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New Year’s Resolutions

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For this post, instead of writing about the latest additions to my method books, or the most recent piece of music I finished composing, I’d like to write about something different. Now that it’s Pumpkin Spice Season and almost Spooky Season, I’ve been thinking about how at the end of every year the topic of “New Year’s Resolutions” comes up, and usually they are associated with initial optimism, followed by disappointment by around January 3rd. Why do we do this to ourselves? Is it the appeal of a “new year, new me” or is it out of guilt because of all the things we haven’t accomplished so far? I’ve found that the best way to look at New Year’s Resolutions is to not expect to be successful within the first few days of January, but instead to implement them throughout the entire new year. I wanted to share what I’ve done in the past, and what I’m planning to do this year, in order to have success with my New Year’s Resolutions. 

STEP 1: MAKE YOUR RESOLUTIONS (PREPARE AHEAD OF TIME)

I am posting this in September because too often it sneaks up on us and we feel the need to throw something together at the last minute. Brainstorm a list of all of the things you would like to change, remove, or add in your life (at this point be optimistic). Add a priority scale to each of your items, but then arrange them by difficulty, with the easiest to accomplish first (at this point be realistic). Start with some easy things (even if they aren’t that important) in order to build confidence, but also include some long-term goals (some of which you might not even start for a few months). It can be difficult to start new things in the middle of winter when it is dark and cold and we just want to stay inside and keep warm, so start with things you can do at home. Plan to save some of your resolutions until spring when it is starting to get warmer and the sun is rising earlier (like leaving the house at 6am to go to the gym for example). Not everything has to start on January 1 and continue uninterrupted. Spring is still part of the “new year”. 

When I make my list, I think about any previous projects that I should finish first, and which new projects I want to start. I think about any routines I want to start or improve on, like practicing more ukulele, guitar, and bass guitar. Also what I want to do for my mental and physical health, like less time on social media, more time reading books, more time with hobbies that don’t have anything to do with music (building LEGO sets, building puzzles, playing board games, playing video games, and watching movies), more time going outside and taking walks, or at least riding my exercise bike. In addition to how I want to spend my time on my own, I also want to try to spend more time with family and friends: spending quality time with my wife, hanging out with local friends, calling friends and family in Rhode Island, and also flying out to visit them. 

STEP 2: CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR RESOLUTIONS (FILL YOUR TIME WITH HOBBIES AND ACTIVITIES)

I think that this is the most important part of being successful with New Year’s Resolutions. Come January, you won’t be able to cram a bunch of new things into an already packed schedule, you need to make room in your schedule in order to be able to do all of those new things. The best way to do that is to add a bunch of things to your schedule leading up to the end of the year (especially in December) that you can stop doing on January 1st. What fall/winter holidays do you celebrate? What can you do to enjoy them more? What are some things you could do at home (put up decorations, holiday arts and crafts, watch holiday themed TV shows/movies, read books/stories, listen to holiday music, etc.)? Where are some places you could go (apple picking, haunted hay rides, etc.)? 

Here’s what I add to my schedule in order to enjoy the end-of-the-year holidays more. In October I watch Bob’s Burgers and The Simpsons Halloween episodes, and maybe a few horror movies. In November I watch Bob’s Burgers Thanksgiving episodes, but I mostly use this month to catch up on any projects that might have fallen behind and to hopefully get ahead on a few things before December. In December I watch the Christmas episodes of many TV shows including Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, The Office, Schitt’s Creek, and Hawkeye. I also watch many Christmas movies, some of which have been a tradition since I was a child (Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Batman Returns, etc.). I also have a number of Christmas-themed LEGO sets that I build throughout the month. Last year I compiled a Christmas Songbook for ukulele and guitar that I use with my students, but I also play at home for fun and with any friends and family who want to do a singalong. 

STEP 3: PREPARE TO START YOUR RESOLUTIONS (THE LAST WEEK OF DECEMBER)

If you celebrate Christmas, the week after can be about getting the last little bit of Christmas enjoyment, relaxing/recovering, or getting some last minute things done before the end of the year. Take stock of all of the seasonal/holiday things you have been doing throughout the end of the year that are about to fall away, and how much extra time you will have as a result. Remind yourself of all of the easy, indoor resolutions you are about to start, and reassure yourself that you are saving some for the spring, so you don’t have to worry about those. 

I like to try to do a mix of finishing any projects that are almost done so that I can get them out of the way, but also taking the time to relax and enjoy my only real time off, before I hit the ground running for another year. 

