Category: Music Listening

Today’s IPod Workout

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Did a quick 30 minute workout this morning, of course, with IPod on shuffle…all 8,000 songs. The shuffle was pretty eclectic, but, awesome. I feel lucky that I can listen to so many diverse musics and get a connection with all.

It went from jazz to classical/opera to Blues to Grunge to New Age to Pop to 70’s Spacey Synth.

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“Nature Boy” -George Benson

Benson’s cover of the standard

“Ruckertlieder/1 Ich atmet einen linden Duft”-Mahler

I have never been much of an opera buff mostly cause I am just not into lyrics in general. But, Mahler, one of my favorite composers sets such a great orchestra arrangement to support the vocal.

“You Know I Love You” -BB King

BB doing his thing!

“All Secrets Known” -Alice In Chains

AIC is definitely my favorite of all the grunge bands and they are still going strong with a new album to be released in 2013. They may not have had the social impact of a Nirvana or Pearl Jam, but, in my opinion, were vastly superior musically to most of the top grunge bands.

“Rikki’s Shuffle” -Michael Hedges

If you are a guitar fan and don’t know Michael Hedges you really need to check him out! Although he falls into the New Age category, he was truly a virtuoso with a unique style. He is known for using a harp guitar, several tunings and lots of hammering techniques.

“Love Will Keep Us Alive” -The Eagles

The Eagles are the Eagles, many great hits, of course. But, when they wrote sappy songs they really went sappy! Of these songs my favorites are the ones sung by Timothy B Schmidt. Although he joined the band later in 1977 his voice has become an integral part of their sound ever since. Probably best featured on, “I Cant Tell you Why”

“Dream Weaver “-Gary Wright

I was always drawn to these spacey synth driven songs

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Thank you all for following my blog! I appreciate all of you who follow and chat about my favorite subject…..MUSIC!

Thank you to all my wedding and performance clients, fellow musicians and students….it is a pleasure to share music with all of you!

Dodecaphonic Sudoku

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Wow! Here is a serious brain teaser for music geeks.

For the uninitiated dodecaphony is a music term relating to the twelve notes we use in Western music… the basis of my blog 12 Notes & The Truth!

In the 1920’s Composer Arnold Schoenberg set out to compose music through a process that obliterated the systems we are/were used to hearing. Serialism is the name of the movement in which all twelve notes must be used before any are repeated. Creating no key centers in the composition and lack of melody and harmony as we are used to hearing.

The following puzzle is a take on dedecaphony. A Sudoku matrix set up where each note can only be used only once, horizontally, diagonally and in each of the 12 boxes of the matrix.

In essence there is no difference than converting a regular Sudoku puzzle to be 12 x 12 instead of the traditional 9 x 9. Where the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 are replaced by the 12 notes in our chromatic scale A, Bb, B, C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab. Once completed, a composer would take any of the rows horizontal or vertical and compose using those notes.
Complete Serialism proved to be a little restrictive and many composers have used this technique as a guideline rather than a steadfast rule.

Here is the puzzle. I haven’t worked it so cant guarantee its solve-ability. Have fun if you are so inclined!

This music wasn’t written to be scary or Halloween-ish although not a bad way to transition into October with this piece.

This is real music listen with open ears and an open mind!

Arnold Schoenberg’s, “Piano Concerto op. 42 (Excerpt)”

Enjoy!

No Olympics on TV Burnout??? Listen to Some Music!

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That was some serious TV watching every night for the past two weeks. Riveting coverage of sports that we only care about every four years. But it was riveting.

 

Now what are we all gonna do? Watch re-runs of Chopped, Modern Family or Big Bang Theory? You could read a book or do a project with your family. All good ideas.

Here is my nickels worth of free advice…LISTEN TO SOME MUSIC! Not on your TV, not on your computer on some sort of music device!

A little too retro?

 

Find some old jazz or classical piece. Play some of your kids favorite music. Play your kids some of the embarrassing music you grew up with. Better yet make your own music… every home has a guitar or piano tucked in a distant corner, right?

