The music for Tuesday night was kind of a grab-bag — a bit of a let down from Monday night’s funk-fest, if you ask me. There were many fills that I didn’t recognize, and most of the ones I did know didn’t really seem thematically related to the speaker they introduced (or to the one who was exiting… unless I’m totally unclear on the concept. Which is quite possible!) Some seemed vaguely familiar, but they didn’t last long enough for me to place. It also seemed to me that in many cases there was a melody or other identifying element left out — I kept thinking things like, “I know that bassline!” or, “that drumbeat sounds so familiar!”

It was basically like playing ‘Name That Tune’ in hell!

Click Mr. Readmore to see me how I did!

I tuned in around 6:30 EDT, while Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy was speaking.

Bon Jovi: “Livin’ On A Prayer”
Intro for Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

Maybe it’s goofy, but I actually really like this song. The melody of the chorus does soar, doesn’t it?

When I was in high school, I was what they called a ‘New Waver,’ and therefore a natural enemy of my fellow students who were Bon Jovi fans. (We called them ‘fluffs’. Kids can be so cruel! ) So I think it’s a testament to the unifying power of music, not to mention my maturity level, that I have nothing bad to say about Bon Jovi — or their fans — now. Yes We Can!

Louis Armstrong: “What a Wonderful World”
Intro for Cecile Richards, daughter of the late Ann Richards and president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Protecting women’s access to reproductive health care does contribute to it being a wonderful world, but it seems to me that some kind of girl-power anthem would’ve been more apropos.

Ohio Players: “Love Rollercoaster”
Intro for Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich (who proceeded to blow the roof off the place! I want this speech as my alarm clock!)

The intro for California State Controller John Chiang sounded a little bit like “She’s Got Legs” by ZZ Top. First thing I thought was, is that referring to Elizabeth Kucinich? Let’s hope I’m very, very wrong about that!

I’m also not sure about the lead-in to West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, but it used the same chord progression as the chorus to Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”

The Eurhythmics and Aretha Franklin: “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”
Here’s the girl-power I was looking for above! This song played out eight women senators who spoke in turn, then exited as a group: Barbara Mikulski, Barbara Boxer, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lambert Lincoln, Debbie Stabenow, Maria Cantwell, Claire McCaskill, Amy Klobuchar.

The Kinks: “You Really Got Me”
Intro for Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.

Was that really Irene Cara’s “Fame” leading into Robin Golden, autoworker from Michigan? Well, I guess it fits better than the David Bowie song of the same title!

I have no idea what the lead-in to Rahm Emmanuel was, because McDoc finally arrived home from work at that moment, and I was eager to greet him.

On-Stage performance: Alejandro Escovedo: “People (We’re Only Gonna Live So Long)”
Link goes to a photo — I couldn’t find a video anywhere. If anyone has a video link, let me know!

Irene Cara: “Flashdance (What a Feeling)”
Intro for Anna Burger, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer
I think its some kind of package deal — you have to use this song if you use “Fame,” and vice-versa. Makes sense I guess — both sung by Irene Cara, both won Academy Awards®!

Sly & The Family Stone: “Everyday People”
Intro for Nancy Floyd, founder of Nth Power. Now, wouldn’t this have been a better choice for Robin Golden? Somebody was asleep at the wheel last night.

Anyway… I confess that I’ve always found this song slightly irritating, in spite of its unimpeachable message. The litany of intolerance in the chorus — ” There is a blue one who can’t accept the green one,” etc. — is set to a melody that sounds like “NAH nah nah NAH nah” to me. Which fits with what the lyrics are saying, but that doesn’t make it something I want to listen to. Oh, and then there’s the timeless, unifying refrain, “scooby dooby doo-bee,” that makes me want to rise up and… beat my head against the wall so I can hear something that sounds better.

Hmmph, there’s just no pleasing some people!

Huey Lewis and the News: “The Power of Love”
Intro for New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez. You can’t really argue with this song. Wait, scratch that, I’m sure somebody could work something up.

U2: “Beautiful Day”
Intro for Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey. Wow, is this the first song so far that was written in this century? I have to say, I really love this song. I’ve been a big U2 fan since… well, back in the last century!

