I’m not writing anymore musical theater posts in this blog, as I set up a brand new blog named “Musical Theater in the Face,” where additional and recurring-from-this-blog (in paraphrased and sectioned form) posts are now included there. Whether you’re a musical theater actor, actress, technical crew member, writer, or just an everyday person who craves it, then this is the blog for you!

The website of the blog is http://mtintheface.blogatize.net, by the way.

I was in school in Florida 8 years ago from today when terrorists attacked the city close to my former hometown of Clifton, NJ – New York City. The hated faces rammed two planes, one in each of the Twin Towers I used to see on the looming skyline  as I rode in my parents’ car on NJ 3, and both structures collapsed. My soon-to-be web pal Howard Goodall, uncle to a few of my Facebook friends, was about to relax in the park when he noticed in person what I only see on the screens, and I was a thousand miles or so apart from what was going on near my childhood hometown and where I was schooled.

A few years later, I heard the church praise band sing some tribute to the victims who reposed on what I appropriately call the attacks of September 11, 2001 the “Mournful Morning.” As I attended Senior Youth Group at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Seffner. A year later, I heard the same tune again, and ascertained that it was When Sudden Terror Tears Apart. I sang along and got so juiced up by the hymn that I went online, typed it up on Google, and found what I was looking for – on the Hope Publishing Company’s site.

The Brad Printz/Carl Daw anthem became the subject of last year’s (on September 26) dream, when I was sleeping over at a cousin’s house. I tuned into Bay News 9 and saw a high school choir singing it as a tribute to the victims, and at the point when the chorus sang the part modulated from the haunting G-minor to the assuaging G-major, my ex-cousin, who noticed me watching the television coverage, and I sang along. We applauded softly as the rest of the household slept, but I found them awake. I excitedly told them what I saw on Bay News 9, and woke up.

So this is my blog post for the night, as it is a tribute to those who died in the attacks some 11 miles from my former New Jersey home.

http://hopepublishing.com/html/main.isx?sub=31&workid=2316

I watched two live shows during my weekend at Fort Lauderdale with Muetti and came back with many memories of it! One was a variety show on the island during our Jungle Queen cruise (It’s a BBQ dinner steamboat cruise – check it out if you have the chance if your vacationing there!), and the music is semi-live there. (It beats all-canned!) The big highlight of the weekend was the luau at Mai-Kai, a Polynesian restaurant near the coast. I for one have been to many luaus – two at that restaurant, two at the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World, and twice during my 5th and 19th birthday parties. While the latter two used canned music (I did not care – they were my parties, so the heck with complaining!), the rest were all live! That leads to another experience that live music invokes – superior audience participation! I did not go onstage, at that luau, but I taped an excerpt of the action!

Ladies and Gentlemen – I bring you some booty shaking – courtesy of a live luau band!!!

ALOHA! (HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!)

Greetings, readers!

I and Muetti just came back from our weekend in Fort Lauderdale – and had a great time there! One of the highlights of the sojourn was the Mass at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, and as I stated in my Musicouch article, “Why I Prefer Pipe to Electric and Digital Organs,” Filipino tradition holds true that we should make three wishes upon attending Mass at an unvisited church. For me, the principal one is for the happy repose of Senator Ted Kennedy (with his funeral and interment occurring a day prior to the day we had that noontime Mass there), and the other two correlate with the newest arts project going on at that time: the EM Skinner Pipe Organ Project.

You see, these two wishes, alongside the other one I allotted for Kennedy’s respite of his soul with all the angels and saints, are closely the same as what I wished for once I set foot inside the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine further north. Having read the pages of the site about the project, that made me wish to return to the church a few months after installation and to find a lucrative job (high-paying, if you’re wondering) to fund the project. So why do I wish to be rich as I enter that new church? As stated in the web page of the reasons why the project is ongoing, it’s one of the most prominent churches in the Archdiocese on Miami and Broward County’s mother church, and Red Masses are held there annually. What’s more, the Protestant churches (Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian) have higher-quality music because thanks to their pipe organs, especially the Ruffatti one at the Coral Ridge church of the latter denomination. So I dug my heels, dressed in my top and jeans, navigated through confusing byways from the resort town of Weston (where Muetti and I stayed), and entered the church for the Mass with a feared-to-be-cruddy digital organ.

The 60-year-old church was spacious, although not as cavernous as St. Larry’s Basilica in Asheville, NC, but bigger than Blessed Sacrament in Harrisonburg, VA. The exterior is a daffodil yellow, gilded with gold and white and green marble, with the latter adorning and structuring the altar and pulpit. Stained glass windows flanked the church, with the rose window on the rear wall. Captivated, I snapped the picture of the altar, and looked over my shoulder to see a man in a blue shirt (he kinda looks like my social networking pal James McConnel from the early 90’s) seating himself on the wood-carved organ console. Mom and I thought about departing from the church, but we stayed for the Mass nevertheless.To find out the liturgical music played at that Mass, here’s my listing with descriptions (It doesn’t matter if you hate it as a Catholic who wants only Palestrina, Gregorian chant, and all the pre-OCP stuff in church – I respect your opinions!):

Prelude by anon
Once seated, the prelude started, with the organ sounds inundating the church. The church’s web site claimed on the whys of the pipe organ project that it was reaching its twilight years, but it sounded too cinematic, almost Bose-like, to be cruddy as I feared. Perhaps the organ was too good to be an Allen – more like a top-shelf Rodgers. After the announcements, the cantor – a brunette Hispanic mezzo with a white top, a rather short and tutu-like gray skirt, and high heels – announced the processional hymn.

Processional Hymn: “All Creatures of Our God And King” by William H. Draper, based on St. Francis’s Canticle of the Sun, tune Laesst Uns Enfreuen from Auss­er­le­se­ne Ca­thol­ische Geist­liche Kirch­en­ge­saeng (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Instead of the written D major, we sang this a whole tone lower, but the feel of the hymn had stabilized even on a short vacation. I tried hard to temper my funny bones because it’s so reminiscent of the Episcopalian Sunday service sketch from the very first episode of Mr. Bean, when the titular character fumbled over the words because his fellow worshiper did not share his hymnal and started singing the “Alleluias” boisterously during those parts!

Kyrie from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker
Ah, the early days of attending Mass at my home parish – before childhood memories abounded with Haugen’s Mass of Creation, now a quarter-of-a-century old!

Gloria by anon (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
I don’t know who penned it, but it sounded excellent!

Responsorial Psalm 15 and Gospel Acclamation by Owen Alstott
No description necessary.

Offertory hymn: “O God, You Search Me” by Bernardette Farrell (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Here comes the Farrell stuff – Catholics who want pre-Haugen/Haas crud beware!

Credo from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Wooh-hooh – I’m beginning to like this Mass setting as much as the aforementioned Mass of Creation (dodges flames)!

Memorial Acclamation B from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
The same principle holds true here!

Doxology from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
I can’t get enough of that music!

Pater Noster from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
This is one of my favorite sung settings of the Lord’s Prayer, next to that from the Mass of Creation.

Agnus Dei from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Compared to other Mass settings, this one is more genteel and flowing, but I give a cautionary to Catholics who don’t want Walker and his ilk in the parishes.

