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1. Monday, September 23, 2024:
   Deep Tracks Day  While in the process of salvaging  old Finale files , I've come across a lot of compositions that I haven't thought about in decades. Here are a couple deep tracks that I enjoy.    Outlooks, Mvt III - The Freewheeler  for string quartet       Irish Washerwoman  for brass quintet    
2. Wednesday, September 04, 2024:
   Quotable Professor Day   Wisdom from Dr. Peter Spencer's Pedagogy of Music Theory class, Fall 2001      " We're not dealing with Philip Glass here; we're dealing with someone who can write music. "    " The University of Florida has about as much right to call themselves a School of Music as I do to call myself a professional golfer. Actually, I have more of a right to call myself a professional golfer. "    " Not even [John Cage] would argue that you need to know how to write a C major triad. He wrote so many of them! " - on the importance of teaching music fundamentals    " Fundamentals textbooks are a lot like gerbils -- they proliferate a...
3. Wednesday, August 28, 2024:
   Finale Day  The music composition world (which I am barely even an honorary member of anymore) is up in arms about sudden end of Finale, the music software which I used to craft all of my MIDI recordings and scores during my music career. The president of the software company posted this letter on Monday:      The end of Finale    35 years ago, Coda Music Technologies, now MakeMusic, released the first version of Finale, a groundbreaking and user-centered approach to notation software. For over four decades, our engineers and product teams have passionately crafted what would quickly become the gold standard for music notation.   Four decades is a very long time in the software industry. Tech...
4. Wednesday, January 03, 2024:
   Music Day  Here are 20 of my favourite songs in different genres, mostly off the beaten path. Discover something new and go down an aural rabbit hole!    S Tier      Lab Rats -  Devil's Train  (US Hip-Hop) [ link ]  Fratellis -  Imposters  (Rock) [ link ]  Delirium feat. Emily Haines -  Stopwatch Hearts  (Rock) [ link ]  A Fine Frenzy -  You Picked Me  (Singer / Songwriter) [ link ]  Just Jack -  Astronaut  (UK Hip-Hop) [ link ]  Wallis Bird -  To My Bones  (Singer / Songwriter) [ link ]  Dirt Poor Robins -  Love Again  (Rock) [ link ...
5. Friday, March 03, 2023:
   Thesis Day  It has now been exactly 20 years since I defended my Master's Thesis at FSU. To commemorate this milestone, I've put together this score video of the piece from start to finish.      I've done very little with my music degrees since leaving grad school. Apart from a few sub-in trumpet performances and brass quintet arrangements for my dad, I've been content to be a passive consumer of music rather than a creator. In contrast, I've made at least a million dollars with my computer science degree, most of which went towards Popeyes meals and boxed DVD sets of bad TV shows.   Learn more about each movement:  I  |  II  |  III  |  IV  |  V  | &nb...
6. Wednesday, February 01, 2023:
   Musical Throwback: A Virginia State Song  16 years ago today, I released my submission for the Virginia State Song competition.            Listen to  Hail Virginia  (590KB MP3)         Listen to the marching band arrangement (560KB MP3)      I think it stands the test of time quite well, especially given the fact that it took another 8 years for an actual song to get selected! 
7. Wednesday, October 20, 2021:
   Songs of the Enrichment Jungle: Amanda the Panda    The Enrichment Jungle has returned to the living room since Ian was born, with a few new faces in need of songs. Here is the first new Enrichment Jungle song in four years, about Amanda the Panda.     The eighth notes are swung, obviously.   Other Posts in This Series:  Volume I  |  Volume II  |  Volume III  |  Amanda the Panda   
8. Wednesday, April 28, 2021:
   Recital Day: 20th Anniversary Nostalgia  Here is the long and unnecessarily verbose recital program I created for my music recital 20 years ago. I sacrificed my spring break in my final semester to stay in town, print 175 copies on the constantly jamming music department printer, and painstakingly bind them on a real binding machine.   (The text is preserved for easier reading  here ).             
9. Monday, July 02, 2018:
   List Day: Songs in My Head  I once mentioned that the  Carnival of Venice   pops into my head  every night before bedtime, filling up an otherwise unused channel in my multichannel brain. If I'm not listening to active music, this channel is immediately populated with random songs from the past, none of which I otherwise listen to with any kind of regularity. Here is a list of the most common songs that pass through my brain at least once per day, and usually more often.      La Rejouissance  from Handel's Royal Fireworks Music    The minor section of the 3rd movement of the  Hummel Trumpet Concerto      Sally's Song  from Nightmare Before Christmas   ...
10. Monday, December 11, 2017:
    Songs of the Enrichment Jungle, Volume III  This next batch of songs does not revolve around characters in the Enrichment Jungle, but they'll be included in the same anthology when it goes to print.      The Nap Song : This is the song I used to regularly hum to Maia to get her to nap in the joey pouch while walking around the basement. When you get to the end, you repeat it ad nauseum. Most of the notes are staccato so you can hum it while out of breath on the nature park hill. She has since transitioned to 70s funk jazz as a soporific, but this still gets hummed occasionally.      Poop Bike : This is the song I use when Maia is working on her outputs. In measures 1 - 3 and 5 - 6, you should be gyrating the baby's l...
