CELLO . VOICE . COMPOSITION
Dear 365 Friend,
Well, here we are on our tour, and I have yet to find the opportunity to record… but will soon! I have been writing and writing and thinking and learning (pictures to come soon as well!).
Until then, you can keep up with us at www.pearlandthebeard.com! We are posting videos of our tour!
Sorry for the delay… but I’ll be back asap!
Sincerely,
EHP
Well, here we are on our second day of tour. We will be in Pittsburgh: old haunts! Seeing as it’s 10 am, and we’re in Philly at the moment, we need to get on the road, but I will have some down time (and hopefully internet!) to post the song for yesterday that I wrote and catch up for today’s song as well!
We are playing at the Smiling Moose in Pittsburgh tonight and then head off to Cleveland on Monday… TOUR!
You can keep caught up on our tour shenanigans at www.pearlandthebeard.com. We’re doing a short video each day to document the day’s travels.
Okay: on the road we must get, but will be posting soon!
EHP
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE
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…
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!
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR
I had such hopes for today’s song in terms of composition, but my schedule takes me elsewhere… and my refrigerator has completely stopped working. Not a good thing for the high 90’s temperatures we’ve been getting here in New York. When it’s hot: it’s hot. When it’s humid: it’s worse than hot… it’s Hell.
In Hell, they will require us to do the following all day and all night long: FOREVER:
1. Math Story Problems
2. Filing Alphabetically and Numerically
*3. All the while we will have to ride in New York City subway cars packed full of people with no air-conditioning
*This was actually different at one point, but I don’t remember what it was, so I figured this was the next worst thing.
I went to the dentist yesterday after a long bout of avoiding it… but checked out clean apparently, so I’m feeling pretty good about myself (though I secretly think he must have missed something.
It’s been so hot here, I wanted to do a “Heat at Noon” song. This has words, I think, but I will think on that. I’m really enjoying playing with this kind of folk-ish uke at the moment. Though I don’t play it as well as I could, I will keep practicing!
Hope you’re stayin’ cool yourself!
DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE
That’s right. Half way.
I am offering this cover as a song recorded especially for you. I’ve gotten requests for it and finally decided this would be the perfect half-way song to work on for the day. If you like it and want it, download it. Give it away. Spread it around.
182. Come To Me – Bjork Cover (Half Way Song)
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO
Pearl and the Beard is going on tour ON SATURDAY and coming to a midwestern town NEAR YOU!
We are teaming up with some incredible people (Anna Vogelzang and Holy Ghost Tent Revival just to name a few)… and I cannot tell you how excited I am to hit the road. I think it’s a want to see new people and things… (oh, and let us not forget THRIFT!!!)
So, I have been writing a song today about a sheep… or a lamb, I guess. This entire song started with this line, and I didn’t even end up using it: I have a straw hat and it was fitted for you.
Initially, I wanted it to be quite dark and old, but it just wasn’t coming together. In my mind, I saw a far away place (Israel of all places…) out on an open plain covered by a deep starry sky. Soon, a storm comes. The speaker is the man to the “Lady”.
I decided that the sound that a lamb or sheep makes is very forward sounding in the throat, and I tried to imitate it somewhat, however, I could only attempt it a few times as it’s a bit uncomfortable, and I’m unfamiliar on how to do it correctly. (I am totally abusing the etymology dictionary on this song: I love it! And you can dedicate a word to someone on it! Nice.)
Recording: As far as the vocal goes – a few weeks ago, Pearl and the Beard played a Joe’s Pub festival, and, performing right before us, was a Balkan woman’s quartet called Black Sea Hotel. The way they were singing was really intriguing to me so I had that in my mind. John Houx was also a huge reference for this song as well. His voice is just awesome.
This is the third take and, though I wanted to add cello, I stopped at just a few vocal overdubs to save some time. Always a work in progress. I was unsure how to end it, but wanted to record it – so the very, very end is a bit improvised lyrically, but it fits the purpose quite nicely for what this song was meant for today.
Be well! I hope you are easily staying cool if it is hot where you are and, if it is cold where you are, I envy you completely!
(Headphones/speakers recommended rather than internal laptop speakers)
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONE
Sometimes my schedule isn’t conducive to writing AND recording… but day 179 DOES have a song. I started a song called Hot Volcano a few weeks ago which I handed over to Pearl and the Beard. We finished it on day 179, but, ALAS!, we couldn’t record on day 179…
So, until I get a proper recording of it, the lyrics will just have to do. HOWEVER, if you come to Pearl and the Beard’s Mercury Lounge show THIS FRIDAY at 8:00, you can hear it LIVE for the first time EVER.
