And the Oscar goes to...

..."We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3, words and music by Randy Newman.

Yay!  The up-tempo won!  I have to confess I was rooting for this one to win.   

I play for a singing competition that is basically drunk-live American Idol, and one week the contestants had to sing a song that had won the Academy Award.  

It. Was. The. Longest. Night. Of. My. Life. 

That is how I learned that ballads are often favored for Oscar songs.  I guess there's something cinematic about a deeply-moving ballad? 

Anyway, I like Randy Newman's quirky voice, and I like the bass riff and the horn arrangment, and I'm more than thrilled that there's one more up-tempo to choose from in the realm of Oscar-winning songs. 

Oscar Medley VIDEO!

Here is my Oscar medley - unfortunately I haven't had time to write my geekery about/analysis of it, so please check back later in the week for that!

The four nominees are (cue suspense):
"If I Rise" from 127 Hours
"Coming Home" from Country Strong
"I See the Light" from Tangled
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3


And the Oscar goes to... ???

Medley-Makin' Time

With Mom, who is responsible for my language-nerdiness. She is also a pianist.

I nearly misspoke (miswrote?) just now, when I was about to call this post "Mashup-Makin' Time", trying to be cool and hip and preserve my youth as long as possible by using Glee-speak.  Then I googled "mashup", because I'm a giant nerd.  Here is what I discovered: according to the interwebs, the word mashup actually refers to an electronic mix of two (or more) pre-recorded songs.  It is not a clever arrangement of parts of two or more songs cobbled together cleverly (we hope) and live.  No, that would be a medley.  They are two different things. 

You know what I love about the English language?  That it has so many words that we can distinguish between a mashup and a medley.  You know what else?  I love that it is a living language, flexible and constantly evolving.  So I could be pedantic and correct people when they refer to a medley as a mashup, or I could just be cool and hip and go with the flow.  Anyhow, I surmise that "medley" comes from the same root as "muddle" (meaning to mash, as mint leaves with simple syrup in the bottom of a glass). Furthermore, I surmise that 1) I need a drink that involves muddling and 2) my language-nerd mom (who deserves the blame/credit for this tangent) is going to fact-check the etymology of the words medley and muddle.

I'm hedging, really.  I should be working on my Oscar medley right now, since the only time I have to record it is tomorrow around noon.  I almost gave it up earlier today.  My heart's not really in this particular Wish anymore, I thought.  I should use my time for other things.  Then, just for the heck of it, I started noodling around with the Oscar songs for a few minutes before I had to leave for rehearsal.  And of course it was fun and satisfying for my nerdy brain to experiment with muddling (ha) these songs together.  So I'm going to do it, and tomorrow around noon I'm going to B.S. a medley for my videocamera for my next vlog entry.

Know what else I love about English?  How nouns can be verbs.  Like hedge.  And noodle.  And B.S.

Black Coffee: Weekly Wish VIDEO!

Drumroll, please!

Presenting... my first Weekly Wish video!

The Wish:

I wish I were a better jazz accompanist.

and

I wish I could play for a jazz singer the way Paul Smith played for Ella Fitzgerald.

The Means:

Study what Paul Smith played for Ella Fitzgerald on "Black Coffee" from The Intimate Ella, which is a whole album of just the two of them.

The Video:

I was thrilled to have singer and actress Brooke Ishibashi join the on my trial-and-error process of recording my first video. It's always nice to have another good sense of humor in the room when I'm working with electronic devices.

Behind the Scenes:

I learned what Paul Smith played, but I didn't ask Brooke to sing exactly what Ella sang. I started out planning to record the notes I had transcribed from the recording, but that didn't always make sense with what she was singing. So there are deliberate changes from what Paul played, and then there are parts where I meant to play what he played and didn't (I think that's called "still-need-to-practice"), and then there are parts where I did play what Paul had done and probably could have listened more closely to what Brooke was doing.

So, onward! My friend says that every CD is a record of what he wishes he'd done better. Put that way, it kinda just makes me want to hide out and eat chocolate. But then again, it's a fun way to figure out my future Wishes, so it's perfect for me!

Comments & Feedback

I'm only one set of ears - comments and feedback here and on youtube are greatly appreciated.

Weekly Wish: 2/21/11 - Oscar Song Medley!

Weekly Wish: I wish I were a better arranger.

Means to the end: Cobble together a clever (I hope) medley of my favorite bits of the Oscar-nominated songs.  Write out a chart using Finale. 

I'm breaking my own rules.  (As is my custom.)  I'm supposed to move on to another project today - it's good for me to let go and allow something to marinate, and I don't have any work-related deadlines for my Wishes.  I worked on Oscar songs last week... well, "worked"... I didn't spend much time, because it's hard to make it a priority with so much else going on.  Especially since I'm a little hazy about what exactly I want to do, and am not totally in love with any of the songs (although I'm fascinated by the production on "If I Rise", and "We Belong Together" is fun).  But I want to finish this Wish, and I don't see myself feeling motivated if I wait until next week when the Oscars are over. 

I need a plan.  I work well with specifics.  Yesterday on the subway (where I do much of my thinking), I made a plan for my little mash-up.  Now I have to see if I can make it work on the piano. 

Coming Soon, to an Internet Browser Near You...

Oscar Songs - If I Rise

I didn't learn this song very well the first go-round. I intended to learn it a week ago Sunday, and then ... didn't. I was busy, sure, and also cranky about the fact that I have no idea what this song is about. I couldn't understand a lot of the lyrics, so I looked them up on the internet and read them. I still couldn't understand the lyrics.

You know how I am with lyrics. So I "learned the song" in the same way a little kid "washes his hands" before a meal - I played it on my computer while I cooked lunch, and intended to learn it, and then I think I took a nap.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself kinda liking the song the other day when I took a second crack at it. The production builds into a really interesting and tone-clustery melange of sound halfway through the song. The underlying groove never changes, but it sort of gets painted over by the rest of the orchestration, so that by the time the children's chorus comes in, it's possible to lose track of the downbeat.

Dido and A.R. Rahman collaborated on the song, and there is all sorts of stuff in it that I know very little about: electronic sounds, Eastern influences. According to the comment-sphere (usually there is space for "song meaning" comments on the sites that post song lyrics), the song is about making the most of whatever time you have. (Hey, they stole my epitaph!) There are also numerous comments about how well it works in the film. Which I wouldn't know, because I haven't seen it yet. Score minus-1 for taking things out of context.

As for the medley I'm concocting, I think I'll use the little opening riff, and maybe pick part of the melody to throw in at some point. I don't have time to render large sections of the song, or the arc as a whole, for solo piano, so I'll pick and choose what I can do at this point.