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[sunflowerrockfrog]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen arranged by Alec Wilder and Norlan Bewley.

[sunflowerrockfrog]

Interview with Tristan Voitcu

J- What inspired you to pick the instrument and genre that you played?

T- When I first started, I started on the clarinet, mostly because I got to sit on the front of the band so everyone would see me. But after a year on the clarinet, I began to fall in love with symphonic band music, I would listen to it after school for hours, my full attention to the different sounds and Melodies. Two pieces in particular were Gustav Holst’s First Suite in Eb, and Andrew Boysen Jr’s Symphony number 4, both of which feature prominent solos by the alto saxophone, and the alto sax nuts had this tone quality that I was smitten with! Around this time, I was moved to Bass Clarinet, a lower member of the clarinet family, because I was too loud on the regular clarinet and needed an instrument that could take my air support. While I knew I ultimately wanted to play the sax, for me this was a step in the right direction, and led me to listen to a LOT of bass clarinet solos, like 3-5 hours a day. Through this massive volume of listening, I eventually came across Eric Dolphy’s “God Bless the Child”, an 8 minute avant garde jazz rendition of a classic tune, which pushed me in the direction of jazz, which in turn pushed me further towards the saxophone. I played it a bit in middle school, whenever my band director would let me mess around on the schools baritone sax, but was never allowed to play it as my main. Come graduation of middle school,I begged my parents to buy me a sax, and they eventually did, I got a gorgeous brand new bari sax, and the rest is history

J- What musician or group has been the most inspirational for you?

T- For me, Ronnie Cuber was far and away the most inspirational musician. Ronnie was the baritone sax player for the Mingus big band and for Frank Zappa, and, man, he was just the best player to ever touch the bari sax. He had a big gorgeous sound that ANYONE who heard it would turn their head and say “damn that sounds good”! His unique traditionalist approach to a modern sound really elevated his playing above anyone else.

J- What has been your favorite experience that you’ve had through or because of your musical career?

T- There have been to many to count, but if I HAD to pick one, it would be meeting the members of the Mingus Big Band. This summer they were doing “Mingus Mondays” where they would play at the Django in Manhattan every Monday night, so I and a few friends would go see them when we could. I didn’t know the lineup at first, but when I got there the first time and saw 5 of my idols filling the saxophone chairs (Sam Dillon, Scott Robinson, Sarah Hanahan, Mark Gross, and Jason Marshall) I knew the night would be one to remember. I was incredibly nervous at first to meet them after the set, but Prof Conrad Herwig, the lead trombone chair, introduced me to them. Had I not been playing under Prof Herwig for two years at Rutgers, I might not have been able to meet them.

J- Where do you aspire to go with music?

T- My end goal is to end up in NYC playing full time, especially with the Mingus Big Band. I’d also love to end up teaching at a college near the city, teaching the next generation of incredible jazz saxophonists!

J- If you could give any advice to someone who is just starting out in the musical world, what would it be?

T- Go slow and don’t give up! It’s so easy to get caught up in the sheer volume of material that you forget to actually learn the basics, or to compare yourself to others, but take your time, it’s gotta develop naturally. Engross yourself in the music you want to learn, listen to it all the time, learn the history, play stuff by ear, it’s like learning a language, you could read every book ever written about speaking Spanish, but if you don’t hear people speak it then you’ll never really be able to speak it your self, and music is the exact same way.

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European Heavy Metal

One musical scene that has ended up being of interest to me is that of European metal music originating in the early 2000's. One important bend from this scene is that of Sabaton, a Swedish metal band whose songs primarily have a focus on history. This group stands out for me from a lot of other musical groups for the fact that their music has such a primary focus that still allows them to write a variety of different songs about differing topics that fall under the history umbrella. While their music has this historical theme, this does not at all take away from the metal sound of the music itself. they are able to play around with the themes of their songs without sacrificing the sound they are going for or indeed the actual themes of the songs. The historical themes and facts are still presented in a tasteful and somewhat informative way without the songs feeling cheesy with for me is quite a great achievement.

It is from this environment of taking metal and changing how one writes music for that genre that bands like Amaranthe are able to sprout from. Amaranthe is another Swedish metal band that takes metal music but twists how exactly they want to create it. Whereas Sabaton decided to change up their approach to metal through the focus of their lyrics, Amaranthe decides to shake things up through their approach to their sound. This approach is mostly made through their blending of metal with electronic music. This is quite a departure from the sound one would traditionally associate with metal however they still keep a connection to the metal music that they are rooted in through the lyrical stylings they choose to employ. What is being referred to here would be their beauty and the beast style lyrics for which they have employed three vocalists at time to properly perform their songs. In this style they switch between clear and rough lyrics with specific singers taking on these different roles. As a result their songs have the sometimes hard to interpret rough singing I would tend to associate with metal music as well as the clear sung vocals that feel more reminiscent of power metal bands like Sabaton and DragonForce.

