__Creating this Refrain__

My siblings and I used to play this cute little game on the NES.  My parents highly disapproved of the violent Double Dragon that we received for Christmas, and so my brother and I ended up trading that game with our neighborhood friend for the more innocuous Bubble Bobble.  What parent could get mad at watching squat dinosaurs (er..wikipedia says dragons) blow and pop bubbles to dispatch evil robot enemies?

The game was memorable for a few reasons.  The famous Bubble Bobble music that plays as you jump around popping bobbles.  The number of levels (99 was an insane number to playthrough as a kid).  Oh, and that big scary boss that, even when you beat it, gave you a SAD ENDING?  First time we beat the game, and saw that we needed to try for a happy ending, we were so mad.  Eventually, my sister and I figured out that we needed to save one life and then hit  start -> select -> start to add the second player into game as soon as the big boss was surrounded.  That netted us the Happy Ending!  There was even a “true ending” that was referenced in the credits, but we never played through the game a second time to get it.

After finishing my City Corner Lullaby arrangement, I went looking for another video game piece to arrange.  I didn’t think I wanted to tackle any of the music in Bubble Bobble until I hearkened back to that very first “sad ending” experience (geez, I must have been pretty traumatized).  The music that played over the credit was catchy, but I distinctly remember thinking that the prettiness of the melody was masked by the limitations of the NES’ sound capabilities and that annoying drone like bass. After previewing the original source material on Youtube, I decided to see if I couldn’t come up with a remix to do the music justice. I truly believe that video games should have a good payoff with memorable end game music.

This piece has ambient, new age, and dance influences.  One of the major changes I’ve introduced is an extended “chorus section.”  The original piece of music had a chorus section that seemed to end a bit abruptly. To remedy that,  I use a deceptive cadence (i.e. V -> VI) in order to extend the passage for a few more measures.  I think this makes the melody flow better.  I also organized the music in a pop-friendly format: intro, verse, verse, chorus, interlude, verse, chorus, outro.

I really enjoyed playing with different patches within my soft synths (Omnisphere and Stylus) to recreate that Bubble Bobble experience. There’s crystal like sounds as well a waterdrop arpeggio during the interlude. The end product is a little bit of cheer-you-up new age/dance, my very own take on what a happy ending should be.  I hope you enjoy.

-J

Bubble Bobble - Waterfall Ending -arr by Jared Ong

A lot has happened in the past month, and I’ve just been too busy to post anything.  I’ve procrastinated writing this blog entry because I wanted to post my new piece at the same time,  but now that’s it been almost two weeks of tweaking, I figure I better just send it into the Internet void.

So what’s been happening recently?

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to play a musical number for a fireside.  This gave me the opportunity to flesh out Did You Think To Pray as a piano arrangement.  Unfortunately, on the day of the fireside I found out that the number was canceled because of lack of time.   Bummer.  This ended up being a blessing in disguise, as I was asked by my former branch president to collaborate with a vocalist and do a musical number for his son’s missionary farewell.  I met with Kevin O. this week and we ended up deciding on using DYTTP.  Kevin’s an extremely talented singer/performer, having performed on Broadway and conducted various related workshops.

The final touches of the arrangement came as we worked to layer the vocals on top of the original chordal harmonies.   Kevin has a great tenor voice, so we quickly transposed it into the key of G, which made it more singable than the Eb key signature of the original hymn.  He also gave some great ideas in how we could build emotion into the the third verse and meld the intro and outros motifs with the rest of the music.  We did a quick rehearsal before the meeting, and everything came together this morning during the service.  The third verse was just powerful. I think we really captured the essence of the hymn by the way the music and vocals developed through out the arrangement.   I’m going have to spend some time in Sibelius putting the thing down to music notation, but look for the sheet music sometime in the future.  I also need to do a piano/vocal audio recording.

Oh, remember the arrangement of the Final Fantasy piece I posted a while back in this blog post?  OCRemix finally posted a decision on their website.   It ended up getting accepted by which was a nice little pick-me up.  I didn’t realize how high the bar was until after I submitted the entry.   Since I was submitting a piano solo, I debated whether the judges would understand the method of interpretation, that the arrangment was trying to evoke the nostalgia of wandering a town that’s just a shade of its former glory. Well, the judges got it.  You can find the piece on the OCRemix Site here, under my artist profile Jennerstein.  Comments have been favorable enough that I feel I’ve caught the remixing bug.  If anything, it’s a fun exercise down memory lane for me.  There’s something challenging about trying to capture both the experience of the game and the experience of playing the game.  I’m thinking my next project will be a new ageish/dance remix of Bubble Bobble.

