January-ish. That's a deadline, right?

August In Bloom finally blooming

The Scarlet 2i2 dual-channel Interface

I must admit I felt some trepidation about this at first, but it definitely paid off in the end -- my approach to begin the August In Bloom project (the piano album I plan to release in the near future) involved me just "going ahead" and rehearsing the ten very difficult songs I plan to put on the album, and then figuring out the recording logistics "somewhere along the way". It's like the "shoot first, ask questions later" philosophy, except safer, and it has nothing to do with guns.

Now, to get really technical, I'm going to summarize a description of my recording equipment by listing two important devices that I have in my studio: 1) The ProTools computer software, and 2) That one recording multi-do-hickey thingamabobber.

If I wanted to bore you even more, I could get into more detail, like the fact that the ProTools system requires the use of that Interface gadget thing, which is an M-AUDIO something or another, and that I recently replaced that with a spiffier one that will make the recording sound way cooler (you can see a picture of this above). It's a really good thing I wasn't an engineer aboard the NASA space shuttle. I'd be telling people to "unhook the thingmajig and ignite that one funnel-looking thing with the small-ish hose, then clamp that attachment thingy to the belt or whatever," and then the mass explosion would be entirely my fault. But, believe it or not, this process of figuring out how to make a good sound on a CD has been on-going and brought my bank account down a few notches (okay, a LOT of notches), but the exciting thing is that I'm finally getting the make-a-CD-with-awesome-sound-quality thing to work!

This process took quite a few "baby steps" and it involved a lot of research. In the mean time I've been practicing the actual songs on the Yamaha N2 hybrid. Sometimes the "shoot first and ask questions later" (or, more accurately, "practice first and figure-out-the-recording-thing later") is a great strategy, because it's efficient time-wise. Now, for anyone out there who claims that the sound quality isn't really that important...


"Sound quality doesn't matter"? I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that...

I like to think that I'm not an "eye-roller." When I think of people who roll their eyes, I mainly think of the ornery teenagers I sometimes see when I occasionally partake in my job as a substitute teacher. But there's one thing that will make my eyes roll back far enough to pretty much go full-circle, and that's when I find a piano that's out of tune and people tell me, "Oh, come on, no one will even notice."

As if a blog post is going to reach out to the population of people that induce this eye-rolling response in me, I'm going to set the record straight: You do notice the difference. You might not think you do, but you do. Yes, you, the you that's reading this, the you that's maybe not "trained" to hear music, the you that "doesn't know the difference" between a tuned piano and an untuned piano. When I play on an out-of-tune piano (i.e., most pianos), I often get this reaction from people: "Nice! Sounds like you need to practice a little bit, though". They don't realize that the constructive feedback in the second part of that response is often a result of the piano being crappy and not necessarily because of poor piano-playing. Interestingly, when I play the exact same piece, or the exact same melody, on a tuned piano, I get this reaction: "Wow! That sounded really good. Sounds like you've been practicing!"

Again, keep in mind that I've encountered these two reactions when playing the same thing on two different pianos, one out-of-tune one and another in-tune one. It's not always the skill level or ingenuity of the composition that people love so much about some piano music, but it's also just the fact that an expensive, quality piano that's maintained and is in tune just sounds amazing. So I generally make it a rule that I don't play on pianos that are out of tune; it doesn't do the music any justice. Would you listen to a guitarist if he were playing on a guitar that was obviously out of tune? And if so, don't you think the quality of the song would be significantly less than if it were in tune? The piano is no different.

My point in bringing this up is that the same is true for recording quality, when it comes to CD's, albums, mp3 files, etc. Many people will notice that I'm being quite patient about any amount of time I need to take before releasing August In Bloom, just to make sure I can get the most optimal sound quality possible. Oddly, I don't hear many people (or anyone, really) disagree with me when I say that sound quality is important when it comes to releasing a CD, but a bunch of people will tell me "no one will notice" if I play an out-of-tune piano at a concert.

Bottom line: you, yes you, do notice when a CD has poor sound quality. And you, yes you, do notice when a piano is out of tune. You might just think the pianist is playing poorly, when, again, it's often just the piano that sounds bad. Look up a famous piano song (like a famous classical piece) on YouTube, and you'll see that the performer using an in-tune piano, with good sound quality, will have tens of thousands of hits, whereas the "homemade quality" video of the kid playing on an out-of-tune piano will only have 20 or so hits. There's a reason.


The Plan

And now to the fun part: the plan for recording the album! There are ten songs, each played on the Yamaha AvantGrande N2 in my office/studio, and the songs will be recorded as WAV files using a TASCAM multi-track recorder. I may use some of the songs (or all of them) as one track, and copy the WAV files directly to a CD. I might also upload these tracks onto my ProTools editing software, if I want to edit the songs (or add other tracks, such as strings, percussion, etc.). Then I'll be recording these songs onto ProTools directly, using a Scarlet 2i2 interface device that I just recently ordered. The two recordings of the songs will be compared with each other, the best-sounding one obviously being selected, and the ten WAV files will be given to a sound engineer I plan to hire to clean up the tracks. Then the CD will be submitted to a company for manufacturing, and/or to CDBaby. End result: the CD will be available for purchase from my site, as well as from CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, and from myself directly. The individual songs will also be for sale (99 cents each) from my site, just as I have done with the tracks from Heart of Storms. As one can imagine, this entire process keeps taking longer than I anticipate, which is why I've changed my "release date" from January 1st, 2017 to, you know, "January-ish". Maybe after my 3rd, 4th, 5th. etc. album I'll get a better idea of how long this stuff takes and be able to better estimate a date when these processes are completed.


Planting the Seeds for a Tour

Playing at Wine Time (restaurant in Chico, CA)

As some may already know, my intention is ultimately to travel to different areas and perform. This, of course, is every musician's dream, and a host of obstacles come up that prevents them from doing so (it costs too much money, they fall in love, they get married, they have kids, they get swallowed up by day jobs to pay their bills, or they simply convince themselves that it can't be done, etc.). The release of this coming album is intended to be a launch-pad into possible concerts and shows, even if they are simple, such as "house concerts" or small benefits and/or shows dedicated to various causes. My next step after the album's release, in addition to the release of additional albums as well as a host of other things that have mainly existed as only ideas so far (including the publication of a novella to be associated with a "trilogy album", which you can read about in a blog post from January of this year, called "Why Music Is Incomplete Without a Background Story") is to start scouting out venues for a possible tour. Traveling is fun, anyway, and I'm curious as to the kinds of experiences I may have and the people I may meet along the way. This is also why I'm putting in the kind of money that I have been putting in and being as careful as I am about the sound quality of August In Bloom. There's a lot of people populating this planet, and a lot of competition in this industry, so I have to be picky. That being said, it's back to work :D

Harvesting the "gold nuggets" of a dwindling genre

I'm not crazy, really... 