Madonna: “Borderline”
Intro for Lily Ledbetter, whose employment discrimination case against Goodyear Tire inspired the Fair Pay Restoration Act.

Madonna had some good songs back in the day… now I think of her more as a dancer than a musician. Though I was impressed when I saw her neophyte acoustic guitar-playing on David Letterman several years back — not because the playing was anything special, but because it showed a vulnerability and willingness to get up and do something she was a beginner at. It’s a pretty good song, too.

Pointer Sisters: “I’m So Excited”
Intro for Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who wasn’t so exciting. Oh well, they can’t all be home runs!

Santana with Rob Thomas: “Smooth”
Intro for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Good choice, finally! Call me a cheeseball, but I love this song. I think the lyrics are pretty well-enunciated (Rob Thomas does his high school choir director proud!), but evidently it has spawned a treasure trove of Mondegreens. My favorite, by far:

Gimme, a hot naked eel, or just forget about it.

Are you listening, candidates? The voters will hold you accountable!

Moment of Truth: Hill’s Up!

You know, I really can’t tell you what the music before Hillary came on was, if there was any, besides the soundtrack of the video tribute. I was too busy being impressed with the poised and beautiful young woman that Chelsea Clinton has become. Plus, I was reading online comments with the voracity of an internet addict (me? I can quit anytime!). Plus, yeah, I admit, when the camera kept cutting to Big Dog with tears in his eyes, my lower lip started to quiver, too.

Anyhoo, many others have aptly covered the speech itself, so let’s get to the outro music.

Big Head Todd: “Blue Sky”
Note: The vid linked above is a Hillary campaign video with the song as soundtrack. It’s the only video I could find of the song, and it’s for documentation purposes only!

Sly & The Family Stone: “I Wanna Take You Higher”
That’s right, baby! End the evening on a funky note!

The Trammps: “Disco Inferno”
Well, okay, maybe that’s enough already. Oh, the cheesy glory! Is this a great country, or what?

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You never know when an opportunity for music education will present itself. This is both delightful and vexing to yours truly, because it means that 1) there’s never a shortage of grist for the music-nerdy mill, but 2) there’s so much to know, I’m afraid that any day now, the hard drive in my brain will run out of memory!

When I sat down to watch coverage of the Democratic Convention last night, I didn’t anticipate that certain gaps in my musical knowledge would at last be filled. But I recognized a distinct pattern in the musical selections right away, and luckily I had my notebook and my laptop at the ready so I could take full advantage of the situation!

I started watching pretty early, when the far lesser-known speakers were up. That was kind of sad to watch, because the audience members were milling about and talking and not paying attention to the poor souls orating their hearts out on the podium. I thought of switching off the TV and coming back later when it was time for the headliners to appear, but then I noticed that between each speaker there was a musical fill, and that piqued my interest.

By the way, I was watching on C-SPAN, which is the way to go if you’re interested in hearing the musical breaks instead of the bloviations of cable news commentators. The choice is clear, if you ask me!

The first one I heard was very synthesized and cheesy (yeah, I know — hello, pot, this is kettle!), and my first thought was, “who is responsible for that heinous canned music?” It was cut short by the introduction of another speaker, and I have no idea what song it was. But I had to keep watching because I wanted to know what further musical travesties were about to be committed by someone behind a curtain armed with “play” and “pause” buttons. My hackles were officially up.

Click Mr. Readmore to see who schools whom!

The next selection was an instrumental version of “The Greatest Love of All,” which was marginally better than the first bit, but still worrisome. The bright side, though, was that it was clearly played by a live band — you could tell by the way they came to an endpoint in the middle of the song when it was time for the next speaker. Finally, the camera lighted on the band for a moment. When I saw the band leader at his keyboard with his headphones on, through which he could no doubt hear cues from a stage manager of some sort, I understood what we were dealing with here.

It was very similar to an awards show kind of situation, where the house band is prepared to play snippets of a ton of different songs, and has to be ready to cut them short or extend them for who knows how long, depending on what’s happening on stage. The folks who get these gigs are seasoned pros who definitely know what they’re doing, so I felt good about that.

