Winstride Tutorials

Another great orchestra teacher has made a series of tutorials for her students - this time of Winstride! Please enjoy:

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Sorry, Cellos and Basses, it looks like there aren't videos in this series for you just yet. But thanks to this wonderful teacher - I hope your students, their parents and the school administration appreciate your efforts!

Edited: Cello and Bass videos have appeared on YouTube! Enjoy!

Cello

Bass

A Performance in Qatar

So I was looking around on the Interwebs recently and discovered an article from May 26th, 2013 about a performance of Maharaja. The article was in the Gulf Times and my first thought was that it was from Mississipi, Louisiana, or maybe Texas. But I was way off.

The Gulf Times reports news from the PERSIAN Gulf.

It turns out that Maharaja was performed in Qatar. In the Middle East.  Roughly, here:

Here's what the article said about the group and about Maharaja:

Almost 80 musicians took to the stage of the American School in Doha (ASD) on Saturday evening to perform in front of a delighted audience.  

Musicians range from semi-professionals and professionals, including the occasional ‘loan’ from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, to amateurs ranging in age from 10 to those nearing retirement - all united in their passion for music.
It seems that at every concert the orchestra achieves new heights, and Saturday’s performance was no exception.  

...and then it was time for ‘something completely different’ with the musicians snapping their fingers as well as playing away for dear life in Doug Spata’s  sizzling and stylish ‘Maharaja’, with the audience invited to join in the finger-snapping by conductor Brita Fray. Combining rhythms and motifs from Southeast Asian music with a powerful beat and exciting melodies, this very recent composition is as much fun to play as it is to listen to, and the DCO did it full justice.

  They were doing a "multi-cultural" program and chose Maharaja to represent India (by way of the U.S.). My mind is blown. I also appreciate the Monty Python reference. Thanks to the DCO orchestras for choosing my music!

Here's a link to the full article.

Online Concert

It's time for another online concert!

Up first, please enjoy Gargoyles, performed by the DPO on October 28, 2011. (Possibly California's Dos Pueblos Orchestra? There's no indication of who the conductor is or where the group is located.)

Fantastic musicianship and some great, precise playing! The articulations are perfect. It's exciting to see such a large group that doesn't feel the need to play loud all the time. Their pianos are exhilarating.

Up next is the LaVilla School of the Arts Orchestra of Jacksonville, Florida performing A Breeze In the Keys.

There's a really nice energy in that performance and good contrasts between the bouncy rhythmic parts and the legato sections. Kudos to the percussion section on this one.

Next, let's hear from the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota, led by Andrew Bast. They're performing Maharaja.

This is a tough piece and they pulled it off nicely. It's all about pacing, and making sure you don't get too loud or intense too soon and they did a great job. They also have a good sense of rhythm and an ear for the style.

Finally, let's jet over to Germany (Berlin, I think), where Jana Wirth leads the Kammerorchester MSO in a performance of Agincourt.

Small but mighty! Those are some good players. The crispness of their staccatos is absolutely delightful and their intonation is spot-on. They look like high school students but they sound like pros. Well, done!

 

Doug Spata's Olympic Dream

The Olympics begin this week and it's always an exciting time for the world. I love watching the opening and closing ceremonies and the Parade of Nations, though I don't have a specific sport that I follow. The first Olympics I was aware of was the 1984 games in Los Angeles and I remember that for a long time all anyone could talk about was the U.S. gymnastics team.

TV coverage does a good job of highlighting the dramatic stories that drive the competitors and led the athletes to the games. They all have that "Olympic dream," to achieve at the highest level in front of the whole world.

Even though I'm not an athlete, I have an Olympic dream of my own: it would be an epic thrill to hear one of my compositions used in during Olympic competition. I'm not talking about the opening and closing ceremonies – that's way too much to ask. But it would be amazing to hear one of my pieces accompany a gymnastics floor exercise, a synchronized swimming routine, or, at the Winter Olympics, figure skating or ice dancing.

As a kid, I especially enjoyed hearing the music used in the gymnastic competitions because it's so full of color, energy, and emotion. I think some of my pieces would be suitable. Need something with a dark energy? Try Avatar, Elementals, or Storm Trail. Something more rhythmic and angular? There's Agincourt. Need a bright explosion of sound? Quicksilver or Star of Valor. For something more lyrical, have a listen to A Hero's Welcome. And if you need something fun and sassy, I recommend Violet's Tango, Samba Del Sol, Lemon Twist, or Mambo Incognito. Of course, Gauntlet is good for any occasion.

Professional recordings of all these and more are available at alfred-music.com.

