Song #8 from FAWM 2010 is up — “To Journey Over Ice.” You can listen to it on the FAWM site or on SoundClick.
Special to readers of this blog — I do have a bit more information to add, which I didn’t post on FAWM. I’ll present it after this copy of the original liner notes:
My eighth song of FAWM 2010 was written in the dark.
Two days ago, during the big snow storm that has so dominated my FAWM experience this year, the power went out for about 4 hours. Of course, participating in FAWM, it helps to have things like a computer, an internet connection . . . not to mention the ability to record.
But when the power went out, I had more pressing concerns. First was heat. The night was expected to go down to 8°F.
So my wife and I were sitting on the 1st floor (we have ground floor, 1st floor, and 2nd floor, so the second one up). She was quilting, I was practicing guitar. I do this game sometimes — I have a deck of 12 cards, on which I’ve written the 12 possible chromatic notes. What I do is turn over a card, and play something from that starting point.
In this case, I turned over F# (or Gb). I improvised the rest of the song.
Well, no way to go record it. So I practiced it, played a few variations, then went on to something else.
That evening, when the power came back on, I was busy finishing my recording of song #6. And yesterday, I already had set up the room to play congas, so went ahead on song #7.
Then, today — I remembered the song fairly well! So I’ve finally recorded it, 48 hours after first writing it, pretty much pulling it right out of memory.
OK, the instruments:
Breedlove Classical (Nylon String) guitar.
ESP Ltd Bass.
Hammond Organ. (Subtle work with it this time, playing high for an atmospheric effect.)
Nord Rack 2X (the two synth voices).
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
Now the extras. One of the first comments I got on the track was about the chord progression. Although I started from F# as the root note, I developed the following chord progression according to some fairly simple rules I’ve put together (basically a mixture of classical and jazz theory):
- intro: one bar each of F#m11, B7. This is just a jazz ii-V progression.
- verses: two bars each of F#m11, B7 until the change.
- first chorus: stays on Em7b13 (E Aeolian, or E natural minor), then changes to Am7, Asus7. How this works: F#m7, B7 can be thought of as the ii-V leading into the tonic minor. I know, most jazz folks prefer the Dorian mode. However, the b13 can be a very tense tone color and add movement to a progression. The Am7 that follows can be thought of as the iv chord of the key Em. To return to the verse, F#m can be thought of as the relative minor of A major, and A major is the parallel key to A minor. It also helps the final chord is suspended — they can move just about anywhere.
- second chorus: has a specific progression I’ve shown in the table below.
| Gm7 | Am7 | Bbm7 | Am7 |
| Gm7 | Am7 | Bbm7 | Am7 |
| D7 | % | C#7#9 | % |
The first eight bars are a “constant structure” progression. The final chord, Am7, forms a ii-V pair with D7. The natural chord to go after D7 would be G something; I’ve chosen G7, but performed a tritone substitution to make this C#7alt, which I’ve voiced here as C#7#9 (no 5). And C#7alt, of course, leads naturally back into the key of F#m.
My seventh song of FAWM 2010 is up — “To Dance in Nameless Places.” You can listen to it on the FAWM site or on SoundClick. Here are the liner notes:
Song #7 was a tough one. Because of the recent snow storm, I have a few days off. Problem is, spending your morning shoveling snow and breaking up ice is very exhausting.
This is a nice conga groove — in fact all the rhythm is hand percussion. Here are the instruments, in the order they were recorded:
One conga, tuned to Ab.
A pair of maracas.
Claves.
Roland digital piano sounds.
Ibanez S620, in ‘twangy’ mode (pickup switch in position IV, humbuckers split and blended). I needed a more ‘glassy’ sound over the more mellow tone of the piano.
This chord progression is interesting. Because of the conga tuning, I tried to keep ‘Ab’ (or G#) a constant in all of the chords. I also tried for smooth voice leading, where possible. However, the chords are not in their traditional diatonic groupings — Fm, E, and DbmMaj7 in the verse; Ab, Dbm, and B in the chorus.
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
No kidding, I’m exhausted. Although I have a few more hours left in the day, I think I’m going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing. I would say ‘chilling out’, but considering the weather, hopefully not 
Despite a number of hardships, song #6 of FAWM 2010 is up — “Walking Through Daydreams.” You can listen to it either on the FAWM site or on SoundClick. Here are my liner notes:
This, the sixth song of FAWM 2010, did not come easy. We’re in the middle of a severe winter storm here in northern Virginia. At my house, we got 33 inches of snow. Plus, today, right in the middle of recording this song, I had a four hour delay because the power went out.