Having had some success with a weekly broadcast that I do on Facebook Live ("Piano Thor'sdays") I've been able to stay busy with it and I was apparently persuasive enough to coerce a few followers to actually watch it. The Thursday music blogs will of course continue, although my busy schedule gives me that much more reason to only have the blogs every other Thursday (which is the routine I've ultimately established). As far as the blog posts themselves, one topic I've been wanting to cover (which I also talked about in one of my broadcasts) is having to correct false rumors that I'm in need of a psychiatrist, but that's only because I was hearing voices in my head. Okay, so let me rephrase that... what I really meant to say is, I was imagining the voices in my head. I blame it entirely, of course, on the Chico State Opera Workshop, which put on a benefit concert in September that inspired me. Because of those opera singers and their darn talents, I keep hearing the same voices in my head when I compose, so naturally I now have to compose an opera. Now, when I say "opera" I really mean just a 6-ish minute song with piano and operatic-style vocals, so it wouldn't actually be a full-blown "opera" per se (the full-fledged story divided into movements, transitions, a full orchestra with a plot within the story, and a woman in a viking helmet shrieking at the top of her lungs, that sort of thing) so it's actually just a single piece that resembles the length of, say, an aria. The fact that I'm doing this and not writing a full-length "traditional" opera is obviously related to the camping trips I take with my dad, especially when he brings a chisel and hammer during one of our hikes. But we'll get into that later. (And if you don't think I can relate the two, please see all of my previous blog posts. This will only take you about 12 hours or so).


Wait... you mean musical styles change over time?

Anyone who asks this question has either spent their life in a cave or was just expelled out of their mother's womb, like an hour ago. What I want to focus on a little more is some of the modern music, especially the styles that many millennials listen to. It may seem that I'm "favoring" one style of music versus another, especially when it comes to lyrics, but I'm not going to claim that one type of music is necessarily better. What I will say, however, is that many lyrics in today's music contain quite a few cliches (whether that's good or bad) and I am strictly stating this as an observation. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, so there are certainly modern-day songs that contain well-written, original and well thought-out lyrics (and there may very well be lyrics from the distant past that are contain cliches). Note that I have not stated whether or not cliches are "good" or "bad," just that some music has them and some music doesn't.

Below are part of the lyrics from Katy Perry's hit song, "Roar". I don't listen to this type of music very often, but I took a gander at these lyrics, and I've decided to share them because I found several examples of cliche lines. I also found, in the same song, lines that I thought were quite original and clever. I took the time, as you can see, to pick out lyrics that had both cliches and originality so that Katy Perry doesn't write me an angry letter. I have to say, though, that receiving an angry letter from Katy Perry would be pretty cool. In any case, here are the lyrics. I've underlined some of the cliches in the lyrics so that they're easy to spot.

"Roar"
Katy Perry

Katy Perry

I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sat quietly, agreed politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything

You held me down, but I got up (hey!)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake your ground
You held me down, but I got up
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
Dancing through the fire
'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!


As I've shown above, "bite my tongue" and "hold my breath" are both expressions that are over-used, which makes them cliche (and therefore makes the expressions in the lyrics unoriginal). I also underlined "brushing off the dust" because it's too similar to "dusting yourself off" when you get back up, as it relates to the metaphor of "getting back on the horse," etc.

The phrase "I've had enough" is so cliche that it probably gets uttered millions of times a day by the English-speaking population.

Finally, the phrase "eye of the tiger" in the chorus of this song is not original at all. As many of us know, not only is it used in a famous song by Survivor, but it's also the actual title of their song! Admittedly, I'm too inexperienced in the music industry to know whether the lawyers from Survivor had lunch with Katy Perry and agreed not to sue her. I've wondered the same thing about Adele's recent hit, "Hello," and Lionel Richie, who wrote a song with that exact same title.

Part of my purpose for bringing this up is to also point out lines from the song that I thought were original and clever. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and for all I know I could be completely wrong about this. But I thought "stood for nothing, fell for everything" was okay, even though "falling for" something is not original. The full line is still clever because it involves two common phrases that have opposite meanings, yet they make sense in describing the "trapped" situation she's in. Okay, so I like that. "Scared to rock the boat" may be a tad cliche too, but I didn't underline it because I hear it rarely enough that I actually like the image. Again, people may have different opinions about this. "Dancing through the fire", while the image of "dancing" and using that as a metaphor is in itself overused, the combination of that and a "fiery" situation is neat. Oddly enough I also like it because it's literally the opposite of the line "Dancing through the snow" in Jingle Bells.

If we compare this song to an older song -- say, "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas, we get something a little different. Here are part of the lyrics to it:


"Carry On Wayward Son" 
Kansas

Kansas

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high
Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think,
I still was a mad man 
I hear the voices when I'm dreamin',
I can hear them say

Carry on my wayward son,
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Now don't you cry no more


Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely
Means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say

Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

Carry on my wayward son,
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Now don't you cry no more...


The difference between these two songs should be clear. The lyrics from the Kansas song above has pretty much no cliche lines, making the metaphors in the song far more original than those in "Roar". The only exception I can think of is the line "stormy sea of moving emotion". So, one somewhat of a cliche line in an entire song -- not too shabby. Not only that, but from a literary standpoint, I find the writing in this song fantastic, personally. There's even irony thrown into the mix (i.e., "Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man," etc.).

Okay, so what's my point? My point is that I've seen many other examples of this. Time and time again I hear lyrics from modern-day songs that have one cliche after another. And often times, when I compare these to songs from the '70s and '80s, the older songs typically don't have this kind of cliche writing.

Want another example? Take Kelly Clarkson's pop hit, "Stronger". The transition from one of the versus to the chorus goes like this:

Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong...
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Kelly Clarkson

Really? Yes, I know many people like this song, but as a matter of plain fact, the phrase "dead wrong" is very cliche and therefore took no time or imagination on her part when writing it. And the line, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is an age-old expression that has been uttered by millions. It's not original. If Kelly Clarkson had been the first person to use this expression, and put it in her song, then I'd be a little more impressed. But she merely steals it from everyday speech and sticks it in her lyrics. I could just as easily write a song and stick in the phrase, "Birds of a feather flock together," and it would be just as imaginative.

Sounds harsh, I know -- but again, I'm merely making an observation. And again, when you compare modern songs like these to some of the older hits, you don't see nearly as many cliches in the older lyrics. Scroll through the lyrics of Peter Gabriel's song from the 1980's, "Sledgehammer". It's one creative metaphor after another, and almost none of them are cliche. And yes, I know most people say the lyrics in that song are probably a series of sexual innuendos. Either way, the metaphors in the song are brilliantly original. The first line of it ("You could have a steam train, if you just lay down your tracks,") is an expression that you don't hear everyday.

