One method you can use to become a better song composer is one that i used
mostly during the years just prior and during my tenure as the leader of my garage
band "The Look's" which lasted from 1996-1982.Six years is along time to carry the
wieght of being the leader of a 3-piece rock band where you write all the songs,arrange
every players part including your own and also design the recording method as i did for the
look's.It kept me very busy-let's put it that way.
The method i'm speaking of is to write and record a song that emulates
a specific artist at a specific time period stylewise in thier career.The first time i did this
was with "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" in which i recreated the songwriting style and
the recording style of the "Merseybeat" Period Beatles.This was a difficult assignment i
gave to myself but as the early Beatles sound was one of my first and biggest influence's
and inspirations it gave me alot of fuel to tackle the task.The first thing i did was re-listen
to both of The Beatle's first two records "Please Please Me" and in the U.S. "Meet the Beatles".I would listen to these albums over and over-hundreds of times gleaning every
aspect and quality i could decipher which gave then thier unique sound.One thing i noticed
was that all the songs which had the trademark Beatle's Merseybeat sound were Johns songs.
"All i Gotta Do"-"There's a Place"-"Please Please Me" were all Lennon Creations and they
exuded the beatles merseybeat sound the most.I noticed Lennon allway's doubled his vocals
and during parts where George and Paul joined in it often became difficult to tell who was
the lead singer-all thier voices seemed to merge together into a mythlogical 5th beatle vocal
sound that was very unique and very powerful.Only on these first two LP's do you here this
combined vocal sound to such a large extent.Once the Beatles started recording on 4-track with
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" the merseybeat beatles sound dis-appeared.With four tracks
Producer George Martin could seperate and re-mix all the vocals and that ended the mystery
5th Beatle vocal sound that live two track recording with only a doubling of Johns vocal being
doubled.
The early songs were very upbeat even if the song itself was sad.They often started out in
a minor key but ended on a major key.Nearly every song was filled with all the songwriting tricks of the trade-Fanstastic middle 8's-Bridges-lead breaks on middle 8's,chorus's,and on bridges never knowing which one the Beatle's would choose.On "Are You Gonna Be my Girl"
i choose to play the lead guitar part on the middle 8.Any way these are just a few of the ways i
used to re-create The Beatles merseybeat sound and i'll just mention one more element that was
vital to get that sound.The snare drum had to have a really loud snap to it-allmost like that of
a rim-shot.I spent alot of time with Lenny teaching him how to get that snare drum snap but
it had to sound like that to really be like the Beatle's Mersybeat-so it was absoulutly mandatory
to the success of the song and the recording that the snare drum had this sound.
Another type of song i finally mastered thou much later in my career was The Big Song
that Bob Dylan invented for the modern world.Bard's in the middle age's played allmost nothing but these big songs as it was one of the only way's to communicate the news of the day but
in the early sixties Bob Dylan brought the big song back-and he would revisit this 7-9 verse
style from time to time throughout the rest of his career-in this manner he was pretty much on
his own-allmost nobody else wrote any of these really big song's that became a Dylan Trademark.Here are some of Dylan's big song's-Tangled Up in Blue-Up to Me-Mr. Tamborine Man-Sad eyed Lady of the Lowlands{probably his biggest but maybe not his best}-Like a
Rolling Stone-there are others but thats a good sampling.So how do you write one of these big songs-well for one thing it's hard to write one when your really young because you don't have
enough expieriences to fill up 9 verse's of anything interesting or even 7 Verse's.The most difficult aspect of writing a big song is having all the information you need to write 7-9
congruent verse's that are interrelated.The other hard part is to get that many verse's that
all end up setting up perfectly for the chorus in rhyme and in reason.My big song is "Too Many
Tears".It has more lyrics than any other song of mine and it was definatly inspired by Dylan's
big songs.I was 35 and sober when i wrote it-but i wasn't aiming at writing a big song-all the verse's just came to me in a very organic way-it just flowed-and kept flowing but as it got bigger
i could see where it could go to and so i just rode that wave all the way i could and "Too Many Tears" which is on the "Riverside Drive" Cd was the result.I will say i think being sober helped
both in coming up with all the flowing verse's and being able to remember them.
So these are just a few ways you can learn about the creative methods of songwriting and just remember using other artists idea's as a catalyst for more knowledge and more creativity
in your own back page's is O.K-just don't steal any thing outright-make sure your song is unique in a way that's true to you own indidvidual muse-ideas are one thing-but the way you finally execute
those idea's is a completly differant matter all together.Regardless any style you might borrow
from allways make sure that your music is unique to you.
