Artistic Inspiration

Today I started the third season of Boy Meets World and the first Season of Heroes.
I sort of want to be a film producer some day. I don't know how I could justify that, because movies are expensive. And the world needs a lot more useful things than just another amusing movie on their hands. However, I think the film industry has an incredibly powerful voice in the world, and I think it might be worth the risk to be part of that voice.

I would feel guilty if the major effect of my career would be to distract the upper class citizens of the world from reality, to give them mere amusement rather than entertaining inspiration. I feel like that's the only stuff that fills the cinemas these days. Amusement. Distraction-- movies that make the viewer merely want to be the characters in the movie, rather than inspiring them to do something just as daring in their own lives.
I want to be able to inspire people. Artistic inspiration. I want to give an audience something that they can keep, something that they can do something with.
I don't know exactly what I'm talking about.
Film Production...
What do you think?

I flip flopped.

So I just recently talked to my Mom and asked her if she keeps up with my blog. I know that's a terribly narcissistic thing to ask, but I was curious. She said that of course she was, but that I haven't been blogging recently. I told her that I had been blogging pretty valiantly lately. She was confused.

My mom has been reading this blog and not my other one.
I knew having two blogs was a bad idea. I knew it I knew it I knew it.
For every blog-reading intellectual, I have an announcement: This blog is closed. You may continue reading on my other blog: sohowscollegelife.blogspot.com

I might delete this blog, or if there would be a way to combine them, I might do that as well. I'm really sorry for the confusion and I apologize for my restless blogging spirit.
Thanks for reading!
Isaac

Mediocrity

So it's my first day of work and I'm severely disturbed by how bored I already am. So far I have completed Number 4 in the Scott Pilgrim Series, watched a short documentary about chocolate makers, and finished another episode of Fullmetal Alchemist. With nothing else to do, I decided it was a superb idea to blog about how bored I actually am.

However, at this point in life, I guess I can't complain. When it comes down to it, I'm getting paid to be bored.

I guess I just wanted to make a short woo-hoo for the fact that it's Summer (though the weather disagrees). For some reason in Bowling Green, whatever season it is, the weather will always disagree. It's a contestable fellow.

On another note, I learned about this guy: Jonathan Coulton.

He made more than half a million dollars last year just by selling nerdy music on the internet, a dollar a song. This is heartening. There is hope for the mediocre musician!


And in pursuit of escaping this mediocrity that is part of who I am, I have put it on my to-do list to learn cello and clarinet before August. A friend is teaching me cello in return for guitar lessons, and I'm just sort of hoping that the clarinet will work out. Two more instruments to be slightly acceptable at!

Which brings us to something else I've been thinking about. Is it better to be extremely good at just one instrument, or to be mediocre at a lot of instruments? I, for one, have fallen into the latter, and I'm not sure if I made the right choice. I start to wonder what would have happened if I had put all my energies into the bass, my first instrument. I might've been really good. I could have been known as "The Bassist" amongst my friends, could have played with random bands and could have had cool bass solos that would make all the ladies swoon...
Was picking up the guitar the worst mistake in my life?

I doubt it. If I could learn to play music all over again, I don't think I would do anything differently. Bass would definitely be my first instrument, just because it teaches you everything you need to know about the functions of songs. But I could never stick with it. It is the foundation for modern music, but there is too much in me that wants to build on top of it.

I suppose musical excellence of the highest degree might not be my calling. I like music too much for that. One instrument is boring; I need variety, or else it becomes dull.

Anyway, I think I've killed half an hour.
Thanks for reading
Isaac

Don't be sad because it's over. Smile because it happened.

By June 1st I will have lived in Bowing Green one year.
Years used to be really long to me a couple years ago. Now it's as if I'm just approaching another weekend after a really long week.
I think I've grown. My eyes aren't as wide. My mind's not as closed. I'm a little darker because of it, but it accentuates the light in me as well. I'm a bit more self-centered in some regards, and less self-centered in others. I've also learned how to be really vague.


I've tasted American culture, and don't dislike it as much as I thought I would. I think I'll stick around a little longer.

And I've learned that you can't just walk up to a building and tell it to mean something to you. It's more complicated than that. It's walking through its doors every day, sitting in its desks, learning things inside its walls, almost forgetting its relevance in your life, until one day you realize that it's your home.

The Little Prince talks about one taming the other in order for the one to be meaningful to the other. I am guilty of being tamed. Western Kentucky, Bowling Green, even other people. Friends, I guess. It's odd. I never expected this to happen.

Music itself has tamed me. I am attached to it to the point that if it were to cease existence, I would cease to be who I am.

All of this nostalgia has left me extremely hopeful for next semester. it better not let me down.
This summer will be dedicated to work, recording, and learning cello and possibly violin.

And for those that are interested, here is a list of classes I am taking next semester

Philosophy: The Good and the Beautiful
Music Theory I
Creative Writing
Group Piano
Introduction to German
Introduction to Film Studies

It's highly probable that one of these will be dropped.
I also have to live in a dorm...... I hate this idea.

This blog is just turning into an expression of narcissism.

History

School, school, school... excuse, excuse, excuse. Blah blah blah.

Anyway, while studying for a test over the Peloponesian wars between Athens and Sparta and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the establishment of Constantinople, I got completely sidetracked and pulled out my piano. It's so handy having a piano all to myself now... probably the best investment I've ever made. Here's a picture of it.

This is my studio! Haha. I would be embarrassed if I weren't so poor. I take pride in it.

 I still just use garageband, and the piano sounds are surprisingly beautiful.

So I recorded this in the course of forty-five minutes or so.

I'm surprised at how well everything came together for it. This is the first song I've written on the piano that actually had an express purpose of experimentation. I'll explain.