The broader point I want to bring up here is that musical styles change over time, in very many ways. Anything that's creative and artistic tends to change over time. Fashion, for example, is obviously different now than it was 50 years ago. People used to wear neck-ties that were thin. Then "wide" neck-ties became more popular, and I think are still the trend in formal settings. But now some of the younger folks are wearing "thin" ties again, in certain casual settings. This intrigues me, because it means that creative trends can revert back to a style that used to be "in" a few generations ago. I realized this when I was watching the vocalists at the opera workshop, as they were performing. For a few reasons, I generally prefer instrumental music over anything else, and when I do listen to anything vocal it will, often, be something like "Nessum Dorma" (an aria from a famous opera called Turandot). If you haven't been blown away by this incredible piece, you can click below to hear Paul Potts (a then-amateur opera singer) perform it at a national talent show.

Bring back the voice, but let's lose the helmet

My attempt, after all this rambling, is to connect this idea of changing trends (and, more importantly, reverting trends) to music. As an art form, music changes pretty rapidly over time. That's expected. One of my interests, which is somewhat incidental, is to make instrumental music more popular. There's a great quote by the popular instrumentalist Yanni, from his memoir entitled Yanni in Words, that goes like this:

"I don't need lyrics. Classical composers communicated across cultures and centuries beautifully without words. That's proof that it can be done. I prefer not to use words when I'm trying to move you emotionally, so you don't have to use logic to understand what you were just told. Also, my music gives you the ability to make up your own story as it plays; your mind is free to wander and create. You can use the music as a soundtrack to your emotions." 


But in addition to this, I've wanted to make opera more popular. Let me be clear, however, in stating that there are only some kinds of opera that I like. If you hang out with people who go to operas, you will hear them raving about many of the same selections, i.e. certain arias from an entire opera production. The selections they mostly praise are usually a very small percentage of all the opera music that's out there. I happen to agree with these people, meaning that I find only a small percentage of opera to be absolutely gorgeous to listen to (to the point where it often brings me to tears) and the rest of it I don't care for at all. The stories behind the operas, as well as the drama and costumes associated with this art form (in case you didn't know, opera is a combination of music and theater) are also interesting, although some of it seems over-the-top to me. As an example, the woman wearing a viking helmet is a bit much. So I say, let's introduce the gorgeous melodies that I sometimes hear in a few of the arias, and just have regular songs, with operatic vocals, and lose the viking helmet.

I intend to do the same, by the way, with regard to popularizing only certain kinds of classical music. Many people don't seem to realize that classical music has may different styles and types, and that there are certain kinds of classical music that I don't like at all. The early baroque music, for example, I can only take in small doses. If I listen to too much of it I'll start to go crazy, and none of the music I've written so far has ever really emulated that style. However, the later stuff, i.e. classical music from the Romantic period (Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, to name a few composers from that era) I find incredibly exhilarating to listen to.

If neck ties can go thin again, I think we can include the awesome parts of some of the older music back into the music world -- and yes, I know that what I consider "awesome" is completely subjective. As far as leaving some parts out, like the shrieking viking lady, you can look at it this way: mullets are probably never going to be back in style, as far as haircuts go. At least I don't think so. And if they do, I am not growing one. My big scheme is that I want to introduce the style that echos the memorable, popular opera selections, and integrate it back into modern music. I want to do the same, by the way, with lyrics that aren't painfully cliche to read. Yeah, how did you guess? I think that stripping away a style of lyrics that is painfully cliche will be a gradual process, like chipping away the crappy parts of a rock in order to get to the gold nuggets, when you're digging for treasures. See, told ya I could do it! ;)


Collaboration Time

I haven't yet contacted the Chico State Opera Workshop, except when working with one of the vocalists who happens to own a piano gallery in Chico, but it's only a matter of time before I will. I'm already planning on writing arrangements to my own piano pieces (including "Lara in a Rain of Petals") that include operatic vocals.

Chico State Opera Workshop (September 2016)

The inspiring part of this is that the opera performance I went to in September was actually a benefit concert that used the proceeds towards introducing opera music to kids, at local schools. It's a start. I'm convinced that if these incredible voices can move me the way they do, they can move others to the same degree.

I think it would be best if we all started hearing more voices in our heads. I don't care what the psychiatrist says -- it's healthy :D

Piano Thor'sdays: You aren't leaving your house anyway

People and their gosh darn flannel pajamas

I firmly believe in praising the people who have helped me, and giving credit where credit is due. That's why I'm blaming my friend Shawn. This, of course, relates to the progress of my musical endeavors. And pajamas.

But before we talk about misshaped eyebrows and out-of-place nose hair, I want to summarize the reality of my current situation. Right now I'm at a crossroads, of sorts, and many people may be aware of this already. In the past year or two my music has really had two main facets: the private piano lessons, which have been a decent success for me (they're now providing about half my income) and the other one being the occasional live performances. When it comes to the "end goal", I've maintained consistently that the live performances are my focus. It's been my dream to tour, perform, play my music live for a big audience, etc., because what person wouldn't want that? For the moment, the piano lessons are much better financially, but as it stands my dreams still haven't changed.


I'm sometimes mildly concerned that this two-tier system is too multi-faceted, and that I need to pick just one, instead of offering two services. The very few opinions that have been given to me have been somewhat mixed; a business guy once told me that it's good to be multi-faceted, but not too multi-faceted. On the other hand, when it comes to providing private lessons and live performances, many people have responded with "why not?" when it comes to the idea of doing both.

A live show I did at La Rocca last year

Aside from the fact that I actually sort of enjoy teaching piano lessons (most of the time) the reason I do it is to make money and invest it in better music equipment, and in the live performances. The other way I make money for this purpose is by droning on about independent clauses to a classroom full of confused foreigners, who mistakenly say "My wife is a bitch," when they meant to say "My wife is at the beach." The income I get from teaching English as a second language is not without the entertainment of mispronounced vowels and catastrophic misunderstandings.

So I figured, what's the difference if I make my money just teaching music lessons instead? I may also be able to use my piano instruction as a springboard into the live performances (see my recital hall idea on my previous blog post, August In Bloom Album (And Other Updates) ). And in addition to the recital hall idea, another way I may be able to use it as a springboard towards getting more live performances is by Internet marketing, an idea concocted by Shawn himself. If people are able to learn the piano without leaving their homes, they can just stay in their fuzzy flannel pajamas, and not have to get all gussied up to drive to a lesson. It is fall, after all. Did you think I was not going to somehow relate this to flannel nightwear? I don't just spout out words willy-nilly, you know. This is also why my unusually long eyelashes will come in handy.


Smile! It's time for Piano Thor'sdays

It's not enough that I have the Thor'sday Blogs, a Discussion "Thorum" on my website, and "Throwback Thor'sdays" on my Facebook page for people who want to see my face during the dorky pre-bearded era, but my friend insisted that I also call this Internet marketing endeavor "Piano Thor'sdays." The next thing you know is I'll be opening up my own piano store and calling it "Thor's Hammers."

