30A30D- Day 7- "Funeral" - Arcade Fire

"Funeral" - Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire is just one of those bands that consistently puts out remarkable work. I've listened quite a ton to one of their other albums (The Suburbs) but I've never listened to this album which is their first. Overall, I think even on just the first listen, I think I may even have liked it more than The Suburbs. Their sound is so distinctive, and so atmospheric, based on layers of unique instrumentals (and their actual band is huge too, so many musicians.) The result is this deliciously textured sound. This is honestly the sort of album you just want to sit and listen to in one sitting, and do nothing else. It's so beautiful.

I need to listen to Arcade Fire more.

30A30D- Day 6- "OK Computer"- Radiohead

"OK Computer"- Radiohead

Ok, so the inevitable has happened. Remember when I was saying that I try not to pass a judgement on music until I've heard it 10+ times? Yeah. So I listened to OK Computer today, and I'll be honest, although I really enjoyed it, it's just so dense and complex that after just a single listen I barely even scratched the surface. There's just no way I can write anything of intelligence without listening to it like 20 more times. But I really want to listen to Radiohead more, cause musically, they just sound so creative and interesting. So that's all for today- I did my listening, but I need to do more! 

30A30D- Day 5- "Random Access Memories"- Daft Punk

"Random Access Memories" - Daft Punk

Okay, I've been meaning to listen to this album for a long time, and I am SO GLAD that I finally did. It's just so good. I've been trying to come up with exactly why it's so good, and to be honest (and I guess this is a cop-out answer), but I don't even know how to describe it. There's just something incredibly likeable about their songs. I just kept listening to it going, "man this is a great song, this makes me so happy," and one song after another just kept making me feel the same way. Their beats are sophisticated and slick. It's more than a dance album, but it made every fibre of my being just want to groove. And then there are songs like, "Touch," which pulse and gradually unfold in a beautifully satisfying way. The overwhelming sense I got was of just how good these musicians are. The whole thing is so mature and well thought out and smooth.  Favourite tracks: "Give Life Back to Music," "The Game of Love," "Giorgio by Moroder," "Within," "Instant Crush," and "Get Lucky." I started listening to it on Youtube, but after the first 6 songs, I just went and bought it off of iTunes because I was enjoying it so much, and I've been listening to it all evening.

30A30D- Day 4- "Blue"- Joni Mitchell

"Blue" - Joni Mitchell 

So, I realize that I didn't post at all yesterday, BUT I DID listen to two albums today, so it's all good. First thing that I listened to today is Joni Mitchell's album, "Blue." I actually knew more songs off of this than I thought I did, so it was cool to actually sit down and listen to the whole album in one sitting. So many great songs. The beauty of this album, in my opinion, is just the fact the the production value etc. is so low, but it's still incredible just because her voice and lyrics shine- singer/songwriter goodness at its finest. Favourite songs: "All I Want," "A Case of You," "My Old Man,""A Case of You," "Blue," and "River." This is an album that I'm sure I can listen to a zillion times and keep discovering things in it. On first listen though, I definitely see why this album is so loved and regarded.

30A30D- Day 3- "Land & Sea" - Sarah Slean

"LAND & SEA"- Sarah Slean

Sarah Slean is a renowned Canadian singer/songwriter/pianist, and again, I hadn't really heard much by her. Land & Sea is a 2-disc album, 9 songs on the first part, "Land" and 9 on the other, "Sea". Neat idea. Land is mostly comprised of more upbeat "pop" tunes, whereas Sea is full of rich, soulful ballads. Personally, I thought that Slean's voice shines a bit more in Sea, which is absolutely gorgeous. The first song on Sea, "Cosmic Ballet" is worth the entire album, as it's this sprawling, expansive, delicious 6 minute song. I'd be interested to hear her live, because I feel like she's the sort of performer who is probably absolutely amazing in concert. 

30A30D- Day 2- "El Camino"- The Black Keys

"El Camino"- The Black Keys

Ok, so I realize that I'm pretty late to the Black Keys parade, but until today, I'd never heard them (this is going to be a very common sentence from me this month).  I decided to listen to this one today because I was scrolling through the full albums on Youtube, and this one was the right length for the amount of time I had to listen. And boy, am I glad I did! This is SUCH a great album. Overall, the album is just so listenable. It's musically interesting, without being distracting, but head-boppy and catchy in all the right ways. It's rock, without being super in-your-face about it. The vocals are really strong, and it's just down-right groovy. And there isn't an "off" song on the album. This is definitely an album I'll be listening to again. 