By the way, it took a bit of digging — the Convention Website doesn’t have an easy-to-find credit, tsk tsk, but I tracked down a cite for the name of the band leader — he’s Ray Chew, and he also leads the house band at the Apollo Theater, and does a lot of TV work, including awards shows, as described above!

But that’s no guarantee that the music wouldn’t be cringe-worthy.

Now, I subscribe to Duke Ellington’s qualitative taxonomy of music: “There are two kinds of music: good music, and the other kind.” However, the task of sorting into one category or the other is, of course, highly subjective. I, for one, was very pleased with the predominance of old-school funk/soul/R&B throughout the evening. I defy anyone not to bop in their seat a little, or at least tap their feet, on hearing many of the songs played last night. If the rhythm don’t get ya in at least one or two of them, I think you need to check your pulse.

It was a total nostalgia trip for me, and, like I said at the top, a chance to edify myself in an area where I was lacking. You see, I was either not born yet or pretty young (I’m not gonna get any more specific than that! ) when most of the songs first came out. So although I’ve heard and enjoyed and danced to them on many occasions, I didn’t necessarily know the titles or artists. Oh, I knew several band names that were definitely candidates, but I wouldn’t have done very well on a matching quiz. Also, I knew the melodies really well and could sing along, but I didn’t know very many of the words, and that made it hard to look up the song titles.

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, a pretty funny scene ensued — McDoc and I sat on the couch, straining to understand just a few words from each song so we could google the lyrics. The internets did not let us down, I’m happy to say!

So here’s my list of songs heard last night. I’m sure I missed a few; McDoc and I were both multitasking throughout the evening (for one thing, I had to take a time-out to make my famous Baby Bok Choy Stir-Fry, but I had my ears cocked toward the TV and my notebook next to the cutting board!). I made a note of which song went with which speaker when I could, because the song choice often related to the speaker in some cute way.

Earth, Wind and Fire: “Fantasy”
I knew if was EWF, but I couldn’t remember the song title — of course it seems stupidly obvious once you find it — but for some reason the lyric “until the 12th of Never” has always stuck out for me, so I googled that.

Jackson Five: “ABC”
This was the intro for Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers — nice touch.

Sly and the Family Stone: “Dance to the Music”
This came either right before or right after Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar. I’m not sure if there’s any connection there; I thought she was very well-spoken — maybe she’s a good dancer too?

John Legend, with the Agape International Choir: “If You’re Out There.”
This was a featured, live-on-stage performance. It pointed up another musical gap I need to fill: current artists! (ohhh, I’m too young to be such an old fogy! )

Earth, Wind and Fire: “That’s The Way Of The World” and “September”
I knew the first one in my mind as “Hearts Afire” — or “Hearts of Fire,” according to various lyrics sites — a slight Mondegreen! The second had been heretofore immortalized in my mind as “Ah Wee Ah.” I’ve heard it countless times, of course, and it never really bothered me before that I couldn’t understand most of the words. I think I just filed it in the same category as “Louie Louie” — it’s a party song, and the words don’t matter much. However, that’s not how we do Serious Music Scholarship, now it is? (Don’t ask me, buddy! ) So I strained my poor overwhelmed little neurons and was able to remember the words “remember” and “September.” Bingo! “September” for the win! And now I’ll never forget it, as it celebrates my birth month! (Note: only 13 more shopping days left! )

By the way, according to the lyrics elves, that’s “Ba De Ya,” not “Ah Wee Ah.” Don’t let anyone ever tell you I’m not a stickler for accuracy!

?? “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”
I can’t find this song now, so I don’t know who the artist is. If anyone else knows, speak up!

Aretha Franklin: “Respect”
I think this is a good song to listen to today, being as it’s the anniversary of the 19th Amendment being officially ratified. And I say that in full knowledge of the fact that Otis Redding wrote the song.

Stuart Gorrell (lyrics) and Hoagy Carmichael (music): “Georgia on My Mind”
The link above goes to Ray Charles’ famous cover. The official state song of Georgia accompanied Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s entrance.

Sister Sledge: “We Are Family”
Intro for Barack Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.

