"I am not a number -- I am a free man!"

13149.

That was my employee ID number for over 4 years.

Very weird not to be "an employee" of anyone's anymore... at least, not for the next 4 weeks.

If it seems strange to think of a composer as an "employee", it shouldn't. This sort of servitude goes back centuries -- Bach was a composer for THE CHURCH, Mozart was a court composer in Austria, Vivaldi was a composer in an all-girl's school (some guys have all the luck, eh?)... there is a long tradition of "blue-collar composers", and it wasn't until the Romantic period that this sort of convention was even questioned.

And when you think about it, doesn't a commission create an "employer/employee" relationship between the commissioner and the composer? It's funny that your day job at the bank, your service in the Navy, or your shift at the 7-11 is what keeps you a "true artist" and not a "slave to THE MAN".

I'm planning to milk these 4 weeks for all they're worth. But in the meantime, I've gotta practice -- I'm playing my cousin's wedding, and that means a bunch of classical guitar, and that calls for stamina. I just practiced for a half-hour and my hands are TIRED! I can't believe I used to practice for 3-6 hours a day in college -- all that electric guitar has made me a total wimp!

Goodbye WMS

Goodbye, and thank you -- to an extraordinary group of composers and gentlemen.

left to right:

Rob Berry - keyboards, percussion - Funkmeister Extraordinaire, Doctor of Groove

Jim Trompeter - keyboards - Zen Jazz Master, Harmonic Wizard

Jim Bonney - (just lucky to be here)

Steve Zoloto - saxophones, flute - The Swiss Army Knife of Musicians, Uber-Mench

Eric Pryzby - saxophones, clarinet - The Perfectionist, The Kingpin

Mike Connelly - trumpet, accordian - the King of Quirk, Tech Guru

Best wishes brothers -- it was an honor to create and compose among your ranks.

Scenes of Chaos

Here's a couple thousand words, courtesy of Matt Galligan, about the performance last Friday night:

The Tunes, They Are A-Changin'

Ladies and Gentlemen -- I have an announcement to make. In less than 72 hours, I will no longer be under the employment of WMS Gaming. That's right -- after four years of faithful service, I will no longer be writing music for slot machines.

I will be taking 4 weeks off to get personal things in order, and to simply write music for the sake of writing music. No demands. No direction. No deadlines.

After that, I will be starting a new job as Senior Composer/Sound Designer at Midway Games. I am very, very excited at the possibilities and potential for this new gig, and while I will miss the opportunities that WMS offered me, I can't wait to see what writing and designing at Midway is going to be like.

The music budgets will still be big, but there will probably be fewer live musicians on my tunes and alot more hi-tech gear (drool...). I will also be working on fewer games at once, and focusing on creating one or two really killer soundtracks over a longer period of time. There's alot for me to learn, and I'm really, really excited about that.

So goodbye Grandma -- hello Grandson. Goodbye big bands -- hello big explosions. Goodbye shiny, happy, friendly music -- hello heavy, aggro, intense music.

To be continued...

uhh...

In the musical history of "bad ideas", THIS may be at the tippy-top of the list.

(Did ANYBODY really think this dude was ready to rock out in the digital domain?)

possibilities...

... there is interest in commissioning a big band jazz piece from me, in the style of Park Dat Car ... there is someone who's interested in a Concerto Grosso for ELECTRIC string quintet and wind orchestra... there's a coalition that's primed to ink the contract for 4 more pieces to complete the song cycle with "Reflections in a Tidal Pool"... there's 3 marching bands doing "Chaos Theory" next season, and 3 more that are doing "TranZendental Danse of Joi"...

... and I have a big announcement to make, very very soon...

Chaos in Minnesota

musicians from Champlin Park High School -- Steve Lyons, far right.

