A quick State Of The Project report:
As we entered the heart of Tax Season, and it dawned on me that 2 weeks after tax season, I'm moving out of my apartment. 4-6 weeks after that, I'm moving out of the Midwest.
Needless to say, I'm not finishing these songs at a rapid pace.
It's been suggested to me that I just phone it in, and write a lot of fast songs on the spot, the way I tend to when I'm drinking or hanging out with family with a guitar in my hand (I believe my ad-libbed song where I managed to find a rhyme for Zettek will go down in the annals of family history as my finest moment). The thing is, though, as much as I love those songs...they just won't work here. I want all of these things to be special in a way that I've never really put on the table for folks before. This takes a lot of work.
I have been working, it's just slow going. I even disassembled an Air song to build the beat for a rap song. That part was easy, now I have to figure out how to rap convincingly. I think my style will fall firmly between Lyrics Born, J. Davis Trio, and Kermit The Frog.
So, at least we've all got that to look forward to when I can get some work done.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Happy Birthday, Kate!
To be honest, Kate's birthday was a little while back now. But what's important is the fact that for her birthday, she treated herself to a brand new Brian Riggins tune.
I'll admit, it was tough to write a song about Kate that felt right. It's hard enough writing a song about a friend, but...even harder when you're not sure how exactly to reflect that friend's personality or individuality in the song--which was really my primary goal.
I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with, even if my influences are pretty on my sleeve here.
And, just for the record, Workbot is a technical term.
I'll admit, it was tough to write a song about Kate that felt right. It's hard enough writing a song about a friend, but...even harder when you're not sure how exactly to reflect that friend's personality or individuality in the song--which was really my primary goal.
I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with, even if my influences are pretty on my sleeve here.
And, just for the record, Workbot is a technical term.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Tool Review: Noteflight
When I was thinking over the problem of words-matching-music, I decided it’d be great if I could learn how to notate music. And doubly so if I could do it while I was at work. One google search later, I was on the homepage of Noteflight.
There’s a free version of the site (which I’m currently using) and a more robust, super-cool looking paid version. I’m thinking of investing in the paid version, but it’s still too early to tell whether I’d make good enough use of the features. A basic breakdown of what I dig about the service:
-You can input anything you’d see on a score. I don’t know what a fermata sounds like, but it’s in there.
-You can input your lyrics below the music, too
-Files can be private or shared
-You can output the files in MIDI.
That last one is a HUGE one. If I can learn enough about how to write my ideas down, I could export the parts right into Garageband, and that’s all kinds of exciting. The biggest downside to the program is that the input is difficult. It’s easy to add a note, but that note replaces the following beats in the score, which screws me up. Finally, because the program is geared towards people who know exactly what they’re doing, it’d help to be more music-literate (my fault, not theirs).
In short: if you read music and could use a tool to keep track of notation and share it among others, Noteflight is something worth looking into. I’m very interested in how the ‘pro’ version works. If you’re interested in seeing what it’s like, there’s the aforementioned free version and also a working demo (no signup required) here.
Though this is a little messy and hard to do.
(Jeff Buckley - Night Flight [Led Zep Cover])
There’s a free version of the site (which I’m currently using) and a more robust, super-cool looking paid version. I’m thinking of investing in the paid version, but it’s still too early to tell whether I’d make good enough use of the features. A basic breakdown of what I dig about the service:
-You can input anything you’d see on a score. I don’t know what a fermata sounds like, but it’s in there.
-You can input your lyrics below the music, too
-Files can be private or shared
-You can output the files in MIDI.
That last one is a HUGE one. If I can learn enough about how to write my ideas down, I could export the parts right into Garageband, and that’s all kinds of exciting. The biggest downside to the program is that the input is difficult. It’s easy to add a note, but that note replaces the following beats in the score, which screws me up. Finally, because the program is geared towards people who know exactly what they’re doing, it’d help to be more music-literate (my fault, not theirs).
In short: if you read music and could use a tool to keep track of notation and share it among others, Noteflight is something worth looking into. I’m very interested in how the ‘pro’ version works. If you’re interested in seeing what it’s like, there’s the aforementioned free version and also a working demo (no signup required) here.
Though this is a little messy and hard to do.
(Jeff Buckley - Night Flight [Led Zep Cover])
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Let's Get This Party Started
I’m proud to bring you the first of the Songs About You Demos, Christopher B. Daley.
Chris was the receptionist in my office. He’s moved to another job now, but I texted him impulsively one night, thinking he’d be interested in this songwriting project. He was, and I immediately started in to write a song about some stuff we had discussed.
He spent some summers doing theatre in a semi-rural part of Indiana, so that was my starting point. From there, the song got away from me a bit. I feel a little guilty, because I’m not sure the song is about Chris in the way I’d like it to be. I wrote something that I know resonated with me, and I think it’s about feelings that he and I have both felt. I hope it resonates with Chris in the same way. I’m very interested in finding out.