30A30D- Day 1- "Gossamer"- Passion Pit

"Gossamer" - Passion Pit

Okay, I admit, this album wasn't brand new to me, but I hadn't sat and listened to the entire album until now. I listened to it twice today, and daaamn. It's like chipmunks-meets-electronic-indie-rock-meets-gorgeous-vocals. And it's kind of dazzling.

Notable tracks:
1. Take a Walk. Obviously. Definitely one of my favourites off the album. I love that pounding beat on beats 1 + 3 that just gives the whole song that groove and drive. 
3. Carried Away. Again, obviously. Probably my favourite. I adore the syncopation in the instrumentation in the chorus, against the vocals. 
7. On My Way and 8. Hideaway. Love how these borrow musical ideas from each other, and how Hideaway is a continuation, melodically and thematically, of On My Way. So so cool. And that grainy intro to Hideaway? Sweeet.
11. It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy. So gorgeous, and the lyrics are pretty powerful too. 
12. Where We Belong. Again, just gorgeous. I love the lyric, "All the things you can't control, should never destroy the world one holds." Great ending to an album.

Overall, man oh man. Passion Pit has such a unique sound, and I love how they combine an indie-rock feel with samples and electronics. Funny/sad story- I heard Passion Pit a short while ago live, but all their instruments/equipment was destroyed in a rain storm, so they did a DJ set, and weren't able to play their own stuff. Bummer. Next time I suppose. Still, it's not like it was their fault, and it's pretty great that they still came anyway to do something. 

Great, great album.

30 albums in 30 days

Hey hey!
I'm going to try something new! Despite the fact that I'm a music student and literally spend my days immersed in music, I'm finding that I just don't know as many artists/albums as I should/could. I just wish I was familiar with more.

SO. For the next 30 days (today-October 5), I'm going to be listening to a new album every day and then posting my thoughts on it. YES, it's going to be challenging, as it means ≈ 1 hour of solid listening everyday, but keep me accountable. It'll be all styles, just trying to get as much diversity as possible. Some may be stuff that I've listened to before, but mostly will be brand new. Also, I don't consider what I'll be writing "reviews" per se, as I'll only be listening to them once or perhaps twice. If you know me, you know that I'm very adamant about not making a judgement on music until I've listened to it at least ten times, so this will be a bit of a departure from that. But c'est la vie. Want to join me?

Tonight I'll be writing about Passion Pit's Gossamer. :) Any suggestions for what else to listen to? I'll definitely be doing Daft Punk's new album (cause I've been dying to listen to it), some Bill Evans, some Bjork, Phantogram's Eyelid Movies, and I expect some blind-cd-shelf-grabs from my University's library. But seriously, if you suggest something, and I haven't listened to it too much (and I can get a copy- I will certainly buy some, but I also don't have the $$$ right now to buy 30 albums atm, so I will also be relying on the library, and Youtube), I will be almost guaranteed to listen to it! Suggestions please!

News

Hi. How are you? Life is really good with me. Like, really good. I'm just really, extraordinarily happy right now. Not because of anything in particular, but rather because of a combination of smaller things that have happened or are happening in the future.

Things that have happened since I last blogged:

The Wizard of Oz. I auditioned for a large community theatre production of The Wizard of Oz. The audition went really well, I thought, and weeks later, I found out that I had a callback. Went to the callbacks, and then the waiting began. The day that my dad and I (and two good friends of ours) left on a backpacking trip, I got a text from my mom saying "call me!". I called home, and found out that the director had called, and I was cast as the Tin Man! You guys, you have NO idea how excited I am! It's 16 shows in December in the largest theatre I've ever performed in (it's got a balcony!). I guess this show is kind of this years "huge annual Christmas family show" so it's usually sold out and really popular and stuff. It'll be great. Tragically, the man who was supposed to direct it suddenly passed away, but the assistant director has stepped in to direct and the show is going ahead. This may sound silly, but I'm also pretty excited to do WoO because when I was younger, The Wizard of Oz was actually a really big part of my life. I was kind of obsessed with it for a number of years, and when I was probably about 9, I had this big elaborate plan to mount my own production of The Wizard of Oz. I had the script ready, I'd contacted many of my friends to be in the production, and had double-cast myself as both the Wicked Witch of the West and the Tin Man. To this day, I still don't know how I thought I could manage that. :D But it's kind of cool, years later, to be indeed be playing the Tin Man in a much bigger productions (we're going to have flying monkeys that fly, people!).

Backpacking. As I mentioned, I went backpacking with a friend of mine from Scouts, his dad, and my dad. Great trip. We didn't have the best weather for the hike we wanted to do, and consequently had to change our plans a bit, but it was still a great trip. Backpacking is amazing and I look forward to many more trips.

