“I prefer actors that can sing rather than singers that can act” -- I thought that was a great quote from Stephen Sondheim in this video behind the scenes on the music for the movie version of the musical “Sweeney Todd”.
In another interview I read today with Stephen Sondheim he said although most musicals now are rock/pop or jukebox style -- he said the same rules apply to creating musical theater: You create what you like and then just hope that others like it too. He says to try and second guess current trends or what audiences will like is pointless. I would say that in the world of pure art this is true. Although most of us work in arenas where budgets and projects dictate expectations.
Unless of course we are brave enough to venture out and create our own visions unhampered by monetary expectations. That is a tough decision for an artist, and a very fun one!
Cirque Du Soleil casting promo video for instrumentalists and singers. Musicians and vocalists can visit http://www.CirqueDuSoleil.com for audition submission information and updates on musician job openings.
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Video is in Chinese. Hong Kong tour guide says “Spend more, you’ll be happier… don’t tell me you don’t need [to buy more], next you’ll be telling me you don’t need to eat at meal time. I will lock you out of your hotel rooms because you don’t need them [either].”
Finally got some pics from our recording session of the Cirque Du Soleil ZAIA soundtrack in Hong Kong – December 2008. Most of our tracks were recorded on location in Macau but we did string section and piano recordings in Hong Kong.
Usher performed in Macau at the Venetian Casino on July 13, 2010. Rumor has it he came over to our ZAIA theater to record some audio tracks for a project he’s working on.
I didn’t get to meet him and security was tight. So I posted a video with some Usher music you might enjoy. Assuming that Usher has a good sense of humor and won’t kick my butt. Did you know that many consider Usher to be the one to take the torch from Michael Jackson’s legacy? Read on for more info.
Range of the Bb Clarinet and characteristics of different registers. Low register called the Chalumeau octave.
More information on Clarinet construction and use in the orchestra available at:
http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/%7Eahugill/manual/clarinet/construction.html
Clip from My Bodyguard movie starring Matt Dillon, Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, Ruth Gordon from 1980.
Classic clip from My Bodyguard where the bully Mike gets his ass kicked! Excellent Movie from 1980!!
I have been watching the sci-fi series Firefly and really enjoy the character that Adam Baldwin plays. That made me remember when I first saw him in the movie “My Bodyguard” back in 1980. Chris Makepeace and Adam Baldwin are around the same age as me so My Bodyguard was a powerful movie for me when it came out that I could relate to.
Here I posted the two fight scenes from My Bodyguard. What a great film for the time.
I had not realized before how flexible and nimble the oboe is. Here is an excerpt of the oboe score from Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K. 297, third movement. So this is just a note to myself to remember to score more interesting and diverse parts when I write for oboe. We want to keep the oboe players happy.
“The oboist gives a good representation of staccato articulation and the wide leaps that it can play.” (Norton, The Study of Orchestration.)
For several months I am studying woodwinds and strings with an online music school to get more tricks and creativity into my scoring. (Yes, it’s very fun!)
This is what happens when someone sings a song phonetically in English, but doesn’t actually speak any English. A sober reminder to the rest of us that have tried to learn a karaoke song in Mandarin or Cantonese and think that we’re “pretty darn close”.
Bulgarian Idol 2 female vocal audition sings the song Without You -- Mariah Carey.
Wednesday June 16 is the 2010 Macau Dragonboat Festival. Macau is already starting to see lots of tourists coming in from Mainland China. At the Venetian Casino (where I currently work) we noticed a lot of activity Monday night. The official holiday is Wednesday but the entire week is a holiday period (does this qualify as a “golden week”, hmmm…..not sure about that.)
I’ve lived in Macau over two years now and I still haven’t seen the Dragonboat races! Because I work in entertainment, we’re always doing extra shows during the holiday periods so we don’t get to partake as much as we’d like.
The Dragonboat holiday, or Duanwu, is a very old one in China but was denied official recognition under the People’s Republic of China established in 1949. The Chinese government has re-adopted the holiday and it was officially recognized again starting in 2008.
The short story: a famous poet drowned in the water so people throw food to the fish so the fish will be fed and not eat the poet’s body. That’s the story I’ve heard from local Macanese. More details posted below.
Here’s more info on the Dragonboat festival and water races:
Watchmojo dot com interview some of the creators for the Cirque Du Soleil show Totem. And I’ve been told the musicians are beginning to record the Totem soundtrack album -- should be wonderful!
Totem is about the evolution of man and animals, explores some creation myths and touches on man’s aspirations to go into space.
I have a friend who is an up and coming director and also a Shakespeare aficionado. They told me a few years ago, “I’m very sorry to tell you this Conrad but I have to be honest. I absolutely hate musicals.” He then went on to tell me how it just makes no sense that people break into song on street corners and an orchestra breaks in to support them.
I have to agree it’s absolutely ridiculous. And when we say “musical” we are really referring to the “American musical” phenomenon started on Broadway, the “Great White Way”. However, it’s the fact that it’s so ridiculous that makes me love it so much.
I love the television series “Glee”. I didn’t think much about it until I saw a friend post on Facebook “Is there anyone who actually likes Glee? It’s the worst show ever made. I don’t think anyone actually watches it.”
Well this is certainly a trip. A friend showed me this photo of a Freddy Fender memorial sign in Lucerne Valley, CA. And I guess it’s just a sign out in the middle of the California High Desert but to me it has much more significance.
Email question received about synthesizer for the AIDA Broadway musical:
Hello:
Do you know what keyboard model was used for the original production of “Aida”? There are sounds listed (Pyramiding Glints of Dawn, Royal Bam, Punch) that I have no idea what they sound like.
I was going to wait until the uploads were finished to announce this but Google is already indexing my audio – so you can download audio I’ve written and produced at http://www.ConradAskland.net
It’s the “dot net” version of my name. The site you’re on now is “dot com”. I split the downloads into a new website because this one is already getting really bogged down with traffic.
And since I’m at it I’ll let you know that my forum which I never told anyone about is at:
http://forum.ConradAskland.com
I’ll keep doing uploads as I can and then come back here to make all the navigation between the different areas more user-friendly.
ASKLAND Viking warriors from the Old Country. Watch the Askland elflings, hobbits and Vikings battle evil -- like the furry evil werewolf creature. And Askland Vikings listen to heavy metal music, bet you didn’t learn that in school did you?
I know, it doesn’t make any sense, I just happened to find it on YouTube. Maybe people from the Askland family tree will enjoy it. Are these my relatives?
This website now has automatic detection and support for the following mobile phones:
Android BlackBerry9500 BlackBerry9530 CUPCAKE dream iPhone iPod incognito webOS and webmate. If any problems or errors please leave a comment here so I can look into it.
A list of Mac shortcuts for Sibelius notation software that I find useful when writing music notation.
Tags: Mac Software, Music Notation, Notation Software, Sibelius Notation, sibelius shorcuts mac, sibelius shortcuts, Sibelius Software, Writing Music
Are you here because one of the forums you belong to is down? I am updating some of my forum communities on other websites and they will be down for a couple days. I had originally planned on doing this in a rolling fashion for minimal down time but it’s much faster for me to just do it all at once. This means some forum communities will be down for 24-72 hours. I will try to be as fast as I can with the updates. Thank you for your understanding.
Tags: Couple Days, Down Time, Fashion, Forum Communities, Forum Updates
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