Michael Jackson: “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”
Intro for Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. Now, you can say what you want about Michael Jackson, but this song kicks a$$. And, you can say what you want about his dad, but Jesse Jackson, Jr. impresses me.

Lenny Kravitz: “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
This song was way overplayed back when it came out back in 1993, but I still like it.

Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s: “Doing It to Death”
If you knew this song as “Gonna Have a Funky Good Time” by James Brown, well, so did I! (Thank you for playing!) And that’s understandable, because James Brown was a member of the J.B.’s, and the phrase “Doing It to Death” doesn’t appear in the lyrics, while the more popularly-known phrase is all over it. Anyway, either one could be words to live by, depending on your mood.

I think I heard a tiny snippet from John Cougar Mellancamp: “Small Town” as the intro for Mike Fisher & Cheryl Fisher of Beech Grove, Indiana.

Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Edward Holland, Jr: “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)”
Famously recorded by Marvin Gaye and James Taylor, among others.

Tito Puente: “Oye Como Va”
‘Course, everybody knows Santana’s version (linked above). I figured out the title without looking it up, btw — Miss Music Nerd is down with the romance languages!

Orleans: “Still the One”
Intro for Ted Kennedy, and a rare occurrence (as one blogger called it, a Trivia Moment!): a current senator being played on with a song written by a current congressman — John Hall.

Kool and the Gang: “Celebrate”
If you’re over the age of 25, you’ve got no business thinking you’re too kewl for this song — you might as well accept it. If you didn’t express your fair share of sullen disdain as a teenager, it’s too late now! And while you’re at it, practice that Chicken Dance — you never know when you’ll be invited to a wedding!

Stevie Wonder Brings It All Home!
His songs provided a sort of soundtrack of Obama’s life, with one little interruption.

Stevie Wonder: “I Wish”

Ashford and Simpson “Reach Out And Touch”
First recorded by Diana Ross. This was a nice intro for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who began his remarks in American Sign Language (his late brother was deaf).

And finally, the woman of the hour!

Stevie Wonder: “I Was Made to Love Her”
Intro for Michelle Obama. Happily, the part in the lyrics about papa and mama disapproving doesn’t apply in this case.

Stevie Wonder: “Isn’t She Lovely”
Couldn’t be a more perfect song to wrap up Michelle’s remarks and bring on her daughters. Incidentally, after I heard this song accompanying a slideshow for a new baby girl, I can’t hear it without getting all verklempt!

So there you have it — phew! I don’t know if I’m up to doing this for each night of the convention — I might do an abbreviated lineup with just the highlights. Of course, what’s a “highlight” is a highly subjective thing, too — we’ll see what happens!

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Greetings, fellow Music Nerds!

Please forgive me for my prolonged absence. This summer has really flown by, and it was mainly taken up with the huge task of relocating McVirgo Manor. (I think it’s time for McDoc and I both to admit that we need to start attending some meetings. )

I decided to finally come back out of the woodwork today because it’s a significant day for me — my Mom passed away 8 years ago today, on August 23, 2000. So I would like to re-post two musical tributes that I created for her last year at this time.

I also want to dedicate these two pieces to a sweet young woman who became a member of my family during the past year, when she and McDoc’s son were married. She had faced health issues since infancy, and she passed away a week ago tomorrow.

So here are two songs for VirgoMom and for Margo.

My performance of Wings of Speed, by Paul Weller:

And Seven Years Ago Today for string quartet, from the 30 Days Project:

VirgoMom, age 25:

Dan & Margo:

Peace and love to all.

I decided that since I so brazenly hijacked the ax[1] of the washboard player in Chubby Carrier’s band — his name is Earl Sally, by the way — the least I could do is make an effort to learn a little more about the instrument.

First off, its proper Cajun-French name is the frottoir, or, in English, the rubboard. Its origin as a clothes-washing tool is all but lost in the mists of time — for which we can be grateful, n’est-ce pas?

The rubboard has no wooden frame like a washboard typically does; it’s simply a sheet of corrugated metal, with large curved “hooks” at the top that go over the player’s shoulders. It’s much more comfortable to wear than it looks — at least that’s my recollection, which was, I confess, slightly margarita-enhanced.

