Songs without Words

Alright, after spending altogether too much time writing what has turned into just 2:15 of music, I present to you my draft of the AA’bridgeC sections of my piece. After the final cadence, I will break into some angsty c minor material that will be largely cadenza-like for the flute and violin, then recap these first themes that you hear here.

Listen (MIDI, 7 kb)!

Overall, I’m glad that it retains the feel of late-classical, early-romantic style, and Ab major is a rather beautiful key. It’s very conservative and demure to the degree that the subdued Eb major, beside it, seems so bright, and I tried to accentuate this contrast with the more march-like, really-high flute melody of the C theme. The B theme sounds bland here, but it’s really a cello theme, as in relies heavily on the inflection, swaying, and ginormous vibrato of a decent cellist. Same goes for the viola, which picks up this cello theme.

In terms of what the music means, in this case, I think I have clearer idea than usual. The first theme is an unassuming love theme. The instruments should never overplay the first appearance of this theme because it’s that sort of innocent-adolescents-in-a-meadow-in-love sort of theme. But this is interrupted by the first twinges of drama when, in the A’ section that introduces the flowing triplets in the accompaniment, you get the sudden diminished 7th chord that sends the flute soaring on the high Gb. After a sequence of chords, there is a happy resolution in Ab. The cadence is a motif unto itself, and in fact, every major cadence hereafter will be a variation on this motif (C Bb Db G | Ab). This is actually an idea I came up with in Violin Concerto No. 62, Mvt. II, where the 5/4 cadence is almost always Eb F G G F | Eb. Because I love to explore in my melodies, I need something to bring it all home, and having a motivic cadence is one way to achieve this grounding.

The cello-viola theme follows directly out of the first cadence without any break. This is another element of “Justin style.” Since it is not the “second theme” per se, I don’t feel like it needs its own beginning, which would fragment the piece. If you listen to Symphony No. 22, Mvt. IV (finale, introduction and rondo), the celli also begin the sub-theme in this manner, growing right out of the D major cadence. Admittedly, this cello-viola theme isn’t the most inspired thing in the world, and after that awkward sitting on c minor for one bar (ew, I know it sounds terrible), I could only save it with a pop formula that is maybe out of place, but I like to refer to it as often as possible (well, once per movement). Anyway, the color starts to change as the overall line ascends over a period of four bar leading up to the blaring Eb “horn-like” announcement.

Thus begin the second theme, which is somewhat briefer than I had originally conceived. It’s a loud, rhythmically accurate line with a bright, exacting sound. I imagine that it would be brass-like in presentation, while the opening line is more like a harp and flute. After a bit of winding around, we come to the final cadence of the large first section of this movement.

Anyway, I’m thinking about the B section now, but I have some other homeworks to do. Please enjoy this song and feel free to send comments/crits my way.

In “Writing in Tonal Forms II,” we’ve been given the assignment to write a classical-style second movement.  Having stuck very strictly to classical style in the Sonata movement that was our first assignment, I’ve decided to try pushing the limits of the assignment this time.

Basically, I have no intention of writing a Haydn second movement.  While I respect the clarity and stability of classical first movements and finales, I have a firm belief that second movements exist only for the romantic era.  With such a slow tempo, the color has to come from the chords and from rubato, etc.

As such, I have elected to begin with the chord progression:

I  iio7 (half-diminished with b5) V V7/ii ii4-3 I6 IV7 I, ii65 V7 I9 V7/vi vi9 V7/V V7,

which already breaks a few classical conventions.  Additionally, we’ve been told to write in “abbreviated Sonata form,” AB|AB, but I’m going to see if I negotiate the slightly modified form that I propose to use, which is “Pop-rock ballad form,” A A’ bridge refrain (C C’) interlude A A’ bridge C C’ outro.

