5-6 50th Episode Spectacular!

Over the past three interviews and five episodes, I was beginning to get the feeling that we were drifting too far afield of the original intent of this podcast. That is writing and performing songs. However, each of our subjects are song writers. 

Mark Baxter our Vocal Behaviorist has been writing songs all along since he started in rock bands in the last century. Yaron Gershovsky, band leader of the Manhattan Transfer, is constantly writing and publishing new, original songs. And Debra Monk, our star of stage and screen, early in her career, collaborated on the songs for the Tony nominated “Pump Boys and Dinettes” and other musicals. So, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I hadn’t wandered too far from my original purpose. All these people are legitimate songwriters. This is often what the life of the songwriter is like. Precious few can live off their songwriting talent alone.

 Now, I’m not a rich person. Oh, I do Ok, and I don’t really lack for anything, but I don’t have a lot of disposable income. So, I’ve decided to sort of pay back these three with the only currency I have. I’ve written three new songs. Each one of the three subjects inspired a different song. Today we’ll hear those songs and follow the process of their creation.

Welcome to the 50th episode of the Tim Tunes podcast. Begun on a whim almost three years ago, I started with the stories and recollections of my best songs. I thought I’d be done once I made through the first batch. But episode after episode, I managed to find some songwriting or performance-based content to share with you listeners.

 In this episode we’ll explore three recently written songs that were inspired by the subjects of this season’s podcast. If you haven’t listened to episodes 5-1 through 5-5, I suggest you go back and give them a listen to better appreciate these songs. 

Transcript

[Intro]
[Intro Theme – Motor]

Over the past three episodes I was beginning to get the feeling that we were drifting too far afield of the original intent of this podcast. That is writing and performing songs. However, each of our subjects are song writers. Mark Baxter our Vocal Behaviorist has been writing songs all along since he started in rock bands in the last century. Yaron Gershovsky, band leader of the Manhattan Transfer, is constantly writing and publishing new, original songs. And Debra Monk, our star of stage and screen, early in her career, collaborated on the songs for the Tony nominated “Pump Boys and Dinettes” and other musicals. So, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I hadn’t wandered too far from my original purpose. All these people are legitimate songwriters. This is often what the life of the songwriter is like. Precious few can live off their songwriting talent alone.

Now, I’m not a rich person. Oh, I do Ok, and I don’t really lack for anything, but I don’t have a lot of disposable income. So, I’ve decided to sort of pay back these three with the only currency I have. I’ve written three new songs. Each one of the three subjects inspired a different song. Today we’ll hear those songs and follow the process of their creation.

[Pod Lick – Fireworks, Stars and Stripes forever]

Hi. I’m Tim Rose, welcome to the 50th episode of the Tim Tunes podcast. Begun on a whim almost three years ago, I started with the stories and recollections of my best songs. I thought I’d be done once I made through the first batch. But episode after episode, I managed to find some songwriting or performance-based content to share with you listeners.

In this episode we’ll explore three recently written songs that were inspired by the subjects of this season’s podcast. If you haven’t listened to episodes 5-1 through 5-5, I suggest you go back and give them a listen to better appreciate these songs.

Enough of my yackin’, let’s get on to Episode 50!

 
[Prologue]

I came up with the idea of writing songs as a way of thanking my podcast subjects while I was halfway through the Debra Monk Interview Episode 5-4. I realized that I wanted to do more than just give a verbal thanks to these folks, so I decided to write songs inspired by my conversations with each of them.

For each subject I did extensive research into their music. I listened to as many of their songs as I could find. Then, I dissected the style, the tempo, the chords, the melody, and the rhythms of some of each person’s songs. Now, none of the people that I interviewed had a single “style” of music that they have written or performed. So, the styles that I selected for them are more a reflection of my impression of them and just what came out when I thought about them and my interviews with them.

Then I built what I thought of as a representative song that captured something from each episode that I latched on to. For Mark I wrote a rock anthem. For Yaron I wrote a Latin inspired jazz piece featuring piano. For Deb I wrote a show song.

Just a warning, I wrote and recorded all of these songs by myself in about three weeks. Usually it takes months to finalize a recording for me. I’ll make a kind of scratch version which I’ll listen to over and over until I find the things I want to change. I didn’t do that with these songs. So, maybe think of them as being in that stage.


{Podlick} 


Open Your Heart – Mark Baxter

I first met Mark Baxter in the 90’s when I was having sessions with him to improve my voice after a long absence from performing and vocal surgery.

At the time, Mark was performing with a rock band. So, Mark is kind of stuck in my mind as a lead singer in a rock band. That made the choice of a rock anthem as the style for his piece very easy for me.

During my conversations with Mark, we kept coming back to how his mission was to enable people to open themselves up. In a “your voice is you” sort of way, Mark equated the connection between the heart and the voice as a channel to share the performers love with their audience.

I found this very compelling and decided to make it the subject of my rock anthem.

So, how do you make a rock anthem? Well, I started with a guitar riff at the beginning of the song and chose the key of E. Now, any rock guitarist will tell you that the key of E is kind of the master key of rock. If you are a rock guitarist and you randomly pick up a guitar the first chord you are likely to play is an E, just sayin’.