The instrument was designed specifically for zydeco music, the product of a collaboration in the mid-1940’s between zydeco musicians (and brothers) Clifton and Cleveland Chenier, and their metalworker friend Willie Landry.[2] Willie’s son Tee Don Landry carries on the family tradition, making rubboards by hand in Lousiana. His website has the rest of the rubboard story, plus videos demonstating rubboard playing!

I checked them out, because I was curious to see if my attempt at wielding the spoons was even in the ballpark. Here’s the basic zydeco beat:

Hmm… that’s not too complicated — steady eighth notes with one hand, single strokes on beats 2 and 4 with the other. For those of you who are hip to the notation jive, it looks like this:

I believe, though, that when I had my big moment in the spotlight, it didn’t occur to me that the hands could be so independent. Shame on me, I’m a pianist! But like I said, there were extenuating circumstances. To the best of my recollection, I did something kinda like this:

Not as interesting, but the enthusiasm was there!

Couple more rubboard fun facts that I learned from Tee Don’s site:

• The Smithsonian now has a rubboard in its collection, thanks to Tee Don’s advocacy.
• There’s a rubboard specially designed for women, with an attractive shapely design. But I have to ask: where are the matching shoes and handbag?!

So there you have it: my tequila-fueled antics led to a musical learning experience! Please, kids — don’t try this at home!

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[1] “Ax,” by the way, is how super-cool, extra-hep music cats refer to their instruments. As in, “Oh, sh!#, I left my ax in the cab!”

Here’s another term you can use to increase your musical street cred: any brass or single-reed instrument can be referred to as a “horn,” even if that’s not its proper name. Trumpet, clarinet, sax — but not oboe, as far as I know. Those double-reed players are sticklers for precision!

[2] Landry, Don. “Key of Z Rubboards Made by Tee Don.” Key of Z Rubboards Made by Tee Don. 25 Jul 2008.

Hé, toi!

As I hinted at briefly in my last post, I got a chance to do some impromptu music-making while I was in Austin, Texas this past weekend at the Netroots Nation convention. I hadn’t expected to perform until Sunday morning, when I was to play for the Multifaith Worship Service. But when life provides you with an opportunity like this, you’ve just gotta laissez les bon temps rouler, bébé!

It happened on Friday night: after a long day of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and really disappointing box lunches (sorry, but MMN gets cranky when she’s hungry!), it was time to party! Austin is known as the live music capital of the world, after all, and I was looking forward to escaping the over-air-conditioned sterility of the convention center to get a little taste of what the city is famous for. (Oh, that reminds me — I should balance my complaint about the convention food by reporting that dinner at the Iron Cactus was fabulous!)

Sampling the chocolate fountain!

Now, I must confess that I don’t usually love going to bars; the music tends to be so ear-splittingly LOUD that I can neither fully enjoy it (I’m too worried about what it’s doing to my hearing) nor carry on an intelligible conversation. So I spent the first part of the evening hanging out with friends old and new at a relatively quiet indoor table. But after awhile, the zydeco music that drifted in from the patio worked on me like a siren song, and I had to go check it out.

It all started innocently enough. Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band was playing the kind of music that you can’t help but dance to, so my friends and I got down to business. I was watching the band at the same time, though, and I was fascinated by the washboard player, and the variety of complex and interesting rhythms he managed to coax out of that simple sheet of corrugated metal. I was so transfixed that when he stepped to the edge of the stage, I assumed he was looking for an audience volunteer to try a few scrapes with his spoons, and I went right up to him. He didn’t hand me the spoons though — instead, he grabbed my hand and led me up onto the stage! I was game. But when we got up there, he still wouldn’t give me the spoons. Instead, he took the washboard off his shoulders and put it on mine! Cool… Now, may I have the spoons, please?

I was unclear on the concept. He didn’t want me to play the washboard. He wanted me to be the washboard! Okay, I was still game. You see, even though I’m more introverted than 90% of the population (really! I took a test!), being a musician and all, I am also a total ham — under the right circumstances. My friends on the dance floor went wild — and started snapping pictures furiously!

