishment — Could be the title of a track on a Prog album?
embellishments — add color or sense of motion to main note
Neighbor motion — goes to one of the notes on either side, then comes back
chromatic neighbor motion — moves a semitone. Might not be in the key
Chromatic embellishments of cheerful major key melodies are part of the musical identity of Mario games
not just melody but also harmony and bass notes move like this
Note — these early games had limited polyphony because of sound board. Spells out a chord with root, 5th, and melody note is the 3rd of the chord. If revoiced, the interval between the top notes would be a third. Koji Kondo in interviews said he wanted to use interval of a 6th because it sounds fuller. So — three note spread voice chord, with root on the bottom — means the 3rd has to be on top.
Melody E, Eb, F, E is called Double Neighbor Embellishment; later there’s a chromatic passing note in a run
I would love to be able to play arpeggios all up and down the keyboard. I can imagine how it would sound (“audiate”), but my hands can’t do it gracefully, and I certainly couldn’t read it! After doing the Morning Noodle I wrote some of it out in Finale. When I had written it by hand, the notes on ledger lines looked horrifying, like Terra Incognito. But when written neatly via Finale it looked less intimidating.
I can’t remember, when I was in elementary school did have trouble reading my own handwriting?
I played some modified arpeggios based on inversions of A minor. The pattern is: top note of the arpeggio, approach second note from underneath, third note of arpeggio, then bottom note and up one.
The chords I used are Fma7 (FACE) Dm6 (FABD), Asus2 (EABD) and Am in the 2nd inversion (EACE).
This could be over a bassline of F, G, A — the ol’ flat 6, flat 7, 1 of a minor scale.
That means that FABD is, like, a G9 with the G missing
Ending on an Am in the second inversion means it’s a cadence but not a perfect cadence, I forget what they are called. Imperfect?
I just remembered, there is a nice chord progression based on FACE FABD
Lately I have been trying to set up my daily schedule so that I do very specific things at specific times, so that the habit gets locked in. For example one new habit is the Sunset Chicken Visit. Every day close to sunset my husband takes the dog for a walk. I use that as my cue to drop whatever I’m doing and head out to the chicken coop to deliver their food, water and snacks. This has been working really well because it’s a small enough task that I can jump up and take care of it. We’re not talking clean the entire coop — just a quick delivery!
I was trying to think of a similar habit to encourage making music every day. I really enjoy sitting at the piano while having my morning coffee (being very careful not to get coffee on the piano!!!); I enjoy playing random melodies and figuring out chords to accompany them. But since my music notation skills are still weak, when I scratch stuff down, it’s by spelling the chords out. On one sheet of notebook paper there’s the melody, the chord symbols, the chord voicing spelled out, and maybe some noteheads to indicate a rhythm. It’s hard to read.
What would be pleasant to write on? Easier to read?
When I was in elementary school, I always liked using the giant paper that had room for a drawing at the top and writing at the bottom.
So I got myself some fancy graph paper. The sheets are huge (11 x 17) and are bound to a stiff cardboard backing. The paper is blank on the back, and is solid enough that it stands up to lots of erasing. It sits beautifully on the piano’s music ledge. I also got some 3-ring binders that are 11 x 17 and open sideways (landscape orientation).
I’m not going to be taping my art to the refrigerator, so I thought this might be a good way to make a ritual out of it. Look, look! Another sheet in the special binder!
My goal is to fill a page with ideas every morning. Noodling. Remember I write really big, like a second grader, so “filling a page” is not a lot. Yesterday’s page took two hours and today’s took an hour and 15 minutes.
I remember reading Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way; she talks about making a habit of morning writing
Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*–they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.
You can learn anything you want to. Anything. The idea that you are too old to learn is insane to me. You can learn anything dude. So learn some shit and stop worrying about “Oh man is it too late for me?” No. No! Stop putting invisible barriers in front of yourself as an excuse for not just sitting there and learning some new shit. Don’t give yourself an excuse. Just go do it. You could go onto Youtube right now and learn any goddam thing you want to. There’s a video for that. There’s a tutorial for that; you have access to all of it.
Thor is one of my newer discoveries — I found him because he popped up on Youtube shorts. Apparently these are snippets from his gaming streams? He is talking to younger folks; a lot of them are asking him “how did you get to where you are”. He has some encouraging words for them. Little does he know, he’s also encouraging this old lady.