How do I begin to describe my trip to Minnesota? It was a wild, whirlwind experience, and there are so many memorable moments... Thursday morning began with a rehearsal at Anoka High School -- in front of the orchestra AND choral students! It was like a performance at 8:30 in the morning with no rehearsal and no time to warm up! But all in all, things went well, and I think we put on a pretty good show for our makeshift audience... the challenge was to come later on that evening, when I blew the amp halfway through the third movement of Chaos Theory! For a moment, it seemed kinda mucho-macho-rock-n-roll to overpower an amplifier, but after that romantic notion had passed (which took about 1.5 seconds), the reality was, my screaming-loud guitar was now totally inaudible. But here's the best thing about playing in a band of 60 people -- they all find ways to adjust. And without dropping a beat, one of the percussionists slid over to the piano and played my guitar parts (albeit with a LOT LESS distortion), while I feverishly wiggled plugs and flipped switches in a desperate attempt to revive the amp. The conductor continued to conduct with one arm while returning my sign language with the other. The measures kept ticking away and soon the big unaccompanied cadenza was upon us, and I was still holding the world's quietest musical instrument! And so, at the exact moment I was supposed to wail out -- unaccompanied -- on the highest note on the guitar, and begin this frenzied, high-speed-two-handed tapping extravaganza, I stepped forward and said to the audience:

"Now normally at this point in the piece, I'd play something REAAAAAAAAALLY impressive."

The audience got the joke immediately, and started to laugh. I apologized for the technical difficulties, and said we'd get back to the concert as soon as possible. We tried CPR on the amp for a few more minutes while the band parents held a raffle -- a raffle in the middle of Chaos Theory! The concept was hilarious. Finally we plugged the guitar into a nearby bass amp, backed up a few bars, and we roared through the rest of the piece with great success. Immediately following this, I conducted the band through my piece, Reflections in a Tidal Pool. I warned the musicians earlier in the day that I conduct with my left hand instead of my right, and if I got lost, that they should still watch me for the entertaining interpretive dance that I would be performing. The ensemble was really great about the last-minute interpretive changes I put them through, and played with great conviction and expression. I hadn't conducted outside of a rehearsal or a recording studio in about 7 years, so it was a great experience to waive a baton onstage and share that piece with them.

The next day started even earlier -- and let me tell you folks, it ain't easy to rock at 7:45 in the morning! The band jolted me back to life, without caffeine or an electric cattle prod -- there I was, back in business. Rehearsal went very well, and afterwards, Steve Lyons (the director at Champlin Park) and I popped over to the Fleet Farm (or was it Farm Fleet? I keep mixing them around...) to check out the terricota pots for TranZendental Danse of Joi. It seems their percussionist had already broken several of them in rehearsal, so they were hoping for something a little... sturdier. We found one that had just the right sound, and bought two of them, just in case the percussionist managed to break another one during the dress rehearsal! The rest of the day was similar to the day before at Anoka -- doing question-and-answer sessions with the students in the other ensembles. The most asked question?

"What kind of car do you drive?" (asked no less than 4 times!)

Evidently, this is a major pre-occupation with high school students in the Greater Minneapolis/St, Paul area. Too bad I still haven't replaced the car I totalled a year ago, or I could've impressed them with something snappy like "a Honda Civic" or "a Toyota Corolla".

The most random question?

"Have you ever been arrested?"

I don't know if the student was trying to establish my "street cred" (a la 50 Cent), or if he was looking for pointers on his future life of crime; but I think he was genuinely disappointed by my answer. The cool thing was that at both schools, I got a chance to get to know some of the students better, and they got to see that not all composers are dead guys.

Near the end of the day, two low brass players -- Josh and Kyle -- approached. They had a proposition for me. Star Wars 3. 11:00 PM show, after the concert. Why? Because that's how they roll. What did I think? I thought that sounded awesome.

The concert went very, very well. The band was rhythmically tight and very energetic, and that was exactly the kind of interpretation Chaos Theory and TranZendental Danse of Joi were looking for. And also during the concert, I played an electric rock guitar solo of "Happy Birthday" -- not exactly Jimi Hendrix' "Star Spangled Banner", but it did the trick.