It was fun and all, but I wasn’t completely satisfied. After the washboard-ist played a nice long solo on, um, me, I tried one more time to convince him to lend me his spoons. Of course, I can’t blame him for hesitating — after all, he had no way of knowing how many margaritas I had in me (only one — honest!), let alone whether I had rhythm. But he finally gave in. Once I held the right tools for the job in my hands, I took a moment to feel the music for myself (being an instrument had distracted me a bit), then I let it rip, imitating one of the rhythms he had played as best I could. When the song ended, he told me I sounded pretty good… and my friends were seriously impressed.

The bandleader thought it was pretty funny — he said maybe they need to recruit a new washboard player! I gave him my card.

What can I say — still waters run deep, mon cher!

photos by mik, a.k.a. mr. brillig.

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Howdy, y’all! MMN is currently in Austin, TX, where, yes, it is hot! I’m here attending Netroots Nation, a conference for political bloggers. Of course, I’m a music blogger, but I’m politically engaged as well, and there’s lots of cool stuff going on here… not the least of which is the chance to meet in person with friends I talk online with all the time. I’ve also had the chance to invite people I’ve met here to check out this blog, so if you’re here because of that, welcome and thanks for visiting!

Austin is a legendary place for live music, of course, and I did get a chance to hear a great zydeco band last night. I even got to sit in briefly — would you believe it? I will post photographic evidence very soon — watch for it!

I’m posting from an iPod Touch, which is very cool, but I need to keep my thumbs from seizing up, so I’ll keep this short. But there’s more to come, so y’all stay tuned!

Yesterday on NPR’s Fresh Air, I heard an interview with singer and composer Theo Bleckmann, a German native who moved to New York in 1989 and has been, according to his bio, “a steady force in the New York downtown music scene for over 15 years.”

Now, don’t worry if you don’t know what “downtown music scene” means. It’s an umbrella term for a lot of different music and performance art, from Yoko Ono to Bang on a Can. If I had to summarize it in just a few words, I’d say it’s experimental, iconoclastic and embarrassingly easy to parody. You can learn more than you could possibly want to know from this Wikipedia entry. But that’s not so important here, because the interview features his latest CD, which is a collection of music theater songs.

Huh?

If you find that combination of musical interests unusual, you’re not alone; here’s how Fresh Air host Terry Gross opens the broadcast:

There’s not a lot of people who love show tunes and avant-garde music — even fewer who can perform both well. So let me introduce you to Theo Bleckmann, who’s full of vocal surprises.”

I suppose what she says is true, although I’ve met many others who belong to that narrow category she describes — heck, I belong to it myself! Oh well… my arms stay nice and strong, what with all that swimming upstream!

Anyway, the juxtaposition is less surprising when you consider the particular show tunes we’re talking about here. The CD is titled Berlin: Songs Of Love & War, Peace & Exile — High School Musical it ain’t. Think something more like… Cabaret maybe? But darker and more political, with music by composers Hanns Eisler and Kurt Weill and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht.

The Fresh Air interview is really worth listening to for several reasons — it covers the gamut from The King and I to Tuvan throat singing. Oh, and there’s a wonderful Mondegreen moment, when Bleckmann talks about listening to American records while growing up in Germany:

I wish I was a porno star
and wake up where the clouds are far…”

What I was most drawn to, though, was Bleckmann’s performance of the Brecht/Weill song “Surabaya Johnny.” Or, as Terry Gross puts it, “such a really good version of Surabaya Johnny.” I used to play this song with a singer friend of mine, so it has a special place in my heart. In its original context, it’s sung by a female character, so hearing it sung by a man is a fascinating experience. But the really wonderful thing about it, as far as I’m concerned, is what Bleckmann accomplishes with the German language. The stereotype is that German is angular and harsh, and that anyone speaking it automatically sounds angry. Bleckmann gives the lie to that with his haunting performance, which alternates between achingly lyrical singing and a hurried, urgent sprechstimme — he makes the language sound positively velvety, like dark chocolate melting in your mouth. You can hear the first half of the song right at the beginning of the Fresh Air interview. Go listen to it, and stay for the rest of the interview while you’re at it!

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Cross-posted at the Detroit Symphony Blog.