You don’t need to be an amazing programmer, chat. Do you know why? Because Undertale exists. Undertale is one of the worst programmed things I have ever seen. It is horrible. There are rooms that have hundreds of if statements in a row checking the same value and then it sets the value to zero and then it checks it again. All of the dialogue in all of Undertale is in a single switch case statement thousands of cases long. For the whole game. But you’d never know that. And it doesn’t matter. Because the player doesn’t care. And the player would never know. That’s it! Go make games.
I’m applying this advice to myself as a musician. According to this vid, I am indeed part of the intended audience:
I’ve been inspired lately by authors Hank and John Green, who have been making a series of weekly 4-minute videos for the past FIFTEEN YEARS. The videos are in vlog format and are an endearingly random mix of comedy, inspiration and information. I’ll be talking more about them later; but one of the things I especially appreciated was “we gradually got better at this by making a lot of cringey vids and a lot of mistakes”. Here John talks about how therapy (both physical and mental) is a way of re-wiring the brain.
Another inspiration lately has been the music “connections” I have made through Youtube and Twitter. (I’m using scare quotes because the connections are 99 % one-way. ) My favorite content creators don’t interact with me (except for “thankyou to my Patreon subscribers for your support!” and the occasional “like” on Twitter), but I do know a fair amount about them — their challenges, their creative process, which instruments they play, where they went to music school and how that affected them, etc. I enjoy knowing these things and it helps me to feel like I AM part of a music community even though currently I don’t have any interactions with musicians IRL.
A recent Twitter music connection happened when a relatively new Twitter follow of mine posted a fascinating thread on “Perlin noise”.
Lets talk about a single texture that's been a huge game changer in the world of gaming.
And the crazy part? You probably haven't even noticed it. This texture is literally EVERYWHERE. And there's something pretty special about it that's made it so popular.
— Thomas @ Stylized Station (@StylizedStation) May 12, 2023
It’s used in visual textures in video games — an obvious example is the Fog Gates in the Dark Souls series, but it’s also used for hundreds of other things such as rippling grass, reflections on water, and elevations on a map. And music! It can be used to add texture to music. When I searched for “Perlin noise” and “soft synth” I found a link to a softsynth called Vital
https://vital.audio/
and learning more about that, I found a whole series of videos by Venus Theory. Here’s one specifically about Vital
Cameron’s videos are very different from my usual music education content (ex. Adam Neely, 8bit Music Theory, David Bruce Composer). I was curious about his background, which led me to this interview
What he had to say about his work process and his path as a musician was very helpful, like “OK (deep sigh), yeah, I’m ready to come back to making music again”.
I love Deadmau5. I think it was his Masterclass that was the final tipping point to get me to sign up for classes this fall.
I want part of my LOT300W to include some EDM-inspired parts. I was wondering, well, how did Deadmau5 do it? What is the pattern of kick drum and snare, etc. I found this video
…which was amazingly well done. The graphics were funny and vivid, and it was packed with information. I let out a holler of delight when I found out that Joel used Strobe2 (my latest softsynth purchase). Also hilarious — Joel’s source of handclap sounds. He smacks himself on the ass with a microphone.
I did find all the terminology used to describe EDM very confusing and complex. I’d like to get the taxonomy straight. I would benefit from taking notes on this vid and listening to a few more.
Meanwhile I stumbled on this
…an orchestral mix.
and this…
“If you want me to stay
I need you to know
You can never ever leave me alone”
I love how the singer repeats the words with different inflections, bringing out different shades of meaning each time. The repetition reminds me of a prayer. The lyrics were heartrending to me because I know someone who just came out of a dysfunctional relationship where one partner was destructively dependent on the other. The lyrics are a cry from the heart — “don’t abandon me” — but is this a healthy state of mind? Or a form of obsession? I know that different species can live in symbiotic relationships and in fact that is the only way they can thrive (ex coral and algae). But what about humans? Is it bad (harmful, hurtful) for us to be dependent on each other? To want (demand?) fidelity and wholeheartedness from your partner? I’m not sure — because lately I’ve seen it go horribly wrong. When I hear this vocalist’s plea, I don’t know whether to empathize… or to recommend a good therapist.
I remember times when I was dependent on another’s deep focus and engagement, and how anguished I was when these times of connection ended. I can relate to these lyrics.
In this song the rhythm moves along, like a car down a highway or the minute hand of a clock, or a heartbeat, marking off the passage of time. Floating over that unchanging rhythm is a human voice, hesitant, changeable, at times anguished and at times angry. It is a compelling combination.
