Twenty-Four
One characteristic that makes music so beautiful and so affective is its very fleeting nature, where each musical note that is emitted will present its sound and then quickly fade away to make room for the next note.
This is plainly exemplified even in a most basic major scale, as each diatonic note presents itself briefly, producing the needed sound in the sequence, anticipating the next note, and quickly fading away to make room for that next note.
The beauty of music, then, is expressed in the individual sound emitted by each individual note, but more so in the collective sound emitted by all the notes in the piece. In this manner, each individual note has its own “moment” and its own particular meaning, but there is also a different, larger meaning determined by all the notes in the larger context.
This concept is not exclusive to music or the other arts. It is first introduced in the Creation narrative, where the idea of a temporal segment in time - a day - is suggested by the phrase “and there was evening, and there was morning” (Genesis 1:5). In the context of six Creation days, each one had its own particular purpose and meaning, but there was also a broader purpose and meaning determined by all six days, collectively, where one could not make sense without the others.
What has begun in Genesis 1 has continued as a perpetual dialogue between the sunrise of a new day filled with life and new opportunities, and the dusk filled with anticipation of the next day, in this never-ending dialogue between yesterday, today, and tomorrow: “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” (Psalm 19:2).
The title of this album, my first solo guitar album, is “Twenty-Four.” The idea was to capture different glimpses throughout a typical working day in my life (Monday-Friday) and to present those glimpses in the form of songs.
From waking up early in the morning, to my rush-hour drive to school, to time spent at work as a classroom Music teacher, to those exhausting moments while driving home after work, to enjoying a large family meal in the evening, to ending the day at sunset, and everything else in between, this album is really a glimpse into my daily life as a family man, an educator, and a musician.
Here is a complete lineup of the songs, in order:
Sunrise
Only You
Rush Hour
Little Cup of Joy
Live A Little
At The Playground
Top O’Clock
Round Two
Road To Nowhere
Half A Dream
Depresso
Sanctuary
Feast for Six
Prayer
Sunset
The music in this album was composed over the span of about twenty years. Some of the songs were improvised freely and completed in one sitting, while others were composed intentionally over longer periods of time.
In the next few months, I am planning to record each piece in the album and provide some background and insight for each song. When I am all finished, this album will be made available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other similar platforms.
Equipment Used For This Album
Kremona F65CW Classical Guitar
I am an official Kremona Guitars artist, and I take great pride in my Kremona instruments. Currently, I own the 90th Anniversary model and the F65CW Fiesta model. Both are classical , nylon-string guitars.
Because I am recording this album “on the go”, meaning I am not recording in a studio but in different location, I am going to use the F65CW Fiesta. Because this is an acoustic-electric guitar, I can plug into an acoustic amp, use an interphase to connect to a MacBook Pro, and just record without worrying about surrounding noises.
Click below to see offer on Amazon:
Kremona F65CW Classical Guitar
Roland AC33
This is a very versatile little amp that I’ve used for live performances as a personal monitor going into a PA system, and also for lots of my recordings where I’ve used an acoustic-electric instrument.
It has two different channels, and the instrument channel provides a very clear, crisp, accurate sound. I highly recommend this amp.
Click below to see offer on Amazon:
Roland AC33 Acoustic Amp
D’Addario EJ45 Classical Guitar Strings
I’ve used many different types and gauges of strings over the years. Time and time again, I seem to return to what I’ve used since my college days: the EJ45 from D’Addario.
These are easy on the fingers, they sound great, they are reliable, and they are affordable. Though I often like to use different types of strings, I seem to always return to the EJ45s. This entire recording will be completed with the EJ45s. I highly recommend them.
Click below to see offer on Amazon:
D’Addario EJ45 Classical Guitar Strings
“Sunrise”
The first piece in the album, “Sunrise” portrays the first moments of each morning, as I wake up to a new beginning, a new day with lots of new possibilities.
I am usually quite tired in the morning during the school year, because I work very long hours, but in spite of the reluctancy to get out of bed when the alarm goes off, I usually arrive to a feeling of excitement and anticipation, especially as I get ready to get on the road.
The piece is written in the key of G Major and it has (for me anyways) a feeling of “let’s go, let’s do this!” I find the melodic movement to be quite beautiful, so much so that it could probably stand on its own without the need for harmonies. Still, the harmonic movement is a typical folk-song motion of …
Tonic - Dominant - Relative Minor - Dominant
SubDominant - Tonic - SubDominant - Relative Minor - Suspended Dominant - Dominant … or …
I V vi V IV I ii - I - vi - V
or…
G D/F# Emi D C G/B Ami - G - Emi - D
There are some natural harmonics in the middle, some of which are chordal playing while others are part of the melody.