Finished the concert, packed up my gear, ducked back to Steve Lyon's place to change clothes. And sure enough, when I arrived at the theatre at 10:58 PM, Josh and Kyle and posse were saving a seat for me. Very, very cool.


Two of the musicians from Anoka High School. They performed the first night, and came back to watch on Friday! Thanks guys!!

I can't thank the guys at Anoka HS enough: John Lace, Mike Halstenson, and Andrew Richter -- your positive energy and grace under pressure made all the difference that day -- YOU guys rocked!

And at Champlin Park HS: Steve Lyons, Helen Suhr, and Sieglinde -- thanks for hosting such a great time and a great day.

this one's for you, Adi

It's always amazing how random and unexpected the sources of inspiration come from.

This morning I woke up extra early so I could pack for St. Paul, get to work and finish the current game I'm working on -- then get to the airport before my plane departs without me. I packed quickly, then headed out to grab a taxi. I soon found one, and at first the driver seemed quite stoic -- but eventually he opened up and we started talking.

His name is Adi, and he's from Africa (I didn't ask from where exactly, but it was irrelevant to the conversation). His accent is quite thick, and while his vocabulary wasn't extremely wide, he is very articulate. He has a Masters degree in Law from his country, but that doesn't allow him to practice law in the United States. So he drives a cab. And he's received certification to sell insurance. And he's passed the real estate exams, so he's also a licensed realtor. And he's currently reading a book on credit ratings, credit status, and credit reports. This is a man who is obviously extremely intelligent, very motivated, and recognizes how the system works -- and he wants to win at it. And then, he wants to help other African-Americans win at it too.

Our entire conversation revolved around racism in the United States. Adi is not a man living with illusions, or a silver lining around every dark cloud, and this is not a man who is avoiding conflict or struggle. This is a man who accepts and embraces the reality of his situation -- as an immigrant, and as a black man in modern America. As a Caucasian male born in the U.S., I will never have these kinds of experiences. But I was very, very fortunate that he chose to share his experiences and his views with me, and while I mostly listened carefully to what he had to say, he was open-minded enough to accept my views and observations as well. Once we arrived at my destination, we continued talking for quite some time -- far longer than the actual cab riden had taken. When it was time for me to get out, I think it was hard for both of us to find a way to finish such an extraordinarily rare, open, and respectful conversation. This began, after all, as just one cab fare in a major metropolitan city. We shook hands. He offered me blessing, and I told him I sincerely hoped we met again in the future.

Since I got out of that cab, my mind has been spinning, full of thoughts. Compared to the span of one's lifetime, our conversation was extremely brief; but that time, and that conversation, was quite profound.

* Baroque Guitars *

I was asked to write a handful of Baroque Lute quartet pieces, and I finally had a chance to record them yesterday -- CLICK HERE to hear the fruits of my labor. Each one of these will be cut apart and used individually, but for simplicity's sake, I ran them end-to-end for you...

The process was pretty old school: I sharpened my pencil and grabbed a nice piece of manuscript paper, and ground out each one of these by hand, careful to observe all those nit-picky counterpoint rules. Then I restrung my classical guitar with fresh strings and started recording. For the particularly tweaky, I used a Neumann KM-184 on the guitar, about 6" away from the body, closer to the neck, but angled toward the soundhole. There's only one track of each of the four guitar parts, and I only had to punch in on one of these (no matter how I fingered it, there was an unavoidably loud string squeak in the middle of one of the lines, so I decided to punch in rather than live with the squeak). My classical chops aren't what they used to be, but I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. Enjoy!

read this blog

I suck at coming up with titles. This is a well-documented fact, and I urge you to go back and read about it because I think it's (a) clever, which I alway like; and (b) snarky, which you guys seem to enjoy a great deal.

But this time I think I've actually come up with a great title, and to prove it, I'm going to put it out on public display for all to enjoy/abuse.

Ladies and gentlemen! My next piece, for drumset soloist and wind orchestra, being premiered in Loveland, Colorado, in January 2006, will be titled:

STICKS & STONES

(now all I have to do is write the music...)

don't read this blog

I've got nothing. Seriously. Nothing bad or negative going on here, I just can't think of a lick. Read Newman's notebook or Mackey's blog today. The latest entries in both are excellent reads.