Regarding second movements, of which I’ve written a couple, I almost always use ternary form, avoiding modulation in each of the three sections.  There is precedent for this: in fact, most romantic composers seem to use this instead of the rather boring abbreviated Sonata form.  Ternary form works like A B A, where A is always in the home key and B is in a key like vi or parallel major/minor, and Bach was very good at using it (he always seems to be way ahead of his times, imo).  Why avoid modulation?  Because it requires wasted material to change keys, when you could just as well just use the key you’re already in and spin something gorgeous instead.  It also saves room for the heavily contrasting B section.

Heya, I think I wanna try something pretty simple in concept. Basically, I’m going to take a lots of samples over a period of days of how many people on my buddy list (total = 79) are online but not away or idle. I’m curious to see where the “peak” lies, presuming what I expect to be a sort of single-hump “wave” over the generic 24-hour period. I’ll post my results here.

Okay, the first day of data collection is complete, more or less.  It’s looking like a pretty smooth wave, with a peak around midnight and a valley at around 9 AM.   The only anomaly is the “5:45 PM spike.”  I will seek to determine whether this is just a fluke, or if everyone really gets home and signs on at 5:45 haha!

I shall continue to collect data for a few more days.  I’m lacking a lot of critical data during my daze/nap period (1-3 AM).  I might have to restrict the data collection to weekdays, though.

Sweet!  Everyone, go check out Google’s page.  In commemoration of abstract artist Joan Miró’s birthday, they redid the title true to his style!  I recognized it immediately and went, “No way… .”  If you’ve never seen his art before, really really check it out.  A friend of mine’s dad is really into Miró’s works and even asked me to try painting something in his style (but that was hopeless).  At first, I didn’t know what to make of the bizarre shapes and apparent simplicity.  But the style is so distinctive and classy without ever achieving a rational image.  In other words, it’s beautiful.

The love drama I was watching … I watched it all! That’s not what I mean. I mean to say that there’s nothing to take my mind off of you anymore. Waiting for just those few words of acknowledgement … I know it’s only been so few days, yet I really feel like I’ve been in a daze for years.

I wonder if maybe it got lost in the mail? Then I should be banging my head against the wall for so stubbornly insisting on mailing it and not making a copy of it. Or maybe no one checks her mail anymore these days … at least not at MIT, where paper-spam and credit card bills constitute the bulk of snail mail.

I don’t know … why am I so anxious and impatient about this? Why do I want to hear your voice again so badly, even if you will be acting as if nothing had happened, when I just heard it a few days ago?

It doesn’t matter, though.
Anyway, I don’t even know if you read this blog or not … alright, I’m outta here. Night *yawn*

In the demo of the game “Hani Hani: Operation Sanctuary,” a dating simulation of sorts, the main character asks his friend (~girlfriend~ if you direct the game that way) to teach him how to make apricot tofu, sort of as a joke. I did some research and discovered that in fact, people do make apricot tofu.

Here’s my version of it:

And without almonds:
I have no idea how it tastes, because I have yet to get a chance to eat it. I guess I could go try it now, but I might as well wait til tomorrow.I was sort of disappointed in the fact that this supposedly “silky” tofu turned out to be rather firm. I was hoping for the really really smooth, almost pudding-like type. It’s much better suited for dessert.

Here is the “recipe” I used ..
Apricot syrup: Finely cut and smashed canned apricots, apricot jam (Smuckers), orange blossom Grade A honey, vanilla extract, lemon juice, unsalted butter, and tons of sugar.

Then, just assemble … heehee! I just wish I had one of those cool rectangular ceramic dessert dishes. That would be uber-awesome.

To preface, this isn’t a story, but just a short examination of trying to meld love stories with the present world.

Basically, there are two key “problems” with the times: first, the internet, and second, cell phones. These are wonderful gifts to society and also probably the duo that comprises the arch-nemesis of the archetypal “love story.” Of course, one might argue: well, if you can always be in touch with the person you love, isn’t that a good thing? In real life, of course it is. For instance, you’re much less likely to waste an hour waiting at the wrong place, or if you need to come out with something that you’re afraid to say in person, you can just text message it and hit send before you can second-guess yourself.