I had the melody all ready to go before sitting down at the piano. And the idea came to mind to try to have the same melody for both a minor and a major scale in the same song.  Composers do it all of the time without batting an eye, so I figured I might try my hand at it.

The song begins in the key of A minor. Well, C technically, but when the melody comes in, it comes in the key of A minor. So what I could have done, after going through the melody in A minor, is just go through the same melody with a chord progression in C major. There's not really a problem with this, other than it's just rather gutless. A minor is in the key of C major. C major is sort of the root of A minor, if you understand me. So if I were to just do the melody in the key of C major, there would be no real dramatic change, no lifting of the spirits of the song, if I may sound transcendental. 

What would be a bit more out there, a bit more gutsy, is to do a key change from A minor to A major. Completely craaaaaaaaazy. 

The way one goes about this is to find the chord that pulls itself towards the key you want to change to. In this instance, the chord is E major. This is completely convenient, because after every melody, there's a little ditty going between the keys of F major and E, where E could be either major or minor. So what I did is make the E a major chord, which then pulls us to the chord A, which turns out to be A major, if you want it to be that. I know there's probably some nifty term for such actions in music, but I don't care. I believe I understand it. At least I thought I did until I tried to express it in words.

Then to go back from the key of A major to the key of A minor, I did a dramatic change to going back to the F major, which isn't in the key of A major at all, but is in a way in the key of A minor. It all sort of works together nicely.

I wanted this all to happen without the listener really recognizing what's going on. I wanted it to flow. And I wanted to get the emotion right.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!

And I'm still not aloud in the music department at my college! :(

Okays bye!

Isaac

Release Date (?)

And when I said I'll probably continue blogging, I honestly did think that I would, rather than fizzling out altogether like I do with everything else.
I'm determined to avoid fizzling. It's a funny word...
Anyway, hi.
Just a few things:
I watched Paranormal Activity One and Two last night. If I were a movie reviewer for Rotten Tomato or something, I would give them both probably a seventy-something, because I really know what I'm talking about and believe that my opinion is valid on such topics....... yeah.
Things are coming together with Whalebone Records (The label with whom I'll be recording this here EP), comprised of the best musician I know, Evan Van Kirk. Plans are to spend the majority of the summer alone with my music and my art and try to refine and complete all the ideas, and then in August I'll head up to Portland, Oregon to spend two weeks laying down tracks. The next couple months or so while the mixing goes down, we'll work on band names and album artwork and hopefully by.... let's say.... October (?) we'll have ourselves an EP on the market.
Wow. A release date. Don't I sound professional.

Thanks for reading
Isaac

An Appology

I've been giving this a lot of thought, and I think I need to come right out and say what's going down.

This blog is a failure.

Not a failure as in a fizzling out sort of one, where I'm just too lazy to keep it up, and it gets swept under the rug as just one of those things that you couldn't keep up with, kinds of things. But it's more of a failure as in the very nature of the idea just doesn't work.
There are two problems with the concept of this blog and I'll tell you what they are.
1.) Music requires time and thought. I didn't know that until this blog, where I was rushed to make four songs in approximately thirty days. I realized that this made me spurt out anything I had, regardless of if I liked it or not. And after about three months I felt completely empty. At least all of the easy stuff was gone. Now I had to actually think about music, and this was hard. And it took time. And I didn't have time. At first I thought deadlines would do me good, it would get me going and actually accomplish something. And, well, it did do that, but at the same time I had no room to breathe. No room for creativity, in a way. I found myself breaking down at the keyboard in a panic because I had no ideas. Writer's block, in a way. And i had to have a nice and fresh song by the end of that night. It was destroying me more than helping me.
2.) Music, like I said in a previous blog, requires solitude. This blog made everything public. I had to please people. I had to write songs or do songs that I wanted people to like, and I forgot about if I liked the song or not. I was exposing myself, giving my music too much sunlight, in a way, and it was dying.  I felt like I was losing my identity in a way, when I made everything public. Nothing I did was for me. It was for other people.

I found myself unable to write. Too many factors were weighing down on me as I wrote for this blog, and it wasn't doing me any good. I think the most good it did do me was make me come to this realization:

 Music needs a lot of time and a lot of thought and it needs to be a personal thing first.
If music is written in ten minutes and is publicized before it is personalized, you end up with songs like Firework by Katie Perry. Tell me, Do YOU ever feel like a plastic bag floating in the wind? How lyrically creative is THAT!?

Anyway, no, I don't want this to be about bashing top forty superstars, regardless of how enjoyable that is (They think they're aaaaalll that, but they're not! Yeah...)

This blog taught me something that I would never have learned otherwise. So, no, this blog wasn't a futile effort. I'm coming out of it with a deeper knowledge than what I had before. A little wiser, I guess you'd say.

So yeah. This blog was a bad idea that taught me something timeless.
And yeah, I'm not going to be able to keep up with it for the rest of this year. You probably knew that the first day you saw this blog. You were right. But I have my own reasons, and I think they are valid.
But don't worry. I'm still going to keep this blog up and running. I'll still be doing covers and making music of my own (I can't really do anything else). But it just won't be as rushed. Inspiration will come on its own time. And on the days where I can't do anything, I'll keep silent. That's just the way I work, I guess.

I hope I didn't disappoint you. I'll still be around. I kind of like it here.
Thanks for reading
Isaac

Music isn't a vehicle.

The happy grass and flowers and blue skies was really starting to bug me. As a result my blog became much more simple. I'm starting to like simple.

So on March the first I realized it was indeed March the first and not actually the 29th of February. So I've already sort of broken this whole pact of having four music blogs every month. It's the fifth of March and I still haven't put the last post up for February. I could now throw out a massive amount of excuses, but even though they are pretty valid excuses, I will refrain (I've been told I make too many excuses when I do something wrong. It's something I'm trying to work on).

