Let's take it back a couple hundred years...

I love classical music. It always surprises me when I hear that my peers, that is, my fellow generationers (I know it's not a word, but you get the point) do not get enjoyment out of the "old masters" so to speak.

Beethoven, Back, Mozart, Chopin, Handel, Haydn... the Liszt could go on.

(By the way, that was a music nerd joke, Franz Liszt was a classical pianist).

Anyway, when I was little, my Grandmom and my Aunt always played classical music for me. Both are classically trained pianists and I think I got my love for watching live performances from them. Nothing makes me happier than hearing one of them play from the other room during family gatherings and then going to watch as they dance along the ivory keys.

The first song I'm going to post is one of my favorite piano pieces:

This is Nocturne op.9 no.1 by Frederic Chopin. And the youtube video even comes with a nice sketch of the man. This is one of my favorites for a couple reasons, the first is because my Aunt Nadine plays it wonderfully and when I started being able to read music, I was able to listen to her play while watching the little black dots progress along the pages. I became her page turner. So when she played, I wasn't just the listener anymore, it was something we could do together.

Another reason is because of the story. I think that we have largely lost appreciation for a story without words. The wonderful thing about this type of music is that it paints a different picture in the mind of every listener and every player. For example, this particular pianist (the one in the recording I posted) will have a different interpretation of the piece than my Aunt will. That holds true for most classical (and also many contemporary) pieces. Each player can add their own emotions to the interpretation and, even though they didn't write the piece, they can make it somewhat their own.

Here is the next piece:

This is a piece by Samuel Barber called Adagio for Strings and I am convinced to this day that it is one of the top 5 most beautiful and moving pieces ever written. If conducted and performed well, the sound of the orchestra is breath taking. This particular recording was done to honor the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

See the emotion in the expressions and the movements of the conductor. He feels every note. He knows this music so well he barely even glances at his score. Notice how he plays each pause. As the orchestra begins to decrescendo, he takes advantage of the coming silence and anticipates the next part of the piece.

It really is quite a wonderful composition.

Another piano piece:

This is another Chopin: Scherzo no.2 op.31 and the performer in the video is actually a friend of mine's father. He is an excellent pianist and this is an excellent piece. Nothing much more I have to say about this.

One more piece, another full orchestral:

This is Beethoven's Symphony no.7, the first movement. No one has and ever will sound like Beethoven. It may be a little cliche, but Beethoven is my favorite classical composer. In my opinion, no one has ever quite been able to work an orchestra like he did.

And the man was deaf for most of his life! Freaking deaf!

How maddening to be a musical genius who can't hear his own sounds?

When I was younger, I used to have this CD that I listened to over and over in my room. My mom got it for me (I think, coulda been my Grandmom, I'm not sure) and it was called Beethoven Lives Upstairs. It followed the story of a young boy whose parents, as landlords of a building, had rented out the top floor to a tennent: Ludwig van Beethoven. As Beethoven's music played in the background, the little boy would voice his frustration with how loud Beethoven was. Always pounding away on the floor and on the keys, keeping him and his family up all hours of the day and night, waking the baby. Eventually, the boy learns that Beethoven is deaf and plays as loud as he can so that he can compose his music by literally feeling the vibrations.

Think about this:

Beethoven knew music so well that he could compose pieces without being able to actually hear them. He could look at the notes he was writing on the page and hear it in his head! The flutes, the first violins, the timpani; the pieces came together, sometimes, without their composer having ever heard them.

A true genius and a true madman. One of the first Mad Geniuses, if you ask me.

Whew! This was a long post. As you can see, I could go for pages and pages writing about this genre. Maybe next week I'll post about some more classical pieces?

Let me know what ya think.

Take a Listen

I am going to talk about one song this week. Just one.

Here it is:

It's called Wooden Heart and it's by a band called Listener. I'll do my best to describe it and tell you what I think although it speaks for itself better than any other words could. The singer, if you could call him that (I would call him a performer) is named Dan Smith. He's amazing.

I honestly can say that I've never heard lyrics like this before in my life. When I first heard this song, the first two lines hit me like a punch to the face:

"We’re all born to broken people on their most honest day of living
and since that first breath... We’ll need grace that we’ve never give"

It's poetry. People don't write like this anymore. And the way he performs! He feels every single word and he believes it when he says it. Just like Bob Dylan's voice was perfect for his music, Dan Smith's is perfect for his. Listener has a very unique style, this spoken word/rock fusion. I know it can be hard to dig this stuff, but give it a chance, and definitely check out the lyrics.

