Monday, August 29, 2011
Don't let your life spiral down
Slowly wake up,
With your boots on again.
She slowly wakes up,
With your smile on again.
With your boots on again.
She slowly wakes up,
With your smile on again.
Location:Prospect Ave,Goshen,United States
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Exciting sleep
Every night I am very excited when it's time to sleep. However, I don't express it how people usually show their excitement, because I'm usually so tired!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Out of the way
What I say most often at bars, when I'm trying to get through the crowd, is "get your fucking muscles out of my way you fucking douchbag!"
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, August 5, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Stanza
Last stanza of my song that I've been struggling to finish for months.
"Unfinished crosswords, we're not old enough.
Not together because we're not close enough.
Six hours cramped ain't long enough,
When you're going there to fall in love with her."
"Unfinished crosswords, we're not old enough.
Not together because we're not close enough.
Six hours cramped ain't long enough,
When you're going there to fall in love with her."
Friday, July 8, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Fireworks and bushwick
Usually loud bangs in bushwick are gun shots. But this time of year they are surely fireworks
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Full time job
I've moved out of my duffle bag and started putting my clothes in my drawer in Goshen because I got a full time application chemist job, based in Goshen. Tg
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Sayer St,Goshen,United States
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Favorite Apartment
My shade in my Park Slope apartment. After moving out I lost two great friends to depression/a crazy girlfriend/drinking
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
No matter what
No matter what I need to NOT come back to Cooper in the fall. I have to get out of here. Whatever it takes.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
FINISHED COLLEGE HOLY SHIT
The song Cody, Daniel and I made for the Fundamentals of Music course. I just finished writing the 10 page paper, which was my last assignment (hopefully) ever at Cooper Union. I used the paper as more of an opportunity to reflect and do all that stuff you do at a monumental transition in your life. But I also tried to stick to the assignment.
Lyrics:
At Harmony With Callousness: Analysis and the Process of Creating Our Original Song
Part I
Without the consent of the rest of the band, I will name the song we created “Adaptation,” since it is about how being in the same place for too long, seeing the same places and people and doing the same routine, dulls your senses and can have a lasting effect. I will call our band Class Band, simply because that is the file name of our song. Our original plan was to write an R&B song since it would have been a challenge and would have brought us out of our comfort zones. However, the beats that Cody created as a basis for the R&B song were a bit too ominous sounding for the likes of the genre. When we picked up our instruments and tried to come up with a progression to use, Cody and I ended up relapsing into our rock and roll comfort zones, which eventually led to the song we produced. The underlying theme of the song is telling young people to not settle in one place for too long, because it often has the tendency to dull your senses, making you appreciate less, and therefore not live that precious part of your life to its fullest potential.
The instruments we decided to use in the song are electric guitar, drums, piano, acoustic guitar, synthesized bass, and vocals, which is more or less standard in rock music. The reason why we chose a synthesized bass rather than an electric bass is simply because we did not have an electric bass at our disposal. There is a rhythm guitar track as well as a lead guitar track. The electric guitar, bass and vocals all have an overdriven effect, giving the timbre a rough quality. The rhythm guitar has a palm-muted timbre in the intro, making the dynamics of the intro subdued. The main melody is heard in the intro, played by the lead guitar. The intro and verse have the same slow tempo. The song is in the key of F Major. The progression you hear during the verse is Fmaj for two bars, Dmin for six beats, Bbmaj for two beats, and on Amin for two bars. The Dmin to Amin transition is essentially a “walk” down to Amin. In terms of the chord degrees, this progression is I-vi-IV-iii. The chorus is Fmaj for two bars to Amin for two bars, with an added F note for one bar. In terms of scale degrees, the chord progression for the chorus is I-I-iiiadd I-iii. The form of the song is simply Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Outro. There is a noticeable tempo change between the verse and the chorus, as well as a change in dynamics. The verse moderately soft, slow verse is juxtaposed with the louder, faster chorus. The use of the synth bass and piano also help to make the chorus have a fuller sound.
Since the two electric guitar tracks and the drums were recorded first, it was this music and my own personality that influenced the lyrics and the vocals. I wanted the vocals to complement all the features of the track mentioned above. Many of the parameters mentioned above influenced the content of the lyrics and the way I sang them. Additionally, the content of the lyrics influenced how they were sung. When I first heard the recorded intro and verse with the drums, rhythm and lead guitar, the combination of melody, timbre, and tempo of the intro intro reminded me of someone on the street drearily on his way to work in the morning. This incited the theme of the lyrics mentioned above. As a result of that image of the guy drearily going to work, I made consecutive lines of the verse end on the same note, and used a repetitive rhyme scheme: AA AA BB BB, etc., to represent the dreariness of doing the same routine day after day.