As I started to record this album, I had to remind myself quite a few times that perfection in music is more an illusion than something worth pursuing. Yes, I want to play all the right notes and all the notes right, and I want to play as cleanly as possible, but I also want the music to breathe, to speak, and sometimes that means that I won’t stop for every little buzz or finger slip.
So here goes the first piece in the album: “Sunrise.” I hope you like it, I hope you’ll stick around and check back in every now and then, as I’ll keep recording the rest of the compositions in the next few weeks and months.
Feel free to use the comment section below to ask any questions or make comments on this music or anything else.
Thank you very much and I hope you’ll stick around for this.
“Only You”
The second piece in the album is dedicated to my beautiful wife. It is titled “Only You” because she is the first and only person that I see, and that I want to see, first thing every morning :-)
Written in the key of D Major, the piece stays in that key throughout, though there are a couple spots where it seems as if the key has been changed. The BbMaj7 chord comes to mind here. The way I think through that section is more of a b6th - b7th - tonic progression.
The harmonies in that section actually move something like this:
BbMaj7 C BbMaj7 Ami7 BbMaj7 C Dmi (b5th Pentatonic Scale)
BbMaj7 C BbMaj7 Ami7 BbMaj7 C Dmi
I am trying to record at least one piece in the album every week, with the constant reminder that perfection is not the goal. The goal is to express these glimpses into my Monday-Friday working day, in a way that is as musical as possible.
Two pieces down, thirteen to go.
Thanks for sticking around for this.
“Rush Hour”
The third piece in my album is titled “Rush Hour” and it is a musical picture of what happens during the exciting and annoying Rush Hour during the morning drive to work.
I say “exciting” because I really love my job and I am really looking forward to being in my classroom every morning, and I say “annoying” because some people don’t know how to drive: they either drive too fast, as if they’re trying to get to the end of the world by Noon, or too slow, as if they’re sightseeing. Why can’t they just drive like me, perfect?
The piece is in E Major and I wrote it many, many years ago: some twenty years ago. I called it simply “Rondo” back then, because it is written in Rondo form.
Rondo Form: a musical composition where the structure is ABACADA, etc … whereas the first section keeps returning after each different section.
So far, this has been the most difficult to record. It literally took me three sessions of about 4 hours each … and the piece is just a tad over two minutes …???!!! I think the problem is not the difficulty of the piece - it is not that difficult to play - but the fact that it has a few sections that are quite “exposed” and every little mistake will stand out like a sore thumb, caused me to go again and again, and again.
The sections between the repeating A section are in a different mood, the same as when you drive in traffic, and there’s slowing down, now there’s a parking lot on the highway, then there’s a small pocket of “go”, and then it all goes back to normal.
The harmonic structure of section A is as follows:
E A B/D# E / A B/D# E
Pretty straightforward: Tonic - Subdominant - Dominant - Tonic.
Three pieces down.
Twelve to go.
Time for new strings - I am using D’Addario EJ45 Strings
Thanks for sticking around for this.
“Little Cup of Joy”
This is the fourth piece in my album “Twenty-Four.” I titled it “Little Cup of Joy” and it is about the first minutes after I get into my classroom every morning. I turn the lights on, I turn the fans on, I put my backpack down, and the very next thing I have to do next is get some kind of drink. No alcoholic drinks for this gray-haired boy … I usually do instant coffee, tea, maybe some soda with ice, and very seldom … water :-)
I’ll usually sip on something throughout the day, but these first few minutes in the morning in my classroom, I’ve just got to have a “Little Cup of Joy.” The morning I recorded this I had two cans of Diet Coke in a large McDonald’s plastic cup filled with ice. I am a bit under the weather and recovering from a nasty flu, so the extra caffeine did help keep my head together. Almost.
The piece is written in the key of D Major, but it does feature a small departure into other harmonic places: C - G/B - Bb - F/A - Ab - Eb - Asus - A
Not too much musical mystery happening in this song. It is uncomplicated, like the “little cup of joy” on my desk right now. Nothing fancy, just brief refresher. I hope you enjoy it.
While you’re at it, here are some of my favorite drinks to have first thing in the morning, as soon as I arrive in my classroom:
TAZO Tea
Bigelow Tea
Starbucks Instant Coffee
Diet Pepsi
Fiji Water
