Doug Spata

Sales Statement 2011 (Part 2)

2012-01-07T10:13:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in Part 1, my foreign sales make up just a tiny percentage of my annual total. But it's still interesting to see what sells. Here are my top five foreign sales of scores with parts in 2011:

1. Sneaking Suspicion
2. Gargoyles & Star of Valor (tie)
3. Quicksilver
4. Avatar, Gauntlet, Hot Potato, Porcupine Pantomime (all tied)
5. Lemon Twist and Storm Trail (tie)

The new ones are popular and some of the old favorites made the list, but a lot of these entries are surprises. Sneaking Suspicion seems to be a breakaway hit overseas.

Alfred Publishing also sells scores alone, without the parts. You'd need extra scores to give the judges at contests, so the best-sellers on this list are the ones that are popular at contest season:

1. Gautlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Crusader

No surprises here. Except maybe for Mariposas - I suppose that explains its resurgence in the score-and-parts list.

Again, if you bought anything of mine in the past year, thanks very much!

Two Years Wasted

2011-12-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, Internets. Let my tell you a sad story of sadness.

As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I've been working on a new opera. It's been two years of slow, meticulous work, coming up with over an hour of music and all the lyrics. I'm really proud of what I've done and I think it might be one of the better things I've ever written. The whole piece is 98% done - I just need to work out a few of the musical transitions between scenes and that will take about a week.

And then I heard just this morning that someone has written a musical with the exact same setting, themes, and a very similar plot that's going to be produced next year, with strong hopes of a Broadway run.

And I just died a little.

So I'm weighing my options. Part of me wants to put in that last week of work, like an exhausted and broken marathon runner getting carried over the finish line to achieve a sense of closure. I'd then print it out, put it in a binder, and it would sit on a shelf next to my first opera, unproduced forever. Another part of me just wants to burn it all and scream to the sky as loud as I can. I've considered making drastic revisions to my piece, but I don't know where I'd start. The music is very specific to the setting and would be difficult to adapt.

The fact is, that the two pieces are going to be very different, but even though each was created without the knowledge of the other, comparisons will be made and I will likely lose any battle of opinions.

Woe is me, Internets. Weep for the weary artist.

Sales Statement 2011 (Part 1)

2011-12-15T11:42:00.000-05:00

I got my annual sales statement from Alfred Publishing recently! When I first started getting these, they were listings of how many copies each piece of published music was sold that year and, while that's the same basic principle for current statements, there are major changes from those early days. Now, each piece of music is available in multiple forms: Score and parts, score alone, parts alone, digital parts downloaded through SmartMusic, digital score downloaded through SmartMusic, print licensing, mechanical licensing, and photocopy licensing. Then all of those are divided into domestic sales (inside the U.S.) and foreign sales (everywhere else), meaning that each of my published works has a potential for 16 revenue streams.

To be honest, though, each of those revenue streams accounts for very little on its own. My foreign sales are a fraction of a fraction of my domestic sales and only one honest director paid Alfred after making photocopies like he's supposed to do. But those few dollars here and there accumulate and, added to sales of scores and parts (which make up the bulk of the sales), they added up to a significant increase in overall sales from last year. So if you bought something of mine this year, thank you!

Now comes the fun part: discovering which were my best sellers of the year. Here are my top five best selling folios of scores and parts (domestic sales):

1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet & Sneaking Suspicion (tie)
3. Gargoyles
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt

Avatar was last year's number-one seller as well and I credited that to people mistaking my piece for the soundtrack to James Cameron's 2009 movie. I suppose this either means that people haven't caught on yet or they really like my piece. Gauntlet and Gargoyles always seem to make the top five and Sneaking Suspicion did well, mostly because it's brand new. Star of Valor and Storm Trail were also new and had respectable numbers, but didn't crack the top five. Agincourt stays strong, but this year's surprise is the resurgence of Mariposas. It's an older piece that usually stays in the middle of the pack, but has rallied for some reason this year.

Overall, it was a good year! I'll have more information and top five lists in a later post.

A Breeze in the Keys Video

2011-12-13T15:41:00.000-05:00

Check out this video of the string orchestra of l'Escola Municipal de Música de Calvià. They open their show with"A Breeze In the Keys".

I'm not used to hearing it that fast, but for this piece a slightly faster tempo works. It also helps that they have spectacular musicianship and are able to make the piece sound effortless. So where exactly is l'Escola Municipal de Música de Calvià? Well, it's here:

In the western Mediterranean off the Spanish mainland.

BAM! INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS COMPOSER!

I forgot most of my Spanish when I learned Italian, but gracias a Profesor László Füllöp!

Maharaja Video

2011-12-07T11:46:00.000-05:00

It looks like my new piece "Maharaja" is really taking off! I've already found a few concert videos on YouTube and I think this one is the best. It's just a little too fast, but the intonation and rhythms are flawless and check out the bass player's fancy German bow grip! I also like that the Violin II player is really getting into the groove of those finger snaps at 1:40.

Anyway, please to enjoy the Encore Strings of East Lansing, Michigan in their Fall 2011 concert:

Doug Spata Program Notes

2011-11-17T14:18:00.000-05:00

There's a new thing on the bar to the right!

I have a lot of people ask me for specific information about my music, so I've started a new page on this blog for program notes. The idea is that the new page will serve as a database for each of my published pieces, with a brief program note, information on keys, publication dates (since that's apparently a hot search item for some of my music), and links so you can listen, download, and buy each piece from the Alfred Publishing Web sites.

It's only just started and I have a long way to go, but check back occasionally for additional titles!

North Pole Workshop Tutorials

2011-10-24T13:35:00.000-04:00

Dr. Patrick Murphy, orchestra director at Tecumseh Junior High and Jefferson High School in Laffayette, Indiana has set up a wonderful YouTube channel for his students and, having stumbled across it recently, I feel compelled to share. In his videos, Dr. Murphy demonstrates and guides students through the music part by part, so they can practice along with him at home. It's a brilliant use of the technology and I'm honored that he took time to make videos for my own North Pole Workshop.

First Violin

Second Violin

Viola

'Cello

Bass

Way to go, Doc! I really hope that your students, their parents, and the school administration appreciate all the hard work and creativity that went into this project!

Proofing

2011-09-14T13:36:00.000-04:00

Three of the publishing schedule's landmarks wend by in quick succession recently. About a week ago, I got my copies of this year's new music, a few days ago I got my contract addendum from Alfred Publishing, and yesterday I got the proofs for next year's music.

When I get proofs, they send the score that I submitted, marked up in red pen with all sorts of corrections and editions and then I check that against the engravings of the score and parts to make sure there are no errors. When I say "marked up in red pen" it sounds bad, like they're correcting my homework or re-writing my music, but it's not like that at all. My editors like to be a lot more specific with bowings than I am, adding upbow, downbow, and lift marks. They like to be very precise about placing dynamics and articulations and they don't share my enthusiasm for double bar lines. But I'm all for being as specific as possible, so their changes are good ones. The only corrections I found were two wrong notes in the Viola part of Beale Street Strut.

Funny story about getting my copies of this year's finished music: I usually have about three pieces published each year and they send me two copies of each in a small box. This year I found a giant, heavy box on my doorstep. I opened it up and discovered someone had mixed up their Douglas E's - I had received the shipment intended for Alfred/Belwin composer Douglas E. Wagner. I checked the shipping label and, sure enough: his name, my address. I contacted Alfred and we sorted it out. No word if Mr. Wagner got my music by accident.

YouTube Concert

2011-08-19T10:14:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd assemble a little YouTube concert from some recent videos of my music. Up first is the Crews Middle School 7th Grade orchestra playing Lemon Twist:

Nice job! Very precise playing, a good laid-back tempo, and I like those sharp uniforms! Up next is the String Orchestra of the Community Music School at Webster University in St. Louis playing A Postcard From Tuscany.

A good sense of style on this one and it's good to see young players take their time with a more lyrical piece. Next is the Monarch 7th and 8th Grade Orchestra, appropriately playing Las Mariposas Exoticas:

This is one of those pieces with interlocking parts, where the whole orchestra works as one and I think they did a pretty good job of keeping it together. They also did a nice job giving the piece the "lightness" it requires. Let's finish with a classic. Here's the Wilson Middle School Orchestra playing Gauntlet:

Nicely done! Bravi to all the orchestras!

New Music Selected: Samba Del Sol

2011-07-18T11:10:00.000-04:00

My third piece selected for the 2012 - 2013 Alfred String Orchestra catalog is Samba Del Sol, an appropriately sunny tune for beginners. It's all in pizzicato and all on the D string, making is super-easy and it features optional percussion parts and back-and-forth melodies, making it super-fun.

Not much else to say about this one, other than to mention that it's the latest of many Latin-themed pieces I've had published. The others include "Las Mariposas Exoticas," "Violet's Tango," and "Mambo Incognito." I'd bet a good concert could be put together with just my Latin numbers.

New Music Selected: Harrowland

2011-07-14T09:07:00.000-04:00

The second of my pieces that Alfred Publishing selected for their 2012-2013 catalog is Harrowland. It's a fast, minor-key piece for beginners in the same "sturm und drang" style as Gauntlet, Avatar, Agincourt, and Elementals. And those are some of my best-sellers.

As always, I write string orchestra music as instructive etudes, so directors can reinforce important skills with their concert music. With wide leaps between notes, Harrowland is designed to give young musicians practice with string crossings.

This one was actually a re-submission. About two weeks after I finished Harrowland, I brought it along with me when I was invited to guest-conduct at the 2007 String Day concert in Philadelphia, where the piece was premiered. Each year, string students of Bucks County, PA volunteer a Saturday to sightread a few selections in the morning, rehearse them for a few hours, and put on a show that same evening. I was asked to conduct the advanced group, made of middle school students and a few ringers. We opened with Gauntlet, played a few other pieces, and closed with the world premiere of Harrowland (which, at the time, was called "Voyage of the Queen Anne's Revenge"). It was a great time and an exciting day of music-making! We had a great turnout of participants and it's great to see a school district where students are given opportunities to shine.

New Music Selected: Beale Street Strut

2011-07-12T11:37:00.000-04:00

I recently heard from my editor and I'm thrilled to announce that Alfred Publishing will release three of my new pieces in their 2012-2013 String Orchestra catalog! They're ahead of schedule this year, as I usually hear from them in late July or early August.

The first new piece to look forward to is Beale Street Strut, a major-key, intermediate-level piece. For those of you outside the United States (which, I understand to my delight, is a growing number), Beale Street is a stretch of road in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, famous for having a lot of jazz and blues clubs and it is considered the epicenter of Southern jazz.

As you might expect, the piece has a jazzy style and features some "blue" notes. Specifically, F-F# and C-C# chromatics. The basses and 'cellos get to play some classic bass lines as well as some broad-shouldered melodies. As usual, there's lots for the violas to do as well.

I think this is one that students will be humming in the hallways of their schools and that audiences will remember after the curtain goes down.

Doug' New Opera

2011-06-30T15:16:00.000-04:00

I keep mentioning that I'm working on a new opera, but I never get a chance to mention any specifics. To catch you up: I wrote my first opera, showed it around, and nobody had the interest or resources to produce my little epic. I was just too ambitious and, even though I consider it to be one of the best things I've ever written, it will probably never be heard. Such is life.

So for my second opera, I decided to make everything as different as possible. It will be short (75 to 90 minutes, no intermission), it will be economical (four singers, an orchestra of three), and it will be portable (no set). My goal is college productions, the Cincy Fringe Festival, and/or a tour of local schools.

My manner of writing this opera is also completely different. For opera #1, I wrote a play and set it to music. It's a continuous score with recurring motifs in the tradition of Debussy. Opera #2 is a number opera – a series of individual songs connected by talking and melodrama, more like "The Magic Flute." "Postcards From Morocco" is a big structural influence as well, since it features the characters singing a series of songs to the audience. So instead of working out all the text first, I'm taking it one song at a time. Here's my process:

1. After doing all my research, I figured out what needs to be said and who needs to say it. Then I wrote out a paragraph or two in their voice, outlining what I want each character to say and what I want each song to accomplish.

2. Next, I'll write a piece of music that captures the emotion of what the character is saying.

3. Finally, I'll rephrase the paragraph into verse to fit the rhythms of the music. Often, I'll need to adjust the music a little to fit the words. It's a tailoring process.

So there's a lot of back-and forth. I've also been careful with the tone of each piece, making sure that it leads into the next piece without an abrupt jump in style. After years of composing, I've come to realize that my best energy comes at the beginning of a project. So I've decided to write this opera backwards. I wrote the introduction music first and then the finale and have been working my way backwards, song by song, with very little skipping.

I'm about two-thirds done and I have three arias and two choruses to complete. Then I can focus on the book (the talking parts), adjust the lyrics and music, and finish by writing the underscores that connect many of the songs.

Fan Mail

2011-06-17T10:02:00.000-04:00

One of the best perks of being a published composer is getting fan mail. I absolutely love getting feedback from people who have played, conducted, or heard something I wrote. (Funny story: A friend of mine, who is an orchestra teacher, tells me that kids get confused when he says they can contact me because they think all composers are dead.) My e-mail address is readily available with only a little online searching, so I get most of my fan mail online but, occasionally, someone asks for my mailing address and writes out a letter. Some orchestra teachers have even made it an end-of-the year cross-curriculum assignment to write to the composer of a piece they enjoyed playing that year.

Such was the case when I recently received a packet of letters recently. An orchestra in the Chicago area played Westward Motion and seven of the students wrote to tell me about it in some of the most charming hand-written letters. In my favorite of the bunch, a young violist writes:

Thanks for being a composer! I love music and I hope you write another piece.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of my heart breaking.

New Submission Time

2011-05-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late in posting this, but about two weeks ago I sent off a packet of new music to my editor at Alfred Publishing. It's always a challenging process, but here's what leads up to my trip to the post office:

1. Write a ton of music. I write about ten pieces of music each year for student string orchestras. On top of that, I've been working on a new opera and some other minor projects, but my main focus is on string orchestra music. The goal is to produce a wide variety of music in different styles and at different ability levels, to give the selection committee as much choice as possible and to hopefully get more music selected.

2. Get organized. In mid-April I took all my newest scores and laid them out on my office floor, organized by grade level and tonality into nine categories. Sort of like this:

Major Key/Beginner Minor Key/Beginner Novelty/Beginner

Major Key/Intermediate Minor Key/Intermediate Novelty/Intermediate

Major Key/Advanced Minor Key/Advanced Novelty/Advanced

Usually, I have more than one piece in each category. This year I had two or sometimes three new pieces ready to fill each specific need.

3. Make some decisions. I selected what I thought was the best piece in each category and removed the others from the piles, leaving nine pieces. Then I looked again. This left me with two major-key pieces in a similar style and two Latin dances and two pieces that featured the same bowing technique. So I switched some things out and played around with the lineup. Again, the goal is to balance the portfolio as much as possible, to give the selection committee nine completely different and highly attractive options.

4. Look to the past. Finally, I decided which were the least-outstanding of the remaining pieces and replaced them with music from my back catalog – pieces that I'd previously submitted that weren't selected, but about which I still feel strongly. I tried to find two of those, but in order to maintain a good balance, I only entered one re-submission this year.

5. Pack it up. I decided on what order to present the final nine pieces, wrote out descriptions of each in a letter to my editor, burned a CD of Finale recordings, packed it all up, and mailed the letter, CD, and scores.

Now I wait. The selection committee meets sometime in June and I usually hear from them by late July, around my birthday. It's always a tense time, knowing that I've done my best and put a lot of work into the submissions, but realizing that there are a lot of factors that go into their final decision. I'm sure the folks at Alfred go through the same process, but with hundreds of submitted scores from dozens of composers, whereas I started the process with only about 20 pieces.

Until then, I can look forward to the roll-out of last year's selections. They're already available for sale at jwpepper.com and the recordings should be released soon!

Saga of the Broken Arm: One Year Later

2011-04-05T10:59:00.000-04:00

Today is one year since the bike accident where I shattered my right shoulder, so I thought it would be a good time to give another update on my condition.

Things are going well! I finished physical therapy back in October. Actually, that's not true. My insurance stopped paying for physical therapy in September and I kept paying on my own through October, then I continued my exercises at the local rec center, which is way cheaper. So I never technically "graduated" from physical therapy, but I haven't stopped my exercises. I take time to stretch it out twice a day and when I go to the rec center to run, I also use their weights and machines for my shoulder.

I can now reach over my head, behind my back, and lift over ten pounds without a problem. I can pick up my three-year-old and nearly-one-year-old nieces, lug a bag of groceries, and sleep in a bed (though a pillow propping up my right arm still helps). The right arm still isn't as good as the left, but I'd guess that I now have 95% mobility.

After the accident, I went from regular activity and exercise to zero movement so, as you can imagine, I gained quite a bit of weight. As my mobility has improved and the pain has died down, I've been able to get back to a regular exercise routine and lose the weight again.