The pause after the verse with the bending note and repetitive chord on the piano create a tension that is released once the chorus begins. The chorus is louder and faster than the verse, creating a sense of intense movement. Specifically, the lack of chord use of the rhythm guitar in this part reminded me of something barreling fast down a hill of some sort. The repeated bending guitar riff of the lead creates suspense the same way it does when used in a thriller or drama movie. From these feelings, I wanted to reflect movement in the lyrics and vocals, so I imagined barreling down the Williamsburg Bridge on my bike and looking at the morning cityscape. To relate to the theme first created in the verse, and to take into account the musical changes in the chorus, I made the lyrics about some young male or female who has a fast life with a lot of changes; a young person who sees a lot and does not let him or herself get stuck in a rut or dreary routine, unlike the man who is on his way to work. The lyrics to the chorus are shown below.
This new character and scene in the chorus sets up a literal and metaphorical contrast in the song: the literal contrast is between the older man drearily walking to work, and the younger, more lively person riding a bike fast to an indefinite place and seeing a good view along the way. The metaphorical contrast is between a slow repetitive life in which one reinforces his or her conception about everything he or she encounters on a repeated basis, and another, where the person is constantly seeing new things in life, but is not giving him or herself enough time to build a conception about them. The first three lines of the chorus say that even if the second “character” sees a lot since he or she is constantly on move, then the images or thoughts associated with the stimuli will not last. A similar idea is when a student crams for a test: the knowledge does not last long after the test is over. That is, exposing yourself to something for a short time often does not have a lasting effect. The last line of the chorus tells this character to be wild now, and settle down later; save the quiet sitting and reflecting for when you are a bit older. In a way, these contrasts between the verse and chorus also set up a dialogue between the two. It can be thought of as an older man giving advice to a younger person who still has his or her youth.
The contrast set up both musically and lyrically is relevant to my life in that during my time at Cooper Union, I felt tied down due to the overwhelming workload. Yes, it is normal to get stressed at times during college, but Cooper is notorious for its extreme workload, which causes students to not live like most others their age. In effect, Cooper prematurely made me into the older man character. As engineering students at Cooper, we often have to tell our families and friends outside of Cooper that we cannot afford to celebrate Easter this year, or hang out, or visit, and they are perplexed. For those students here who are not geniuses or extremely efficient workers, they have to dedicate their whole lives to their studies in order to keep their grades high enough to not get kicked out. I was one of these students up until senior year.
As a result of school controlling my life, I have become more and more attuned to a general callous undertone in my life. Over the past few years I have become in harmony with hardcore, punk, and rainy days. That is why I sing in the first verse:
In the first stanza of this verse I am getting off the train on 14th St. and 3rd Avenue on a rainy day, on my way to school. In my case the only reason why I am upset about the rain is because it prevented me from riding my bike to school. It does not put me in a bad mood anymore, because I have become attuned to these things that most people think are unpleasant. By now I find rain comforting. The third and fourth stanzas are describing this state of becoming in harmony with callousness, saying it takes a while, but once it happens it is permanent, and you begin to find solace in it. This verse relates back to the idea of the older man on his way to work. He, like I, have become jaded by his work, in his case the routine of his career, and in mine, the repressive nature of college. Here we are both walking to the same old dreary destination.
While listening to the track Cody recorded, it was the distorted, deep timbre of the rhythm guitar and the dissonant bending of the lead guitar that resonated with me in the same way as described above. After listening to it over and over again, trying to come up with a common theme for the lyrics, I ended up using the resonance I felt from the music itself as the inspiration for lyrics. The goal became to try to explain this idea of feeling harmony with callousness. The timbre, tempo and melody did not inspire the usual themes for lyrics, like love, girls, boys, days of the week (like Friday), or dancing.
The second verse starts off by expressing the need to deviate from the regular day to day routine. The “So much change this May” line is a direct reference to this month on this particular year, the month and year of graduation. Graduation will surely allow me to deviate from this routine. The rest of the second verse is an expression of day-to-day annoying occurrences that I encounter, like waiting forever on line at a coffee shop for black coffee because people are ordering fancy, novelty drinks like mocha chai, “frappuccinos,” and green tea latte’s. The stanzas about delivery guys refer to when bicyclists are riding their bike in the city, going with traffic, and food deliverymen on bikes are riding in the wrong direction, putting the cyclist in unnecessary and undeserved danger. Both of these occurrences are simply support for why it is necessary to break free from the day-to-day routine.
