Blog and News!
Updated Ringtone
Hi Friends,
I released an updated copy of my Hallelujah Chorus Ringtone today, the “Real Rockin Hallelujah Chorus Ringtone.” I added some drums to the outro! You can download the iPhone ringtone file on my music store page. I have the full arrangement and recording of my version of the Hallelujah Chorus completed! And the single will be released via CD Baby in time for Easter….so stay tuned. Here’s the video.
March Update
I’ve actually gotten back into writing, composing and recording music again. For a while I seemed to do this in fits and spurts. I used to get started on an idea and get it about halfway done but then I’d get distracted usually by work issues from my day job or vacation would come up and then the project would sit and gather dust.
However, in December I got a new idea. In many things I become very productive and efficient when I have a task list, to-do list or project plan to work against and keep myself accountable. So I got the idea in December, after listening to huge amounts of Christmas music and attending the Seattle Symphony’s production of Handel’s Messiah, to produce my own album of Christmas/Holiday music. After that, I began making my plan and creating “the list”.
Since starting in December I have five (5) songs that I am actively working on and of these three are essential complete. The first of these I will be releasing as a single before and in time for Easter: My own arrangement, performance and recording of the Hallelujah Chorus. My Hallelujah Chorus is a Pop/Rock version inspired by Mannheim Steamroller/Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
After going to the full production of Handel’s Messiah it was amazing to me that George F. Handel wrote, not just the Hallelujah Chorus, but the entire Messiah, including the orchestral and choir parts after receiving the text from Charles Jennens in a breathtaking 24 days! Talk about focus! If I could only have 10% of his focus.
Here are a few photos compliments of Wikipedia.
George Frideric Handel by Balthasar Denner
The Great Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin, where Messiah was first performed
A portrait of Charles Jennens from around 1740
Dreams
DB-16 Musical Scale Modes Matrix
I can never seem to remember all of the scale modes, so since teaching something seems to be the best way to learn I decided to create a musical scale modes chart to help drive this home.
Per Wikipedia, “The modern Western modes consist of seven scales related to the familiar major and minor keys.
Although the names of the modern modes are Greek and some have names used in ancient Greek theory for some of the harmoniai, the names of the modern modes are conventional and do not indicate a link between them and ancient Greek theory, and they do not present the sequences of intervals found even in the diatonic genus of the Greek octave species sharing the same name.
Modern Western modes use the same set of notes as the major scale, in the same order, but starting from one of its seven degrees in turn as a “tonic”, and so present a different sequence of whole and half steps. The interval sequence of the major scale being T-T-s-T-T-T-s, where “s” means a semitone (half step) and “T” means a whole tone (whole step), it is thus possible to generate the following scales:”
Musical Scale Modes Matrix| Key | Ionian | Dorian | Phrygian | Lydian | Mixolydian | Aeolian | Locrian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C Major | C | D | E | F | G | A | B |
| G Major | G | A | B | C | D | E | F# |
| D Major | D | E | F# | G | A | B | C# |
| A Major | A | B | C# | D | E | F# | G# |
| E Major | E | F# | G# | A | B | C# | D# |
| B Major | B | C# | D# | E | F# | G# | A# |
| F Major | F | G | A | Bb | C | D | E |
| Bb Major | Bb | C | D | Eb | F | G | A |
| Eb Major | Eb | F | G | Ab | Bb | C | D |
| Ab Major | Ab | Bb | C | Db | Eb | F | G |
| Db Major | Db | Eb | F | Gb | Ab | Bb | C |
| Gb Major | Gb | Ab | Bb | Cb | Db | Eb | F |
DB-15 Music Reading Basics via Logic Pro
Watch The Video Lesson
This is lesson DB-15 Music Reading Basics, aka Real, Real, Basic Music Theory, and is a continuation of my journal of things I have learned as an adult double bass student.
See the video for a few pointers about the rudiments of reading music.
The illustration below shows how the various values of notes and rests discussed in the video relate to one another. If you want, click here to download the PDF.
The Wisdom of Sirach
Today’s Old Testament Mass Reading
Sirach 15:15-20
If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;
if you trust in God, you too shall live;
he has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.
Before man are life and death, good and evil,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.
Immense is the wisdom of the Lord;
he is mighty in power, and all-seeing.
The eyes of God are on those who fear him;
he understands man’s every deed.
No one does he command to act unjustly,
to none does he give license to sin.