11. Monday, December 04, 2017:
    Songs of the Enrichment Jungle, Volume II    The songs in this volume are about Mr. Lion, Orange Squirrel, and Boring Felt Owl. Orange Squirrel was written by Rebecca.     Other Posts in This Series:  Volume I  |  Volume II  |  Volume III  |  Amanda the Panda   
12. Monday, September 25, 2017:
    Songs of the Enrichment Jungle, Volume I    These are the songs I sing about Maia's favourite buddies in her Enrichment Jungle. The eighth notes should clearly be performed in a swing style, because I'm not some kind of heathen.     Volume II will cover the supporting cast, such as the Orange Nut Squirrel, the Boring Felt Owl, and the Monkey Lip Apple.   Other Posts in This Series:  Volume I  |  Volume II  |  Volume III  |  Amanda the Panda   
13. Friday, December 09, 2016:
    2016 Favourites: Top 10 Songs First Heard in 2016  2016 was a more musically lean year, so I'm just listing 10 songs I enjoyed this year in alphabetical order by band rather than ranking them against each other.         Bliss n ESO -  Reservoir Dogs  (2013): I got into Bliss n ESO from Hilltop Hoods and actually like them slightly better. This is a fun collaboration with several other Australian hip-hop artists.        Charlatans UK -  So Oh  (2014): I listened to a lot of the Charlatans UK a decade ago, and was happy to find their new album. THis is a relaxing, mellow song, great for winding down.        Drapht -  Jimmy Recard  (2009): This ...
14. Tuesday, May 03, 2016:
    Scores Day  To note the passing of 15 years since my undergraduate composition recital last week, I put together these two videos of performances synced up with their sheet music.            Some of the notation might be a little off, as I'm now several hundred versions of Finale behind, and I find it amazing that these old files even open anymore, much less render properly. 
15. Friday, December 11, 2015:
    List Day: 4 Disappointing Albums       Stand Up  by Dave Matthews: This was the album that made me stop buying Dave Matthews albums. At the time, I coined this mission statement for it: " Create a forgettable vamp that repeats every four bars and sing about something arhythmically while your band plays a fifth-grade arrangement as backup. Occasionally throw in a random mix of nonmelodic sounds on a separate track that has nothing to do with anything and call it an "Intro" track. Do not, under any circumstances, call this CD  Busted Stuff  because that name was already assigned to a CD with the exact same music on it. "     Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon  by KT Tunstall: This album was devoid of h...
16. Tuesday, December 08, 2015:
    2015 Favourites: Top 10 Songs First Heard in 2015  2015 was a great year in the "music that I enjoy" genre, which is the only important genre. In addition to multiple catchy singles, there were even a few solid albums proving that albums still have some relevance. Give a listen, and maybe you'll find something new to enjoy!         B. Reith -  Old School  (2009):  Nothing terribly special about this white rapper, but the song is a pleasantly blended orchestration of different styles.        Whitton -  Rare Bird  (2011):  I like the interesting timbres of Whitton's voice.        Breakestra -  Hiding  (2008):  Breakestra has done a nice job o...
17. Tuesday, October 20, 2015:
    List Day: Jams of the Times  Songs I listened to incessantly during the month of October, based on highly accurate recall, web citations, and Amazon MP3 purchases...      2004 :  Muse - Sing for Absolution     2005 :  KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See     2006 :  Kansas - Journey from Mariabronn     2007 :  Gomez - How We Operate     2008 :  Jack Penate - Second, Minute, Hour     2009 :  Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me     2010 :  Plan B - She Said     2011 :  Dirt Poor Robins - Love Again    &nb...
18. Friday, August 28, 2015:
    List Day: 4 Songs Weird Al Should Parody       Don't Let Me Fall - B.o.B : Rhyming "don't let me fall" with "shooting for stars" is already a stretch, so why not "don't let me fart" paired with all of the things that might lead to gastrointestinal distress? However, this might get repetitive around the  1:54 mark .     Stone Cold Sober - Paloma Faith : "On A Sewn Old Sofa" is a rapid patter song about all of the things that Weird Al has saved money on by buying them at the thrift store.     Take a Bow - Muse : The metric pattern of this song is perfect for a song about a driven cook who's slowly being driven crazy by his trade. For example, at this point in the song, "Bake, you must ba...
19. Friday, April 10, 2015:
    Freberg Day   Stan Freberg, known for his satirical comedy records and funny advertisements,  passed away on Tuesday  at the age of 88. Freberg takes much of the blame for how my sense of humour "turned out", as evinced by the double digit numbers of CDs I started collecting in high school after finding an LP of  Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America  on my parents' shelf.   Freberg was writing music and voicing cartoon characters as recently as last year although his later material, such as a 1998 song comparing Monica Lewinsky, Tara Lapinski, and Ted Kacsynski, was not as strong as his stuff from the 60s.   To give you a laugh on this rainy Friday, here are a few of my favourite Frebe...
20. Wednesday, March 18, 2015:
    Stuff in My Drawers Day: Convocation   It was seventeen years ago yesterday that I performed the first movement of  The Hero , a four-movement, 21-minute symphonic work for a wind ensemble of 20 people. Not feeling up to the task of making friends with 20 musicians, I did the next best thing and created a piano reduction of the score and then hired an accompanist.   Had I thought ahead further, I would have hired an accompanist with 20 fingers, not 10 -- one finger for each member of the wind ensemble to address the fact that nearly every note from the score ended up in the reduction. It wasn't a reduction so much as a stave clogging, similar to the effect you see on I-95 towards Kings Dominion every Saturday morning.   Here is an ...

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