The target audience for this song is other college students, especially those who also feel that college drains away all their all their time and energy, not leaving them any time for enjoyment. Often it is easy to define a target audience if you know the genre of the music. Though I find it difficult to assign a genre to my own music, I would say this music could be considered indie rock, which often uses the same instrumentation, timbre, form, and changes in tempo as our song does.
Part II
As stated at the beginning of Part I, the original plan was to create an R&B song, but that idea was dissolved once we actually met with our instruments. Cody, Daniel and I brought an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, midi keyboard, and two laptops down to the practice room in the basement of the school. The room already had drums, a piano, guitar amp, and a P.A. Cody started off on the electric guitar, Daniel on the piano, and I on the acoustic guitar. I had come up with a fast paced punk song about eating healthier, so I showed them the progression and we played it. However, we decided it was too simple. So instead we all tried to come up with a new progression that we felt could become an interesting verse or chorus progression. Cody and I fed off each other’s ideas until we came up with a verse progression. Once we had the progression, Cody worked to make it asymmetrical by playing the Dm chord for only six beats and the Bb for two. In the meantime, Daniel was creating an arpeggio to accompany the guitars. Then I played it on acoustic while Cody came up with some lead to accompany the verse. With the verse established, we started to come up with ideas for the chorus. We settled on a simple F to Am progression with some variation on the Am chord. At this point, Cody got behind the drums and played along with Daniel and I, who played the verse and chorus on piano and electric guitar, repeatedly. Finally, Cody came up with the idea for a tempo change for the chorus. Although we still had not figured out a good way to transition from the slower verse to the fast chorus, we decided we had done a good days work.
For the following day or two, until I forgot the rhythm patterns of the two progressions, I came up with some vocal melodies to use in the song. Cody said he could borrow microphones from the AV department in the art school and would record the basic rhythm tracks, namely the drums and rhythm electric guitar.
A couple weeks later Cody recorded the track and sent it to Daniel and I. I played along with it on acoustic guitar and worked for an hour or so to come up with the lyrics. Once ready to record, I simply dragged Cody’s track into Apple’s Garageband and used my laptop mic to record my vocal track. In retrospect, I should have sang the chorus louder to align more with the louder instrumentation. Once happy enough with the recording, I exported the file and emailed it to Cody and Daniel. Later that day we met up to discuss the song. Daniel listened to what we had so far and recorded a synth bass part for the chorus using the midi keyboard. From here, Cody volunteered to finish up the recording by adding a faint acoustic guitar to the song and to do the final mixing.
Over the course of the process, Cody and I both became leaders, even though it was only a group of three. Cody was a leader in that he had control of the song’s basis, while I was the one who kept all of us in contact and organized meeting times. Throughout the process Daniel did not push to include his creativity in the song. Instead he fell into the role of recording the bass line in the chorus. I did like what he played on piano and synth, but Cody ended up making it very faintly mixed into the song.
I believe this song very strongly reflects Cody and my personalities in the song. Though it would have been better if I contributed an instrument track to the song in addition to the vocals to put more of my personality in the song, my vocals alone strongly represent my personality. Although I did not know Cody very well before starting this project, I feel that his contribution strongly reflects his personality. It came out mostly in intro, with the hopeful melody and the gritty palm-muted progression.
If I had done this assignment on my own, it would have sounded much like the other music I have created: lack of lead guitar, no percussion, lo-fi recording. It’s likely that I would not have thought to do that tempo change that gave out song so much movement in the chorus. During my time at Cooper I have not collaborated much with other, but I am happy I have done so here. I like how Cody and my styles blended together, and I hope to make more music with him in the future. What I liked most about the song is the intro melody, the transition from the verse to the chorus, and my vocals for the verses. Cody’s tracks influenced me to write more arcane lyrics than I usually do, which adds more depth to the song as a whole. What I think could use improvement are the vocals during the chorus, and a louder bass and acoustic guitar tracks. The buildup of tension before the chorus, and the instrumental energy of the chorus itself call for louder vocals, and perhaps a more imaginative vocal melody. I would have at least liked to hear how the song sounds with the louder acoustic guitar and bass.
The most rewarding aspect of this music-making process was writing lyrics that were not cohesive until I was able to analyze them later in this paper. I have never done that with any of my songs, but it is rewarding and interesting since doing so, in a way makes you make sense out of your subconscious. While writing the lyrics, the music would make me think of an idea, and I did not know why at the time. But after analyzing it, I have found the idea does make sense after all and that the lyrics turn out to be more profound than I would expect from myself.
This music-making project has been a good one. It broke me out of my comfort zone of writing my own music and not collaborating with others. Music is such an important part of many people’s lives because it physiologically excites us, but also because of its elemental social character, because it is a medium for expressing emotions, and because it can be a vehicle for transcendence or other altered states of consciousness. What I have gotten most out of this experience is transcendence out of my own creative shell. Cody’s creativity pulled me away from what I would usually do, musically. Therefore it is that elemental social character that was present during the music-making process, the opportunity to express myself with another person’s musical influence, and the transcendence that it caused, that gave me the pleasure so often associated with music.
Lyrics:
Get off that train,
And in the pouring rain,
It doesn't stain.
Get used to it.
I must admit,
I find it comforting.
Like some grinding sound,
It takes an awful while
To align your guts with it.
But when you do,
The sound will stay with you.
Chorus
When you're riding fast
Keep your eyes open wide,
But you won't soak it in
Leave that for later on.
It's time to get away
From the day to day,
So much change this May.
Never wait on line
Behind that fucking guy
Who orders mocha chais.
Delivery guys,
They avert their eyes.
The wrong side they ride.
You wanna knock em off,
Instead you flip 'em off.
Chorus
When you're riding fast
Keep your eyes open wide,
But you won't soak it in
Leave that for later on.
When you're riding fast
Keep your eyes open wide
Don't believe their lies
You'll live they'll die.
At Harmony With Callousness: Analysis and the Process of Creating Our Original Song
Part I
Without the consent of the rest of the band, I will name the song we created “Adaptation,” since it is about how being in the same place for too long, seeing the same places and people and doing the same routine, dulls your senses and can have a lasting effect. I will call our band Class Band, simply because that is the file name of our song. Our original plan was to write an R&B song since it would have been a challenge and would have brought us out of our comfort zones. However, the beats that Cody created as a basis for the R&B song were a bit too ominous sounding for the likes of the genre. When we picked up our instruments and tried to come up with a progression to use, Cody and I ended up relapsing into our rock and roll comfort zones, which eventually led to the song we produced. The underlying theme of the song is telling young people to not settle in one place for too long, because it often has the tendency to dull your senses, making you appreciate less, and therefore not live that precious part of your life to its fullest potential.
The instruments we decided to use in the song are electric guitar, drums, piano, acoustic guitar, synthesized bass, and vocals, which is more or less standard in rock music. The reason why we chose a synthesized bass rather than an electric bass is simply because we did not have an electric bass at our disposal. There is a rhythm guitar track as well as a lead guitar track. The electric guitar, bass and vocals all have an overdriven effect, giving the timbre a rough quality. The rhythm guitar has a palm-muted timbre in the intro, making the dynamics of the intro subdued. The main melody is heard in the intro, played by the lead guitar. The intro and verse have the same slow tempo. The song is in the key of F Major. The progression you hear during the verse is Fmaj for two bars, Dmin for six beats, Bbmaj for two beats, and on Amin for two bars. The Dmin to Amin transition is essentially a “walk” down to Amin. In terms of the chord degrees, this progression is I-vi-IV-iii. The chorus is Fmaj for two bars to Amin for two bars, with an added F note for one bar. In terms of scale degrees, the chord progression for the chorus is I-I-iiiadd I-iii. The form of the song is simply Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Outro. There is a noticeable tempo change between the verse and the chorus, as well as a change in dynamics. The verse moderately soft, slow verse is juxtaposed with the louder, faster chorus. The use of the synth bass and piano also help to make the chorus have a fuller sound.
Since the two electric guitar tracks and the drums were recorded first, it was this music and my own personality that influenced the lyrics and the vocals. I wanted the vocals to complement all the features of the track mentioned above. Many of the parameters mentioned above influenced the content of the lyrics and the way I sang them. Additionally, the content of the lyrics influenced how they were sung. When I first heard the recorded intro and verse with the drums, rhythm and lead guitar, the combination of melody, timbre, and tempo of the intro intro reminded me of someone on the street drearily on his way to work in the morning. This incited the theme of the lyrics mentioned above. As a result of that image of the guy drearily going to work, I made consecutive lines of the verse end on the same note, and used a repetitive rhyme scheme: AA AA BB BB, etc., to represent the dreariness of doing the same routine day after day.
The pause after the verse with the bending note and repetitive chord on the piano create a tension that is released once the chorus begins. The chorus is louder and faster than the verse, creating a sense of intense movement. Specifically, the lack of chord use of the rhythm guitar in this part reminded me of something barreling fast down a hill of some sort. The repeated bending guitar riff of the lead creates suspense the same way it does when used in a thriller or drama movie. From these feelings, I wanted to reflect movement in the lyrics and vocals, so I imagined barreling down the Williamsburg Bridge on my bike and looking at the morning cityscape. To relate to the theme first created in the verse, and to take into account the musical changes in the chorus, I made the lyrics about some young male or female who has a fast life with a lot of changes; a young person who sees a lot and does not let him or herself get stuck in a rut or dreary routine, unlike the man who is on his way to work. The lyrics to the chorus are shown below.
When you're riding fast,
Keep your eyes open wide.
But you won't soak it in,
Leave that for later on.
This new character and scene in the chorus sets up a literal and metaphorical contrast in the song: the literal contrast is between the older man drearily walking to work, and the younger, more lively person riding a bike fast to an indefinite place and seeing a good view along the way. The metaphorical contrast is between a slow repetitive life in which one reinforces his or her conception about everything he or she encounters on a repeated basis, and another, where the person is constantly seeing new things in life, but is not giving him or herself enough time to build a conception about them. The first three lines of the chorus say that even if the second “character” sees a lot since he or she is constantly on move, then the images or thoughts associated with the stimuli will not last. A similar idea is when a student crams for a test: the knowledge does not last long after the test is over. That is, exposing yourself to something for a short time often does not have a lasting effect. The last line of the chorus tells this character to be wild now, and settle down later; save the quiet sitting and reflecting for when you are a bit older. In a way, these contrasts between the verse and chorus also set up a dialogue between the two. It can be thought of as an older man giving advice to a younger person who still has his or her youth.
The contrast set up both musically and lyrically is relevant to my life in that during my time at Cooper Union, I felt tied down due to the overwhelming workload. Yes, it is normal to get stressed at times during college, but Cooper is notorious for its extreme workload, which causes students to not live like most others their age. In effect, Cooper prematurely made me into the older man character. As engineering students at Cooper, we often have to tell our families and friends outside of Cooper that we cannot afford to celebrate Easter this year, or hang out, or visit, and they are perplexed. For those students here who are not geniuses or extremely efficient workers, they have to dedicate their whole lives to their studies in order to keep their grades high enough to not get kicked out. I was one of these students up until senior year.
As a result of school controlling my life, I have become more and more attuned to a general callous undertone in my life. Over the past few years I have become in harmony with hardcore, punk, and rainy days. That is why I sing in the first verse:
Get off that train,
And in the pouring rain.
It doesn't stain.
Get used to it.
I must admit,
I find it comforting.
Like some grinding sound
It takes an awful while
To align your guts with it.
But when you do
The sound will stay with you.
In the first stanza of this verse I am getting off the train on 14th St. and 3rd Avenue on a rainy day, on my way to school. In my case the only reason why I am upset about the rain is because it prevented me from riding my bike to school. It does not put me in a bad mood anymore, because I have become attuned to these things that most people think are unpleasant. By now I find rain comforting. The third and fourth stanzas are describing this state of becoming in harmony with callousness, saying it takes a while, but once it happens it is permanent, and you begin to find solace in it. This verse relates back to the idea of the older man on his way to work. He, like I, have become jaded by his work, in his case the routine of his career, and in mine, the repressive nature of college. Here we are both walking to the same old dreary destination.
While listening to the track Cody recorded, it was the distorted, deep timbre of the rhythm guitar and the dissonant bending of the lead guitar that resonated with me in the same way as described above. After listening to it over and over again, trying to come up with a common theme for the lyrics, I ended up using the resonance I felt from the music itself as the inspiration for lyrics. The goal became to try to explain this idea of feeling harmony with callousness. The timbre, tempo and melody did not inspire the usual themes for lyrics, like love, girls, boys, days of the week (like Friday), or dancing.
The second verse starts off by expressing the need to deviate from the regular day to day routine. The “So much change this May” line is a direct reference to this month on this particular year, the month and year of graduation. Graduation will surely allow me to deviate from this routine. The rest of the second verse is an expression of day-to-day annoying occurrences that I encounter, like waiting forever on line at a coffee shop for black coffee because people are ordering fancy, novelty drinks like mocha chai, “frappuccinos,” and green tea latte’s. The stanzas about delivery guys refer to when bicyclists are riding their bike in the city, going with traffic, and food deliverymen on bikes are riding in the wrong direction, putting the cyclist in unnecessary and undeserved danger. Both of these occurrences are simply support for why it is necessary to break free from the day-to-day routine.
