Open Mic Adventures LXVI: “Scribblings I: Post-Christmas Concert Scribbling”

30 January 202431 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

After the big Christmas Concert on Friday, 8 December 2023, I took a few quiet moments to unwind and scribbled out a little piece in my music journal. It became “Post-Christmas Concert Scribbling,” then I added the pretentious “Scribblings I” to the title, which means there will eventually be a “Scribblings II” at some point.

It’s a short, fun little piece, meant to have a vaguely yuletide sound to it, unfolding at a moderate tempo. The whole thing has a slight bit of pomp to it, as many great Christmas carols do.

Open Mic Adventures LXV: “Uninspired Étude in E major”

23 January 202430 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

I’m digging back into an old music journal with another piece I penned sometime in 2022, “Uninspired Étude in E major“—so-called because it’s not particularly inspired! It’s a bit of an exercise in playing arpeggios in E major, with a few little surprises. It’s highly derivative of Haydn’s work.

Open Mic Adventures LXIV: “Snowfall”

16 January 202430 December 2023 The Portly Politico4 Comments

Near the end of 2023, I closed out my latest music journal. That got me flipping through some older journals, and I stumbled upon a couple of pieces I’d never arranged in Noteflight.

One of them was “Snowfall,” which I wrote sometime in 2022. It’s based around an Eb whole tone scale, giving it a mysterious, mystical sound.

Open Mic Adventures LXIII: “FRANTIC!!”

9 January 20247 January 2024 The Portly Politico6 Comments

Not every musical piece is destined for greatness. Nor is every piece designed to be beautiful. Such is this case with this week’s piece, “FRANTIC!!“

Open Mic Adventures LXII: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

2 January 202419 December 2023 The Portly Politico6 Comments

The Christmas season is technically still in full swing until Epiphany on 6 January 2024, but I know everyone is now looking ahead to the new year. Still, yours portly isn’t one to let a video go to waste, so here’s my rendition of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Open Mic Adventures LXI: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

26 December 202315 December 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Christmas may have been yesterday, but as every traditionalist wag will be quick to point out, it’s AHKTUALLY still the Christmas season, through 6 January 2024, Epiphany (it’s also Boxing Day). So, why not continue the fun with some Christmas carols!

This week, I’m featuring a short video of myself playing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” on piano. It’s a jaunty and rousing carol. With lyrics from Charles Wesley and George Whitefield and music from a Felix Mendelssohn cantata, this carol was destined for yuletide greatness.

I’ve actually featured this piece in Open Mic Adventures before (“Open Mic Adventures XIV: ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’“), so we’ll see how this version stacks up to last year’s rendition.

Open Mic Adventures LX: “Silent Night”

19 December 202312 December 2023 The Portly Politico2 Comments

We’re getting into the cozy part of the Christmas season, with plenty of cold nights spent bundled up by the light of the Christmas tree, sipping hot chocolate and wearing sweaters. It’s the hygge, and yours portly couldn’t be happier.

Naturally, all this cozy Christmas cheer gets me thinking about Christmas carols, and few carols capture the quiet peace of Christmas quite like “Silent Night.”

Open Mic Adventures LIX: “Listless Chorale”

12 December 202312 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Okay, I’ll admit—this week’s Open Mic Adventure is a bit of filler. Even the best albums have some filler, right?

I really have been trying to up the content game a bit lately, but in an effort to work ahead on the blog a bit, I’m digging deep into some compositions that are really more exercises for me than intended for general consumption.

Still, I thought this piece would give a bit of an insight into how I go about composing, specifically when I write chorales. I like to try to challenge myself to link together a single note across multiple measures in one or two of the voices, morphing the other voices around those pedal tones. The challenge comes in trying to find chords that fit these pedal points.

“Listless Chorale” is one such attempt. I’ll confess, I’m not totally pleased with the outcome—thus the “listless” in the title, as it feels like it’s not really moving anywhere—but you might find some beauty in its harmonies.

Open Mic Adventures LVIII: “Kartofelsalat”

5 December 20233 December 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Amid last week’s chaos I managed to squeeze in a little composing one night. I was messing around with yet another waltz in my music journal, which I then edited quite a bit once I got into Noteflight and started putting in the notes.

I did not start out with German potato salad (the meaning of “Kartofelsalat”) as what I hoped to portray musically. I was just scribbling around, and when it came time to assign my little piece a title, “Kartofelsalat” popped into my head. It perhaps makes sense: it sounds funny, it’s vaguely German (this waltz has a bit of a German flare to it), and it’s a mix of various musical ingredients, much like the delicious side dish.

Open Mic Adventures LVII: “Firefly Dance”

28 November 202326 November 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Over Thanksgiving Break, I renewed my subscription to Noteflight Premium and began fooling around with the software again. My niece and nephews found it fascinating, and starting writing their own little compositions.

They asked me to write something, and I started with a simple theme in 3/4, which would become “Firefly Dance.” After they left to go back to their home, I buckled down and expanded the theme into the piece I’m featuring today.

In order to have a working YouTube version available, I scheduled the video to go live this morning (Tuesday, 28 November 2023).

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: Open Mic Adventures