The only rhythm instruments on this song are a trio of guitars. I’m using a folk technique here:
The first guitar, in the center of the stereo field, is played open. No complicated chords here — simple are required for the proper effect.
The second guitar, panned slightly to the left, is played with a capo on fret #2 — same chords, but now a different spelling.
The third guitar, panned slightly to the right, has the capo on fret #7. Here are the chords that can be embellished slightly.
Other instruments? The deep resonant thrumm of my Breedlove acoustic bass. The eerie wail of a Waldorf Blofeld on the chorus (when, notice, only one guitar is playing). Finally, a bit of glassy electric piano on top.
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
Edit: I got so wound up getting this article written and posted this morning that I forgot to mention one of my main points. I have used this ‘chorus of guitars’ effect before — except in 5/4 time! This was on “150 Years Later (The Mermaid Wife II)” (from La vie sous la mer, my third Jamendo album).
Since it’s part of the song’s story, I’m actually posting some pictures from the big storm (taken yesterday, 6-Feb-2010).
Saturday Morning
Saturday Morning -- 25 inches of snow. A brief pause in the storm. The snow plows gave up during the night. (Click image to enlarge.)
Saturday Afternoon
Mid day. The storm came back, just as strong. (Click image to enlarge.)
Saturday Evening
Day's end. The clouds part for a beautiful sunset. By my count, 33 inches of snow fell over a 31 hour period. (Click image to enlarge.)
This is the second song of two in a row — two in one day! As I write this, there’s a winter storm outside. We’re expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow. On the bright side, school was out for a snow day, and I spent my day making music. However, I’m hurrying up and posting all of this in case the power goes out!
“Beware the Age of the Machine” is quite a contrast to the other songs I’ve done so far on this album. You can hear it either on the FAWM site or on SoundClick. The liner notes for the song:
Warning: starts quiet, gets real loud!
Songs #4 and #5 are connected — both were recorded in the same session. My goal for these two songs was to play a difficult rhythm on the congas. Here, I played the funkiest, syncopated conga rhythm I could sustain, with the goal of making this song super heavy later on.
The instruments on this track:
One conga drum, tuned to ‘A’.
ESP Ltd Bass (w/ active EMG Humbuckers).
Nord Rack 2X (Best synth ever. I know. I already said that on a previous song. But it’s true.)
Wailing, mad Ibanez S620! In contrast to a previous track where I played a guitar with very heavy strings, this one is basically strung with spider webs and hair (well, .009s, but you get the idea).
OK, the meaning of the title. Since the title of this album is “No Robots Allowed”, I thought I needed at least one theme song. This is it. I’m rocking out, free of the machines
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
More than a year ago, I released my fifth Jamendo album, Martian Winter. Most of the songs on that album tied in to H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. Probably my favorite song on that album was “The Morning the Stars Began to Fall.” Like “Beware the Age of the Machine”, it was also a hard rock type tune, with a wailing guitar balanced against heavy bass and synth sounds.
For some reason, though, that album wasn’t as successful as my others — at least not in terms of plays and downloads. Why? No idea. I think it’s one of my best. I think Jamendo was going through some hard times last year about this time — site outages, maybe? Who knows.
Maybe someday it will find its audience.
Here come two in a row. It’s snowing here, a huge winter storm. I was out of school today, and finished two songs for FAWM 2010. This is #4, “My Secret Word for Dragonfly.” You can listen either on the FAWM site or on SoundClick.
Here are the liner notes for this song:
Songs #4 and #5 are connected — both were recorded in the same session. My goal for these two songs was to play a difficult rhythm on the congas. Here, the basic rhythm is 5/4.
“My Secret Word for Dragonfly” is a variant of the blues, believe it or not — at least that’s what the basic chord progression resembles. The instruments on this track are:
A single conga drum, tuned to ‘A’.
Fender P-Bass.
Hammond organ.
Fender Telecaster.
Now, about the title. That is indeed a long story. When I was little, I had my own language. My word for dragonfly was ‘hohexexegosper’.
