Herfstgeneurie – Opus 35 – music by Cath van Rennes ; words by Willem Kloos ; illustration Theo Goedvriend. 1900. [Via BibliOdyssey]
The art and craft of appraising, critiquing, and suggesting improvements to a piece of music in progress by a student composer has become a new experience for me after watching the blunt, insensitive, and sometimes right but sometimes just for entertainment critiques offered up by the panel on American Idol or Tim from Project Runway.
It is difficult to publicly offer criticism to a composer in front of his/her peers. And I say this especially at the undergraduate level. My tendency is to be more tolerant, and encourage them to compose as much as possible. When they are GRADUATE students, then they can get grilled, as do young architects and designers. Criticism of graduate students needs to be blunt, honest, but sensitive. These are human beings who are studying to make a career, and if the teacher fails to do his job by leading them astray in the ivory tower and not making the student aware of the real world, the teacher is not doing his job.
I think about this now because this morning, Channel 5 KTLA had a TV news host competition, where this Val Kilmer look alike guy, who was indeed nervous and everyone said so, stood up and took all of the criticism from three “judges” as well as all of the morning news crew. Two men from the news crew just clobbered the poor kid and you could see him just dying on camera. He then pulled himself together and fired back some upbeat remarks. Michaela healed the moment with her sensitive critique, but WOW, I sure wouldn’t want to have been that guy, standing up there and taking all that public humiliation.
Being a professor at a state university, I have to be extremely careful about avoiding litigious situations. For this reason, I have found the Buddhist principle of non-attachment mixed with a dose of feeling that these students are my younger siblings whom I care about, has helped me strike a happy medium.
The cavalier style of criticism leveled at the American Idol competitors does not work in higher education. It is perhaps more appropriate in a bullfight arena.
[Photograph by Michael Reichman]
“Gates of Eden” is a great early Dylan song and one I’ve always loved to play. I was interested to hear the four very different versions of this song, all sung by Dylan. Folk music changes over time, as much music that is passed down aurally is. But Dylan puts his music through some filter that has it come out differently every time. I haven’t read his recent book, so I’m ignorant to his aesthetic point for doing this is, unless it’s do wake up the meaning of the text for the person who know it.
Of interest in the first version in this outtake from Dylan’s film DON’T LOOK BACK (this is an incomplete performance, the film apparently ran out) are the variations in the guitar accompaniment. They are already more interesting than the version he recorded on the 1965 LP, “Bringing it all back Home.”
In the first 1988 version, I’m hearing Dylan influencing The Byrds influencing Dylan in his gorgeous guitar accompaniment. Although I love the original, the 1988 solo guitar accompaniment is far more poignant. I prefer his voice in 1965, but we are all stuck in our ways through no fault of the artist.
The second 1988 is one with Neil Young in Berkeley. Here we have a whole new set of chords. In wonder whether they were Neil’s contribution. (I love the way he “conducts” with his body, and especially the stomping left leg. It’s amazing he hasn’t had to have a hip replacement.) (And by the way, I’ll have whatever the drummer’s having.) The rhythm of the “melody” is vaguely similar, but the melody has gone through the Dylan-Morph, where is loses its original melodic identity.
The weirdest of them all is the 1992 version in Binghamton, NY where the melody is compressed into an Annie Lennox like 2-note bore with the original chords thumping dutifully in the background.
I’m old enough to remember when this came out.
I can imagine her in the recording studio–– half glasses with diamond rhinestones, incredulously squinting at the sheet music someone provided her, not quite sure what to do with these peculiar syncopations.
I remember her “cover” (more like ‘duck and cover’) of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” which was just hilarious. I remember my mother used to get in these weird moods and start imitating Mrs Miller, or maybe it was Florence Foster Jenkins, just being silly and singing out of tune while doing the dishes (no, she rarely drinks).
“A Hard Day’s Night” by Lennon & McCartney, sung by Mrs. Miller
Here is a respectful and spirited cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.” David Lee Roth looks exceptionally fit in his cartoon-like performance. The guitar solos are downright naughty and as sexy as Roth’s body movements. The bratty scream, originally heard on the Kinks’ original, is aped perfectly when the chord moves up a step and they belt out beautifully, “Oh Yeeeeeeaaaahhhhh.!” The Kinks pronounced the word “me” in “…you really got me” in two syllables, something like “mayuh.” Van Halen chooses the “mee” pronounciation. Rufus Wainwright, to the annoyance of a few, loves to pronounce “me” like “may” when he sings. Clearly, “may” projects better, but does sound a bit weird.
Yesterday in my music theory class I “introduced” chords. These are smart students, so of course they know their basic triads. I still feel compelled to not take anything for granted and re-introduce them one by one, explaining them as carefullly as possible, with great enthusiasm.
All triads are made up of three notes, and in their close packed position, are two intervals of a third stacked on top of each other. There are two kinds of thirds used in these triads: a minor third and a major third.
I start by playing a single low note on the piano and ask “is this major or minor?” After reminding the class about the overtones softly ringing above this note, I point out that there is already a major chord in the overtone series.
I then press down the E (the 4th overtone) and smack the low C fundamental. We then hear the E ringing very quietly. I hope this illustrated to them that the overtone series has a major chord built into it. I then did the same thing, but this time holding down the E flat. No sound. Point made. For contrast, I played several high notes asking the class whether they could hear the overtones, and the answer was of course, not as many as one could with low notes. They are out of the range of our hearing.
