Published!
I’m very excited to announce that I am now a published composer! Kallisti Music Press in Philadelphia has published an art song of mine that I wrote last year. Head over to http://www.ajharbison.com for the full story!
Songs From My Shelf Update
Good news, my friends and fans: I’ve started recording for my upcoming album Songs From My Shelf! It started last week with some guitar and vocal tracking for “Too Far.” I’ve been busy with lots of different things and I haven’t gotten “too far” along yet (ha ha), but I’m already very excited about this record and I can’t wait to share it with you all. Unfortunately it looks like the release date will be pushed out to early next year, rather than the end of this year as I’d originally hoped. But I’ll get it done as soon as I can so you can all hear it!
There are several ways you can stay updated on the progress of Songs From My Shelf, if you’re so inclined:
- Keep reading this blog. You can subscribe to get automatic RSS or email updates by using the links in the sidebar to the right.
- Subscribe to my email list. Shoot an email over to list@ajharbison.com to be added. And I promise I won’t deluge your inbox with constant updates–I’ll email you only when something exciting is going on.
- Follow me on Twitter. You can follow me on Twitter for exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at the recording process and for up-to-the-minute updates at http://twitter.com/ajharbison.
That’s all for now! Keep tracking with me using one or more of these methods, and I’ll make sure you’re in the loop as I make progress on the record. And thanks for all your continued support!
Piano Stairs and The Fun Theory
I saw this fun video in an email sent by a fellow member of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers, and thought I’d pass it on. A group of creative folks try to get people to take the stairs rather than the escalator by turning the staircase into a big keyboard. Check it out!
“Gustavo Dudamel: The Dude Abides”
I wrote back in March about Gustavo Dudamel, the young conductor with awesome hair who just took over the LA Philharmonic. And I read a good article on him today by Allen Yeh on Scriptorium Daily, the blog of Biola’s Torrey Honors Institute. The article is a fun read with good commentary, and he even talks about his hair like I did. Check it out:
“Gustavo Dudamel: The Dude Abides”
Longplayer Live On Twitter
No doubt due to my post yesterday, my TLB twitter account notified me that Longplayer Live (@longplayerlive) is now following me on Twitter. So if you’re interested in keeping up with the latest news on the Longplayer Live performance in September, head on over and follow them!
Making Music Improves Your Hearing
I ran across this news article on Wired a few days ago. Apparently a new study has shown that musicians are better than non-musicians at hearing “speech-in-noise,” like picking out someone’s voice from a loud environment such as a crowded room. The authors of the study liken the ability to trying to hear one’s own instrument when playing in an orchestra or band, and suggest that perhaps things such as that are the cause of the enhanced perception. One of the authors says, “If we could establish that musical experience could help perception of speech-in-noise, that has all kinds of provocative implications in terms of encouraging policy-makers and parents to pursue musical education for their kids.” Check out the article here:
“Making Music Hacks Your Hearing”
Fastest Violinist In The World
I came across this video on CNN.com a few days ago. The violinist is David Garrett, a Juilliard graduate who studied with Itzhak Perlman, did some modeling on the side, and wears (for the interview) a leather jacket and a Von Dutch cap; he plays both classical music and pop music, “channeling” Michael Jackson and Metallica. But he’s also going in the 2010 Guinness Book of Records as the world’s fastest violinist for playing Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee in 66 seconds–13 notes per second. If you’d like to skip the opening segments with the gushing interviewer who is clearly smitten with him, skip to the 1:30 mark.
Oldest-known Musical Instrument Found?
On Thursday afternoon I came across the following story on MSN. Entitled “Music for cavemen,” it describes the discovery in southwestern Germany of what is considered to be “the earliest handcrafted musical instrument”–a flute carved from the bone of a griffon vulture. If you click on the picture at the top of the article (or on the link in the middle) you can hear an audio sample of what the flute “might” have sounded like. (I believe that means that the flute in the clip is a replica, not the actual specimen found–it’s probably far too valuable to actually put your lips to.) I wonder what it is that the flute is playing; it’s a simple, folklike tune, pretty boring in the beginning but getting more interesting as it goes along.
On Video Game Music
As a member of the American Composers Forum, I receive their newsletter Sounding Board every other month. I just got around to reading the May/June issue on Friday, and I came across an interesting article (originally published in the LA Times) about video game music. Despite having an awful title, it provides some insights into the composing and recording process, and is worth a quick read:
Video game music was never a field of composition that I was too interested in; I grew up on Nintendo, Game Boy, Super Nintendo and PlayStation but was never what you’d call a “gamer.” But after reading this article, I have to admit that my interest has been piqued.
I know I have a few gamers out there among my readers, and probably more who have some level of interest and experience. Do you normally notice the score in games that you play? What are some of your favorite game scores? (Guitar Hero doesn’t count….)
TLB Turns 1 And Gets A New Look; or, The Big Announcement!
One year ago, on this date and at this time, TLB was born! So raise a glass of your favorite wine or champagne and toast to your favorite listening blog!
As you can see, I finished the redesign just in time. All your favorite features are still here–subscriptions via RSS and email, the Amazon widget (although it looks a little funny right now), post tag categories–but it’s packaged in a brand-new look (and the Twitter widget is much fancier now). I’m loving the new digs at WordPress as well. I’ll be making some tweaks here and there, but for the most part, this is how TLB will look from now on. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
And now, for the big announcement I promised two and a half weeks ago! Drum roll please….
I’m going to be recording a new pop music album!
That’s right folks, for the first time since the release of Following A Star in 2005, I will be writing and recording a new CD. I have a collection of new songs, and a few old songs I want to rerecord, that have been sitting around for a long time; and now that I have new (and much better) recording technology and a renewed passion, I’m gonna do it. I’ll be writing some new songs for it as well, and my goal is to release it by the end of this year.
And that’s not all! You, my loyal readers and fans, can play a part in the making of this album. And here’s how: The CD will be entitled Songs From My Shelf, so-called because every song on the CD will contain at least one literary allusion–to a novel, a poem, etc. And as I mentioned above, it’s going to have at least a few rerecordings of old songs on it. So here’s how you can participate: Vote for your favorite previously-recorded song from the list below. The song or two with the most votes will get a brand-new recording and will make it onto the album!
And even that’s not all! The first five people who can correctly identify at least one literary allusion in each of the songs below will receive a free copy of Songs From My Shelf along with an exclusive bonus song.
So let’s recap:
- I’m making a new album!
- You can participate by voting for your favorite song to get a new recording and a place on the new album!
- If you correctly identify at least one literary allusion in each of the songs below, you’ll get a free copy of the CD with a bonus song!
If you need a refresher on the music or lyrics for the songs, click on the title to be taken to the song’s page on my website. Then click the link after the list to be taken to the voting page!
And now that you’ve refreshed your memory, click to vote here!
Thanks for your interest and support! I’m really excited about making this new record, and I can’t wait for you to hear it. Stay tuned to your favorite listening blog–further news will be forthcoming!
EDIT (5/27): All the old Blogger posts have now been imported, complete with their labels/tags/categories! Some of the links may not work anymore (since the URL path for links to other posts is different now), and it looks like embedded videos show up simply as links; but all the content is there now. Rock on!
EDIT (later on 5/27): I’ve reconfigured the RSS feed link in the sidebar. If you’ve previously subscribed to the RSS feed, you might need to subscribe again since the address has changed, and the past TLB RSS feed no longer works. Sorry for any inconvenience!
