A spin off from an afternoon contemplating how many people get the basic premise of evolution wrong. I often hear descriptions as if the organism intends to branch off or enhance a trait or feature. Anyway, I wondered what was the first emotion and how quickly did the others develop. While I am at it, in what order? Did humans and other primates have dreams before experiencing emotions?
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Posted: August 1, 2023 in Poetry
Tags: #alesisadat, #audio, #guitar, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #recording, #songwriter, #sound, #vocalist
What’s the story behind your nickname?
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Posted: July 28, 2023 in My Tunes
Tags: dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2010
What would you change about modern society?
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Posted: July 25, 2023 in My Tunes
Tags: dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2007
At times I think I am a bit OCD, but it is probably just an organizational fixation I have developed. Mostly because I walk throughout the house without lights on all the time. If something is out of place I can find myself stumbling to the floor. Mistakes are made, wonders go unobserved, people search for the wrong thing. It’s easy to do.
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Posted: July 25, 2023 in Poetry
Tags: #audio, #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midicontroller, #mididrums, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrytolyrics, #Presonus, #recording, #songwriter, #sound
I wrote lyrics for Take Away One based on the idea of removing a particular note from a 4-note-chord. This leaves you with a specific 3-note-chord. Hence the name of the song and also the foundation for the original poem. I had to add a verse to the poem converting them to lyrics because for a few weeks one band member or the other could’t make a scheduled music jam. Often three members would drop out one by one leaving me as the only bandmate that made it for the jam! Sometimes we travel and jam in person, but more often we use a program for on-line musicians and connect from our homes. That is how we survived the Covid-19 lock-down.
You will notice the difference right away. This is another example of a song that came together really fast because it was based on a mathematical theme or idea. The chord pairs were based on the idea above, but the progression was completely random. The arrangement was pretty basic so it wrote itself. Once I had the title it was easy to think of examples in life where things get taken away. You’re probably doing it right now.
If you get writers block, try starting from a different point. I’ve never had writers block in my 50 years of writing and recording songs, so maybe I’m on to something.
I had fun with the ending and the arrangement has a few twists as usual. Enjoy Take Away One.
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Posted: July 21, 2023 in #poetry, MUSIC, Music Theory, My Tunes
Tags: #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #math, #mathematics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music theory, #musician, #musicismath, #poetry, #Presonus, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #studioengineer, #studioOne
Which activities make you lose track of time?
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Posted: July 19, 2023 in My Tunes
Tags: dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2001
Every decade or so I think I have written the best song I will ever write. Then I get older and write another. That is how I feel about Enemies in Your Head. It is a simple, powerful, emotional and deeply moving piece for me. I recorded the song with a piano, bass guitar and one vocal track. A capsule of desperation and futility. No end in sight. Often the price is paid, though there is no reward.
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Posted: July 18, 2023 in Poetry
Tags: #audio, #korg, #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midicontroller, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #musician, #personal, #poetry, #Presonus, #recording, #recordingstudio, #singer, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #sound
I posted a poem called “Take Away One” recently. I knew this one was a song in the making so I started working on writing music around the theme. I tell my friends that I ‘feel’ music theory more than I know or understand it. Sometimes I look at the patterns and rhythms, often I get fascinated by melodies that twist within the chords. Often I get distracted by simple mathmetical relationships in music – ’cause that’s what it is.
There are many tonal relationships between chords in any arrangement. For background, two notes played simultaneously is an interval. With three or more individual notes you can form a chord. The more notes within the chord the greater the potential for complex tones. Some combinations sound calm, delightful and inspiring. Other combinations are uncomfortable or have a lot of dissonence. Some are downright ugly by themselves if truth be told.
Not to get too deep here, because I can’t swim in these waters, but the arrangement uses the relationship when you have a 4 note chord (of any root note you prefer). Start with a G Major 7th chord as my example. It consistes of 4 individual notes: G (the root here by definition of the chord name), B, D and F#.
If you Take Away One – the G in this example as root note of the chord – you have a 3 note chord called B Minor. The arrangement consists of alternating between pairs of Major 7th chords and their relative minor 2nd chord. (or is it its 2nd relative minor?). Then I pick another random pair of Major 7th/2nd Minor chords and continue. Hence the name of the song.
I am working on the melody line and recording the vocals but here is the instrumental version of “Take Away One“.
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Posted: July 14, 2023 in Music Theory, My Tunes
Tags: #korgnautilus, #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #Midi, #midimike, #midimike.com, #music, #music theory, #musician, #musicismath, #musictheory, #poetry, #recording, #singersongwriter, #songwriter, #songwriting, #studio, #studioOne
Climate change, criminal behavior, profit seeking leaches.
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Posted: July 11, 2023 in Poetry
Tags: #lyrics, #michaelskennedy, #midimike, #midimike.com, #personal, #poem, #poet, #poetry, #poetrypod, #songwriter
MidiMike 