All About the Process...

So the inspiration for this blog comes from how much joy I've gotten over the last month listening to the BMI Workshop Songbook podcasts here. And there are many reasons why I absolutely love these. First of all, the Broadcast Music, Inc. workshops help cultivate talents that continually contribute new, exciting works from new composers. Second, this collection of podcasts features the talents of 20 writers/songwriting teams, with composers and lyricists like Andy Monroe and Jack Lechner, Maury Yeston, Tom Kitt and Amanda Green, Barry Wyner, Joy Son and Jill Abramovitz, Michael John LaChiusa, Beth Falcone, and Jeff Blumenkrantz. With all this creative talent, there's a wealth of vocal talent from the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Cheyenne Jackson, Victoria Clark, Gavin Creel, and Christine Ebersole. Perhaps my favorite parts besides all the music are the great interviews, which are really more like conversations about the craft of creating a musical. And through these conversations, a lot of interesting ideas are raised in many of the podcasts, from the difficulty of obtaining rights to adapt popular source material to how 9/11 created a sense of community in one of the classes. If you enjoy the music, you can also buy the Songbook on CD here.

In speaking of process, I revisited Kerrigan and Lowdermilk's Freshman Experiment website the other day and am continually amazed by the scope and ingenuity of this venture. Through two college Freshmen's blogs, Kerrigan and Lowdermilk created songs based on their subjects' experiences, almost all of which are now fan favorites. Through the blogging done by all parties, it's also easy to chart the evolution of the songs as lyrics are tightened and ideas are formed.

For another great resource for hearing about a journey of a show through grassroots promotion, check out MTI ShowSpace's Vault for videos from Pasek and Paul as they discuss the process of creating and getting productions of their song cycle Edges, much of which was done while they were still in college at University of Michigan. It's a fascinating story of how they were able to bypass the Off-Broadway dream by taking the show on the road on a non-equity bus tour and managed to get a slew of college performances long before their first professional production.

And to top off this theme of songwriting and creation comes more Jason Robert Brown blogginess. In this two part blog, JRB gives examples of some lessons he goes over with USC students, from a list of examples of different musical theatre songwriting techniques to how to construct a cheesy disco melody.

A Right to Sheet Music, or the Trading Game

I should probably be getting some much-needed sleep right now, but instead I got sucked into a fascinating new blog post from Jason Robert Brown's website about the online practice of "trading" sheet music, which can be found here. Through his correspondences with a particular girl who was offering his music up for trade, JRB argues artists' rights to be paid for their work. I weighed in with my own opinion and JRB's wife, composer Georgia Stitt, also lends her own take on the matter. It opens up a fascinating discussion, one that is both puzzling and necessary. A lot of the questions it raises aren't anything that the music industry hasn't been thinking about for years, but I definitely find this all a fascinating read and worthy subject of discourse.

What's the Perfect Balance Between Yelling Too Much and Not Yelling Enough

I first heard Jonathan Reid Gealt perform not his own work, but the work of one of my personal favorite composers, Jason Robert Brown, at one of JRB’s concerts at the Birdland. Jonathan had won a JRB Karaoke contest, and he immediately got my attention with a rousing, matter-of-fact version of “Old Red Hills of Home.” Here is a clip apparently from a sound check before that concert:



Needless to say, I found his voice and performance to be absolutely stunning. The understated power he had brought out a side of JRB’s music that I have rarely, but always appreciatively seen in performance. The tables were then turned later, at Jim Caruso’s After Party (an open mic night regularly held at the Birdland) when Jonathan took the stage with fellow JRB Karaoke contest winner Natalie Weiss, and she performed this song from Jonathan’s show-in-progress, Forward.



The clarity of Natalie’s voice mixed with the organic progression of this song has a way of pinning you down and making you really listen. Just the combination of notes alone speaks for itself, creating voice and character without saying anything at all. And, with a title like “Quiet,” it’s hard not to see how important that concept is.

Jonathan’s music has something in common with JRB’s in its ability to take on different personalities with everyone who performs it, to bring out the best of them by infusing individual personalities and styles with a very clear message that the character needs to communicate. A wonderful example is this other version of “Quiet” done at another concert with Alysha Umphress:



Another favorite song/performance is the aforementioned “No Reason At All,” linked earlier with a stellar performance by Katie Thompson. Both of these songs come from Forward, which I am excited to see as it develops. Jonathan is also having an all star concert at The Canal Room in New York tomorrow (1/11), which looks like it will be phenomenal (not to mention that Katie Thompson and Natalie Weiss are performing). Tickets are still available here, and I highly suggest that anyone who can should go.

Also, I just realized that all the videos I’ve linked today came from Urintown’s youtube channel. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this is kind of the UMich musical theatre youtube channel that contains an incredible library of performances, from readings around the city, to episodes of the hilarious Andrew’s Blog video blogs, to UMich concerts, to episodes of The Battery’s Down. I definitely recommend checking it out.