Communion Hymn: “I Received the Living God” by Richard Proulx, with music by Don Clement Jacob (cantor and organ)
I regarded the rendition of the hymn as one of the best, with the digital organ plucking its virtual harp during the verses and the chimes playing at the end! Wow – it takes me back to my childhood days of having Mass at St. Philip the Apostle’s in NJ!

Sending Forth Hymn: “God of Our Fathers” by Daniel C. Roberts, with the tune “National Hymn” by George W. Warren
What a germane way to conclude this Mass – it was a fitting tribute to the late Senator Kennedy indeed! That reflected my principal wish of the three so well!

This is my listing of the music from the Mass I attended once in St. Anthony’s of Fort Lauderdale, and again, I wish to be wealthy to fund the organ project and to return to the church to hear the organ once the consultants implant it in the edifice.

Nintendo 64! Oh my G**! Raaaarrrr!
Nintendo Sixty-FOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRR!!

- Brandon Kuzma

On Christmas Day, 1998, a boy named Brandon Kuzma got his reward for behaving all year from Santa – one which enables him to play his games rented from Blockbuster:

His Nintendo 64!

That’s right – Kuzma was overjoyed when he revealed the video game console and his sister rejoiced with him, thanking Santa for placing it under his tree.  This was first caught on tape, then televised on AFV, and lastly on the Web. The latter drew in a huge response, and it spurred a series of music videos of him rejoicing over the console.

Today even though I’m probably promoting Christmas creep, I will show you guys the famous remix of the video of the Kuzmas’ reactions to the present left by St. Nick! This is the final post before my weekend off at Ft. Lauderdale (Mass liturgical music to follow, if I attend Mass there.) so…

I present to you – the Nintendo 64 Kid Remix!

There are certain parts to certain songs that appeals to me – whether it’s the refrain, bridge, or verse. In the case of a Filipino song, “Paru-Parong Bukid (The Butterfly),” the last few lines are the most appealing. Sung to a fluttery, carinosa beat in three-quarter time, this is one of the most treasured melodies in the Fil-Am niche I’m in. Speaking of which, I was very impressed with it as a child, to the strains of the Mabuhay Singers singing it on my grandparents’ cassete deck, long before the mp3 era, and through imeem, I revisited the song and the memories gush over me again.

So what makes the lyrics of “Paru-Parong Bukid” so appealing. The onomatopoetic word, uy, captivates my ears for the most part of the song, and I for one could imitate the empathetic uy with fervor! As the lyrics go:

May payneta pa siya — uy!
May suklay pa mandin — uy!
Nagwas de-ohetes ang palalabasin

Her hair held with a pin – Oh!
Her hand twirling a comb – Oh!
Decorated half-slip,
drawing others to peep.

The lyrics have it that this is a marvelous carinosa for a maid described as the butterfly to give out butterfly kisses (flirting eyelids) as she graces across the floor. And as the lyrics have it about the maiden:

Haharap sa altar at mananalamin
At saka lalakad na pakendeng-kendeng.

Then she faces the stage,
ogling her own image,
She would come and tease us,
hips swaying like a duck.

If you want to hear the song in its entirety, recorded by the famed Mabuhay Singers, find them on imeem.com!

Translation courtesy of Roberto Verzola

In one of my previous posts, I wrote about the Paul Manz work, Aria, in which I am enchanted thanks to it’s fluidity and melancholic air, and my band arrangement is, well, in the cards right now because the Sibelius 6 (I have the demo.) costs $328-something and I have to either win a sweepstakes or lottery or hope that my blogging career is as lucrative as it can be. I initially turned to Anne McGinty’s transcription of Bach’s Air on the G String, but that did relatively little to influence me. I turned to Alfred Reed’s transcriptions of Bach’s other pieces and found what I’m looking for in my score. I wrote a snippet of the first clarinet part of the work, dusted off my old clarinet from my room, played it as written (It has been four years since I played it!), and praised myself for the test drive.

Again, the piece is intended to be college-level, just like the works of Mr. Reed, so I confirmed the instrumentation of the work:

Flutes 1, 2
Oboes 1, 2
English horn (Again, I will be using it to introduce the first bars of the melody in the first A section to give it a melancholy feel)
E-flat clarinet
B-Flat clarinets 1, 2, 3
Alto clarinet
Bass clarinet
Contrabass clarinet
Bassoons 1, 2
Contrabassoon
Alto saxophones 1, 2
Tenor saxophone
Baritone saxophone
Horns 1, 2, 3, 4
B-flat trumpets 1, 2, 3
B-flat cornets 1, 2
Tenor trombones 1, 2, 3
Bass trombone
Baritone (Bass clef)
Tuba
String Bass

Again, I will be constructing the transcription when I’m a bit more richer.

Back to school in Tampa already? It sure is – and that’s why I’m doing a special edition of this blog entry! School music is a very controversial subject in the education field these days, and quality of instruments is one of the matters.

Mattel, famous for Barbie, conceived something unusual and interesting for little girls who love music – a violin! Yes, it’’s a real, half-size violin, painted pink and lavender to suit the needs of a princess, and it used to sell at big box stores (now it’s rare). I found this vid from YouTube of a teen demonstrating it and although it has the makings of an instrument-shaped object (ISO), which music educators, private lesson instructors, and clinicians loath, it guarantees itself to brighten up my days! Just don’t bring the Barbie violin to your third period orchestra class – your director would chastise you!

Anyways, enjoy the video!

I hate to admit that I’m a huge sucker for musical theater, and I have several friends on Facebook who write for it!

Speaking of which, I came across a blog on the art form and found Musical Theatre Musings, a Blogspot blog by a University of Sheffield graduate. I found it very interesting, and I would like to share the blog with you! If you are a fanatic of the art form, check out the site and see for yourself!

In the past post, I discussed people breaking out into song and dance in places outside the theater – from the general hospital to even Disneyland. In New York, where I saw a genuine Broadway show (Beauty and the Beast, to be exact), there’s a recent epidemic not pertaining to the swine flu pandemic of the here and now – there’s a spontaneous musical popping up at the mall or at a Walmart!

This theatrical group, which specializes in guerrilla musical theater, is called “Break Out In Song,” and the numbers the amateurs perform (or are they?) are no rip-offs of Improv Everywhere’s Food Court Musical! Those hits are pure Broadway gems: “Consider Yourself” from Oliver on Times Square, “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl at South Street Seaport, the theme from Anything Goes on the Intrepid, and “If My Friends Could See Me Now” from Sweet Charity at the Time Warner Center! If I were to go back to my birthplace of Paterson, life would most definitely be a musical, but not now, since I’m in college. There’s no flashy costuming, no leotardlike attire, and no glitzy zoot suits – just ordinary clothes and some fantastic talent and choreography to make viral marketing great!

Let me reiterate that I’m writing a spontaneous musical myself, not only because of the videos, because I have seen a barrage of shows at various theme parks like Walt Disney World, a Broadway musical, and the Radio City Spectacular (just to name a few), have a plethora of friends on Facebook (I became a fan of the guerrilla  musical theater group’s page.) who write for the theater, including a few very famous ones, and have acted in a few school musicals myself! The musical will be about people misunderstanding the puzzle of autism, and the plot of the number would be centered around a typical autism meltdown/tantrum, with the people wanting the mother to spank him. As soon as I obtain the $328-ish Sibelius, this musical of mine would take shape. Right now, I’m working on the libretto and lyrics.

If you want to see the spontaneous musical numbers, please, please visit www.breakoutinsong.com and tell me what you think!!