The song is about a community who wants to build a church, but there's not wood. They live by the shoreline though, so they build it from a shipwreck.

It's so simple, and said in such elegant beautiful words.

When I went home for Spring Break, I showed this song to on of my friends. About half way through, she was tearing up, by the end: full blown tears. It's not that my friend is overly religious, the language just struck her in such a way as to make her cry.

Anyway, the drawing I did to this song was inspired by the lyrics:

"With tears of joy and tears of grief"

 I'm not really sure what it represents. It's just what I was feelin'...

Something metal this way comes...

This week, in honor of my essay on Motley Crue, I was listening to metal. So I'm gonna post a couple songs and talk about why they're awesome, like always.

Oh and before i forget about the sketch part, like I did last week, this is the drawing I did this week:

It's a devil. I did it all scribbles on purpose. I don't know why. Thought it would look cool.

In any event, I thought a devil was appropriate for metal week.

First song, let's go Motley:

This song is called "Kickstart My Heart". It's one of the most bad ass rock and roll songs I've ever heard. A little background, Motley Crue is (they are still touring and making new music) a Glam Metal band that from LA. They made their debut in 1981. The members have been the same since 1981 except for on one album when the singer changed, but that was temporary.

As it stands, Motley Crue consists of:

•Nikki Sixx- Bass guitar and primary songwriter
•Tommy Lee- Drums, Piano and Backup vocals
•Mick Mars- Lead and Rhythm Guitar
•Vince Neil- Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar

The goal for Motley Crue was to be the biggest, loudest, raunchiest, sleaziest, sexiest, most aggressive, bad ass, drug using womanizing, car buying and most in your face band ever.

Suffice to say, they succeeded. Motley Crue was and still ridiculous. Without a doubt they were the best at what they did. No one ever has or ever will be able to do what Motley did for rock and roll. More than anything though, they revolutionized the way a show is put on live and the attitude it takes to be a bad ass rock and roll group.

Today, all 4 members of Motley Crue no longer use drugs and only two of them (Neil and Mars) still drink, but only on occasion. They had to stop sometime right? Otherwise they'd all be dead. As it is, Nikki Sixx has survived being dead twice. Both times of a heroin overdose. Seriously, how rock and roll is that? Being dead twice and being like, "Nope, I think I'll live a bit longer." He probably had a nice conversation with the devil while he was croaked.

Some other Motley songs I like:
-Girls Girls Girls
-Shout at the Devil
-Primal Scream
-Saints of Los Angeles
-Wild Side
-Smokin' in the Boys Room (which is actually a cover song, not written by Motley)

NEXT SONG:

This song is called Under a Glass Moon and it's by a group called Dream Theater off of their album, Images and Words. DT is one of my favorite groups of all time because they have such a heavy sound with a lot of hair and mojo, but still are one of the most musically and technically complex groups out there. They are often praised for the technical excellency of each of their musicians.

Currently, Dream Theater is:

•John Petrucci- Guitar
•Mike Mangini- Drums
•John Myung- Bass Guitar
•Jordan Rudess- Keyboard/Synthesizers
•James LaBrie- Vocals

On this song, the drummer is Mike Portnoy who was actually their original drummer and a founding member of the band. He remained with DT until this past year when he and the rest of the group had a falling out of sorts and he felt he had no other choice but to quit the band.

A quality of Dream Theater that I really appreciate is that each of their songs are so long, you really get what you pay for in terms of length of the album. Also, each song showcases the talent of all the musicians in the band at one point or another. The solos are nuts. Especially the guitar solos. I've never heard anyone play guitar like John Petrucci.

Also, Dream Theater often plays in time signatures that would be impossible for most bands out there to keep up with. Their songs are rhythmically engaging and musically extremely challenging. 

NEXT (and last) SONG:

This is called The Devil's Orchard by a band called Opeth from Sweden. I don't have much to say about them. They basically speak for themselves in the music. I will say this though, I got the chance to see them live once and they were unreal. One of the best shows I've ever been to.

Here are some other bands to check out if you're interested:
-Beardfish
-Avenged Sevenfold
-SixxAM
-Methods of Mayhem
-Pain of Salvation
-Five Finger Death Punch (specifically the song Bad Company. Shit is unreal)

Thanks for reading y'all! I know metal can be tough for some people to get into, but it really is a great genre of music. And awesome for those days when the expression on your face might as well be a middle finger to everyone walking by you.