I remember talking to one of my profs last semester — I mentioned New Age music and she gave a look of mild disgust. She asked — why listen to something so boring and repetitive when there is music that is so much more varied and expressive?
Because for me, the repetition is…meditative? Like a form of transportation (worm hole, time warp) into a different mindset? The format is familiar and so my mind goes down familiar paths — I remember other times I have lived / worked to this music — ex. painting the aviary while listening to “I Remember” and wondering about how a friend was doing at that moment in time. The music is a familiar companion, a mood-altering substance, a way of centering. “I remember who I was the last time I listened to this”. Usually working and moving, sometimes even dancing.
I remember “house sitting” a beautiful, near-empty house (the owners were in the process of moving their things out to sell it). I had my boom box with me, and was playing this mix from Paul van Dyk. The sound echoed, and the hardwood floors made the open plan rooms like a dance studio. I had the lights out and danced, looking out the sliding glass doors into the dark, with distant lights from neighbors’ houses shining through the trees. This feeds a part of me, the wordless part that exists in the present. It gets me out of the hamster-wheel of my usual thoughts.
Ah yes, Finale. Drag and drop notes while banging your head on the desk.
I did make some good progress while working on a project for church. The goal was to make a version of “Thanks for the Memory” that was created to honor our former choir director. I wanted to keep the tune and rhythm as close to the original as possible, but I did have to make some changes. I got stuck several places, but because the project was so important I actually RTFM’d and searched for the answers online. Here’s some notes.
Quick way to add measures, one at a time
Get rid of an extra page
I want it to start playback where I was working, rather than going all the way back to the beginning.
This dropdown menu also allowed me to vary the amount of swing. I wrote the melody with straight eighth notes, but it did not sound that way when sung by Bob Hope!
I wanted to use piano rather than the cheesy Vox setting they gave me when I set the staff up as “voice”.
It’s been a while since I’ve written here! The semester is over and I’m starting to recover. The last 2 weeks of the semester felt like the final miles of a marathon. Then when I stopped “running” I stopped doing music, taking care of my health, playing with my dog, talking to friends. Now I’m starting to feel restless — I want to be studying something, I want to be exercising — and I’m tired of feeling queasy from feasting on unhealthy food! (And poor Bonnie the Dog feels restless, too.)
I’m hoping that I can do better next semester — pace myself instead of dashing from crisis to crisis. I figured out that if I read / take notes on 5 pg a day for the month of January, I can review the second half of last semester and read ahead through next semester! Of course the hardest part of the music theory text is not learning the terminology, but putting it into practice. But at least I’d have an idea of what was going on.
I also need to review what we did in Ear Training (I flamed out when we got to minor scales), and scan the second half of the textbook and print it out in magnified form. Having a large-print version of the text last semester was such a big help.
More about next semester: I did contact the prof. who teaches composition. I have mixed feelings about that — excitement (there’s so much I want to learn and work on) but also fear (can I balance that with my other classes?) I’m trying to get a head start on the composing project. On Saturday I drew a beautiful diagram that maps out where the composition will go and what its main sections are. There’s an intro; and mirroring it, a recap. There’s 3 main voyages, each separated by travel music (like the Promenade in “Pictures at an Exhibition”). Each voyage is made up of 3 scenes. What I can do over break is start generating and collecting material — theme bits, chord progressions, musical textures.
As a way of generating fresh music textures, I signed up for lectures on Coursera called “Creating Sounds for Electronic Music”. I made a first pass through the videos yesterday. The instructor is Loudon Stearns of Berklee College of Music. He is very clear and organized, but the course material is unfamiliar enough that I’ll have to go through the lectures again very slowly! Stearns is demonstrating the softsynth called “Strobe2” and you get to use a demo of the software for several weeks. I picture running the tutorial vids on my desktop while working with the software on my laptop.
I also need to get a DAW up and running if I’m going to be composing. I bought a copy of Reaper last summer and even bought the guide book (which is several inches thick!), but haven’t actually jumped in yet. I do have FL Studio, but I plan to be using a lot of mp3 clips (from my own recordings) and FL Studio handles them in a very clunky way. What I really wish I could have is a fusion of Audacity and my old sequencer software from the 90s called Cadenza.
