Today is Monday, June 1st. Time to say "Fare thee well!" to the drama of the previous chapter (but not the lessons learned) and begin anew, filling this chapter with hard work, wonderful friends, and music, sweet music.

Ahoy there, mateys!

Thought I'd pop in real quick while I had a chance.  Trying to wrap things up with my 2nd semester of graduate school...a couple more weeks and I get to have my life back for the summer! 

Tonight was the world premiere of "The Golden Bird" by my professor Dean Drummond who runs the Harry Partch Institute at school which was very impressive.  Now I'm trying to wrap things up for my presentation on Bach's St. Matthew's Passion tomorrow morning.  I haven't even started writing my term paper on Bach's Mass in B Minor yet, but I still have another 11 days and I've pretty much dedicated my entire weekend to it, so I'm sure it will get done.

Today I started working on a new piece for solo piano, mostly because I was feeling inspired by Andrea Covais' AMAZING performance of my Walt Whitman artsong "Of Him I Love Day and Night" at her recital the other night.  It was easily 10 times better than the YouTube video I put up earlier in the semester, and I thought that was pretty good!  Over the summer I'm going to write 4 or 5 more Walt Whitman artsongs so we can make an EP of them together, and partly because I'm a little burned out on large ensemble writing.

It's a very beautiful piece so far and the working title is "Caterpillar (Butterfly)."  I had toyed with the idea of calling it "Ugly Duckling, Beautiful Swan," but truth be told, swans are nasty little things biting and pecking everything in sight whereas butterflies typically fly around and look pretty.  So I went for butterflies instead.

Speaking of Andrea, here is what she wrote about me in her program notes for her recital, which I thought was very nice: "For American singers, art song of our home country is always a special treat to learn, interpret, and perform.  The style and tradition of American art song is almost as eclectic as the many cultures that make up our country's population.  I chose to begin this set with "Of Him I Love Day and Night," a new piece written by my fellow student and colleague Chris Opperman.  Chris has captured the text of this Walt Whitman poem perfectly and the harmonic and rhythmic language he uses mirrors the transcendental but also symbolist spirit of nineteenth-century American poetry."

Very nice.  Anyway, it's back to work for me now!  Hope you're all doing well.

Musically yours,

Christopher

Greetings, everyone!  I hope that you and your families have had an excellent Easter if you celebrate it, and if you don't, an excellent weekend in general.

This semester has been crazy, crazy, crazy busy for me so I apologize that I haven't had much chance to check in.  I've pretty much had to turn in a piece every 2-3 weeks all semester, plus I have other classes and plus I'm still working.  So, yeah, *tons* of work, but well worth it!  Or at least well worth it on Sunday night when I'm not in the middle of the hurricane that is a.k.a. Monday - Friday. ^_^

I'm happy to report that I will be receiving an award from the John C. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University for Outstanding Graduate Composer on April 29th where Andrea Covais will be performing my Walt Whitman artsong "Of Him I Love Day and Night." (She will also be performing it at her first graduate recital on April 21st...getting a lot of mileage out of that piece! AND you can check it out on YouTube if you like).  I feel pretty honored, naturally, and want to continue to work hard and be worthy of such praise.

So what *have* I been writing?  Here are all the main pieces I've been working on this semester, roughly in order, although I've been working on everything at once:

1. Of Him I Love Day and Night - for soprano and piano.  This is the Walt Whitman artsong.  The other day I started sketching out ideas for a couple others: "Eidolons" and "The World Below the Brine."  I'd like to do enough of them to make an EP w/Andrea.

2. Luminescence - for full orchestra. The MSU orchestra did a reading of this, which was really fun, but I'm going to write more sections and finish it up over the summer.  Should wind up being about 8 minutes long.  The middle section, which I call the "pizzicato party" is very, very cool, if I may say so myself!

3. The Old Man & the Sea - for string quintet.  The Shanghai String Quartet plus my classmate Rachel Hershy on contrabass is going to do a reading of this piece on Thursday.  My teacher, Dr. Robert Aldridge, told me that the beginning of this piece was going to sound so beautiful that I'm not even going to believe it.  Pretty exciting!

4. The Ambiguous Origins of Artificial Life - for wind ensemble.  This piece is hard.  It has a constant rotation rhythmically of 4/4 + 5/4 + 4/4 + 6/4 and I'm spreading the torture around pretty evenly so everyone in the ensemble will have something to stress about.  Dr. Aldridge, called it "uncorked" and said that I'm "taking big chances compositionally -- and they're paying off."  It really is something else. 

5. The 53rd Calypso - for soprano, alto, tenor, bass voices. A capella Madrigal piece based on Kurt Vonnegut's 53rd Calypso from Cat's Cradle (a.k.a. "Nice, Nice, Very Nice").  It's actually fairly straightforward although I'm going to tweak a couple of the chords to give it some "personality."  The reading for this piece is also at the end of the month.

6. Cupcake, the 26th Birthday Bear (pictured) - for flute and piano.  My friend Jessica came over and was interested in how Finale worked, so I told her to pick two instruments and I would write a little something.  I thought it would be a little throwaway thing, except that it was really good, so finishing it is on my summer project list, especially since I'm friends with so many flute players that getting a good recording of it should be no problem at all.

7. Days in the Life of a Composer - for the Harry Partch ensemble.  Conceptually, the idea is that this will be a series of solo or duet pieces for some of Harry Partch's microtonal instruments which I'm writing as my final project.  There's actually a pitch in his tonal systems called "20/11," which is easily translated as November 20th, which is my birthday. 

So I thought it would be fun to have a series of pieces based on important dates in my life.  Except that I don't really want to tell anyone exactly what the dates mean.  So far I have one piece for the zoomoozophone (invented by Dean Drummond), one for the Kithara I (invented by Harry Partch - my classmate and fellow composer Nathaniel J. Liberty did me a great service by remembering that I liked the resolution from the 10th part of the Kithara to the 3rd part, a favor that I returned by [unexpectedly] sight-reading his celesta part for his MSU Orchestra piece last week - go teamwork!) and one for the gourd tree (I forget the proper name for that instrument, I'll have to look it up later).  I'm hoping to have 6 or 7 short pieces altogether for this.

8. Huckleberry - for full orchestra.  When I started gearing up to do the orchestra piece, there were three sketches that were competing for the crown.  This one has some very interesting parts to it, but still needs the most work. 

9. Theseus & the Minotaur - for full orchestra.  My friend Lou Lagonik got me a book of Greek myths for Christmas hoping that it would inspire me.  I started sketching out this piece, which is admittedly very strange.  When I was playing these three sketches for people, everyone picked "Luminessence" as the piece they'd most like to see me finish.  Except Dr. Laura Dolp, who picked this one.  This fact, coupled with the fact that Dr. Dolp is totally awesome, is enough reason not to abandon the piece.  So it's also on my summer project list.

And, uh, that's pretty much what I've been up to this semester, in addition to trying to finish The Lionheart.  Neil is working on a project for Vai that he has to finish before he can finish my thing, so that's life!  It'll come out someday.  After that, I want to get serious about finishing up the Gasoline Hand side project which will be an iTunes only release (actually all my releases after The Lionheart will likely be digital only since we live in a digital world now).

Okay, break time's over, it's back to work for me until bedtime.  Music is the best!

Christopher

Since I can't let anyone hear anything until The Lionheart is finally
released, instead you can check out my final mix notes for "The
Porpentine" which is being mixed by Grammy award-winning engineer Neil
Citron, who is a raging genius and maybe you'll get a sense of the
utter ridiculousness of the piece. :)



After this piece is mixed, the entire album will be mastered and...it's...done.



***



Hey Neil,



At long last I managed to sit down for a few hours and really go over
the "all-in" mix of "The Porpentine" with a fine tooth comb. If for
some reason you think any of these suggestions are unfeasible or bad
for any reason, let me know! This is a team effort after all. :)



And without further ado, here are all my nitpicky adjustments:



0:21 - 0:28 - 2nd violins louder (I'm trying to bring out the notes F - Eb - Db)



1:12 - 1:32 - piano louder



1:10 - the french horn is slightly late, should match oboe



1:04 - 1:32 - please make the french horn and oboe slightly quieter and
the flute and clarinet slightly louder so that all the instruments match



2:05 - 2:34 - please make the piano louder. the balance is really good
starting @ 2:35 when I switch to the higher register so it just needs
to come up in the beginning of the solo.



3:01 - the piano isn't in time w/the vibraphone and guitar so switch to
the Gigasampled piano here or just take it out (the 16th note part, we
need the LH chords)



3:10 - 3:26 - please bring the violins down



3:35 - 3:59 - SO HOT! YEE HAW!



4:00 - 5:01 - Genius! There's so much happening and I can clearly hear every note of every track. Great job!



5:02 - 5:14 - Bring down the violins and bring up the trumpets, please.



5:30 - 5:44 - Please bring down the violins and bring up the flute, oboe, and clarinet (which should sound like a trio).



5:14 - 5:30 - The piano isn't in time w/the vibraphone & guitar.
Fix it if you can or switch to the Gigasampled piano. I know. I'm
fired. :P



5:45 - That downbeat is awkward due to the sudden tempo change. Ideas?



5:45 - 6:35 - The low strings can be brought down, please.



6:08 - 6:35 - The vibraphone can be brought down just a tad and the
electric guitar playing the 16th note run from Hell can be brought up a
little bit. Spilsbury earned the right to shine here. :)



6:35 - 7:07 - The strings can be brought down here in favor of the trumpets, flute, oboe, and clarinet.



7:11 - 7:39 - Hilarious! Saint-Saens would be proud. :)



7:55 - 8:10 - the piano can come up slightly, the tenor & baritone
saxophones can come down some (in fact, if we simply deleted them here,
do you think it would open up the orchestration? Lemme know!), the
french horn can come up a lot, the alto sax can come up some, the
electric guitar can come down a little.



8:11 - 8:31 - strings can come way down and the trumpets, trombones,
and french horns can come way up. It should sound like the brasses of
Heaven itself have opened up the Moon's Road to personally escort the
listener to the Brightly Shining Sea with preference given to those
instruments w/the F - G - F - G - Ab - G, etc. melody. Feel free to
change the panning around to achieve this effect if you think it will
help. Also, if Spilsbury is still playing the melody on the electric
guitar here, feel free to let him soar over the top of that, especially
if it'll put a smile on Steve's face. :)



8:35 - 8:50 - I think the fade out works but it goes too far as it
should feel like the sections directly segue as opposed to an ending
and a second track.



8:51 - 9:18 - Nice, nice, very nice!



9:19 - 9:29 - Jen's cello can come up a little here, bringing out the middle line of the harmony just slightly.



9:30 - 9:35 - The strings can come down, the oboe can come down
slightly to balance w/the flute & clarinet better, and the electric
guitar can come up slightly.



9:36 - 10:11 - The woodwinds should be slightly more present. The oboe
is louder than the flute & clarinet but should have equal weight.



10:01 - 10:11 - the saxophones can be a little louder here (especially
the alto which I think is highlighting the minor/major shifts) and the
strings can come down slightly to compensate if necessary.



10:12 - 10:50 - the harp can come down a little, the rolled guitar
chords can come up, the woodwinds can come up (and the strings can come
down to compensate), the oboe @ 10:34 - 10:37 can come up. Sounds like
the piano got doubled @ 10:34 - 10:42, but it sounds really cool, so
let's keep it! Happy accident! ^_^



10:59 - 11:15 - the tuba can come up here



11:15 - 12:35 - the flute can come up as well as the woodblocks making
the "tick-tock" noises as time runs our for the Land which is hurtling
towards its inevitable destruction.



11:24 - If Craig Bunch's scream can be made louder it should be, but if
it's too complicated to do, don't worry about it. We'll find out who's
really listening closely and who isn't. :)



11:27 - The piano is like a 32nd note early on the G. My bad.



11:48 - 12:35 - as instruments switch from doing the cuckoos to the
augmented chord riff, the instruments that remain on the cuckoos should
come up. The muted trumpets always play the cuckoos.



12:51 - And Alexander Scriabin's Mystic chord is finally used to bring about the end of a world! Goodbye, world!



14:08 - 14:27 - the guitar playing the chords can be brought up very slightly.



14:27 - someone is way out of tune, either in the french horn or one of
the trombones. If it's not easy to correct, just cut the notes out.



14:52 - the cello is playing on 2-3-4-5-1 in the first bar of the 5/8
instead of 1-2-3-4-5, so she needs to come back an 8th note.



15:13 - 15:16 - the trumpets should be in these two bars (where the
drums kick in in earnest) instead of the two bars @ 15:17 - 15:20.



PHEW! I THINK THAT'S IT! WE'RE ALMOST THERE! WOOOOOO!



Many, many, many thanks, and feel free to call me anytime with any questions,



Chris



P.S. Upon listening again, somewhere along the line I think we lost the chimes....

Greetings! 

I've just uploaded a new YouTube video for a piece I composed for piano and operatic soprano called "Of Him I Love Day and Night." 

The piece was composed for my classmate Andrea Covais and the libretto is based on the Walt Whitman poem of the same name.  I hope you enjoy it!



Chris

So I posted this on my Facebook and decided to cross-post it here:

I wasn't going to do this because I didn't think I'd have 25 things to
say, but I was wrong! So you're supposed to post 25 random things and
then tag 25 of your friends including the people who tagged you. Easy
enough. Here we go!



1. I’m grateful for all the wonderful people and things in my life.



2. At 30, I’m still interested in pretty much the same things I was
interested in when I was 15: MUSIC, girls, hanging out with my friends,
video games, comic books, and Mexican food. Now sometimes it involves
alcohol, but I don’t need to drink to have a good time.



3. Most of my fellow Grad Theory students took either the J.S. Bach
course w/Dr. Dolp (music of the 17th century) or the Harry Partch
course with Dean Drummond (microtonal music of the 1960’s). I’m the
only one taking them both, but a little extra effort now will make my
life easier later!



4. When I was 15, if you told me I was going to grow up and perform
with and record with and orchestrate for Mike Keneally and Steve Vai
and everybody else, I would have laughed at you.



5. I also never imagined that I would move back to Clifton. Guess that shows you how much I know!



6. Karaoke night: If you can’t get drunk and sing stupid songs with
your friends, then why are they your friends? See also Guitar Hero and
Rock Band.



7. For years, I had no idea that string players get annoyed about
having too many flats in the key signature, mostly because my favorite
cellist, Jen Kuhn, never once complained about them. So what have we
learned? Jen Kuhn is a winner, not a whiner.



8. The reason why my recordings always sound so good is because I have
a legion of great musicians and engineers on my side. They make all the
magic happen; I just pick the notes.



9. When you’re the leader of a band, it’s essential that you give
everyone in your ensemble a chance to shine in the spotlight in every
show. Anyone who takes the time and dedication to learn the more
intricate parts of pieces like “The 22nd Overture” or “The Porpentine”
more than deserves it. Besides, I enjoy listening to my bandmembers
solo because I’m interested in what they have to say.



10. When I was a little kid, I used to get up really early so I could watch Danger Mouse. Now that was a cartoon!



11. My high score in Ms. Pac Man is 172,510, which I got at Six
Brothers after eating three Taylor Ham sandwiches with Joey V in July,
2008.



12. My favorite video games are the Final Fantasy games mostly because
I like the stories and the characters. My favorites are VII, VIII, and
X. I also like that they have endings. I think people get addicted to
games like World of Warcraft because you can never really “beat” the
game. It just goes on forever.



13. My favorite comic book is Fables. I got thanked in the 11th trade
paperback War & Pieces by the artist Mark Buckingham, and that was
a great honor.



14. While I wouldn’t call my music autobiographical by any means
(except for “Ain’t Got No Beef” which is clearly based on a true
story), many of the pieces are about people, places, or events that
meant something to me. “T. Williams,” “Kamp Keneally,” etc.. However,
sometimes I’ll write about something that was just some funny little
thing that happened or I’ll wind up writing a song for someone that
honestly doesn’t deserve one. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I
don’t really get to choose what I write about; that’s just not the way
my music works.



15. Lately, my favorite song to perform on solo piano has been
“Helenesque,” which is one of the pieces I wrote for Pace University’s
performance of The Trojan Women a couple years ago. It’s a fast 5/8 but
it doesn’t feel jittery and it’s just fun to play. My favorite part is
the middle section.



16. The lady at the fluff n fold makes fun of me when I come in there
with a huge bag of laundry. She’s like, “Why do you always wait so
long? You just have to bring it across the street and drop if off!”
(it’s funnier if you say it in a thick Jersey accent).



17. "The Universe Will Provide"



18. I enjoy making salads with ingredients that you wouldn't normally find in a salad. Like apples & pears.



19. My favorite place to hang out in LA was most definitely Largo. It's
just the greatest place ever for music! On the other hand, The Hotel
Cafe is wayyy overrated.



20. I don’t like dominant 7th chords. They just sound so hokey and
wrong to me, but they can be used tastefully for some things, and I
have used them on occasion, usually if I'm in mixolydian.



21. I love to hate walking up Woodlawn Ave. but when I finally get to
the top I feel like I earned the right to learn a little extra at
school.



22. One of the best things about being home is that I can have taylor ham sandwiches whenever I want!



23. There were two things that happened at Thanksgiving that make me
laugh every time: 1. Lou and I walked over to Mrs. Verderese’s house
and he showed up with his glass of wine already in hand. 2. Karen
Verderese’s demonstration of what “rofl” means.



24. The best afterparty I went to was Sonic Youth's after their Daydream Nation show in 2007 @ El Cid.



25. The best CD release party I went to was Katy Perry's CD release party @ Capitol Records.



Well, that's 25. Have to stop now! Hope you enjoyed it!

Chris Opperman

Well, it's here, my favorite holiday of the year: Thanksgiving!!!

Obviously, I have a ton to be thankful for this year, even if The Lionheart still isn't freaking finished yet (*sigh*).  First and foremost, I'm thankful for my mom who helped me so, so much with the move and with school and all of that stuff.  So thanks, Mom.

I'm also thankful that I was welcomed back home with open arms by all of my friends even though I was gone for such a long, long time.  Especially Lou Lagonik (my cross-country partner-in-crime), Kelvin Ortega, and John Von Achen who I consider my brothers and Joe Verderese who is a musical brother to me.

I'm thankful that I was able to keep my job in the music industry part-time working remotely from NJ, which has obviously been a huge help to me as I transition from that into whatever I turn into next. 

I'm thankful for everyone that hosted Lou & I as we traveled cross-country.  Obviously we still haven't done our road blog, but we're hoping to get some good work on it done this weekend!

I'm thankful for the opportunities that Mike Keneally and Steve Vai opened up for me in music.  I have gotten to do a lot of amazing things that wouldn't have been possible without their help and guidance.

I'm thankful for my teachers at Montclair State University, especially Dr. Laura Dolp whose Modern Music History class has been nothing short of extraordinary and who turned me on to Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann (preferred translation by John E. Woods), which is the greatest musical novel I have ever read.  It is, in fact, so much more than just a novel and I will have to blog about it (and some highlights from her class) later.

I'm thankful for my other friends from the Los Angeles area, whom I do miss and I especially miss Thursday nights @ Largo.  I'm also thankful for all my other friends around the world (especially my Dutch friends & Hiroshi Ota in Japan!).  :)

I'm thankful for all the wonderful musicians and engineers who worked on my music, on both coasts!  Sure it's my name on the cover (except that there won't be any words on the cover besides the engraving on the sword!), but it's those guys and gals who brought the little black dots to life.  Special props of course are due Neil Citron who has been my right-hand man ever since we started working on The Lionheart and whose mix for "The Porpentine" you aren't even going to believe.

I'm thankful to Mark Buckingham (and colorist D'Isreali) who not only did a smashing job on my album artwork, but he also thanked me in the credits page of the latest trade paperback of Fables for the encouragement I gave him when he was working on Fables 71, which was really exciting.  I would have gotten it the day before my birthday except that I don't normally pick up the trades since I read the individual issues so he told me there was a little surprise just for me in it and it turned out to be a big surprise!  ^_^.  Seriously, he's the best.  All that talent and he's very nice to boot!  Thanks also to Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, and Tony Akins who all do fantastic work on the best comic books currently on the market.  Those comic books are just so much fun and they've been making my Wednesday afternoons something to celebrate for almost 3 years now.

I'm thankful to Kurt Hoff who married my sister this summer and who is a delightful individual that I look forward to getting to know better in the years to come.

And I'm thankful to you, especially those of you who have been listening to my music for 10 years.  Pretty cool and next year will be even better!

So yeah, I love Thanksgiving because I think it's important to reflect on the good thing in one's life and to appreciate all of the other wonderful people in it.

Chris Opperman

Well, it's true: I'm 30 today!  And I'm not going to whine about it or anything because I feel like I earned the right to have a "3" as the first number of my age.

I have a TON to do today so I have to keep this brief, but I will update this soon with photos from the AWESOME show that SPECIAL OPPS EAST put on @ The Clash Bar in Clifton that Lou Lagonik took.  I will also explain why Richard Wagner has replaced Kanye West as the worst artist of all time and many other things both funny and serious.

Speaking of funny, we rang in midnight last night with a stirring rendition of "Hotel California" at The Office in Montclair.  There were enough of us that we were able to belt out all the harmonies.  It was...harmonius!  ^_^

I hope everyone has a great day and never forget that music is the best!

Chris

Greetings!  It's been a little while.  Things have been very busy here between school (I got an A+ on my Music Theory midterm, which should be a surprise to no one!), my day job, trying to get my record finished (the mix for "The Porpentine" is taking a long time), and getting ready for my 30th birthday concert, which is tomorrow night (well, tonight, I suppose!) at The Clash Bar in Clifton, NJ, approx. 6 blocks from the house I grew up in. 

Somehow amongst all of this I even found time to go to Boston to record some piano parts for Beth Jean's new recordings (it was an awesome trip and I even found time to visit Berklee!).

The new band has been working very, very hard and has been giving me every reason to be proud of them.  They're comparable to my Los Angeles band but they started off with the distinct handicap of never having played any of my music before (with the exception of Jordan Shapiro...more on him in a second).  So they had to learn all the most difficult tunes in too short a time. 

My initial thinking, as a bandleader, was that I couldn't go easy on the set list since we're playing for a hometown crowd, so the set list is sandwiched between "The 22nd Overture" and the full version of "The Porpentine."  The rest of the setlist is pretty merciless as well, especially for a band of newbs.

However, I figured the audience would be pretty forgiving, so if we could just, you know, get through the tunes, that would be acceptable.  Well, it became quickly apparent that anything short of absolute perfection would be unacceptable to this group of musicians.  So for the first time in the 10 years that I've been running my own ensembles, the band actually asked me if they could have additional rehearsal time with me...and lots of it! 

Over the last few weeks, I've gotten together with almost everyone in the band for one on one rehearsals to fine-tune sections.  I've been on the phone going over individual notes, they've compared live recording versions of the songs to their studio counterparts, and they've totally done their homework.  We are going to kick some ass tomorrow night!

Now, do I think my Los Angeles band would have approached the material with the same level of dedication and intensity if they were forced to learn the entire show in mere weeks instead of over the course of time?  Yes, I do.  I don't think they'd have been willing to do 10am rehearsals like we've been doing, though!  ^_^

So who is the East Coast version of SPECIAL OPPS?  I'm glad you asked that question!

Chris Opperman (piano)
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro (keyboards, mandolin)
Eric Seiz (electric guitar)
Mike Bomwell (soprano/alto/tenor/baritone saxophones)
Jesse Krakow (electric bass)
Jordan Young (drums)

For "The Porpentine" we will be accompanied by several alumni from the CHS Mustang Band including:

Ben Brody (french horn)
Joe Verderese (trombone)
Julie Passaro (trombone)
Wes Krygsman (tuba)

One thing I have to mention is that Wes has great tone on the tuba.  Some of the notes he played when we got together to rehearse the brass section just made me go "ooooh" because they were so good.  They're making me want to put my own small orchestra together.

I'm not sure how we're going to fit a 10-piece band on the stage at The Clash Bar, but we'll figure something out...we always do!  ^_^

Well, I ought to head back to sleep since tomorrow is a big day, but I just wanted to make sure I checked in with everybody.  And how are all of you doing?

Music is the best!

Chris Opperman

P.S. KanYe West is no Bob Dylan, that's for damn sure.

Well, Mark Buckingham and colorist D'Israeli have finished the cover for The Lionheart.  Viola!

Thanks to Beth Jean for resizing the image for me so I could share it with you.  What do you think?

Chris

From Mark Buckingham to everyone:

In the interest of not unfairly blaming Mark for all the album delays, I have to accept responsibility and say that the delays are ultimately my fault and my problem.  I knew when I asked Mark to do the artwork that his work for Fables would come first (and rightly so) and, well, Fables came first. ^_^

So, without further ado, here are the final inks for the cover of The Lionheart by Mark Buckingham which D'Israeli is going to begin coloring tomorrow.  Excitement!

Thanks to Cindy McShane for resizing these images for me.

Here is a close-up of the final shield design, which I think will become my family crest one day when I [hopefully] have a family of my own.

Final inked version of the cover (which will wrap around to the back of the booklet), excluding the shields because Mark was still tweaking the design of the shield.

Close-up of the final inked version with the shields added in place.

Won't be long now!!!

Christopher

Greetings from Clifton!  I spent the last weekend with my mother and my sister fixing up my new bachelor pad which honestly is starting to look amazing.  My great friend Kelvin Ortega came to help us assemble furniture and we had probably the maximum amount of fun you could have doing all of this stuff. 

I helped by mostly a. staying the holy heck out of everyone's way as much as possible, b. giving Kelvin whatever screwdrivers/hammers/etc. that he needed, and c. ordering copious amounts of Chinese food.  Anyway, I'm pretty stoked with how it's turning out.  Everything is moving right along.

Then, as if all of that wasn't awesome enough, I checked my e-mail and rec'd the following from Mark Buckingham:

[pencil sketch of "The Lionheart" cover removed because it was too wide ^_^]

Honestly, I'm speechless.  Here is the description from his e-mail (although the funniest part of his e-mail was "Do you like it?" like I could do anything but sit and stare at my screen in wide-eyed open-jawed astonishment:

Hopefully I've instigated all the Cover changes you asked for... Music notes from sword ... Zeus creating the storm ...and more of a musical motif to the Horse Armor ( I used your piano keys suggestion ).
I started changing the shield to your sketch idea when I suddenly came up with a way to combine your idea with the Heart image you sent me. [Ed. Note: That Becki Gallagher sent me.]
Do you like it?
I'm planning to draw up a larger version as a separate image you can use else where in the booklet... or on the CD.

I've made a few changes of my own... The horse is more realistic... the armor is now based on a genuine medieval French design... and I  have added more realistic folliage and added extra leaves blowing about to add to the stormy feel.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, Bucky, I think you're a genius. ^_^  What do YOU guys think?

And on that note, I'd like to say good night to all and to all a good night.

Chris Opperman

P.S. I got another e-mail from my other great friend Lou Lagonik who brought up an interesting point:

Wow.. incredible.. :) I'd say it was worth the wait!

you look totally badass in his drawings.. It's cool how various cultures are covered in the drawing (greek->zeus, japanese->your samurai sword, medival europe->the armor and stuff).

Also was the upside down treble cleff in the large shield intentional?  Were you trying to make a heart? oh duh.. ok I get it lol.. there's a lion and there's a heart.. neat..

Gathering up his mittens and a venemous porridge unidentifiable by taxidermists anywhere, Mr. De Groot floats via umbrella through the forest (which he views as a plagueland) and proceeds to leave the porridge in strategic hearths so they may be stumbled upon by young children and rabbits. Upon partaking of the lumpy elixir the creatures obtain a random array of superpowers, useless as they are.

For instance, Jimmy Trim now drains pebbles through his eyesockets instead of tears, Veronica Rogers now understands the language of the teddy bears who are mostly insecure and desperate, pleading, "pleasedon'tleaveme. pleasedon'tleavemetodieinadumpsterwithmyfurallmattedandgrayandmystuffingstickingout,", and one lucky rabbit found that his pheremones have increased his attractiveness to women, except that it also increased his attractiveness to predators and he shortly became a satisfying snack for a python.

Mr. De Groot's activities did not go unnoticed by the police. However, since there is currently no law against wearing mittens and dropping porridge, they are powerless to do anything about it. Although they did utilize Jimmy Trim's power to make the other bowls of porridge too lumpy to consume. More news at 11.

Chris Opperman

Periwinkle Video <-- Click here to see the video.

So we take a break from out catch-up blog posts to bring you this tale of two improvs!  Way back on June 8th, I went into my friend Steve Leavitt's studio, Thud Studios, to work on some solo piano pieces for a demo, to try out his new program Ivory, and to record a couple songs including a vocal version of "Reminisce (When I Was a Baby Universe)" with Aria Curzon & Damone Williams singing as well as "I Choose Love" which was originally going to be my contribution to the Gasoline Hand project but will now be used for something else.

So I show up at the studio and Steve is working on getting Ivory up and running.  Do you want to know how great of a friend Steve is?  I was paying him x for the studio and Ivory cost much more than x but Steve bought it anyway because he was so excited about the quality of their piano samples and couldn't wait to hear me play them. 

So he's working on getting that going and I'm practicing the organ since we're going to use it on the Gasoline Hand session and since I don't play the organ with nearly as much grace as I play the piano (they're two similar, but much different, instruments).  I also played Steve "I Choose Love" for the first time and he was really moved by it.  Good, good. 

Aria & Damone show up and I start practicing their song with them, Ivory is up and running, Aria & Damone go to the bathroom, and then this is what happened next. 

I don't really remember Steve hitting record although I obviously figured out he was recording when he got the video camera out (Great job, Steve!). 

Whenever I sit down at a piano (or the trumpet since I've been practicing that again) to play or compose, my primary goal is always the same.  I am always aiming for transcendence.  Sometimes I am simply trying to transcend my own limitations as a musician and improve my overall technique/ability.  Other times I am trying to transcend technique altogether and take my music to a higher metaphysical plane, a place where my heart, my mind, and my fingers work together as one to attempt to express things that are unexpressable through language. 

Try as you might, this isn't something that can be turned on or off like your television (turn it off! turn it off!).  Like any moment in your life, it is something that is created both by the universe and by the product of your diligent practice and your life experience up to that point in time.  It's partially created by the universe because in order for it to work you have to let yourself go and trust that it will happen. 

Not that I was thinking about all of these things while I was playing.  While I was playing, I was only focused on shaping the piece into existence, although it could be argued that the piece willed itself into existence.  Does that mean that I'm still the composer of the piece?  Of course, as it was a combination of karma and practice put into action.

However, there were two strange things that happened.  The first one was that I played a wrong note towards the end, which caused me to wrap the improv up because I was afraid that I was running out of magic.  How can one play a wrong note in an improvisation?  My mind was working so quickly that I was composing the next part while playing the previous part, so I was actually it like it was something that I had already composed. 

The second was that there was some kind-of issue with the sample rate so when Steve played it back for me later, it played back at double-speed.  However, it sounded so totally cool that we decided to keep it.  It also struck up a funny conversation because Steve insisted that I had actually played it at that tempo.

I said, "Steve, I couldn't play something like that on the piano unless I wrote it first and then spent several weeks practicing and perfecting it."

Steve said, "I don't believe you."

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.  The slower, original version is called "Periwinkle" and the faster version (which you can hear on my MySpace player) is called "Jettiwinkle."  Let me know what you think!

Also, Steve, if you want to chime in here, by all means, go ahead. ^_^

Chris Opperman

P.S. The reason for the long black screen in the beginning of the video is because Steve wanted to get the whole improv in the video not just the portion that was actually videotaped.

P.S.2. The part of the video where I'm placing my hands on the keys but not actually playing anything is me thinking about the 1,000 different directions I could take the improv before I actually choose one.  I'm thinking "chord, no, chord, no, chord, no, chord, no, chord, no, chord, OK!"

 

So literally two days before I moved away from Los Angeles, we were at Universal Music Publishing Group finishing up "The Porpentine." 

For those of you keeping score at home, here is a list of all the instruments on "The Porpentine" that are now 100% real:

grand piano / drums / electric bass / electric guitars (several) / flutes (2) / oboe / clarinet / alto saxophone / tenor saxophone / baritone saxophone / french horn / trumpets (4) / trombones (6) / tuba / cello

Here are the instruments that Steve Leavitt Gigasampled:

pitched percussion (marimba, vibraphone, woodblocks, chimes, etc.) / timpani / some strings

I'm really proud.  I haven't heard Neil's final mix yet, but when Mike Fennel played it back for me (LOUD!) on UMPG's speaker system, it was a nice moment in my life.  I'll put it that way.

Mike Fennel @ UMPG Studios, Los Angeles, CA

So I showed up at UMPG with the hard drive and Mike started importing the data into Nuendo.  It was taking a long time and he asked me, "Is this a bunch of songs all on the same track?"

And I said, "No, it's just one song."

And he said, "Wait. We have the studio booked the ENTIRE DAY to just work on one REALLY LONG song?"

And I said, "Uh huh," and he said, "Well, that's the Oppy I've come to know and love!"

It was really sweet.

So first up was Jen Kuhn, who had a plane to catch that afternoon.  We got her in and rockin' in 6.39 seconds. 

Jen Kuhn @ Universal Music Publishing Group, W. Los Angeles, CA

Jen Kuhn tracking "The Porpentine."

Jen Kuhn & I after she finished tracking her parts. She's awesome.

When Jen was finished, I started cutting the piano parts while we waited for the others to arrive!  Next up was Michael Musick on tuba.  The tuba session was sponsored by Lou Lagonik (thanks, bro!).

Michael Musick tracking "The Porpentine" 6/19/08

Michael Musick gets it way down low!

After he was finished, the French Horn player arrived.  She declined to have her picture taken and she doesn't want credit on the album because of issues with the Musician's Union in Los Angeles.  I hope that she'll relent because I do believe in giving credit where it's due and because she did a very nice job, as did everyone who played that day, but I will obviously respect her wishes.  Here is a picture of her French horn, which she let me take:

French horn. In the background, you can see the Yamaha grand piano I used to cut the piano parts on (I forgot to take a picture of myself by the piano...oops!).

Last, but certainly not least, was Dustin McKinney on trumpet, who is a complete maniac.  Now, "The Porpentine" is NOT an easy piece of music by ANY means.  The trumpet parts were difficult enough that I didn't just take out my horn and play them myself, for example. 

I e-mailed Dustin the charts the day before the session and he shows up with two different trumpets, ready to go.  Now, EVERYONE did a great job and everyone got their parts finished at an acceptable pace (which would probably be manic to innocent bystanders), but this guy was like Super Mario going through the Warp Zone.  It was insane.  Fen & I could barely stop laughing the whole time Dustin was in the hot seat. 

He cut all four parts with ridiculous "ownage" in about 40 minutes.  For my part, all I did was say, "Okay, trumpet 2. Go," "Okay, trumpet 3. Go," and it was amazing.  When it was over, Fen got on the mic and said, "I'm guessing you DIDN'T charge Oppy by the hour...." 

As he was walking out, with nary a drop of sweat on his forehead, I said something about how I should have written him some harder shit and he just kind-of laughed and smiled and said, "No, no, that certainly was hard enough!"  It was really fun.  Kudos to him (and to everyone who played!).

Dustin McKinney owning it @ Universal Music Publishing Group.

Dustin McKinney

Shaking hands with Dustin McKinney

Since Dustin finished his parts so quickly, it bought me an extra hour to really work on the piano part for "The Porpentine."  Originally, I had cut the solo piano movement, "Morpheus Unmakes the Land," without a click, but I retracked it with a click and fixed a couple other parts.

There was one funny moment where I totally owned this really hard lick that shows up in the 9th movement, "Waiting for the Moon to Rise," where I play sextuplets in absolute precision with the drummer.  I nailed it on the first take and was so excited that I threw my fist in the air and yelled "WOOOO!" which obviously messed up the recording and I had to take it over.  Ha ha.

Anyway, once it was all finished I was very proud and very happy and I can't wait until it's out so that it can be played in CD players around the world.  Very cool!

And that's enough blogging for today!  Hope everyone is doing well. ^_^.  Music is the best!

Chris Opperman