Here’s another clarinet shaped object (CSO) – and it’s from the former blog of Music Thing: a lime green clarinet from eBay! Good thing it went unsold at nearly 5 pounds!

I hate to admit that as little girl growing up in my native New Jersey, I was a Barney fan. Of course, there are legions of those who abhor that big dinosaur, who claim that his shows on PBS, DVDs, and videos are insipid and sappy. With his fellow saurians Baby Bop and siblings Riff and BJ on hand, those types of Barney-bashing people want to assassinate him. The video from FailBlog.org, which brought us Adam’s size XXL pants, makes most of them chalk up one reason to hate him, a boy named Shawn mimes brushing his teeth and dancing, all the while using a rather obscene gesture, set to the song, “Brushing My Teeth.”

In honor of all the Barney haters, I give you – “Pantomime Fail!”

Next Friday would have been the late, great Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday, and as a present, undertakers at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California, where many celebrities return to dust, expect to inter him there, at the Holly Terrace at the Great Mausoleum, according to Sunshine, Sachs & Associates. The interment would take place at 10 AM PT and will be attended by only his family (including siblings Jermaine and Janet) and close friends. I’m cool with the location where MJ would be laid to rest, because Neverland is too much of a controversy as a final resting place. The Jacksons “once again wishes to express its gratitude to Michael’s fans around the world for their support during these difficult times,” according to a statement. I bet one of his millions of  fans is my mother, who had attended a concert in her native Philippines in the 70’s, thus getting to know him.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in Brooklyn, Spike Lee plans to hold a huge celebration of his life in town to coincide with this fitting burial.

I will be in Fort Lauderdale for a vacation at the day of the burial, so I wish him happy birthday and pray for his happy birthday repose.

Update: Due to the LAUSD’s back to school date on 8/31, the burial is postponed until 9/3, TMZ reported.

During fifth grade, many girls my age clamor for role models, usually the likes of females in immodest, Spartanic clothing like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. I was not like a lot of my classmates, who fitted the descriptions conformingly, but that didn’t matter to me because I was a full-out musicophile as an autistic. Instead of those overrated teenage reality shows of my day (at a Riverview elementary school), my media comfort food lay in the hands of Bet on Jazz (now BetJ) and Ovation TV (then the channel with an Ionic column as part of its television logo). In the latter, I came across a documentary on the organ, and that not only flooded my memories of hearing a real one when I attended Mass in New Jersey before moving to my current residence near Plant City, but it gave me a new role model that sets it apart from what preteens admire – Howard Goodall.

Even at the age of 11, when I first got to know him, I had no recollections of my peers urging me to “get with the times” and switch role models, but his looks, modesty, and British accent made me stuck to him from that day forward. I started out watching a bit of the first episode of Howard Goodall’s Organ Works (the first documentary I watched), then, after a series of channel surfings on my Time Warner Cable (now Bright House), I became more fascinated with Goodall’s documentaries. My favorite one is Howard Goodall’s Choir Works, because I love choirs and singing (not to mention his ripe looks on the small screen)! I’m also fond of Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs (a joy to watch indeed) and along with Kultur’s rerelease of all five episodes, I would have the chance to buy the accompanying book Besides his impeccable documentaries (as well as his appearances on Mr. Bean, as organist in my favorite sketch of the sitcom when the title protagonist attends a church service), I love his singing, sometimes rustic, and sometimes mellow.

The more I got fascinated with Goodall, the more bored the people I talked to (about classical music) became, because he influenced my verbal stim (even though its burdensome, it’s a good sign). I mentioned in an email to him and on my WebUpon composition, “The Main Why of Blogging,” that my conversation with my uncle (via phone) in sixth grade about George Fredrich Handel annoyed my parents that they had a pep talk about it. I blame my autism for that incident (I joke about it now and then, by the way!), but it made me pick out a more sensible role model like Goodall.

I read more and more on Goodall on the Web and found many things we both have in common. We both played clarinet until around age 15 (Respectively, I played it in the middle school band until my ill-fated Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra audition, and Goodall played it in the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra  until he broke his tooth in an accident.), and most of all, we love music. To add to the fun, we both are fascinated by musical theater. Finding out that he writes for the stage and is one of the associates in Mercury Musical Developments (where Broadway/West End writers and my Internet buddies Messrs. Stiles and Drewe are board members and with them just three of the 28 founders of the organization), I got so riled up about the information that I longed for a performance of The Dreaming to be performed.

After a hiatus of seeing him (due to moving to a new house where I now live, then with DirecTV having no Ovation TV) in high school, I rediscovered him in my senior year (the first semester) and found the main gist of joining choir too late in my high school career – supporting music education. I found out that he became the National Singing Ambassador the second semester of the last grade and he vowed to advocate singing in primary schools. I decided to nearly emulate him by joining the rather small chorus in the first place. I passed all portions of the FCAT and graduated proudly, but deep down inside, despite the victories, many others are left behind taking remedial classes in areas needing improvement. The average yearly progress (AYP) is like an arms race for the biggest prize, but if their journey, via the drill-and-kill testing of the FCAT, results in failure, they lose the vital funding as a consequence, which leads to teacher cuts, and in turn, cut-backs in music programs. Also, the recession is playing a role in our dwindling music programs, and there is a system implemented in schools called “pay to play,” where a student has to shell out a fee to be in the music program, and that is discriminatory to low-income families and kids whose parents work at Walmart or other minimum wage companies. I remarked to Goodall, again via email, that if I have at least a million dollars, I’d fund most of it for the sake of music education and advocate the government school music, just as he advocated singing in schools.

I signed up on another networking site and found Goodall present, much to my delight; then I requested a connection to him, as my Internet buddy and advisor. With him as my friend, I will always contact him of how I’m doing if I have the chance.

The magic of the show, Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage, allured families, princess lovers, and theatergoers visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. At the same time, thrill-ride fans had to be dragged by their parents to the Theater of the Stars to see it either because it’s for their pleasure or because there are little girls who love princesses in their party. Well, being a thrill ride fan, theatergoer, and dedicated Disneyphile, I can take the show or leave it, but despite all the piped music, it is theatrical gold, from the waltz of the titular theme song to the New York-worthy kickline climax of “Be Our Guest.”

One YouTuber had the liberty last year to film a snippet of the show, and captured the musical number, “Something There,” when Adam, in Beast form, showed the effect of his few-sizes-larger blue trousers to the unsuspecting audience. It eventually made it on FailBlog.org as “Wardrobe Fail” almost a month ago, and at the time I was writing the post, it had over 450,000 views. I even wrote an article on that wacky incident on a Disney show and the song implicitly jokes about it!

I guess Howard Ashman is ranting in his grave right now…

I hate to admit that my favorite hymn is “Lord You Gave the Great Commission,” and I love it so much that I now allot “We Gather Together” as my second-favorite. It’s very beautiful as it is melodic, although some snobs who dislike contemporary liturgical music would turn up their noses at this near classic.

So why do I like this hymn so much, and what can be done to musically improve it?

An Episcopal pastor by the name of Cyril Vincent Taylor (1907-1991) composed the hymn tune in 1941 in the British village of Abbot’s Leigh, where it was named after. Initially sung to an older text, “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken,” it caught the attention of Jeffrey W. Rowthorn, a chapel minister of the Yale Divinity School. He wrote the lyrics which summarizes the ministry of Christ and set it in that tune. His new hymn, “Lord You Gave the Great Commission,” debuted in the school’s 1978 graduation ceremonies, and spread from denomination to denomination like a plague.