I was off Percoset pretty quickly and moved over to plain Advil, but by Thanksgiving, I didn't need that anymore either. I can drive a car, get dressed, run, and do yoga (I'm back to twice a week). I haven't tried swimming yet, but I have conducted a few concerts in the past year and, though I was exhausted and achy by the end, they all went well.

One thing I haven't tried and probably won't again: get back on a bike.

Doug Spata's iPod - 2011

2011-03-31T09:57:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd keep up the tradition and make another playlist of what I've been listening to recently. If you've read my other playlist posts, you'll remember that I use my iPod mostly when I'm running, so I tend not to have songs with slow tempos or songs that change tempos.

I used to set it to shuffle and take my bike out to the park, but I haven't done that since my accident. I'm still recovering, but I've decided to stay closer to the ground at slower speeds and take up running instead of biking. Anyhoo, here's what I've been listening to:

1. Tell 'Em, Sleigh Bells.
My new favorite band. It's just two people making all that noise and their album is a brief, searing, 32 minutes of awesome. I like a lot of their songs, but this one is my favorite. In fact, I appropriated their use of a power drill as a musical instrument in one of my new pieces, to be published and recorded by Alfred Publishing in the Fall.

2. Boy, Ra Ra Riot.

I love the propulsive bassline and the 'cello/violin duet in this one. That might be a viola, though – it's hard to tell. This video was made at the 2010 Bumbershoot Arts Festival in Seattle. I've been to Bumbershoot twice and highly recommend it. Just get in a line and be surprised at what you see.

3. Oh No, Marina and the Diamonds

If you like Florence + The Machine you'll likely enjoy Marina and the Diamonds. Marina looks like a former Disney pop star but her lyrics are sharp as razors and her voice has a surprising urgency. I was torn between including this song and the frank, confessional "I Am Not a Robot," but "Oh No" has video. But it's not a great video. I don't think the comic book style and Marina's glossy look match up well at all with the tough, introspective lyrics.

4. I Don't Mind It, Screaming Females

An aptly-named band! Lead singer Marissa Paternoster has a great voice and it blends well with her distorted guitar riffs and the fantastic thumping bassline in this song. This is a great song to run to.

5. Crash Years, The New Pornographers

Yet another strong female singer, this time backed by a more elaborate, colorful ensemble. And a great whistling interlude. I also enjoy this video, which is an homage to the opening of the 1964 French film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

6. When the Child Awakes, Mount Righteous

This large group consists of a tuba, marching percussion, and one guitar. And everyone sings. All their songs sound like campfire sing-alongs and have wonderful melodies. I love the earnest enthusiasm that goes into their music. And that little “whooooooop!” after each chorus.

7. Seperate, The Thermals

A great bass line, cutting guitar, and hand claps. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah – lacerating lyrics in one of the best angry breakup songs of the year. “Separate we are finally whole.” Ouch! It stings!

8. Rocket, Goldfrapp

Guilty pleasure time. I tried hard to hate this song, but it’s so ridiculously catchy that I just gave in. This song could have come straight off an Olivia Newton-John album from 1981. Just enjoy those soft synths and let the awesome wash over you.

9. Heads Will Roll, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

This song has a great attitude and swagger. And a weird video. The werewolf in red shoes dancing on a light-up floor is an obvious reference to Thriller-era Michael Jackson, and then it gets gruesome. The video actually reminds me of one I posted last year for Passion Pit's "Little Secrets."

10. Answer To Yourself, The Soft Pack

This song is like a self-help book set to music, giving empowering advice to a great tune and roaring guitars. It's nice to be reassured every once in a while.

Oscars 2010: Post-Mortem

2011-03-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

Another Oscar Night has come and gone and the final score this year is Doug: 10, Oscar: 9. I knew I couldn't beat last year's score and I'm just happy to get over 50%. Here's how it turned out - I emboldened the categories that I picked correctly:

Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Original Screenplay: the King's Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Cinematography: Inception
Best Editing: The Social Network
Best Score: The Social Network
Best Song: Toy Story 3
Best Art Direction: Alice In Wonderland
Best Costumes: Alice In Wonderland
Best Makeup: The Wolfman
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Sound: Inception
Best Sound Effects Editing: Inception

I thought the show was okay. Anne Hathaway was great and kept it fun and relatable, but James Franco was a little wooden. I suspect that he does better when he's not reading his lines from a teleprompter.

Things that were good about the show:
1. Lots of surprises. Tom Hooper winning Best Director? Alice In Wonderland taking more than anyone expected? Randy Newman gets Best Song? These are the things that keep Oscar Night interesting.

2. The sets were nice.

3. With a few exceptions, they kept things moving. Kirk Douglas and Billy Crystal were allowed to indulge themselves way too much and each brought the show to a screeching halt, but otherwise, things were very smooth.

4. They finally took my advice and didn't mic the audience during the "In Memoriam" segment! There's nothing more tacky than the applause-o-meter popularity contest we usually get.

5. People looked good. There were no "what was she wearing" moments, but then again, those often make things interesting too.

Things that were bad about the show:
1. If this was supposed to be the "young and hip" Oscars, you wouldn't know it. Young audiences don't want to hear about movies that are over 10 years old. They don't care about Oscar history. They don't want to learn about the first Oscar broadcast in 1953. And they don't want to look at the presenters and ask "Who?"

2. The writing was awful. Even by award show standards. The intros, forced banter, and witticisms were uniformly strained, stale, and flat.

3. No great acceptance speeches. Colin Firth was sweet, Tom Hooper had a nice story to tell, and Randy Newman was kind of funny, but no one had a standout speech.

4. My advice is that if you're going to have two co-hosts, they should be as different as possible. I'd like to see Steve Martin's jaded, sarcastic persona paired with Anne Hathaway's earnest "Golly, I can't believe I'm here" energy. That would make an interesting dynamic.

So: not my best year, but definitely not my worst. I enjoyed writing these posts and I'll go back to writing about music now, but come back next February and we'll do it all again for the 84th Academy Awards. Thanks for reading!

Oscar Picks: The Final List

2011-02-26T08:48:00.003-05:00

Oscar Night is tomorrow! If you're like me, you'll clear your schedule and start watching the red carpet coverage at about noon. The show starts at 8:00pm on ABC. I'm expecting a young, modern show and it's my hope that enigmatic Documentary Feature nominee Banksy contributes to the sets.

Below, you'll find my final picks for the 2010 Academy Awards. I've made a few changes from my initial picks. Melissa Leo has been campaigning hard for Best Supporting Actress and has racked up several awards, but after seeing the movies, I'm sticking to my initial pick of Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. She really had a lead role - bigger than Jeff Bridges - and I think she'll walk away with the Oscar.

I previously picked Alice In Wonderland for Costumes and Art Direction, but, looking over my predictions, I only picked The King's Speech for two, including Best Picture, and that makes me nervous. No Best Picture since Rebecca has earned so few. I suspect that the artistic merits of The King's Speech will be its best shot at a higher total, so I'm changing my picks.

Otherwise, things are pretty much the same. I'm predicting four wins for Inception and The King's Speech and two each for True Grit and The Social Network. Seven other movies will each take one. Sorry, Winter's Bone - you were one of my favorite movies of the year, but you're destined to be the only Best Picture nominee to go home empty-handed. I'm confident in my picks for the acting awards - especially Supporting Actor - but those artistic and technical categories always have a way of biting me. I'm most worried about Cinematography, Costumes, and Art Direction.

Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Best Original Screenplay: The Kids Are All Right
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Cinematography: True Grit
Best Editing: 127 Hours
Best Score: Inception
Best Song: "Coming Home" Country Strong
Best Art Direction: The King's Speech
Best Costumes: The King's Speech
Best Makeup: The Wolfman
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Sound: Inception
Best Sound Effects Editing: Inception

Best Picture

2011-02-25T11:38:00.001-05:00

I rather like the ten-nominee system of the past few years. It's allowed some interesting films to get recognition when they normally wouldn't. So here are the ten Best Picture nominees and my assessment of their Best Picture changes:

1. Toy Story 3: A solid film, but animation is still struggling to gain equal acceptance with live-action films. Its a shoo-in for Best Animated Feature, which will be the extent of its wins.

2. Winter's Bone: One of my favorites of the year. Fantastic acting, a real, gritty sense of danger, and an excellent surprise. It doesn't stand a chance.

3. 127 Hours: In short, it's too gruesome to win Best Picture.

4. Inception: Popular, yes, but it's dense as granite and it's sci-fi, which traditionally cleans up in the technical categories and gets overshadowed in the Best Picture race.

5. Black Swan: Too crazy to win.

6. The Kids Are All Right: It's a talky, character-driven family drama with a bitter touch of comedy. All bode well, but it's missing the epic quality of some of its contenders. Just like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno, it's more attractive as a Screenplay winner than as a Best Picture.

7. The Fighter: This one is really an acting showcase. Melissa Leo has a strong shot at Supporting Actress and there's no way Christian Bale can lose Best Supporting Actor, but the movie as a whole is all over the place.

8. True Grit: A real contender. As I wrote in an earlier post, it's the least-awful Coen Brothers movie. It's a big story in a big setting with big characters, but perhaps the actors are getting more attention than the film itself.

9. The Social Network: It has up-to-the-minute relevance and tells a compelling story, but I feel that its screenplay is the real star, rather than the actors or directing. Also, from a visual standpoint, it's not much to look at.

10. The King's Speech: It's a period historical drama tempered with appropriate levity, it deals with epic events on an intimate scale, and it's filled with notable performances. And the costumes and sets are top-notch. The King's Speech fulfills every criteria for a Best Picture and, unless voters decide to get all modern and edgy this year, I think it will win Best Picture.

The Fighter & The Social Network

2011-02-25T11:37:00.001-05:00

In The Fighter, Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is an aspiring boxer with a close-knit family - his mother (nominee Melissa Leo) is a pushy, posessive manager and his half-brother Dicky (nominee Christian Bale) is his trainer. Dicky's crack addiction is an open secret and its effects ripple out to create trouble for Micky's family and career. All the negative influences in his life hold Micky back from his true potential, but when he cuts them loose and starts winning, his victories are hollow and, until a balance is found, he is kept from being a true champion.

In The Social Network, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (nominee Jesse Eisenberg) invents Facebook and brings his friends on board for the ride. As the project grows and expands, reaching the boundaries of his grasp, he befriends Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), a controversial figure in internet history for his own groundbreaking invention, Napster. Sean takes Mark under his wing, instilling his cutthroat instincts and paranoia in the young programmer. Sean introduces Mark to a life of excess while insinuating himself into the company and insulating Mark from the friends who first helped him succeed. As Facebook grows stronger, the friendships fall apart, making all the victories hollow. What was intended as a way for people to be more connected on a personal level eventually became a wedge between friends and partners.

Best Director

2011-02-23T08:26:00.003-05:00

This year's Best Director nominees are Darren Arnofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), David Fincher (The Social Network), and the Coen Brothers (True Grit).

The King's Speech might be the front runner for Best Picture, but its director is the youngest and most inexperienced of the five nominees. Though he did some interesting things with lenses, the other four nominees are better-known for their unique artistic visions and visual styles. I think that Russell, the Coens, and especially Arnofsky are considered oddball outsiders who make weird, outside-the-margins movies. Fincher, on the other hand, makes tasteful commercial hits, has never won before, has one previous nomination, has earned Hollywood credibility with films that are considered "modern classics," and his movie has a notable lack of psychotic ballerinas who grow feathers onstage.

Best Animated Feature

2011-02-21T12:13:00.001-05:00

Frequent readers of this blog know that I don't pick short films or documentaries because a.) I don't see them and can't make judgements and b.) they tend to ruin my average.

I would, however, like to pick the Animated Feature category. The nominees are How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist, and Toy Story 3. With its Best Picture and Screenplay nominations, Toy Story 3 is the obvious choice.

This might be the clearest sure thing in this year's Oscars.

True Grit and Winter's Bone

2011-02-18T11:00:00.001-05:00

You may recall that I swore off Coen Brothers movies last year but, unfortunately, True Grit is a juggernaut at this year's Oscars, so I felt compelled to see it. But I still refused pay for it myself. That said, I found it to be the least-annoying movie they've ever made. Probably because their over-written, cloyingly stylized dialogue doesn't sound nearly as grating coming from 19th-Century frontierspeople. There are Coen-esque annoyances throughout, though. Mainly the courtroom scene and the dentist.

End of disclaimer. moving on:

True Grit follows 13-year-old Mattie Ross (nominee Hailee Steinfeld) as she seeks revenge for her father's murder. Mattie hires gruff U.S. Marshall "Rooster" Cogburn (nominee Jeff Bridges) to track and kill Tom Cheney (Josh Brolin). Constantly underestimated and condescended, Mattie pushes hard to get what she wants, negotiating and bargaining her way through the towns and wilderness with a focused ferocity. As a child and a female in the Old West, she gets no respect but, in her father's absence, Mattie is now the man of her household and she takes charge of what needs to be done.

In Winter's Bone, Ree (nominee Jennifer Lawrence) is a modern teen in rural Arkansas. Her criminal father has left her to care for an invalid mother and two much younger siblings and, it turns out, jumped bail. Unless Ree can find him and turn him in, she and her family will loose their home. So Ree searches and asks around, encountering a series of dangerous people who don't want her father found. But Ree doesn't care if he's alive or dead, what he did, or who is responsible for his disappearance. She may be looked down on for being a child and a girl, but her stoic, single-minded focus keeps her going until she finds the truth and can save her home. She is the man of the house and, despite warnings and beatings, puts herself in harm's way to provide for her family.

Screenplay Awards

2011-02-16T11:55:00.001-05:00

The Best Adapted Screenplay nominees are 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter's Bone.

Can someone explain to me how Toy Story 3 is an adapted screenplay?

But really, the standout is Aaron Sorkin's script for The Social Network. It's really the best part of that film and it's the aspect that people are talking about most. The plot zips along like a thriller, it has up-to-the-minute relevance, and the dialogue pops like fireworks. True Grit might upset here, but the logical choice is the Facebook movie.

The Best Original Screenplay nominees are Another Year, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, and The King's Speech.

Inception might be the most discussed and hashed-over screenplay of the year, but Oscar voters tend to favor compelling, small-scale, character-driven films, so I'm going with The Kids Are All Right. It probably won't win in any other category, but it's best shot is for its screenplay.

Best Actor

2011-02-14T11:47:00.001-05:00

This year's Best Actor nominees are Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King's Speech), and James Franco (127 Hours).

I think it's pretty cool that for the first time ever, an Oscar host is also up for an award - and one as big as Lead Actor. It's also cool that Jeff Bridges could be the third person in Oscar history to win back-to-back Best Actor trophies.

In the end, though, I think Colin Firth will take home the prize. His character deals with a debilitating physical impediment in an inspirational period film - pure Oscar bait. Bardem's film is gaining momentum but it's extra-super depressing. Firth's real competition comes from Bridges, who eliminates all vestiges of "The Dude" in his gruff performance as Rooster Cogburn.

127 Hours and The King's Speech

2011-02-11T11:52:00.001-05:00

In 127 Hours, Aaron Ralston (James Franco) is the cocksure mountain climber who gets pinned in a narrow Utah canyon and famously ends up cutting off his own arm to free himself. Though he realizes soon after the accident that he'll probably lose the arm, Aaron takes five agonizing days to actually take the initiative and do what has to be done. In that time, he ponders his life and the mistakes that led him to that point. He meditates, in his dehydrated state, on his attitudes, his relationships, and his life. The movie makes it clear that without having the time to reflect in the face of death, he would never had achieved the epiphany of self-awareness that led him to free himself. "That rock was waiting for me my whole life," he says, "The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the outer surface."

In the King's Speech, the future King George VI (Colin Firth) fights a debilitating stutter and seeks help from Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist with unusual methods. While Lionel can help "Bertie" with a few tricks and exercises, it's not until the future king opens up about his anxieties and troubled past that lasting progress can begin. After Bertie reluctantly takes on the role of king - a responsibility he never thought he'd have and one that he has dreaded his whole life - England is thrust into a war with Germany and the country finds itself in need of a leader with a strong voice. Though it is by no means easy, it is clear that he never would have been able to do it at all without help from Lionel and the self awareness that came from his epiphany.

In each film, our main character must face the past that led him to a defining moment. Though their stakes and situations are very different, they must both muster their courage to endure the unthinkable.

Music Awards

2011-02-09T11:22:00.002-05:00

Hooray music awards! This year's nominees for Best Score are How To Train Your Dragon, Inception, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, and The Social Network.

I love Alexandre Desplat's music, but I'm surprised at his nomination for The King's Speech, where most of the big musical moments were provided by Mozart and Beethoven. Also, it's kind of cool that Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor was nominated as co-composer for The Social Network. Curious but, I though, fruitless. The award will go to Hans Zimmer for Inception. If you listen closely, his score actually illustrates the multiple-dream-level idea of the movie with different musical lines moving at different rates, the longest of which belts "Ma Vie En Rose," (a crucial plot point) in long foghorn blasts. Brilliant.