This song seems to dart around like a dragonfly, and so the name fits . . . on the other hand, if I actually named the song ‘Hohexexegosper’, mass confusion would result
I did tell a bit more about the origin of the name on my blog, back in the day:
http://bmccosar.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/strange-lady-part-4/
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
These songs were recorded back to back so that I could use the same microphone setup for each. To record the conga part, I used two Behringer B-2 microphones, set up to the left and right of the drum. I had to hurry and do the recording of these parts last night — today, the main sound I hear is snow plows cruising by outside!
The last time I brought up the subject of the word ‘Hohexexegosper’ was in an article I wrote on this blog about “The Strange Lady I Met on the Shore“, the first track from La vie sous la mer (my third Jamendo album).
Thanks to a snow storm, I was home today. I used the time to finish a very complicated piece, “Dreams from the Shore.” You can listen to it either on the FAWM site or on SoundClick.
This is my third song in as many days — FAWM 2010 is going pretty well, so far. But of course if things follow tradition, they will fall apart right in the middle (about song #7 or 
;-)
Here’s what I wrote for my “liner notes” on FAWM:
You have to listen closely to hear the special feature of this song. The percussion on this track was a jazz brush set. I’m using a wire brush on a snare, as well as on the ride cymbal.
The other instruments:
Fretless bass (Fender J-bass).
Nord Rack 2X (best synth ever ).
Ibanez Artcore hollow body guitar. Yes, this is the one strung with the .015 – .056 gauge strings:
http://www.juststrings.com/lab-20ph.html
A lot of guitarists hear that and think, ‘ouch’. But the action on this instrument is very low, and the fact that they are flatwound makes this a very easy instrument to play — there is next door to no string noise, and a big, big sound.
The meaning of the title: it looks like I’m on an ‘ocean’ theme, for now. In a way this is an answer to the previous song (Sailing Into Night Time), except seen from the shore.
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
Just as a bit of trivia, the last time I played brushes on a recording was for some of the songs on my third Jamendo album, La vie sous la mer.
Whew. Two songs in two days. My second song of FAWM 2010 is “Sailing Into Night Time.” (You can hear it on the FAWM site or on SoundClick.)
Here’s what I wrote for my “liner notes” on FAWM. (Like I said before — I’m posting them here as well, because the FAWM site doesn’t stay up all year. Plus, here I can actually add inline links.)
Note: this song starts slow, but changes to a nice conga groove at about the 1:00 mark. So if you’re impatient, just run the clock forward
My second song of FAWM 2010 features hand percussion. Back in 2007, I got a set of three Meinl Woodcraft Congas — tumba, conga, and quinto. These appeared on my second Jamendo album, handmade, which featured all hand drums. They’ve moved with me all the way from Florida to Virginia.
The second thing I like about the song is the sound of the guitar I’m using — a Breedlove classical. For this sort of song, with the style of chords I’m using, nylon strings are ideal.
Here’s the image that goes with the song: twilight at sea, near enough to see the shoreline. The sun sets. Lights go on in the towns; the water reflects these lights, which shimmer on the waves. Overhead, the stars appear one by one.
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
Twelve songs remaining. Twenty six days left.
I made it. Song #1 of FAWM 2010 is “How Many Miles Beyond?” (You can hear it on the FAWM site or on SoundClick).
Here’s what I wrote for my “liner notes” on FAWM. (I’m posting them here as well, because the FAWM site doesn’t stay up all year.)
The origin of the title:
One of my favorite books is the collected Amber stories of Roger Zelazny. There’s always a line I remember . . . “How many miles to Avalon? None, I say, and all.”
(This is of course related to the nursery rhyme “How many miles to Babylon”, source of the term “Babylon Candle” in Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust”.)
Anyway, the title . . . I guess you could say this is a song about how the familiar places in life grow strange, and in many ways more distant, with time. Certainly I feel that when I go to my home town (LaFayette, GA).
This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only — without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. “No Robots Allowed” is my theme, and here are the rules I’m following:
As of 4 pm today, I had nothing — “How Many Miles Beyond” was composed, recorded, and mixed in about 5 hours! For me, that’s some sort of record.
And now I’ve built up a one day lead.
Remaining: 13 songs in 27 days.
Tomorrow it begins . . . FAWM 2010.
FAWM
The goal is to write 14 songs in the 28 days of February. I’ve already developed the composition rules I’ll be following, as well as my album cover / theme, No Robots Allowed.