In any case, the idea is that each week (I'm sure you can guess which day of the week it is) I will record a few-ish minutes of live Facebook streaming, in which I play "teasers" on the piano, either to introduce a new song or to showcase part of a song for an upcoming album or show. The live streaming feature on Facebook is apparently becoming popular with businesses because it reaches a lot of people. Plus, people are drawn to videos in general; they gravitate towards them like a moth fluttering straight into a porch light.

This, of course, is also where the springboard comes in. Not a real springboard, a metaphorical one. Stay with me here. Eventually (somewhat soon, I would think) I would do a short mini-lesson on the piano, during one of these Thor'sday streaming vids. If people liked it, they could sign up for the at-home piano course that I'm going to offer. This means that people can pre-pay for a series of videos, and once they pay they will have access to, say, 20 videos, each containing a piano lesson (I would be in the vid, giving the lesson). They would have to watch them in order, and as per my recommendation they would watch one video each week. That way they could sit at their piano at home, in their flannel pajamas, and have their lesson right there while they drink their morning coffee. Again, this is why my long eyelashes will come in handy, as will my trimmed nose hairs and eyebrows that I mentioned earlier. And if people don't like my long eyelashes then they don't have to buy the videos.

These at-home video lessons could be put on my website for purchase, and as I said the reputation that I might be able to build could help me launch into the live performances more easily, especially if I'm able to announce and promote the upcoming shows, using the existing fan base to reach more people in the process.

The first video for this Facebook live stream series will be tonight (or, it was, depending on if you're reading this after the fact) and this is because Shawn is making me do it. Apparently I'm not allowed to procrastinate, hence me placing the blame entirely on him for even giving me this idea in the first place.

Remember, flannel is underrated. So stay tuned and you might be able to take piano lessons without leaving your home... because I know that's exactly what you've been wanting to do :D

   

August In Bloom Album (and Other Updates)

The making of a new piano album

The vast majority of people know that chicken noodle soup doesn't just contain chicken. I mean, obviously you would expect to find other ingredients, right? Maybe celery, carrots, some other veggies, and certainly you'd expect to find some noodles. And let's not forget the broth. What does this have to do with the title of the heading, you ask? Well, a lot. If you ate nothing but chicken the rest of your life, you would get bored of it. People like variety, and they can get bored of being exposed to the same thing day after day. In the same way, the Heart of Storms album seems to be well-liked, even though it is a "home recording," and there are no reservations for my wishes to re-record it using either the Yamaha N2 or an acoustic piano (with a mic, of course) but I didn't want this to be my next big release. People like something different -- variety. That's where the new piano album came into mind, and it didn't take me long to convince myself that this would be a good move. Hence, the chicken noodle soup analogy -- I wanted to give people something different to listen to, in addition to Heart of Storms.

The equipment I intend to use for the new piano album remains to be decided, although I've already started working on the album. Three of the songs ("Dozing on Avalon's Shore," "Drifting of the Dandelion Seeds" and "Stars at Crescent Lake") have been rehearsed profusely (I don't know if that particular adverb is a good way to describe it, but my dental hygienist uses it to describe how my gums bleed if I don't t floss enough, so I'm using it to mean that it was "a lot"). Recording of two of the songs ("Dozing on Avalon's Shore" and "Drifting of the Dandelion Seeds") are scheduled to be recorded this weekend, and even though it's not going to be on the album, "Velvet Touch" will also be recorded because I'm going to use these three recorded pieces as a new demo CD to hand out at potential gigs.

Possible album cover for August in Bloom

But, I digress. Enough about the chicken soup. I'm working on a new album, August in Bloom, and I hope to set a date soon for its completion but I want to get a better idea of the rate of progress, seeing as there will be 10 tracks, and a few of them are really difficult to play.

Also, it's summer-themed, a contrast I decided to create because Heart of Storms featured many of the songs I wrote that were inspired by my experiences in Iceland. You know, contrast -- I want carrots with my chicken soup.



The Yamaha School of Music has snuck up on me like a thirsty raccoon 

This actually happened to me, by the way -- not the new music school, but the raccoon. The scary part of this is that I had just parked my car, at about eleven o'clock at night, and I happened to be wearing sandals, with no socks. I looked behind me and an enormous raccoon was tip-toeing behind me, within attacking distance. When he saw me he freaked out and started drinking water from the street drain. The new music school has done the same as far as sneaking up behind me, but in a good way. The long-term goal that Vince Chambers (the piano gallery owner) and I have envisioned is that a new music school, very much like a small conservatory, will open up in Chico, and it will be at a separate location from Apollo Piano, the actual piano dealer and gallery. Vince wants to start off having a single piano lesson studio at the gallery, though, to start getting students in, so that this location will be temporary. That way we can generate some cash flow from the students and use it towards acquiring a separate location. These ideas have stemmed from Vince's dream of opening up a music school in Chico, and it's more than enough to get me insanely excited about it. The sneaking-up part of it is that students might be able to start signing up as early as next week. A massive collection of sheet music and songbooks have been ordered for me to use to start teaching new students.

Temporary lesson studio at Apollo Piano

New additions to the office space

As said before, the Yamaha AvantGrande N2 hybrid piano will be used for recording. For live performances, I've been using a Roland F140R digital piano. I don't want to talk about how many other pianos I have in my office. It's embarrassing.

An old Knabe upright piano, to be tuned and fixed up in the near future.

Upcoming Recital Hall

Speaking of something that has absolutely nothing to do with recital halls, the live events I attend (such as a performance by the Chico State opera workshop last month) may be a good way for me to network and get more exposure with my music. The opera performance, for example, which was extraordinary, is something I may look into because I arranged about ten of my songs, years ago, to fit lyrics for female vocals. Even just one of these arrangements could be of good use at, say, a recital hall, for instance. I've been pushing the idea of a recital hall for a few reasons, one of them being that if we have one at the new school, I could use it to put on a sit-down concert of my own and get exposure. The plan would be to then use that as a spring-board to start touring, and the touring/performing part of my career is really the "end goal" for me, and it always has been. I've made this clear to Vince and others, even though I do actually get quite a bit of enjoyment out of teaching the private music lessons.


I want more carrots!

Enough of the monotony of eating chicken noodle soup with nothing but chicken in it. I need variety, like anyone else, and talking about verbs all day is synonymous, analogous, equivalent and the same conceptually as eating the same food over and over. This is also true with writing a string of completely redundant adjectives. I'm fairly sure that I could spend the rest of my teaching career talking about verbs (and fancy adjectives) to students whose first language is not English, but as much as I occasionally enjoy this job, it may not be long before my days as an ESL teacher become numbered. This would be especially true if I get enough students at the new school to actually support myself. By "numbered", though, I mean to say that it could be something like "in a year from now." Don't get too excited. In any case, verbs are like chicken. Talking about them day after day in an ESL class is like eating that soup with 100% chicken. I want carrots too.