So if you're an Olympic-level gymnast, synchronized swimmer, figure skater, or ice dancer... you're probably training really hard and don't have time for music classes, so you've never heard of me. But if you're someone who knows an Olympic-level athlete, maybe suggest one of my pieces and help make my dream come true!

 

I Take Requests

Occasionally, I'm lucky enough to get fan mail. My e-mail address is pretty easy to find and I've received messages from teachers, students, parents, and even audience members who have questions or comments about what they've heard or played. It's always wonderful to get feedback right from the source. I got an e-mail recently from a student in Texas and it was a little different:

 I love your compositions, and so does my high school orchestra director! 
We play your pieces all the time and they are our all time favorites. I was wondering if for your next submission to Alfred Music Publishing, could you compose a piece that has these components:

• Written in the style of an overture like, "Gauntlet" (ABA form)
• Set in a minor key 
• Quick tempo
• Dark motifs using sixteenth note and eighth note passages
• A slower more lyrical and expressive middle section (it would be cool if it could alternate between major and minor keys/modes), that then quickens back up into the beginning themes
• And be the grade level of 3-4

Performing a piece like that written by you would be the coolest thing EVER!

Students frequently ask me to write something "like Gauntlet," but I've never been sure what that means. I've written lots of other overtures in minor keys with fast tempos and I'm wary about repeating myself - if it's too much like Gauntlet, then what's the point? But this was the first time that someone actually delineated what that means. And the thing that sticks out is the mention of Gauntlet's middle section (a.k.a "the hard part"). This e-mail made me realize that I'd never done a slow section quite like that in any of my other pieces. I responded:

I've written a few minor key pieces for more advanced orchestra, but I don't think any of the published ones have slow middle sections.  Still, if you haven't heard them already, you many enjoy Storm Trail, Elementals, and Agincourt.  Next time I work on a fast minor key piece for advanced orchestra, I'll be sure to include a slow middle section before the recap.

 I've always kind of assumed that students don't enjoy Gauntlet's nebulous, melody-free middle section. It is, admittedly, a weird 25 measures. In recordings and videos it's the place where counting most frequently breaks down, entrances are missed, and musicianship is lost. I hadn't considered that  the challenge of that passage of music was appealing to students.

So after thinking about this, I set out to start a new piece of music. I didn't want it to be the same ability level as Gauntlet, so it has some advanced technical demands. I'm pleased with the piece and thought I'd share with my fan what came of his suggestions:

I just finished a new piece based on your recommendations and I thought you'd like to hear it - the sound file is attached. It's a fast Grade III piece with 16th note syncopations and optional shifting, it's in C minor with a few key changes, and it uses overture form with a lyrical middle section similar in style to Gauntlet's. I also included snare drum, bass drum, and tam tam parts for this one. I'd love to hear what you think.

He responded:

Wow! It sounds awesome! The middle section sounds really good. I also really like the percussion sound. It gives color and a really cool adventure/quest sound. The intensity builds all the way to the end and that's what I love about all your pieces! Do you have a title for this one yet? 

I wrote back:

Success!  No title for this one yet, though. Writing music is easy - writing titles is difficult.

I'll send this piece off with my submissions next spring and I have high hopes for it!

 

New Submissions for 2013

This past weekend I gathered together my portfolio of new music, recorded it to disc, wrote out some brief descriptions, and today I took it all to the post office and shipped it all to my publisher for consideration in their 2013-2014 catalog!

As always, I try to offer a wide variety of music and this year's packet of nine pieces includes three pieces for beginners, three for intermediate-level performers, and three for advanced players. Five are in major keys, four are in minor keys. Some are overtures like Gauntlet or Westward Motion, but I also included a scherzo and some pieces that mimic styles from around the world. None is too much like any other.

When I first decided which selections I'd submit, only three had titles, but I spent the last week coming up with names for the other six. As always, that's the most difficult part of the process and I know I shouldn't leave it until the last minute.  But I'm happy with the titles and with all the submitted music in general. 

Now we wait and see. The selection committee will meet, look over all of this year's submissions (from me and from all the other composers) and put together a catalog of interesting music for all ability levels. I usually hear back in June or July, when my fingernails are nubs. Once I hear back, I'll be sure to post it here. Wish me luck!

Sales Statement 2011 (Part 1)

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

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!

 

New Music Selected: Samba Del Sol

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.

Doug' New Opera

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

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.

Huge Gargoyles Performance

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!

New Music Selected: [Untitled]

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

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 Performances: International Edition

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?

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!

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!

New Submissions

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.

Rejected

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

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!