The Fringe. I had the pleasure of being part of the Fringe festival this year in a show that I wrote the music in. (I think I've mentioned it before. One of my friends "concieved it" and wrote the book, then another friend of ours wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music). We got good reviews (my first ever reviews!!) and our last shows were sold out. We even made some money! Hurray!

I got my learner's license. Finally.

I also have applied for 5 jobs and haven't heard back from any of them. That's an achievement, right?

My most recent big news is that I'm going to school this year. Which is a big change for me, since I've been homeschooled my entire life. The school I'm going to allows lots of flexibility, and is self-directed. I can work at my own pace, and I don't have to "sit in a classroom", but I likely will have to be there (I haven't got my time-table yet) for regular school hours. It's crazy, but strangely, I'm really, really excited. It'll be a change, which will be nice. Not that I was unhappy homeschooling by ANY stretch, quite the contrary, but I was just looking for a change of pace, change of scene and a good way to get these courses done. And I'm taking French, and possibly Italian and Spanish, so I'm very excited about that! It just feels really right for me at this point in my life.

Lots more has happened, but this is long enough for today. :)

This summer has been fabulous, but I'm looking forward to jumping into new adventures. And I'm looking forward to blogging again!

I don't know if anybody reads this blog anymore, but if you do-thanks! If you read that entire post, survived, and are still planning on reading my blog, you rock and I love you.

Take care,
Dan

Yes.

There's Rebecca Black, and then there's Savannah Robinson...



I think that's facepaint on Savannah. She's too good to be white.

Update

Hi folks,

I obviously haven't been blogging recently, because I've very busy getting back into my regular schedule of life. I'm back at weekly piano and flute lessons, but not voice lessons yet because my teacher is busy being a new father. :) But I've started something new: Musical Theatre! Twice a week, for 3 hours. On Mondays, we alternate between dance and acting for the first half, and then have choral for the second half. And then on Thursdays, we have vocal masterclasses. It's fantastic, and I'm learning loads!

And of course, I have "school work" too. I'm also taking an online writing class, so that's good.

The theatre company I'm with is doing A Midsummer Night's Dream this November, so I'm just starting to get pretty busy with that too, directing, music writing, and lots of rehearsal scheduling! It's going to be fabulous.

Also, in case you didn't know, I went on a big backpacking trip to the mountains with my Venturer company, this past August. I'm working on a big series of blog posts on that, which I will post periodically.

Anyway, just thought I'd post a quick blog to let you know what I've been up to!

Take care,
Daniel

The story of Daniel's spectacular day

I had a spectacularly wonderful day today. :) My flute teacher had this wonderful idea to take as many of her students as could make it on a bit a of  "school tour". So this morning, we toured to two local elementary schools and played a short concert (about 35 minutes long) for them. It was really fun, and they were great listeners. I have to say that I was also impressed and appreciative that the teachers were willing to take time out of their class schedules to bring their students to listen. Music is always worth the time. We all went to Subway for lunch afterwards. Yay for Subway, (always my lunch-out place of choice). I went home and slept for 1.25 hours,  even though it was only mid afternoon. I was really tired for some reason, more than just mid-afternoon drowsiness. After my nap, I cut the grass, sang for a bit, made myself a good, strong coffee, and practiced some piano. After my mother reminded me that I was on supper-making duty, I made some delicious barbecued chicken, roasted potatoes and salad. I'm not just bragging, it really was tasty! Anyway, after supper, I got out my shirt and tie and headed off to the symphony. Amazing. The program included Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Debussy's masterpiece La Mer ("The Sea"), as well as some other fantastic pieces, two of which were composed by Canadian composers. Brilliant stuff. The Debussy though, was just exquisite. Debussy never wrote a Symphony, but La Mer is the closest he got though. It's an incredible piece of music and just indescribable when heard live. It's so full majestic and full of life, and so beautifully textured and colourful. I found it pretty moving and inspiring. The concert tonight was exactly what I had been needing for a long while- a chance to reflect, get inspired and have a "night out" with myself. Ha. I feel ready to tackle new challenges and endeavours. All in all, a good day. Tomorrow- busking at the farmer's market, a talk/workshop about efficiency, and the last performance of Word Problem in the evening. Which reminds me that I haven't posted about Word Problem yet, so some of you won't know what I'm talking about. I'll blog about it soon. I promise. Until then, take care.

