Travis Conrad

When life to starts to fail ya then head to Australia. :]

Have fun sis! Seeya in a year. Punch a roo for me.

-Travis Conrad

I stumbled upon this magnificent piece on youtube today. Libertango by Ástor Piazzolla. It floods me with so many emotions. It’s funky, it’s jazzy, it’s got a Bond feel to it, it’s latin, it’s epic, it’s freeing. Holy sheeeet. I love the wood blocks in the beginning, the strings that carry the tempo and that bandolin that weaves in and out. And that ending, holy shit, that’s how you end a song. I looked up Ástor on wikipedia and his story is actually quite fascinating. He won a grant to go study with legendary French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. This is his recounting of their meeting.

When I met her, I showed her my kilos of symphonies and sonatas. She started to read them and suddenly came out with a horrible sentence: “It’s very well written.” And stopped, with a big period, round like a soccer ball. After a long while, she said: “Here you are like Stravinsky, like Bartók, like Ravel, but you know what happens? I can’t find Piazzolla in this.” And she began to investigate my private life: what I did, what I did and did not play, if I was single, married, or living with someone, she was like an FBI agent! And I was very ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician. Finally I said, “I play in a night club.” I didn’t want to say cabaret. And she answered, “Night club, mais oui, but that is a cabaret, isn’t it?” “Yes,” I answered, and thought, “I’ll hit this woman in the head with a radio….” It wasn’t easy to lie to her.

She kept asking: “You say that you are not pianist. What instrument do you play, then?” And I didn’t want to tell her that I was a bandoneon player, because I thought, “Then she will throw me from the fourth floor.” Finally, I confessed and she asked me to play some bars of a tango of my own. She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand and told me: “You idiot, that’s Piazzolla!” And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds.

—Astor Piazzolla, A Memoir

I hope my memoirs are filled with stories like that someday.

-Travis Conrad

I personally hate video game achievements. I recall playing Fable 2 and having those stupid xbox achievements pop up every now and then. There just seemed to be no point to them, and that’s probably where my distaste for them arose.

However.

I stumbled upon this game today and couldn’t help but play it to the very end (which is rare for me and flash games). It’s all about the achievements, and personally, I found it incredibly rewarding. Had a good laugh too.

Finally, warmth and sunshine have returned to London. I’m hoping we’ve entered into Canadian warm season (sometimes refered to as ’summer’), but the chances are that this is all a fluke and we’ll end up getting a blizzard on Tuesday. I swear we only have two seasons: Nuclear Winter and Sweatyourballsoff Summer, with a brief transitional period between the two usually involving high winds, slush and a lack of motivation to continue living.

ON THAT NOTE, I’m gonna grab a beer and work on my tan I thinks.

-(the hopefully not sunburnt) Travis Conrad

The eleventh song of the musical is now finished! And what an emotional ride it’s been (musical speaking anyway). The song’s called Guys Always Disappoint: The Plan, and it involves Kim, Justin and Natalie plotting a way to break up Cam and his new girl, as well as them just ranting about guys in general. It’s a very busy song, and it has to be since it’s so far into the musical.

The songs that make up the middle chunk of the musical (After Dinner with Kim, After Dinner with Cam, Charlotte’s Monologue and So Much) are mostly slower songs, especially So Much, and while slow songs are important, too many of them can make a musical seem to drag on. Now that we’re in the second half of the musical, shit is hitting the fan and the audience needs to get stimulated with punchy melodies and exciting tempos.

The pattern in the first bar below (Quarter note/Eighth note/Quarter note/Eighth note/Quarter note) is repeated throughout the song, and if you can pick it out, you’ll see how it has an exciting effect to it. Also, if you notice the bass notes in the third bar, they follow the same pattern (Quarter/Eighth/Quarter/Eighth/Quarter). The punchiness of it is just freakin’ awesome and I’m thrilled with how I wove it in throughout the song.

Tempo and Melody example. Note the staccato used for extra punchiness

Another thing I should note about this song is the segment about three quarters in. I switched the playback instrument to a celesta to help me visualize (figuratively, of course) the sound better. I wanted that part to have a sinister yet haunting feel to it, something I couldn’t manage quite right with just a piano. Kim is pissed to the high hells and she’s not fooling around here, and I imagined her as like a witch in the forest. She’s planning revenge on the obstacles in her path, the key word here being planning. That’s one of Kim’s defining features, her ability to plan and problem solve, and this part of the song is meant to show how serious she takes the whole thing. Sure sometimes her foresight is utter shit, but her planning skills are always top notch. She knows what she wants and she plans a way to get it, that’s what Kim does, that’s who she is, and that’s why the celesta part works so well, because it’s so serious and dark that you know she’s not messing around.