These two bands, despite a difference in their final sounds, definitely feel like they come from a shared musical context for the way in which they approach their music. One of the biggest connections for me seems to be through a clarity of lyrics that I usually don't associate with metal music. Metal in my mind usually goes for rougher, less intelligible lyrics that may sound cool but can for me be hard to connect with on account of my not fully getting what they are saying. However bands like Sabaton, Amaranthe, Edguy, DragonForce, and The Unity all have a greater lyrical clarity that I can appreciate. These bands all come from a European cultural context and share a lot of musical ideas developed in that context.

[sunflowerrockfrog]

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Steve Roden Ambient Music Discussion

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A Playlist To Walk Through The Woods To

The following playlist is a collection of songs that mean great deal to me and to the connections I have made during my life. While they may be mostly unconnected in tone and artist, for me they connect in the memories and emotions they create in me. It is for that reason that I call it a playlist to walk through the woods to, as for me such walks are times to remember and reflect. To bask in nature and the peace it offers is for me the perfect backdrop upon which to listen to a grouping of songs that remind me so much of those important to me.

The first track on my playlist is "Camino del Sol" by composer Steve Hodges. This is an instrumental band piece that has come to be very important to me through my own performance of it. I first encountered this song in 8th grade as it was one of our assigned songs to play in band. It is a song that immediately became a favorite of mine as it has a fun part for the tubas to play and honestly that is enough for a song to be good in my book. However over the years this song has come to mean a lot more to me than just a good tuba part as it represents for me a group of musicians and friends who meant a great deal to me .Throughout my middle school and high school career I was very much a part of my school's band program, with most of my friends being other band kids. While we played many songs together and had many experiences together, this song is one of the earliest experiences with that group of people that truly sticks in my memory. The song is for me something of a starting point in my memory for many great friendships and plenty of treasured memories with people I won't soon forget.

The second song I have placed on this playlist is Blackbird by The Beatles. While this song my be quite tonally different to Camino del Sol, it hits upon similar emotions for me through the connection it represents between me and my mother. Blackbird was a song that she sang for me when I was a child. It is a song that for me will always represent the loving of my mother and the bond that we have shared. Whenever I hear it I think back to her and all the caring she has shown me and my siblings. It's soft tones feel almost perfect for the lullaby treatment and I can't imagine myself seeing the song in any other way at this point in my life.

The third song on this playlist is Close To The Edge by Yes, a song that much like Blackbird represents for me a parental bond. This bond is instead with my father and represents for me the musical tastes he has instilled in me over the years. One of the earliest bands I counted as a favorite of mine was Yes, as my father listened to the often and gave me albums of theirs to listen to. I remember close to the edge being a song that for some reason stood out to me and has remained one of my favorites for years. Maybe its the length, in some ways it is probably the chorus, but regardless of why, I have latched on to it as a favorite among their works. This favoritism also probably has something to do with how it ties into the relationship between my father and I. Close To The Edge was one of the songs played by the band on one of the occasions my father and I went to see them in concert. As such it has come to in a way represent the concert going relationship that my father and I have shared, having been to over 20 concerts together if my memory serves correctly. Thus Close To The Edge Represents for me a relationship that has be come irreversibly tied to music.

The fourth song on this playlist is Yellow Submarine by The Beatles. This song represents for me not just my connection to one family member but my family as a whole. As evidenced by Blackbird's inclusion on this playlist already one can see that the Beatles were quite an early influence in my musical tastes as I was introduced to them quite early on. However Yellow Submarine is not just a song that I associate with my family because I was introduced to it when I was young, it instead has found much importance to me through its film adaptation. This film has for a long time been one of my favorite movies and I would still count it as my all-time favorite animated feature as I think it is just that good. This again ties back to my family as one treasured memory of mine with my family is of seeing this film in a theater with both of my parents and my siblings. This was far from my first viewing of the film and only my little sister was seeing it for the first time but it is an incredibly important memory for me because it is one of my most vivid memories of coming together as a whole family to enjoy something, especially in a musical context. And for that the title track and the song that plays over the opening credits, Yellow Submarine, will always represent for me my family and the bond we share.

The final song on this playlist is Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie. This song is incredibly important to me as it has come to represent one of the most important relationships of my life. For me it represents the enduring bond between my former boyfriend/current best friend and how truly lucky I ask to have made such a great friend. The reason this song has come to represent this relationship doesn't come from any profound meaning in the lyrics, its just a song a thought sounded nice and have on occasion sung for him. It is important to me because I thought it would sound nice, he enjoyed it, and it is now just an important song between friends.

That sentiment about Rainbow Connection's importance I feel is the true through line between all these songs. None of them really are important to me just because of the lyrics of the instrumental parts, but because of the wya in which they have become an important connection between those close to me and myself. As I continue through my life I am sure my collection of important songs will continue to add a variety of different songs that will undoubtedly clash with each other in some ways. But that's the beauty of it for me, all these different sounds coming together to represent the many important bonds I have made throughout my life.