Chris was the receptionist in my office. He’s moved to another job now, but I texted him impulsively one night, thinking he’d be interested in this songwriting project. He was, and I immediately started in to write a song about some stuff we had discussed.
He spent some summers doing theatre in a semi-rural part of Indiana, so that was my starting point. From there, the song got away from me a bit. I feel a little guilty, because I’m not sure the song is about Chris in the way I’d like it to be. I wrote something that I know resonated with me, and I think it’s about feelings that he and I have both felt. I hope it resonates with Chris in the same way. I’m very interested in finding out.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Being at work constantly means I’m always trying to write while far away from my instruments, which is easy enough to do by scribbling in a notebook or singing into my own voicemail. The problem I keep running up against is that when I finally sit down with a guitar, the words I’m writing don’t exactly fit into their intended places.
It’s frustrating because , I’m not sure what I’m missing. It reminds me of trying to solve math equations: I understand the concepts in algebra, but I still end up with a lot of wrong answers.
It’s fascinating, though, because I’m not sure where these things are getting muddled in translation. Memory is imperfect, so that’s a good suspect. I also think that I’m prone to writing little bits in different keys, and then I have trouble transposing them all into the same key later.
I feel like songwriting should really be more like building with Lego: the size and shape of the music you need should be apparent from looking at the lyrics. But for a person without a functional grasp on musical notation...well....
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
It’s frustrating because , I’m not sure what I’m missing. It reminds me of trying to solve math equations: I understand the concepts in algebra, but I still end up with a lot of wrong answers.
It’s fascinating, though, because I’m not sure where these things are getting muddled in translation. Memory is imperfect, so that’s a good suspect. I also think that I’m prone to writing little bits in different keys, and then I have trouble transposing them all into the same key later.
I feel like songwriting should really be more like building with Lego: the size and shape of the music you need should be apparent from looking at the lyrics. But for a person without a functional grasp on musical notation...well....
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Three Big Problems for Creative Productivity
1. Working 2 jobs. It is Tax Season, after all. The easiest way to get one-on-one time with me is to either be my wife, or come have me do your taxes.
2. Getting a Kindle. Sure, I’ve read more books in the last month than I did in all of 2006, but at what cost?
3. Getting Sick. In that kind of amorphous way where you just don’t feel right for about ten days.
Now, I’m feeling better and honest work on the songs has resumed. My co-worker Kate has also commissioned a song for her birthday, which is less than 2 weeks away. So, I’m crackin’ on that one. I wrote a lot of lyrics on the train this morning. Some good, some so awful I’m not sure I should sing them. I’ll probably discard the part about how “We gonna get retardy like it’s your birthday.”
The Weakerthans - Leash
2. Getting a Kindle. Sure, I’ve read more books in the last month than I did in all of 2006, but at what cost?
3. Getting Sick. In that kind of amorphous way where you just don’t feel right for about ten days.
Now, I’m feeling better and honest work on the songs has resumed. My co-worker Kate has also commissioned a song for her birthday, which is less than 2 weeks away. So, I’m crackin’ on that one. I wrote a lot of lyrics on the train this morning. Some good, some so awful I’m not sure I should sing them. I’ll probably discard the part about how “We gonna get retardy like it’s your birthday.”
The Weakerthans - Leash
Monday, January 24, 2011
Here’s where I get in trouble
The life cycle of a blog looks like this:
First, there’s an ambitious start. Big plans! Regular updates! Content content content! Success is inevitable and deserved.
Almost immediately, there’s a sudden and complete stop. No more posting, little or no explanation. This break is followed by a series of posts that let the readership know: this break is only a temporary one! We’re going to be back! And there’s going to be huuuuge changes! Amazing content? Special guests? Regular features? All of those! WE ARE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING.
It doesn’t go well from there.
My plan for this blog is to skip a lot of that. I’m just going to try and deliver something that all of my loyal fans and customers can read from time to time. I’m also going to keep writing these songs--which, in general, is going REALLY well, when I get time to work on it.
Soon, I’ll post one of the finished demos.
Guided by Voices - The Official Ironmen Rally Song
First, there’s an ambitious start. Big plans! Regular updates! Content content content! Success is inevitable and deserved.
Almost immediately, there’s a sudden and complete stop. No more posting, little or no explanation. This break is followed by a series of posts that let the readership know: this break is only a temporary one! We’re going to be back! And there’s going to be huuuuge changes! Amazing content? Special guests? Regular features? All of those! WE ARE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING.
It doesn’t go well from there.
My plan for this blog is to skip a lot of that. I’m just going to try and deliver something that all of my loyal fans and customers can read from time to time. I’m also going to keep writing these songs--which, in general, is going REALLY well, when I get time to work on it.
Soon, I’ll post one of the finished demos.
Guided by Voices - The Official Ironmen Rally Song
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