From my personal experiences of hearing the hymn, from Sunday Mass to mp3 files, the way it is performed lacks some bite because like, 90% of the time, it is always in unison. That’s what it’s supposed to be at the first Sunday of the month because it ensures the vocal security of the congregation. If I have a Sibelius in my hands, I’ll create this into an advanced choral work and transpose it to E-flat major. I’ll use the unison singing in the first verse only, and do the rest in combinations of harmony, leading to the descant in the sopranos when the arrangement modulates from the G-minor key of the fourth verse to the F-major of the fifth and finale verse. The arrangement concludes with a plagual cadence of “Amen,” as with any old-fashioned hymn. I’ll accompany this hymn concertato with organ and an optional small concert band, which would heighten its emotional aspect and grandeur.

Too bad I bombed the lottery – booooo…

Buffet. Yamaha. Selmer. These are three of the well-known companies reputed to crank out the best clarinets, and sadly, they’re never found at the most ennui-laden place (in my opinion), Walmart. One time, when I did my shopping trek in this vast, ultra-luminous, and stentorian purgatory on earth (Get the picture, parents whose autistic children have sensory-related burdens?), I eyed a display case with musical instruments, and one of them was a clarinet, and like most of the rest, it was manufactured by a lesser-known brand. A few years later, I searched for “clarinet” on Walmart’s website and found the same brand of the single-reeded stick! I read the reviews and agreed with the reviewer who rated it lowly.

The clarinets on display at Walmart are examples of clarinet-shaped objects (CSOs), a subcategory of the maligned-by-legions-of-band-directors’ instrument shaped objects (ISOs). Because I had played clarinet throughout middle school and in my freshmen year of high school (in my ill-fated youth orchestra audition), I’m familiar with the Selmer and Yamaha (I own the latter’s YCL-20, purchased in 2003, in 8th grade.) ones, but the knock-off B-flat sopranos are manufactured (likely in Third World nations, particularly China) with pot metal keys and cruddier-than-ebonite plastics and are sold under names ridiculously unheard in many professional players’ and band directors’ ears.

I generally agree with parents whose children play these instruments and found them awful and whose local repair shop have to bear the heavy-as-a-contra-alto-clarinet cross of fixing it beyond repair. They reported leaky keywork, rough mouthpieces, and squeaky intonation, as well as incapability to play in the clarino to altissimo registers. Despite the flaws that make the CSOs abominable, big-box retailers like Costco, BJ’s Wholesale, Kmart, and the aforementioned Walmart still tout them, bedecking the case with the ludicrous instruments. There are also already cheap and inferior versions of transverse C concert flutes, B-flat trumpets and cornets, and alto and (sometimes) tenor saxophones in the market under those brands not well respected, but I don’t think the future’s too distant for “bargain” bass clarinets, trombones, F horns, oboes, and other band instruments.

If I were a band director, or a band composer/arranger regardless of level, I’d strongly recommend players to avert the CSOs and rent to own (even buy if extra affluent) an instrument from your local music specialist retailer, as many band directors have mentioned since those instruments hit the big-box market time and time again.

So what do you think of off-brand clarinets, if you have touched a clarinet in your life or if you are a school music teacher?

Kids whose music teachers indoctrinate them with information of the instruments in an orchestra (and/or band) at one point in time agree that clarinets, with the exception of replications of certain historical prototypes like the wistful-to-purchase chalumeau, are supposed to have black bodies, but there are some companies that debunk this fact, or should I say, stereotype.

For instance, one brand which many band directors and clarinet mentors around the world would advise those studying the B-flat soprano clarinet and those playing it in bands from purchasing it (Makes a good flea market bazaar or Walmart item!), is one of the instrument makers which cranks out more than the black ones familiar to everyone, but those in green, red, white, blue, and even pink! They have gold-plated keys, usually reserved for professionals, but they’re beginner/student instruments, by the way. If I were to buy a Billy Biggle-blue clarinet for under $250, I’d test it out and find it rather cruddy in tone and function. Also, I agree with band directors with chary musical aptitudes and sights that it would strongly likely be damaged beyond repair and unplayable for a few weeks. There are other companies who create those bizarre-colored clarinets, but I decided to keep the blog relatively short to list. At least it’s made of plastic, the material which is very feasible for a marching band field or the concert hall.

In my opinion, I decided to keep my clarinet black, and have an alto clarinet with it if I have the money and time. I have a Yamaha one and it plays really good, but there’s no way (except for creating a novelty lamp for say, the Yuletide season) that I’ll buy these colored versions of those things. Speaking of the dreaded CSOs (clarinet shaped objects), I’ll be discussing them on my next entry.

Cheers for now!

Well, the poor souls of my favorite DCI Class A corps, the Jersey Surf, didn’t make it to the Semifinals last night (neither did I make it to Big, Loud, and Live! because it did not fit my schedule well). But, that’’s OK – I have an alternative to the Surf if they don’t win – the famed Santa Clara Vanguard.The reason why they are my second favorite is because for quite a few years, I’ve seen them on the Rose Parade on television, and I really like their sounds and sights much like the Surf. They may have placed fifth in last night’s quarterfinals, but I’m adamant they’ll come on top!

Update: The Blue Devils of Concord, CA, just won the Semifinals and Finals – boo.

It was a summery July day in my piece of New Jersey, in a portion of Clifton where a spacious green area lies at the foot of Garrett Mountain. When my cousins and I were young, we would head to the area in question, Albion Memorial Park, for a rendezvous with my uncle, and I saw what I thought it was a marching band. Little did I know (or I didn’t know) at those tender ages of seven to ten (the age when I moved in my current residence near Tampa, Florida) that the “band” turned out to be the Connecticut Hurricanes, a Drum Corps Associates (DCA) affiliated drum and bugle corps. At that age, I was unaware of the all–marching-brass-and-percussion (for the former, it refers to mellophones and bell-front baritones, euphoniums, and tubas, with the exception of the sousaphone, in the case of such mobile ensembles). Perched on the jungle gym on one of the playgrounds, I watched them rehearse. The sound was really a delight to my pre-teen ears and it’s pretty uncanny as a child to have seen and heard a drum corps rehearse live before my eyes. Those memories made me hold in high esteem to those summer days that my favorite DCA corps is the Connecticut Hurricanes.

But what about the favored corps of Drum Corps Internatonal (DCI), referring to the world-class ones? Well, I’d really go with Jersey Surf, because I long for the day that I’d return to New Jersey to see them play as well as relive my childhood memories of watching the Hurricanes at Albion Park. With the DCI quarterfinals on hand the day I wrote my memories on this blog, I have high hopes and dreams of seeing the corps of my home state make it to the semifinals, even the finals, if I’m extra wistful.

For the sake of Garden State childhood nostalgia, the Surf is my DCI corps closest to my heart and memories.

First of all, I’ll be forever celibate for the sake of virginity, but if I ever get married, I’d pick my music carefully. I’d go beyond the overheard wedding marches from Richard Wagner’s Longherin or Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Recently, there’s a new trend of brides opting for the selection from the not-so-known Baroque composer: Benedetto Marcello.

