John Tynan's Daybook

Waltz for Accordion and Glockenspiel #2

John Tynan — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:20:57 +0000

My Accordion and Me (2), originally uploaded by johntynan.

I’ve taken a few moments to record another musical idea for the accordion and glockenspiel. This one is inspired by Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel as well as by a visit from my good friend Todd.

Have a listen using this link or using the player below.

First Waltz with Glockenspiel

John Tynan — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:12:15 +0000

My Accordion and Me, originally uploaded by johntynan.

Today I created my first waltz for Accordion and Glockenspiel. I had the sound in my head all morning, and I’m grateful to Rene for helping me have the time to record it.

Have a listen using this link or the player below:

Writing Music for the Accordion

John Tynan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:53:04 +0000

Lately, I’ve been musing about the possibility of creating particular kind of music for the accordion. Something along the lines of Astor Piazzola, along the lines of Art VanDamme. Today, I was inspired to act on it. Here are the results of this quick, morning recording session. Have a listen!

New Song Fragment: Weaving

John Tynan — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:55:24 +0000

In between watching the roller coaster of the Cardinals game, I had an
idea of this descending chromatic melody and tried to work it into a
song. I call it “Weaving”. Have a listen here.

I’ve submitted this to some musician friends for review. I’ll likely come back to this song and fine tune it further. But I thought I would post it here for posterity’s sake. Enjoy!

Inspired!

John Tynan — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:15:45 +0000

Last night, Rene and I went out to the Rhythm Room to meet up with our friend Howard. He had recommended we check out the band Turn Back, O Man. We totally enjoyed the conviction that the vocalist projected in his singing and the complexity of the lyrics. The backup band meshed real well, with drums, bass, slide guitar and Hammond organ.

This morning, I woke up inspired. Late in the morning, I revved up the studio and started recording some tracks to midi. Rene made a cameo and we played a waltz together and sang a funny song about dachshunds.

Later in the evening, I stepped back into the studio and made another pass at a recording. In particular, I wanted to get a slide guitar into the mix, so I tuned my electric to an open tuning and picked up the slide and started to wail. Here it is:

Superstition Blues

John Tynan — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:01:23 +0000

I recently got together with my friend Howard and we put together this blues. It’s the first real song that I’ve put together using the BR864. I may re-take the accordion part, but as a proof of concept, I’d say it’s pretty good! The lyrics were lifted, real quick, at the last minute from a book on the blues. I’m thinking that they’ve fallen into the public domain.

Have a listen, and let me know what you think.

Thanks Howard, for all your help!

Celebrating with Mom!

John Tynan — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:46:52 +0000

I believe this photo was taken in 2005, right after Rene and I took my parents down to the Paper Heart gallery to show them where we were going to get married. Afterward, we all went out to Rula Bulla‘s on Mill Avenue where we enjoyed several pints of Smithwick’s (‘smith-icks’), my mom’s favorite beer.

Below is a voicemail I’ve saved in my phone for the past year (it was so precious). It’s of my mom singing Happy Anniversary for our second year together. She certainly celebrated all the important things in life. Thank you mom! We love you.

Learning Radio by Negative Example

John Tynan — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:06:10 +0000

This weekend, I learned something about writing for broadcasting. These principles were told to me several times, like most headstrong, fledgling radio reporters, I had to make this mistake on my own. And boy, it was a mistake. I was writing a segment of a podcast for NaNoWriMo and after I had polished the second draft, I send it around for people to listen.

In a quick IM session with Rene, she wondered why I wasn’t telling this story through a narrative. She said I didn’t really have a “story”. And that I only had the pattern: ABC / ABC / ABC / ABC.

I had told her two days prior, that I needed to make my own mistakes, and that’s just what I went ahead and did. I made the mistake of thinking about writing for radio in terms of writing a five paragraph essay. But I couldn’t just take her word for it that that’s what I had done. I remembered Ira Glass’ presentation from several weeks ago at the Scottsdale Center for the arts, wherein, he said explained his theory for writing for broadcasting is about writing anecdotes:

So, to fix this. Rene sat me down and helped me to transform this script for Draft 2. Notice how the highlighted text all are in alternating colors? This is because each color is a different interviewee. Rene then had me realign all the ACTs in the next Draft 3 so that I am only talking about one person at a time. See how the colors are arranged in large blocks? Rene also had me re-recording all my TRXs. And then Rene remixed the audio (while I went to my grandfather’s 99th birthday) and then, when I got home, what came out of this exercise was a completely different story using essentially the same clips. Have a listen.

My First Composed Lead

John Tynan — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:28:34 +0000

While we all love the brilliance of inspired improvisation, there is something to be said for a musical phrase that has been crafted and thought over and written out in the form of actual notes. While it may not be 100% divinely improvised at that moment, the initial inspiration may have made it to the page, and when the notes finally make it to your ears, they’re the ones that the composer has chosen, and they’re the notes that are right.

I recently ponied up the cash for four guitar lessons with this ASU student named Jake. He had me write out on manuscript paper a lead that I had been working on using tab as well as regular music notation.

Then, to record it, I started by loading a General MIDI blues tune by Otis Redding (which contained the drum and bass parts) into the BR-600. I then recorded the rhythm and lead guitar parts.

I’ve been obsessed by the creative process lately, figuring out the optimal approach for many things (like managing podcasts, creating comics, and – in this instance – creating music).

Have a listen to the results:

First Kiss

John Tynan — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:59:15 +0000

Here I am married for two years and I can still remember my Rene and and my first kiss. I was sitting down to write a song, and this is what I happened to write about. It’s a first draft, and one where I am starting to get the idea of popular song form. Have a listen and see what you think!