Sometimes before I go to an orchestra concert, I think to myself, “I should listen to a recording of the pieces on the program before I go, so that I can better appreciate the music when I’m hearing it live.” But actually I tend to reject the idea, though, because I enjoy the thrill of being surprised, hearing something for the first time (or for the first time in a long time.)

So I didn’t listen to the Mozart or the Holst before Friday night, and I don’t regret that decision at all. The Holst was absolutely thrilling live, as familiar as several passages are. I was glad to listen to Mozart’s music through the prism of festival host Tom Allen’s on-stage comments. He spoke of the desperate straits Mozart found himself in while writing this transcendent music. Mozart’s financial troubles and health problems are well-known, but contemplating the contrast between his life and his work added a poignant dimension to the listening experience.

Something kept nagging at me, though.

I love hearing orchestral music live, whether it’s music I know well or a piece I’m hearing for the first time. I love watching the musicians on-stage, and I also play a little game with myself trying to sense how the audience around me is responding to the music (as I pray that no one will decide to unwrap a cough drop during a quiet passage, ahem!).

But I wonder, when a piece is as seminal as Mozart 41, is it really possible to hear it differently? Can we come to it with new ears? And if so, how do we do it?

I’ve been thinking lately how odd it is that we go to the symphony to hear music we’ve already heard before. Why bother? Why get all dressed up, pay for tickets and parking, and fight traffic just to hear music you already know? Do we do the same for other art forms? We go to the movie theater to see the latest release, not something we own on DVD and have watched any number of times, right?

Well, not exactly, evidently. Some classic movies get audiences out of the house, whether they’re available on video or not. Then there are rock concerts. The audience goes wild when the band plays their biggest hits, but this can be frustrating for the band members, who might be more excited about playing cuts from their latest album. But audiences can get mighty testy if their expectations aren’t met. I’ve read that the singer Ani DiFranco got so tired of her audiences drowning her out singing along with her songs that she changed them around and made it impossible for the audience to sing along. The people were not pleased!

Being a composer myself, I confess that I get impatient sometimes with what sometimes seems like a form of musical ancestor worship. How’s a living composer supposed to compete? I think what it comes down to is, there are (at least) two kinds of listening experiences that a classical concert provides, and they’re pretty distinct from each other.

The Trust Walk

The less common experience is the thrill of hearing something for the first time. I know that many people get frustrated with unfamiliar works; It can be so hard to know what to expect. When you’re hearing a brand new piece by a composer you may never have heard of, it can really feel like a roll of the dice (or worse, a game of musical Russian roulette!). Will the music be spiky and dissonant or smooth and consonant? Will it use the repetitive techniques of minimalism, or will it be formally idiosyncratic? You can’t know for sure until the music starts, even if you have program notes or the composer’s comments to prepare you.

The biggest favor you can do for the composer is to be willing to be taken on a journey along a road you’ve never traveled before. It might feel a bit like a “trust walk,” where you’re blindfolded and have to have faith that the person guiding you won’t walk you into a wall. Fortunately, you can’t hurt yourself too badly listening to music, even if you don’t end up liking a particular piece.

The Familiar Path

Even though I’m a composer, and therefore a new music enthusiast, I still understand the appeal of hearing a piece you love and know well. It’s a powerful experience. I think it’s worth exploring why it’s so powerful, though — it has to be more than just the comfort factor. If you come to a concert simply to be made comfortable, expecting the music to function like an aural security blanket — well, I don’t mean to scold, but you need to do a little homework. You need to eat your veggies before you can have your dessert. I’ve written before about my professor John Swackhamer, who responded to students’ complaints about modern music that they “couldn’t understand” with the damning rhetorical question, “Do you think you understand Beethoven?” No matter how familiar and beloved a piece of music is, it should never be treated like audio wall paper — unless that’s what the composer intended, of course!

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Cross-posted at the Detroit Symphony Blog, because I am so famous and in demand!

If you’re superstitious, you probably already have your lucky rabbit’s foot or some such charm or talisman at the ready, tomorrow being Friday the 13th and all. I would say that tomorrow is a very lucky day for Detroit, though. At a time of year when they could be taking a well-deserved post-season break, the DSO is kicking it into high gear for 8 Days longer. It’s like a fabulous, flambéed-Cherries-Jubilee bonus at the end of an already decadent and delectable multi-course meal!