Jeremy Larson just did an interview a couple of weeks ago that I think needs repeating. His philosophy on music is so pure and just... correct.



"When young kids think about making music, they may be in band or orchestra, but if they’re anything like me, they’re dreaming about being on stage, and playing in a band, or being a rapper. They’re thinking of it in terms of what it could lead to, and the money it could make, or the fame, I guess, and they lose focus of music for the sake of what it is, and how it makes you feel. It’s a struggle that I have. "Where is music taking me, because I want it to take me somewhere’. I think it’s an unhealthy perspective, and it’s a very unfortunate one; to think of music mainly as a vehicle to get you to another place.

I had a bass teacher who I took lessons from for a while. He was in his late 70′s. He was a great jazz musician. He used to tell me these stories about how he lived with six other guys growing up. They just loved to play together. No audience. No recording. Nothing to show anyone, they just lived in a house together. One of them would wake up every day and walk to the drum kit and start playing a little bit. The other guys would hear it in the house, and they’d wake up and play together. They’d do this for six hours, and take a break for lunch, and they’d get back into it. They’d keep playing. No audience, no reason to play, except for the fact that they loved playing music and they wanted to make music happen, and they wanted to create it, and for it to fill the space where they were sitting. I try to remind myself of that......

To be honest, music doesn’t pay. It’s in a different place now, and there are so many bands out there that it’s very expendable. Every band out there, even the biggest, most famous ones, they are replaceable. You know, you have Coldplay or Beyonce, who are at the top of their game, at the top of their careers, but, if they disappear, and their music doesn’t exist anymore, there are a thousand behind them, ready to take that spot. Especially on the lower level of being an independent artist, there’s no shortage of bands out there, no shortage of things for people to buy. Most bands are giving away their music for free anyway, just to get a little bit more exposure.  So music as a career and a hobby is not going to be what kids think it’s going to be. They would probably be severely disappointed. But, you can look at music as something that is meaningful. It’s worth something. Not a dollar amount, because it means something in your life, because you’re able to create. Then, I think that life can have a little bit more magic to it, if I can use that word."

 Music isn't a vehicle to get you places. Our music culture has missed that entirely, and so have I. I know I needed to hear this. 

Anyway, so it's like the fifth and I haven't even posted anything for the end of February. At this point I'm not really sure how I feel about this four-songs-a-month blog thing. I'm starting to learn that music takes thought. Lots of though. To say that I'm going to write a song in a week and make it acceptable is starting to sound more and more preposterous. I'm not sure how I'll solve this. I might make this blog a bit more broad. I won't give up on it, but... well... oh, I don't know what to do.

I'm going to Springfield on the twelfth to see Jeremy Larson's opening concert (He's the guy that I just quoted above). This man has taught me so much about music and how it should be approached. He's an absolute genius. Don't believe me? Come to the concert with me.

There's a Midi controller at Musician's Pro for fifty bucks that I'll probably buy so that I won't have to go to Western Kentucky's campus to play piano. I'll have one all to myself. That'll be nice.

Piano Song No. 2 in E Minor (#7)

I'll post the sheet music for this one later.
I'm not sure how to feel about it. It's rather repetitive and not varied at all.
I'll write more later. I must go.
Isaac
-----------------------------

So all this is is really just experimentation. I really want to get better as a pianist, and there's really nowhere to go but up, so I'm just trying my hands at it I suppose.
Did you like that lame cut I did in the middle of the video? I seriously cannot get that transition. It's too much for my brain. I'll get it though. I swears!

Anyway, as sad as it sounds, I'm still having a hard time with letting go of trying to get people to like me because I'm a musician. I think the exploitation of art might be my biggest sin. I want to be in art for myself and to fulfill my ends, and I get so caught up in wanting people to see me as a musician, and it's not really about the art anymore. It's a big struggle for me. I'm not sure if being aware of it makes it better or worse.
 I'm starting to come to terms with it a little more, though, simply because I'm starting to see all my shortcomings as a musician. If I follow this path for too long, the path of showing myself off, I'd end up having to compare myself with other musicians. That would be fatal. Every other musician I know and listen to are above me. Way far above me. If I were to start taking pride in my strides in music, my self worth would start to be determined by how good I am. Then, if I were to find an artist better than me (I can already name at least 100), my identity would be crushed. I would be crushed. Destroyed.

Anyway, I just thought I'd get this out there. I know this piano piece is nothing compared to everything else you've ever heard in your life. It's not really about that for me, I guess. It's mine, and I wrote it out all on staff. That was the real project behind all of this. I'll post pictures of the staff once I'm done with it. It has lots of flaws.... Anyway.
Thanks for reading
Isaac

Making Progress

So I've officially started writing songs for the up and coming EP I'm hoping to record in June with the illustrious Evan Van Kirk. We've settled dates kinda-sorta, but things are still a bit up in the air. Hopefully the chips will fall nicely and I shall be on my way up to Oregon this summer.

I know it seems rather late to just start writing for an album that's supposed to be recorded in just four months, but... honestly, it's scary. I used to write lyrics (lyrics that I'm not very happy with) just for the purpose of recording it in my bedroom,  not really caring what they sound like or what they really mean. Whatever popped into my head at the time was whatever I wrote down onto some scratch of paper and they suddenly became song lyrics. And as far as music went, I was happy with four chord progressions with two verses and two choruses and maybe a bridge here and there. I wasn't too worried about complexity and I didn't put the time necessary into music.