So what’s so famous about a relatively lesser-known composer in the Baroque era? Well, Marcello (not to be confused by his brother Alessandro) composed his set of 50 Psalms as paraphrased by Giustinani, his friend. Known collectively as L’Estro poetico-armonico, they are intended to be performed by continuo and voices. His 19th Psalm, I cieli immensi narrano , was written in 1724. The things that makes the work in this collection of Psalms are the arrangements of the first movement – especially for organ by Frenchman Theodore Dubois. At a wedding last June, I heard the organ arrangement in person as a postlude to the mass after hearing and seeing a few YouTube videos of it. But I ache for the choral version, and after listening to band arrangements and such of the piece, I finally struck gold – the original rendition of what I really wanted instrumentationwise. To me, I find it better than the organ arrangements increasingly heard wedding after joyous wedding.

In praise of Marcello’s Psalm 19, in which numerous brides fall for each year, I’d take the one sung by choir over the instrumental versions any day!

Each year, Christmas is getting earlier and earlier – and I even saw an ad on CNN touting male sexual enhancement Enzyte centered on a Christmas party in Smiling Bob’s (dressed as Santa) office – some days following my birthday in June of this year! As far as news reports go, I heard that several Sears and Kmarts across the nation put up Christmas Lane aisles and webpages last month (Christmas in July, anyone?). I don’t really blame my nation, but we are on the verge of surpassing most of my kin’s native Philippines’ reputation as having the longest Yuletide in the world.

On the lighter side, I went to the AmIRight website as alias whizkidforte and penned a parody of a Jose Mari Chan Christmas standard, “The Sound of Life,” and I considered as I wrote the state of the economy. Then, I aptly titled the parodied version, “The Sound of Strife,” which reflects the frugality of many who revel in Christmas in these hard times, either in the sacred aspects, the secular and commercialized ones, or a mixture of them.

So, in honor of both the sour economy and the early Christmas promotions, I prouly present my parody, “The Sound of Strife!”

I love the pipe organ, and to fuel my love for it, here’s my three cents on listening to one of Paul Manz’s biggest hits ever played on many organs, his Aria. It’s so fluent and haunting, in its lovely A minor glory. What’s more – it is intended for a wedding, and I believe this should serve as a change of pace from trite, overheard wedding classics such as Johann Pachelbel’s Kanon und Gigue in D-Dur für drei Violinen und Basso Continuo (the famed Canon in D) or even Benedetto Marcelo’s 19th Psalm. Because of its sometimes melancholy air, I think of it as one of the proposed pieces to be played at my funeral Mass if the church offers a prelude before each Mass.

I really love listening to the piece – I even want to create a concert band arrangement of it! Being influenced by it and Anne McGinty’s stunning arragement of the Air on the G String, I would transpose it a whole step lower (from the original A minor to the more feasible G minor, if you’re wondering) and I’d also make use of an English horn (That’s right – an English horn – and I intend this piece to be played by secondary education institutes and other bands who can at least afford to have an oboist double on that thing!) to initially play the top line of the original work (the melody line) of bars 5-13. I’d decrease the tempo a hair bit from the original to add to this flowing effect.

If I have the money and time, I’ll get myself the Sibelius software and put my band arrangement to work. I have college and other things to worry about in the here and now…

I found a weird fact about British composer Gustav Holst – when he was my age, he’d walk from London to Cheltenham with his trombone on his back because he’s poor. One day, he sat on a hill in the Cotswolds and practiced his instrument. A farmer nearby complained to him about the ruckus, citing the fact that the noise impregnated his sheep prematurely!So much for the power of music, especially one that made the flock birth their progeny too early!

What’s next – premature ejaculation due to your next door neighbor’s baritone saxophone practice? (Heck knows what The Lonely Island would make of this!)

Ahhh, back to school – and sales relating to this annual ritual of shopping for necessary supplies for school is in full swing in most states. Also, back to school is a willies-invoker, especially for music and art teachers: the No Child Left Behind Act.

Tom Chapin’s song, “Not on the Test,” laments how the arts are shoved into obscurity thanks to a narrow curriculum of language arts (aka English) and math (Science is also another narrow-curriculum subject to a more recent extent.), the only things that are on the test, which is the statewide standardized test. I went to school in an ESE facility in New Jersey, long before NJASK (New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge) rolled in and muddled the educational aspects of statewide public schools. I moved to Florida months before being enrolled in fourth grade, and a year later, I took the long-hated FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) and got descent scores. Along the course of being “taught” the FCAT, I participated in school music ensembles, which are sadly dwindling in size by not only budget cuts (a sign of the dismal economic times, if you ask me), but by increasing numbers of students taking remedial classes in lieu of, say, band. After passing the FCAT at sophomore year, I joined the chorus in my senior year for the purpose of lending a hand and my stewardship to the shrinking music program.

Watching the music video and listening to the lyrics rekindle those memories because I see the standardized tests’ relevance in helping cut out music and arts for more “drill and kill” instructional time for reading and math. In a letter to the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) regarding my sympathies with them as more and more theatrical and ballet companies use muzak, I cited the NCLB’s effects on music education as an underlying cause. I wrote:

The recession is not only the problem – here in America, our schools are faced with No Child Left Behind, in which standardized tests dominate the curricula of public schools. From a standpoint, the time preparing for the tests is cumbersome, and the precious instructional time would have been instead allotted to rehearsing the pit musicians of the spring musical as opposed to drilling the students to master, say, my local assessment measure, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). If the students fail the test, then they have to take a remedial class in lieu of their elective, outsourcing their positions to musicians who pass it. School-wide test scores measure the funding too, and schools who fail would have teacher layoffs and vigorous tutoring, and that reduces school music programs in the first place. Whenever I see a one-man band like OrchEXtra in the pit or hear prerecorded music in musical theater, I remember the problems with the NCLB and how it affects school music.

For last year’s arts assessment test on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the eighth graders compared their answers to those from a test administered in 1997. Compared to 53% in 1997, they scored 51%, and half of them could correctly point out that the clarinet initiates George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with its sultry obbligato. That’s pretty much the same results, but the NCLB’s rigorous standards significantly in a small way affected the results.

And speaking of Howard Goodall, my favorite composer besides Handel, I really wish he was here to spread the word on school music after watching the video and listening to the song because he’s a “national singing ambassador,” and if he can implement singing in primary schools in his native England, he can do pretty much the same right here on our soil.

Too bad he won’t be coming to the US until March next year, the 25th Music in Our Schools Month…

(Warning: Viewer discretion is advised if you have children under 13 or if you are a die-hard Disney fan should you click this link.)

First, there were the fans of the popular vacation destination located in Central Florida (a good hour’s drive from my PC), Walt Disney World. Then, there are people who think they are just too cool for the resort, thinking it’s just childish of them to set foot on it when they are at least 13 years old.

For the latter, artist Bobby Abate seems to be one of them, in his music video.

Aptly named “Anti-Disney World Manifesto”, a parody of a Robyn Konichiwa song, Abate’s rants against Walt Disney World are numerous – from the onsite transportation to the food. The baneful lyrics reference many attractions in the parks (like the Norway pavilion at Epcot) and famous Disney songs (like “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”).

So why does Abate hate Walt Disney World? Of course, he does not only hate the Florida heat as mentioned in the first few lines, but there more to his animosity. Could it be the numerous tour groups, mainly from Brazil, or more increasingly, Argentina? Could it be the whining children? I think he just wrote the song for fun, but that is really offending to me as a Disneyphile.