The Best Song nominees are "Coming Home" (Country Strong), "I See the Light" (Tangled), "If I Rise" (127 Hours), and "We Belong Together" (Toy Story 3). I've learned from experience that songs that are integral to the plot are the ones that win and songs that just play over the credits do not. That means that "Coming Home" is the likely winner. It's sung in the movie by the characters and directly relates to the action.

Best Actress

2011-02-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

Here's an exciting race! The nominees are Annette Benning (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), and Michele Williams (Blue Valentine).

First, let me say that if it were up to me, Jennifer Lawrence would get the award. She gave what was easily the best female leading performance of the year. Maybe the best lead performance period. But sadly, it's not up to me.

No, this race is really between Benning and Portman. Voters have a choice: they can finally give the Oscar to a Hollywood legend or they can give it to the young actress who suffered for her role. Both won Golden Globes and are clearly the front-runners, but it comes down to one factor – Portman wants it more.

On talk shows and interviews she never fails to mention her rigorous ballet training and diet for the role. During the nomination voting she announced that she's pregnant and has been showing up to events in baby bump-accenting gowns. She also announced that she is engaged to her Black Swan Choreographer. And if that wasn't enough to keep people talking about her, she took a page from Julia Robert's winning playbook and released a light comedy movie to run during Oscar season.

Remember in 2000 when Julia Roberts was up for Erin Brockovich, a serious dramatic role? During Oscar season she released The Mexican, a light relationship comedy, to remind voters that she has range as an actress. This also had the benefit of letting her campaign for the Oscar without looking like she was campaigning – she would go on talk shows and do interviews ostensibly to promote the new movie, but the conversation would always turn to her nomination. Very clever. But the plan can backfire – let's not forget Eddie Murphy. He got a nomination for Dreamgirls and then released Norbit, effectively ruining his shot at the Oscar.

So, while Annette Benning floats her way graciously through another awards season, Natalie Portman is focused with steely, laser-like precision on that Oscar. Let's just hope she doesn't fall victim to the "Best Actress curse."

Inception and Black Swan

2011-02-04T10:59:00.001-05:00

In Inception, an elite team of thieves that infiltrate peoples' minds to steal information is gathered for an unusual mission - they are hired not to take information, but to leave an idea behind. To do so, they wire themselves and their mark into a computer that allows them to walk through carefully constructed dreams... and dreams within dreams... and dreams within those dreams. All this dream-hopping is dangerous for our thieves because it's easy to lose track of what's real and get lost forever. This hazard is all to real for the team leader, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), whose wife killed herself, thinking she was in a dream and hoping to wake up. But was she right? Lines are blurred and reality is in question throughout, as the story unfolds. What and who is real? Who can be trusted? Where is the way out?

In Black Swan, Nina (Natale Portman) is a young, driven ballet dancer who scores not one, but two roles of a lifetime in a new production of Swan Lake - she will play the sad, graceful White Swan as well as the sinister Black Swan. She is naturally delicate and embodies the White Swan perfectly, but she is pressured by her castmates, her director, and herself, to find her darker Black Swan side. As she pushes her body and mind to the limit, Nina gets lost in the roles, becoming paranoid and delusional, always questioning the people around her and her own sanity. Who wants her to fail and why? Who and what is real? Throughout the film, we see a fragile woman break in two with the darkest of consequences.

Both films take you into the mind of its lead characters and show that reality is only as tangible as our perceptions.

Artistic Awards

2011-02-02T10:28:00.001-05:00

Let's start with Best Cinematography. The nominees are Black Swan, Inception, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit. I hated the camerawork in Black Swan. The Social Network slid into this category by virtue of its Best Picture nomination - it was nothing special. The lighting and compositions in The King's Speech were fantastic and Inception had the steely look characteristic of all Christopher Nolan films, but my pick goes to True Grit. First, because it had a wonderful dusty, raw, and... well... gritty look while still being gorgeous to look at. Second, because it's the great Roger Deakins, who has never won despite a gazillion nominations.

Best Art Direction nominees are Alice In Wonderland, Harry Potter 7a, Inception, The King's Speech, and True Grit. Most of these films' looks are based on reality - including the one that takes place mostly in a dream - so Alice In Wonderland has a distinctive edge. Everything had to be created from a whimsical imagination. No props could be bought - it all had to come from scratch, so the degree of difficulty is raised.

The Best Costumes category features Alice In Wonderland, I Am Love, The King's Speech, The Tempest, and True Grit. First, let me note how unusual it is to have a movie with a contemporary setting in this category. I Am Love doesn't stand a chance. No, in this category more is more and the more elaborate the costumes are, the better. That's why I'm picking Alice In Wonderland - its costumes are so outrageous that it stands out among the other nominees. Also, it varies widely from realistic Victorian looks to the crazy Wonderland apparel. Also also, it's the great Coleen Atwood who is amazing.

This year's Best Makeup nominees are Barney's Version (a Canadian comedy starring Paul Giamatti), The Way Back (about Russian prison camp escapees), and The Wolfman (the Benicio Del toro monster-movie dud from last winter). What a weak category. The Academy really couldn't come up with better Makeup nominees? The winner here is clear – The Wolfman will get it.

Interesting note: the makeup for The Wolfman was done by the legendary Rick Baker who, you may recall, won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Makeup for another werewolf movie – An American Werewolf In London. He was also one of the three people to beat Titanic back in '97.

Best Supporting Actor

2011-01-31T10:09:00.002-05:00

The Best Supporting Actor race this year features Christian Bale (The Fighter), John Hawkes (Winter's Bone), Jeremy Renner (The Town), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), and Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech).

Hawkes is the surprise nominee this year and he was really really good in Winter's Bone. But I think that this race will be between the two hotheaded working-class Boston Irish characters – Renner and Bale. I was all set to pick Renner, who was great in The Town, but now I'm leaning toward Bale. Both really internalized their roles with a strong intensity. Both were convincing as dangerous loose cannons in the protagonist's life. But Bale did it with a convincing accent, which puts him over the top. Just don't expect him to get a lot of votes from the Academy's Cinematography wing.

The Kids Are All Right & Toy Story 3

2011-01-28T07:00:00.003-05:00

In The Kids Are All Right, a laid-back suburban California household is cast into disarray when the two teenage kids, Joni and Laser, decide to contact their sperm-donor father, Paul (Supporting Actor nominee Mark Ruffalo). His appearance throws everyone's relationship into sharp relief, bringing up difficult issues in everyone's life and redefining their expectations of each other. After the unexpected phone call, Paul wrestles with his feelings about family and commitment. After meeting Paul, Joni and Laser have to come to terms with how to define their relationships – and how far they want him in their lives. Once they find out what their kids have done the parents, Nic and Jules (Nominee Annette Benning and Julianne Moore) question their parenting and their marriage while trying to define a place for newcomer Paul and establish boundaries within their family.

Oh, didn't I mention that the parents are both women? No? Probably because the movie doesn't make a big deal about it either.

Those boundaries are pushed and frictions arise as Paul becomes more and more involved in the kids' lives, infiltrating the family, much to the dismay of the protective Nic.

In Toy Story 3, the familiar residents of Andy's toy chest find their lives in disarray when they're donated to a local daycare center. Things seem great at first, but the situation soon turns sinister when they uncover the machinations of the center's leader, Lotso. The move to this new environment forces the toys to question their roles and their purpose in life. Is their loyalty to Andy or to the dozens of kids at the center who lack the emotional connection that they're used to? The toys struggle to find a place at the daycare while maintaining the boundaries and roles of their old life.

In their own ways, both films deal with change and how difficult and important it is for people to adjust their perceptions and their relationships. Nic in Kids and Jesse in Toy Story 3 find trouble by remaining rigid, refusing to give up their old status quo. Conversely, the kids in Kids and several of the toys in Toy Story 3 (including Barbie, Rex, and Ham) are more flexible, accepting with the change in their lives, but not without disappointment and heartache. Each movie shows us that the answer is somewhere in between - it's important to accept change, but not at the expense of your self and your family.

Technical Awards

2011-01-27T09:47:00.003-05:00

This year's nominees for Best Editing are Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, and The Social Network. (How is Inception not on that list?) As always, voters in this category have a choice between awarding solid storytelling or flashy, stylized editing. The one that stands out to me is 127 Hours, where the editor had to depict James Franco's character's mindset from multiple sources and build to a frenetic climax. In fact, discussion of the movie focuses as much on the editing as Franco's performance and those shocking three minutes near the end.

Best Sound Editing is about sound effects and there are five great nominees: Inception, Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, True Grit, and Unstoppable. Unstoppable probably has the most sound effects and Tron: Legacy probably has the most exotic, but I'm going to give my pick to Inception. Voters always want to give awards to high-quality prestige pictures, but categories like this are dominated by action films. Giving it to Inception solves both problems.

Best Sound Mixing takes all the sound aspects of a movie into consideration - how the dialogue, effects, music, and foley all work together. The nominees are Inception, The King's Speech, Salt, The Social Network, and True Grit. One of my chief complaints about The Social Network was its sound mix, so I'm inclined to count it out. Again, Inception seems the likely choice. It was a highly technical production with a lot of sound aspects, but it was still a cerebral prestige film. I think voters will feel good about giving them the win here.

The Best Visual Effects nominees are Alice In Wonderland, Harry Potter 7a, Hereafter, Inception, and Iron Man 2. Once again, a prestige picture has the edge and Inception will likely be the victor. Its main competition is Hereafter (also a prestige film, but lacking Academy support) and Alice In Wonderland (which was created mostly in computers). In the end, though, I think that Alice will clean up in the Artistic categories and that Inception will rock the Technical awards.

Best Supporting Actress

2011-01-26T09:45:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Oscar Season 2011! With cool young hosts, popular movies getting lots of nominations, and some difficult races, it looks to be a great show this year. To be honest, I don't expect to do as well with my picks as last year, but I'll certainly have fun trying and I hope you'll have fun reading my posts. Let's jump right in with Best Supporting Actress:

This years Supporting Actress race features Amy Adams and Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom). All are strong performances, but as the least-high profile nominee, I suspect that Jacki Weaver will have a tough time in this race. Bonham Carter was good, but her competition all had bolder performances and more aggressive characters. Leo and Adams are in the same movie and their votes will likely get split, but there's a chance that voters will get behind Melissa Leo.

More likely is a win for young Hailee Steinfeld. She is, technically, the female lead in True Grit and gives a bold, focused performance, holding her own against some heavyweight Hollywood veterans. Her movie has been popular and well-reviewed, but her age is a serious factor - the Academy doesn't give awards to kids lightly. The best thing she can do, now that she's been nominated, is to campaign like crazy. She needs to go on talk shows and show everyone that she isn't at all like her character and prove that she's an actress in whom the Academy can invest its votes. If she doesn't do that, Melissa Leo, an actress who already has Academy respect, will have the edge.

I'm picking Steinfeld, but we'll see how the campaigning pans out.

Recording of Gauntlet

2011-01-24T14:34:00.000-05:00

If that headline doesn't rack up the hits, I don't know what will.

If you're looking for a professional recording of Gauntlet, go here.

One of the great things about having a blog with Blogger is that they provide their users with statistics of how many views their blogs receive, where the hits are coming from, what sites are referring the viewers, and what phrases people typed into search engines to get there. And it can all be sorted by day, week, month, and all-time, to track trends.

The reason I started this post with the link to a recording of Gauntlet is because that's the number-one search engine query that leads them to my blog. I get searches like this all the time:

Gauntlet recording
Gauntlet download free
Gauntlet Spata MP3

Sorry, but you won't find a free MP3 of Gauntlet online. Not that I make a ton of money from downloads – I really don't – but the best recording is the one from Alfred Publishing and, while you can listen for free, it costs $.99 USD to download. That's just the way it is.

There's also inordinate number of searches for "Gauntlet violin parts free." Guess what? You're not going to get free sheet music. You'll have to buy it like a responsible, law-abiding citizen.

I also get hits for information about myself and my music. Searches like this:

Doug Spata composer
Avatar Doug Spata music
Star of Valor orchestra

... and they're either led to this blog or to my website, which has all sorts of information.

Here's a weird one. After my trip to Los Angeles last summer, I wrote about my ~~visit~~ pilgrimage to Igor Stravinsky's house and to his star on the Walk of Fame. I titled the post "1260 North Weatherly Drive" and, consequently, I get tons of hits from people looking up that address. One of the search results for my name in Google looks like this:

I think people click on it thinking that that's my address. Let me be clear – that's not my address. I sincerely hope that the current residents of Igor's house aren't getting mail addressed to me.

Another oddity: After I posted X-ray images of my broken shoulder last spring, I've had a lot of hits from people searching for "actual TSA scanner images." Weird.

Blogger also tells me where, geographically, the hits are coming from. Most of them are from the United States and Canada, as expected, but I've been surprised by hits from Jordan, Australia, China, Argentina, Brazil, and the UK, among many other places. I can only assume that people from those countries either: a.) stumbled onto my blog by complete accident or b.) have heard of my music and sought me out on purpose. I know it's the former but it's good for my ego to believe the latter.

So no matter how you got here, thanks for reading and I hope you come back. As per my tradition, I'll be blogging about the Academy Awards all next month, so stay tuned for some good oscar speculation and movie-related posts!

New Commission! (Update)

2011-01-04T13:02:00.001-05:00

I had a great couple of holidays and used my time to work on that commission for the Charlotte MENC orchestra contest that I mentioned a few weeks ago.

I've now finished first drafts on all four pieces and have sent them in to my contact in Charlotte. I do have a few concerns that some aspects may be too difficult (or perhaps too easy) for each grade level, so I'm looking forward to the feedback.

It's sight reading music, so I can't divulge any specifics about what keys, meters, and styles I used, but they're each around 30 measures and clock in at about one minute (at tempo). I'm really happy with how they turned out and I think that they'll be even better when I spin them into full-length pieces later.

New Commission!

2010-12-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

I'm very proud to announce that I'm working on a new commission! Every once in a while, someone contacts me and asks me to write something special for them. In this case, that someone is the Charlotte, North Carolina chapter of the MENC (Music Educators' National Conference). They've asked me to write the sight-reading selections for their Spring Contest!

I get quite a few international visitors, so I'll explain: Here in the States, many school orchestras participate in "contest" in the Spring, where they perform a short program and get criticism from a panel of judges. The judges then award ratings and it's a source of pride (and stress) for many music programs. Along with prepared selections, orchestras are also judged on their ability to read a short selection of never-before-seen music. That's where I come in.

The Charlotte MENC has asked me to write a short piece for each of four ability levels. They even provided a list of what keys, meters, rhythms, bowings, articulations, and techniques that each level of orchestra should be able to sight-read.

Obviously, I can't give any specific details here about how my pieces will look or sound, but I can reveal that they're all around 30 measures. I'm sure judges get bored hearing the same pieces over and over all day long, so I want to make them all as different as possible.

I really can't sell 30-measure pieces for publication, and because they are all written for different ability levels, they won't hang together as a suite. So the plan is to take each one later, spin them into full-scale pieces and submit them to my publisher.

This is turning out to be a really fun project! I've already finished the Grade I and II pieces, I'm about halfway done with the Grade III piece, and I hope to finish Grade IV by the end of the year. Then I'll submit them to my contact in Charlotte and we'll work together to make adjustments and corrections so they comply with the criteria in each grade level.

Online Concert

2010-12-13T14:34:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd program a short online concert of some of my more popular selections today.

Up first is the Cleveland School of Arts Orchestra performing Gauntlet. They do a lot of tuning and warming up (and it certainly pays off), but if you're interested in getting to the good stuff, skip ahead to the 1:45 mark.

Nice job! I especially like what they did with the "hard part" (mm. 56 - 80).

Up next is the Shaw Middle School Orchestra performing Zydeco Two-Step:

Excellent! The keyboard player did a great job.

Our final group is the Traverse City Symphony Strings - a civic orchestra - performing the heck out of Agincourt.

"Out of This World" is certainly an apt description of this group! They're a small ensemble, but they play with all the ferocity and musicianship of a group three times their size. I was also blown away by the production of this video - the multiple angles and great editing do the ensemble justice. Here's my favorite shot:

"Energy" at the end! A well-marked part is a joy for a composer to see.

Major/Minor Dilemma (Part 2)

2010-11-23T11:52:00.002-05:00

About a year ago, after receiving my annual royalty statement, I posted some musings about my top-selling compositions - specifically, I noticed that a lot of the better-selling pieces are in minor keys. This led me to wonder if maybe I should just focus on minor-key music when writing for student orchestras.