Although I’ve had experience writing New Age piano pieces, I haven’t really tried mixing New Age and trance together.  So, this past month I’ve been experimenting in writing/producing within this new style.  There’s shades of piano rock, trance, and ambient, with New Age serving as inspiration.  I guess you could even say there’s a little bit of Robert Miles too.  Anyway, I played it in the car for my friend, Tony, and he immediately had visions of Neverending Story.  Which I guess isn’t a bad thing.  You can find the piece below:

Walking With Angel

As this is all experimental stuff (at least for me anyway), comments are more than welcome.

Here’s a little something for Sunday.  This is a quick two minute demo piece that I put together to practice my mockup abilities.  The arrangement is based on some ideas that I had while playing prelude music about a month ago.  I’m looking at getting some killer string and orchestra sounds, but for now these will have to do.

Did You Think To Pray Demo

Every so often during one of my piano jams, I’ll start playing songs from my childhood.  Ducktales, Who are the People in Your Neighborhood, Gummi Bears.  It’s one those things that really gives endless pleasure.  There’s nothing better than revisiting favorite music from the past with about 10 year’s of musician’s perspective.  There’s this interplay between recreating a favorite melody, and seeing what else you can do with it now that you’re not just stuck with trying to plunk out the notes.

One of the things I’ve been returning to more and more recently is the Super Mario Bros 3 level 1-4 theme.  I remember being frustrated and captivated with that level.  It was the first one where the screen scrolled automatically and you were forced to jump ahead to avoid getting squished or pushed off the ledge.  The first time the screen warped little mario into the platform and the first dissonant pitches started playing through the TV,  I was like “Oh my gosh, what the heck!” (I had yet to add swear words to my vocabulary).  It was heartracing.  After we beat that level, my brother and I somehow got a hold of a Nintendo Power Guide and started trying to get the White Toadhouse to appear.  It required you to run through the level with near perfection, capturing almost all of the coins in the level.  The first time that little whitehouse appeared somewhere near the Hammer Brothers I think we did a little dance.  It was a pretty wild celebration, I don’t quite remember what happened.

With that spirit, I thought I’d record a little jam session.  Aside from a few takes, what you’re hearing is a completely unedited version of me trying to jam on my MotifES6.  You’ll hear mistakes all over the place, that’s what I get for trying to play a fairly fast piano piece on a keyboard with no hammer action.  The Motif’s keys are like playing the organ, so I don’t have the resistance of a real piano keyboard to prevent me from accidentally nicking the note right next to the I’m actually meaning to play.   But that’s what makes it fun and a more realistic jam session.

I’ll probably eventually rerecord this with a digital piano (with real graded hammer action) or touch up the MIDI.  So laugh at my fat fingers now before I upload a new version, haha!

Mario Nostalgia by Jared Ong

p.s.  I’m using a new software synth, Pianoteq 3, I’ll write my comments about the software in a future blog post.

So for the past year or so I’ve been the unofficial branch pianist.  Unofficial because I have another calling, and I’m the default pianist in the branch.  Not the only one, but the most convenient one for the branch because I just show up and play.  They just called a new pianist last week, and I am a little sad to no longer be playing prelude and postlude music.  That’s usually where I experiment and try add some twists to the hymns.

Occasionally, I’ll try and spice up the hymns a little bit during the congregational singing portions of sacrament meeting.  Called to Serve is a fun one, that hymn is meant to be a rousing call to service and should be played as such.  But generally, I try and stay true to the reverence of the hymn.  Every so often I’m tempted to bust out, but I try to be a good little pianist.

However, a couple of weeks ago, we were singing O My Father, and the song ended up being this internal tug of war emotionally and musically between what’s right and what’s wrung*.  I was happily playing the hymn in 3/4 time.  Tri-pl-et, Quarter Quarter, tri-pl-et, quarter quarter, tri-pl-et, quarter quarter.  You get the picture.

Unfortunately, the rest of the congregation was singing the song as if the whole thing was 6/8.  I went through one complete verse of the hymn before I succumbed to rhythmic peer pressure and ended up playing the poor song at full lilt.  The whole time, I kept thinking “This is all wrung, dang it! Should I force 3/4? I should force 3/4.  Come on people, read the music.”  But finally, I was just too tired of fighting against years, nay, centuries, of tradition.  Ok, only one century, but still!

*Wrung: When something is sung completely wrong.  Example: W. Hung sings “Mary had a little ram, little ram, little ram.”   

So about a month ago, a good friend of mine sent me an interesting text, “Can you call me, I have a music question.”  Turns out he had a request for rates for a 30 spot.

We’ve gone through a different versions.  In the future, I’m going to be more of a stickler for a final (or close to final) video cut.  Most of the time, the producers request different “hits” at specific spots within the commercial.  Without a final version of what you’re scoring, it’s a bit more difficult to determine where the right instrument hits should be, or even the musical direction that should be taken.

My first version I sent out is drastically different from the last version.  And that’s to be expected.  But where things really came together was once I had the final cut, complete with animatic effects.  That version of the video gave me a better understanding of what the producer and director were shooting for.  The commercial itself reflects a mood change or two, but it was only with the effects that I knew how dark or light I needed to score each section.

Scoring films, on the other hand, is a bit different.  I think an early copy of the film is important in other to sketch out ideas and come up with general themes.  The earlier, the better.  But realistically, in that industry, you’re probably always going to running up to deadlines and madly racing to get things finished in time.

I’ll see if I can get permission to upload a copy of the music in a later post.

Just a quick update on what’s going on musically.

I’ve had a few calls in the recent weeks requesting permission to be added to my studio.  I’m open to teaching any age and skill level, as long as it’s a good fit between the student and the teacher.  However, at this rate, I might not have any personal time to do writing.

I finished up a short film in December.  The director wanted a little more music, so I wrote a piano piece or two for him.  I also got to play the role of music director, as there were a couple of places in the film that necessitated a classical piece based on the actresses actions.  Chopin ended up winning out.

I also have some other potential projects lined up, including producing a demo CD and some more media composition.  Definitely keeping busy.

The latest thing I’m working on is an Asian Knight Riderish theme.  It’s cheesy, but sometimes that’s what you feel like writing.  I’ll upload it when it’s finished.

-J

I originally tried creating an arrangement of this piece about two years ago at my aunt’s house in the bay area.  The source material is one of Jay Chou’s most famous songs, Simple Love (Jiandan Ai). Most of what I came up back then was the syncopation between the left and right hands.  It ended up sounding a bit too repetitive.

Anyway, this Saturday evening, I decided to take a new approach.  I enjoyed the challenge of trying to capture the syncopation and drums of the original but decided in the end to write the piano in the spirit of the song.  The chords sound a bit more classical.  I also bring out the ballad aspect of the song, and less of the rhythmic hip-hop influence from the drums.  I found if I tried to capture the verse melody too much, it just felt robotic.  You’ll hear that I did recreate the syncopation in the second verse, but less in the melody and more in the chords.  I also smoothed out the verse melody in order to allow the song to flow a bit better.   And yes, some of the tinkly pretty stuff is me emulating the chinese pop ballad style Jay Chou is famous for.

I recorded this on my MotifES6.  I’m interested in playing this on a full grand to see if, when improvising, I’ll add a little bit more to the range of the arrangement.  Only having 61 keys is kind of annoying.  I really need to save up for that baby grand and a couple of AKG 414s.

Simple Love (JianDan Ai) - Arranged by Jared Ong

So, I spent my Sunday evening trying to catalogue some of my most favorite classical pieces for a random post request I found on the internet. Doing so brought back memories of four semesters of music history. I have fond and not so fond memories of trying to memorize scores and pieces late into the night. So much fun when a piece is 30 minutes long and the professor can ask you to identify any section of the piece using a score or mp3. Once you get into 20th century music, it’s hard to tell between the different pieces because they are not nearly as melodic. I think our teachers were trying to force us to like Schoenberg. Well it didn’t work, but I do have an appreciation for his twelve-tone practices. Oh, the horrors of studying Hexachordal inversional combinatorialism.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites that I’ve collected over the years (either from my classes, or just listening in general). It was fun trying to pull melodies and movement names from the recesses of my mind. Youtube and iTunes were a big help.