-Dan

Prelude

Hi everyone, this is just a little piece that I wrote for solo piano. It's also the one that I am submitting to the Kiwanis Music Festival for composition. Here's the short blurb I had to write about it:

"Prelude is a short piece for solo piano. The theme is introduced in the opening bar, modified and developed, and then finally recapitulated near the end. It is largely inspired by the works of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff and should be taken at a moderate, very free tempo, using lots of rubato to convey the dark, mysterious feel."

Hope you enjoy it. By the way, if you can think of a more creative title for it, I would be forever grateful! Post them in the comments. :)

Two answers to music-related questions

A couple more answers to questions, these ones rather music related.

Why don't you like top hit songs, but like classical music, upbringing?
The main reason is that simply, I don't think a lot of the top hit songs are very good. But I actually do listen to some "pop" music (*cough*Lady Gaga*cough*). It really depends on the music. I won't listen to it just because everybody else is listening to it. It's got to express something or make me think. But I actually do like a wide variety of music! The reason I like classical music so much is that I think there's really something to it! And judging by the fact that a lot of the good stuff has been around for hundreds of years, obviously other people think there's something to it as well! But yeah, my taste in music goes from J.S. Bach to Benjamin Britten, to Beethoven, to John Adams to the Beatles, to The Smiths, to Regina Spektor, to Loreena McKennitt to Queen to REM to Lady Gaga. I just love music! I can't say I'm super keen on rap, or heavy metal, or techno, but I'll listen to almost anything short of that. As for upbringing, my parents played a lot of classical and folk music when I was younger, so that has probably influenced my music taste, but now, I'd say I probably listen to the most varied in my household.

Do you like Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos #1 & 2?
Oh yeah! Rachmaninov's piano concertos are some of my favourite piano concertos! He actually wrote four of them (as well as a another work for piano and orchestra, his Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini). Out of the four concertos, his 2nd and his 3rd are the most well known. The Third concerto has a reputation for being one of the most difficult in the repertoire, as it takes a huge amount of technical skill, expressive power and lots of endurance to make it through the 50 minutes of intense playing. The Second concerto is probably the most played, because it's incredibly beautiful, and very popular. I have a real preference for the First Concerto, which in my opinion is very under appreciated (although I think it's very rapidly gaining popularity). The second movement of the 1st is just exquisite, and has this amazing dialogue between the flute and the piano. Just amazing. And then everybody forgets about the Fourth concerto, which just saddens me, because I think it's a great piece and needs your love too. But it always gets forgotten in preference for the 2nd and 3rd concertos.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Sondheim!

So, today (March 22), the greatest musical theatre composer that's ever lived, turns 80. Happy Birthday Stephen Sondheim! Sondheim's music is just so fascinating to me. His lyrics are so clever and inspired and his genius in being able to work character and emotion into music like no other musical theatre composer. Unlike other composers, he doesn't write the exact same style for every character, it differs depending on the specifics of the person. And his ability to combine lots and lots of separate melodies into rich, musical harmonies is just mindblowing to me. Just completely inspiring.

Scriabin Prelude no. 9, op. 11

Hi everybody, I just wanted to post this little video that I recorded yesterday.



I wanted to record it and post it because  I think the music is just remarkable. It''s Scriabin's Prelude no. 9 from his Opus 11. I haven't been practising this piece long, so I hope you can get a sense of the music from my mediocre playing and video quality. What I love about this piece is that it's so rich, musically. It's only one page long, but he packs so many notes, and thick harmonies into it. Each prelude is like a perfectly formed package. And they're so intelligently composed! I mean each one has a beginning, middle and end, and every note is important. They're just brilliant! So I hope you enjoy this quick little video. Oh and by the way, if you want to hear this prelude played by a master- Here is a video of of the great Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz playing it.

Eeeee!! Stuff.

Okay, so after a long hiatus of being locked in my house at the piano, I am back! A lot of things have happened since I last posted. Wait, when did I last post? Too long ago, that's for sure.
This blog post will be in three parts.

PART 1: Henry V
A local University-College is doing a production of Henry V, and they had semi-open auditions. So, I auditioned, got a call back and got a role! Actually, three roles to be precise. Our director decided to do some unconventional casting, and so she cast all the women in the cast as the English, and all the men as the French. So I'm Alice (maid/lady-in-waiting to Katharine, the French princess), a messenger to the Grandpre, and the Grandpre himself. It should be fun. It's great to just have somebody else plan everything and tell me what to do and when to show up. I don't have to plan a thing! Yay. Thankfully, it's not devouring too much of my time or energy, because I have something else on my plate that is devouring my time and energy. This brings me to:

PART II: Piano Recital
In other news, as I mentioned briefly here, I am performing my Suzuki Piano Gradution Recital on February 13, which is like, tomorrow. When you complete all 7 volumes of the Suzuki Piano repertoire, you perform a solo recital, which is what I'm doing. Actually, I'm not exactly doing it the conventional way, as I'm only playing one piece of music from the Suzuki repertoire. Ha. But I do have a full hours worth of music memorized to play. So, I've been practising madly 3 hours a day. Btw, if you're interested, here is the program I'm playing.