Well, it wasn't long before I received an e-mail from someone who had read the post and had a different theory:

Of the 5 compositions you posted, the top 4, besides being in minor keys, have really "cool" titles.
I know this seems arbitrary, and it is, but I think we underestimate the value of the titles of our art.

He has an interesting point. I'm always trying to pin down what it is about certain music that appeals to people and maybe an evocative title can set expectations. Titles have always been tough for me and I frequently put off titling my pieces until days before sending them off to my publisher for consideration. So I wrote back:

I wonder if you'd be willing to help me put your theory to a test? My three newest pieces this year
are "Quicksilver," "A Hero's Welcome," and "Porcupine Pantomime." All three are in major keys.
If you'll make a prediction of which of the three will be the best seller, I'll check it against the results
when I receive next year's sales report.

The challenge was taken up:

I'm going to guess "A Hero's Welcome" will be the highest selling. This guess is somewhat arbitrary,
but my rationale is as follows: kids will like the title "Quicksilver" and adults will like the "Porcupine
Pantomime." A Hero's Welcome has universal appeal between the age groups. That's my best guess.
Hope they all do well for you, though.

That makes sense to me. So the sales numbers are finally in and the rankings for the newest pieces are
(*drumroll*):

1. Quicksilver
2. Porcupine Pantomime
3. A Hero's Welcome

Obviously, there are a lot more factors at play than tonality and title. First: exposure. Quicksilver was
performed at last year's Midwest Music Conference, which features huge audiences of music-buyers. Second: Tempo. In my experience, fast music is more popular than slow music and A Hero's Welcome is a lyrical moderate-tempo piece. Third: Degree of difficulty. Beginner orchestras are always larger than intermediate and advanced groups, so there's usually a higher demand for beginner-level music. Porcupine Pantomime was the only early-level piece of the three. I suppose the moral of the story is that the appeal of a piece of music doesn't rest on anything as simple as tonality and title.

So I'll put it to you, reader. I invite you to predict which of this years pieces will be the top sellers:

• Star of Valor: A medium-to-advanced concert overture with fast, heroic melodies, a little bit of shifting, and a fast tempo.

• Storm Trail: A fast, minor-key, intermediate-level piece in 12/8 time.

• Sneaking Suspicion: An all-pizzicato, minor-key piece for beginners with a moderate tempo.

Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 3

2010-11-18T10:00:00.004-05:00

The third part of my royalty statement is a little nebulous. It involved "licensing" - an umbrella term that involves all income other than print sales. Most of it is listed as "MakeMusic Print Licensing." MakeMusic is the company that makes Finale notation software and Smartmusic, which is a great online resource where teachers and students can play along with recordings and print parts. So whenever someone pays to download one of my pieces online, I get a cut.

Some other pieces registered income from "Misc. 3rd Party Mechanical Licensing" which, I think, means that I get paid when someone records one of my pieces. A lot of orchestras record their concerts and sell them as fund raisers and, in theory, the directors should let Alfred Publishing know and pay for the copyright. In reality, only a handfull of honest directors have ever done this.

A third listing reads "Digital (Other Than Print) Licensing." and accounts for the highest single royalty on the licensing report. I have no idea what that means. Maybe something to do with video? I can only guess, but whoever you are, thanks for doing whatever you did with Breeze In the Keys and please do it again.

You'll notice that there are no rankings listed in this post, which leads me to the most nebulous part of this report. I have no idea how many MakeMusic downloads there were or how many recordings of each piece were sold - just that a certain lump-sum dollar amount is assigned to each title. And no two amounts are the same. I'd suspect that the royalty rate depends on the number of downloads or CD's burned, so it's hard to specify exactly.

Gauntlet Got Sampled

2010-11-15T12:26:00.000-05:00

I discovered this clip on YouTube recently. Some kid used Gauntlet as a sample for his hip-hop beat. Check it out.

He's selling it online for $25. I'm sure I get royalties for this... right?

Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 2

2010-11-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I mentioned that most of my music sales come from within the US, but a small portion comes from other countries. I can't be sure which other countries, but this blog has received hits from Canada, Sweden, Slovenia, Argentina, China, and Spain, just to name a few. I've also found my music for sale on German and Japanese online music stores, so that may also give some indication.

As I understand it, many other countries don't have the same model of music education that is common here in the US and most ensemble playing is done in private after-school groups, so there's far less demand for string orchestra sheet music.

Anyway, here are my top foreign sellers for the past year:

1. Agincourt
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet & Porcupine Pantomime (tie)
5. Hot Potato

Interesting results! It seems that my most popular pieces abroad are very close to my most popular pieces in the US. Porcupine Pantomime and Hot Potato are relatively new, which may account for their higher sales.

Something else to keep in mind: several pieces on the royalty statement are listed multiple times, because they're sold at different rates in different countries with different currencies and exchange rates. There are four different listings for foreign sales of Gauntlet because it was sold at four different prices around the world.

There's no record of foreign sales of scores only or parts only, which leads me to believe that either those options aren't available in foreign markets or there's no demand for extra scores and parts.

Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 1

2010-11-09T11:22:00.001-05:00

I got my annual royalty statement from Alfred Publishing recently, which outlines how many of each of my pieces they've sold in the past year, and first, let me just say

THANK YOU JAMES CAMERON!

You see, James Cameron decided to name what would become the highest-grossing movie of all time after a piece of music I wrote five years ago (kidding - the fact that we used the same titles was a complete coincidence). Anyway, it seems a lot of people mistook my music for James Horner's film score. Or they really enjoyed my music on its own considerable merits.

Here are my top five sellers this year (4/1/09 - 3/31/10):

1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. Quicksilver

So Avatar comes out of nowhere to become this year's number-one seller. Gauntlet and Gargoyles are perennial favorites and always seem to make the top five and I'm pleased to see that Agincourt has retained its popularity. Quicksilver was a new one last year and music often sells well in its first year. Plus, Quicksilver was performed at the Midwest Conference last December, giving it a huge boost.

Last year's other new pieces were Porcupine Pantomime, which would have come in sixth place, and A Hero's Welcome, which has a place further down in the rankings.

Now, this is just domestic sales of scores and parts. Scores are sold separately, for when orchestras go to contest and the judges need to follow along. Here are the sales of just the scores:

1. Avatar
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet
4. Crusader
5. Westward Motion

Interesting - perhaps Avatar is becoming a contest staple like Gargoyles and Gauntlet. Or maybe people just want to see the score to Avatar, thinking that it's the film score.

There are still foreign sales and mechanical fees to report on as well as a certain long-standing bet to settle, but that's for a later post.

Doug Spata at Indian Hill Middle School

2010-10-19T13:03:00.000-04:00

Today I did a "Johnny Depp" and paid a surprise visit to the Indian Hill Middle School 7th Grade Orchestra. I was invited by the director, Candace Putz, who always puts on a great Halloween concert and has programmed Gauntlet and Violet's Tango. I showed up early to surprise the class and rehearsed both pieces with the orchestra on stage. Mrs. Putz took this photo for me:

I realize that I don't put many photos of myself on this blog, but that's what I look like. Sorry to ruin the mystery.

IHMS has a good-sized orchestra with a phalanx of 'cellos, three basses, and a small but enthusiastic viola section. They play with all the passion required for Gauntlet and all the style necessary for Violet's Tango and I had a great time. I can't wait to come back and hear them in concert on Thursday night!

I also regaled the orchestra with the story of the time I met Lemony Snickett, the inspiration for Violet's Tango.

Huge Gargoyles Performance

2010-10-15T11:41:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine recently let me know about this YouTube video of a combined orchestra performing Gargoyles. Have a look:

This is really cool - I don't think I've ever seen such a huge orchestra performing one of my pieces. They literally fill the floor of a gym and require four conductors (by my count). Nuance goes out the window with an ensemble that size, but they make an impressive sound! Well done, New Berlin Combined Orchestras!

North Pole Workshop

2010-09-23T11:21:00.000-04:00

My third piece officially has a title! After submitting it as "Workshop Song," my editor suggested I change it to be more overtly Christmas-related. I suggested "North Pole Workshop" and they're going with it. So there it is - next year you can look for these three new pieces:

Maharaja
Shadows of Venice
North Pole Workshop

Also, they liked my suggestion of including alternate parts for "Shadows of Venice." The set will include Violin III parts (doubling the Viola part) and Cello II parts (doubling the Bass). The reason we're doing that is that each part includes at least one solo, so if an orchestra has no basses or weak violas, they can still perform the piece.

Heist Music & Opera

2010-08-23T11:39:00.001-04:00

I haven't written here in a while, so I thought I'd give an update on what I'm working on right now.

At present, I'm in the middle of writing a piece for intermediate-to-advanced groups. I enjoy a good "heist" movie like Oceans Eleven, The Italian Job, and the grandfather of them all, Rififi, so I thought it would be fun to write a faux soundtrack to a heist movie. Musically telling the story of an elite group sneaking into a building, evading security, cracking the safe, and getting out with the loot has yielded some good things and has given me the opportunity to include some fun special effects.

I have a "main" theme and a "secondary" theme written and now it's just a matter of arranging them to tell the story - building suspense in certain places and depicting the events of the heist.

I'm also at work on my second opera, Heart Mountain. My plan is to go back and forth between writing a number for the opera and writing a piece for school orchestras. that way, I'll have enough music to send to my publishers each year while still making steady progress on the opera. At present, I've finished the opera's short intro, two of the twelve arias, and the ensemble-finale. There will be four singers (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone) and the arias I've finished are for Soprano and Tenor. I'll write an Alto aria, then one for the Baritone, and another ensemble (perhaps the opening chorus, but I haven't decided for sure). After that, I'll be one third of the way done.

The opera is coming along slowly, but I have the time and want to make sure I have nothing but spectacular melodies throughout. in fact, I've worked out a method where I write all the music to a piece first, then write the lyrics to fit the rhythms and melodies. Writing music to fit the lyrics never worked for me - The melodies tend to fall flat at the expense of staying true to the words. the new system is working much better.

I'll write more about the lyrical process later.

Saga of the Broken Arm: Update

2010-08-09T15:33:00.002-04:00

If you come to this blog to get to know me inside and out, I have a special treat for you today. As you may have read here, I was in a bike accident and shattered my shoulder back in April. I thought I'd give an update.

The accident and ensuing surgery pretty much knocked me out of commission, but I've been going to physical therapy, building flexibility and strength, and, while I'm still not at 100%, I've come to realize that I may never have a full range of motion in my right arm. Still, I'm much better and have exceeded the expectations of both my therapist and my surgeon.

Last Thursday, I went for a follow-up with my surgeon who had great things to say. He also took these X-rays. The engineering is impressive.

What you're looking at is a titanium plate secured to my right humerus with nine screws. The break is completely healed and looking good. To answer your questions:

1. No, I can't feel the plate. It's under so much tissue that one can't feel the edges. But the night after surgery when the anesthetic wore off? Boy, I felt that. Worst pain of my life - worse than the actual accident.

2. I will not set off metal detectors at the airport unless the TSA turns up their sensors to maximum sensitivity. I've actually been through airport security a few times since the surgery and had no problems.

3. I have an eight-inch scar from my armpit to almost the top of my shoulder.

4. Yes, it still hurts, but it's an ache, rather than a sharp pain. Advil helps a lot. I'm still going to physical therapy to build strength and can now get dressed by myself, drive a car, and change an overhead light bulb. I still can't sleep in a bed, though (I spend the night in a reclining chair).

But here's the most fascinating thing: on that second X-ray, the doctor showed me that I developed extra bone growth over the break. It's not unusual for the body to over-correct after an injury and it won't get in my way, but it's pretty cool.

New Music Selected: [Untitled]

2010-07-28T09:41:00.003-04:00

Yes, my third piece this year is untitled as of yet. The title I originally submitted was "Workshop Song," and it's supposed to evoke happy elves making toys in Santa's workshop with fun percussive sound effects, but my editor asked me to make it more overtly holiday-themed while keeping "workshop" in the title. I'm happy to comply and have come up with a few alternatives:

Elves in the Workshop

North Pole Workshop

I realize that directors are expected to play Christmas carols at winter concerts, but when programming concerts, I try to focus on neutral "winter" themed songs rather than "Christmas" songs. I feel weird asking students of non-Christian faiths to play religious Christmas songs. Growing up, I went to a school with a large Jewish population and during the December concert, the uneasiness was palpable when we sang songs like "Silent Night" and "Away In a Manger." I had a student once whose religious beliefs prevented him from even playing winter-themed songs like "Frosty The Snowman" and I felt awful that he had to sit out while the rest of the orchestra played.

On the other hand, there is a high demand for good holiday music and I'm excited to see how this new one sells. It's a charming little polka and, rather than using familiar tunes, it's an original. As I mentioned, it uses percussive sound effects to imitate the clatter of Santa's workshop. I may even make some last-minute changes and provide fun alternatives to the triangle and woodblock (I'm thinking of rachet, power drill, and brake drum).

Until then, there's the title to sort out. Any ideas, interwebs?

New Music Selected: Shadows of Venice

2010-07-26T12:35:00.000-04:00

As you might remember from a previous post, I enjoy Baroque music, but prefer the simplicity of the Italians to the ostentatious flourishes of the Germans. I have a special place in my heart for Vivaldi. Maybe it's the simplicity of the music, the austere joy he conveyed, or the fact that, like me, he wrote for school-age musicians, providing them with quality material. When I visited Venice many years ago, I came across the church where he worked and had one of my very first full conversations in Italian. It went something like this:

[I arrive at the church, right on the Grand Canal and see a woman at the box office window]

Me: Buena sera! Questo é la chiesa di Vivaldi, si?
Her: [nods]
Me: La sua tomba non é qui?
Her: [shakes her head "no"]
Me: Ma che un concerto da qui questa sera.
Her: [nods]
Me: Hmm. Grazie. [exit]

I thought I did pretty well for a beginner, even if she seemed kind of annoyed with me.

So anyway, I enjoy Vivaldi and wanted to write a piece in his style. I'm really not a good mimic of style - everything I write sounds like me - but wanted to use some of Vivaldi's techniques, like his sequences, articulation style and rhythms (I think of Vivaldi's rhythms being very "square." They're angular and require very precise, even playing). The form that is most frequently associated with Il Prete Roso is the concerto, so I felt this would be a great opportunity for school orchestras.

Written in ritornello form, my piece Shadows Of Venice starts off with the whole orchestra playing a dark main theme. Then, students get a chance to play solos. Students from each section get solos and it's very easy to break the solos up into smaller parts, giving more students a chance to stand out. In fact, there could be as few as five soloists and as many as 24, depending on how the solo parts are broken up. The MENC guidelines warrant that students should have the opportunity to play solos, and this is the perfect opportunity for them.

Shadows Of Venice is written for late-beginner students (probably the end of their first year) and negotiates three key changes without requiring anything but the first finger pattern and only uses three strings on each instrument. I'm rather proud of that. I'm also happy with the title. The "shadows" can refer to the dark, minor-key style of the piece and could describe a nighttime chase through the city, over the bridges and through tight alleyways. The title could also refer to my modern take on Vivaldi's style: The piece isn't a direct copy, but uses elements of his style, hence "Shadows Of Venice."

You can read the blog post I wrote shortly after finishing the piece.

New Music Selected: Maharaja

2010-07-24T00:06:00.000-04:00

Guess what, Interwebs? Alfred Publishing selected three of my submissions for their 2011 String Orchestra catalog! (I'm sure this news will be met with great elation by the approximately zero people who read this blog.) Never the less, I'm excited about it and I feel compelled to describe each forthcoming piece. I want to give them their own space, so each one will get its own blog post, starting with Maharaja:

The MENC has dictated in its National Standards that young musicians should be exposed to music of international origin, in order to foster an understanding of foreign cultures through their art. This has not been difficult, because folksong arrangements from Japan, Latin America, Australia, and all over Europe are readily available and quite popular. The exception: India. There are no "Indian" songs available to string orchestras. Traditional Indian music defies simplification and arrangement because it:

1. is a mostly improvisational musical genre.
2. doesn't really have "melodies" in the Western sense
3. utilizes sounds that are nearly impossible to replicate with Western instruments.

It's a challenge, to say the least, but one I was up for. I decided that the key was not to approach Indian music from a "classical" perspective with all its confusing ragas and improvised noodlings, but instead, to approach it from a pop music perspective. The "Bollywood" style uses Western tonality, forms, and instrumentation but with a distinctive South-Asian flair and often the addition of tabla drums and sitars. It's a fascinating blend of Indian and Western pop styles. And that would be my starting point.

When writing my new, forthcoming piece, Maharaja, I started as I always do: with meticulous research. I listened to countless songs and watched videos on YouTube to get an understanding of Bollywood style - its conventions, typical rhythms, melodic style, forms, and use of instrumentation. The piece is based it on the "Asian" scale with flat third and sixth degrees and sharp fourth degrees. I made sure to use idiomatic flourishes and syncopations, octave interjections in the violins, and even approximated the sound of tabla drums with slurred pizzicato in the 'cellos and basses. Bollywood music is typically very rhythmic and, in lieu of using a drum kit, I opted for finger snaps.

Honestly, I submitted Maharaja with little hope of it being selected for publication but, once again, the selection committee surprised me. I'm very glad they did, not only because I poured a lot of time and love into its creation, but because Indian music has a close plase in my heart. As a small child my family lived in Sri Lanka, just off the coast of India and my parents lived in India before that. The two countries have somewhat similar cultures and musical traditions. I grew up surrounded by wicker, brass, Sri Lankan and Indian artifacts, and stories of the Para Hara. My childhood nickname was that of a bell-shaped Buddhist shrine. Long story short: I've always had an affinity for South Asian culture and I'm thrilled that I can share that interest with orchestra students of the world.

New Performances: International Edition

2010-07-21T09:29:00.001-04:00

The vast majority of my published music is sold in the US, but a small percentage of my total sales comes from international buyers. Not all countries have American-style school music programs, so the demand for student-level string orchestra music is much lower. Occasionally, though, I hear about performances of my music outside the US. Here are two I stumbled across recently.

First up, we journey to the mysterious land of kangaroos and Vegemite: Australia. Here's the Sydney Youth Orchestra performing Lemon Twist:

Wasn't that great? You can really tell how much those young musicians really enjoyed playing it. Watching the Violin II's and Violas bopping along to the rhythm makes my heart swell. That's what it's all about

Up next is the Orquesta de Cuerdas de Grado in Córdoba. That's Córdoba SPAIN, y'all. I've heard of performances in Australia and Canada, but this is the first time I've heard of a performance of my music in Europe. I'm a little awed. They do a great job with Gargoyles:

Professor D. Gabriel A. leads a fantastic orchestra and it looks like he has a well-balanced program there at the Córdoba Professional Conservatory of Music. Good tempo, great sense of style.

At this point I should remind readers that I'm available as guest conductor, so if anyone in Europe wants to fly me out and pay my expenses to visit their program, please drop me a line.

Too Difficult?

2010-07-13T15:55:00.001-04:00

Here's a quandry I thought I'd express to you, interwebs: when it comes to music for student orchestras, how difficult is too difficult?

In the past I've written music with rhythms that makes students' eyes cross. Despite taking it slow, counting it out, teaching by rote, and being very methodical, I find that these rhythms are completely un-performable. And yet, the same students have no problem singing the exact same rhythms when they appear in pop songs. It must be something about the written music. Needless to say that I'll either simplify it before submitting it to my publisher or just abandon it altogether.

On the other hand, when I write a purposely challenging piece (like Agincourt in 7/8 time) I hear kids say "Pffft. That's totally easy. We could play that in sixth grade." (Though how well remains to be seen.)

Shifting is challenging, part independence can be challenging, and so can triplets against duplets, fast technical passages, key changes, and good old-fashioned expressive musicianship. I've thrown all of those things into various pieces and kids blow it off like it's nothing and my publisher rates the difficulty 2.5 out of 4. These are all things that students should be able to do at some point as they advance at their instrument.

Question #1: Where's the line? Does it depend on the individual player or group? Or am I being lied to when it comes to how challenging to make a piece of music?

Question #2: Are students being pushed too far too soon? Are teachers pushing advanced music and techniques too soon at the expense of fundamentals and basic technique?

This also brings up the controversy of "teaching to the music," to which I am opposed. My philosophy is to use music to reinforce the lessons, but many teachers choose the music first and then teach students the techniques they need in order to play it. In my mind, when you teach to the music it sets up a very specific context for the technique and students find it harder to apply that technique to another piece of music. Teaching the lesson first and then applying it to a piece ensures that students understand the fundamentals first - the whys and hows - before trying it out.

The reason I ask is because I'm working on a challenging piece that I intend for high school groups. I'm including all the challenging techniques listed above and if I've done my job right, the orchestra, director, and audience should be completely exhausted by the end of the piece. But is is too hard? Am I writing myself out of an audience? What say you, interwebs?

New Recordings Available!

2010-07-06T13:06:00.001-04:00

Recordings of my three newly-published pieces are now available online! Just go to alfred-music.com and do a search for my name and you can get recordings of any (or all) of my published music for just $.99 per song.

Click on these links for online samples:

Sneaking Suspicion • Star of Valor • Storm Trail

Yes, it's the year of the "S's." I totally didn't plan it, the selection committee just happened to select three pieces whose titles start with "S." People would kid me years ago because three of my first four published pieces started with "G." As I'm sure you know from exhaustively reading all the posts on this blog and committing them to memory, titles are tough for me. If I were smart, all my titles would only start with letters A through M, so they always appear in the first half of alphabetically-organized lists of titles.

But I digress.

I'm really happy with how the recordings turned out. Some of my pieces are really designed for larger forces than the nine or ten studio musicians assembled to record the Alfred catalog, but the musicianship is of such high quality that I can't complain.

Consider this when listening to Star of Valor: I had a lot of trouble with counterpoint in college. All the rules just confounded me and I'd freeze up when asked to write out a simple chorale. My fugues were musical atrocities. And here I am years later, juggling simultaneous melodies and lyrical accompaniment parts like it's nothing. In fact, it was a lot of work to get it right and the studio musicians make it sound easy and natural.

Anyway, follow those links, enjoy the new music, and please buy it if you like it. Thanks!

1260 North Weatherly Drive

2010-06-21T14:35:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Los Angeles, California, recently - my first trip to California - and had a long list of things to see. The Getty Center? Sure. Universal Studios? Okay. Grauman's Chinese Theater? Check. But do you know what was at the top of the list? The one thing I wanted to see above all else? This quiet two-bedroom three-bath home on a hill in West Hollywood.

This, Ladies and Gents, is 1260 North Weatherly Drive, once home to Mr. and Mrs. Igor Stravinsky. That's right - the greatest composer of the 20th century and my favorite composer and chief influence lived and worked right here. My favorite opera, The Rake's Progress, was written within these walls, as were countless other masterpieces. This is the headquarters for the mid-century musical avant-garde. Igor probably entertained W. H. Auden, Toscanini, and Oscar Levant right on that balcony.

The house is off the beaten path, but is throwing distance from the famous Sunset Strip, where bands like Motly Crue and Guns N' Roses were discovered at the Roxy, the Viper Room, and the Rainbow. It's minutes away from the spot where Andy Kauffman first took the stage and where River Phoenix shuffled off his mortal coil.

Of course, it's still someone's house, so I didn't get to spend a lot of time there. I found the house, got out of the car, snapped two photos through the iron fence, and got out of there. I didn't see any activity, and I'm not sure the owners even know the importance of their address. I didn't want to bother anyone.

A few days later, I sought out another important address: 6340 Hollywood Boulevard (between Ivar and Vine). It's the location of a burger restaurant, but I was more interested in what's just outside.

That's right - he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In fact, Igor is the only classical composer to have a star on Hollywood Boulevard. Suck on that, Beethoven.

I saw other stuff in Los Angeles and had a great time, but these stood out as two major highlights in an exceptional week.

A New Opera

2010-06-01T11:03:00.002-04:00

I'm proud to announce that I've started in earnest on my second opera! It will be called "Heart Mountain" and, like my first opera, "Mata Hari," it will be an original story based around historical events.

What about the first opera, you ask? Well, it seems I was a little too ambitious with that one. It's a big three-act production with lots of roles, a chorus, and a big orchestra in the pit and no opera company wanted to/was able to risk the expense for a brand-new, untested opera. Their loss.

So I've planned this new opera to be the complete opposite in nearly every way:

Mata Hari: 4 main roles, 6 minor roles, plus a chorus (20 singers total)
Heart Mountain: 4 singers total

Mata Hari: 35 to 40-piece orchestra in the pit
Heart Mountain: Piano, 'Cello, Clarinet, all on stage with the singers

Mata Hari: Three acts, two hours
Heart Mountain: One act, 60 minutes (80 tops)

Mata Hari: Three sets
Heart Mountain: A wall. Otherwise, no sets.

Mata Hari: Declamatory style, with singing throughout. Basically a sung play.
Heart Mountain: A "number" opera with some talking between songs. The same idea as "The Magic Flute"

My idea is to make it as economical as possible, with only eight to ten people involved: four singers, three musicians, a director, and one or two technical personnel to handle lighting and stage manage. I'm writing the clarinet part for myself and it's possible that one of the singers or musicians could direct. Or the director could be a stagehand. It's something we could bring to schools or to the Cincinnati Fringe Festival in a few years. My hope is that Heart Mountain will open some doors that will lead to Mata Hari getting produced.

So far, I've done a lot of research, created the story, planned everything in an outline, and have written the introduction music and one of the songs. Instead of polishing the libretto and then adding music like I did with Mata Hari, I'm going to write the music and lyrics together, letting one inform the other as I go. I've only just begun and I'm a long way from finishing, but the first steps in a very long journey are laid out and I'm on my way!

Violet's... 100 Meter Dash?

2010-05-04T12:58:00.002-04:00

I found this video of Violet's Tango on YouTube recently:

JEEZY CREEZY!

Was the building on fire and they had to get through the piece as fast as they could before they evacuated? Why in the world would you take this piece at breakneck speed? It's a tango - it says so in the title, for goodness sake. A tango is a dance that requires a moderate tempo. There's no way anyone could dance to this tempo. Besides, I clearly wrote a tempo marking right there in the music:

Moderato. As in "moderately." As in "not fast." Clear as day in black and white. I even specified a metronome marking just to be even more clear - 120 beats per minute. Consider that a speed limit sign. This conductor was doing the equivalent of 70 in a school zone.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: just because you CAN play the notes fast, doesn't mean that you SHOULD play fast. When you take music - especially dance music - too fast, you lose all the nuance and emotion, and you waste the opportunity to give the music expression. Violet's Tango is a character piece with bold contrasts, nuanced harmonies, and a sly, flirtatious style. All that is thrown out the window when you plow through it like a panicked cheetah.

When you race through a piece like that, you're not only playing it wrong, you're showing disrespect for the music, your audience, and your own growth as a musician. So I once again beg conductors and orchestras everywhere: please please please please please pay attention to the tempo markings. I put them there for a reason.

It should sound like this.

New Submissions

2010-05-03T14:45:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again! I just got back from the post office where I shipped nine new pieces of music and a CD to Alfred Publishing for consideration in the 2012-2013 String Orchestra catalog. My fingers will remain crossed for approximately the next three months while I wait to hear back from the selection committee.

This year I sent in nine original pieces, none of which were re-submissions. Three beginner pieces, three intermediate-level pieces, and three advanced-level pieces and a good mix of styles and keys. My hope is that by giving them a broad range of music to choose from will increase my chances. In the past, they've chosen one piece from each ability level and each of a different style and . Here's what they chose last year, for example:

Sneaking Suspicion: beginner level, minor key, all pizzicato, scherzo style
Storm Trail: intermediate level, minor key, unusual time signature, "Gauntlet-esque" style
Star of Valor: advanced level, major key, part independence, shifting, heroic style

I have a few favorites among this year's submissions, but I'm proud of everything I've done and would be happy just to have something selected.

Saga of the Broken Arm

2010-04-28T10:25:00.001-04:00

I haven't written in a while, but I have a good excuse: I was in a serious bike (as in "bicycle") accident and have been mostly out of commission. I'm much better now, but here's how it went down:

April 5: The weather was nice so I decided to go for a bike ride in the park. My neighborhood links up to a great local park with a hike/bike trail, but I didn't even get that far. On the little sidewalk that connects to the trail I took the hill too fast and hit my front brake harder than the back brake and tumbled forward. My right elbow hit the pavement with my full weight. I was sure that my arm was dislocated. I managed to get to my phone and call the Parents, who live only a few miles away. They found me and got me to the hospital, where I was drugged up, gave my medical history to at least four people, and got some x-rays taken. After about three hours a doctor finally came to talk to me.

"Pieces. It's just in pieces."

The force of the impact had shattered my humerus (upper arm bone) just below the ball socket. And it was also dislocated. The muscles, tendons, and surrounding bones were fine, but the one bone was shattered. Unfortunately, because of the location, they couldn't set it, cast it, or really do anything but put it in a sling to immobilize it and give me lots of pain meds.

By the way, I've not seen the x-rays to this day, as I have a tendency to get queasy and black out at such things.

April 6: I went to see an orthopedic surgeon, who told me that I would need an operation. he said it would be a very routine outpatient procedure and I'd be home before noon on the same day. Unfortunately, he needed to wait for the swelling to go down, which means I'd have to walk around with a broken arm for a week. Upon hearing the news, I nearly passed out.

April 13: Early morning surgery. Before taking me in, they gave me four shots in my neck to numb the arm. It was not pleasant. The anesthetic really did a number on me and it took all day to wear off. By 9:00 PM the feeling was returning in my arm and thus began The Most Horrible Night Of My Life. The pain was relentless and no dose of percoset could stop it. The pain was so much that the percoset didn't even knock me out like it usually did. The next few days were better, but then, anything else would be. To close the incision that runs from my armpit to the top of my shoulder, they used staples. Literally - metal staples. Thirteen of them right in my skin.

April 19: Follow-up appointment with the surgeon. We took more x-rays and I actually looked at this set. They had pinned the shattered bone together with a metal plate and nine screws. It's an impressive piece of engineering. At this point I was doing fine - until they decided to remove my staples. The nurse got about nine of them out before I started to pass out.

That same day, I signed up for physical therapy and have already had three sessions. My therapist gave me a bunch of exercises and I've already seen some improvement. I can now get dressed by myself, tie my own shoes (all of which are major improvements). I cannot sleep in a bed, drive a car, put on a t-shirt, or reach above shoulder-height, but it will come. I may never do yoga or swim freestyle again, but I'm working towards conducting and playing the piano. It's a slow process, but I'm improving every day.

Rejected

2010-04-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

Oh, interwebs. I'm so dissappointed today.

Remember back in November when I mailed music to Kjos Music for consideration in their next String Orchestra catalog? No? Well, I did. I'm not upset that you don't remember - it slipped my mind until I got a big package in the mail today.

Yes, that's right the big package. Unlike college letters where the big package means you're accepted (full of information packets and meeting times), the big package from a publisher means that they're returning all your stuff and they don't want to publish it.

Yep, I've been rejected. Which is to say that my six submissions don't "fit into their current catalog." Some other publishers discourage any further submissions by adding something like "we're not looking for submissions outside of our current stable of composers." Ouch.

Anyway, it gets me thinking that it's about time to get my submissions ready for Alfred. I have a lot of music to choose from and I need to make recordings, write up descriptions, choose which eight or nine to submit/ Lots of work. No time to feel sad.

Doug Spata's iPod - 2010, Part 2

2010-03-26T12:18:00.001-04:00

Here are five more songs to finish off my playlist:

6. Blame It On the Boogie, The Jacksons. When Michael Jackson died in September, I was one of the many people who was shocked by the news. And when the radio was flooded with Michael's songs, I discovered this little gem. I think it's been overlooked because it's not a Jackson 5 song and it wasn't on a solo album. It was by The Jacksons - an in-between project that didn't get as much recognition. Still, it's a fun disco tune with a great bass line and fun harmonies. And you can really hear the joy in Michael's voice as he takes the lead on this one. He really had fun with this song.

7. Human by The Killers. I first heard this on the radio and thought I had discovered a new song by The Cure, but was surprised to learn that it was from The Killers, for whom I previously did not care. That soaring melody got me first but the ambiguous and cryptic lyrics really drew me in. "Are we human or are we dancer?" My interpretation is that he's talking about the cathartic moment where an artist transcends the physical and becomes indistinguishable from his or her art as a pure force of creativity. I've been fortunate to experience that several times and it's the goal for any musician, artist, dancer, poet, or performer. To witness it as an audience is amazing as well.

8. Every Day I Write the Book by Elvis Costello. Speaking of really good lyrics, here's Elvis Costello. He's comparing being in love to writing a book and keeps coming up with clever ways to spin the metaphor further and further. I like that the music doesn't compete with the lyrics - it's just a cool, simple groove that isn't over-embellished or over-produced. The music is great and the lyrics are great and they come together to make something really special.

9. It Must Be Love by Madness. This half of the list is really leaning on the oldies. Kids, Madness was a ska band from England back in the 80's. They were a lot of fun and influenced people like Gwen Stefani and Dave Matthews. This wistful, romantic song is one of their best, with honest, sincere lyrics, a strong backbeat, and a really fun arrangement. I adore the pizzicato strings (via keyboard) and that fantastic bass line with the triplets just brightens my day. In fact, all the elements - piano, bass, drums, horns, xylophone, keyboards - are such wonderful elements independently that it gives the whole song a loose, improvisational feel while still holding together as a whole. Just like two people in love - separate but one, independent but working together.