I'm actually far more excited, though, about getting going on August in Bloom, so hopefully the development of the project will be the focus of my next blog post. My posts are shorter than some of my earlier ones, but that's because I find myself remarkably busy these days, and usually in a good way. Talking about verbs, getting an old violin repaired, getting an acoustic piano moved into my office, writing web content for the revised website for Apollo Piano, ordering sheet music, and having to make another trip to the store to get my French vanilla creamer, is a lot to juggle. Nevertheless, I do respond to comments, as I believe in reaching out to people who are interested, so make sure you leave a message if you have questions or comments. Happy fall to everyone :)

An Office, A Piano, A School and a Concert

I can finally work!

In recent weeks I've been able to take advantage of a few opportunities, thanks to excellent timing and some very helpful people in the community. Always a good thing! As far as the timing, I was able to secure a space where I can work, plan and record music (and give lessons if I want) at any time that I wish and without distractions or interruptions. I spent quite a bit of time there when I was subletting part of the space from Shawn Dyer, filmmaker and computer guru (and, as it happens, an expert on Belgian ales). He vacated the space in the interest of financing a new vehicle, and as soon as the space became available I took over the lease. It's less distracting to write a blog post in this office space (which I'm doing right now) than doing it at home when my cat is sitting on my lap and demanding cuddles. Cuddling takes time. So does scratching her belly. So does napping. And watching TV. These are all distractions that I don't experience in a separate, quiet office space, and as such I've gotten a tremendous amount of work done. Yay for efficiency! :D

I was somewhat hesitant because of the cost, but the rent is extremely low because the owner knows me and he gave me a good deal, and the time I'm able to put in allows me to figure out how to make up those costs each month. I figured that since I'm paying more per month for an office space, I might as well invest even more money, and this leads me to my next acquisition...


The Yamaha AvantGrande N2 (a.k.a., "Zoey")

One of a few things that I felt was slowing me down in the progress towards recording is that if I used my old digital piano (the Korg) the sound quality would come out terrible. The only way I was able to get decent sound was by using a Yamaha DGX20-5 synthesizer and plugging it into my ProTools software. The sound was okay (I used this to record the "Heart of Storms" album) but the issue I've always had is that the keys on that particular instrument are not weighted, and they're "springy", making them difficult to play. Any pianist, I'm sure, will know how frustrating this would be. It was because of this that I was stuck in a "catch 22" situation where I either produce sub-par quality as far as recording, or spend money I don't have. Going completely "pro" when it comes to recording a piano involves actually getting a grand piano of some kind, making the room sound-friendly, and hooking up very expensive microphones to it. I've looked into this logistically, and financially, and I will probably end up doing this one day, I imagine, but at the moment it would take far too much money, lots of time, and an enormous amount of effort towards learning how to do this.

Despite these obstacles, I took steps towards this goal anyway, simply because I had to make a move, and that's when I stopped by Apollo Piano, a piano dealer in Chico. The woman who works there was fairly convincing, although a lot of it was probably the sound coming out of the seven or eight pianos that I tried out while I was there. To make a long story short I walked out of that building an hour later with a signed rental agreement for a Yamaha upright AvantGrande N2, a hybrid model that lets you play it like a real piano but also lets you plug into ProTools or even insert a USB drive, letting you record whatever you're playing and saving it as a MIDI file. It may be a possible solution to my logistics problem and I'm really excited about that prospect.

Aside from ignoring the people who've teased me for naming the piano (I mean, come on, what musician doesn't name his instruments?) I've already done a recording test, and so far I'm satisfied. If the recordings continue to yield quality it means that I can record my albums so that the sound will be decent and ALSO be able to play with weighted keys. This, again, would solve my catch-22 situation. In case you're curious, I do plan to continue a new-and-improved recording of Heart of Storms, but I'm focused on making a summer-themed album as well. Bet you didn't know that :D and yes, I'll have more details later. I'm still struggling with a name for this album, so I welcome ideas, as always!

And when it comes to the Yamaha N2, by the way, BOY HOWDY does it sound amazing! People should be able to tell this by the very fact that I just used the expression "boy howdy".


More Music Education for Chico!

After taking these steps towards my goals, and while testing out the new recordings, the woman who rented me the piano urged me to come and meet the owner of Apollo Piano. When I stopped by to meet him we discussed his plans to start a new music school in Chico, which he wants to call Yamaha School of Music. Even though my end goal is to be able to travel and perform on a regular basis, this idea excites me as well because it's an opportunity to continue saving money that I'll be putting towards later endeavors, and it's slightly more enjoyable than teaching people about verbs and adjectives. He has already expressed an interest in having me as one of the teachers, so I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

My hopes to tour and perform, by the way, are some of the few things that drove me to watch another soloist perform. And that brings me to my next adventure...


George Winston in Redding

George Winston

If you haven't heard of this musician he is an American pianist, guitarist and composer. He primarily plays on the piano and performs in the "new age" style that I often use (or neo-classical, contemporary, or what he calls "rural folk piano") as well as blues piano. I was lucky enough to discover that he was performing in Redding, so I jumped on it. The first reason I went to see him is fairly obvious -- I've been a fan of his since I was in my teens, and watching him play the song "Rain" on a YouTube video years ago was a "tipping point" which made me decide to leave the teaching profession and pursue music as a career. You can see a video of him playing this song below. It's one of my absolute favorites.

The other reason I went to see him is because I wanted to get an idea of how a soloist puts on a concert -- not just how he walks on the stage and plays the instrument, but how he works the audience, what he talks about, how he presents himself, etc., because I hope to do this one day and I want to get an overall picture of what that looks like. Of course, every performer does things a little differently, and I'm sure I will. Not to mention, many performers seem to have their own "shtick" or gimmick. There are a few things that I know I won't do (I went and saw Yanni perform in Sacramento four years ago, and he wore really tight pants. I'm NOT doing that).

George Winston (right) after I got his autograph 

Seeing as I've piled even more on my plate than I have before, I'm sure there will be much to discuss in future blogs. Comments, as always, are welcome, as are any comments or responses on my website forum, which you can go to here. 

Leonard Cohen's "Joan of Arc" (How to write REAL lyrics!)

I recently wrote an arrangement of Leonard Cohen's song called "Hallelujah," and in the process I went back and also listened to another song of his, entitled "Joan of Arc." If you don't know who Leonard Cohen is, well, now you do. He's a songwriter who wrote a song called "Hallelujah" and also a song called "Joan of Arc." If you've never heard the song "Joan of Arc," well, it's a song by Leonard Cohen. About Joan of Arc. And if you've never heard the song "Hallelujah," then you're missing out, because it's quite catchy!

And, more importantly, even if you've never heard of the things I mentioned above, do not despair, as I intend to fill in all the necessary details. In any case, I decided to make this blog post about the song "Joan of Arc", and not "Hallelujah", for very specific reasons. I absolutely love both songs, but "Joan of Arc" has inspired me immensely since I was fairly young. To understand why, we need to understand a few things about the artist himself.


Leonard Cohen is not just a songwriter...

