Archive for April, 2010
Uppers for solo pianists
By David Fritz (Mr Music)
David Fritz, Mr Music, is a Composer, arranger,
producer and performer of smooth/cool/romantic/healing
new age piano music. Visit his site, join his mailing list and receive free
newsletters, MP3’s, albums and more, and so get to know
him and his music:
http://www.mr-music.co.za
Monday, 26 April 2010
“Uppers” is a term from the world of drugs, used to
describe the so=-called “higher” class of drugs, which have
quicker, and “better” results than the bottom-end ones.
Why do people start using drugs?
Normally to “feel” better: to lift their mood, to feel
ecstatic and happy!
Solo pianists generally walk alone and sometimes the
“lonely road”, combined with life’s not-so-good happenings,
can result in a less than sunny disposition.
This is the time to pull out a natural, legal remedy
to blast away the clouds, no matter how dark!
Bring on “the ensemble”.
Find other musicians to make music with: whether another
soloist, a choir, a band, or an adhoc ensemble assembled of
music “buddies”.
I have been working as a solo pianist for about 30 years
and throughout this time I have always kept “the remedy”
close at hand.
No matter how good the music is you make as a soloist,
nothing beats the thrill of combined effort to make
beautiful music.
It’s like dancing, or a team sport: you are then only part
of the whole, and when that whole is in gear, the thrill
you experience, the mood lift, the exhilaration, is stunning!
Whether you do it for kicks on a weekend, or
professionally, you will benefit!
Line up a few music buddies to make music with, and beat
the blues!
Remember to e-mail me with any comments, till I have
sorted out the snag around “comments” on my blog!
Love and the best music
David Mr Music
Music with impact …
http://www.mr-music.co.za/blog
Normalisation of CD tracks
By David Fritz (Mr Music)
David Fritz, Mr Music, is a Composer, arranger,
producer and performer of smooth/cool/romantic/healing
new age piano music.
Visit his site, join his mailing list and receive free
newsletters, MP3’s, albums and more, and so get to know him and his
music:
http://www.mr-music.co.za
Monday, 19 April 2010
“Normalisation” is a term which refers to the “boosting”
of a recorded music track to a level of 0Db.
0 Db is the preferred level for broadcasting music!
Here is the problem.
Broadcasting equipment is normally state-of-the-art and
the average person’s hi-fi, car system or portable does not
even begin to compare!
When you play a normalised recording on average Joe’s
equipment, have you heard what it sounds like?
AWFUL!
For starters you can hardly regulate the volume, because
for every click on the volume dial the music volume simply
jumps up 50 degrees!
You can have your music system volume on about 1, maybe 2,
and at a softish volume the music sounds fine, but you
can’t turn it up, because with the slightest upward
movement of the dial the volume rockets out of bounds, and you get
distortion!
Another problem I have with this comes from the music
production side.
Very few artists have access to state of the art recording
equipment. We have to make-do with what we can afford,
borrow or lay our hands on.
Most equipment work fine around the -3 Db mark, and your
recordings sound fine.
… Then you master and normalize.
Warm strings become screechy, mellow bass becomes
overpowering: the whole sound scape changes, and not
necessarily for the better.
Maybe 0 Db works for today’s noisier, percussive music, but
for classical, new age, anything soothing and mellow, no!
I learnt my lessons the hard and expensive way.
Broadcasters don’t buy their music in the stores.
I master my CD’s for just above -3 Db and that is what
average Joe will get when they buy my CD’s anywhere.
If I need CD’s for broadcasting and they find my levels
unacceptable, I’ll master a “broadcasting” version, just
for that purpose.
Take care till next time.
Remember to e-mail me with any comments, till I have
sorted out the snag around “comments” on my blog!
Love and the best music
David Mr Music
Music with impact …
http://www.mr-music.co.za/blog
Labelling music as…
By David Fritz (Mr Music)
David Fritz, Mr Music, is a Composer, arranger,
producer and performer of smooth/cool/romantic/healing new
age piano music.