Stay cool!
Hope you are well!
-EHP
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!
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE
I will just go ahead and assume that Jonathan and I will be two of the only people who think this is funny. I challenge you! I asked Jonathan, yet again, to save the day and suggest something for the song of the day.
Here is his description of where this song came from. This is a true story that happened to him on a trip with several of his friends. It became a memory that we relived today in a dramatization:
There I am, driving through Yellowstone at night. The car approaches a looming silhouette that looks uncannily like a full-grown grizzly bear standing up on its hind legs. Just as I am taking in this shocking discovery, a flashing hazard light on the side of the road flashes and illuminates the figure that now appears to be nothing but a spruce tree. Feeling comforted by the new revelation, I continue in the car toward the figure and the light turns off. Is that a bear? The car gets closer. Tree. Closer. Bear. Closer. Bear! Tree? Bear? Tree! Bear!
Okay… go!
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT
I have a neighbor named Sarah who walks her pug Otto. I saw her today and she said, “So, what are you going to write about today?” I said, “I don’t know. Give me a word! Any word.”
She is an artist. She said, “Color.”
“Done!” I said.
In the shower, a place of incredible insight, I came up with this idea. Now, I am leaving now, at 9 am EST, to go to a matinée (Matinee’s in New York are before noon. Otherwise you’re paying $12 a ticket to see a new movie until instead of $6 bargain matinée price. In Utah, $6 used to be the “expensive” late night price. Oh, movies. Why must you be so dumb?!) I am trying a new thing for me: writing the lyrics out completely and then putting the melody to it after. I have started on the lyrics and, when I return from my sojourn into movie land (as I haven’t seen a movie in the theatre in a long time!), I will finish it all up. So, here are the lyrics so far. Sarah’s idea of color lead me to ye-olde-letter-game like the version of L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole.
I find doing lyrics first really weird and motivating. It’s like getting a new hair cut and waking up every day wondering what in the world it’s going to want to do today… (is that a weird analogy or what!?)
So far, I’ve come up with the idea of writing about Potiphar’s wife and Joseph in the bible…will discuss this later. This idea didn’t come to me until the second verse, so I might have to revisit the initial bunny line, since that was the first line that came to me… would Potiphar’s wife have a bunny?
**Time Warp**
Hello! I am posting the finished draft of the song. Phew! This was a tough one because I tried to stay within the color theme, but ended up abandoning it for the sake of images I would rather use (rather than bunnies or purple dresses). I kept with the Potiphar’s Wife and Joseph theme as it kept me in line and on track. I’m having trouble finding my “muse” recently. Admittedly, I’ve been lazy with the melody today in section B and improvised it. But, I don’t mind using the letter game to get lyrics out and don’t feel bad with not sticking with it, though I tried not to change too much to keep the integrity of the exercise, as I ended up with some images I really like.
HAPPY AMERICA WEEKEND EVERYONE!
DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN
Good day, You. Good day!
Let’s get right to it…
I have been on Craiglist searching for vans, cars, SUVs, one bedroom apartments, two bed room apartments. I don’t think I’ve ever been so in tune to my own posture in my life. Things aren’t coming together any smoother than they were last week, but I’m past the black hole stage of hopelessness, I think. At the other end, I’ve come out obsessed with conversion vans and industrial loft apartments (both pipe dreams here in New York, I’ll have you know…)
In any case, today’s song is in honor of all those scammers, jerk-faces, and lame-o’s who had a sweet conversion van for sale (that I probably shouldn’t have been looking at anyway) but didn’t show up to show it to me when we had an appointment to do so. It’s also in honor of all these hours of looking, searching and googling to find the perfect MPGs. Sigh. Man, I think I might miss it when it’s all over… NO. NO, I WON’T.
The main line of this song is I will eat you alive in the Garden of Eden. This came from a sample piece that came to me somewhere, and I sang it into the crapiness that is my phone recorder. I stumbled upon it today and used it for this.
What weird thing have you found on Craiglist recently? Hmm… maybe don’t tell me… kind of don’t want to know. (But secretly do.)
SEARCH ON MY WILD DIAMOND! SEARCH ON!
We will confuse all our friends And will cash in our chips Just to sell back the car with upholstery rips We will barter for trades And then give them all back Just to die oh so slowly from painting it black
EMILY HOPE PRICE