DAY TWO-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE
Massachusetts
C
A Flat
f minor
D
x3
Dans Leur Absence (in absentia)
(Headphones recommended)
235. Dans Leur Absence (in absentia)
Emily Hope Price
Cellist, Singer, Composer & Home of The 365 Project
Category Archives: Bells
223. Pick Me Up (Phase 1)
SONG 223
This morning was hot. Hot mornings are a warning sign of stranger things to come in my life…and I decided to paint the rest of my bathroom in non-paint clothes, and guess what? They are now the color of my bathroom.
I have moved. My new neighborhood is Loud-Quiet: the kind of quiet that is usually loud, but sometimes it’s quieter than it is loud; hence, Loud-Quiet. Yesterday was no exception to this general rule, however, among the rap that often blares from open home doors or cars, I heard a sample of Amelie soundtrack (one of my favorites) mixed among yet another rap song. My curiosity was piqued. I ran out the door and across the street to the group of guys (and one girl) sitting in their front porch. “Hello,” I said. They looked surprised. I wondered if they thought I was going to ask them to turn their music off or something. “My name is Emily. Do you know who this is?” They were friendly and informative: Kid Cuti was their answer.
“We saw you moving in. Where did you come from?”
“I moved here from Washington Heights.”
“You moved here from Washington Heights?”, they sounded surprised. (Wow… how do I answer that?!)
“Yes. I like it here.”
“Well, you’re welcome over any time.”
And now I have some new friends. Thanks, Kid Cuti.
(Of Note: A lady from the 4th floor of her building was just arguing with a guy on the sidewalk and threw a couple of bottles at his car right before he shouted some threats at her and drove off… home sweet home.)
Started it in the wee hours of the morning today (during the quiet part of the day). This is in its first phase: I thought I could clean it up, move stuff around, add some more stuff, make it longer, add some vocals…but I may not end up finishing it as I’m ho-hum about it generally. I had all my recording equipment boxed away, so I used my ear buds to record the voice and bells. Ear buds. Never a solid way of capturing sound. I slowed everything down once it was recorded. Garageband samples filled up the rest of it.
Also, The 80s. You may not know that I love the 80s.
Pick Me Up
200. Machines
DAY TWO-HUNDRED!
MOOOOOOVING! Stuff is e v e r y w h e r e.
(In the meantime, I have missed a few days…)
200!
I wrote and recorded this at 7:30 this morning (bet my neighbors are so happy that I’m leaving.) Cello track is the first take reworked from a quick improvisation. Bells took quite a bit longer, trying not to over play them and trying to find out the best compromise. Then lyrics! (Taking a page from Yeah Yeah Yeahs a little in the repeated “chorus”. Karen O!)
MACHINES
We fight, we fight again Machines have holes within Repair the outerskin Like me, like me, like me All white from black again All white and new again All white and white and new again All white and white and new again We fight We fight We fight machines, machines, machines
199. Part III
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE
Thanks to Anna Vogelzang for her polaroid shot of the Maine coast!
Holy crap. Day 200 is almost upon us. The INTENSITY.
The idea behind this one is the following:
This is based on the idea of being constantly one step behind. And even though thoughts might resemble each other, they reside on a different plane or live in a different time: just one moment too late.
I wanted a more dry sound for this Part III but wanted each voice to have more energy which is what took me so long to finish this even though it’s very short. I experimented with different bow strokes and lengths, as well as different speeds of vibrato for the main motif.
Continuing to move today. It is necessary melancholy for me that won’t last very long… I will go eat some gluten-free pancakes now, I think. Yes. That is what I will do. Happy Friday to you!
Part III
197. Broken Headlight (Scene instrumental)
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN
Benefit Show for Academic Music Seminars at Morris-Jumel Mansion Garden.
This is a scene. What’s happening, you ask? …I’m not sure exactly, though I have an idea…I guess I need to wait and see, and then I’ll let you know.
Cello and bells!
Broken Headlight
191. I Was Born (sketch)
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND NINETY-ONE
ULTIMATE!!! ULTIMATE!!!
This is an idea I had for something I’m working on. (I will tell you more about this at a later date. Until then, that’s all you’re getting. Yippy!). I’m trying different instrumentation to see what instruments I feel best capture what I think is happening in my mind. So, in light of the 365, I’m posting the first and immediate lines that came to me. This is done in one take with very little planning. I knew I wanted a stillness in the beginning and more movement in the middle, and I had come up with a very simple progression I liked early on. As this is only for instrumentation reference, I’m ignoring the haphazard of the part.