So, to recap
Text review and reading ahead (notecards)
Ear training review and working ahead — make large print version
Composing
generate bits to collage together later
learn Strobe2 and start generating textures
work on Reaper, start to get familiar with it
I had been planning on getting a used piano over break, and had planned on continuing with piano lessons next semester (though only 1 credit rather than 2). But, looking at my list, maybe it would be smart to postpone the piano purchase, and the lessons. I can certainly still work on scales and arpeggios on my own, and bought a series of 8 lesson books on sight reading (Christmas gift to myself!). I guess I can still change my mind on that, but Text / Ear / Composing is probably enough.
It would be great to go through the semester without my little bubble of drama following me everywhere.
Oh and did I mention I set up a blog for our music theory class? But no one (except for one student) has been willing to post on it, so I guess it’s not going to be a big energy sink?
I made this video partly in response to the Paganini assignment
I was trying to explain to myself why so much of this performance was grating. It really does seem that the violin is in pain. Not a beautiful pain like “while my guitar gently weeps”, but more like a hoarse scream. To me, the violin (and cello and viola?) seem so similar to the human voice. I guess it makes sense — we have vocal cords and resonators, and they have vocal cords and resonators as well. In our case the strings are set in motion by air, and in their case because of friction from the touch of a bow.
We were asked to find some additional examples of the Paganini — the same piece performed by other musicians, or adaptations of it (variations, fantasies, …remixes?)
I had commented to one of my friends in class, “You just KNOW there’s going to be a version on electric guitar.” Here one is. The comments under the video said that the guitarist did a good job playing it fairly straight instead of turning it into a “power metal version”.
Here’s an adaptation for flute. I saw videos by several other flautists but I wanted a video where you could see the body language of the musician.
A leaf on the wind — leaping birds — spiral stems, vines dangling
2:59 arpeggios made me think of water bubbling in a stream
3:15 staccato? sharp breaths. Not harsh but jazzy, dance-like
3:48 riding along on the melody line, as if I were ice skating. A push, then gliding, pull into a turn…
playful, mournful, energetic but graceful, confident
Compared to this — the Markov version was brash, arrogant, “emo”
If his version was a person near me on the bus I would move away to another seat. Dude, have you been taking your meds? Maybe you need anger management therapy.
I did not listen to this entire selection. I got about 3 minutes in and began to feel confused about whether we were still in a variation of Caprice # 24. Some of the harmonizations made me feel sort of queasy. I’m not sure what harmonies cause that feeling (disoriented, ill-at-ease). Note that the person who posted this included a huge amount of information about the different variations — what was different about each one, and what was especially challenging about each one.
Brahms was not a showman, and rarely wrote music which aimed at being technically difficult. But when he did, he out-Liszted Liszt. The Paganini Variations, as you can tell from their main title, are not just a fully-fledged concert work but also a set of exercises for study, featuring technical challenges that are often more than a little obscene [19:24]. As always, the variations are also musically dazzling in their variety and invention. Kissin plays the faster variations with astounding bravura, [11:29] dynamic control [16:05], and articulation [16:49], and is exquisitely delicate in the slower ones [07:45].
This is a version that’s being played through MIDI software. It’s unpleasantly robotic to listen to, but the hand patterns were fascinating to me. My previous keyboard experience was on organ (with separated keyboards). It’s interesting to see how the 2 hands share and trade the notes back and forth.
Caprice # 24 begins at the 20:22 mark.
20:30 I can imagine doing these arpeggios — relaxed and graceful
20:53 — light tripping staccato notes
21:18 — low rumbling, running like a motor. “Perdendosi”?
21:32 — “stabby”. I don’t think the piano is in any danger, but this sounds like it might hurt the fingers.
21:46 — anxious sounding rapid chromatic runs
22:00 — “magical” — little sparkly phrases on the rt. hand, darker phrases on the left
22:20 — headbanger! Envigorating.
22:43 — wiry, vine-like
22:53 — OK, sounds like the piano is giggling
“Scherzando” does mean “playfully” (or, as Dr. Greenberg says, it literally means “I’m joking”), but this is really silly and cute.
23:00 — more headbanging! “Fuocoso” apparently means fiery or passionately.
23:12 — burbling
23:30 — twinkly. The extended trill does give me a feeling of unease or suspense, though.
24:06 — the piano is roaring and thundering. Waves on a stormy sea
24:35 — those are some weird harmonies!
24:54 — this must be the big finish. I can hear the main theme buried deep in the mix.
Now — huge waves — this part makes me think of winding up to throw a shot put. Gathering energy…