Now, well, things are different. I find myself staring blankly at the keys and at the notebook, writing things down then crossing them off. Playing something, then stopping and doing it again. I'm just too afraid that I'll play the notes the wrong way or write something down that's too obvious or too vague or too overdone. I'm just scared. I'll be recording something that's supposedly going to be up on the market for strangers to critique, so I want to make something that is worth people's time to listen to. Ideally, this will be something that I won't just share with my friends, but with the world, with music bloggers and critics. Strangers. I don't want to be caught off guard with crappy, poorly-put-together songs with overdone chord progressions and lyrics going along the lines of "I love you," and try to tell the world at large that I'm good enough to be on iTunes. I want to be worth it. I want a stranger to actually BUY my EP. Maybe he would find one of the songs on Youtube or Myspace and say, "This is just what I was looking for" and go on iTunes and put 6 bucks into something that I  made (Me!). I know this is audacious and rather silly to think about. But it's what I want.


I want these songs to be mine, about my experiences and my life. After all, the one thing I've learned through all my years in English class is to Write What You Know. I don't know that much, but I know a lot about where I've been.
Anyway, it's just scary to write nowadays. And when you have conflicting music tastes like mine (think DJ Tiesto, Jonsi, Jon Foreman, and Yann Tiersenn all mixed together), it becomes even more difficult to write, because you don't know how you want things to sound. Evan tells me to not worry about style, because style will be an outcome of whatever sounds you make. I think he's right. It's just hard to put that into practice.

Anyway, so now I decided to get over this fear of not saying things right or playing things right, and I've just started playing. So far, what's come out is... well... really... good. Not to brag, but I'm just ecstatic about these songs.

I feel that this is God's curse on me, but whatever I write turns out to be religious. Perhaps it's because religion is the thing my mind is obsessed with (Not my choice). I've never been in love (Close, but no cigar!), so it's hard to write about that. I want to start writing more optimistic songs-- even if it's just senseless feel-good jive, I think it would be worth it. Everything I write is doleful and monotonous and about my failure as a human being.
The sun shined yesterday.
Those kinds of things need to be put into song (Even if every other artist does the same thing).
So yeah...
I still haven't pieced things together yet as far as the structure of the album (let alone the structure of the songs), but there will be lots of instrumentals. Oh! And this album is becoming more and more piano-based. This is odd, because guitar is my first instrument. But these past two semesters, my piano knowledge has exploded into something much better.
I also want there to be some sort of correlation with the songs. It'd be amazing to make an album with a recurring message. Something that's not cheesy. But just a meaning.

I was hoping that I could've posted pictures of the two pages of staff that I wrote for a piano piece, but, Lo and Behold (Whatever that means), the binder they were in was left in the English Department. Agh!
So I still owe you two more blogs for this month.
Much excitement and all that,
Isaac.

Editors- Weight of the World (Cover) (#6)

At the moment I'm surrounded by toilet paper (I never got the point of tissue paper) with a runny nose, congested throat, and chills running up and down my spine. I'm in my blue argyle robe and blue jeans, listening to Jeremy Larson. The sun's setting already and I've done absolutely nothing except work from 9 to 1. Oh, well, not really nothing. I finished this video song, so that's something I guess.
As of now, this is my least favorite of my video songs. I'm not sure why. It might be the video footage. I just didn't really care about how I looked when I was filming, and you can kind of tell. Haha. Now I kind of regret that.
 I just feel like the whole song was sloppily put together. And I was recording vocals three days ago when this cold thing started coming strong. I refused to let it get the best of me and tried to record what I could. As you can tell, my voice sounds really strained and rusty. Now I can't even sing :/

The two things I like about this song is the violin and the beat. I don't claim to be a violin player. I can't even do a proper tremolo. And most of the time I play either too sharp or too flat (It's so hard to play an instrument without frets!) But with the help of reverb and multiple tries, I think I finally got it to be at least a bit acceptable.
And the beat was kind of fun. I'm going to start experimenting with beat more, I think.
So I don't have that same ecstatic feeling that I had upon finishing I Am Strong last week. Maybe in a couple day's time I can look back on this song and see it for what it's worth. It might be a lot better or a lot worse. We'll see.

I started writing on staff for piano now. I think for my next post I'll photo copy them and distribute to anybody who wants to try to play it. The first person to learn it and post a video on my wall gets a prize! Sure.... let's try something like that.
Thanks for reading
Isaac

I Am Strong (Song #5)

My gosh. It feels good to finish things, even the things that I generally like to do. The moment I post that video onto this blog and push the big, orange Publish button, I feel just...accomplished. free. and, if I like what I made, slightly and wrongfully proud. It's a good feeling. 
Anyway, oh me.... this song.
I think so far this was the funnest I've had by far making music. I'm not exactly sure why. This one took the longest, and it consisted of the most breaking points where I just wanted to throw away the whole thing. But the expression that I got across! The joy! The bounce. The movement. The happiness. I feel like I really pinpointed exactly what I wanted to express and I freakin did it. Granted, i did have an original song to model this one after. But still, I feel like I did the mood of the song justice. Maybe I'm just biased. I'll have to listen to it again when I'm in a bad mood and see if it turns that frown upside down! 
yeah....


The Music
I'm pretty sure you could deduce that this isn't my default style. I'm seen as much more of a soulful acoustic kind of a guy by most people. But I think I've always had a secret appreciation for the pulsing bass beats and slurry trance sounds of techno music. 
Let me say straight up that I honestly don't think one music is better than the other. Acoustic folk and Techno both bring their sets of cards to the table, both having uniqueness in them. 
I used to think that techno music wasn't real music. That it was a cop out for people who can't play real instruments.
Now I just don't think that's true. The Midi controller (A rendition of a key board that will play a variety of different sounds that techno artists use)  is in itself a real instrument and I think it takes a lot of skill to be able to play it well.
At the same time, I will always come back to the natural sounds of our world with a reverence. There is something about the hearing of a plucked instrument in real life that just cannot be replaced. There's sincerity in it. There's soul.
So I honestly just can't take sides.