One of the things I admire about this particular singer is the versatility in his talent. He has worked as a singer-songwriter for decades (he's now 81 years old, and he has written/performed music his whole life), but what some people may not realize is that he's also an accomplished writer, poet, and novelist. He apparently started out wanting to be a full-time writer, but after not having enough financial success, he resorted to a second-favorite creative activity -- songwriting. This seems to have worked out for him, obviously, because you can find beautifully-written lyrics in many of his songs, which reflect his writing style very clearly.


Good lyrics? I'll believe it when I hear it.

This leads me to my next point, which has to do with an issue that I seem to have with music in general. Most people who know me also know that I really like instrumental music, whether it's classical, "modern" instrumental, "new age" or something like solo guitar music, or solo piano music. There are several reasons for this, but one reason is actually because I can't stand most lyrics. I'm cursed by having studied English (and linguistics) in college, having taught English for several years, and having learned to be extremely picky about language in general -- especially about language that's meant to be artistic. So, whenever I hear music that includes vocals, I want the lyrics to be poetic, original, free of cliches, vivid, somewhat mysterious, clever, catchy, meaningful, etc., and if the lyrics don't have these qualities, I get somewhat turned off. I'm a complete snob when it comes to this. When I listen to modern pop songs, especially the ones that get airtime on the radio, I often hear one cliche after another. As an example, there are probably a dozen songs with lyrics that, somewhere, contain the phrase, "Learn to love again". That's not original. It's been done countless times, and it took these songwriters almost no creativity whatsoever to write a line like this, because they're just spouting out some common phrase that's overused.

If I'm going to hear lyrics, I want originality. Something like this would be better...

Your words are a knife that has sliced into my veins. 
But I haven't bled completely dry. 
One day I will feel my pulse again, and I will find another smile. 
You are no longer alive in me. But I am still alive.

Now those are lyrics! It's original, it's vivid, and those particular phrases have probably never been used before. The metaphor has most likely been used plenty of times, but the words themselves have not been used verbatim. And, interestingly, this particular example of "good" lyrics has the same meaning as the example I used of the "bad" lyrics, containing the cliche love again phrase.

To summarize this point, lyrics have to affect me, really affect me, for me to appreciate them -- otherwise I'm just not impressed. They have to make me either see something, feel something, or they have to give me chills... something. You know, something other than getting me to roll my eyes :D This is not to say, of course, that poorly-written lyrics mean the music itself is bad. I am still guilty of listening to peppy, up-beat songs simply because the quality of the music is great, even though the lyrics might show complete lack of effort on the part of the songwriter.

So what is my point in all this? My point is that there are only a select few singer-songwriters who I admire for their writing ability, who I will praise for their word-craftiness -- because I am, as I said, such a stuck-up, snobbish, unfair lyric-judger. And my other point is that some of Leonard Cohen's lyrics, in my artistic opinion, are damn good. As I said before, this songwriter started out just writing, has published poetry as well as his own novels, and his first novel, Beautiful Losers, came out as early as 1966. His first music album was released less than a year after that. I find this intriguing because I'm generally very fascinated with this literature/music combination, and some of my past blog posts have explored this "dual" art form to some extent. Cohen explores topics in his literature that are also very relevant and relatable to many people -- love, relationships, human nature, suffering, religion, history, to name a few. I won't reveal right away whether I think he's actually a good musician, but I do think he's an excellent writer.

By the way, I happen to think he's an excellent musician! Did you see that coming? You didn't, did you? :D But enough rambling... here is what you need to know about this particular song.


Who was Joan of Arc?

Depiction of Joan of Arc at her execution

If you're a history buff, you probably already know the answer to this question. You don't have to know every last detail about European history to appreciate this song, but I will say that I greatly admire a musician who writes a song about a famous historical figure. (Again, a great example of originality.)

What's probably good to know, though, is that Joan of Arc was a peasant who lived in France, during the Middle Ages. France was fighting a war with England (The Hundred Years' War, they called it), and, apparently, Joan of Arc received "visions" from a bunch of angels, who all told her that she should go and support the King of France (Charles VII) and help him preserve France by fighting the King of England. Now, first of all, a vision from a bunch of angels? Maybe somebody slipped something into her tea, I don't know. But many people believed her, and they regarded her as a "saint", or someone who was sent on a mission by God. So basically they were crazy.

As a result of this, Joan of Arc ended up leading an entire army, at the age of nineteen, even though she had no military experience whatsoever. She took them to the city of Orleans, where, remarkably, the French succeeded. The bad part, for her, is that she was eventually captured by English allies (the Burgundian Faction) and because of the "visions" she had, the English captors believed that she was a witch. They also accused her of heresy, and a number of other offenses. The story ends tragically, of course, when Joan of Arc is finally burned alive at the stake, having been convicted of witchcraft and other "crimes" that they deemed punishable by death.

Leonard Cohen's song, "Joan of Arc," is about this particular historical event. The reason I love this song so much, though, is not just the originality of writing about something historic, but the way that Cohen wrote the lyrics. I first heard this song when I was pretty young, probably eleven or so, but it wasn't until later in my life when I looked at the words and realized how cleverly Cohen put the song together. As you can see below, the lyrics are actually a dialogue between Joan of Arc and the fire that's burning her. The moment I realized that Cohen had personified the fire, that he had made the fire able to "talk", was the moment I realized how talented of a writer he is.

The chorus of the song appears four times, and as you can see in the lyrics the chorus is nothing but a repetition of "la-la-la's" (no actual words), while all of the other lyrics are profoundly poetic. I realized, after some time, that the la-la-la's in each chorus was probably symbolic of Joan of Arc screaming and wailing as she gets burned to death. This realization, of course, hit me like a brick.


"Joan of Arc" lyrics
Leonard Cohen

Now the flames, they followed Joan of Arc

As she came riding through the dark.

No moon to keep her armor bright

No man to get her through this dark and smoky night.

She said, “I’m tired of the war.

I want the kind of work I had before.

A wedding dress, or something white

To wear upon my swollen appetite.”

La la la, la la la

La la la la la la… 

“Well I’m glad to hear you talk this way.

I’ve watched you riding every day.

And there’s something in me that yearns to win

Such a cold, such a lonesome heroin.”

“And who are you?” she sternly spoke

To the one beneath the smoke.

“Why, I am fire,” he replied.

“And I love your solitude. I love your pride.”

 

La la la, la la la,

La la la la la la...

“Well then, fire, make your body cold.

I’m going to give you mine to hold.”

And saying this, she climbed inside

To be his one, to be his only bride.

Then, deep into his fiery heart,

He took the dust of Joan of Arc.

Then, high above all these wedding guests,

He hung the ashes of her lovely wedding dress.

La la la, la la la,

La la la la la la...

It was deep into his fiery heart,

He took the dust of Joan of Arc.

And then she clearly understood,

If he was fire, oh, she must be wood.

I saw her wince, I saw her cry,

I saw the glory in her eye.