Shoo!

St. Charles East & Avenue X

Last night Nic, her sister Angela, and I made a trip out to St. Charles East High School for the last band concert of their school year. All the music was by BCM composers: they played Steve's "Interruption Overture", my arrangement of Moussorgsky's "Hopak", and no less than FIVE of Newman's pieces -- including his latest work, "Avenue X". This was one of the schools that had commissioned this piece, and it has been dedicated to St. Charles East's director of bands, Jim Kull. You can read more about Newman's trip by clicking here.

St. Charles has a great music program, great directors, and great players, and I've been so fortunate to have the opportunity to play and work with them -- playing Chaos Theory with their concert band, sitting in with the jazz band on a few of Tim Davies' charts, as well as testing out a rough version of "TranZendental Danse of Joi" on them. I did get to see a few of my old friends from St. Chaz -- Justin (trumpet player and die-hard metalhead), Tara (french horn and future composer), Nora (very kind and friendly clarinetist), Tom (drummer extraordinaire), as well as Jim Kull and Gil and many others who I have enjoyed getting to work and play with. They have always been so kind and generous and enthusiastic and I'm always very grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with them.

But I digress -- I wanted to tell you about Newman's new piece, "Avenue X". It's great. It's really great. It's very "Newman" -- it has that downtown, hipster feel that is characteristic of several of Newman's more recent works, but it's leaner and more wily than his previous ones. Like many of Newm's pieces, it's loaded with syncopated motives, and it's layered counterpoint is made up of these jaggedly woven ideas which collide and contrast and ultimately come together to all coexist inside of one irresistable groove. The orchestration is clean and tight -- it's one of Newman's most finely crafted scores. And it has this... humanity, and this sense of self-aware humor, that I appreciate so much in Newman's work. It's a great tribute to the last stop on the "F" Train, which happens to be in Coney Island -- home of the footlong red-hot, amusement rides, and the long history of freaks who let their freak flags FLY on Avenue X. This piece is smart and it's fun and it's funny -- and deserves more than a casual listen. It has become, quite immediately, my favorite Newman piece, and that's some tough competition. I can't wait to check out the score and hear it again!

Oh yeah, and St. Charles East TOTALLY ROCKED on "Chunk".

"ew" becomes "whew" (sorry!)

Because of the number of people who have lost their jobs as a result of this slanderous incident, the macabre humor I initially found in this story has all drained out. But for those who crave closure, CLICK HERE.

The only thing I want to know now is, how many years police chief Rob Davis has been waiting for an opportunity to open up a press conference by saying: "The jig is up."

Lotto

Yesterday after lunch, on a crazy, spur-of-the-moment whim, my buddy Vince Pontarelli whipped the car around and said, "Let's play the lottery!". We screeched into the 7-11 parking lot, and assaulted the counterman with dollars and demands for his finest winning lottery numbers. Vince bought 4 tickets, I bought one. Here are my numbers:

A. 03 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 32 - 46
B. 02 - 07 - 17 - 40 - 42 - 47
C. 11 - 15 - 26 - 33 - 34 - 42
D. 13 - 16 - 18 - 29 - 34 - 47
E. 08 - 12 - 24 - 25 - 34 - 44
F. 07 - 17 - 18 - 31 - 40 - 43
G. 01 - 05 - 07 - 25 - 27 - 33
H. 10 - 21 - 22 - 25 - 34 - 42
I. 01 - 06 - 11 - 13 - 38 - 43
J. 09 - 23 - 29 - 34 - 36 - 38

The drawing was yesterday evening at 9:22 PM -- I 'm playing "Lotto". The grand prize is $3.5 million. You can CLICK HERE to see if I won.