Nevertheless, in terms of story-writing, these modern-day conveniences are very wily and difficult to deal with. Some stories do it beautifully – the premise of “You’ve Got Mail” succeeds in integrating the internet without sacrificing the classic “love story” tenets. The main problems with instantaneous, constant communication are enumerated below:

1. The elimination of suspense and waiting. Waiting can really play a number on your mind. In some cases, it will make you love the person even more as you come to appreciate that you can’t live without him/her. In some cases, you will take the opportunity to prepare something to say or give to your love. In other cases, you come to regret something, and maybe you even leave, or you leave behind a note or some sign. It’s iterating, churning of thought and emotion like this that really drives a love story.

To see him/her arrive back on the ship safely, not knowing for weeks prior what was going on except for a single letter that is partially stained by salt water: is that not much greater a force on the heart than seeing him/her arrive at the airport, having called you just before he/she left, asking what to have for dinner? And isn’t that letter worth a thousand trivial e-mails, or more? To run through town, trying to find the perfect flower from among the small flower carts, isn’t that different than using the “flower-carousel” found in train stops and airport terminals?

In truth,

okay, wordpress got messed up and so the second half of this post has been lost.  whatever, I don’t feel like retyping it all.  Why can’t browsers bother to KEEP text in their memory???

This has become my small little corner of the web, away from the hustle and bustle of LJ and MySpace and Xanga and the rest.  I think I like it here.  Maybe it suits me better, like a small reflecting pool.  It’s at least more romantic, and if anyone should approach me, I would be teased first by the wavering images in the dazzling waters before turning my head to greet him or her.

I am not afraid to admit here that I am not really the same as many of the great bloggers out there; that is to say, I write for the sake of other people reading.  I’m not sure if I have any purpose in writing for writing’s sake, excepting maybe a few rants that I end up posting as “private” anyway.  But overall, I want to stir people into discussion.  Well, wanted, but I guess I still do want.  It’s just a tad different now because I’ve made the conscious decision to move here.  No longer will my posts stuff people’s “friends” pages.

The burden of being “friends” is sometimes a bit too great.  One comes to expect too much out of a designation that hardly means more than, say, being facebook friends, or a penpal’s buddy’s cousin.  Maybe one person or two will bookmark this, finding something here worth reading about (or listening to).  I hope to post in a relatively balanced way and to spend very little time in the “main storyline” (ie, my everday events, such as now)  as compared to the realms of creation and exploration – music, poetry, short stories, comics, and essays.

Maybe what I need, online, is an audience, above all.  My heart of course needs something else, but my heart lies in the real world, and it has to stay there.  But here, in this virtual world, I think I am trying to achieve something different.  I want to prove something, and for that to work, I only need one person to be in the audience, watching me.  I will perform for you to the best of my ability.

Thank you very much.

It’s at times like these that I really feel sorry for all vegetarians … there’s really no experience quite like cleaning the meat clear off a rack of ribs, smelling the sauce-tinged smoke and ashes, ferally ripping apart meat and vegetable alike. Mmm! Two baked potatoes, a biscuit with honey, two chunks of corn, one rack of ribs, a chicken leg, half a sausage, and potato chips. Damn, that was good!

Omar, Aaron, Alex, and Kevin did a fantastic job at the grill (and with the ovens) as always – thanks so much.  I doubt I’ll have to eat another bite for the rest of the day.

Patriot’s (or Easter) weekend is a long weekend for me, and as a small music project, I want to try out a new type of “theme and variations.”  Instead of making each successive variation be an ornamentation of the first within the bounds of a particular style, what I wish to do is have each variation be of roughly equal “simplicity” in its own right, but explore many different styles of music.  What I propose is as follows:

Theme

Var I. Baroque – court style (eg, Handel)
Var II. Baroque – Vivaldi

Var III. Baroque – J. S. Bach

Var IV. Classical – Mozart

Var V. Classical – Beethoven

Var VI. Romantic
Var VII. March

Var VIII. Blues

Var IX. Classic Rock

Var X. Hard Rock

Var XI. Pop Rock Ballad

Var XII. 20th Century

Var XIII. Film Score

This is going to be pretty hard, though …