The target audience for this song is other college students, especially those who also feel that college drains away all their all their time and energy, not leaving them any time for enjoyment. Often it is easy to define a target audience if you know the genre of the music. Though I find it difficult to assign a genre to my own music, I would say this music could be considered indie rock, which often uses the same instrumentation, timbre, form, and changes in tempo as our song does.
Part II
As stated at the beginning of Part I, the original plan was to create an R&B song, but that idea was dissolved once we actually met with our instruments. Cody, Daniel and I brought an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, midi keyboard, and two laptops down to the practice room in the basement of the school. The room already had drums, a piano, guitar amp, and a P.A. Cody started off on the electric guitar, Daniel on the piano, and I on the acoustic guitar. I had come up with a fast paced punk song about eating healthier, so I showed them the progression and we played it. However, we decided it was too simple. So instead we all tried to come up with a new progression that we felt could become an interesting verse or chorus progression. Cody and I fed off each other’s ideas until we came up with a verse progression. Once we had the progression, Cody worked to make it asymmetrical by playing the Dm chord for only six beats and the Bb for two. In the meantime, Daniel was creating an arpeggio to accompany the guitars. Then I played it on acoustic while Cody came up with some lead to accompany the verse. With the verse established, we started to come up with ideas for the chorus. We settled on a simple F to Am progression with some variation on the Am chord. At this point, Cody got behind the drums and played along with Daniel and I, who played the verse and chorus on piano and electric guitar, repeatedly. Finally, Cody came up with the idea for a tempo change for the chorus. Although we still had not figured out a good way to transition from the slower verse to the fast chorus, we decided we had done a good days work.
For the following day or two, until I forgot the rhythm patterns of the two progressions, I came up with some vocal melodies to use in the song. Cody said he could borrow microphones from the AV department in the art school and would record the basic rhythm tracks, namely the drums and rhythm electric guitar.
A couple weeks later Cody recorded the track and sent it to Daniel and I. I played along with it on acoustic guitar and worked for an hour or so to come up with the lyrics. Once ready to record, I simply dragged Cody’s track into Apple’s Garageband and used my laptop mic to record my vocal track. In retrospect, I should have sang the chorus louder to align more with the louder instrumentation. Once happy enough with the recording, I exported the file and emailed it to Cody and Daniel. Later that day we met up to discuss the song. Daniel listened to what we had so far and recorded a synth bass part for the chorus using the midi keyboard. From here, Cody volunteered to finish up the recording by adding a faint acoustic guitar to the song and to do the final mixing.
Over the course of the process, Cody and I both became leaders, even though it was only a group of three. Cody was a leader in that he had control of the song’s basis, while I was the one who kept all of us in contact and organized meeting times. Throughout the process Daniel did not push to include his creativity in the song. Instead he fell into the role of recording the bass line in the chorus. I did like what he played on piano and synth, but Cody ended up making it very faintly mixed into the song.
I believe this song very strongly reflects Cody and my personalities in the song. Though it would have been better if I contributed an instrument track to the song in addition to the vocals to put more of my personality in the song, my vocals alone strongly represent my personality. Although I did not know Cody very well before starting this project, I feel that his contribution strongly reflects his personality. It came out mostly in intro, with the hopeful melody and the gritty palm-muted progression.
If I had done this assignment on my own, it would have sounded much like the other music I have created: lack of lead guitar, no percussion, lo-fi recording. It’s likely that I would not have thought to do that tempo change that gave out song so much movement in the chorus. During my time at Cooper I have not collaborated much with other, but I am happy I have done so here. I like how Cody and my styles blended together, and I hope to make more music with him in the future. What I liked most about the song is the intro melody, the transition from the verse to the chorus, and my vocals for the verses. Cody’s tracks influenced me to write more arcane lyrics than I usually do, which adds more depth to the song as a whole. What I think could use improvement are the vocals during the chorus, and a louder bass and acoustic guitar tracks. The buildup of tension before the chorus, and the instrumental energy of the chorus itself call for louder vocals, and perhaps a more imaginative vocal melody. I would have at least liked to hear how the song sounds with the louder acoustic guitar and bass.
The most rewarding aspect of this music-making process was writing lyrics that were not cohesive until I was able to analyze them later in this paper. I have never done that with any of my songs, but it is rewarding and interesting since doing so, in a way makes you make sense out of your subconscious. While writing the lyrics, the music would make me think of an idea, and I did not know why at the time. But after analyzing it, I have found the idea does make sense after all and that the lyrics turn out to be more profound than I would expect from myself.