I’m pretty pleased with the lyrics here. There’s one line I still need to rephrase, but other than that  I think most lines are bang on. The great thing about collaborating with someone is you get a second opinion, and you know it’s going to be earnest. Sean (the playwright) wants this to succeed as much as I do, and so I know he’s not going to sugar-coat his constructive criticisms like friends would, just like I in turn did with the script. He pointed out the line that I’m going to rephrase because he said it was confusing/unclear, and after a strenuous amount of effort on both our parts I came to understand what he meant. The outcome: a better song.

11. Guys Always Disappoint: The Plan

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Kim:

I’ve tried lying. And persuasion. I even tried TRUTH on a desperate occasion.
I’m not just gonna sit here and daunt.
I’m Kimberly Young and I get what I want!

Justin and Natalie:

What’s the plan Kim? What’s the plan?
How are you gonna get back your man?

Kim:

She doesn’t know who she’s messin’ with so I’ll have to teach her a lesson.
And keep her guessin’.
She doesn’t know the one thing you can count on men to do.

Send me your feedback if you love me! Gotta go! Desperate Housewives is on.

-Travis Conrad

So I’m a little bit obsessed with this song at the moment.

Don’t even say it. I’m just as disappointed as the rest of the you. It’s just so good though!

-Travis Conrad, Mothafucka

Guess who just finished a song for a musical called Dysfunction? Wow. That was lame. I’m far too lazy and tired right now to delete it though and think of something wittier to write. Moving on….

I finished the song entitled Kim tonight, after several weeks of tweaking and hammering and fiddling with chords and rhymes and designers name. I’m pretty happy with the final product. The song started out as a 3/4 waltz, then spent some time as a 6/8 waltz, experimented briefly in 5/4 time (that was messy) and finally settled down in 4/4 common time BUT with a mean tango-esque rhythm. This is the first song where I’ve actually written the music independent from the vocals. Everything else I’ve done has been mostly derived from the vocals, something I’ve been wanting to get away from, and this time it just worked out really well. I can imagine this arranged for some heavy strings with a piano playing the upbeat sections, maybe even with a little snare drum too. Oh yes, a snare drum would be exquisite.

This song features Kim (Cameron’s ex-girlfriend) and her two best friends Justin and Natalie. This is where Justin really gets a chance to shine, granted that the actor playing him can act AND sing at the same time. If he can’t, well, then it’s just going to feel dark and out of place. Halfway through Kim takes over, and at the end she has a little reflection moment alone. The melody shifts notes but the beat stays the same and I think the effect turned out sharp, although I’m still finding sometimes I’ll write some music and it turns out different from what I envision but still awesome. There’s also the first couple lyrics included below. Let me know what you think!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

J: First we’ll get you out of the dumps.

K: I’m not in the dumps!

N: It looks like you are.

J: We’ll get you back in your Gucci pumps.

K: Okay, fine, I’m in.

N: You’ll look like a star!

J: Rather than looking like Courtney Love, you’ll be our Kim who’s worthy of the dresses and purses from Guess and Lacoste that you’d die if you lost!

Hehehehehe, yes, the whole song is like that. I tried my best here to emulate the banter and one-liners Sean’s written for the characters in the script. And I like it cause they’re not HAHA one-liners, but rather aha or hoho.

No word back on the job interview yet, but here’s hoping. Tomorrow I start on Guys Always Disappoint: The Plan. Yes I’m aware most song names don’t have colons in them but I’M THE GOD-DAMNED COMPOSER, I’LL NAME MY SONG Albatross ^_^: 81[The Final Seabird] IF I WANT TO…. ok that looks a little bad, convention and I are really getting along at the moment. Gotta go make pasta k bye!

-Travis Conrad the Maladjusted? lol. Malnourished maybe.

I found a couple incredibly awesome new comics within the past month, my favourite of which is definitely Hark! A Vagrant, by fellow Canadian Kate Beaton. Mostly about history, I find them incredibly fresh, which is rare in a webcomic.

Other new delights I’ve stumbled upon include the maelstrom of cynicism that is The Fart Party, an actually humourous gamer comic called Fanboys and the curious experiment called Slow Wave, a comic made of real dreams that people submit to the artist, who then draws them.

I apologize for the remarkably horrendous job I’ve been doing updating, but you know, such and such excuse etc. etc.