I moved on to the interval of a 5th, an interval that is the top and bottom of major and minor chords. The upper note of a 5th gives a tonal sense of location to the lower note as well as stability as a chordal entity. But the fifth, although powerful and stable, can sound harmonically “hollow.” There is no third in it to warm it up. That is where major and minor chords come in.
The major chord has a MAJOR THIRD on the bottom, giving it its harmonic identity, i.e., a major chord. The minor chord has a MINOR THIRD on the bottom, giving it its harmonic identity. There is also a marvelous symmetry in each chord: the major chord has a M3 on bottom and a m3 on the top; a minor chord has a m3 on the bottom and a M3 on top. Each chord is a mirror image of the other.
(For some reason, the class had been looking sullen today. Perhaps it was that I had just passed back their counterpoint midterms, or that they were just tired. But I had to do something to jolt them out of their stupor. They didn’t look bored, just zombified.)
“And then, there are the gay chords.” I ran to the board to introduce two other less common triads. “There is the diminished chord which is made up of two minor thirds, and the augmented chord which is made up of two major thirds. On the first chord, the 5th is diminished, and on the 2nd, the 5th is augmented.” The class roared. No one seemed uncomfortable, so I kept going.
“Another gay tip involves stem direction for the middle line of the staff. In the treble clef, what does the note “B” stands for?” I stopped and waited for an answer. Dear Lana came to my rescue and said “bisexual.” “Correct!” I responded enthusiastically. “B stands for bisexual; the direction of the stem can go either way, depending upon the direction of the stems of the notes around it.”
Being a music nerd can be fun sometimes.
Matthew Fisher, Procol Harum’s ex-organist is in court fighting for the ownership of his solo in the group’s famous hit single “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” The song was originally written by Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid. The contention is that because Mr. Fisher played and composed the famous organ solo at the opening, middle, and end of the song, he should be credited as one of the writers. Brooker, the voice we all know an love in that song, said:
“I am shocked and dismayed that after Matthew had worked with us quite happily over the course of 40 years without him once alleging that his role on A Whiter Shade of Pale was anything other than as a musician, it is only now that he claims he recalls writing part of the song.
Hmmm, JUST “a musician?” Sorry dear Gary, but that tune is a composed melody. It is not some wild improvisation that we don’t remember, it is perhaps the most important hook in the song. It also forms a counter-melody to Brooker’s tune. I think Mr Fisher has a case.
I am terrified that this might set a precedent for other artists who solo on each other’s records, who, one would assume, have an agreement and were most likely paid for their participation. But if “a musician” happens to contribute something EXTRA to the song that wasn’t his or hers to begin with, and that contribution becomes an important foreground musical element, has that backup musician all of a sudden become a co-writer? As a composer myself, I would have to say YES.
Backup musicians and performers do what they are told to do. They harmonize, or play notes or chord symbols put in front of them as beautifully as they can. Backup musicians are like an orchestra: all the notes are supplied by the composer, and coordinated by the conductor. But when a soloist is hired and featured prominently, and contributes quantitatively to the song, especially in a way that a non-musician would notice, writing credit should be given. And if nothing else, I guess one could settle for “solos by Matthew Fisher.” But you don’t make royalties with that kind of credit.
I will watch this case carefully and am damn curious to know how it will come out.
Here is the opening of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” The organ solo is BY Matthew Fisher. The chord progression it is over is by Bach, er by Brooker (both names mean “brook” by the way), and the words are by Keith Reid.
MP3: Play audio file (pale.mp3)
A Whiter Shade of Pale (opening)
[Link BBC.com]
[Left photo is Gary Brooker, and right photo is Matthew Fisher]
This just in from Weirdo Video. The Brown Sisters sing “Underneath the Harlem Moon.”
(Old Ravel)
Take a few minutes out of your busy day and spend a few minutes with one of the most gorgeous moments in piano concerto history. It is the 2nd movement of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto. I feel an affinity with this movement. It is perhaps at the heart of my take on tonality as a composer. There is a melancholy beauty in this music that breaks my heart.
MP3: Play audio file (ravel.adagio_assai.mp3)
Fabio Bidini plays Ravel: Piano Concerto (2nd mvt.)
Ravel (left) and Stravinsky
Out Magazine will feature a list of 100 most important gay people of 2006 in their upcoming December 2006 issue and will of course include Rufus Wainwright who gets the “Entertainer of the Year” award.
In its special December issue, Out recognizes the 100 most influential people in gay culture with a special list spanning categories such as books, business, fashion, film, media, music, politics, performance, television and visual arts. The star-studded Out100 will also unveil five celebrities being recognized for their commitment to their crafts and gay rights, including Humanitarian of the Year, Iman; Entertainer of the Year, Rufus Wainwright; Ingénue of the Year, Anne Hathaway; Stylemaker of the Year, Michael Kors; and Artist of the Year, John Cameron Mitchell.
“At the end of each year, gay Americans look back to celebrate their victories, reflect on any defeats and prepare for the year ahead,” said Aaron Hicklin, Out magazine’s Editor in Chief. “The Out100 issue celebrates the men and women who have helped shape gay culture throughout the year.”
Rufus attended last night’s reception and looks terrific, don’t you think? And the snake necklace is a nice touch.
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