Written by Pete Holly-Copyright-2010-All Rights Reserved
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Ludwig Von Beetoveen
A Short Study on why Beetoveen's Compositional Style is
excedingly complex,more than any other composer,and for
that reason his style is difficult if not impossible to Classify.
Of all the great classical music composers,Beetoveen,is not only the most famous
but there is a completely distinct style to his compositions that make his style nearly im-
possible to describe-in relation to other classical music composers.He is not a romantic,
Like Chopin.though some of his work,say "Moonlight Sonata" is just as romantic as any-
thing Chopin ever composed,perhaps even more so.But few other examples of such romance
are to be found amongest Ludwig's compositions.Thou it's not a complete lack of romantically
infused sentiment that make's his work so unique-it's that there are so many other elements
mixed in at the same time in his large works such as his 9 symphonies.It is such a complex
array of stylizations and techniques that we find him alone in a catagory of his own creation-
Beetoveenism.
There are very fast passages in much of the masters work.Some are very loud only
to relent after a huge burst of energy,one might even call it anger,to fast quiet passages all
part of the same piece of music.He does the same thing with speeds of tempo-wild variations
that keep the listener on thier toes;alert-ready for anything Beetoveen might exude thier way
in whatever myriad of fashions he may decide.
This creates a dazzling world of speed and variation that no other composer can compete
with and i pity the fool that try's.The only thing one sometimes notices in his work that makes
it regular in any sense is Ludwigs very classical manner-which is also,thou,a purely integral part
of his masterful and sensational sytle.Without his classical anchor Beetoveen may have lost the
vital congruent component that holds all his work together in one master full stroke of inginuety.
Even so Beetoveen cannot be labeled as a strict classisist either.He rides that fine line between classisism and romantisism evoking both without ever totally committing to one or the
other-this is the true Genius of our Master Ludwig Von Beetoveen whose very name has come
to be the most oft used in describing excellance and mastery in the realm of the Greatist Classical Music known to ever exist.Only one word can describe this man's incredible musical
Talents-Genuis.
Written by Pete Holly-Copyright-2010-All Rights Reserved
excedingly complex,more than any other composer,and for
that reason his style is difficult if not impossible to Classify.
Of all the great classical music composers,Beetoveen,is not only the most famous
but there is a completely distinct style to his compositions that make his style nearly im-
possible to describe-in relation to other classical music composers.He is not a romantic,
Like Chopin.though some of his work,say "Moonlight Sonata" is just as romantic as any-
thing Chopin ever composed,perhaps even more so.But few other examples of such romance
are to be found amongest Ludwig's compositions.Thou it's not a complete lack of romantically
infused sentiment that make's his work so unique-it's that there are so many other elements
mixed in at the same time in his large works such as his 9 symphonies.It is such a complex
array of stylizations and techniques that we find him alone in a catagory of his own creation-
Beetoveenism.
There are very fast passages in much of the masters work.Some are very loud only
to relent after a huge burst of energy,one might even call it anger,to fast quiet passages all
part of the same piece of music.He does the same thing with speeds of tempo-wild variations
that keep the listener on thier toes;alert-ready for anything Beetoveen might exude thier way
in whatever myriad of fashions he may decide.
This creates a dazzling world of speed and variation that no other composer can compete
with and i pity the fool that try's.The only thing one sometimes notices in his work that makes
it regular in any sense is Ludwigs very classical manner-which is also,thou,a purely integral part
of his masterful and sensational sytle.Without his classical anchor Beetoveen may have lost the
vital congruent component that holds all his work together in one master full stroke of inginuety.
Even so Beetoveen cannot be labeled as a strict classisist either.He rides that fine line between classisism and romantisism evoking both without ever totally committing to one or the
other-this is the true Genius of our Master Ludwig Von Beetoveen whose very name has come
to be the most oft used in describing excellance and mastery in the realm of the Greatist Classical Music known to ever exist.Only one word can describe this man's incredible musical
Talents-Genuis.
