Tag: independent musician

New Music Tuesday XIV: “Sumatran Snake Charmer”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

I’ve got something very different for readers/listeners this Tuesday. I’ve been experimenting with multitrack recording using Audacity and my Logitech Blue Yeti USB microphone (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link at no additional cost to you)—the most rudimentary setup since my early days dangling a computer microphone from an ancient 486 33Mhz computer running Windows 3.11 for Workgroups in front of my older brother’s ancient Crate amplifier (shew—talk about a long sentence).

I’ve done lo-fi recording before, and this setup is actually pretty clean. The Lo-Fi Hymnal and The Lo-Fi Hymnal II were both recorded entirely using the Voice Memo app on my old second-generation Apple iPhone SE. Well, the “drum” part for this piece was recorded using the Voice Memo app on my new third-generation Apple iPhone SE!

I put “drum” in scare quotes because the “drum” in question is actually a piece of yellow, metallic patio furniture that Dr. Wife brought down from her old house:

Photo Credit: Dr. Wife; Yellow Metallic Cylinder Thing Credit: Dr. Wife

While I was carrying that cylindrical “table” (or whatever it’s supposed to be) outside, I whipped out my phone and recorded a quick little drumbeat (the pitter-patter of feet at the very beginning is Dr. Wife’s three-legged dog, Nugget, shuffling along the floor behind me):

My plan was to use that little beat for something at some point. I had a chance Saturday morning, and imported the file into Audacity. Well, I tried to import it into Audacity, but the Voice Memo records in the obscure M4A format, which isn’t supported in Audacity without jumping through a bunch of software hoops that I’ll figure out eventually but didn’t want to mess with while the creative juices were flowing. Instead, I used an online audio converter (the same one I use to get the WAVs that I export from Noteflight upconverted to the proper bitrate for digital distribution).

With a proper WAV file, Audacity took the track. I then copied it and replicated it over the course of about forty-five seconds, after which I grabbed my alto saxophone and started layering in tracks:

I started with a “root” alto sax part that essentially consisted of the root of a A minor (concert C minor) chord, along with some other little bits of noodling. The “harmony” alto added in the minor third, with the lead alto coming last. For “OCD” reasons, I added a fourth alto sax part to the tail end of the “Yellow Metallic Gong” percussion track to add a bit more color into the last chord, an Asus2 (concert Csus2).

The end result is this slithering, mysterious, slightly messy piece, “Sumatran Snake Charmer“:

Read More »
scale model toy of a woman figure

Open Mic Adventures CLXIV: “Ride of the Valkyries”

The Portly Politico8 Comments

I had a gig down in Charleston this past Saturday night. A young man from Connecticut was proposing to his girlfriend (she said yes, by the way), and he’d hired me to play a Lewis Capaldi song before he popped the question. It was a really fun, touching moment, and I’m grateful I could be part of it (he paid me pretty well, too).

In practicing for that little performance, I had fun flipping through my music, and came upon a piano arrangement of Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” that I play on the saxophone. Since I’m playing unaccompanied, I don’t have to transpose the music (saxophone is an Eb instrument, meaning that if an Eb is played on a piano, it’s a C on the saxophone), so I just read the right-hand piano melody straight off the page.

I had fun with this version, which I’m sharing today:

Read More »

New Music Tuesday XIIb: Work Completed: “Japanese Trapdoor Snails”

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

After a month of on again, off again composing—with a good chunk of “off-again” in there—I have finally finished composing “Japanese Trapdoor Snails.” I started the work on 15 April 2026 and wrapped it up late on the evening of Wednesday, 13 May 2026.

It’s an unusual piece, as snails are unusual creatures. I wanted to capture something mystical and contemplative—and, in a hackneyed kind of way, something vaguely Japanese—in the opening bars, with are a slow, flowing 5/4 time. I thought 5/4 fit the slow movements of snails, as if they need an extra beat to get where they’re going.

The “B” section, of sorts, shifts to 3/4 (after some shifting from 5/4 to 4/4) in the same tempo, with the flute moving in dotted quarter notes and the oboe moving in quarter notes. My goal here was to blur tonality and, again, to depict the kind of shuffling crawl of snails along the edges of a pond.

After a recapitulation that shortens one 4/4 phrase to 7/8, I launch into a lively 3/8 portion that has a sort of gypsy and/or Slavic feel to it. In retrospect, I think of this section as capturing the trudging lives of a Japanese Trapdoor Snails going about their never-ending business of pond cleaning. Note that I wasn’t quite sure how this portion fit thematically with the rest of the piece until after listening to it, which happens sometime—an idea pops into my head, I develop it, and then try to figure out if it should stay with that piece.

To be clear, I’m still not convinced it does fit, but I like the contrast and I think it gives some life to this otherwise contemplative and reflective piece.

Read More »

New Music Tuesday XIII: “Loach”

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Finally—some new music for New Music Tuesday! I’m still working on “Japanese Trapdoor Snails,” but I took a quick aside yesterday to jot down a quick little piece.

You see, dear readers, the pond hobby creates an insatiable appetite for more aquatic critters. My next planned addition to the pond is a trio of weather (or “dojo”) loaches. These are cold-hardy bottom-dwellers that look like an eel and a catfish had a baby, but the baby is somehow cute and not a hideous monster.

Naturally, I had to write a trio depicting these odd but adorable (oddorable?) creatures, three of which I hope to add to the koi pond soon.

Read More »

No New Music Tuesday

The Portly Politico3 Comments

Happy Tuesday, dear readers!

No New Music Tuesday today, I’m afraid.  With the school year winding down, several aspects of the job are winding up as we enter into exam review season.  I’m attempting to squeeze in one last mini-unit covering the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and European exploration in the span of three lessons, so my unstructured time has been spent putting together slides for  those quite vast topics.  We’ll see if I can speed run the biggest events of 1300-1600!