On the plus side, I have a job interview coming up and have almost finished the scintillating Our Kim for Dysfunction. It’s a humourous tango-esque song with an underbite of dissatisfaction for living a life made up of expensive labels and a polished exterior. Should have more to post on it soon!

-Travis Conrad

Aha, February is upon us. FINALLY. The last of month of what I consider Canadian winter is also (thank god) the shortest, and so before we know it March will be here and we’ll be living in a world of slush. Wait, what’s so good about that….. Anyway, I realized most of you probably feel neglected so I made myself a delicious citrusy cup of Coronation Street Green tea and decided to write a new blog post.

A couple days ago I wrapped up what is more or less Dysfunction’s love song, mind you the song isn’t about love at all. Budding romance would be a more fitting term I suppose. It’s called So Much, and it comes immediately after Charlotte’s Monologue. It’s a song about fresh romance and possibility, “So much to see, and so much to do”.

I’m really happy with the music for it, it’s easily my favourite song so far (which is saying a lot). After this my favourite is probably Charlotte My Dear Love (forget it) Confident you know what, I don’t think I can choose. This means Dysfunction is ALL-MOST-DONE. Be excited. There’s not much left at all (hence the title of this post).

So here it is, just with piano. Instead of the normal synth voices I used synth strings to do the vocal notes, I think it sounds better in the this case.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

- Travis Conrad

A couple days ago I had a meeting with Canadian Playwright Dave Carley, he’s also the writer in residence for the London Public Library. He answered a great deal of questions I had concerning the process of getting Dysfunction put up at a theatre. As a result of his encouraging and thoroughly helpful advice, I have renewed vigor with finishing up these last couple songs. I feel like I could fucking climb Olympus. Drunk with inspiration. It’s awesome.

I’m currently waist deep in the closest thing Dysfunction has to love song, called So Much. I’m very happy with the direction this song is taking. The opening/transition from Charlotte’s Inner Monologue is going to take some work, but the rest of it is coming along beautifully. I’m pulled to the edge of tears as I’m working on it, though I must be careful; it’s all too easy to let the music over-power the lyrics, and that’s an amateur mistake that as an amateur I’m likely to make. BUT as a self-aware amateur I think I’ve nipped it in the bud.

So since I don’t have anything of my own to readily put on display, I’m making a post about my favourite Sondheim songs, categorized by musical.

A Little Night Music

Favourite song: The Glamorous Life

The lyrics are absolutely brilliant. Flawless and creative rhymes. The music is a thing of beauty, and the song has a deep sub-textual element. If you listen you’ll pick up on her jealousy of the children with ordinary mothers. It’s a nearly perfect piece.

Second favourite song: Now/Soon/Later

Now is definitely my favourite song out of the three here, it has some intense rhymes that are boggling in complexity (the song starts 2:30 into the video). I’m not overly fond of Soon, but Later is right up there again in awesomeness. It was a close call between this song and Weekend in the Country, but I just couldn’t not put this song up here.

Sweeney Todd

Favourite song: God That’s Good

It’s catchy as hell and I love the rhyme scheme used (eat pies/meat pies/treat pies, also one for the gentleman/none for the gentleman/run for the gentleman). I also love the chorus of customers, you just don’t get stuff like this very often, so when you do you should cherish it and grip it so hard they have to pry it out of your cold dead hands. Lastly, THROW THE OLD WOMAN OUT!
(Also, mmmm Neil Patrick Harris)

Second favourite song: Kiss Me

This song make good use of counterpoint. I hope to be able to write like this someday. For those who don’t know, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony (Johanna’s frantic worried melody, and Anthony’s calmer melody). Also, Johanna’s lyric “I’m a silly little ninnydoodle.” and Anthony’s lyric “It’s not a gate, there’s no gate, you don’t have a gate!” are amazing in every sense of the word.

Into the Woods

Favourite song: Children Will Listen

This is my second favourite finale out of any show I’ve ever seen. Frankly, most finales aren’t very good. A show has to leave a good final impression, if it leaves audiences feeling robbed of proper closure, they’re not going to spread a good word. What I like about Children Will Listen is that it covers the lessons learned throughout the show, it has a warm opening, a hasty middle and an excited ending. The staging is a little messy but admittedly it’s a difficult song to stage.

Second favourite song: Ever After

Ever After has an undescribeable quality to it. It has great lyrics, a swift melody, but it’s so much more. I couldn’t find a good version of just it on youtube, so the link is the preview from the 2002 Tony Awards. Ever After is the song 1:50 in.