My first inclination is that, due to the nature of what this is intended for, this is a little too… hmmmm…? It’s supposed to be creating a melancholy and thoughtfulness…a feeling that you know you are living in one place but you really want to be in another. I think this is just Yanni on bells (ahhh! Noooo!)… not quite what I’m looking for, but it’s going in the right direction.
I will keep working on this. Exciting!
Hope you are doing so well!
I Was Born
185. Ode to A Tandem Bicycle
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE
This is Karen Poleshuck and her dad. This is the freakin' awesomest picture. Is this 1984? Or Williamsburgh 2010?
Today, Karen Poleshuck, the co-writer of this song, has written about this song (see below!). I met Karen at SUNY Purchase a few years ago, and since then I’ve seen her go through roommates, occupations, hamsters, and finally settling on a really cute dog.
Karen is the Executive Director of Academic Music Seminars, and they are holding several Saturday brunch-time benefit concerts in July. I will be performing on July 31st in support of this great non-profit. About AMS:
Founded in 2008 by musician and educator Karen Poleshuck, we are passionately committed to the belief that music can be a transformative power in children’s lives, both in improving their education and test scores, and in helping them gain a greater appreciation of artistry and creative expression. It is our goal to off er expanded educational opportunities that does both of these things to schools throughout Northern Manhattan.
At the show on July 31st, I will be playing a bunch of my songs, but also playing this song that Karen and I wrote. There will be kids there and homemade maracas (that the kids will make themselves), so Karen and I wanted to write a song that would encompass an important educational tool: literacy. We decided to compose an ode. (Karen will talk a little bit more about why we chose a tandem bicycle).
Here we go!
But you know what this song needs? A little celloness… oh, and a full brass band, but you get the idea…
Ode to a Tandem Bicycle
A Note from Karen
It looks like I’m about 4 or 5 in this picture, so it was probably closer to 1987-88. Although, I suppose it’s cool that this is your 184th song, so feel free to leave it up as is 
I know that I’m not alone when I say that I fell in love with Emily Hope Price the very moment I first heard her play. I’m honored to share today’s entry with her and I hope that you continue to follow her on this incredible journey she’s taking. Emily and I became close friends right around the time she started doing her first open mic shows in NYC and I was first conceptualizing Academic Music Seminars. We both have come very far with these endeavors in the last few years and I know that for me at least, it is in large part due to her incredible friendship and endless support. When she first told me of her plans for this blog I was thrilled about the possible collaboration opportunities to come because of the seamless connections to be made with Academic Music Seminars. To me, my favorite part of this blog is not just hearing her fantastic music (I get to see her live all the time), it’s the way she gives us a peek into her process. Why did she choose a particular word or how did she come up with a concept for a song? Everything is laid out for you to read.
Today we discussed many options for a song. The main goal was to have it coincide with the AMS curriculum for somewhat of a shameless plug. The mission of Academic Music Seminars is to provide a high quality interdisciplinary music education program that builds literacy, math, science and history skills through the exploration of art, movement and music to the underserved public elementary school students of Northern Manhattan. One idea we played with was to talk about recycling and how it’s a useful tool in music as well. How many awesome covers have we heard Emily do over the year? It’s important to me that the connections are organic, and we just weren’t in the mood for it, so we moved to literacy pretty quickly. This is a very compressed version of a few lessons we would do in a classroom in which we would talk about what an Ode is, play our version, and have the kids write their own as well.
What is an Ode? According to Wikipedia, an ode is typically a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the poet’s interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode.
One of the most famous Odes is Ode to Joy, made famous by Ludwig van Beethoven. The melody is taught to beginners on almost every instrument, but it is rare that they are told what the melody is about. Ode To Joy (German: “An die Freude“) is an ode written in 1785 by the German poet, playwright and historian Friedrich Schiller, celebrating the ideal of unity and brotherhood of all mankind. (Translation of the full poem here: http://www.raptusassociation.org/ode1785.html). It is best known for its musical setting by Ludwig van Beethoven in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony (completed in 1824), a choral symphony for orchestra, four solo voices, and choir. The Beethoven setting is the official anthem of the European Union.