STEP 4: DO YOUR RESOLUTIONS YEAR-ROUND (FOLLOW YOUR PLAN, BUT BE KIND TO YOURSELF)

Once the new year hits, replace all of the time you spent on holiday activities with your New Year’s Resolutions. Start with the easy ones to get the ball rolling and gradually move to the more difficult ones. Remember that not every resolution has to be completed in the first day/week/month. Also, don’t require yourself to start on January 1st. Be kind to yourself and if you slip up a little bit, don’t get discouraged. The “New Year” in “New Year’s Resolution” should refer to the entire year, not just New Year’s Day or the month of January. 

For 2024 my big New Year’s Resolution was to “finish things”. I wanted to finish my score for the Noghtwing series, finish polishing and posting the rest of my Berklee assignments, and finish some of my method books. I did finish the Nightwing music, and I am almost done with my Berklee music (I have a few more to post before the end of the year). Where I needed to be kind to myself was with my method books. Because of the needs of some of my students, I ended up having to start a bunch of new method books (note-reading for ukulele, guitar, bass guitar, mallet instruments, etc.). While I didn’t reach my exact goal, it wasn’t because I was being lazy, because I still did a ton of work on all the new method books instead. Pivoting my expectations helped me to not feel like a failure. In 2025 I’m planning to actually finish some of the method books that I didn’t get to finish this year, and also start the process of publishing them. Whereas 2024 was about finishing old things, I am mostly looking at 2025 as a year to start some new things. New practice routines, new projects, new revenue streams, new hobbies, and also just looking at how I am moving through life in a new and different way.

I hope all of this has helped in some way, and please feel free to let me know if it has. Good luck with your New Year’s Resolutions!

teaching

August Lesson Materials

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In my Ukulele Chord-Strumming Method Book I changed the order in which the initial chords are introduced. Originally I introduced CM and FM in Lesson 1, then GM in Lesson 2, Am in Lesson 3, and Dm in Lesson 4 (before introducing G7 in Lesson 5). I liked the idea that the students would learn CM, FM, and GM right away so that they could potentially play a number of songs after only two lessons. I have noticed however, that many students struggle with GM (it requires three fingers), so I decided to introduce the chords starting with the easiest ones instead, even though they might not be able to play as many real songs until after Lesson 4. Now, I introduce CM and Am (both only use one finger) in Lesson 1, FM (uses two fingers) in Lesson 2, Dm (three fingers) in Lesson 3, then finally GM in Lesson 4. I’ve seen some other books and teachers introduce AM early on because it also uses only two fingers, which I don’t do because I still wanted to keep Unit 1 in the key of C Major (CM, Am, and FM, are much more likely to be used in songs with Dm and GM than with AM).

I wanted do create still more Supplemental Piano Exercises to use with my piano students, so I did Unit 7: Reading Notes on the Staff in C Position, and Unit 8: The Grand Staff in C Position and Slurs.

In my Drum Set Method Book I added three units dealing with compound meters (6/8, 12/8, and 9/8). Unit 5 deals with how to play beats in those meters, and Unit 6 shows how to play four-measure phrases with fills in those meters. Unit 7 brings back the Four-Measure Phrase Song Form to practice a variety of beats and fills in those compound meters. I also added an additional page at the end of Unit 4 and Unit 7 that has drum beats with the bass drum playing either on all the downbeats or playing constant 8th notes (in most of the drum beats I use in the book, I don’t have the bass drum playing at the same time as the snare drum).

For my Guitar Chord-Strumming Book, I was looking forward to taking a break from bar chords, so I worked on Unit 11: Dominant 7 Chords. After I finished it, I was on a roll, so I went ahead and did Unit 12: Major 7 Chords and minor 7 Chords.

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

July Lesson Materials

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Earlier this month I taught a piano ensemble class for the summer camp at one of my studios. I had to come up with my own materials, so I created a series of exercises and songs that I though might be appropriate for various age groups an abilities. After the camp was done, I liked what I had come up with , so I decided I would use them with my private students as “Supplemental Piano Exercises”. While I still primarily use the Alfred books when I’m teaching piano, sometimes a student will need a little extra work on a concept before moving on, and since I’ve been incorporating more songs into my ukulele, guitar, and bass guitar method books, I figured that I should use them for my piano students too. Also, I thought it might be a good idea to introduce tetrachords and how they can be used to build major scales. These can be found on the “Piano” page, under “For My Students”.