F. Chopin
Polonaise Opus 26, No. 1 in C# Minor

W. A. Mozart
Piano Sonata in Bb Major, K. 281

S. Rachmaninoff
Prelude in C# Minor, Opus 3, No. 2

J. S. Bach
Partita No. 1 in Bb

I. J. Paderewski
Minuet in G, Opus 14, No. 1

A. Ginastera
Suite de Danzas Criollas 

Part III will come in another part, as I must go eat breakfast and get to practising.

Dentists and blood

I went today for my annual teeth cleaning and general tooth check-up at the dentist, and was quickly reminded of why I don't like going to the dentist. It's bloody painful. Oops, I mean bloody and painful. You see, I, um, don't floss. And so my gums are really sensitive and are rather prone to bursting and spewing forth lots of blood. When I brush my teeth every day, it's rare to have a day that they don't bleed. As both of my parental units told me today, if only I flossed, my mouth wouldn't bleed as much. In fact, my dad even gave me a stirring speech about how not flossing would cause bacteria to infiltrate my gums and make my teeth rot from the root up. Anyway, it was very painful having my teeth cleaned, and all I could think of as I was lying there bleeding on the dentist was, "gosh, do I really have to do this every year for the rest of my life?". Nice thought. I think I probably lost about 2-3 tablespoons of blood (I'm serious). By the time I got out of the chair, my teeth and gums felt like they had been stabbed, poked, prodded, scraped and gouged, (which, incidentally, they had been). So, I guess my new New Year's resolution is to floss. I flossed tonight and bled more.

Which brings me to another thought. I think I've said this before, but as I was staring at all the blood on my finger, I was thinking about how much I love the colour of my blood. Is that weird? Maybe it is. But it's such a beautiful, rich, bright red! I love it.

Hmm, what else? This has been kind of a rambling little post. Hey, actually, what do you think about this kind of post? Do you like the random little posts about my cool (read: weird) life, or do you like the more formalized posts?

On playing Bach and Mozart

I adore playing the music of Bach and Mozart (especially the Bach! It's glorious!), but at the same time, it makes me feel so inferior as a pianist. You see the wonderful thing, and the thing that makes it so difficult to play well is that it's so transparent. If you make one wrong note, or misplace the weight of your finger by an tiny degree, it stands out, and it sounds wrong. In short, you have to play it perfectly. When you're playing something really Romantic, like Chopin, you can get away (if you have to) with a slip, here or there, and most people won't notice. Not so with Bach. You have to be precise. And that precision, is precisely what makes it so wonderful to listen.

*sigh* I'm not there yet.

Beethoven, and Wagner and me, oh my!

I just came back from a mind blowing symphony concert. Katherine Chi playing the Beethoven Emperor Concerto (Piano Concerto No. 5) and Die Meistersinger: An Orchestral Tribute (Arranged by Vlieger).

Katherine Chi played the concerto magnificently, every note just perfect. The first movement was just exquisite. Ahh. Gosh, I just love this concerto, and this being my first time hearing it live, it was pretty darn fantastic.

*A side note: Okay, between movements, if you ever attend the symphony, you've probably noticed that people tend to cough between movements. It confuses me, but I tolerate it (what can ya do, anyway?) Well tonight, the audience positively erupted with coughing. It was thunderous. I just don't get it. When I get a cough, I can't usually control when I cough, so I try to do it quietly. But it seems that for the majority of symphony goers, they can hold in their coughs and spew them forth at every possible break. Weird, imho.

Anyway, the Wagner. Oh my goodness, the Wagner. It was heavenly. I could live on it. The orchestration was so lush, and rich and delicious and beautiful that I just wanted to shout with joy. I didn't. As much as I adore the Beethoven (it's one of my favourite concertos), the Wagner was the highlight of the evening. Just glorious. The musicians were evidently loving it too, and I saw of number of them with happy grins on their faces at certain places. It was exquisitely, beautiful, satisfying, nourishing, exhilarating. My goodness, it's good stuff.

All in all, a brilliant concert and one that I shall remember for a very long. Anyway, thanks for reading, and stay posted for more posts!I have a bunch coming up. It feels great to be back blogging.