10. Speakers Funk by Giant Panda. These guys made my list last year and I had to include them again. They have a great flow, a strong focus on the music, and they keep the old-school style alive. And it's a song about music - about the joy of finding a great new song and listening to it in your car at high volume. And really, that's a great summary of this list. I hope you've found some of that joy for yourself!

Doug Spata's iPod - 2010

2010-03-24T09:06:00.001-04:00

Last year around this time I posted an iPod playlist and the response was overwhelming - I got TWO comments. From people I didn't even know! Makes me feel like the next Julie Powell. I've expanded my iPod contents, so I thought it was time to do it again. And to make things even more appealing, I'm going to include video links.

1. We Are Golden by MIKA. Last year I discussed MIKA's song "Lollipop" and hoped that his next album would be just as good. Well, interwebs, I had nothing to fear. His second album may be even better, with even stronger melodies, more acrobatic falsetto, and bolder arrangements. The album opener is a call to arms for eager, ambitious youth everywhere. This song makes my heart jump.

2. Single Ladies by Beyoncé. I am fascinated by this song. The vocals are okay and the video is pretty good, but what amazes me every time I hear this one is that it uses polytonality. There are two different key signatures going on at the same time - specifically, she's singing in E Major and the music (the synth bassline) is in E Minor. This is a level of harmonic complexity unheard of in pop music and is usually found in the work of avant-garde modern composers like Philip Glass. In fact, it's a technique that my favorite composer, Igor Stravinsky, used in The Rite of Spring. Lots of rock musicians hover around the fringe of music and consider themselves cutting-edge innovators, but here's mainstream Beyoncé putting them all to shame. Amazing.

Bonus Video! Here's a great duo called Pomplamoose doing their own version of Single Ladies with more traditional harmonies:

3. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk. Yet another fantastic dance tune with a lot of musical innovation to offer. First: the hockett. THE HOCKETT!! Oh, interwebs, the use of hockett in this song makes me grin uncontrollably. They present the first melody (on beats 1 and 3), then they present the second melody (on beats 2 and 4) then they combine them to make a whole new melody. I loves me some good hockett and anyone who has played my music knows my infatuation with combined melodies. Especially in Wait your Turn, A Hero's Welcome, and the accompaniment parts on Las Mariposas Exoticas. The second innovative thing about this song: after the hockett section, it takes on the form of a theme and variations. The traditional verse-chorus-verse form of most pop songs is thrown out the window in favor of a form favored by the likes of Brahms and Mozart. Brilliant. Have a listen:

4. Yeh Ishq Hai from the movie Jab We Met. I came across this song while I was doing research for a new composition and used it as a reference point for Bollywood style. The music is absolutely enchanting. I love hearing the tabla drums and other Indian instruments, but the style is just right for my Western ears. I've never seen the movie and I have no earthly idea what she's singing about, but I've seen the word "Ishq" show up in so many Bollywood song titles that I can only assume it means "love." It just proves that a good melody can communicate in any language.

5. Little Secrets by Passion Pit. Not a lot of innovation here - it's just a really catchy song with a great beat, fantastic melodies, a killer synth part, and (like We Are Golden) a wonderful use of childrens' choir. And y'know what? That's perfectly okay. Music doesn't have to be innovative to be great and this song is simply a whole lot of fun on its own terms. Also: I heard the song before seeing the video and had an entirely different image in my head of how the band would look. The song took me by surprise and then the band surprised me again. Enjoy!

That's five songs - enough for now. I'll think about another five for a different post.

Facebook Link

2010-03-18T09:28:00.002-04:00

If you've been to this blog before you'll notice something different today, right there on the right side of your screen. It's a link to my Facebook page! And that microscopic guy leaning up against the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile is me. I've been on Facebook for about a year now and recently discovered that I can create a link over there from this blog.

So if you'd like to be my Facebook friend (that's right - friend. None of this impersonal "fan" stuff) click over and send a request. Just be sure to let me know that you got there from here so i know that you're not spam.

And, hey, while you're out exploring the Interwebs, maybe check out my regular website too. It gives a lot of information, answers some FAQ's and has links to MP3 downloads and YouTube videos. Enjoy!

New Videos

2010-03-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

Well, Oscar Season is over and I can re-focus this blog on music. Before I tell you about some of the thing I've been up to in the past six weeks, here are some new videos.

First up is a performance of Mambo Incognito in Plano, Texas:

Now, I've seen and have participated in plenty of concerts in school gyms. It's just a fact of school scheduling and resources and, to be honest, the acoustics are often more flattering than in auditoriums. I have not, however, seen an audience in the bleachers and the orchestras filling the floor. Look at all those orchestra students! Looks like those teachers are doing something right. The performance is really good too. Great job, kids!

Up next is Gauntlet, performed at Hanahan High school for an unnamed All-County concert.

Excellent tempo. As I've written before, one of the biggest problems I hear with Gauntlet is the tempo. It requires a fast tempo, but faster is not better. Take note - this is how it should be done. I don't know who the conductor is here, but she got it just right. Also, great style on the middle section. Way to go!

Next is a performance of Elementals as a quintet performed by the Naomi Hasan violin studio in Madison, WI.

Orchestras and classes come in all sizes, so it's not uncommon to hear the same piece played by a band of sixty or a chamber ensemble. Admittedly, some pieces work better than others when reduced down and I think Elementals is one of them (though a bass added to the mix wouldn't have hurt). This appears to be a group of adult students and I think that, for the most part, they did a fine job. I don't mean to sound disparaging, but the 'cello was off. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - maybe his pegs got knocked out of tune before going on stage or he was sight reading (I've done some sight reading in performances before).

Finally, let's hear Las Mariposas Exoticas, performed by the Lanier Middle School Philharmonia:

Fantastic. The orchestra did such a great job here and I'd like to point out the excellent use of the harp. There's no harp part in the original version and the part they came up with was very tasteful. I love the harp and wish I could write more for them, but harps in school ensembles are rare and it's not cost-effective to write for them most of the time. And in my experience, harpists can't stand playing piano parts - they're such idiomatically different instruments that it's hard to play one on the other.

Oscar Post-Mortem

2010-03-09T10:23:00.000-05:00

The dust has settled and the score is Doug: 14, Oscar: 5 That's 74% - my best score in a long time and markedly better than last year's 61%. It's also even with Entertainment Weekly's score. Here's how it turned out. My correct picks are bold.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique
Best Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay: Precious
Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Costumes: The Young Victoria
Best Makeup: Star Trek
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Sound Effects Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
Best Score: Up
Best Song: "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart
Best Animated Feature: Up

The Sound categories could have gone either to Avatar or The Hurt Locker and I just picked wrong. Also, I underestimated the effect of 3D technology in the Cinematography category. As for the Screenplays, I just underestimated The Hurt Locker and Precious. On the plus side, I correctly picked Best Picture, Director, and all the acting awards for the first time ever. I've finally figured out how to choose a Best Song, and I had the Artistic awards under control.

In all, only nine movies won Oscars (not counting short films and documentaries): The Hurt Locker: 6; Avatar: 3; Precious, Crazy Heart, and Up: 2 each; The Blind Side, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, and The Young Victoria: 1 each.

I thought it was a great show and that the hosts did a fantastic job and it only ran over by about five minutes. Not that there weren't problems. I'm not sure why a giant set piece made of lampshades kept appearing. I could have done without the clips explaining why short films matter and what goes into sound mixing and they spent way too long recapping the Governor's Banquet. Also, did we have to introduce all the Actor and Actress nominees one by one AND have co-workers eulogize them AND then list them again before handing over the trophy? Way overkill. Tom Hanks had the right idea when he presented Best Picture - we've had little features about each nominee throughout the night, just open the envelope and get on with it.

But what everyone is talking about is the pop-locking street dancing to mostly percussion-less orchestral Best Score nominees. The dancing was good and the music was nice to hear, but the two together were surreal and incongruous. It wasn't as egregious as the Debbie Allen-choreographed tap dance routine to music from Holocaust and war bovies back at the '98 awards, though. Also, what was with that loud woman who Kanye West-ed one of the Short Film winners?

The biggest surprise of the night: Fisher Stevens won an Oscar! The ubiquitous '80's actor produced the Best Documentary Feature. You may remember him from Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2, Reversal of Fortune, or from his TV appearances on Medium, Lost, Numb3rs, and Ugly Betty.

I'll let other, more qualified bloggers dissect the fashions in detail, but my favorites were Meryl Streep in classy white, Penelope Cruz in deep red, and Sandra Bullock in a shiny gown that seemed to change colors, depending on where she was standing. The only thing wrong there was her lipstick. My least favorites were Sara Jessica Parker's shapeless shower curtain, Diane Krueger's fluffy panda dress, and JLo's gown, which actually wouldn't have been too bad if the had eliminated the huge ruffles running up her left side. As for the men, it's nice to see a return to classic bow ties after years of straight ties on the red carpet.

I thought the presenters did a great job - especially Tina Fey and Colin Ferrell with their "actors vs. writers" argument. The same could not be said for Cameron Diaz and Steve Carrel's flat banter. There weren't any amazing acceptance speeches this year. At least not on the level of Halle Berry or Tom Hanks. I think everyone expected a lot from Mo'Nique and she kept it short and subdued. Jeff Bridges rambled a bit but it was really heartfelt and sincere, acknowledging his father as a chief influence on his life and career. Christoph Waltz has received a lot of awards this year and in each acceptance speech he shows a great facility for spinning long metaphors. This one was astronomy-themed.

Overall, it was a great night and I really enjoyed the whole Oscar season. I'm not sure if anyone read any of my posts or if they just disappeared into the interwebs, but they were fun to write. I'll go back to writing about music here, so if you have been reading, please stick around. And, of course, I'll be discussing the 83rd Oscars in January 2011. Thanks, all!

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 5 Answers

2010-03-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

21. "It's even, but it ain't settled. Let's settle it."

c. Paul Newman in The Color Of Money

22. "If it were true that children emulate their teachers, we'd have a lot more nuns running around."
a. Sean Penn in Milk

23. "The last time we talked, Mr. Dodd, you reduced me to tears. I promise you, it won't happen again. "
a. Grace Kelly in The Country Girl

24. "It's a mountain. The hardest piece you could Everest play. "
b. Geoffrey Rush in Shine

25. "My sister and I had an act that couldn't flop. My sister and I were headed straight for the top. My sister and I earned a thou a week at least, but my sister is now unfortunately deceased."
c. Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago

Final Oscar Picks

2010-03-05T12:00:00.005-05:00

The Oscars are this Sunday evening on your local ABC station! If you're like me, you'll tune in to the red carpet coverage well ahead of time (E! usually starts up around noon).

Before I get to my list of final Oscar predictions, I have some great news! Entertainment Weekly came out with their own predictions recently and, except for one category, we both picked all the same winners. Even The Young Victoria for Best Costumes, which surprised me! For Original Screenplay they picked The Hurt Locker (on the basis that it's the favorite for Best Picture and the Best Picture usually takes a screenplay award) but I picked Inglourious Basterds because... I thought it was a better screenplay.

EW has a great Oscar prognosticator and they traditionally have a better record than I do (except in 2004 when I rocked it out and blew away their score *fist pump*). I figure it's because I'm either too stubborn to reconsider my picks or I veer from my initial instincts at the last minute. But because they pick every category and I opt out of the Documentary and Short Film categories, EW has more to lose than I do.

Here's my final list of Oscar predictions:

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique
Best Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Up In the Air
Best Cinematography: The Hurt Locker
Best Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Costumes: The Young Victoria
Best Makeup: Star Trek
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Sound Effects Editing: Avatar
Best Sound Mixing: Avatar
Best Score: Up
Best Song: "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart
Best Animated Feature: Up

You'll notice that I'm predicting a pretty even distribution of hardware this year, with four Oscars each to Avatar and The Hurt Locker, two each to Up, Inglourious Basterds, and Crazy Heart, and one each to five other films. Except for Visual Effects and maybe Supporting Actress, I don't think there's any category that has a solid lock this year and I'm most apprehensive about my picks in the Score, Costumes, and Screenplay categories. I'm predicting the first ever female Best Director, the third-ever African American Best Supporting Actress (after Hattie McDaniel and Whoopi Goldberg), and the fourth-ever Austrian to win an Oscar for acting (Paul Muni, Louise Rainer, and Maximillian Schell were the other three). Also, if The Hurt Locker wins the big prize, it will be the lowest-grossing Best Picture in Oscar history.

Enjoy the show! Happy Oscar Night, everyone!

Best Picture

2010-03-05T10:00:00.002-05:00

By now you know that this year, the Academy is trying something new (or rather, something very very old) and named ten Best Picture nominees. The idea was that by opening up the category, there would be more room for popular movies (rather than the usual serious arty fare) which would lead to more general interest, which would lead to higher ratings for the Oscar broadcast.

Well, we got ten nominees and at least the first part worked. Popular movies were, in fact nominated alongside the serious critics' favorites. Has that led to heightened interest in this year's awards? Not that I can see. Will it lead to higher ratings? Maybe. Probably not.

Anyway, the nominees are Avatar, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, and Up In the Air.

If there were only the usual five nominees this year, I really don't think that The Blind Side, District 9, Up, Inglourious Basterds, or A Serious Man would have made the cut. The rest are just the kind of thing the Academy likes - one populist pick, a dark horse, a quiet foreign production, and a couple of strong, serious contenders. Normally, there's no room for feel-good fluff, allegoric sci-fi, cartoons, or talky, hard-to-categorize ensemble action spy films. Of course, with this year's weird new voting rules, it really could go to anyone.

Realistically, though, there are two serious contenders: Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Both are big action movies with puzzling titles, but I think voters will gravitate toward The Hurt Locker because it has more genuine soul and pathos. Avatar's electronic blue monkey-cat puppets might be visually dazzling, but no motion-capture performance can ever compare to real-life acting in actual locations. Many hearts will be broken, but I think The Hurt Locker will take the top prize.

In case you're curious: If it were entirely up to me, the Best Picture nominees would be The Hurt Locker, Up, Star Trek, District 9, and Inglourious Basterds. I also found Paranormal Activity extremely effective. And I'd give Inglourious Basterds the trophy.

A Serious Man

2010-03-04T10:00:00.015-05:00

The film A Serious Man is about a man who is serious. Very serious. Oh, so serious all the time. And he wears glasses. And stands on a roof.

Okay, I didn't see A Serious Man, but I have an excellent excuse: I hate the Coen Brothers' movies.

What? You can't hate the Coen brothers!

Oh, but I do. And it's not like I haven't tried really hard to like them. I've seen 10 of their 13 movies and have disliked every single one of them. I kept going in thinking "maybe this is the one I'll like" and I kept coming out disappointed. I don't find their comedies funny and I don't find their dramas compelling Their characters are always greedy, idiot losers or cloyingly naive half-wits whom I wouldn't want to spend time with in real life and certainly don't want to root for in a movie.

But you HAVE to like the Coen brothers!

I don't HAVE to do anything. Just because their movies are considered "classics" and critics fall all over themselves to praise everything they do doesn't mean I'm obligated to like them. I know it's blasphemous to say that I dislike everything they've ever done, because movie-lovers everywhere are SUPPOSED to love these movies without question, but I'm tired of being told what I'm SUPPOSED to like. Enough, I say. I'm done with the Coen brothers - they've failed me for the last time. And this is a big deal, because I've seen every Best Picture nominee of the past 15 years.

But this one is different!

That's what they said about No Country For Old Men, Fargo, The Lady Killers... no, it's just going to be pathetic, greedy loser characters who do contrived, idiotic things in a "quirky" way and spout overwrought colloquial dialogue while being filmed at odd angles. Done.

They won Best Director and Picture for No Country. Doesn't that mean that they're good?

It means that people have convinced themselves that the Emperors are wearing clothes. David Lynch has never won Best Director or Best Picture and his are some of the most fascinating, personal, and compelling films ever. Seeing them makes me want to see whatever he does next. Alfred Hitchcock is considered one of the greatest directors ever and he never won. Same goes for Stanley Kubrick. Martin Scorsese waited his whole life to win Best Director and finally won for re-making a Hong Kong action flick. So no, a Best Director trophy doesn't mean that they're geniuses.

The Coen brothers make really smart movies. Maybe you're just not on their level.

EXCUSE me? Them's fight'n words. And I'll argue that point to the ground. I don't consider The Big Lebowski or Raising Arizona particularly "cerebral" and I found O Brother, Where Art Thou to be a dull and uninformed adaptation of The Odyssey. No, I don't find any of their movies "smart" except in the sense that all their characters are so stupid as to make many viewers seem like MENSA candidates by comparison. A lot of this has to do with the "look" of their films, filled with weird camera moves and unusual compositions that make their stupid stories seem "artsy." That's the work of their Director of Photography, Roger Deakins. I have no beef with Deakins, other than the fact that he enables the brothers and covers for their insipid scripts.