Give the giant screen on your wall a break for 30 minutes tonight. You will feel like you really did something different…because you will have done something different.

Music to Relax – Debussy Arabesque #1

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Hope everyone had an easy Monday! Regardless you might want to unwind a bit and I am here for you. This issue of ‘Music to Relax’, features the impressionist composer Debussy’s piano work “Arabesque.” Debussy wrote a pair of these and this is the 1st one.

The music of the Impressionist period began near the end of the 19th Century in reaction to ‘Common Practice,’ music with its roots in the Medieval period (500-1400), through the Renaissance(1400-1600), stylistically heightened in J.S. Bach’s hands in the late Baroque(1600-1750), continued through the Classical period(1750-1820) of Beethoven and Mozart and exploited through chromaticism and virtuosity of the Romantic composers(1820-1910, some say it has never truly ended.)
Regarding the chromaticism of the Romantic Period pretty much any note was fair game, but, the music still followed the basic rules of tonality and rules of the ‘Common Practice.’ All twelve notes could be used in any key…the basis of my blog name 12 Notes & the Truth!

Impressionists, who followed the art movement broke with these traditions. The result tended to be very lush relaxing wide open sounding music. They tried to make different sounds. Non diatonic scales and non functioning chords were trademarks of this period. However, Debussy and another composer Ravel were not fond of the term applied to their music.

If you want to play this and relax it should do the trick.

If you are looking for a music challenge try to think how this music sounds different than Bach, Beethoven, Mahler…etc.

Click here for previous ‘Music to Relax’ posts.
Enjoy!

12 NOTES & THE TRUTH!

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Our music is based on 12 notes!

That’s it!

No more!

“12 Notes & the Truth!,” this blog,  focuses on everything those 12 little notes offer.

These 12 notes not only make up the music of every band and artist we listen to but make the world go ’round, as well.

“12 Notes & the Truth!,” will cover anything and everything in music that strikes a chord

with myself and hopefully you, as well!.

Guitar music, pop styles, jazz, classical and the social issues attached to them all will be featured in the blog.

Expect a little high brow education,  low brow comedy and anything between that helps convey the world of music

in my head. Of course I will let you know what I am up to from time to time, as well, performances, projects, etc.

You can follow the blog:

from this site or on

Facebook: Mike Slayen Studios

Twitter: @mikeslayen

However you do follow come back early and often to check out “12 Notes & the Truth!” and feel free to comment on the posts.

From one music lover to another I will try to live up to these 12 notes and their truth.

Flamenco vs. Flamingo (Guitar or Birds San Diego is Your Place)

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Flamenco Guitarist Paco de Lucia
Flamenco Guitarist Paco de Lucia

San Diego is a great town for flamenco guitar. It’s proximity to Mexico, it’s rich Spanish Mission history, Spanish style architecture throughout the community and warm Mediterranean type climate make it a perfect match for the Iberian music.

As a guitarist, I play weddings and events throughout the region and flamenco truly pairs perfectly with our Latin infused city. Both traditional and nova styles of flamenco blend flawlessly with outdoor venues along the Pacific coast, Balboa Park and in so many of the great Mexican restaurants in San Diego.

Another amazing feature of San Diego is the ‘World Famous San Diego Zoo’

Flamingo Guitar by Bernie Lehmann
Flamingo Guitar by Bernie Lehmann

What an amazing place this is, a must see if you’ve never been. Here you will find beautiful weather and animals ranging from polar bears to pandas and every type of animal in-between including flamingos.

Herein lies a play on words not easily detected by the uninitiated. I am often asked if I can play flamingo guitar?? Do they want me to stand on one leg? Eat shrimp? Wear pink? Well so far this has never been the case…although I like shrimp and my daughter would love for me to wear an all pink outfit…

Nope, I just take it in stride and assume they have made the ever popular inadvertent mistake of transposing the words Flamenco and Flamingo and their true intention is Flamenco!! So far I haven’t been wrong and shown up to a flamenco guitar event where I was expected to wear pink, although sometimes they do serve shrimp.