I added some simplified exercises to the beginning of my Guitar Beginning Finger-Picking Patterns. I realized it might be too difficult to use the thumb and three fingers together right at the very beginning, so I created some basic rhythmic patterns using just the thumb and one finger at a time. Then I did some exercises using the thumb and combinations of two fingers at a time (found on the “Guitar” page, under “For My Students”).

In my Bass Guitar Chords Method Book, I finished Unit 3: 12-Bar Blues and Unit 4: Sus2 and Sus4 Chords (found on the “Bass Guitar” page, under “For My Students”).

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

June Lesson Materials

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Lately I have been working on extensive additions and edits to my Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar Method Books. I wanted to add more familiar songs to my Note-Reading Method Books for Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar, so I added Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb/Merrily We Roll Along (both without  and with the high note), Ode to Joy, London Bridge, Ring Around the Rosie, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, French Song, Old MacDonald, Yankee Doodle, and Happy Birthday. I added these songs at appropriate points throughout the lessons, all in various keys (mostly in C Major, F Major, and G Major, but a few of them are also in D Major and Bb Major). I also changed the name of my original Ukulele and Guitar Method Books to “Chord-Strumming Method”, in order to better differentiate it from the “Note-Reading Method”. I added and updated PDFs of all of these lessons on the “Ukulele”, “Guitar” and “Bass Guitar” pages.

In my Mallets Method Book, I added the same songs to Unit 1 (The Key of C Major), Unit 2 (The Key of G Major), and Unit 3 (The Key of F Major) and also updated the PDFs on the “Mallets” page.

For Bass Guitar, I also started a method book, which I am calling “Bass Guitar Chords Method Book” (for lack of a better name). This book parallels my Guitar Chord-Strumming Method Book, and is meant to teach a bass player what to play in order to follow the guitar player. It teaches the bass player what the root, 3rd, 5th, and octave is for each chord, so that they will know what their options are. My Guitar and Bass Guitar Method Books could be used together as a sort of “Rock Band Method Book” if a teacher needed material for guitar and bass students to play together. PDFs of the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard”, “Unit 1: Major and minor Chords”, and “Unit 2: Common Chords Progressions” of the Bass Guitar Chords Method Book can be found on my “Bass Guitar” page.

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

teaching

May Lesson Materials

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In May I focused on two projects. In my Guitar Method Book I wrote Unit 10: More Bar Chords with the Root on the E String. I also put together a separate document called Progressions Using Only Three Chords.

For Unit 10: More Bar Chords with the Root on the E String, I added BbM, BM, CM, and Bm. I had previously added these chords as bar chords played with the root on the A string, but sometimes they are played with the root on the E string, depending on the rest of the chords in the progression. This is my longest unit by far, and it will be my last unit focusing on bar chords. I haven’t covered every single possible bar chord, but I’ve covered the most common ones that will allow students to play progressions in the most common keys, and hopefully at this point they could extrapolate how to play any additional bar chords that they might come across (like F#M, Cm, etc.).

I also had the idea to focus on all of the different progressions (within a four-measure phrase) that could be created using only three chords. Since there are many songs that only use three chords, I thought it might be a good idea to focus on exercises that (1) teach students who want to write their own songs how much variation they can have, even if they are using very little material, (2) show ukulele students that they can play a lot of music with only three chords once they finish Lesson 2, (3) show guitar students that they can play a lot of music with only three chords once they finish Lesson 4, (4) show students how common it is to have progressions using I IV V when they start to recognize that those chords are used in the songs they know, and (5) give advanced students who are learning scales, modes, and riffs more variations to practice over. In the composition/songwriting version (Progressions Using Only Three Chords, found on my Composition/Songwriting page) I only used the Roman Numerals below the staff, so that it is left open for them to choose whichever keys they prefer. For guitar, I focused on the key of G Major, so in addition to the Roman Numerals below the staff, I also added the chord symbols (GM CM DM) above the staff (Progressions Using Only Three Chords for Beginning Guitar, found on my Guitar page). For ukulele, I focused on the key of C Major and also added the chord symbols (CM FM GM) above the staff (Progressions Using Only Three Chords for Beginning Ukulele, found on my Ukulele page).