This music-making project has been a good one. It broke me out of my comfort zone of writing my own music and not collaborating with others. Music is such an important part of many people’s lives because it physiologically excites us, but also because of its elemental social character, because it is a medium for expressing emotions, and because it can be a vehicle for transcendence or other altered states of consciousness. What I have gotten most out of this experience is transcendence out of my own creative shell. Cody’s creativity pulled me away from what I would usually do, musically. Therefore it is that elemental social character that was present during the music-making process, the opportunity to express myself with another person’s musical influence, and the transcendence that it caused, that gave me the pleasure so often associated with music.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
the graduate
if you know a good-lookin' girl who has a friendly good-lookin' mom can you plz let me know. since no one seems to want to give me a job and because i really don't want to go back to cooper for my masters next semester, i figure i might as well try to relive what dustin hoffman did in the graduate, esp. since he was also a cross country runner.
*spoiler alert don't watch this if you haven't seen the movie already!!!!*
*spoiler alert don't watch this if you haven't seen the movie already!!!!*
Friday, April 29, 2011
View my album on MobileMe Gallery.
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 http://gallery.me.com/tknoblock/100089 |
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
dust
hold your nose
and push out
dust'll come out.
dust'll come out.
take a deep breath,
you can bet
that the fuzz is gone,
the fuzz is gone.
hold your nose
and push out
fuzz'll come out.
the sun'll come out.
take a deep breath,
you can bet
that the fuzz is gone,
the fuzz is gone.
layin' in the lawn
Monday, April 4, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
from now on when i
from now on when i come home drunk i will be applying to jobs that i dont really want. resume but no cover letter.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
I GET FLAT TIRES AT
I GET FLAT TIRES AT THE WORST TIMES LIKE WHEN I'M SLIGHTLY MORE THAN HALFWAY HOME FROM SCHOOL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Friday, March 18, 2011
sometimes bicyclists in nyc buy
sometimes bicyclists in nyc buy coffee and bring it with them on their commute to work as if theyre in a car
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Article: 9loo5gbqc5uru024qhvWSyl3_500.jpg 393×400 pixels
9loo5gbqc5uru024qhvWSyl3_500.jpg 393×400 pixels
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7pBEVLecPkNHomRo-iAQYdoKdVsoUY1qwTvQzb3wRlpJAu5UbsrQwt8ELnrUFYOpJ6UPy9EPvHK8RmdBvzjEcHeMTSRfhQObQSfP32vpMwPnk7E1HcDV26ON6ZkJkeQtaMvLg8AUnw/s1600/9loo5gbqc5uru024qhvWSyl3_500.jpg
(Sent from Flipboard)
-Taylor
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Attempts to clear the fuzz in my brain
1. breathe in oxygen rich air (~40 mol% vs. the usual 21 mol%). you notice the difference!
2. laying on a rock on a mountain in tuxedo staring off into space
more to come...
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| From Last Semester at Cooper |
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| From Spring Hike |
more to come...
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Dear Levis
I like your jeans but for the love of God, let me do the fading myself. I'm offended that you pre-fade all your jeans nowadays.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
when your ears are shut
when your ears are shut out from the outside, is that constant fuzzy sound you hear the sound of your brain? it sounds busy
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Crater
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| From Iceland XXVIII: Geyser and Gulfoss Daytrip |
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| From Iceland XXVIII: Geyser and Gulfoss Daytrip |
A funny postcard from Iceland too.
One day I hope to go back with you.
But lets not go anywhere twice
Until we’ve seen it all once with our own eyes.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Big Salary Dreamz
Stuff I'll do when I start making lots of money:
1. Pay off loans before the interest gets me good.
2. Get an Icelandic sweater
3. Do whites and darks separately at the laudromat.
4. Buy a new car: Either a 10-15 year old Toyota Corolla or small Toyota Pickup - must have manual transmission
5. Make my apartment look nice by getting some furniture that's not out of other people's trash.
6. Stop eating crappy food; cook much more.
7. Always have fridge stocked with OJ and a variety of beers until I find out which few beers are the best, then I'll just keep the fridge stocked with that type.
8. Travel as much as possible.
9. Buy a giant TV and get the Triple Play™!
10. Buy Mom a lime green Volkswagon Beetle
11. Go in with my cousins to buy a house in Bethany Beach, DE.
12. Get prescription sun glasses
To be continued...