Now all that remains is to write and record 14 songs
Music Hosting
In the past, I’ve relied on SoundClick to host the music I create during FAWM. Last year, the site went down right in the middle of my run. I had to make an emergency stop at Google Sites to continue.
This year, yes, I will be hosting my music at SoundClick. However, I’ve also taken FAWM up on their offer of on-site file hosting. My music should, therefore, appear in the jukebox on FAWM’s front page — along with everyone else’s!
Jamendo
Good news on the Jamendo front. Two days ago, Sylvain Zimmer (from the Jamendo administrative team) posted this message to the forum:
Thanks all for your support
We’ve been working in our “war room” all week, and it has been quite a ride.
I will definitely have good news to announce in the next few days.
In the meantime, keep the questions/ideas coming, if possible about the future jamendo because that’s we’re talking about now
cheers
Just a month ago, when I got the news of Jamendo’s troubles, I really thought it was the end. Over the past three years, I’ve dedicated a lot of time and energy into the site — I’ve made it my flagship. The news that my flagship might be sinking was rather disheartening!
With all that going on, and the Save Jamendo campaign we launched, I wasn’t sure if I would have the energy or the enthusiasm to do FAWM this year. In the end, I gambled — I said I’d do it anyway, regardless of whether I had a musical home or not.
It turned out to be one of those times where a leap of faith was justified. For now, the future looks much better. I can take on FAWM with, if not answers, at least solutions already in progress.
Uvumi
At the same time, this experience has taught me the wisdom of the phrase “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” I think it’s time that I got my music further out there, and appeared on more sites.
I need to diversify. Jamendo will remain my home; but I would like some additional options.
Therefore, I’ve actually started a user page at an up-and-coming music site called Uvumi. Right now I’m still learning the system and experiencing the site as a listener. But one day, in the future, it could become a sort of second home on the internet.
Sites may come and go. We support the sites we love. But if I’ve learned one thing in the last 41 years, it’s that all things are mortal, even places, even ideas. My music is all I have to leave the world; I’d like it to have as many options for a long life as possible.
The theme for my FAWM 2010 effort is “No Robots Allowed“. A few days ago, I posted the original album cover art. Today I’m presenting a draft of the composition rules I’ll be following in February.
Every year that I do FAWM, I choose a theme to challenge myself. This year, I am doing away with all electronically generated beats. The effect I’m striving for is organic rhythm — that is, the music is on beat, but the tempo is free to develop as the song progresses.
Why Bother?
This is something that has been lost in the age of sequencers, drum tracks, and MIDI quantization. Although I never use quantization, my last few Jamendo albums have featured some very nice “hybrid” rhythm tracks: they are a mixture of electronic and live drums.
In one way, this is a type of freedom — I can compose any beat, and through careful manipulation, it will be jazzy, groovy, driving, whatever I want, whenever I want, exactly as imagined, with no errors.
In another way, however, it is a type of trap. The music becomes “locked in” to a particular tempo, say 120 beats per minute, and stays there the entire song.
Now, it is possible to compose a rhythm track that alters tempo during the song — I did this very thing on “Hypothermia / The Illusion of Warmth” (from La vie sous la mer). But it’s rather difficult to play after becoming accustomed to the constant beat of a drum track.
There are things in music, then, that are missing from a pure electronic composition — rubato, for instance. This month, I’m going to try to add some of these things back. Here’s how.
The Robot Rules
The rules below apply only to recorded tracks. I am still free to use a metronome during practice time, or while developing a song. The purpose of these rules is to ensure that the driving element of the song’s rhythm is, ultimately, the human nervous system, not a machine.
- No sequencer, drum machine, metronome, or click track allowed.
- All rhythms “natural.” If the tempo gradually drifts from 108 to 118 bpm in the course of the song, so be it.
- Samples and MIDI are permitted, as long as they are “human triggered.”
- Arpeggiators are NOT permitted.
- Delays are permitted if they are very short, eg echo or slapback. Long, repeating delays that in themselves establish a tempo are not allowed.
- Modulation effects (chorus, flange, phaser) at a particular tempo are allowed, provided they are long enough (or subtle enough) that their “beats” are not readily recognizable.
Final clause (the “escape clause”): these rules can be modified as the situation warrants. In other words, I might learn things during the course of FAWM that require a meaningful change to the rules above.
With that said . . . FAWM begins in one week. Looks like it’s practice time.