And when it comes to making this kind of music, I'm very very very limited. The program I used was just Garageband (I bent most of the default sounds into something different. And the software in Garageband is very very very limited when it comes to editing sounds). Again, I recorded both the guitar and vocals with my mic on my laptop computer.

I had originally started recording this song at 120 bpms (Beats Per Minute) but felt that it was too slow and bumped it up to 130.
I'm not sure why I just told you that.

The Theme
I'm an avid advocate for free-interpretational rights for the listener when it comes to music. Meaning, I think that there are different, valid ways that people can interpret a piece of art, based on their uniqueness and personal experience. As long as the interpreter isn't being difficult and lame, saying that a song is about yellow dump trucks when it's really about social injustices in the world, I think art really is, to a certain extent, meant to be interpreted. I'm using waaaay too complex of sentence structures. I don't even understand myself.

So in that light, to me, the song I Am Strong is about all of the things in your life that make you you. The things that get you along from day to day. Not exactly the things that you live for, but the things that help you live.
So that's what all the random video footage was throughout my video. It all represented something in my life that helps me live, what gives me zest for life. Everything that keeps me going.

First you saw my dog Jack. He reminds me about joy. He teaches me a little bit about what love is-- the way he is always ecstatic to see me, even when I've ignored him for days at a time. He is one of the most forgiving living things I know.

I'm not exactly sure what the creepy shot was when I was looking through my window into the neighbor's yard. I just needed a filler.

The blue dinosaur represented my childhood. It was worth the wear. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

My Journal. I just really like to express myself, either through the written or spoken word or through music or, on rare occasions, bad dancing. I feel like expression is essential to me. It makes me feel whole.

The ukelele belonged to my grandfather. I think what it means to me is just family. All of my family. I know I sound like most every other being on the face of this earth. But if it wasn't for my family, I would be lost. It also is the instrument for peace, as the Hawaiians say, I think. Peace is something I strive to learn more of. I don't know it too well, but I want to.

My worn out converse. Haha! They don't mean anything too deep. I guess I just like to go places, and these shoes are proof of that.

The cd Takk by Sigur Ros. I chose this one just because it's one of my favorites. It's sad, but music gives meaning to my life I can't find anywhere else. If I had no music in my ears or in my head or on my fingers, if I was deprived of such joys, I would be cursed. I know Christians aren't supposed to say those kinds of things, but it's true. I need music, even though it really doesn't need me.
Also, music is my connection with my closer friends. If it wasn't for music, I wouldn't have some of the friends that I have now. And that would make me sad and a bit broken.

The banana peel. haha....

The bible. I think it's odd that I put this in here. I suppose, no matter how many grievances I have against this present day religion and our conceptions of God and our disguised legalistic standards, it really is, without my permission sometimes, a huge part of me. That's not always true. A lot of times I actually like Christianity. But regardless of my likes and dislikes, it will always remain to be a big influence upon me.

Where the Wild Things Are: I'm a wild thing!!!!! RAWR!!!

And finally, the Little Prince. This book, along with giving me a lasting appreciation for literature in general, is my constant reminder of the importance of the childlike mind. May I always have curiosity for life. May I be tamed. May I find a rose unique to me.

And as a side note, I put the clip of me in the back seat of my parent's Ford Taurus in as well. It kind of goes along the same lines as my converse. I just really like going places. This was taken a year ago when we were driving up to Pennsylvania. My hair was oh very unstylishly short back then.

These are all of the things that help me live life. They are the things that make me strong.

Oh! And if you want to hear the original song,

Anyway, I believe I rambled for long enough now.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have.
Thanks for reading
Isaac

Music is seclusion

So I didn't post a video last week.
And this is the precise reason why i said I wouldn't do a one-song-a-week video thing, because I knew things just wouldn't work. I'm much more of a four songs a month kind of a man.
Anyway, all this to say, I'll be adding a beast of a song tomorrow that you can dance to. I'm actually reeeeeeaaally excited about this one. It's the first song that I've made that's actually fully happy. No emotional sad faces or religious theology. Just bounce and smiles. That's what this one consists of. I wish I wrote it. Gosh.... there are so many songs I wish I wrote...
Anyway, I decided to blog tonight anyway just because I felt like it. There were some pretty deep musical thoughts going around in my head a couple hours ago, then my mom wanted to teach me how to file my tax report or something like that. And then I got all taxed out and can't remember exactly what I was thinking. Thanks, mom.

In an interview or a video blog or something, Imogen Heap said that music is a very reclusive art. You spend hours fiddling around with sounds, making them, bending them, editing them, dancing to them. And it's all alone in a dark room. Your only company is the music that you create. This isn't bad, because this is simply the way music comes about. It's a thing created personally, not publicly. I'm not expressing this well.... let me see.
In my opinion, I feel that music must be created at a really private level, either by yourself or with friends that you trust. I don't think the creation of music should be a social thing. I've heard about big artists who have parties while they record parts of their albums. I feel like that's fake. Music looses something, I think, when you make music socially.
And because of that, musicians (If I dare call myself one) are recluses. It's not their fault. I'd wager that most musicians like people in general. But music is an art demanding seclusion.
I've probably spent about five hours working on this song that i'll put up tomorrow. Five hours. No facebook. No homework. No friends. No phone calls. Just art.
I would say that it isn't worth it, to make music, when it demands so much of me. But at the same time, I feel like it's a valid way to spend your time. For one, though you do not connect with people while you're making a song, I feel like you can connect with people anywhere when they hear the song that you created. The listener might not like what they hear, and that might be your fault or theirs, just as people might not like you at a party, when it could be your fault or theirs. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the transferring of music can be a means for social connection, but the creation of music must not be.

Really, I'm just rambling about something I dont know much about.