1. Pay off loans before the interest gets me good.
2. Get an Icelandic sweater
3. Do whites and darks separately at the laudromat.
4. Buy a new car: Either a 10-15 year old Toyota Corolla or small Toyota Pickup - must have manual transmission
5. Make my apartment look nice by getting some furniture that's not out of other people's trash.
6. Stop eating crappy food; cook much more.
7. Always have fridge stocked with OJ and a variety of beers until I find out which few beers are the best, then I'll just keep the fridge stocked with that type.
8. Travel as much as possible.
9. Buy a giant TV and get the Triple Play™!
10. Buy Mom a lime green Volkswagon Beetle
11. Go in with my cousins to buy a house in Bethany Beach, DE.
12. Get prescription sun glasses
To be continued...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
"to the sheep" song
"to the sheep" by taylor knoblock
they should be ashamed.
they're all the same.
they'll never change how they are.
they avoid the strange like the plague.
run away, be boring for your whole life.
those boots you wear, if you dare,
are made from the hide of your own kind.
say bah bah to the herd, they're absurd.
it's time to go on your own and find yourself.
it's better to be unique.
it's better to be happy.
it's better to be interesting.
or just go on being a pawn.
settle down, buy a house with your spouse--
he's such a louse.
you soon will tell, you're an empty shell.
you got your gold but your getting older now.
it's better to be unique. it's better to be unique.
it's better to be interesting. it's better to be interesting.
it's better to be happy. it's better to be happy.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
CU Scholar Athletes
Bridget's birthday in Williamsburg. Tea and Coffee theme. Six of us went up to McCarren Park to play ultimate frisby. Had a jogging snowbal fight on the way there. We almost hit innocent bystanders. Some people really got a little too into the frisby game. I was making a run and watching for the frisby, and the next thing I knew, I was airborne and then my head broke my fall in the packed snow. I tripped over someone's snowball fight barrier. Our team (no hats) creamed the other (hats) 6-0. Max had regular shoes on and his pants rolled up. Snow stuck to the rolled up part all the way around. James and I had put plastic bags over our socks but they eventually ripped and we got wet sox like erryone else.
Went back, had some more of our hot totties, which called of some sort for non-gay, non-herbal tea, lemon juice, honey, and gin. People tried beating their pull-up records. Once Mr. Nummey arrived we went out for the beer mile. There were spectators throughout the race. The beer was too cold I don't know why I insisted that we refridgerate it beforehand. There was a huge pile of snow on the course. You could either go around it or go over it. Max was the first to finish the first beer and take off. He later said that the best part of the race was the first 100 feet, then he didn't like it anymore after that.
Went back, had some more of our hot totties, which called of some sort for non-gay, non-herbal tea, lemon juice, honey, and gin. People tried beating their pull-up records. Once Mr. Nummey arrived we went out for the beer mile. There were spectators throughout the race. The beer was too cold I don't know why I insisted that we refridgerate it beforehand. There was a huge pile of snow on the course. You could either go around it or go over it. Max was the first to finish the first beer and take off. He later said that the best part of the race was the first 100 feet, then he didn't like it anymore after that.
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
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| From Scholar Athletes |
Thursday, January 27, 2011
snow day
slept on lili's couch last night thinking we'd have class at 9 this mornin, but school got cancelled so nick and i organized a snowball fight at tompkins square park
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| From Snow Day Tompkins Sq. Park |
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| From Snow Day Tompkins Sq. Park |
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| From Snow Day Tompkins Sq. Park |
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| From Snow Day Tompkins Sq. Park |
Sunday, January 23, 2011
too many copies
Monday, January 17, 2011
"Every albino does good bible
"Every albino does good bible reading" -ruthie's mnemonic for remembering the strings on a guitar
Saturday, January 15, 2011
party flyer
sophie and i are throwing a party at her place and we settled on a cowboy theme. bored on a saturday in goshen i drew this flyer
we still gotta put the text on there. there will be a rule that you have to do a cowboy impression upon entering. i doubt it will as funny as it sounds in my head
we still gotta put the text on there. there will be a rule that you have to do a cowboy impression upon entering. i doubt it will as funny as it sounds in my head
Friday, January 14, 2011
woah
this is the last map of one of my runs unless i draw something with my route, i swear
this is two days of runs thats why the red line skips across town at some point
this is two days of runs thats why the red line skips across town at some point
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
I love break!
the best part of the run was seeing the tiny kids in school buses freaking out that i was running in the cold
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
While deleting music off my computer
I found a Ben Kweller album with this song on it.
...We danced in the moonlight at midnight.
We pressed against back doors and wood floors,
And you never faked it...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The black sheep big sandwiches
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