(Great clip that came up when I searched for Ode to Joy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A
What do you think is worthy of an ode? We played with a few ideas, but we both felt that we needed to be equally in love with it if we were to write the song together. Our cellos were the first obvious choice, but I think we thought it would be a little too easy (and cheesy?). We both love our dogs, and swimming. We thought money was worthy of an ode, but didn’t want to get depressed with our lack of it. I don’t remember who first came up with biking, but it was the first thing that came up that we both love and were excited to write a song about. The bike didn’t become a tandem until after Emily sang through the whole intro, and I told her it was how I first learned how to ride a bike, as you can see in the picture above. We talked about why we love biking. Emily loves the speed, I love the feel of the wind in my face, we both love the escape of it. We really wanted to work into the song something silly about how we had to agree on where to go. I’m really happy with what we came up with, and I’m excited to play with the instrumentation for the upcoming concert.
Speaking of this upcoming concert, if you love Emily Hope Price, her show on July 31st at 11am at the Jumel Mansion is going to be a fantastic place to see her play outside of a bar setting. Like she said there will be activities for kids, but it will also be a fantastic time for adults as well. She’ll be playing some songs that we know well and a few songs from her 365 Project. Bring a picnic blanket, food, drinks, dogs are welcome on leashes too! Check out our event page to see more details and find out about the two previous concerts at the same venue. Thanks for listening!
180. 4th Of July/Christmas Tie
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY
It is fourth of July in New York City. My friend Mark Broschinsky, trombonist, phD, and all around great person, came to hang with us for the holiday for a bit and play some holiday Scrabble. Why the title? Well, Jonathan ended up countering today’s holiday by wearing a Christmas tie my dad made him pick out a few years ago; hence, Christmas Tie.
In New York City fireworks are illegal and this holiday tends to send up the fiery flags of the young and old. You can hear its repercussions in the back ground (though, I must tell you, it’s not that different on a non-holiday… but…). Mark is a fantastic new music composer. Of all the instruments in my house, none of them being a trombone mind you, he chose the bells. A tritone is his favorite interval, so he played a bit of that in today’s song. I feel it’s an appropriate interval for the 4th of July.
In this exercise, I decided to go more “classical-trad” with the vocals for fun. The term sprechgesang came to mind (though it’s subtle here). Music learning is so cool, isn’t it?! The piece Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg is a weirdly awesome, wonderful piece to hear for the first time if you’ve never experienced it.
Jonathan played the wooden trays from our Scrabble board and the Scrabble “snack-pack” for all the letters. There is also a tiny bit of thumb piano.
In any case, I AM TWO DAYS FROM BEING HALF WAY. Stay tuned for a mid-way reflection when it comes!
On a personal note: I have decided to cut out dairy and gluten to see what happens. Today is the first full day where I think I actually did it. Holy cow, there are people who do this?! It’s impossible. I have to think about what I’m putting in my mouth now?! What?! Feeling good.
And you? HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, AMERICA!
4th Of July/Christmas Tie
175. Slosh, slosh, slosh
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE
Native American Boy Carries Water Pails © Joseph Schwartz/CORBIS
Visit to the veterinarian yesterday for Lacey, and yes, I am posting late! Posting late! My apologies, my friend: I have no good excuses other than just being busy. (Well, the vet trip was a bit traumatic, but the doctor isn’t fun for us either, I suppose.)
Here we are… and now I must be off to look at a van with Jeremy (guitarist for Pearl and the Beard), as we are in need of a van for tour, and he has found one to test drive. Let us hope there is no dried vomit hidden in the back seat that we overlook… yikes: kids and those car trips.
Writing: Theme of bells and uke and bass all inter mixed with one other in a conversation about what to do and what to say. No arguing, but discussing. There is a difference between arguing and discussing!
It’s slurpy and sloshy and swishy like water in a bottle… that’s because it is: a water bottle for a drum. Back and forth, back and forth. Slosh, slosh, slosh. I close my eyes and see a little boy with two big pails in his hands, struggling to keep them straight and then it starts to rain and rain. The roads are muddy… everything, even his shoes are sloshing and sloshing: struggling to get home with enough water in the buckets by the time he gets home.
Hope you are staying cool… it’s a hot one out here!
Slosh, slosh, slosh
163. Bells for the Nighttime (Study in Major and Minor Thirds)
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE
Photo courtesy of Richard M. Dishman
If you don’t know anything about music theory, it’s okay… major and minor thirds are those notes that sound really harmonious and complimentary to one another when played together: one of the most used harmonies out there, I say. The most basic example would be looking at a piano and playing any two white keys together with only one other white key in between (although you can play thirds with the black keys, too!): you’re sure to hit either a major third or a minor third. Major and minor just mean the quality of the notes together. You can look at major as being “happy” and minor being “sad” sounding.
Bells! I haven’t played those in a long time and thought I’d whip them out…
Bells for the Nighttime