Now this riff suggested a tempo. A very arena rock tempo of around 100 beats per minute. I took the drum track and selected what was called a “Zepplin” drum set. I proceeded to use a plate reverb effect which is very indicative of the Led Zeppelin drum sound.

Next, I selected a bass sound that I found reminiscent of John Entwistle of The Who. Specifically, from their album “Live At Leeds”. It has a distortion not usually found  outside of rock and metal and all their sub genres.

Then,  I had a devil of a time finding the right organ sound and the right modulation. Finally, I remembered that my keyboard had a killer organ sound and the best organ modulation that I could find.

Next, I put together the lead guitar parts. I made up a counter point to the rhythm for the intro and then came up with a really cool line for the second half of the verse. Finally, I cooked up a lead break using a modification of the melody.

Lastly, I made the vocals. Now, singing vocals for Mark Baxter is a little like saying a prayer in front of the Pope. No matter what I do it will not be good enough in my own eyes. But, I did it anyways.

So here is the finished product submitted for your approval.

{Play – Open Your Heart}


 
Music, Music, Music – Yaron Gershovsky

When I interviewed Yaron Gershovsky I was struck by how frequently he would pop up and go over to the piano to illustrate a point, or to give an example, or to express an idea. So, when I started to write a song inspired by Yaron the phrase “Music, music, music” got stuck in my head. I have always heard music in my head. It comes unbidden at all hours of the night and day. I can’t stop it, not that I would want to. My poor wife has to endure the constant tapping of drum parts and quiet humming or whistling of the phrases that are always on my mind. I have no idea where the phrase came from except that it popped into my head whenever I thought about writing a Yaron inspired song.

I knew I wanted to make it a jazz song and I wanted a Latin beat underneath. However, I started by composing the song on guitar and then transposing the guitar part to the piano. This took a little time. The music is what I call pure Bittner. Those who have been listening for a while will recognize the name of my old jazz guitar teacher. For more info you can listen to episode Reverb #1 – Ted Onulak.

Now, I can tickle the tusks a little, but I wouldn’t call myself a pianist by any stretch. So, I had to write out the entire song in my composition tool. I wanted it to be simple – piano, bass, and Latin percussion. I wanted to avoid too much “density” in the piano part. By that I mean that when non pianists write for the piano there is a tendency to put too many notes in the music. This is one of those situations where you do something because you can do as opposed to what you should do. The result is a kind of mashed up muddled dense sound that sounds artificial. It has no air. It doesn’t breathe.

So, as I was writing the piano part, I tried to imagine that I was playing the piano. How far could I stretch my hand to make a chord? What was the left hand doing? Could I realistically play 4 note ascending 16th note chords with my right hand? Would I want to? Now, my piano part does have a kind of guitar feel to it, especially under the vocal accompaniment. And the volume under the vocal is lower than it is in the piano solo sections to help highlight the vocal.

As a general rule, I don’t like it when the lines step on each other. By this I mean I don’t like it when one part distracts from another by playing at the same time. This is something I learned in theater. When one actor speaks, the others remain silent unless the playwright specifically directs them to speak at the same time. If you do talk over another actor’s line, it is called “stepping on their line”.  So, I tried to avoid that. 

I put together my best piano sound, a realistic electric jazz bass sound, and then I went out and found some very nice Latin percussion rhythms. I had to tweak the rhythms to emphasize certain beats in the song, but the final result is not unpleasant to my ear.

And though it came out a little shorter than I anticipated, it took me longer to create.

[Play – Music, Music, Music]

Even though it it’s short. I love the energy of the song.


No Shortcut – Debra Monk

When I thought back to my conversation with Debra Monk, I was struck by how she worked so hard to become a professional actor. From the struggles of getting an education, to joining Equity, the stage actors union, to co-writing and performing her first Broadway show, to finally getting an agent, and even today, to auditioning for a part that she wanted but was not offered. Debra’s persistence and work ethic is a lesson for all of us who want to be actors. Her professional approach leaves little room for slackers.

I was especially impressed by her advice for auditioning. So, I decided to write a little song about auditions and include the advice from our conversation.  And what other style could I use for her that Broadway musical ballad style. I wrote a simple ballad with piano, bass, drums and a little banjo (see Kander & Ebb influence). I’ve given it my best Broadway vocal imitation. And though I don’t include any modulations or belting sections, I have emphasized the vocal.

Herewith is my Debra Monk inspired song, “No Shortcut”.

{Podlick – Country Blues ending}
 
Outro

Alas, we come to the end of our 50th episode. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation inspired songs. Join us again in a few weeks when we feature our conversation with renown singer/songwriter/cartoonist Tod Pronto. I’ve included a little sample after the Outro if you’d like to hear more.

If you enjoyed today’s episode please consider making a contribution to me on paypal @rimtoes. That’s r-i-m-t-o-e-s. Any amount is appreciated. If you’d like to be a regular contributor I invite you to look me up on Patreon.com and become a patron of the show.

As always, I appreciate each and every one of you. I hope all of you and yours are happy and healthy. Until next time, all my love. 

[Outro Podlick - Motor]

Tod Pronto Teaser - Me and My Guitar