The thing I learned from the song is that just because a person has a strong hatred towards Walt Disney World does not mean he or she has to rant about it!

I’m back from those crazy days of keeping my distant relatives entertained! It was really hectic, but I made good use of the visit. I went to Busch Gardens during that time – in mid-July, and as I had predicted extensively earlier, I found throngs of tour groups from South America, with the Argentinian ones outnumbering the Brazilian ones, to my surprise! I decided on the trip to discreetly take photos of them and videotape them and after a weekend at the park, I composed a music montage, in which I have a knack of creating it after special moments caught on camera, from the clips and photos. I used a samba to musically conform to the theme of the footage of the South American tour groups, and it came together pretty well – and now it’s on YouTube! I hope you enjoy it – or get irked by it, should you be one of the regular visitors to Central Florida!

Courtesy of rutlo

As I mentioned in the last post, last Christmas’s production of the 1989 musical, The Wizard of Oz, irked cellist Adrian Bradbury because canned music accompanied it. Alongside his clarinetist brother and expert witness, the composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle, they testified to the court in a lawsuit against its venue, the Lowry Theatre, that the performance is akin to a costumed karaoke. If they would watch a ballet with the same technological type of musical accompaniment, they’d might as well compare the performance to popular video game Guitar Hero.

Amid a messed-up economy, that’s what orchestra musicians think as ballet companies pare down their budgets. Last month, the Texas Ballet Theater satiated its fundraising goal of $2 million, but there is some bad news – during the 2009-2010 season only, they will use muzak (what I affectionately call “canned music”) for all performances, and patrons will have to wait until the subsequent one to hear a live orchestra accompany tutu-clad women dancing en pointe.

From what I’ve read on the Web, the TBT are not the only ones facing ire from orchestra musicians thanks to the company creating false magic with a boom box in their performance of The Nutcracker. The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater also had its fill of using muzak to liven (no, deaden) a pas de deux in the 2005-2006 season. Their opening performance, Carmen, received outdoor protests from patrons and mainly, the company’s  resident orchestra. (They first contacted Musicians Union Local 60-471 to file a labor complaint National Labor Relations Board before joining voices with Akron, Ohio musicians, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, and others.) The public response to the ballet was lukewarm too, and one reviewer remarked that her viewing of it “was not much better than her  granddaughter’s dance recital, a venue where she expects no more than ‘canned’ music that is consistent with an amateurish performance.” The musicians have a website, Keep Pittsburgh Ballet Theater Music Live!, and I took the time to write what I think on the guestbook. I also looked at those who reviewed that season’s performances of The Nutcracker, and I agree with a lot of them.

As a child growing up in New Jersey, I went to see The Nutcracker at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn and Cinderella at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). I enjoyed those performances and found them so memorable, and it’s mostly due to the live orchestras in their pits below. If it weren’t for me seeing flutes, oboes, and French horns at a young age before the overture commences the flurry of tutus and jetes, I would had remarked that either performance would had been shoddy compared to my dance recitals at Montclair High. Adrian Bradbury, who criticized the Lowry Theatre’s production of The Wizard of Oz for using muzak, would had sat with me and basked in the auras of the two performances because the music accompaniment were both live!

To me, using muzak is perfectly fine during amateur dance recitals and some competitions but in a context of a professionally-staged ballet, I’d recommend that the companies would use it very sparingly, and I would deem a few “rock” ballets as exceptions. To see who agrees with me or not, I have contacted musical theater writers George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (Mary Poppins, Honk!),  Stephen Keeling (Maddie, Heidi), and personal favorite, Howard Goodall (The Dreaming, The Hired Man), to each have their say on the issue of piped music accompanying operas, professional musical theater performances, and ballets (I mean, not the rock ones, but cherished ones like the aforementioned Carmen) in my future posts. I’m not really picky on piped music, per se, but I truly believe that there is a time and place for them.

So, what do you think of the issue of piped music at the ballet, except “rock” ones? Please voice your say on it, if you have the chance.

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As the International Year of the Organ draws to a close in a couple of months, I took the time to reflect on how the pipe organ has shaped my life. Back in my former hometown of Clifton, New Jersey, I used to attend a parish with a three-manual pipe organ. It felt just wonderful (to me, of course, although I love traditional tunes even more) to sing the modern hymns and those memorable introits from Marty Haugen’s Mass of Creation. Now, I attend a parish with a lone spinet piano and a Yamaha digital organ, and to this date I have not heard a note of a real diapason pipe since my Asheville vacation, when I attended Mass in a basilica with a century-old pipe organ. With those in mind and the IYO in full swing, I wrote an article on my very strong preference towards pipe organs over electric ones on Musicouch, and I recently thought, “Well, that received a lot of views, but I would very much want to write a revised version of it to the American Guild Of Organists (AGO) so they can give me credit for this.” I am in the process of doing that, so I hope that the organization recognizes me for my input of opinion on the pipe-versus-electric debate.

Tell me what you prefer to be heard in your church -  please explain why you prefer pipe orver digital/electric or the other way around. To Catholics who are commenting, I’ll gladly respect your disdain and horror stories towards current litugical music but not bash against them.

A Comparison of Castle Forecourt Stage Shows of the Past and Present

Back in the early decades of jazz, live bands in the form of big bands used to accompany wedded couples’ first dances, senior high school proms, or even mere socials involving the joys of social ballroom dancing. Of course, at Walt Disney World, from its opening day on October 1, 1971, particularly on the stages of the Magic Kingdom, show bands used to accompany the song-and-dance troupe known as the Kids of the Kingdom who used to do some theatrical acts with Disney characters known by memories of people who cherish them. Orchestra pits in school productions of known musicals used to set the scenes of the onstage ongoings and glitz.

Currently, things have changed since show bands used to accompany revue performers and big bands used to accompany couples doing the foxtrot. If you have been to the Magic Kingdom between 2001 and now and you have watched the shows on the Castle Forecourt Stage (in front of Cinderella’s Castle, with the current show being Dream Along With Mickey), chances are that you have neither seen a live band with brass and keyboards nor an enclosed “orchestra pit.” Sadly, to add to the grief of those of you who solely want live music in shows, even at amusement parks, you’re out of luck since last Christmas season -  Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas (with the articulated faces of  Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip, and Dale) was the last show to feature such accompaniment, and its seasonally resident Galaxy Palace Theater in Tomorrowland is currently supplanted over two months ago with the former show, Stitch’s Supersonic Celebration, which features what most live music purists hate – muzak.

I know what you are really thinking – you might have applied the term to ennui-inducing music in elevators as “elevator music,” or the cheese oozing out of the speakers in Walmart (I have to admit that I loath this place so much!). To me, muzak is also a staple of most live shows, including ones featured at Walt Disney World. I have to assume that not everyone likes the idea of using prerecorded tracks in theatrical productions – one Englishman is one of those people who dislike this concept.

Adrian Bradbury, a cellist, took his family to see a professional account of the recent musical hit, Wizard of Oz, which played last Christmas at the Lowry Theatre in Salford, Manchester. He gave the matinee a negative review not because the singers are off-key, but a prerecorded track accompanied it! He sued the venue and won nearly $218 in the cost of the tickets and over $80 in damages. To add to the fun, his family, like him, are mostly musicians as well, with his father and twin brother both clarinetists, and composer Harrison Birtwistle compared it to a karaoke in a statement regarding the case, thus backing the musicians up in a battle against piped music. Even worse, the tap-dancing sounds are out-of-sync with those on the muzak – and that left the family utterly disappointed.

