Tag: indie musician

TBT^2: Composing Humorous Miniatures

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

I’ve been writing a lot about my composing lately, which might be wearing down my readers.  However, I have two updates on that front to sweeten the pot:

  1. My latest release, Epistemology, hits streaming platforms and Bandcamp tomorrow, Friday, 1 March 2024
  2. I have some tentative inquiries from at least two parties interested in commissioning original works from yours portly

I don’t have much more on at the moment, but one of those commission will be paid, and involves composing for various flutes.  The other commission will be for an online friend of mine.

As for , I’m quite excited for this release.  It features some bold tracks, particularly the lengthy title track, “Epistemology.”

My latest bout of composing started last August (2023), but it was predated by a round of piano compositions dating back to February 2022.  That resulted in P​é​ch​é​s d​’​â​ge moyen.  I’m still planning to put together Red Tardy Slip Compositions, but I’ve tabled it for the time being to focus on more electronic works.

Here’s to composing!

With that, here is “TBT: Composing Humorous Miniatures“:

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Open Mic Adventures LXX: “Moody Noodling”

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A couple of weeks ago I purchased a Slade saxophone from Amazon.  Amazon is notorious for selling tons of junky Chinese saxophones in garish colors for low prices.  These horns are often barely worth the brass and cork they’re made from, but parents looking for affordable horns for their kids buy them without knowing any better.  The result is typically frustration with the instrument.

Yours portly desperately needed a reliable saxophone for some upcoming gigs, and repairs to my existing saxes (one alto and two tenors) are prohibitively expensive at the moment.  Also, my repair guy is a cantankerous old Northern guy who lives way far out, and the combination of expense, inconvenience, and a Yankee tongue-lashing for not maintaining my horns adequately had yours portly running to the arms of our Chinese overlords.

Well, Slade makes a surprisingly good sax for $230.  Typically these Chinese horns have all sorts of problems:  leaky keys, pads that don’t seal properly, etc.  Horror stories abound of purchases paying the equivalent of the horn’s price (or more!) to get it setup properly.

I decided to bite the bullet and try it after watching a video from Better Sax on YouTube, in which he compared one of the saxes to to his gorgeous (and $4000) Yanagisawa alto:

I ordered the cheapest possible sax, even though I could have spent another $40 or $50 for some cool colors.  When the sax arrive last Tuesday night, I was pleasantly surprised to see they’d sent me the wrong sax—their blue model!  It is an absolutely gorgeous instrument.

Check out that beauty!  Such a beautiful instrument, of course, demands to be played, so I did just that.

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Open Mic Adventures LXIX: “Triumphant Processional”

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

This week I’m featuring “Triumphant Processional“—a composition that I found buried in one of my music journals, and which turned out to be a quite fun tune.

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Lazy Sunday CXL: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part III

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

Of course, if you’ve been reading the blog regularly, I’ve been posting sneak peeks of the album since late November.  So for the next few Sundays, I’ll be featuring past installments of Open Mic Adventures that highlight the tracks:

Enjoy—and, if you do, maybe consider spending $5?

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Open Mic Adventures LXVIII: “Cook’s Brief Bourrée in E minor”

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

Most of the tracks are fairly short, and several of them started life as small sightreading exercises for my various music students.  Such is the case with “Cook’s Brief Bourrée in E minor”—an exercise for bass players to learn the bass clef, and for pianists to sharpen their left-hand playing.

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Lazy Sunday CXXXIX: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part II

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

– Bandcamp ($5!): https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com/album/firefly-dance
– Apple 🍏 Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/firefly-dance/1724130522
– YouTube 📺: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5xlOgwiUIFHGrMXpJ4bjmKHGGepfpCYM&si=U5tXOlFABVRwmA-E

Of course, if you’ve been reading the blog regularly, I’ve been posting sneak peeks of the album since late November.  So for the next few Sundays, I’ll be featuring past installments of Open Mic Adventures that highlight the tracks:

  • “Open Mic Adventures LIX: ‘Listless Chorale’“ – At the time of writing, this track has 366 views on YouTube, which is kind of ridiculous (but I’m not complaining).  An attempt at a chorale, which I called “listless” because it doesn’t seem to go anywhere (except back to the tonic, eventually).
  • “Open Mic Adventures LXIII: ‘FRANTIC!!’“ – And “FRANTIC!!” has 316 views, which is even more ridiculous.  Again, I’m not complaining.  In fact, I kind of want this track to reach an absurd degree virality—perhaps to become an instrumental “Rick Roll” for nerds.  The piece is written to be intentionally annoying and anxiety-inducing for both the listener and the musician.   I think I succeeded.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LXIV: ‘Snowfall’“ – This piece is actually good—but only has 43 views.  Not bad, but it could be better.  It’s an experiment with an Eb whole tone scale, and depicts a pleasant snowfall.

Enjoy—and, if you do, maybe consider spending $5?

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Four Mages

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

I’ve been composing like a madman lately, so much so that my brother is calling me the “Stephen King of Composing,” not because my pieces are particularly horrifying, but because I am slamming them out with the speed and consistency of the great horror writer.

I’ve just released Firefly Dance, which is on every streaming service other than Spotify.  You can even find it on YouTube.  I have another release coming on 1 March 2024, Epistemology; subscribers can listen to the title track here.

I thought I’d take a short break from composing, but within a couple of days I was back in my music journal and Noteflight, composing new works.  In the process, I’ve stumbled upon my next project:  Four Mages.

I started with composing two pieces in my music journal, “Blue Mage” and “Red Mage,” which I then polished and altered in Noteflight.  That start got me the idea that I needed a “White Mage” and a “Black Mage” to accompany those pieces.

Here’s a video version of “White Mage,” which I think is my favorite so far:

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Phone it in Friday LI: YouTube Roundup VII

The Portly Politico4 Comments

My YouTube channel is growing nicely.  At the time of writing, I have seventy-four (74) subscribers.  I’d love to see that reach 100 in the next few weeks, so if you haven’t already, mash subscribe.

The arcade cabinet video I featured in the sixth installment of YouTube Roundup has over 1200 views at the time of writing—absolutely astonishing!  If you missed it, you can watch it below:

This week I’ve got a Nativity scene; some scribblings; and an eerie clarinet and celesta duet.

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Open Mic Adventures LXVII: “Ode Napoléon”

The Portly Politico3 Comments

Late last year I started working on a longer work about Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.  I’d seen Ridley Scott’s Napoleon (2023), and while the film is riddled with inaccuracies, I still found it immensely enjoyable and fascinating.  I also find Napoleon fascinating as an historical figure, as did the leading philosophers of the nineteenth century.  How could his shadow not loom large on European and world history?

So I set about composing “Ode Napoléon“—one of the longer works I’ve composed in some time.

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Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part I

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

– Bandcamp ($5!): https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com/album/firefly-dance
– Apple 🍏 Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/firefly-dance/1724130522
– YouTube 📺: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5xlOgwiUIFHGrMXpJ4bjmKHGGepfpCYM&si=U5tXOlFABVRwmA-E

Of course, if you’ve been reading the blog regularly, I’ve been posting sneak peeks of the album since late November.  So for the next few Sundays, I’ll be featuring past installments of Open Mic Adventures that highlight the tracks:

  • “Open Mic Adventures LVI: ‘Orange Roll’” – I went way too far with this one—ha!  I reharmonized it, played it on bass, etc.  You can experience all the iterations in this original post.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LVII: ‘Firefly Dance’” – I love the title track.  Honestly, my only regret is that I didn’t start the album with it, as it’s a beautiful piece.  I think it’s one of my best works.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LVIII: ‘Kartofelsalat’” – Well, I misspelled “Kartoffelsalat,” leaving off that second “f,” but by the time I realized my error, I’d already submitted everything to CD Baby for digital distribution and didn’t want to change it.  But much like German potato salad, it’s a tasty jam.

Enjoy—and, y’know, maybe shell out $5 and help a musician out, eh?

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments: