“I closed my eyes and I slipped away”

In September 1976 the world was introduced to this classic song by Boston from the B side of their self titled album. Named one of the best hard rock song of all time, this piece is known for its heavy guitar riffs, powerful drums, soft lyrics, and awesome guitar solo.

Perfect for an rock orchestra to cover.

But this piece is also about something within itself – music. The lyrics talk about how a song can change you, make you slip away, and create something that’s more than just a feeling. Which gets me thinking about how amazing that something intangible like music, can completely effect another intangible – our emotions.

Music moves us, it makes us laugh, cry, and can’t be seen or touched. It’s subjective, not objective, and it’s all around us.

Perhaps that’s why I love this piece so much, because behind the wall of sound is an emotion that’s being triggered by what I’m hearing. Behind the wall of sound are fantastic, honest, and soft spoken lyrics.

I’ve arranged pieces about politics, hope, religion, death, and love. But the umbrella that tackles that all is music. And this piece is what that’s about. I hope you enjoy it, and that it moves you in the way it has moved me for years.

“You gotta, You gotta, You gotta”

This piece means a lot to me, because to this day whenever I hear it I think of my childhood with my hometown friend. It feels like yesterday, I remember hanging at his house, and how these girls always came over and constantly sang this song or danced to it. I couldn’t escape it! It was in all the malls, tv shows, radio, and now sung to us or played on the home stereo.

I love the idea of how powerful a memory can be – whether a song, a scent, or a physical item. The idea that something so simple can anchor feelings, emotions, and entire phases of your life simply by remembering the role it played in your past is amazing.

So I’ve been working on this piece for months, having constantly being frustrated with the unpitched vocals in the song, similar to when I arranged Rage Against The Machine. Unsung lyrics to a pitched instrument (like violin in this case) is incredibly difficult to transcribe. But after time, walking away from it or re-listening to it, I was finally able to come up with a final version I was thrilled with.

So this is a throwback song, a piece that makes me think about my childhood, the power of a memory, and a well written piece of music. It brings me back to the day when things were simple, I was skateboarding, bmx biking, trying to build a wooden life-size car, jumping on trampolines, and hanging with my hometown friends.

I hope this arrangement brings you back too, or at the very least that it makes you think of other songs that anchor positive memories and emotions in your own life.

“Fun Fun Fun Fun”

Regardless of what people say about this track, I actually love it, and so its the one I wanted to arrange this week.

It’s on par with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Why? Well, I constantly say that music isn’t about eighth notes and harmonic minor scales. It’s purpose is to create emotion. It doesn’t matter what that emotion is – it could be happy, sad, fear, uncertainty, anger, calmness, or in this case – hilariousness.

To me, it’s a successful piece of music because it got people talking, it got people emotional. Even Simon Cowell would agree. Released on February 11, 2011 by Ark Music Factory, the song sat dormant for a month until The Daily What and then Tosh.O wrote up about it on March 14, 2011, and gave it life upon the internet.

The piece is incredibly happy in it’s emotion, and I wanted to capture that with the violins, so I had them play triumphantly in the beginning and in the ending. The most difficult to arrange was the rap by Pato Patrice Wilson. I had this same problem with my Rage Against The Machine piece because unpitched vocals commonly seen in rap is incredibly difficult to arrange for pitched instruments, but I’m thrilled with how the rap was performed by the xylophone.

I love the honestly of this piece, and really wanted to transcend the feeling of “fun fun fun fun”. For all the people who are hating on Rebecca, I say learn to love them, and besides, lovers whisper

This is like the college band version of PS22‘s chorus, which recently sung at the Grammy’s! So exciting!

“The microphone explodes, shattering the molds”

When met with a challenge, I usually accept it head on. Bulls on Parade was no different, and I’m thrilled with the result.

This piece was released in 1996 by Rage Against the Machine (RATM), a Los Angeles band, and part of their 2nd studio album “Evil Empire”

RATM even beat out America Idol for the UK’s Christmas Song. This shows two things – the power of the internet community, and the lasting effects of RATM.

This piece was very difficult to arrange for orchestra – perhaps the most difficult one I’ve done. The reason for this is because of Zack De La Rocha’s rapping. When a vocalist raps, then it’s difficult to determine the exact pitch and translate it to orchestra. Another problem I was up against was the power chords that were used throughout the piece. Generally, power chords don’t always translate easily for orchestra, but I tended to do well with this, while still adding some harmonies.

‘Bulls on Parade’ is one of my favorite songs ever, by a band that heavily influenced my music. This piece is aggressive, and I wanted to capture that emotion, so I added the snare drum to give it the ‘military’ feel. The lyrics are powerful, so I made sure to have the instruments scream the words, while still maintaining the beauty and structure of the orchestra. In addition, I added lots of brass – trumpets, horns, and gave the famous Tom Morello guitar solo to the xylophone.

“He’s the only one they call Feelgood”

I’ve been getting requests to do more rock. Everything from Pantera, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and even Muse. Well, let’s take it back decade or two – enter ‘Dr. Feelgood’. One of the defining songs in the Motley Crue catalog that dropped in September 1989. It has attitude, awesome lyrics, and a killer drum groove and guitar line. So what did I do? Transfer that attitude to the orchestra.

This arrangement comes out a day before Motley Crue’s Greatest Hits CD. It’ll be available here, include all the favorite tracks from their catalog, plus a remix of “The Animal In Me”. I love ‘Dr. Feelgood’. I love the drums, vocals, lyrics, recording, album art, and even the bass line. When all these things come together it makes the orchestration effortless. Granted, the hours are still insane, but the creativity flows. I learned this years ago – its like everything in life, that when you’re ‘into’ it, then the effect is exponentially a better result. Practices are more enjoyable, performing and recording is effortless, and even the days flow by better. That’s why you have to not only love your community, and job, but everything surrounding them. It’s about the big picture – a song, much like life, is only as complete as its weakest link.

Dr. Feelgood is about addiction. Its a look at people who fight those inner demons, and their situation and desire for them. I wanted to pick up the tempo a little for this arrangement. As a result, the flutes and violins play the same lines, but are forced to play fast, punctuating parts to compensate for the tempo. Driving it home are the drums, which lay down the work for the horn and trumpet section to fill in the verses.

As I started doing in a few pieces ago – I continued to use the Xylaphone for the guitar solo. Since the instrument can’t hold out notes, then I had the performer play as tremolo to create the sustain you hear after the 2nd chorus. Also, I always try to change the 2nd or 3rd choruses, because I want each section to sound fresh to the listener.