Impending Chaos

Well, it's official -- I've got my plane tickets and I'm ready to go rock in St. Paul, Minnesota! I'm performing two concerts of Chaos Theory next week: one at Anoka High School, and one at Champlin Park High School. CLICK HERE for more details on the concerts. I've been slow-practicing my parts diligently for the past few weeks, my new-improved hyper-sophisto-sonic-mutation-station (read: pedalboard) is all reconfigured and rewired, and I'm very excited to play with these ensembles. Check out the blog next week for the latest news on the trip!

21st century psychedelic prog rock

I don't know about you, but I am LOVING this new trend of progressive music that's becoming more promoted and publicized. If you haven't heard about The Mars Volta you're living under a rock; so rather than speak of the obvious and well-publicized, I'm going to introduce you to a band I just found out about called Porcupine Tree. They have a new album out called "Deadwing", and there's a video trailer to promote this new album that you can watch by CLICKING HERE. Now I should mention that for the easily offended (or easily aroused), there is a nude woman shown briefly at one point in the video.

For those of you that are still reading and didn't IMMEDIATELY click at the first opportunity to see a "nude woman", allow me a moment to explain WHY I have posted this link on a blog that, in spite of myself, I desperately attempt to keep Rated G:

1. This is not a sexual portrayal of a nude woman.
2. This is not an offensive, degrading, or exploitive portrayal of a nude woman.
3. This is a creative and artistic expression, and the nudity it contains is not only natural, but also inconsequential in the overall impression made by the video.
4. I think it's good music, I want to share it, and it just happens to have a nude woman in it.

So IF you are the kind of person that either gets turned on and/or disgusted when visiting art galleries, this video is not for you. IF you're under the age of whatever and you and/or your parents are unbelievably uptight about the human body, this video is not for you.

And IF you are one of these people, well, this blog is probably not for you either.

Have a nice day!

Eric Whitacre Forum

For anyone who hasn't heard, Eric Whitacre has just kicked off a new forum on his website -- check it out by CLICKING HERE, and join in on the conversation!

Hand me my feather quill!

Yup, forget the computer -- I'm going old school here.

My latest compositional challenge? Writing 8-12 short lute quartet phrases for a new medieval-themed game. To make it sound really authentic, it's requiring me to hearken back to my undergrad counterpoint classes and remember all those nit-picky species counterpoint rules -- you know, the ones you can't understand WHY they're making you learn because everyone from Pink Floyd to the Brecker Brothers to Alice in Chains uses parallel 4ths now and they sound way cool and you're NEVER going to use this fuddy-duddy counterpoint stuff again EVER...

Riiiiiiiight.

No parallel fourths, fifths, or octaves. Avoid retrogressions. I before E except after C. Always resolve your leading tones. Usually best to double the root, second, fourth, or fifth of the key you are harmonizing in. Don't eat yellow snow. Don't wipe your nose on your sleeve (I always forget that one). Moving in thirds is OK... but don't do it for too long! 2 cups to a pint, 2 pints to a quart, 4 quarts to a gallon. AND FOR THE LOVE OF THE SWEET BABY JESUS, NO TRITONES!!!!!!!!

I'm only scratching the surface here, folks. 18th century counterpoint has got more rules than beer's got bubbles. But the fact is, when that style is done right, it sounds right -- and when it's done wrong... something smells funny...

How cool is this email?!?

Here's an excerpt from an email I received today:

Dear James,

My name is Joe Randazzo from Luntz Research the renowned political and corporate market research firm headed by Frank Luntz. We are conducting focus groups in the Chicago area on Monday, May 9th, to discuss Beer. We would like to see if you are interested in participating.

The session will run from 6:30 pm to 9:30pm. This session is for male beer drinkers aged 21-45 only. We promise you a few hours of interesting conversation, AND...$100 for your participation. It couldn't be easier.

Boy, I'll say it couldn't... I can DEFINITELY talk about beer for three hours!