Myself, I long for love and light,

But must it come so cruel?

Must it come so bright?

La la la, la la la, la la la la la la, etc., 

to fade. 

This set of lyrics clearly differs from those of most modern songs, obviously. The idea of making something like "fire" an actual character, anthropomorphized and able to speak, is something you just don't see these days. There are also parts that seem symbolic, such as the repeated reference to Joan of Arc's wedding dress, and her plan to be the fire's "bride." Marriage, as we know, is supposed to be "forever," but in this case the "forever" part is actually Joan of Arc facing her own death.

There are several versions of this song, where one is obviously the original recording, but the version I grew up listening to is sung by the American singer Jennifer Warnes, as well as Cohen himself. Jennifer Warnes released an album of Leonard Cohen cover songs, in 1987, called Famous Blue Raincoat. In her version of "Joan of Arc" (which you can listen to via the link below), Warnes sings the part of Joan of Arc, while Cohen sings the part of the "fire". They take turns singing, and sometimes sing together. What intrigues me is that Cohen and Warnes are clearly "singing to each other" passionately, as if it's a romantic love song, but of course when you analyze the lyrics you realize it's far more tragic and gruesome than that, with this heroine being charred to death by flames. There's a brilliant irony to this, because the singing style is very flowery and romantic. Cohen's voice as the "fire" is also mesmerizing, and inviting, while she tells him "I'm going to give you mine to hold", as if they're going to lie together and cuddle in the moonlight. But, since we know the real situation, and the real outcome of the story, the irony of this just makes the song that much more powerful.   

One can see, I'm sure, why I decided to talk about this piece. As a writer myself, I find this kind of "musical literature" quite inspiring. In fact, using personification as a literary device, as Cohen does in these lyrics, is something that I have picked up and used quite excessively in my own writing (very much in the same way that Cohen does in this song), especially in my narrative poem The Lost Enemy, which you can learn more about if you'd like by checking out my blog post, Why Music Is Incomplete Without a Background Story (Part 1).

Below is a YouTube video of Jennifer Warnes' cover of the song. It gives you the lyrics, too, as the song progresses, and it shows you neat little paintings and photos that relate to each part of the story. Pretty neat stuff if you ask me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Comments, questions and/or ideas, as always, are welcome :)

                                    "Joan of Arc" (Leonard Cohen and Jennifer Warnes)
                                               from the album Famous Blue Raincoat

Music Goose Bumps Explained

What's with the music "goose bumps"?  Why do we get them?

After wondering for some time what this week's blog was going to be about, I came across an article from ScienceAlert.com that describes some plausible reasons, from a scientific perspective, why many people get "goose bumps" when they listen to certain types of music. This topic is somewhat similar to several of my previous blog posts, especially my post from February called How to Make Your Music More Emotional. For anyone interested in reading the article, I added a link to it at the end of this blog post. Physiological and emotional reactions to music is a favorite topic of mine, as regular readers surely know by now, so I figured I might as well continue the trend in this blog. Besides, once I came across what seems like a well-written and reputable article on the topic, I got too excited and just had to post an entry about it. So, here goes!


Goose bumps in general

I'm going to try and be brief about this because I don't want to get off on too much of a tangent -- but understanding the actual function of goose bumps involves my cat. Well, really it involves all cats. All you have to do is ask yourself, what does a cat do when it is scared? Its fur stands up on end (as does its tail). This is a naturally-occurring, involuntary biological reaction, and it increases the cat's chances of scaring off a predator. Its back also arches to make it look "taller". When an animal's fur stands up on end, the animal looks bigger, scarier, and more intimidating. It's a product of millions of years of evolution, and for most people this makes pretty good sense.

A frightened cat displaying its raised fur.

According to the Science Alert article, as well as other scientific journals, "goose bumps" in human beings are there for the same reason. We don't have very much hair (or "fur") compared to a lot of other animals, but the goose bumps we see on our skin is the hair on our skin standing up. Our biological ancestors used to have a lot of hair, so this might have been useful at one time. However, our goose bumps today don't actually serve any real function. We don't have very much hair, and the hair we do have that stands on end during these "goose bump" periods does not make us look any more dangerous or intimidating. Another function of the goose bumps, apparently, is that the raising of the skin "resets" our body temperature when there are changes in the outside temperature, helping to regulate our body's "thermostat". (This is why we get goose bumps when we're cold). But this is also useless, according to the article's author, because we've invented clothes.

For those who are curious, there are plenty of other examples in evolution where a biological feature or phenomenon has become useless and obsolete (our tailbone, men's nipples, to name a few). But I'm not going to get into nipples right now. Surprisingly, I find the topic of music far more interesting.


The "Sneak Attack" in music composition

Before going into how music is connected to goose bumps, I should clarify some differences in the terminology I use versus the terminology used by the authors, editors, and research scientists who are affiliated with ScienceAlert.com. I don't typically like to make up my own words, but I find my terminology to be a lot funner. (That's right, I said it). For instance, the goose bumps that occur when you hear thrilling or beautiful music is the result of something that scientists call "response to unexpected stimuli",  while I call it the "Ninja Sneak-Attack". I'm not a scientists, so I get to use much funner words for these concepts, although I am still a passionate advocate for doing your own research and ensuring that you're not just spouting off something that you've "read somewhere". I have to credit some people with their sense of humor, though, because according to this same article a few researchers have used the nickname "skin orgasms" to describe this goose bump effect associated with music, instead of the technical term (which is actually frisson). But whatever you call it, the question remains: why do we get these goose bumps, these "skin orgasms"?

Suppose you are alone, unaware that anybody is around, and someone walks up behind you and scares you. The hair on the back of your neck would probably stand up. This happens for the same reason that I just discussed -- your body goes into "defense mode," because as far as you know it could be something threatening or harmful, like a mountain lion. The key component in this occurrence is that it's unexpected. Researchers hypothesize that many other "unexpected" occurrences can have the same effect. So, when you hear something in a song or a musical piece that "violates" your expectations -- in a good way -- you get goose bumps. Hence, the Sneak-Attack.

I want to provide a few examples of this, but I first want to point out that, from an evolutionary standpoint, the goose bumps resulting from a piece of beautiful music have absolutely no biological function whatsoever. It's just a by-product of evolution that is now outdated. However, the pleasure we feel in our brains when having this experience is perfectly harmless (and, I would argue, healthy) and listening to music in general has been shown to be very therapeutic in many ways. So, goose bumps or not, it's one of many reasons to take advantage of a pleasure that we can access, for no other reason than to enjoy life, and to benefit from these therapeutic effects.

Above: The late Oliver Sacks, neurologist and musician, experiencing the joy of listening to one of his favorite pieces. The photo was used as the cover on one of his books, Musicophilia, published in 2007.