I also feel that for this reason of music being such a secluded art, and my longing to see the world and know about it, I've been thinking about changing my college major to something completely random like marine conservation biology or zoology or ecology. Something to get me out to smell the sea and the green grass and animal poo. Perhaps having a major that gets me out doing things will compensate for the seclusion that is making music.

And speaking of Imogen Heap, did you know that she composed and performed a whole orchestral piece? you should go research it. She's so pretty...

Thanks for reading!
Music coming tomorrow!
Isaac

Song #4 Hello, Sun

I was in our spare room in our old house in Mexico. I had set up what I told people was a makeshift studio, which consisted of a mattress and blankets strewn against the walls, two beginner condenser microphones, a borrowed mic stand, a USB interface that never worked, and this macbook pro. In my mind at the time were predominantly the melodies of Sigur Ros. My mom was badgering me to clean the whole place up in preparation for my sisters who were coming in two months. I never payed attention. Too much music to get out. Well... at least that's how I felt at the time. Looking back, music came out, but not as much as I thought. And it was all just ideas. No finished products. Just segments of what I hoped was beautiful. None of the ideas connecting with each other. All separate and distinct in my mind.
This is a product of those times. At the time, I had only made the guitar parts and the echo-y ambiance that you hear throughout the piece. No lyrics, no trivial bleep sounds. Just guitar. I thought it was beautiful, and I still think it's a rather pretty piece. Very sentimental. It's one of those songs that I don't really feel need words. I put them on anyway, just to experiment. That's what this whole thing is, really. An experimentation. If you don't like it, then I'm sorry. But I do and I think that's all that matters. Well, I mostly like it. I don't ever really like any of my songs completely. There's always something that I wish I had done differently. But you have to move on. You can't spend too long on one piece because all of your other ideas go stale. It's your responsibility as a musician to not let that happen. To let the ideas that you have get out, even if they're not perfect. You owe it to society. It's your responsibility.
Sorry this whole blog is rather spaced. I'm rather spaced.
It's Saturday, the 29th, and I'm tired at 10:00.

Lyrics:
Hello, moon.
Hello, fear.
I have no one
that I hold dear.

Hello, Love.
I'm so sorry.
Hello, Sun.
Don't worry.

Goodbye, fear.
Hello, daylight.
In the sunshine,
you're beside me.
You're beside me.


Hope you enjoyed this.
And thus concludes January!
This will be more work than I thought.
I won't fizzle out though.
Neverrrrrr.
Thanks for reading
Isaac

Song #3 Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground

Another cover. It's true. I suppose I'm rather lacking in gusto when it comes to songwriting. I have two reasons for this. One, I've heard nightmarish stories about artists who write songs and don't copyright them and then are stolen from by big time artists who then copyright it for themselves and make millions off of a song some kid wrote in his bedroom. Just watch this:

Wouldn't that scare you a bit? I mean I don't know how true it is, but it does frighten me. And I don't mean to sound audacious, thinking that My music is good enough for anybody to want to steal. But still, I think I'm getting a bit better as a song writer (with a very very very long way's to go, let me assure you), and I'm just scared that something that I put on youtube or myspace or this blog might be heard by some desperate artist who had reached the last straw and needed a way out. Any way out. And then I would hear my song on the radio sung by someone with a better voice than mine, getting absolutely no credit for at least a little creativity of my own. The world's a cruel place.
So I've been looking into copyrighting laws and I think I might get into it in the future. But for the meantime.... I'm still a bit scared.

I don't remember what the second reason is.
But rest assured, I'm writing my pants off for this new EP I'm hoping to produce this summer. I've been really digging the sounds of Jonsi, Jeremy Larson, Mew, and Radical Face. I wouldn't mind if I sounded like a little of all four. Jonsi for his humanistic, joyful feel to his lyrics with the absolutely Mad drum beats. Jeremy Larson, for his clear, unique voice and raw piano talent. Mew for their melody. Radical Face for moving from the Simple to the Complex in a manner that sort of creeps up on you and you don't realize it. And when it comes, you close your eyes and move to a song that you wouldn't have in the beginning. Then as quickly as it comes, it goes back to something simple but beautiful. To see what I mean, listen to :
http://hypem.com/#!/item/pwpg/Radical+Face+-+Along+the+Road

Oh! And of course Yann Tiersen. Although at the moment I can't really tell if I'm under his influence, I hold the highest respect for the man as a musician. His new cd Dust Lane that came out last October absolutely blew my mind. I streamed it legally online and turned my lights off in my room and laid slantways on my bed with my eyes closed and mind empty and what happened was something like the feeling you get when you meditate, I guess. You're completely empty and allow yourself to be filled up by something. I was filled up by Dust Lane, and I can now say with confidence that it's a cd I think every human being should hear at least an excerpt from once in his life. I don't say this lightly, and I know that this cd could offend some people (It has the F word in one of its titles! Oh nos!!!) But you don't have to listen to that song (Though, after giving it a good listen, I think it'll be my favorite song when I'm married. Uh oh's.... I'm getting immature again.... Sorry : )
No but really. The music is so exceedingly experimental. I've never witnessed such emotion of different natures packed into just one hour. Tiersen takes you from this loud, absolute rage to sentimental piano pickings in half a second. And then back into something hopeful and joyful and natural. It makes one wish one could cry better. If you're not convinced, just give the album a listen right now with your eyes closed in your bedroom alone. You can skip the last song if you want (Unless you're married!)
http://www.ifc.com/news/2010/10/album-premiere-yann-tiersens-d.php

Another thing that draws me to this album so much is that while Yann Tiersen recorded this off the coast of France (I think), he suffered the loss of both his mother and best friend. I think that's a lot to go through, especially in the process when you're supposed to be expressing something every day. You can just feel his sorrow all throughout the album. It's just beautiful.
I'm done, I think. I hope you enjoyed all those links and videos. Oh! and my video. Haha.
Thanks for reading
-Isaac

This is not my song.