* Tally Ho! March *

OK guys, here's the final mix on that British march I've been talking about... remember, the team needed a minute-long tune that could be looped, and they wanted a "typical march" that sounded "British, not American". In the midst of many other projects, I had very, very little time to work on this. But hey -- that's the way the job goes as a commercial composer. Here's how my time broke down on this project:

composing time = about 3.5 hours

That's how much time I spent with a keyboard coming up with the melodies, accompaniment, the structure, the harmonization, etc. On a regular concert band piece, I spend that much time sharpening pencils.

orchestrating time = about 5-6 hours

This was scattered over two days, interruptions, phone calls, etc. -- and also involved creating a synth mock-up of the tune for the producer, so he could decide if he liked what I'd come up with (which he did -- on the first try! Too cool)

copying parts = 2 hours

This was a total blitzkrieg. I converted my Digital Performer mockup into a standard MIDI file, transferred it over to Sibelius, and started slashing and hacking it up into something playable and readable. Note: this NEVER would have worked on Finale... God bless Sibelius!!!

recording live musicians = 5 hours

I created a temp mix of the instruments I couldn't have performed live (oboe, bassoon, french horns, trombones, tuba, percussion), added a click track, and then recorded:

Rob Berry -- snare drums (3 tracks, on two different drums)
Mike Connelly -- trumpets (9 tracks, with different mouthpieces, etc.)
Eric Pryzby -- clarinets (3 tracks), tenor sax, piccolo
Steve Zoloto -- flutes (4 tracks), alto saxes (2 tracks), bari sax

This left me with 24 individual tracks to mix down. That's alot of tracks! But wait, there's more...

final synthestration = 2 hours

OK gear-heads, here are the sample libraries I used: for the flute & piccolo flourishes, as well as the oboe and bassoon, I used Miroslav Vitous Orchestra. The french horns, trombones, and tuba were all Vienna Orchestra Platinum (that library RULES!!!). The piatti and rolled cymbals were from the Roland Orchestral collection, and the gran cassa and glockenspiel were from the Roland Orchestral Expansion card (the only synth sounds in the entire mix!). Now I've got 33 tracks to mix together [I miscounted yesterday...].

final mixing and mastering = 4 hours

I submixed all this down to woodwinds, saxes, trumpets, low brass, and percussion. Aside from a generous slathering of reverb, I did very little processing to the original tracks -- a little compression on the trumpets, a little EQ on the bari sax, and that was about it. The secret to this mix? It's all about mic placement and PANNING. I really tried to get what I wanted with the microphones, and in the end, I think it really paid off.

total project time = about 23 hours

Do I wish I could've spent more time making it better? Of course! But all things considered, I think it turned out pretty well for my first march...

too many tracks

Remember that British March I needed to produce? Well, I finished tracking it yesterday with all the guys in my department. Now bear in mind -- these guys are VERY accomplished musicians, but for this tune, I was asking them to play instruments that many of them haven't played since high school! To add to the confusion, instead of tracking them altogether like an ensemble, I tracked them each one at a time, overdubbing and multing all their parts! I now have 31 tracks of wind, brass, and percussion instruments, that have to be combined with the sampled tracks of winds, brass, and percussion instruments, and need to end up sounding like a real live ensemble?!? Wish me luck!

Hila sings Del Tredici

Nic and I had the great good fortune to see my very dear friend Hila Plitmann sing at a concert featuring the music of David Del Tredici last night. She was invited by the Chicago Chamber Players to be a part of this concert series at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. Hila has an amazing voice, a great presence onstage, and a wonderful gift for digging into of the music to not only find the composer's intentions, but also her own self-expression. She sang a piece called "Visitations", with Del Tredici accompanying her on piano, and also "Haddock's Eyes", with Del Tredici conducting.

I was doing grad work at Cleveland State University when I was first introduced to David's music. He came in to do a concert and lecture, and spoke to all of us grad composition majors. I found him to be very open and inspiring, and it was the high point of my short academic career at CSU. And I remember he used "Haddock's Eyes" as an example of his work -- he played a CD of it as we all greedily poured over the score he'd brought with him. It was a rare experience to be sitting in this concert, hearing Hila's expressive performance, and remembering my first experience with this work... where I was then, where I am now...