Classical Period
Mozart - Symphony No. 41 in C Major K 551 (All movements. Known as the “Jupiter” symphony)
Mozart - Piano Concerto in D Major K107 (especially like the 1st movement, Allegro)
Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor K550 (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, one of his most famous)
Mozart - Piano Concerto in E-flat Major K. 271 (all movements)
Beethoven - Symphony No.3 (Known as “Eroica”. All movements are fabulous, this might be my favorite Beethoven Symphony)
Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F Major (known as the “Pastoral” symphony)
Beethoven - Sonata No. 8 Pathetique (all movements. Movement no.2 is one of the most beautiful melodies ever composed, in my opinion)

Romantic Period
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E Minor op. 64 (all movements!)
Brahms - Symphony #3 (especially Movement 3, it’s one of my favorites)
Chopin - Nocturne in C Minor op. 48 no.1
Chopin - Nocturne in E flat Major Op.9 No.2 (one of Chopin’s most famous pieces. I remember hearing it in The Incredible Machine software game)
Chopin - Prelude in E minor Op. 28 No 4.
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B Minor op.74 Pathetique (all movements)
Dvorak - Symphony No.9 (known as “From the New World” You might be familiar with the 4th movement)
Mahler - Symphony No. 2 (known as the “Resurrection” symphony. The movements are quite transcendental in nature.)

Impressionist Period
Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (one of my favorite pieces)
Debussy - Claire de Lune (famous piece. Played at the end of Ocean’s Eleven)

20th Century
Gershwin - Piano Prelude No. 1 (nice and short but so awesome. Even though Gershwin is more of a Jazz composer, who cares, it deserves to be on this list)
Stravinsky - Petrushka (all movements, although I’m partial to movement 1)
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring (all movements, although most people know it for it’s dissonance in the Sacrifice movement)
Copland - Appalchian Spring (One of his most famous works, a ballet score)

Hope you guys enjoy. What are some of your favorite pieces?

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog.  I took a hiatus to recharge my batteries sometime during the summer/fall and I didn’t take the effort to update my blog.  I started tackling a couple of other new song ideas in the recent weeks but I don’t quite have anything ready for preview.  I’m finding that I am definitely a lot more prolific when I have a songwriting companion.  I guess that’s just the way I work.  Writing with someone else allows myself to think and compose out loud and get immediate feedback.  I guess I need that as additional motivation.   In any case, I guess I should start looking for a writing partner (e.g. Elise, if you ever decide to come back to California…).

 Anyway, today’s post is my first example of arranging for four part SATB harmony.  Although much of the music core at the Y was classical choral theory, I’m wasn’t one one to usually write in that style.  Silent Night came about because the institute choir wanted something to sing for a last year’s fireside and I needed to work on my choral chops.  This explains why the piece itself is not too taxing. I kept things fairly straightforward to cater to the level of musicians in the choir.  Unfortunately, since I was accompanying the choir, I didn’t get a chance to hear whether the harmonies blended correctly.    I need to find a good choir to test the arrangement with and tweak any notes.  It sounds good in Sibelius (my notation software), but midi oohs and aahs aren’t very useful in helping me find me find any enunciation trouble spots.  If one of my readers wants to use the arrangement, let me know.  I’m curious for feedback.

 A couple of my favorite spots:  The sus2 to sus4 chords to start out the piece.  The sus chords are scattered all throughout to give an ethereal sound.  I’ve always thought of Silent Night as being an international hymn of mystery (hehe), what with it’s Germanic origins. Contrast the tune with the happy bright melodies of Angles We Have Heard On High.  The sus2 and sus4 ’s are meant modernize that choral aura a bit.

 I enjoyed playing around with the repetition of the last line and making things a little different.  Sleep in heavenly peace becomes sleep, sleep, sleep in peace (measures 18-21).  There’s that essence of a baby’s lullaby in the original hymn, and I wanted to bring that out more. 

 The sus2 (accompaniment) and sus4 chord (choir) combination in measure 52.  The choir is supposed to just hit that chord and let it ring and reverberate around the room to give us pause at the spiritual wonder of the birth of our Savior.   And then measure 56 where the sopranos get to shine, like angels.  There the sopranos have to be careful or else it just turns into pure cheese.  But, if done right, it’s pretty.

 The ending by the piano.  It’s peaceful.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the arrangement.  Constructive comments are much appreciated.  I’ll try and upload a recording of the accompaniment in the next week or so.  And, if I can kind some kind choir to let me record them, I’ll upload an mp3 of how everything sounds together.

 Happy Holidays!

 Jared

PDF: Silent Night - Arranged by Jared Ong