So there it is. I refuse to waste any more time and money on Coen brothers movies. With only two nominations this year, A Serious Man is the least likely of the Best Picture nominees to win and I feel extremely confident that I'm not missing anything.

Best Animated Feature

2010-03-03T10:00:00.003-05:00

I normally don't make official picks for the short films and documentaries unless there's a big standout in one of the categories. This year, I'm determined not to fall into that trap and I expect my overall score to be the better for it.

EDITED TO ADD: The animated short A Matter of Loaf and Death is the fourth Wallace & Grommit short from Aardman and director Nick Park and is strongly favored to win. I'm still not picking this category.

I'm also not going to make an official pick for Best Foreign Language film. The first time I heard of any of this year's films was when they were announced on nomination day. I don't even think most of them have been released in the US yet.

I will, however, make an official pick for Best Animated Feature. The nominees are Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, and Up. I really enjoyed Coraline, but it may be too dark for a win. The producers of The Secret of Kells have made a point of not advertising it and without publicity, you just can't expect an Oscar. Princess and Mr. Fox got some attention outside this category for their music, but Up leads with an additional four nominations, including Best Picture and Original Screenplay. It's the clear front-runner and is poised to extend Pixar's unprecedented Oscar record.

Best Director

2010-03-02T10:00:00.002-05:00

The nominees for Best Director are James Cameron (Avatar), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious), and Jason Reitman (Up In the Air). As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we have the fourth woman and the second African-American Best Director nominees and the first ever divorced couple (Cameron and Bigelow) up for Best Director. That may be a first in any category, but I'm too lazy to research it.

Here's my take: Up In the Air and Inglourious Basterds were great, stylish films and are the unmistakably unique products of their directors, but their strength lies more in their screenplays. Daniels is the least-experienced director, though he shows a creative narrative skill. Really, though, it's going to come down to Cameron and Bigelow. On one side is a big technical production involving an army of actors, computer animators, and computer power and on the other is a relatively smaller, though more intense, action film that cuts to the core of a handful of characters. Let's face a fact here: Avatar is not Titanic. It may be the new highest-grossing movie ever, but I don't think Avatar has the same deep cultural impact and fervent support as Cameron's previous Oscar juggernaut. It's sure to take a handful of technical awards, but I believe that the Academy will make some history and recognize The Hurt Locker for its direction. Bigelow has already won nearly every critics' award and the all-important Directors' Guild award, making her the favorite for the Best Director Oscar.

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 5

2010-03-01T10:00:00.002-05:00

Match the actors with the quotes from their Oscar-winning roles

21. "It's even, but it ain't settled. Let's settle it."
     a. Denzel Washington
     b. Rod Steiger
     c. Paul Newman
     d. Tommy Lee Jones

22. "If it were true that children emulate their teachers, we'd have a lot more nuns running around."
     a. Sean Penn
     b. Dustin Hoffman
     c. Paul Scofield
     d. Jack Lemon

23. "The last time we talked, Mr. Dodd, you reduced me to tears. I promise you, it won't happen again. "
     a. Grace Kelly
     b. Ingrid Bergman
     c. Joan Crawford
     d. Vivien Leigh

24. "It's a mountain. The hardest piece you could Everest play. "
     a. Burt Lancaster
     b. Geoffrey Rush
     c. Adrian Brody
     d. Jim Broadbent

25. "My sister and I had an act that couldn't flop. My sister and I were headed straight for the top. My sister and I earned a thou a week at least, but my sister is now unfortunately deceased."
     a. Mary Steenburgen
     b. Ginger Rogers
     c. Catherine Zeta-Jones
     d. Claudette Colbert

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 4 Answers

2010-02-27T10:00:00.002-05:00

16. Hanna Schmitz
     e. Kate Winslet in The Reader

17. Anne Napolitano
     c. Mercedes Rhuel in The Fisher King

18. Sophie Zawistowski
     a. Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice

19. Elliot Garfield
     d. Richard Dreyfus in The Goodbye Girl

20. Ben Sanderson
     b. Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas

District 9 & Avatar

2010-02-26T10:00:00.003-05:00

The best science fiction turns a funhouse mirror back on the viewer, distorting and augmenting reality and revealing truths. Aliens, robots, and outer-space settings become metaphors for our life, society, and humanity and, by showing us what we're not, show us who we are.

The metaphors are all too bitter in District 9, when an alien spacecraft docks over Johannesburg, South Africa. The lobster-like refugees are taken in, but little effort is made to understand their language, culture, and needs. Instead, the government is more concerned with appropriating alien weapon technology. Corralled into a filthy ghetto in squalid conditions, these aliens lash out with violence and the humans wonder why. Enter Wikus Van Der Merwe, a government bureaucrat tasked with evicting the "prawns" to a new and even worse slum. During the search of a tenement shack, he encounters an alien substance that starts to transform him into one of the creatures that he so despises and, forming an uneasy partnership with one of the aliens, he works to return back to normal. As Wikus's transformation and his time with the aliens progresses, he gains an understanding and empathy for their plight.

Anyone who knows anything about South Africa knows what this film is really about.

Avatar has pretty much the same plot. On the distant planet of Pandora, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully finds new life when, through the miracle of technology, he is able to "become" the member of a local alien race known as the Na'Vi. While Jake makes contact with the natives and learns their ways, his corporate and military bosses are more concerned with mining opportunities under the Na'Vi settlement. Unlike Wikus, Jake prefers his lithe alien body and, after gaining a mystical understanding of the Na'Vi ways (and a romantic understanding of his tutor) he finds himself in a war against the humans.

So in Avatar, the U.S. Military brings an unprovoked attack on a nation (of aliens) in order to gain lucrative drilling rights. Hmmm... what could they be saying here? Conversely, roles are turned on their heads when the destruction of a large tower-like structure serves as a call-to-arms for the Na'Vi. On top of that, we discover (with Jake) that all life on Pandora is literally connected in a web of consciousness and that destroying any part of the planet is bad for all living things. Director James Cameron has never been big on subtlety. The screenplay may be as artful as a cudgel to the head, but at least Cameron recognizes that science fiction can provide an entertaining platform for his allegorical ideas.

Screenplay Awards

2010-02-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

Best Score was a tough pick, but this one might be even more difficult.

The nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay are District 9, An Education, In The Loop, Precious, and Up In the Air. Normally, we look for Best Picture nominees, because Picture, Director, and Screenplay often go to the same film, but four of these five (all but In The Loop) are Best Picture contenders. Being a dark allegorical science fiction film, I don't think District 9 has a strong chance. The best contender, in my opinion, is Up In The Air, for its emphasis on character, great dialogue, and sweet-and-sour tone. An Education might upset, and there's a chance that Precious could rally support, but I think Up In the Air is just the sort of movie that wins here.

For Original Screenplay, we have The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The Messenger, A Serious Man, and Up. Here we have three Best Picture nominees in the mix. The Hurt Locker is a great action film but is very episodic and The Messenger and A Serious Man are more subdued. My first instinct tells me that Up is the standout in this category. It has the most original screenplay in at least a decade with each bizarre and unlikely story element building up to a genuinely moving end. Up is, however an animated film, which historically fare poorly in the writing categories. That said, I'm going to pick Inglourious Basterds for the win. It has a brilliant screenplay boiling over with Tarantino's unique style of dialogue, but because most of it is in French, German, and Italian with English subtitles, audiences are compelled to pay more attention to the words and appreciate the language and subtlety of the script.

Best Actor

2010-02-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

The nominees for Best Lead Actor are Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up In the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).

Clooney and Freeman are previous winners (both for Supporting Actor), Firth and Renner are first-timers, and Bridges has had four previous nominations. Renner does a good slow burn and Clooney and Firth give very subtle performances. Besides resembling Mandella, Morgan Freeman proves his worth by expertly taking on the voice and mannerisms of the South African president, but If the SAG and Golden Globes are any indication, it looks like Jeff Bridges is the front-runner for the Oscar. His work has been long-admired by his fellow actors, but with such a quirky and varied resume, he really hasn't had any serious Oscar consideration before. Now, in Crazy Heart, he has a serious role to show off his acting (and singing) skills and just like Sandra Bullock in this years Best Actress race, I think voters will jump at the opportunity to finally give him the prize.

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 4

2010-02-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

Match the actors with their Oscar-winning roles

16. Hanna Schmitz
17. Anne Napolitano
18. Sophie Zawistowski
19. Elliot Garfield
20. Ben Sanderson

a. Meryl Streep
b. Nicholas Cage
c. Mercedes Rhuel
d. Richard Dreyfus
e. Kate Winslet

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 3 Answers

2010-02-20T10:00:00.001-05:00

11. "I accept this very gratefully for keeping my mouth shut for once. I think I'll do it again."
d. Jane Wyman

12. "Suddenly, going to work tomorrow doesn't seem like such a good idea."
b. Steven Soderbergh
13. "Can I have my champagne now?"
a. Cate Blanchett
14. "Losing would suck and winning would be really scary. And it's really, really scary."
c. Ben Affleck

15. "As a little kid, I lived in the projects and you're the people I watched. You're the people who made me want to be an actor. I'm so proud to be here. "
c. Whoopi Goldberg

An Education, Precious, & The Blind Side

2010-02-19T10:00:00.078-05:00

Which is more important - a formal education or life experience? Which shapes us more and has longer-lasting effects?

Jenny, our protagonist in An Education, is working hard to get into Oxford and sees it as a dead end into a life of boring conformity. Growing up outside London in the early 1960's, she stands on the outskirts of a cultural explosion, shielded by her old fashioned, single-minded parents. That is, until she meets a charming, charismatic, rich older man who whisks her into a world she's only dreamed of. Soon, Jenny decides to ditch her plans for higher education and run away to a life of music, freedom, ideas, and excitement - but is everything as it appears to be? Is the "school of life" an adequate substitute for a formal education? Is she making the right choice?

The title character in Precious has a different take on things. Life experience is all she has, and it's left her with nothing. Precious is a 16-year-old morbidly obese, illiterate, mother of a child with Downs Syndrome and is once again pregnant with her father's baby. She lives with her resentful, abusive mother in a Harlem tenement in 1987 and is only kept around for the welfare check. If you think that's a depressing set-up, don't worry: things only get worse for her. The public school system has failed Precious and she finds herself at an alternative school in a class led by Ms. Rain, the first person who refuses to give up on her. Ms. Rain sees value in Precious and works hard to show her that she has worth and for the first time, Precious realizes that there is another way, that a formal education is the path away from the abusive experience of her childhood. She may never achieve her fantasies of fame and glamor and will likely die young, but an education is a start for Precious and any step up from where she started is welcome.

Somewhere in between Jenny and Precious on this scale is Michael Oher (or at least the Michael Oher depicted in The Blind Side). Like Precious, Michael finds a nurturing, understanding supporter after a life of people giving up on him. Michael has problems with written tests, trusting others, and applying complex concepts. Hiding a decent mind behind a dull facade, he slowly starts to gain confidence from teachers and his adoptive parents, who must learn to reach him on his own level. Jenny and Precious gradually change their world view, but it's the people around Michael who change most of all in The Blind Side. Instead of Michael changing his view of the world, the world changes how it sees him. He's been fine all along.

As an aside, I'd like to share a little anecdote:

Woman In The Movie: [to Sandra Bullock] You've really changed that boy's life.
Woman Sitting Next To Me: He's changed mine.
Sandra Bullock: No... He's changed mine.
Me: [to Woman Sitting Next To Me] This movie writes itself, doesn't it?

Music Awards

2010-02-17T10:00:00.002-05:00

This is probably the riskiest pick of the year. The nominees for Best Score are Avatar (James Horner), Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat), The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders), Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer), and Up (Michael Giacchino). Honestly, The Hurt Locker was so suspenseful that I didn't even notice any music. It didn't stand out in Sherlock Holmes either, but it was absolutely integral to creating the atmosphere of both of the animated nominees (I don't mean Avatar). Avatar could take Best Score as part of a sweep, but I suspect that it's down to Up or Fantastic Mr. Fox. Between those two, Up has the more famous name attached and its charming little waltz keeps recurring throughout the film in more inventive and surprising ways. Mr. Fox's score really adds to its tone and panache, but I think Up will take the prize.

The nominees for Best Song are "Almost There" and "Down In New Orleans" from The Princess and The Frog, "Loin de Paname" from Paris 36, "Take It All" from Nine, and "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart. I've learned that the Best Song award doesn't go to the best song, per se, but to the song that is most integral to its film. Songs that reveal things about the characters and stories and move the plot have distinct advantage here. This year, the song that was best used for the purpose of character development and story is "The Weary Kind." Bonus points for a heretofore un-Oscared songwriting team (Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett) and an actor who sings it live in the film (as opposed to over the end credits).

Best Actress

2010-02-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

This year's nominees for Best Actress are Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Muligan (An Education), Gabourney Sidibe (Precious), and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia).

Muligan and Sidibe are some notable newcomers and both are surprise nominees, but they're up against some pretty heavy competition. Helen Mirren won here just two years ago and, though her performance obviously merits a nomination, I don't think it has enough heat to warrant another win so soon after The Queen. Meryl Streep is beloved in Hollywood and is famous for having the most nominations for acting ever, but her last win was in 1983. Voters may feel that after 27 years, she's due for another win. On the other hand, there's Sandra Bullock. She's a first-time nominee, but she's been a hard worker for nearly twenty years without any substantial recognition. Bullock had a great year with three movies (two of them were her most successful ever) and I think that the Academy will jump at the opportunity to give her the award. Meryl Streep will always have next year, but this is a case where the timing is just right for Bullock.

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 3

2010-02-15T10:00:00.001-05:00

Match the acceptance speech quote with the correct Oscar winner:

11. "I accept this very gratefully for keeping my mouth shut for once. I think I'll do it again."
     a. Marlee Matlin
     b. Patricia Neal
     c. Holly Hunter
     d. Jane Wyman

12. "Suddenly, going to work tomorrow doesn't seem like such a good idea."
     a. Steven Speilberg
     b. Steven Soderbergh
     c. Sydney Pollack
     d. Roman Polanski

13. "Can I have my champagne now?"
     a. Cate Blanchett
     b. Geena Davis
     c. Goldie Hawn
     d. Cloris Leachman

14. "Losing would suck and winning would be really scary. And it's really, really scary."
     a. Quentin Tarantino
     b. Kevin Spacey
     c. Ben Affleck
     d. Cuba Gooding Jr.

15. "As a little kid, I lived in the projects and you're the people I watched. You're the people who made me want to be an actor. I'm so proud to be here. "
     a. Hillary Swank
     b. Marissa Tomei
     c. Whoopi Goldberg
     d. Mercedes Ruehl

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 2 Answers

2010-02-14T10:00:00.001-05:00

6. Who are Gary, Trevor, Muzza, Neville, Brent, and Lysander?
c. The six Oscars that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsn won for The Return of the King

7. Which of these tunes did not win Best Song?
b. As Time Goes By

8. Which team scored a record three nominations in the same year in the Best Song category?
a. Elton John and Tim Rice

9. Who were the first brother and sister to win Oscars on the same night?
d. Norma and Douglas Shearer

10. Who was the first married couple to win Oscars (not on the same night)?
c. Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh

Inglourious Basterds & The Hurt locker

2010-02-12T10:00:00.004-05:00

Movies have shown us many different facets of war over the years: war as heroic act, war as gruesome ordeal, war as political maneuver. Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (sic) shows us something quite different - war as a game. Eschewing gritty realism for his trademark verbal flourishes, Tarantino's characters criss-cross Nazi-occupied France in what feels like an epic game of cops and robbers. Good guys and bad guys alike swagger with a bravado and purpose, giving each other nicknames, infiltrating enemy lines, eluding escape, and plotting heists. The battlefield becomes a gigantic backyard in Tarantino's world, and, just like in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, it's a world where everyone is living out the movies that depict their lives; fantasy rolls back into reality. In fact, Inglourious Basterds is really more about movies than it is about war. It may not be realistic, but it sure is a lot of fun, and fun is something that has been missing from war movies ever since The Great Escape.

In The Hurt Locker, we see a different kind of game play out. In Iraq in 2004, SFC William James (Jeremy Renner) is the head of a bomb squad and uses each call as a game of Russian roulette. Playing fast and loose with safety procedures and protocol, James puts himself and his team at risk on a regular basis. In a world where everyone is a potential threat and every pile of rubble could be hiding a tripwire, Sgt. James not only gambles with his life, but has become an addict. It's not that he has nothing to live for - quite the contrary - but that he doesn't feel alive without the adrenaline rush that his job provides. James is indifferent to the stress he causes his by-the-books team, but he sees the world differently: defusing bombs is his stress release. Everything else makes him anxious.

Artistic Awards

2010-02-10T10:00:00.001-05:00

The nominees for Best Art Direction are Avatar, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Nine, Sherlock Holmes, and The Young Victoria. All are dazzling, but I haven't seen any news reports about film-goers coming out of Nine or Sherlock Holmes, depressed that they can't live in the beautiful worlds portrayed on screen. No, this one is going to the eye-popping, nonsensical, almost Seussian design in Avatar.