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Mixed Feelings - Fly From Here by Yes

Fly From Here is a 2011 album by long-time progressive rock group Yes. This album is one that I feel somewhat mixed about which I feel comes from the album's atypical song breakdown. What I am here referring to is the fact that the first half of the album is made up of one segmented song while the second half is formed by a further 5 songs. I personally find the first half of the album to be of a thusly higher quality to the second which leaves me questioning if I do truly like the album

Yes - Fly From Here

In order to properly understand thus assessment I feel it is quite important to look at the album in its two halves and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each. As stated earlier the first half is constituted by the Fly From Here suite, which is itself made up of six parts, an overture and then five movements. The overture does a great job of introducing the listener to the musical themes that they will be hearing over the course of the larger piece and leads well into the first movement, We Can Fly. For me movements 1, 2, 3, and 5 do great job of building on the sound established in the overture and carry a consistent grand and somewhat foreboding tone. However I do not feel that movement 4 is as successful in this endeavor as to me at least it feels somewhat too upbeat and in a sense cartoony. This is not to say that movement 4 is bad, more that for me it does not feel that it properly fits into the musical landscape established over the rest of the suite. Despite this dip in the 4th movement I feel that the Fly From Here suite is an overall very well crafted piece and one of my all time favorite works by Yes.

By contrast the second half of the album feels much weaker to me then it probably actually is. My favorite song from this half of the album is the song Life On A Film Set which is a perfectly good song that in most contexts I would feel quite positively about which I think is something I could say for most songs on the second half. On any other album they would feel to me as a couple of standard decent songs but because the album is structured the way that it is, I feel more inclined to judge the group of songs as a whole rather than as individual pieces. For me this means viewing the second half of the album as somewhat lackluster and may unfairly lower my opinion of the album overall.

I think one important thing to acknowledge in my analysis and thought on this album is a personal bias I have established for the first half of the album. In my listenings to this album over the years I have quite often listened to the Fly From Here suite both in full and as its individual parts and have found a deep appreciation for it. In contrast I have rarely strayed past movement 5's ending in order to listen to what the rest of the album has to offer. This has lead to me having much higher expectations for the songs on the album's second half as I am holding them up against apiece that I have developed a history with. I do not feel that this comparison is wholly my fault however, as the album is split almost exactly in half length-wise by Fly From Here and thus it feels almost natural to compare how the two sections feel next to each other. I do however know that my opinions on this are not shared by all who listened to the album as Matt Wardlaw from Classic Rock and Culture (linked below) had much to praise the album and its songs for. He comments upon how the songs on the album harken back to earlier eras of the bands music and mark a graceful transition of members for the band during the time. While I may not share Wardlaw's enthusiasm for all of the album's songs I must heartily agree with him that the album does mark a good return for the band. While I may not be able to look past the contrast between the album's two halves I will admit that both halves represent strengths of the band in their song writing and while my feelings may still be somewhat mixed, I do think they trend mostly positive.

Yes, 'Fly From Here' – Album Review

[sunflowerrockfrog]

My journey with Skillet

One of my favorite musical groups that I have learned to love is the band Skillet. They are, however, a part of a musical genre that I would not traditionally expect myself to be all that interested in. This is because Skillet is a Christian rock band and I myself am an atheist. This is in no way to say that Christian or other religious music cannot be interesting to those outside of the religious community that they are a part of, but more that I myself do not tend to seek out or listen to such forms of music. I find myself having a hard time fully relating to some of the religious themes I would associate with religious music as I have no religious background and so I usually just choose to listen to other kinds of music.

Skillet has of course become the difference here as I have found myself more easily able to relate to the themes they are relating through their songs. Admittedly one of the main reasons for this is most likely due to many of their songs being, at least from my point of view, quite religiously neutral. However even some of their more overtly religious songs have struck a chord with me as is the case with their song Stars.

Now this song is quite clearly made in reference to God with its starting lyrics, "You spoke a word and life began/Told oceans where to start and where to end/You set in motion time and space", clearly being a reference to genesis and God's creation of the universe. Clear of course, as long as you aren't me, as it took me quite a few listens to realize how religious this song actually is. While this utter misunderstanding of the meaning and themes of the song can be seen as me just being very obtuse, I think it has been something of an important step on my personal journey. I think if I had understood the religious messages on a first listening, while I don't think I would have disliked the song my any means, I'm not sure I would have come to love it as much as I have.

Throughout my life I have sometimes felt that works made in a religious context just aren't meant for me and have thusly caused me to be less inclined to seek them out. This is admittedly not a good way to look at works or the world in general but I do believe Stars and Skillet in general have helped me to be more open to experiencing more overtly religious works. In saying this I think back to the time that I saw Skillet in concert, one of my favorite concerts I have been to, and I think about the way they presented themselves on stage. While they are a Christian rock band and one might expect them to talk about religion between songs, the topic didn't come up to my memory except at a single point during their show. This point is when they addressed the audience to cheer if they were Christian. They then told them to cheer if they were Jewish then Muslim, then atheist, then everybody. This was the point I would say when it clicked for me that just because the music was made in a context that I don't share, that doesn't mean the music isn't made for me to enjoy. While themes may be shown through a religious lens, that does not stop them from having a level of relevance to anyone, regardless of religious leaning. Going back to Stars, upon first hearing the song I felt in it a theme of love that I could easily connect with and even now knowing the context I still feel that connection with the song. Most music is not made for just one group to relate to and in understanding that I am more open and able to listen to the wide variety of music that this world has up on offer.