Imagine if the man were to be onboard one of the two Disney Cruise Line vessels and saw, say, Toy Story: The Musical on the Disney Wonder – he’d be very ticked off because of the piped music, despite the pyrotechnics that were used to give children the illusion of Buzz Lightyear flying or the LCD screens of the action figure’s television advertisement played to its respective reprise of “To Infinity and Beyond.” Then again, he’d sign on to a review site and give the ship a bum rap. I favor the ship fleet over others (thanks to the presence of greetable Disney characters) despite the fact that their shows use prerecorded tracks, but it is not alone in that kind of entertainment. One reviewer who sailed on the Costa Magica would have agreed with Bradbury, had he sailed with him, that her shows used muzak as well, but he did not seem to care much. A majority of other cruise lines, Carnival included, use some sort of stage band, with all the keyboards, drum sets, guitars, electric basses, saxophones, trumpets, and trombones trying to compete for your attention as they set the moods for the scenes in their spectacles. On the Disney cruise ships, the presence of musicians grouped in the pit or off to the side are really absent, and I think that in their case, it distracts them from the onstage magic, yet those against muzak would be least likely to sail on them.

So, were the Bradburies the only ones experiencing musical theater with muzak? Of course not – over five years ago, I watched (and performed as violist in the school orchestra before the show) my middle school’s production of Once on This Island. I really did not care for the prerecorded track accompanying peasant Ti Moune’s ill-fated relationship with millionaire Daniel Beauxhomme, but after seeing the show (as well as the rehearsals), I since that time have ached for a professional account of my favorite musical of all time, maybe accompanied with a live orchestra if I’m extra wistful. Fate knows how writers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty would react if it were accompanied by a backing track…

In the midst of an ill economy, many theatrical groups, school, community, or even professional, setting up their theatricals are wondering what would accompany their performers as the sing, dance, and act onstage. If their budgets are really tight, then they turn to those minus-one-like tracks on CD or USB, and the orchestra pits or even the pianist would be left to more affluent campuses. That’s the cost-saving aspect of them, but there are many factors that make them feasible. Compared to live musicians, tuning and intonation problems would be virtually deficient if they implement it – there would be no musical director constantly telling the clarinetist to adjust his or her tuning barrel or wrong notes played by the trumpeter. In contrast, backing tracks detract from the sonorous experience the theatergoer would really expect, and it sounds cheap in comparison with just a few musicians plucked from band. Also, it is more like child’s play, because the contributions of many people who are working on the show can determine the quality, and as implicitly mentioned by most longtime Disney fans who go to Walt Disney World and have a soft spot for it, the stage shows at the Magic Kingdom have declined in caliber since the closure of Tomorrowland’s Galaxy Palace Theater in late 2008, thanks to the presence of piped music in them. Despite the convenience and feasibility it gives, most people say it would degrade the show mostly or even completely.

I’m really not against backing tracks in staged productions, but I feel that there is a time and place for them. It’s completely OK for dance recitals, amateur talent shows, and such, but as for theatrical productions, it should be used in very rare cases (such as those of schools who are grappled with very severe budget cuts). I neither really believe that the lack of live bands in the shows featured at the Walt Disney Theater would hinder me from going to a vacation involving a Disney cruise nor the absence of them in most live shows since late last year would hamper me from going to Walt Disney World. But then again, if Dream Along With Mickey would be replaced with a new show on the Castle Forecourt Stage in the future, I’d find it a hair better if it involves live music wafting out of the orchestra pit players’ saxes and trombones as if Disney Mania (a show in the 90’s that features the Kids of the Kingdom, Disney characters, and live music) just got revived – just have the designers, directors, and choreographers retain the articulated faces of Mickey and his kin as they did in Mickey’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas before its residential theater got razed…

What do you think about the issue of pre-recorded music in stage shows – are they a boon to money belt-tightening theatrical companies and school drama clubs or are they making it look like karaoke, as Birtwistle pointed out in the lawsuit against a prestigious theater in his native England? If you are a longtime tourist of Walt Disney World, would the stage shows on the Castle Forecourt Stage have been better if they had a live pit band instead of a backing track? Please tell your stories and opinions about the issue in the Comments section, and as long as it’s clean and not defamatory, profane, or on the verge of spam, I welcome all opinions expressed.

As well as classical music, I live for musical theater as well. As a kid growing up in New Jersey and here in Florida, I’d star myself as the background ensemble of school plays from the Forum School, as a gingerbread girl in the jukebox-musical-like production of Hansel and Gretel and as the backing chorus member of Jill Gallina’s musical, Shapin’ Up Santa. On vacations (and nowadays, day trips from home) to Walt Disney World, I’m particularly attracted to the stage shows – from Dream Along With Mickey to the unseen (by me, of course) Finding Nemo, the Musical. Cruise ships offer me the best in entertainment in the form of stage revues with singers, dancers, pyrotechnics, lighting, costumes, magic, and (with the exception of Disney Cruise Line) a show band, and they are the must-sees of every cruise vacation. I even went to see a professionally-staged musical on Broadway growing up as a Jersey girl in 1994, and it was Beauty and the Beast, staged by Disney Theatrical, believe it or not. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Once on This Island as my favorite musical, because it’s the first real musical I have ever seen in my middle school over five years ago, although I ached for a professional staging.

But the thrill of seeing musical theater personally (and starring in it, to a lesser extent,  although my roles in it are minor) is just the cover of the libretto, or book, of a staged hit. I also see some of that on TV, not only in the form of musical films (like Hans Christian Andersen, a musical film that starred Danny Kaye as one of my speculated autism heroes). I love musical episodes as well, and my personal favorite of the genre is the Rocko’s Modern Life (a former Nickelodeon cartoon series I grew up watching as a child of the 1990’s) episode, “Zanzibar,” which is centered on the subject of pollution and environmental issues. Commercials, like the “Do it eBay” ads of old or Geico’s “I’m So Happy,” have given me an excellent musical theater fix without the cost of seeing a school musical and amid infomercials starring the late, annoying Billy Mays or the dreaded Nutrisystem (or recently, the Right Size Smoothie) spots. Even public service announcements get the showtime treatment as the actors carry their persuasive messages regarding the issue by breaking into song and dance – and the American Legacy Foundation’s Truth anti-tobacco ad, “Let’s All Focus on the Positive,” and the Ad Council’s patient involvement spot, “Questions Are the Answer,” never grow way too old for me.

