I have a few teaching moments from the arrangement that I published last week. We have already discussed the overall feel of the piece. When you hear this song typically, it is grand and a bit ponderous. I took a sort of wistful approach but it works with the lyrics just as well I think. […]
Here are links to this entire series: Part 1: My story of abuse (Introduction) Part 2: Seven things you need to know about abusers Part 3: Dealing with victims of abuse Part 4: It started with a crossword puzzle Part 5: Getting help for an abuse victim Part 6: Taking the next step Part 7: My […]
It would nice in some ways I suppose if I could give you lots of rules for all music situations. That would make it easier; but of course at that point, music would no longer be an art. There are some general rules; but much to the consternation of those who think this is all […]
From a professional standpoint, workflow is important. If something needs to be done, somebody has to step back and figure out how it is going to get done and how to get it done as efficiently as possible. My workflow is the secret sauce for how I get arrangements online in four hours. I will […]
Every time I give tips about writing/arranging, I pinch myself. I still can’t believe anybody wants to read what I have to say about the topic. I sincerely feel unqualified to run a blog dedicated to music. Regardless of what I think about it, a lot of people do come here for help. I am […]
As many of you have noticed, I don’t modulate very much. The main reason I don’t modulate much is because I really don’t find it very necessary or helpful a lot of the time. In general, if there is no compelling reason to do something, I won’t. I should note that when I am talking […]
I live in the Atlanta area, but I have a significant problem in that I am a bit far from downtown. That makes it hard for me to get piano tuners on call, or at least the piano tuners I want. I can get them to come out to do regular tunings but if a […]
I mentioned a few days ago that my YouTube channel is over 10 million views which begs the question: what is the business significance of that? This post will be geared more for you music professionals, but if you do anything online, you might be interested. Before I start this, I need to repeat something […]
A few days ago, my YouTube channel went over 10,000,000 views (and 26,000 subscribers). That is a good little milestone, so I want to talk about it for a bit. Please understand that I am not trying to make more of this than it is. Last time I looked, my YouTube channel is ranked around […]
One of the decisions I made in my recent arrangement of “Crown Him With Many Crowns” was to intentionally break some of my own rules (or at least rules I have stolen from others). For example, consider this: Look at the roots of the chords and you will note that I am moving in thirds. […]
One of my friends from way back is Lance Cummins, a fellow business owner and musician. How far back? Well, you may have heard me talk before about my first album way back in 2000 that was so bad that it never got released. Lance was in the studio that day. In fact, I recorded […]