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Live performance

by | Apr 18, 2012 | ,

A few years ago I looked up to find that- for several years- I had spent nearly 100% of my musical time either at my desk and piano, or in the studio recording.  I know that sounds lovely to some people. Especially some hard-working gigging musicians.  But for me it created something of a disconnect.  I was making music without the benefit of any immediate feedback. I was writing in a resonance-free zone. I don’t think that it is a terrible way to make music or to make a living. But I really started to miss one of the key components of a satisfying musical life….an audience. An actual pay-for-a-seat appreciative, clapping audience.  Yes this involves a world of difficulty that composing and studio work neatly circumvent.  But the work was necessary for me.  Luckily I had my band, Chaise Lounge, to fall back into.  For the past few years we have amped up our performing schedule little by little.    The benefits have been enormous. Firstly, I think that the more I play for people be better I am at composing music with, for lack of a better phrase,  emotional impact.  There are many ways to write music. Some of them are completely intellectual.  And the closer I got to that end of the composing spectrum, the less satisfying I found my writing to be.  The further the meter swung towards an emotionally resonant method of writing, the better it felt.  and the better the writing actually was.  Of course,another of the obvious benefits of playing live is…playing live.  Really? where else can you get that adrenal high?  Yes all the things that surround a gig are exhausting: the travel, the sound-check, lifting and lugging gear, booking agents, club owners, incompetent sound guys, the list could go on for pages.  But the nut of it all, the standing on stage and playing songs that emotionally connect with the people right in front of you- that makes it all worthwhile. 

      I’ve been thinking about this as I juggle my life around my gigs.  Tomorrow we are in Germantown MD at the Black Rock Center for Performing Arts.  And this Saturday we are at The Hamilton in Washington DC. After that we will be in NYC at the Metropolitan Room. This is all difficult to do.  And it is all well worth the trouble. I can hardly wait to unpack and play.

The Pips

by | Apr 11, 2012 | ,

The fine art of singing background vocals is a rarely noted craft.  Had a session last night with the legendary Tommy Lepson and Dusty Rose and it was something of a lesson in this arcane art.  Listening to them find the EXACT phrasing in the lead vocal track, and then discussing whether to match it or straighten out the rhythm in order to more fully feature the lead was intensely interesting. I can sing and I have had to put down bg vox on Chaise Lounge recordings.  I struggle with this. I struggle with matching pitches, phrasings and vibratos.  It was nice to have some old-school guys in the studio who come by those skills via years of singing and a high degree of natural talent.

The 4th Grade Reviews are in!

The 4th Grade Reviews are in!

by | Apr 8, 2012 | ,

Dear Mr. Charlie Barnett,
       Thank you for coming!  I had a great time.  I loved plying my guitar for you.  I want to do what you do when I grow up.  Don’t worry, I have an electric metronome.  I drew a guitar for you (on original letter).
                                               Your Friend,
                                               Aidan M.

OMG they were all so perfectly wonderful. If it didn’t seem incredibly exhausting, I would want to be a fourth grade teacher.  I wish I could include the picture here.  You will have to use your imagination… he certainly did.

Mnemonics and music and Skype

by | Apr 6, 2012 | , , ,

Yesterday I had a Skype session with the Clemson University orchestra, courtesy of Dr. Andrew Levin.  They are playing “The Blue Chevrolet”

What totally surprising questions!  One question that a cellist asked:  “What are your thoughts on translating memory into music?”  He was not referring to songwriting or anything with lyrical content, He was talking about the completely abstract orchestral piece that they are playing. A far more difficult question.  Yes, “The Blue Chevrolet” is unabashedly autobiographical.  But I have never been so confronted by the clear evidence of this process, and my nearly complete lack of understanding of how I do this.  There is probably a very good doctoral thesis in just that one question.   Maybe abstract painters have a better handle on this?  I wish I could have come up with a slick answer to this.  As it is, I will be thinking about this for the next three years.  I will get back to you on this. 

I wish I could be there to hear the performance.  Good luck to the orchestra and thank you again to Maestro Levin for playing this.

Amy Winehouse

by | Apr 5, 2012 | ,

I listened to the entire Back to Black CD yesterday.  It really hit me all over again that we lost an amazing, singular voice in Amy Winehouse. But whoa!  what a totally weird production on that record. And  an incredibly strange mix.  I realize that the in choosing to work with the Dap Kings and going for a vintage “Dusty in Memphis” sound she was making a bold retro statement.  I guess what made me sad was the obvious fact that we will never get to hear her really get to the bottom of the sound she was looking for.  The next CD would have been spectacular.  RIP Amy.

A great show in LA with the ever-so-talented Gia Mora

by | Apr 4, 2012 | , ,

What I do in my spare time.