Written by Pete Holly-Copyright-2010-All Rights Reserved
The Volume and the Damage Done
Protect Your Hearing
by Pete Holly
It used to be that hearing loss was most often found in older people.Not any
longer.As the world has become a louder place so has hearing loss spread across all age
groups.The First Large group of people to suffer tramatic hearing loss at a young age
were the men in tank units in world war II.Thou many of them have passed away-
they're still a few members of tank crews who are alive.From thier testimony and
from the others who have passed on;every soldier who occupied a tank in the
second world war suffered very severe hearing damage.Some went completly
deaf but the largest percentage of tank crew members lost most of thier
hearing ability but could still fuction with hearing aids-combined with lip-reading.
In the seventies The Who held the guiness book world record for live performance
volume.Thier shows in the seventies were on average played at a sound level of
about 120 decibles.For referance that's like standing next to a large jet engine,
the kind you see on 747's,running at full power with no hearing protection.
Given enough exposure or exposure for any more than a few seconds and you
can become permantly deaf.All the members of the Who lost a great deal of thier
hearing and Pete Townsend suffers from hearing recruitment and/or hyperacousous
both of which make many sounds sound much louder than a person without hearing
damage hear them.It's as if the soundtrack of life has been permanantly turned up
to full volume and it's extrodinarly painful-causing severe headaches-loss of equalibrium-and can also cause the sufferer to expierience panic attacks-when they find
themselves in a loud environment such as busy supermarket,a sports event,or a loud party.
The combination of so many differant sounds bombarding the ears of a person with hyperacousis can cause dizzyness and an extreme feeling of disorientation.In short it's
one the most painful and difficult invisable disabilties a human can suffer from.Many sufferers
commit suicide rather than living out thier life with this disease which cause's an unberable
amount of pain and confusion.Beetoveen is probably the most well know sufferer.As his hearing
recruitment and hearing loss continued to deteriate he couldn't stand to being around other
people as more and more sound wave frequency's became extremly painful for his damaged
hearing.He became extremly irritable and it was incredibly difficult for him to keep on living
With this horrific disorder.In the end he came totally deaf.When he wrote the Famous 9th
Symphony,the greatist work of his entire career,he couldn't hear even a single note of it.
He had his piano set flat against the floor and by putting his ear to the floor he could only feel
the vibrations-and somehow he was able to use this method to compose the 9th Symphony.
But he was miserable and he let everyone know that he was miserable.These disorders are nearly impossible to live with and many sufferers are not able to live out thier lives choosing
instead to end the pain rather than go on living with it.As a sufferer of hyperacousous i can
testify to the extent that it disrupts the hearing damaged persons life.It's only by sheer luck
that i am still around to write this.
So my advice to young musicians is to take care of your hearing.When you hear your
ears ringing like the bells of St. Mary's after a concert or after you've been rehearseing with
your band or orchestra your hearing has been permanantly damaged.After a certain number
of times of this happening finally the tintinitus becomes permanant.I've had it so long that i
believe if it suddenly stopped-i'm not sure i could handle it.It Would be too foriegn to me-that
i think suddenly not hearing that constant ringing sound and the ocean sound along with it would
send me into a state of shock.
Get a pair of musicians earpugs from an audioligist-they are the best coping mechanism for
people with hearing recruitment and/or hyperacousis.They have saved my life.
Ps.Classical Musicians are just as prone to serious hearing disorders as are Rock Musicians.
Written by Pete Holly-copyright-2010-all rights reserved
by Pete Holly
It used to be that hearing loss was most often found in older people.Not any
longer.As the world has become a louder place so has hearing loss spread across all age
groups.The First Large group of people to suffer tramatic hearing loss at a young age
were the men in tank units in world war II.Thou many of them have passed away-
they're still a few members of tank crews who are alive.From thier testimony and
from the others who have passed on;every soldier who occupied a tank in the
second world war suffered very severe hearing damage.Some went completly
deaf but the largest percentage of tank crew members lost most of thier
hearing ability but could still fuction with hearing aids-combined with lip-reading.
In the seventies The Who held the guiness book world record for live performance
volume.Thier shows in the seventies were on average played at a sound level of
about 120 decibles.For referance that's like standing next to a large jet engine,
the kind you see on 747's,running at full power with no hearing protection.
Given enough exposure or exposure for any more than a few seconds and you
can become permantly deaf.All the members of the Who lost a great deal of thier
hearing and Pete Townsend suffers from hearing recruitment and/or hyperacousous
both of which make many sounds sound much louder than a person without hearing
damage hear them.It's as if the soundtrack of life has been permanantly turned up
to full volume and it's extrodinarly painful-causing severe headaches-loss of equalibrium-and can also cause the sufferer to expierience panic attacks-when they find
themselves in a loud environment such as busy supermarket,a sports event,or a loud party.