Visit his site, join his mailing list and receive free
newsletters, MP3’s,
albums and more, and so get to know him and his music:
http://www.mr-music.co.za
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
As they say, “each of us wear many different hats …”,
referring to the fact that we play many different roles, or
assume many different responsibilities in the course of a
day and a lifetime.
A man is a “husband”, a “father”, an
“employee” and a member of a committee, all in the course
of a day.
Well, I’m no different.
As far as my music roles go I’m a composer, a performer, an arranger, a promoter, a
producer and many more.
Today I’m writing this article from the point of view of being a composer, and the article has
just a little sad undertone.
Why do we compose?
“Why do you use the toilet?”
Because there’s an urge from “mother nature”.
“Do you resist the urge?”
Yes, I know, just sometimes, we try and resist the urge, but ultimately we
have to give in, or …
Well, composing works similarly.
There’s a pressure inside: something wants to, needs to,
come out.
But unlike with “mother nature” you can resist
the urge with less embarrassing consequences.
“Who creates that something inside and the pressure of that something
wanting to come out?”
Not me - I’m not the Creator!
But God, the Creator, the Universe or by whatever name you know
him by, is the one responsible; I’m just a tool, the pen in
the Author’s hand.
“Why do men light a candle?”
To give light, of course.
“And why do men write music?”
For the same reason. For the music to be heard, not just to be admired as “a thing of
beauty”, but for the music to “move” man.
The first pre-requisite for music is that it must be “played”, so that
people can “hear” it, notice it, and be touched by it.
The great composers, such as Bach, Beethoven, name them all,
each composed many different styles of music.
One composer would write vocal music sung by a solo voice, choir music
sung by many voices, pieces for full orchestras, pieces for
one instrument only such as piano, and pieces for ensembles
of instruments: “sad” pieces and “happy” pieces.
The same composer would write both “church” music and music for
dancing.
Whenever one of the Masters wrote something new the music public was eager to “give it a listen”: try it
out (or on).
When I grew up, in the 60’s and 70’s, people,
for example, could not wait for, let’s say, The Beatles to
bring out another song.
There was no guarantee that you would like the next song, but you at least “tried” it out
and gave it a fair chance to impress you, or before you
decided “I don’t like it”!
But things have changed, and not necessarily for the better!
Nowadays, even more so than before, things must first be put in little boxes:
be labelled. And people, instead of sampling music from
different boxes, have become such creatures of habit, that
they always only go to the one box for sampling.
Are only savouries tasty? Are only sweets tasty? are only cakes
tasty?
Yet with music people display, far too often, this
point of view.
It’s sad for the listeners, because they
miss out on sooo much. But it’s even sadder for the
composer, because they don’t even get a ‘fair trial”.
I write different categories of music, just like the Greats
of old! Not all my music is “middle of the road”; not all
my music is “meditational”; not all my music is “up-tempo”.
I write, as I’m moved, and out of the same fountain
proceeds many waters, but they’re all sweet!
Remember that behind the music you are listening to is a composer: the
performer is just the middleman, often not the “source”,
the composer.
If you like the piece, remember that it’s actually the work of the “composer” you like. This same
composer may have many other “likable” pieces, probably
played by many other performers, and all being put in many
different boxes.
Make an effort to give the composer credit. Make an effort to at least find some other music by
the same composer in the other boxes, and sample it.
Yes, some of the music may sound different, it may have a
“label” you don’t usually associate yourself with, but if
it’s good, if it touches you, does the label matter?
What do you prefer: many acquaintances or a few sturdy,
stick-through-thick-and-thin friends?
Friendships take time and effort to cultivate, but if it wasn’t worth it, would
people have gone to the trouble to make friends?
Come on, be brave, be adventurous - try them all!
On my site are demos of the music I have recorded: some of other
composers, but as the years have worn on, more and more of
my own.
And my own pieces are spread over several boxes!
Here’s to you finding friendship and life with me and my
music!
Remember to e-mail me with any comments, till I can
sort out the snag around “comments” on my blog!