However you pronounce it flamenco is an incredible form of music from Spain with Middle Eastern influences. It is a music rich in tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation. Great masters of the traditional style include Sabicas and Montoya to Paco de Lucia still with all the great technique in a more contemporary style. Then there is the modern flamenco ‘nova’ style with artists like the Gypsy Kings, Ottmar Liebert and Strunz & Farah bringing flamenco to even more listeners throughout the world. Make sure you give a listen to all the styles below

Remember to ask FLAMENCO for guitar music and FLAMINGO for the zoo!!! Either way San Diego is your city!

Sabicas

Paco de Lucia

Gypsy Kings

Flamingos

Happy Mother’s Day

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There is no doubt that music has always been in my blood.  Even long before I could play an instrument I loved listening to music.  My earliest memories are of listening on an old record player we had in had in the living room, the kind that looked like a big suitcase when it was closed.

The two records I remember most are a Sesame Street album with my favorite song “Rubber Ducky” (yeah I admit it!) and one of my mom’s, Roger Miller’s “Dear Folks Sorry I Haven’t Written Lately.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Roger Miller he was a country singer with somewhat of a comedic flair his style often made use of nonsensical lyrics. Miller was a true musical genius combining this ‘silly’ side with his songwriting skills.

There was one song in particular that I loved as a little kid. Well that record disappeared over time and I could not remember the name of that song, my mom couldn’t either and to make it even more difficult the album has been out of print and really hard to find even online.

I also remember listening and loving music while driving in the car with my mom. Whenever I got any money as a kid I would make her drive me down to the Wherehouse to buy 45s. Then when I was old enough to play an instrument I remember her driving me to lessons…trumpet, saxophone, piano, and guitar. She always supported my ‘habit’!! Even today she comes to many of my gigs.

Thanks mom for all your support over the years and supplying me with music in one form or another as a kid whether you realized it or not!

Love you, Happy Mother’s Day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGz2JhUhiQc&feature=related

BTW, I finally found the long lost song the other day, it’s called “Whistle Stop.” Hearing the tune immediately takes me back to being five years old sitting in the living room listening with my mom!

The funniest thing is I remember what is sounded like and I have tried singing it to people to jog their memories…picture me singing this and trying to explain the song as you listen!

Joe Satriani, “The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing”

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This has always been one of my favorite Satriani songs. It has a super cool groove as you might guess from the title but also a lot of complex shredding and interesting compositional things going on, as well.

‘Shredding’-wise, he displays all kinds of guitar pyrotechnics. If you check out the video you will see/hear melodies with flying up the neck harmonics, acrobatic hammer-on arpeggios, right hand tapping and he even makes use of his right hand as a capo while his left hand is pulling and hammering arpeggios.

Compositionally, it is a great tune, as well. There is a simple groove which the song is based upon and interesting and well articulated melodies. The groove is at times interrupted with the aforementioned arpeggios. Satriani interjects some foreign sounds too using the harmonic minor scale that changes the bluesy riff into more of an Egyptian heavy metal soundscape. The highpoint of the composition comes towards the end when he overlaps two different arpeggio sections over each other creating the song’s climax.
Unfortunately, live he can’t quite duplicate this overlapping.

I included the link to the studio version, as well, which better represents all aspects discussed. However, I thought it would be more interesting to see everything going on live.

Listen for some of these items. Actively listening to music can make you aware of things you might’ve never heard before.

Here is the studio version. Listen for the overlapping arpeggios sections at 4:25.

Have a great weekend, Enjoy!

Brahms Symphony No. 4 Movement No. 2

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If you are looking for some new music to add to your listening repertoire try Brahms Symphony No 4, 2nd movement. It is a great piece!

What to listen for: The piece starts with a distinguished theme in the French horns. Listen then as it moves between different instruments throughout the piece. Brahms not only had different instruments playing the theme throughout but accompanied by different orchestrations as well.

Ready for some relaxing music to unwind to this piece should do the trick.
Try the rest of the fourth symphony’s three movements if you get a chance.

Enjoy!