I’m particularly looking forward to hearing Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie on June 18. A killer piano part, massive percussion section, and ondes Martenot, all in service of the theme of forbidden love? Who could ask for anything more?

Also, you don’t want to miss anything that New Music Detroit is involved in, and you get two chances to hear them during the festival: after the Mozart/Holst festival opener on Friday night, walk across the street to the MOCAD and stay up late with John Zorn, then come back on June 17th for Patterns and Structure.

Don’t just take my word for it, though — attend the whole festival and decide for yourself what the highlights are!

Why is this festival so important? Well, a few weeks ago, Dominic posed the following question to readers:

How do you think music helps change Detroit for the better?”

Here’s my answer: while thrilling performances of outstanding music are the obvious draw, this year’s festival has special significance for me personally. I moved from Southern California to Detroit exactly one year ago with my new husband, who was beginning his emergency medicine residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital. I confess that my expectations for the classical music scene here were not very high. Fortunately, while still camping out on the floor of our apartment waiting for our furniture to arrive, I heard about 8 Days in June on WDET radio, and a whole new world opened up for me. The Fisher Music Center is now one of my favorite places.

Then there’s the bigger picture. Both longtime residents and newcomers to Detroit are painfully aware of the city’s less-than-sparkling public image, both at home and nationwide. Try telling your friends and family in California that you’re moving to Detroit, on purpose — the mixed expressions of revulsion and pity on their faces are priceless. “But Detroit’s still on fire from the riots in the sixties!” someone actually said to me. Then try telling them that Detroit is being revitalized and there are actually some cool things going on, and they just assume you drank too much champagne on your wedding day and never quite recovered.

In short, the old dictum, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” doesn’t apply in this case!

So, Detroit needs as many marks in its “good” column as it can get. I think having things we can be truly proud of will help Detroiters better face the city’s challenges. The DSO is one of the jewels in Detroit’s crown.

One more little story: I’ve spent some time on Facebook lately, reconnecting with friends from high school and college. Upon learning that I’m in Detroit now, one friend had this to say:

The tune for “Detroit Rock City” is inextricably linked to any mention of your town. I don’t think of the place as even having a symphony. :-)”

I’ll tell him June would be a great month to visit!

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Ian from Australia wrote in asking about a popular song based on a melody from an organ concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns. He had heard the pop song before he heard the classical work it was based on, and was trying to find out who recorded the song.

I’m happy to report that Miss Music Nerd’s Musical Detective Agency has the answer!

First, the source: turns out Saint-Saëns didn’t officially write an organ concerto, but his Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, has been nicknamed the “Organ Symphony,” as the organ features prominently in two sections of the work. (If you wrote a concerto where the solo instrument sat out the first half or so of each movement, your soloist might take offense! ) The piece uses piano as well, which is striking — piano as an orchestral instrument (as opposed to concerto solo instrument) didn’t become common until the 20th century, as far as I know. He even writes for piano duet (two players on one piano, a.k.a. “piano four hands”) in one of the sections, which means some lucky pianist gets to sit and read the paper at union scale till 3/4 of the way through the piece! (Just kidding — I’d happily volunteer for that gig — playing in an orchestra is big fun for us pianists, who are accustomed to being lonely most of the time!)

Anyhoo, the melody in question comes from a section from the second movement marked Maestoso (majestic):

And here’s the pop arrangement, “If I Had Words,” by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley, released in 1978 (check the grooovy video effects! ):

As you can hear, the songwriters put a reggae beat under Saint-Saëns’ melody. Works pretty well — in a goofy 70’s kinda way, I mean!

By the way, if this melody sounds familiar to you, but you’re sure you haven’t heard either of the above versions, perhaps you’ve seen this movie?

You have to wonder what our friend Camille would have thought of this particular adaptation of his work. What a resumé — piano and organ virtuoso, composer, conductor, mathematician, philosopher, poet, and… tunesmith for singing mice! On the other hand, he did write the Carnival of the Animals, so perhaps it’s fitting!

Have a musical question of your own? Send it in!

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