Recently, the love for musical theater flared up as I came across a video described as a “spontaneous musical.” To the best of my memory, it was the famous Food Court Musical (with the book, lyrics, and music penned by longtime agents Scott Brown and Anthony King) by New York-based amateur drama organization, Improv Everywhere. In a food court in Los Angeles’s Baldwin Hills Mall, a cashier from Hot Dog on a Stick accidentally spills lemonade and then breaks into song as she petitions the diners and fellow employees for a napkin. A male diner who spilled mustard on his jeans, and a woman whose child vomited on her shirt did so likewise. Later, a dancing janitor, a security guard, and a couple of other patrons join in this melodious imploring for a paper napkin. I watched a host of other musicals similar in format to the video, which reached over 3 million views on YouTube. There’s What’s There to Do in Richmond (about the venues that suit the needs of residents in this Virginia city), Unexpected Performance (a British commercial by travel agency lastminute.com that surrounds a janitor’s struggle to get her potato chips out of the vending machine), and Reach (in which a lecture is interrupted by three students breaking into song – it also predates the aforementioned Food Court Musical). I also favor Church Service Musical, which tells the tales of how responsibilities and hurdles keep the congregation, ministry leaders, a technician, and the pastor separate from worshiping God. Even Disneyland – noted for its brilliant stage shows often brimming with Disney Characters you can name from memory – created a spontaneous musical too, which centers around a marriage proposal and promotes the ongoing Summer Nightastic campaign. An organization called ANMT (the Academy for New Musical Theatre) calls them “guerilla musicals,” and of the two that they made, I favor The Customer is Always Right highly. After watching all those videos that feature people staging a musical number out of the blue, in public, I was called by the genre to create one myself.

As an autistic, I personally know what a meltdown is really like, and I had those tantrum-like episodes in my teens at school, and I felt really horrid with all the other students staring directly at me. I have watched videos of tantruming children and looked in the comments section – a majority of people who responded to the videos say that they would like the “brat” to be slapped, or spanked, preferably with a belt. Those things I’ve seen gave me an idea – conglomerating a scenario when an autistic child has a meltdown with strangers persuading his mother to spank him and the glitz of a spontaneous musical. I will be writing the book and lyrics pertaining to that, and send it off to a composer as soon as I am able to drive and as soon as the visit by distant kin is behind me. In the meantime, I’m researching on ways to handle an autism meltdown and what the people say about spanking kids who tantrum. I will be posting details about my first foray into musical theater in the near future.

Michael Jackson’s song, “One Day in Your Life,” is a ballad about a loss of a friend, and the lyrics say that although he or she is gone, he or she will be in people’s hearts and memories. People remember the person as more of a good friend, more like a lifelong companion, only that he or she is distant from them. This was sung back in 1975, during the time when he touched Philippine soil and when my mother personally saw him in a concert.

On July 7, 2009, this song was more relevant than ever – fans of all walks of life, even those who are not too interested in the King of Pop as I am, watched his funeral from the comfort of their homes online or TV, in stadiums, movie theaters, bars, pubs, on Times Square, or (if they were lucky to have a gold wristband and ticket) in the solemn aura of Staples Center in Los Angeles. The more I listened to the song, shortly after the funeral, the more relevant the lyrics. I knew that very instant that although he has left us, he will be in our hearts. God bless Michael.

Today, I finally got all the initial responses to all the term’s threaded discussions squared away (I will be obtaining relevant materials tomorrow.), and I did so because I wanted to allot time to watch the funeral at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, of a pop icon who sang my favorite song of his (penned by Don Black), “Ben.”

That man in the casket, of course, was the world-renowned Michael Jackson.

Personally, I’m not much of a fan, but I deeply appreciate his good acts as a humanitarian and of course, his ballads. My mother, however, was an avid listener of Jackson during the “Jackson 5″ era as a teen growing up in her native Philippines. She attended a concert herself, when Jackson was sixteen or seventeen. Alongside the aforementioned “Ben,” his song “One Day in Your Life” is just as touching, and yet, it’s so relevant to this day – the funeral of a revered, worldwide pop icon.

I watched the live coverage via CNN online and on the living room television with  my newly-repaired DirecTV service. There were several high points in the funeral, from his brother Jermaine Jackson’s touching rendition of “Smile,” a Charlie Chaplin hit (Brooke Shields remarked that it was Jackson’s favorite song.) to the gathering of celebrity mourners in a provocative medley of “We Are the World” and “Heal the World” But the  moment I deem as prominently emotional was 11-year-old Jackson’s daughter Paris’s terse yet tearful eulogy for “Daddy,” as her aunt Janet comforts her. Clearly, the reason why the few seconds of the preteen pouring out her grief moved me the most is because I personally had lost a father myself over 6 years ago on Easter Monday. As a Facebook user myself, I contacted many of my friends and joined in the discussion about the televised event as I watched it with my own two eyes from my PC in my Brandon area (FL) home.

I’m not a Jackson biggie, but I want to thank him for the international entertainment. May St. Cecelia now pray for his happy repose.

Like Ben..

I have to admit that I’m not really a Michael Jackson fanatic, but if I can name a favorite song performed by him, it would not be his famous “Thriller” or his “Billie Jean,” but my favorite Jackson song has to be the titular theme song of the 1972 horror film Ben.  It is a song about friendship, a young boy’s ode to a killer rat to whom he befriended, and the song has its place in the family iPod At the end of the movie (pardon me for the spoilers) Ben survives the police’s seizure and killing of the rat colonies, but the story would have been different if the pet rat were either killed or sent to the labs.

A lot of fans have been over or have befriended Jackson, who died on June 25 this year. About 1.6 million fans have raffled for tickets to his funeral, slated to be after tomorrow, and the 11, 000 tickets will be handed out to the lucky ones, while those left behind can watch the memorial services on the big screens outside Staples Center. I for one cannot come to Los Angeles, given that I’m in college and I have visitors in my house, but I did something to honor the pop king – I wrote an article on the former Disney Parks attraction, Captain EO, in which I did not see since I was too young to have experienced it on my very first trip to Walt Disney World. On the day of his funeral, I would get my college work done early so I can have the liberty to watch the service from the PC, since my satellite television service is down and cannot be repaired until Thursday.

Jackson fans will always have a friend – like Ben – even when he had died.

Independence Day is here, but my DirecTV service is down, meaning that I cant watch “A Capitol Fourth” on TV – and analog television had been extinct for over three weeks! So what should an American do without the annual outdoor concert that featrues the likes of Barry Maniolw and Elmo?

Perhaps you viral video fans have heard or seen the infamous John Daker, a member of the First United Methodist Church in Peoria, Illinois. Many people laughed or mocked his singing of the medley that contains  “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and “That’s Amore,” but there’s more to him than his moment (make that one and a half moments) of fame and infamy – he gathered five other congregants and sang a rather messed-up medley of “God Bless America” and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

In other words, happy Independence Day!

and this shall be for music…

What comes to mind when I say the word “music?” The loud reggaeton blasting from cars at a Walmart parking lot? The Barry Manilow that deters teens from loitering in the stores? Circle-time? Crud from the elevator speakers?

To me, music is the heart-blood of my life – I myself am educated in music since elementary school, in a special education facility called the Forum School, which is located in North Jersey, in which I really missed since my move to Florida a decade ago. I used to be a clarinetist in the school band, a violist and cellist in the school orchestra, and an alto in the school choir. I watched arts programs on Ovation TV when I was in fifth grade, and I can even recognize the name of Howard Goodall, a British musicologist, composer, and broadcaster starting at that time, and that man is my role model since he is an avid music advocate. I have an unusual passion for classical music starting at that time too, when myriad other preteens and teens listen to pop and rock! Now that I’m majoring  in the medical field as biller and coder (just to have some job security), I am blogging about music, for now.

The gist of the blog is to give my personal insight on various issues and stuff regarding the broad subject of music – from new developments in the industry, artists’ ongoings in life, to music education. So, if you’re going to find this blog very interesting, comment me.

(The above video is of the CCSA Junior Chorus singing Mark Patterson’s This Shall Be For Music, which is one of my favorite choral works. How appropriate.)