Video of the Week: Short Ride in a Fast Machine

This week, I'll feature another minimalism piece: "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" by the living composer John Adams.

As always, Adams injects intense energy into his music, providing a unique sound that is both minimalistic and very accessible to the popular audience.

Enjoy!



As a bonus, after you've watched the above video, you may recognize Adams' influence in Don Davis' scoring of the movie The Matrix.  Listen for the similarities ...

Video of the Week: Ring Out Happy Bells

This week, I present a fun video to get the New Year started.  We Mormons have a New Years related hymn: 215, Ring Out Wild Bells.  It's about ringing out the old and bringing in the new.  The words are from the poem by the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

This hymn is one of 3 or 4 hymns in the current Mormon hymnal that are minor.  But I thought I'd do some differently.  I change this to a major key to turn it into Happy Bells.  It turns out to be annoyingly happy.

So, there you have it.  Happy New Year!

Video of the Week: Christmas Card

Here's another one of my Christmas creations on YouTube ... from six years ago.  I arranged and performed the piano music.  Enjoy!

Video of the Week: My Son's Christmas Solo

This week, I'll feature my son, who just gave his first solo performance at his high school.  This is the third movement of "Christmas Concerto" by Robert W. Smith.

Enjoy!

Video of the Week: We Three Kings

This upcoming month, I'll be presenting Christmas-themed videos.

This week, I'll show off my first attempt at dubbing my own voice several times.  It turned out okay.  I hope you enjoy this arrangement.

Video of the Week: Precious Little One - Merritt

This week, I'd like to feature a composition by one of my friends, Mark Daniel Merritt, a rising conductor and composer.  We sang this composition, "Precious Little One" three years ago in Mount Airy, NC.

I find this melody to be hauntingly beautiful, and I hope you will enjoy it also.

Video of the Week: Interstellar Main Theme

After an exam-induced break from blogging, I'm back!

I'll start up the videos of the week with some haunting music from the new Nolan movie, Interstellar.  This is the main theme, which reminds me of something out of Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi.

The movie has great music by the composer Hans Zimmer.  I highly recommend seeing the movie to see the sights and listen to the music.  Though, prepare for the music to be louder than the dialogue in several places.