The combination of so many differant sounds bombarding the ears of a person with hyperacousis can cause dizzyness and an extreme feeling of disorientation.In short it's
one the most painful and difficult invisable disabilties a human can suffer from.Many sufferers
commit suicide rather than living out thier life with this disease which cause's an unberable
amount of pain and confusion.Beetoveen is probably the most well know sufferer.As his hearing
recruitment and hearing loss continued to deteriate he couldn't stand to being around other
people as more and more sound wave frequency's became extremly painful for his damaged
hearing.He became extremly irritable and it was incredibly difficult for him to keep on living
With this horrific disorder.In the end he came totally deaf.When he wrote the Famous 9th
Symphony,the greatist work of his entire career,he couldn't hear even a single note of it.
He had his piano set flat against the floor and by putting his ear to the floor he could only feel
the vibrations-and somehow he was able to use this method to compose the 9th Symphony.
But he was miserable and he let everyone know that he was miserable.These disorders are nearly impossible to live with and many sufferers are not able to live out thier lives choosing
instead to end the pain rather than go on living with it.As a sufferer of hyperacousous i can
testify to the extent that it disrupts the hearing damaged persons life.It's only by sheer luck
that i am still around to write this.
So my advice to young musicians is to take care of your hearing.When you hear your
ears ringing like the bells of St. Mary's after a concert or after you've been rehearseing with
your band or orchestra your hearing has been permanantly damaged.After a certain number
of times of this happening finally the tintinitus becomes permanant.I've had it so long that i
believe if it suddenly stopped-i'm not sure i could handle it.It Would be too foriegn to me-that
i think suddenly not hearing that constant ringing sound and the ocean sound along with it would
send me into a state of shock.
Get a pair of musicians earpugs from an audioligist-they are the best coping mechanism for
people with hearing recruitment and/or hyperacousis.They have saved my life.
Ps.Classical Musicians are just as prone to serious hearing disorders as are Rock Musicians.
Written by Pete Holly-copyright-2010-all rights reserved
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Greatists Recordings of All-Time
57."Goodtime Charlies got the Blue's"-Danny O' Keefe
Despite the fact that "O Keefe" is a top notch singer-songwriter up there with
the best,as far as talent goes-this is the only track that ever got alot of traction-
as far as commercial success is concerned.Regardless,the song has been covered
so many times by so many artists-many,who took straight to the top of the charts
have no doubt made Danny a small fortune.It's what's known in the business as
an "evergreen".A song that repeatadly garners more income as more artists
cover and have success with it.You could even call it a standard as far as the
American Songbook is concerned.
Beautifully written-O' Keefe's version i believe captures the songs allure
in the best articualation and emoitional pull.I saw him play it live once and it was
truelly an amazing expierience.He's also one hell of of a nice fellow.
Despite the fact that "O Keefe" is a top notch singer-songwriter up there with
the best,as far as talent goes-this is the only track that ever got alot of traction-
as far as commercial success is concerned.Regardless,the song has been covered
so many times by so many artists-many,who took straight to the top of the charts
have no doubt made Danny a small fortune.It's what's known in the business as
an "evergreen".A song that repeatadly garners more income as more artists
cover and have success with it.You could even call it a standard as far as the
American Songbook is concerned.
Beautifully written-O' Keefe's version i believe captures the songs allure
in the best articualation and emoitional pull.I saw him play it live once and it was
truelly an amazing expierience.He's also one hell of of a nice fellow.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
THE GREATIST RECORDINGS OF ALL-TIME
#56."THE SWAN"-SAINT-SAENS- VOX-CAT.#SP3 97008
"THE SWAN" is music you would hear as if waking from a pleasant
enraptured dream of love and eternal beauty.The melody floats by on gossomer butterfly wings,delicate,yet strong.It's more than music.Ballet dancers
and ice skaters have moved with grace and the fleeting nuances of a butterfly in
flight."Oksana Baul's" performance at the olympics was especially unforgetable.
Only 14 or 15 at the time she seemed to be the embodiment of Saint-Saens "Swan";her body so limber and delicate yet with a strength of a Star Shooting
across the night sky-landing where? Nobody knows but as beautiful a sight as
any human has ever imagined.Such is the inspiration of Saint-Saens "The Swan".