Musical ninjas through the ages

And now to the examples of composers and artists who use this "Sneak-Attack" method. Bach did this constantly. I don't think he called it the Sneak-Attack, but he did it. It's one of the reasons why he is so well-known. From the composer's perspective, the trick is to establish a noticeable pattern, like a theme, a motif, or some sort of catchy melody, and nowadays this is often referred to as part of the "verse." Most listeners will quickly become familiar with this pattern when listening to the song, even if it's subconscious. After establishing this melody, the pattern can be repeated yet again, but this time there is some kind of unexpected change, variation, or subtle difference in the pattern that the listener does not quite expect. It's this element of slight unpredictability in music that stimulates a part of the brain, causing the "surprise," thereby a sense of pleasure, and incidentally produces those goose bumps (although the goose bumps themselves, like I said, serve no real purpose). Bach was known for creating these "surprises" in his melodies, and he was a master at it. His music was enormously popular during his lifetime because of his ability to do this, and to do it incredibly well. The challenging part of creating this effect is that you don't want too much unpredictability, because then it will just sound random and meaningless. On the other hand, if it's too predictable, it may sound boring -- much like a movie that is too predictable, where you already know what's going to happen (take a poorly-written and cliche romantic comedy, for instance). The trick is to find that "happy middle ground" in music, where you have some sort of pattern, yet you introduce just enough unpredictability in certain parts of the song to generate that perfect amount of "surprise".

Johann Sebastian Bach

Other examples where this is done in music:

1. Frederic Chopin does this in Nocturne No. 19 in E minor (video below). There are two notes in the beginning of the verse, and the second note is sustained for a bit (first played at 0:08 in the video), which is played with the right hand, and then there are three notes that follow. This is a simple motif that gets repeated each time the verse starts up again. The fun part of this is that, if you're hearing this piece for the first time, you won't always be able to predict exactly when the verse starts up again. The composer "sneaks" the verse in unexpectedly, or somewhat earlier than expected. This happens at 0:33, 1:36 and 2:04 of the video. One of the ways that Chopin accomplishes this is that he adds other stuff in between the repetitions of the motif, i.e. between 1:08 and 1:35 the song lingers a bit, with basically the same rhythm and tempo (sort of like a "bridge" to a song) and it keeps you guessing as to when, or whether, the verse will repeat again. I like to do this between the bridge and/or climactic part of my songs, and then revisiting a verse towards the end in a more dramatic way (i.e. in a different key or with embellishments). A great way to do that is to re-create part of the motif in the last part of the bridge, and then repeat that motif and sneak the verse in there, creating a subtle transition from the bridge back to the verse. I've done this in many of my songs and people seem to like it. Again, violating a listener's expectations just enough is the key to tickling that musical funny bone.

                                     Nocturne No. 19 in E minor by Frederic Chopin

Speaking of climaxes, Chopin puts one in this song. You may notice that, starting at 1:55, the music gets very dramatic, again creating that feeling of anticipation in the listener to where he or she will not quite be sure when the verse occurs again. Beethoven did this a lot as well. This is a similar effect to a person watching a horror movie and not quite knowing when a creature, monster or "bad guy" is suddenly going to jump out, even though you know it will probably happen at some point. Building anticipation is just another way that these goose bumps form. The Science Alert article discusses this quite thoroughly.

2. Christina Perri does this in her hit song, "Jar of Hearts". She uses a technique called a "chord substitution", where the listener expects to hear a certain chord (based on an established musical pattern in the song) but a different chord is played instead, slightly "surprising" the listener. In the original version (where Christina Perri is singing) the chord substitution is very quick and subtle, partly because she drags her voice a lot and sings over the piano chords with a rather raspy voice, so it's hard to catch. Christina Perri might not even know that she's using this technique in her song because songwriting for many people is far more intuitive, but I notice it because I'm a big nerd who likes to analyze everything. Anyway, there is a piano cover of this song that I absolutely love (below) and you can hear the chord substitution a lot more easily. The chord substitution first happens at 1:01 in the video. Most listeners will expect to hear a major chord because the pianist is already playing in the key of E flat major, and the chord he's using right before 1:01 is A flat major. It changes to a minor chord instead, which a first-time listener will usually not expect. This happens again at 1:14, 2:10, and 2:34.

"Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri (piano cover)

Below is an excerpt from the lyrics in Christina Perri's original version. I underlined the parts where the chord substitutions take place (from A flat major to A flat minor).

     And who do you think you are, running around leaving scars?
     Collecting your jar of hearts, and tearing love apart.
     You're gonna catch a cold, from the ice inside your soul,
     So don't come back to me. Who do you think you are?


3. Whitney Houston does this with the famous key change in the song "I Will Always Love You." The key change in the middle of the song is so effective that now people use it as a parody in comedy films and TV shows, creating a comedic "dramatic" effect whenever someone falls in love or if there is "love at first sight." Key changes in the middle of a song are very popular, and they are tremendously effective; the listener generally does not expect it, and it surprises them, usually to their delight. It sort of "wakes up" the listener. This technique was very popular with 80's and 90's pop music. Michael Bolton was a fan of doing this in his music, and our old friend J.S. Bach did this as well. In Whitney Houston's hit song (below) the key change takes place at around 3:07, following a gap of complete silence (creating a great deal of anticipation), and the original key she was singing in, which was in A major, goes up by a major second, or a "whole step," as some music theory nerds might call it, and the remainder of the song is sung in B major instead.

"I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

4. Ludwig van Beethoven: I mentioned this guy before. Aside from the fact the he (and others, including Bach, Mozart, and a host of other classical composers) used key changes very effectively, he was also very skilled at creating a simple motif and repeating it multiple times throughout a piece, but with an enormous range of variations. A perfect example of this is the first movement of Beethoven's famous 5th Symphony, which boldly begins with four hard-hitting notes: "Ba-ba-ba baaaaaaah!" This motif is often known as the "Fate Motif" because Beethoven apparently described it as "fate knocking at his door". One reason why this piece is so well-known is because you will hear that same exact pattern (the four familiar notes) again and again, throughout the entire song, but with many different variations. Sometimes the variations of the four notes are loud, sometimes they're quiet, sometimes they're played in the melody, sometimes they're played by the cellos in the background, etc., but you hear it again and again. Try listening to it and count how many versions of "Ba-ba-ba baaaaaaah!" you hear throughout the song, and you will run out of fingers. Or, play a drinking game and take a shot every time you hear it; you will be smashed before the piece is over. Beethoven's remarkable use of variations in this simple motif is one of the ways you can keep the listener "guessing" and, again, get those goose bumps on your arms. 

Just an FYI, there is an on-going written commentary about the music in this particular YouTube video, obviously created by some big nerd like myself. For the sake of simply listening to the piece and noticing the variations I discussed, the written commentary in the video can be ignored (especially since it changes so rapidly) unless you really want to read it. 

That being said, there is no better example to end on than Beethoven's famous masterpiece. But seriously, be careful if you try that drinking game, because you really will be two sheets to the wind by the time you're done. ;)

                                      Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1st Movement)

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