This is a clip from the instrumentals of a song that a friend of mine from Hawaii is in the process of composing. I fell in love with the sound, and I think you might too.
This is the same guy that I'm hoping will produce my EP in the Summer. The name's Evan Van Kirk. Look him up!

http://soundcloud.com/evan_vk/devil-4/s-9TOqg

Incredible?

Yesh.

#2 This One Doesn't Have A Name...

This is an original composition that I started working on back in my Mexico days when I had at my disposal this classy, scratched up Wurlitzer studio piano that had made its way from Bermuda to Turkey, England, Puerto Rico, back to the U.S., and finally down to Mexico where it is now. (It traveled around with my mom and her family as my grandpa fulfilled his Air Force duties in those corners of the world). Someday I plan on keeping it next to my bed when I have a house of my own. Here's a picture of it:

(Photo credit: Christy Chang)

Anyway, a couple clarifications. Yes, I understand that it's absolutely foolish to record piano (or anything for that matter) through just the mic on your computer. As far as audio quality, there's no way I'm trying to show off for this video. Honestly, I do have the means to produce much better audio for these types of things. At least, I did until my Tascam US-144 interface kindly decided to stop working. (NEVER BUY A TASCAM US-144 INTERFACE, OKAY!?!?!?) And since then, I have been left only with my computer mic, which does a fine job for what it is. I plan on fixing this problem with... This! An M-Audio MobilePre mk II. From what I've heard, it has everything I need. Two inputs, volume control, manual mixing, all the good stuff. The only downside is it doesn't have MIDI inputs, but that's okay because I leave that sort of tech-y music to my better friends who know what they're doing. So yes, hopefully by the end of this break I should have enough monies to buy such a treasure.

And I just got completely sidetracked. Apologies for everyone!

So I also understand that this song is rather repetitive by nature. I'm not too worried about that, because for now all I wanted to do was to get the song's basic idea out there. Rest assured, that this song isn't finished (Are any songs ever finished?). Hopefully I might be able to slim down on the repetition and beef up on some variations. But I'm definitely planning on using at least part of this song for future work.

I suppose at the time that I first started working on this one, I was definitely under the influence of Yann Tiersen and W. A. Mozart. Mostly of the latter. I'm really very new to this classical-styled music scene and am just getting my hands on works by Mendelssohn and J.S. Bach and Chopin. I'm loving it all immensely. Hopefully I'll have a piece by Chopin up in the near future.
And yet, while finishing up this piece, or at least the basic idea of it, I was definitely influenced more-so by Yann Tiersen than by any others. You really should check out his music. The man's a present-day prodigy. Rather a miracle, in my opinion.
Here's a video of my personal favorite of his piano pieces. It doesn't really show off his complete mastery of the instrument, but it's packed with this thoughtful, sorrowful feeling inside it that for some reason is rare in our music culture.

And that's about it.
This song (My song) doesn't really have a name. I tried to come up with one in the past thirty minutes, but they all sounded lame, like "Ducks on the River" or "A Midnight in Silence." Either too flamboyant and silly or too much forced seriousness. Perhaps I'll come up with a name for it in the future. At the present, let's just call it Piano No. 1 in D Major. That's simple and uneasy to remember.

I think D Major is my favorite key. It's not quite E Major, but it's definitely not C Major.
This video is taking forever to upload. I just wrote all of this and it's still not done. Oh, the predicament.
Peace, Love, and Music!
(I'm a hippie tonight).
Thanks for reading
-Isaac

Song # 1 Freelance Whales- Location (Cover)

Well, this sure is incredibly relieving, having one song down and not a whole week has gone by in the first month of the year. We're off to a pretty good start, I think. Though, to be completely honest (I want this blog to be a Sanctuary of Honesty for us music folk), I've been working on this Cover for a little over three weeks. So to say that I completed this in three days would be a lie, indeed.

The song was written by Freelance Whales.

It's odd how music works, isn't it? When I hear a song by a band (let's use hmmmm...Freelance Whales?), I think of something completely different than what might come to your mind. Today, when I listen to the original recording of Location, my brain goes to Tucson, Arizona and road trips through the parched Southern Californian deserts. I think of odd Mars-looking rock formations and touristy gas stations and the Pacific Coast. I think of a white van and six friends and my parents. Most of all, I think of carefree curiosity for the world. All of this is instilled by one song. Isn't that remarkable? Another reason to love music.

So now, onto my version of this song.
When first setting out to record this one, I knew I wanted it to be a Video Song. However, having only done one Video Song in my entire life (to see that one, click Here), I was very much at a loss as to how to approach it. How do I get the video to line up with the audio? How do I record video and audio from a lap top at the same time, and then edit the audio, but not the video? How do I get proper lighting? Why is my video looking all yellow-y? On and on and on.

To put this out there right now, I use a Macbook Pro. For recording audio, I just use Garageband. For Video, it's iMovie. I didn't use any special mic or anything, just the mic on the laptop. So pretty much anybody with a Macbook Pro can do what I do. Haha.

What I Learned
Well, lots of things.
First, the significance of a metronome. For some terrible reason that I don't remember, I decided to start recording without any type of time keeper whatsoever. Perhaps I just wanted the music to "flow as music does" from my soul, and "whatever happens happens" or something along those lines. However, I must say that that was a terrible idea. So here's my advice: when recording the base track for a song, the track that every other instrument will branch off of, ALWAYS use a metronome. 
I guess that's not very profound, but whatevs.