The point is not an in-depth analysis of these major movements, but to keep the students a taste before they head into United States History next year.  The first part of United States History examines the political, social, and religious context of late medieval/early modern Europe, as that context is significant in the exploration and colonization of the Americas.  I’d like the students to finish the “story” of World History in such a way that it dovetails with the “story” of United States History.

I’ve tinkered with my latest composition, “Japanese Trapdoor Snails,” slightly, but have hit a bit of a block with it.  As with writer’s block, the solution is simply to write—in this case, music.  To do that, though, I need to have a bit more unstructured time, and what I’ve had has been dedicated to more pressing matters.

Read More »

Bandcamp Friday Returns for May 2026!

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Everything on my Bandcamp page is 90% off with promo code succulent.  That means my entire discography is $9.21.

That means an individual album, like the popular Spooky Season IV, is just $1.

That’s thirty (30) releases for about $0.31 each.

Again, use promo code succulent to get anything and everything for 90% off.

Today (Friday, 6 March 2026) is Bandcamp Friday, so Bandcamp waives their usual sales commission on any purchases.

Sure, streaming is great.  But we all know that what’s on a streaming platform today could disappear tomorrow.

Short of physical media, the best option is a lossless digital download that you own forever.

Also, most of my releases come packed with bonus material:  videos, original artwork, handwritten scores, finished scores, and more.

Those scores have real value:  a copy of the score for “Eight Chorales: Semicircles of Fourths” sold last month for $4.99.  It’s included free when you purchase Math: And Other Delights (just $0.70 with promo code succulent).

If you’re interested in supporting independent musicians and original composers, consider supporting my work with your Bandcamp purchase.

And don’t forget to use promo code succulent for 90% off!

Happy Bandcamp Friday!

—TPP

TBT^2: The TJC Challenge

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Two years ago I issued to my readers The TJC Challenge, a challenge to listen to all of my music on either Apple Music or YouTube/YouTube Music (you can do it on Spotify now, too).  At the time, The TJC Challenge took about three hours to complete.  Last year it took around seven-and-a-half hours.

Now it takes (approximately) eight hours and fifty-five minutes—let’s call it nine (9) hours to listen to my full discography.  Note that only includes the stuff on the streaming platforms (twenty-three releases, although Electrock Music and Electrock II: Space Rock are combined as a double-album on streaming platforms, so technically it’s twenty-four releases); my Bandcamp page has thirty releases (use promo code challenge to get 90% off any purchase there through 11:59 PM UTC on 30 April 2026).

So, need some unusual instrumental jams (plus my singer-songwriter comedy EP, Contest Winner) to get you through the workday?  Then take The TJC Challenge!

Instructions for how to do so are below, but here’s the YouTube instructions, as they’re probably the most accessible for most readers/listeners:

YouTube Method

Don’t use Apple Music?  No problem.  The cheapest method (no monthly subscription to a streaming service) is via YouTube.  The only downside is that there’s no way to play through all albums without having to select individual releases.

Still, here’s the YouTube method:

  1. Follow this link to my “Releases” on my YouTube channel

  2. Hover over one the album you’d like to listen to first and click “Play All”

  3. Rinse and repeat for each album

Whatever you listen to, I hope you enjoy!  If you do listen to my tunes, please let me know what you think.

With that, here is 24 April 2025’s “TBT: The TJC Challenge“:

Read More »

New Music Tuesday XIIa: WIP: “Japanese Trapdoor Snails”

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

It’s a quick installment of New Music Tuesday today, friends.  I’m working on a piece called “Japanese Trapdoor Snails”; I’m attempting to capture a quintessentially “Japanese” sound, although I’m not sure if I’m succeeding just yet.

It’s for flute, oboe, classical guitar, and drums (so far).  I’ll likely continue to add instrumentation as needed.

Here’s a thirty-second bit of what I have so far:

Still a bit static, but what do you think of this odd little piece in its current form?  Does it have legs—or one big, fat, muscular belly-foot?

Happy Listening!

—TPP

Open Mic Adventures CLXIII: “1979”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

The siren-song of Old World called heavily to yours portly, luring me with its addictive, “just-one-more-turn” gameplay to crash upon the rocks of sleep deprivation.  It’s also drawn me away from artistic pursuits.  My plan is to compose at least one, but preferably two, more tracks for Koi Dance, and then I’ll schedule it for a release.  Given my recent acquisition of some Japanese Trapdoor Snails, I’m brainstorming a composition about these enigmatic, quiet pond dwellers.

That said, I haven’t composed anything since “Sturgeon,” so I’m featuring an “open mic” mic performance of sorts.  The “mic” is my fading second generation iPhone SE; the “adventure” is singing a cappella in my bathroom; the “open[ness]” is my thick, meaty tongue “shalalalalalalalalalala-ing” the riff to The Smashing Pumpkins’ hit “1979”:

Read More »

New Music Tuesday XI: “Sturgeon”

The Portly Politico1 Comment

I’m nearly done—I think—with Koi Dance.  I’d like to write one or two more pieces for the collection, particularly one based on Japanese Trapdoor Snails.  I should have fifty-five of the suckers arriving via airmail this afternoon, and I’m excited to plop them into our pond.  They should clean up some of the murkiness quite nicely.

Today’s piece is a return to form for me, with the usual sort of counterpoint and tight harmonization I usually favor.  The first section is particularly based on parallel motion between the two parts, but the second section features a multimeter fugal section.

It’s also the only piece based on a fish that doesn’t live in a koi pond (as far as I know).  But when I heard what I’d scribbled down, it just sounded like a sturgeon!

Read More »