Company

Favourite song: Being Alive

Ugh. Perrrrrrrfeection. Sweet perfection. Ugh. This is by far the most brilliant closing to any show I’ve ever seen. This song has it all. And when sung by someone as powerful as Raul Esparza it’s simply uncompareable in it’s brilliance.

Second favourite song: (Not) Getting Married Today

The song starts of dry for the first couple lines, but once Amy opens her mouth it’s pure gold. Finally when she loses it and goes on her big long rant, it’s awesome. So awesome. Company is just awesome. Are you starting to see why I like Sondheim so much?

Sunday in the Park with George

Favourite song: Colour and Light

Sunday in the Park with George is so often over-looked. Sure it’s not the most conventional of musicals, but that’s why we love Sondheim. Colour and Light (well, Color and Light I guess technically, but that just looks so wrong), won my heart instantly. The catchy background refrain that seems never ending simulating George’s painting process, it’s perfect, especially if you’ve ever actually done pointillism. The other part of this song that really speaks to me (sings to me?) is George’s dedication to his art, it’s something I admire and wish I could emulate.

Second favourite song: Putting it Together

For starters, Mandy Patinkin is one crazy mofo. I admire his quirkiness as an actor. He really outdid himself in this role and really does this song justice. Sondheim’s longer rhymes in this one (configuration, foundation) roll off the tongue crisply. It made a nice theme for the song to have those fuller rhymes.

-Travis Conrad

Before tossing up the latest Dysfunction song to your collective, judging, unworthy ears, it’s important to understand the scenario surrounding the song.

1. It’s sung by a girl, Charlotte. Relatively quiet, passive, scholarly Charlotte.
2. She’s just been asked on out a real date from a guy, Cameron, whom she’s met twice now: once in his office, once at a business meeting over dinner.
3. She doesn’t have a wide account of experience in the world of dating. And nearly not as much as, say, Kim (in fact I doubt there are many people alive that have as much experience as Kim, porn stars omitted).
4. This is song takes place in her head. It’s an internal debate.

Below the song I’ve posted the first couple lines so you can read along with the synth vocal notes if you like (also will help give you an idea of the rhyme scheme). The lyrics are broken up into syl-ab-les to aid in following the vocals correctly if’n you so choose. I’d include all the lyrics but I really don’t want to give it all away like your girlfriend on the first date OH BURN!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Damn-it Came-ron why would you,
ask me that,
for-cing me to pick an an-swer, when there are few op-tions on de-mand.

Things were go-ing pret-ty well.
Now this chat
has gone to hell. It’s a can-cer when you can’t dwell on the stakes at hand.

Peo-ple can’t leave things a-lone,
when they’re fine.
If I had known this was com-ing, I’d have post-poned walk-ing home with him.

But it’s too late to go back,
so de-cline,
or stay on track with this hum-ming train down tar-mac. Both op-tions seem dim.

On the one hand we have yes.
Rush-ing in’s
not bad I guess if you’re cau-tious and you a-ssess the sit-u-a-tion.

On the o-ther we have no.
It be-gins,
when I say so, and this nau-seous feel-ing is grow- ing. I want to run.

</lyrics>
<continue reading without lyrics for the remaining 55 seconds of the song :] >

I know what you’re about to say. “But Travis, that last chord sounds all wrong. What kind of second rate Vaudeville composer are you?” Fear not! There is reason. That chord was Charlotte’s clarity. She’s made her decision, her thoughts are clear. That final chord is meant to up-lift and remove the gloom and disorder that’s been building up over the course of the song. It ushers the way into the song following immediately after. hu-ZAH!

Next up I am pleased to announce a new, much more realistic rendering of the Festal Waltz that I posted just over a month ago. I convert it from midi to mp3 using a site called HamieNET. It gets the job done but it’s certainly nothing near commercial quality. Using a friend’s copy of Garageband, I converted my sheet music to mp3 once again. The results are unparalleled. UN-FREAKING-PARALELLED. It’s fantastic, I’m so pleased. I can’t wait to acquire my own mac so I’ll have this incredibly tool at my disposal 24/7/365/152 (I think 152 more years is pretty reasonable when you take into consideration the advances that are going on with stem cell research).

Feast upon the new and improved rendition. I cannot wait til I’m in a position to hear it being played for realsies.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

*note: the celesta’s been replaced by a glockenspiel as was the original intention. I apologize for any sleep you might lose/any grief this decision has caused you.

*also note: just a reminder that all mp3 files and images are on this website are Copyright © 2008-2009 Travis Conrad Reichstein

-Travis Conrad PEACIN’ OUT!