Second, the importance of presence in front of the camera. Sure, okay. My laptop shoots thirty frames per second and there's not much to look at, anyway. But really. The way the music Looks in a VideoSong is almost just as important as how the music Sounds. I mean, weren't you kind of repulsed at the end of the video when I'm playing the last couple strums on my guitar, donning the facial expressions of doom across my face? It's like a conglomeration of sadness, boredom, hatred, and well... just plain ugliness. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but when it comes to VideoSongs, it kind of is.
To see what I mean, watch This.

Third, I can't whistle for the life of me.
Fourth, when recording a song that's a bit more folky, go easy on the Reverb when it comes to vocals and any instrument for that matter. Folk has this sort of dry, earthy feel to it. Reverb gives things a bit smoother of a touch. So what I did was use only about 10% Reverb or less on any of my instruments if it was necessary. And no Echo. The only exception was the Accordion. Some of its notes were off key, and there were some rough spots when changing chords. To fix this, I applied more reverb than usual (Around 40%) and a bit more echo. I also compressed it a bit tighter than anything else, to give it a more even sound throughout.

I feel like I'm writing a badly-written cookbook for musicians.... Haha.

Fifth, whenever you're listening to music, you're doing the musician a favor by turning up the volume as high as comfort lets you and wearing headphones. This way, you get to hear every detail in the music that you might've missed if you had listened to it through speakers or with lower volume. I mean... when I want you to listen to my music, I want you to listen to it with headphones and lots of volume. Please? Thanks. I knew you'd understand.


Anyway, I'm kind of rambling.
Did you like the Tennis Ball? I'm pretty proud of that one. To be honest, I did a lot of audio editing with the equalizer to give it a lot more bass and a lot less bounce. Haha. Aaaaaand, okay. I'll be honest again. I added a synthetic bass drum every once in a while when I thought it needed it. But honestly, it's not that big of a difference and I turned it down. For some reason I thought I could justify it and now it seems really stupid to. But yeah. What else....
Do you like my new haircut?
Okay I'm done.

This is Song #1 of Isaac Middleton's fifty-two-song thingy that he's doing for no legitimate reason other than Delight.
One Down! Fifty-one to go.
Thanks for reading and listening!
-Isaac

The Challenge!....yeah....

Movies move me. Sit me down with Slum Dog Millionaire for an hour and watch me pull out my laptop to research the Peace Corps so that I could join it and move to India to feed hungry children. Then we can watch Singing in the Rain and I'll look up tap dance lessons on youtube and learn how to perform a basic shuffle. I had seen Beauty and the Beast performed on stage once in the summer and am now minoring in Musical Theater. I wouldn't necessarily call this something to be proud of, because nothing ever lasts too long with me. I gave up tap after about two weeks (I still blame it on having never been able to find proper tap shoes, but really I was just lazy) and I honestly just don't know if Musical Theater is something I should be doing. No matter how much I'm moved by a movie or a play, I always end up fizzling out like an old lightbulb. Nevertheless, I shall never let my incompetence keep me from trying something new.

All this to say, I have just recently watched a movie called Julie & Julia. And..... well... I was moved.

The movie is about a girl (Julie) who, having fizzled out halfway through writing a novel (sound familiar?), has moved with her husband to Queens to live over a Pizzeria (living over the pizzeria wasn't really the point of the move... I guess I worded that a bit funkily). Between balancing her work and her married life, she also cooks simply because she likes it. I'm not really sure what drove her to do it; it could have been her boredom with her life and a desire to do something fresh and new, or perhaps a cry to the internet for some sort of attention, or a chance to talk about herself freely. But whatever the case, Julie decides to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in a year (Over 400 recipes in 365 days) and make a blog about it to freely publish her words.

What I like about this is that she took the two things she was good at (writing and cooking) and put them to work in a slightly unconventional fashion. And in the end, she learned how to Bone A Chicken (something not the average cook can do, I suppose). And she also wrote about it, which made her a better writer all-around and later led to the publishing of her very own book.

So I suppose this is a very childish thing of me to do. It's such the thing to do to try to include yourself into the experience of other people, so that perhaps you can feel a bit like how they felt. I usually make fun of people like that. Anyway...

I like writing. I like blogging. And I like music. All kinds of music. I like making it and composing it and recording it. I like talking about it and critiquing it. And lastly, I like sharing it. And I like challenging myself.

So after watching this one inspiring movie about two inspiring women, I was moved to this: make a blog about music. Any kind of music. My music. Someone else's music. Any music. The challenge? Blog four times a month, with each blog holding either an audio file or video file of music that I have created and recorded. The songs can be an original composition, a cover song, a piece by a composer, a video song, or whatever else. As long as it is me making the music. I suppose Four songs a month doesn't sound like much of a challenge. But what with my desire to do moderately well in school and to actually have friends, well... I think four is enough. And besides, songs are different. They need time to be digested and spit up and digested again, like the cud of a cow, you know? Oh, and I've even given myself some life lines. If by the end of a month, I only have three songs posted, I can either critique an album made this year, or..... I don't know. If I actually have some sort of following, I can let the public decide on my punishment.

Is that terribly cliche of me to do this? I mean, if I wasn't doing this, I would probably be spending my next year taking too long of showers and stalking too many people on Facebook. I do think I need some sort of solid hobby. Something with grit and deadlines. I want this blog to be about exploring music. So, sure... the idea was born by a movie... a chick flick, nonetheless. But I think this could be interesting.

And so, just like the housewife living above the pizzeria, Isaac Middleton, having fizzled out of many tasks in his life, takes up the task of a Fifty-two Song-a-year blog. What could drive him to such an idea? Could it be boredom with his life and a desire to do something fresh and new, or perhaps a cry to the internet for some sort of attention, or a chance to talk about himself freely? Whatever the case, the idea has been planted. I'm determined to not fizzle out. But then... I was determined not to fizzle out with tap dancing as well... Let's just see, then. Let the blogging begin!

..Well that was kind of a cheesy ending...

Thanks for reading
- Isaac