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

Film/TV/Game Music

“Town Music” (New Arrangement of “Pastoral Theme”)

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This month I worked on updating “Pastoral Theme” because it was originally written in Sibelius, and I always wanted to see what it would sound like if I gave it the DAW treatment. It reminded me of the style of music you might hear when playing a video game and visiting a town, so I changed the name to “Town Music”. Before taking it out of Sibelius I rewrote the end of each phrase and changed the bass rhythms, because when I originally did it as an assignment, it was good enough and I was trying to learn how to write things quickly and move on from them. I think the rewrite is a little more interesting and flows a little better, so I’m glad I made the changes.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to compare my different string libraries. The music is meant to repeat (like video game music would), but instead of an exact repeat, I switched to a different string library, using five of them, one right after the other. I fiddled with them as little as possible, to see which ones sounded best right out of the box, so I would know which ones to use if I’m under a tight deadline. I used the same modulation and expression on all of them, mostly just to create the overall subtle dynamic contour. I also didn’t do any panning, because I wanted to just rely on each of their seating positions when they were originally recorded. I had to do some balancing, because the ranges of their default volumes were all over the place, and for the most part I used the same reverbs (as well as a few other effects) on all of them, with a few slight adjustments when necessary. On one of them I also had to do some pretty drastic surgical EQ because a few notes had some crazy overtones piercing through. Which one(s) do you like most/least (A, B, C, D, or E)?

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March and April Lesson Materials

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In March and April, I gave the bar chords lessons in my Guitar Method Book an overhaul. I moved some chords and exercises around, and even added a few more bar chords. All of these materials and more can be found in the “FOR MY STUDENTS” drop-down menu under “GUITAR”.

Here is a detailed description of what I changed and added:

In Unit 6, Lesson 36, I now introduce the high Em bar chord (with the root on the A string) to use in progressions where it is more appropriate/easier than the original low Em chord (starting with a i iv v progression in A minor, but not i iv v in E minor). I also incorporated it into Lesson 38 in 12-Bar Blues in A minor, but again not in E minor. 

In Unit 7, Lesson 43, I now introduce Am as a bar chord (with the root on the E string) to use in progressions where it is more appropriate/easier than the original Am chord (i iv v progressions in D minor and A minor). I also incorporated it into Lesson 44 in i VII VI V and i V VI VII progressions in A minor, as well as in Lesson 45 in 12-Bar Blues in D minor and A minor. 

In Unit 8, I was originally going to add DM and high EM as bar chords (with the root on the A string), but instead I decided to introduce them in their own unit. I went through all of Unit 8 and removed any progressions with DM and EM that would work better with them as bar chords (I IV V progressions using bar chords in G Major, D Major, and A Major etc.). Unit 8 still focuses on introducing BbM, BM, and CM as bar chords (with the root on the A string), using mostly progressions in the keys of F Major, C Major, E Major, E minor, D minor, and A minor.

In Unit 9 I finally introduce DM and high EM as bar chords (with the root on the A string), using mostly progressions in the keys of G Major, D Major, A Major, A minor, G minor, and a few in D minor and E minor. In Lesson 68 I also introduce the high FM bar chord (with the root on the A string) because it made more sense as a VI chord in A minor when using the high EM bar chord as V, and also in the key of D minor as the III chord.

Please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.

Film/TV Music

Nightwing Returns, Season 2, Episode 4

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Last year I scored the second season of a Nightwing fan series. Episode 4 was released on March 29th and can be watched here.

Here are YouTube videos of the soundtrack.
Track 401 Main Title
Track 402 Batman vs Crescent
Track 403 Credits and Mid-Credits Scene
Track 404 Post-Credits Scene

I also made a YouTube playlist of the full score.

Film/TV Music

Nightwing Returns, Season 2, Episode 3

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Last year I scored the second season of a Nightwing fan series. Episode 3 was released on March 22nd and can be watched here.

Here are YouTube videos of the soundtrack.
Track 301 Main Title
Track 302 Dick and the Court of Owls
Track 303 Oliver Looking for Dick
Track 304 Dick as Batman
Track 305 The Court of Owls and Oliver
Track 306 Credits

Film/TV Music

Nightwing Returns, Season 2, Episode 2

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Last year I scored the second season of a Nightwing fan series. Episode 2 was released on March 15th and can be watched here.

Here are YouTube videos of the soundtrack.
Track 201 Main Title
Track 202 Dick and Oliver
Track 203 Dick and Barbara
Track 204 Penguin’s Hideout
Track 205 The Court of Owls
Track 206 Credits