Written by Pete Holly-2010-copyright-all rights reserved
Friday, January 22, 2010
Sound in Film:"The Elephant Man" directed by David Lynch
It seems as if a film directors ability to create a world in film is
the primary feature of the greatist films of our time.Which you can
watch over and over again and everytime find something new.
Here's a film that achieves that goal to greatist degree i know of.
1."The Elephant Man"-directed by David Lynch
There is a fasinating element in "The Elephant Man" that takes you
directly into the time and place where the story takes place.Visually
Lynch achieves reproducing the early industrial age in London by
shooting in Black and White,and London fog plays a major role
{and/or smoke and soot}in creating the feel of that time.
But after watching the film quite a number of times i started to
notice a completly differant element that was in effect transporting
the viewer/listener directly back to the heyday of the first Industrial
age in London-"The Sounds".
Thou there is music in the film-the majority of the time we hear
the sounds of the early industrial age-the Machinery.We hear the steam of
early loud steam engines,gears clanking,and all sorts of sounds that evoke
the giant machines of the early industrial age.Once you notice all these sounds
you realize just how big a role they play in making the film participant feel
as if they are right there there in London at in that time period.It's
brilliant the way Lynch use's sound to draw us deep into the picture
until we feel as if we are as equals with the charactors in the story.We
are right there with them as if transported by a time machine.This is one
of the most masterful use's of sound in a film of all time.That the first time
you see the picture your not aware of how large a role sound is playing in
influencing your perceptions-shows the genuis of Lynch as a Film maker.
Written by Pete Holly-2010-copyright-all rights reserved
the primary feature of the greatist films of our time.Which you can
watch over and over again and everytime find something new.
Here's a film that achieves that goal to greatist degree i know of.
1."The Elephant Man"-directed by David Lynch
There is a fasinating element in "The Elephant Man" that takes you
directly into the time and place where the story takes place.Visually
Lynch achieves reproducing the early industrial age in London by
shooting in Black and White,and London fog plays a major role
{and/or smoke and soot}in creating the feel of that time.
But after watching the film quite a number of times i started to
notice a completly differant element that was in effect transporting
the viewer/listener directly back to the heyday of the first Industrial
age in London-"The Sounds".
Thou there is music in the film-the majority of the time we hear
the sounds of the early industrial age-the Machinery.We hear the steam of
early loud steam engines,gears clanking,and all sorts of sounds that evoke
the giant machines of the early industrial age.Once you notice all these sounds
you realize just how big a role they play in making the film participant feel
as if they are right there there in London at in that time period.It's
brilliant the way Lynch use's sound to draw us deep into the picture
until we feel as if we are as equals with the charactors in the story.We
are right there with them as if transported by a time machine.This is one
of the most masterful use's of sound in a film of all time.That the first time
you see the picture your not aware of how large a role sound is playing in
influencing your perceptions-shows the genuis of Lynch as a Film maker.
Written by Pete Holly-2010-copyright-all rights reserved
Friday, January 8, 2010
The Greatist Recordings of All-Time
55."Heart of the Sunrise"-Yes
Proggressive Rock had a relativily short lifespan.Yet,it did leave some really
fantastic records behind of which this is one of the best."Heart of the Sunrise"
has lost none of it's luster or ethereal magic over time.It sounds as magical
and spacey now as it did when it was first released in the 1970's.To a large
degree "Yes" is the proggressive band for all times.No other band thrived
and has kept a hold on there core audience as successfully as has "Yes".
Thier level of musianship is hard if not impossible to match,thier compositions
are full of twists and turns that defy average Pop/Rock song evaluations.
Thier lyrics are the height of proggressive rock free form poetry and have a
surreal beauty that is totally unique and powerful and"Yes" vocalist Jon Anderson still has one of the most unique,powerful and beautiful sounding voices of all-time.
Proggressive Rock had a relativily short lifespan.Yet,it did leave some really
fantastic records behind of which this is one of the best."Heart of the Sunrise"
has lost none of it's luster or ethereal magic over time.It sounds as magical
and spacey now as it did when it was first released in the 1970's.To a large
degree "Yes" is the proggressive band for all times.No other band thrived
and has kept a hold on there core audience as successfully as has "Yes".
Thier level of musianship is hard if not impossible to match,thier compositions
are full of twists and turns that defy average Pop/Rock song evaluations.
Thier lyrics are the height of proggressive rock free form poetry and have a
surreal beauty that is totally unique and powerful and"Yes" vocalist Jon Anderson still has one of the most unique,powerful and beautiful sounding voices of all-time.
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