Love and the best music
David Mr Music
Music with impact …
http://www.mr-music.co.za/blog
Pianos for me to play on
By David Fritz (Mr Music)
David Fritz, Mr Music, is a Composer, arranger,
producer and performer of smooth/cool/romantic/healing new
age piano music. Visit his site, join his mailing list and
receive free newsletters, MP3’s, albums and more, and so
get to know him and his music:
http://www.mr-music.co.za
Tuesday, 06 April 2010
“When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall, there
was a Grand or two in every hall.”
Or so it seemed.
Virtually every hall - school hall, church hall, city
hall, scout hall, you name it, had a piano.
Granted, not all had Grands, but a hall without a piano
was the exception.
Furthermore, the piano was the pride and joy of
management, so the pianos were for the most part in very
good nick and tuned.
But, as the song says, “those were the days …”
And sadly, as in the words of the song, we thought they’d
never end, but they did.
I am a pianist by trade: the piano is the “scalpel” which
I use to LAY BARE PEOPLE’S souls.
No-one would dream of having anything but the cleanest,
sharpest scalpel in the operating room, yet in halls my
“scalpel” is often non-existent, or “rusted”, dirty” and
out-of-tune!
Yet they expect me to perform that most delicate of
operations: cutting to the bone, dividing the
soul, and that with what?
So what other choice do I have, but to schlep my own piano
everywhere?
Now, be realistic.
If I have to take a piano everywhere with me, which I do,
can I cart a million rand’s Grand all over the place?
Who will pay for the transport and labour?
Who will pay the insurance?
Who will pay for the tuner/technician to maintain the
piano for me?
So I have to cart a digital piano around: much smaller but
in many ways more robust.
Of course there’s a pay-off. I can’t sound like Liberace
on a Steinway!
But again, what choice do I have?
I have to get out there and perform the music. I cannot
lose out on performing, just because there is no piano
available, or because the piano is not ‘playable”.
Often people think (assume), that because there is a
piano, it is by default playable. Such a misconception.
Maybe you can help me find the best digital piano, best as
in closest-to-life Grand sound, or help me mobilise the
managements of all halls to ensure they have pianos on
hand: SLEEK, TUNED BEASTS!
Love and the best music
David
Mr Music
Music with impact …
http://www.mr-music.co.za/blog
Period instruments: to be or not to be
By David Fritz (Mr Music)
David Fritz, Mr Music, is a Composer, arranger,
producer and performer of smooth/cool/romantic/healing new
age piano music. Visit his site, join his mailing list and
receive free newsletters, MP3’s, albums and more, and so
get to know him and his music:
http://www.mr-music.co.za
Thursday, 01 April 2010
There is a movement in the serious classical music genres
to record the music of the Masters using “authentic” music instruments.
Making use of “authentic instruments” means that the music
is not played on the latest available versions of
instruments, such as we use commonly today, but that the instruments used are
“special” versions, built on the specifications of those
times when the Masters lived.
Remember that “technology” was non-existent, or in a
primitive state compared to today. So, although the
craftsmanship of the instrument makers was as good as it could be, they could still only
produce instruments within the parameters of that day.
When I compose music, I hear it in my head, and so do
most composers. The Masters certainly did.
When I hear piano music, do you think for one moment I
hear it as played on an out-of-tune piano? Do you think
that when I hear guitar music in my head, I hear it as played on
rusted strings, on a guitar with bad intonation?
NEVER!
When I hear music, I hear it as pure-sounding as can be,
and I would always like it to be performed on the best
instruments available, and I’m sure so would have the
Masters.
Our instruments are better today, due to advancements in
technology and precision engineering.
Only the best is good enough for the best music!
So, lay on our best instruments, and record the music of
the Masters using them!
Not only are we honouring them this way, but we are also
doing our own ears a great service, and we will certainly be
making it easier for outsiders to be attracted to the
greatest music and become supporters thereof.
And don’t forget to do likewise unto me!
Feel free to send your comments to me at:
david@mr-music.co.za
Love and the best music
David
Mr Music
Music with impact …
http://www.mr-music.co.za/blog