Cabaret Scenes Review – Gia MoraGia Mora constantly surprises with her many talents. The realization that she is a gifted singer is obvious from any song in the show, but she is also, by turns, a lyricist, a dancer, a comedienne, an actress and somewhat of an expert on theoretical physics.

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via Cabaretscenes

Film Scoring Hell

by | Apr 3, 2012 | ,

I was just talking with the estimable Peter Fox and he reminded me of a producer comment.  We were both in the room and can verify that we both heard the very same thing.

Peter was at the console recording a score I had written – this was in his home studio. We were listening to a playback.  Two producers were hovering over us shouting meaningless directives.  And at some pivotal point, one of the producers said ” Can’t you make it more edgy? You know, just add some more sharps and flats.”   All I can remember of Peter is his face as tears came out of his eyes; he was shaking he was laughing so hard and biting his fist so he wouldn’t laugh out loud.   I can’t remember one other thing about the session: not the music. that the name of the film. Not the producers names ( thankfully, because I would have used them here). Nothing but that line. 

Gia Mora Show in LA

by | Apr 1, 2012 | ,

Got to play Gia Mora’s show in LA last week.  She is an amazing talent.  this was a cabaret show at the famous M Bar.

She has ice water in her veins. In the middle of a Joe Jackson song called Fools in Love… she found a place to include a tap dance break! 

Mark my words: This girl will be a known national talent within three years.

Two places to be on Wednesday

by | Mar 27, 2012 | ,

On Wednesday I am heading out to Los Angeles to play a few gigs with Gia Mora.  She is an amazing talent.  We will be doing her cabaret show.

We go back a few years.  She was my Cleopatra in New York for my musical: The Last Days of Cleopatra.  ( the story of Liz and Dick on the set of Cleopatra in Rome)

She now lives in LA and I can’t wait to play with her again.  One of our gigs is at the M Bar in Hollywood.  I used to live in Hollywood. I haven’t been to the M Bar, but the address sounds pretty hip.

Just south of Hollywood on Vine. 

Before I go though, I have promised to speak at CAREER DAY at North Chevy Chase Elementary School.  They want me to talk about being a professional composer.  I have been wracking my brain trying to think of something , anything attractive about what I do for a living. I will be speaking to 4th and 5th graders. They are all more technically savvy than I am – so thrilling them with a DVD is not on the table.  They can probably all get sounds out of garage band better than I can. I doubt they will be interested in my mad skilz at jazz piano.  Yikes. I have one little Quicktime video section to show them and then I will have to fill the next 20 minutes with…. what?  I get along with kids and I love to talk.  So how bad can it be?  I will let you know.

Mostly I thought this was a perfect slice of my life: One minute doing a very glamorous thing and the next applying the same skills to the most quotidian of tasks.  I am always surprised though, at which of the events turns out to be more meaningful.  ( I am wondering right now..which is glam and which one is the quotidian task? )

Film scoring

by | Mar 21, 2012 | , ,

There are as many ways to score a film as there are…. well, to write music.  We don’t all get to score the big orchestral films we want to on every job.  In my case, I bounce around from feature films to TV docs to non-broadcast short films, mostly for corporate clients.  This last category is sometimes the most trying.  They are usually filled with talk. And you have to remember that this talk is the single most important element to most of these clients.  So don’t spend one solitary minute being irritated at all the verbiage in the film.  After I once again realize and accept what sort of film I am working on (   Let’s say a 7 minute film for internal use at a rental car company. I have not done that, but it could easily happen) my first step in the process is to figure out WHAT I want to score.  My choices seem to boil down to this:  Am I scoring the pace of the film only?  Am I scoring the tone of the dialog?, Maybe there is a directive from the producer that he wants it to be jazz or country of classical.  Usually in films like this you can just forget trying to write an interesting melody.  That is generally wasted time. It will fight the precious dialog and do yourself no favors with your producer. That leaves you with harmony and texture to work with.  I have found that in most of these films even interesting harmonies can be distracting.  So now we’re down to just textures and tempos.   That can be fun. I do my best to divide the film up into cues, or acts. It is really important to follow the script.  Again, it is the most important element in the film. ( No it is not the music!) The script will tell you, if you are an astute listener, where the different sections are. Once you find those sections the next step is to determine the tempo of each one.  After that. You can start writing whatever it is that you think is musically correct for the show- somber, energetic, jazzy, whatever.  I have found that the thing that has the most impact in shows like this is hitting cuts. ( in our imaginary rental car film,  hitting each of the new models or rental counters or locations  etc etc) Having to write to the picture in this way will keep your head in the game. It is way too easy to just loop your way under a bunch of droning voices until you come to the end.   The mission sometimes is to keep one’s dignity as a composer while working on things that truly don’t demand much.  If you can bring interest an creativity to a film like this, your chops will be honed and ready for the next feature that comes your way.  And if all that comes along next is another corporate video, instead of dreading it you will be faster and more effective and probably having more fun.

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