In the Best Costumes category, we look for the widest variety of costumes and the degree of difficulty involved. This year's nominees are the period films Bright Star and The Young Victoria, fantasy films The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Nine, and a movie about fashion, Coco Before Chanel. my first instinct is to give it to Nine - costuming superstar Colleen Atwood is the nominee and the film features a wide array of glitzy clothes. On the other hand, Coco Before Chanel is a movie that centers around its costumes, but features very specific designs without room for elaboration. I'm going to give my pick to The Young Victoria. It showcases a variety of opulent clothes and works hard to delineate each character through costuming.

The three nominees for Makeup are Il Divo, Star Trek, and The Young Victoria. Fantastical prosthetics usually take the prize, so I'll pick Star Trek here.

The nominees for Cinematography are Avatar, Harry Potter 6, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and White Ribbon. Avatar may get awarded for its tasteful use of 3D, but it and Harry Potter are both storyboarded to the nanosecond and involve massive computer effects, which can overshadow innovative camerawork. Has anyone seen White Ribbon? It's also up for Foreign Language Film, so it must be good, but without a wide release, most voters are likely to ignore it. Tarantino is famous for his quirky camera work, so Inglourious Basterds has a shot, but I think that the Academy will side with The Hurt Locker here. Between shaky war footage, long suspenseful shots, and sun-drenched filters, this is the film where the camera puts you into the film (without the headache of 3D glasses).

Best Supporting Actor

2010-02-09T10:00:00.005-05:00

Here's a tough category to pick. The nominees are Mad Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).

Over the years, there have been several different scenarios that lead to a win in this category, and we have all of them represented here. Sometimes Supporting Actor is used as a defacto "lifetime achievement" award for well-regarded seniors and Christopher Plummer fits the bill. Sometimes it goes to a leading man, like Mat Damon, who takes a lower-profile role (not unlike a racehorse dropping in class and running away with the race). Many times, the Academy rallies support for an actors like Stanley Tucci, who has been doing solid work for years but haven't had the opportunity for a nomination. Comebacks are always popular and Woody Harrelson had an outstanding year after a fallow period. Finally, voters like to jump at the chance to recognize a relative newcomer, like Christoph Waltz.

With all that in mind, I'm going to pick Christoph Waltz. Virtually unknown on our shores until he was "discovered" by Quentin Tarantino, Waltz has had a successful career in his native Austria for years. It's a classic case of the actor fitting the role perfectly. Waltz has already taken the SAG, the Golden Globe, and several other top prizes, and it's a role where he has to speak four different languages fluently. Also, he plays an over-the-top bad guy and, while that would be a detriment in the Lead Actor category, it's a plus in the Supporting Actor race. His next biggest competitor is Stanley Tucci, but I'm going to pick Waltz for the win.

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 2

2010-02-08T10:00:00.002-05:00

Select the best answer:

6. Who are Gary, Trevor, Muzza, Neville, Brent, and Lysander?
     a. Early prototypes for the Oscar
     b. Winners in the now-defunct Best Animal Actor category
     c. The six Oscars that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh won for The Return of the King
     d. The accountants who tally the final Oscar votes

7. Which of these tunes did not win Best Song?
     a. High Hopes
     b. As Time Goes By
     c. Over the Rainbow
     d. My Heart Will Go On
     e. (I've Had) The Time of My Life

8. Which team scored a record three nominations in the same year in the Best Song category?
     a. Elton John and Tim Rice
     b. James Horner and Will Jennings
     c. Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn
     d. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman

9. Who were the first brother and sister to win Oscars on the same night?
     a. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine
     b. Lionel and Ethyl Barrymore
     c. Sophia and Roman Coppola
     d. Norma and Douglas Shearer

10. Who was the first married couple to win Oscars (not on the same night)?
     a. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
     b. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
     c. Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh
     d. Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable

Doug's Big oscar Quiz - Part 1 Answers

2010-02-06T09:26:00.001-05:00

1 - C What does it take to find a lost love? Slumdog Millionaire

2 - D Two great lovers of the screen in the grandest of romantic comedies! It Happened One Night

3 - A They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals...Except their honor. Chariots of Fire

4 - E The eye of the enemy is moving. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

5 - B Beyond his silence, there is a past. Beyond her dreams, there is a feeling... Million Dollar Baby

Up & Up In The Air

2010-02-05T10:00:00.002-05:00

In Pixar's Up, Carl, a quiet, old square, inters himself indoors, transforming his cottage home into a shrine for his beloved and departed wife. Shunning human contact, Carl instead lives in the dust of his past and the regrets of unrealized ambition. When he is finally forced out of his home, he chooses a unique solution - Carl attaches thousands of balloons to his chimney and floats the whole building to Peru. His plan is to simply set the house down next to a waterfall and live quietly, but along the way, he gets saddled with an overeager Adventure Scout, a troublesome bird, a talking dog, and an adventure he never asked for.

Carl comes to realize that the things - the house, the objects - that he has accumulated don't make up his life. He learns that his house (wherever it's located) is not his home and that while he yearned all his life for an adventure, his life was an adventure in itself.

We find Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney in Up In the Air) in a similar airborne epiphany. A professional traveler, Ryan's philosophy is to that the more baggage one has (physically and emotionally), the more weighed-down one's life becomes. He lives only in the present, never letting the dust settle, never wanting more than what he needs. Unlike Carl, who is only comfortable at home, Ryan is comfortable anywhere else. He leaves everything and everyone behind and insulates himself through detachment. As a corporate downsizer, his job is to deliver hard news and then disappear from peoples' lives, but when he undertakes one last trip, this time saddled with an overeager post-grad, he begins to question his philosophy. A trip to visit a family that barely knows him really drives things home.

Like Carl, Ryan comes to realize that a life well-lived is the real adventure and that there is real value in relationships, family, and people. They just had to uproot everything to get there.

Technical Awards

2010-02-04T10:00:00.002-05:00

Go on, take a guess where most of this hardware is going to go.

Sound Editing and Sound Mixing go hand in hand (except for last year, for some reason) and both categories are nearly identical this year. Both include Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Star Trek. Up is up for Sound Editing and Transformers 2 is up for Sound Mixing. These awards usually go to noisy action films or animated movies where all the effects have to be produced or edited in-studio. While there's a chance that The Hurt Locker will take one or both of the sound Oscars, I think that they'll both go to Avatar. All of Avatar's achievements are technical achievements, and I expect the Academy to recognize that.

Visual effects? Seriously? Do I even need to mention that Avatar is up against District 9 and Star Trek? This one is going straight to the blue monkey-cats.

Editing is a different story. The nominees are Avatar, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, and Precious. The Hurt Locker was one of the most suspenseful films of the year, due in no small part to some intense editing. Best Editing may get caught in an Avatar technical sweep and District 9 may upset, but I think The Hurt Locker is the strongest contender here.

Best Supporting Actress

2010-02-03T12:16:00.000-05:00

Let's jump right in to the big awards.

This one's pretty simple, really. The nominees are Penelope Cruz in Nine, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick in Up In the Air, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart, and Mo'Nique in Precious.

Here's how it will go down: Cruz got the sole acting nomination in a film that banked on its on-screen talent and lost - critics hated it and audiences didn't show. Farmiga and Kendrick will likely cancel each other out. Gyllenhaal is the surprise nominee here for a movie that's really all about Jeff Bridges. Then there's Mo'Nique - a comedian known for loud, broad slapstick (Soul Plane, TV's Moesha) who nailed a powerful dramatic role. She shocked audiences enough to win every major award this year so far and is a clear favorite for the Oscar.

Jim Carey is probably crying himself to sleep these days.

Traditionally, we look for a lead actress who has supporting screen time to win here. Someone like Meryl Streep in Kramer Vs. Kramer or Marissa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, or Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock (I could go on). If that were the case, it would probably be Anna Kendrick's year, but Mo'Nique's story, the surprising depth of her performance, and her ability to give a good acceptance speech will likely get her to the podium on Oscar night.

Doug's Big Oscar Quiz - Part 1

2010-02-03T09:25:00.001-05:00

Guess what, everyone! Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak made an appearance in Los Angeles early yesterday morning and saw his shadow. You know what that means - five weeks of Oscar season!

It's going to be a great year for Oscar! We have the second-ever Best Picture nomination for an animated film (Up), the fourth woman ever nominated for Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), plus, she's up against her ex-husband, James Cameron (a first at the awards). Ten Best Picture nominees and a good showing for sci-fi and action movies should make things especially exciting.

I have some catching up to do, but I thought I'd start things off with an Oscar Quiz. Answers will be posted later in the week.

Match the Best-Picture winning film with its poster tagline:

1. What does it take to find a lost love? A. Money B. Luck C. Smarts D. Destiny

2. Two great lovers of the screen in the grandest of romantic comedies!

3. They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals...Except their honor.

4. The eye of the enemy is moving.

5. Beyond his silence, there is a past. Beyond her dreams, there is a feeling. Beyond hope, there is a memory. Beyond their journey, there is a love.

a. Chariots of Fire
b. Million Dollar Baby
c. Slumdog Millionaire
d. It Happened One Night
e. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Slow Going

2010-01-25T09:24:00.001-05:00

I've been working on a new piece for the past week or two and it's really coming along very slowly. I actually came up with the opening melody rather quickly, but everything that follows has been a challenge. The main concern is that it has an Adagio tempo, so keeping things moving and interesting is a primary concern. Also, giving the music momentum, a proper structure, and a forward-moving direction has been a real challenge. This one is in sort of an Irish style - a stylistic homage to Percy Grainger, whose music I've admired since my days in High School band.

As I told someone recently, though, a major part of my creative process is to sit back and listen to what I've done and let my imagination dictate what comes next. I just seem to be spending a lot more time than usual sitting back. There are a bunch of false starts, dead-ends, and good material that I can't seem to fit into the context of the whole piece.

The whole process has been a little disheartening, but I buckled down this past weekend and made some firm decisions. Now I'm about ready to tie things up in a coda, put on some finishing touches, and call it done, so I can move on to the next new piece.

Bingo!

2010-01-05T14:23:00.000-05:00

So remember that spreadsheet that I keep with all the new music I write for the year? The one that helps me organize new pieces by difficulty level and tonality?

No? Then check this out. Or this one.

Anyhoo, just before Christmas, I finished the board, filling up every square! I now have music for beginners, intermediate level, and advanced students in major keys, minor keys, and "novelty" selections. That means that I've completed my self-imposed quota for the year and I still have about four months before I send anything off to publishers! Plus, I've been working ahead for a while which means I have extras handy. I also have previously-passed-over music that I can re-submit, so there's no lack of selection when it comes time to send music to publishers in the Spring.

Also, I found time recently to do some revisions on my opera. I adjusted the vocal lines a little bit, made the choruses a little easier to sing, completely re-worked the wind parts in the final scene, and reduced the whole thing into a piano-4-hands version that will be easier to perform while still sounding like the full orchestral score.

More Like Gauntlet

2009-12-14T12:48:00.001-05:00

I recently decided to do something about the rhythm that has been nagging me from the back of my mind and incorporate it into a new piece. The result is a fast, advanced-level piece in D Minor (occasionally going into F Major and flirting with Phrygian mode) with frequent meter changes. I originally thought Agincourt, with its 7/8 time signature would be a good rhythmic challenge for advanced students, but now I see that middle school kids are playing it with no problem. This new one (still untitled, of course) should be suitably difficult.

But while writing this new one, I got to thinking about something.

People always ask me "why don't you write something like Gauntlet again?" To which I have two responses. First: I thought I have. I'm not sure exactly how I bottled lightning with Gauntlet - it seems to be a product of the very specific state of mind I was in for two weeks in 1998 and, despite my best efforts, it remains a unique anomaly. I think that Agincourt, Elementals, Avatar (no relation to the new movie), Gargoyles, Crusader, and Storm Trail all have that same "dark and fast" quality. I also have dozens of unpublished pieces in the same milieu, but I still get asked why I don't write more pieces like Gauntlet. I'm not sure what quality it is that people respond to and want me to reproduce, but it seems beyond my grasp.

My second response is: why would I want to write the same thing twice? Even if I could write a piece like Gauntlet again, would you really want to play a piece that's exactly like Gauntlet but not Gauntlet? Would teachers buy a piece that's really really similar to a piece that they already have in their library? I still like Gauntlet, but all these years later I see a certain naivete in its construction and I'd like to think that I've grown as a composer since then. While I sometimes try to emulate the dark style and fast tempo that made Gauntlet popular, I'd rather write a piece that is unique and interesting on its own merits than a complete re-tread of something I've already done.

Let me put it this way: What if the Beatles kept writing songs like "Love Me Do" over and over for their whole career? It was a huge success for them early on, but what if, instead of exploring new sounds and growing artistically, they kept focusing on the same jangly rockabilly sound they started with? Another example: Hootie and the Blowfish, a band that stuck with its middle-of-the-road frat rock long after the public's taste for middle-of-the-road frat rock had faded.

My hero, Igor Stravinsky had this problem (on a much larger scale). He spent a long lifetime writing an amazing string of masterpieces, but all anyone wanted to hear were the three ballets he wrote in his early 30's. He never revisited the early style that made him famous and instead, focused on constantly exploring new sounds. Still, he made a career out of it, so it's not the worst problem to have. Another extreme example is Carl Orff, who lived to be over 100 and wrote tons of beautiful music, but all he's known for is the first five minutes of one piece that he wrote back in the 1940's.

So this new piece I just finished is like Gauntlet in that it has a fast tempo, a minor key and a legato section in the middle, but it also has unique challenges. If it gets compared to Gauntlet that would be great, but I hope that it stands apart and can be appreciated on its own merits.

Workin' On the Opera

2009-12-03T08:54:00.000-05:00

I've been doing some more work on my opera recently. I actually finished it a few years ago, but now I'm taking some time to tweak it. The biggest problem is that I initially wrote everything directly to score and then reduced it into a piano part. Unfortunately, the multiple lines and cross-rhythms I used in the full score don't fit under two hands so well, so I've been writing a whole new reduction for four hands. It already sounds more like the orchestral score and if I ever get into a rehearsal setting, it should work much better.

I'm also revising some of the vocal lines in an effort to make the whole piece more singable.

Midwest Clinic

2009-11-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

The annual Midwest Clinic is only a few weeks away and, sadly, I won't be able to make it to Chicago this year. Midwest is a huge event - a giant convention for music educators around the country to learn from each other in seminars, find out about the latest products, and hear the best of the best school-level, college, and professional bands, orchestras, and ensembles.

This year, if you go, be sure to wake up bright and early on Wednesday, December 16 and head to the Skyline Ballroom at 8:30am to hear the J. Frank Dobie High School Chamber Orchestra of Houston, Texas. They're going to play Quicksilver and I'm sure they'll do a spectacular job.

I found a performance from the Midwest Clinic on YouTube to share - the Hershey Symphony Festival Strings playing Zydeco Two-Step at the 2006 convention. The intonation is perfect, but the tempo is way too fast. Still, it's an honor to have my music selected for such a prestigious event. Just one more thing to be thankful for this holiday weekend!

New Videos - Agincourt & A Hero's Welcome

2009-11-19T11:29:00.001-05:00

Agincourt really seems to be catching fire, based on the appearance of a new batch of videos on You Tube. Please to enjoy a very good performance by the Bowditch Advanced Orchestra:

Not bad! A good performance makes up for the fact that they mis-pronounced my name in the intro. But up next is the thundering herd known as the Clay, Carmel, and Creekside Middle School Symphony, also playing Agincourt. The tempo is great in this one and I really like the enthusiasm that they bring.

Go, middle-schoolers, go! You rock that advanced-level piece! I'll end this post on a somber note. Here's the Sierra Vista High School orchestra playing A Hero's Welcome. Very expressive and beautifully done - bravi.

I just wish the YouTube postings gave more information about the groups. I'd love to know where each of these schools are, so I can add them to my map.

Major/Minor Dilemma

2009-11-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

I finished "Shadows Of Venice" last night - ahead of schedule. Of course, that means I need to start thinking about my next piece to keep the momentum going. Looking at my chart (the one that breaks down my recent compositions into skill level and tonality), I need more major-key pieces for beginners and advanced students. But here's the thing: looking at my royalty statement from September, most of my best-sellers are minor key pieces. Here's the top five:

1. Gauntlet
2. Avatar
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. A Breeze In the Keys

"Breeze" is the only major-key piece in the top five (actually, in the top seven) and I think that's due to the fact that it was new this year. New music sells big at first, but Gauntlet and Gargoyles have been around for a while. The conclusion that I'm drawing from this data is that minor key pieces sell better than major key pieces. So now I'm thinking that I should focus on writing more minor-key music.