For Orchestra!

Music is a universal language. I have become amazed by Bobby McFerrin because the way he sees music is through the eyes of a child. You may recognixe his name from ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy‘. When you were young, everything excited you, and everything seemed ‘awesome’ and ‘different’. As we grow, we tend to stop being surprised, trying new things, and staying interested. Its important to never lose that – and Bobby McFerrin hasn’t.

He also has another performance where he beat boxes, which blew me away! But this time The World Science Fair was his stage during his pentatonic scale audience song. As the name implies – the scale is called ‘Penta’ because it has 5 notes in it, and the audience fills up the other notes without his assistance. It shows the universal understanding of music, the power of what it can do to us, and the wave of emotion and awe it can leave us with.

Big thanks to my good friend Jack Sparks for letting me know about this!

Wired had a store opening party the other day in NYC’s MeatPacking District.

Moby was spinning on the tables as the special guest, and there were a lot of cool peeps there, many of who I had no clue who they were, but they were surrounded by people. I’m more about internet culture, so I tend to do bad when it comes to pop culture. I couldn’t tell you who half these people are when I attend events. It’s just as well, because when I talk with them I find our conversations are extremely fun, interesting, and authentic.

Jenna Wortham and I





(L to R) Sonali Bijor from Karma Loop, Emily Cavalier, Me;
Damien Basile, and Kimmie of Kitten Lounge.

I enjoy everything Wired writes about. I made the connection last year while I was asked to attend the Shorty Awards after NY Time’s Jenna Wortham wrote about my music show. Wired Magazine is always in the know of cool new things that are happening, and all the people there are awesome. Was thrilled to reconnect with friends like Dan Patterson, Jenna Landry, and met tons of more people.

There was a moment throughout the night when I was with the Shamwow Guy, and once again I didn’t know who he was. Super cool guy, and we were talking for a while. I went back and took a picture with him anyway because everyone told me to.

Ehhh… so I spent my time meeting tons of people and telling them about For Orchestra and learning about what they do. I’m always way more interested in learning other people’s motives, stories, and perspectives on things. I even spoke with Moby, and may be doing his favorite song soon! So what’s his favorite song – you’ll have to wait to find out – I hope to be doing it in a few weeks!

I just thought this was so cool, I already watched it 5 times today. When a composer for an orchestra, you begin to look at instruments different. You write different songs, try and integrate multiple arts into one, break down walls, take chances. This video is a breathe of that vision. I’ve seen (and written) for odd instruments and ensembles. I’ve composed for a pile of bricks, and had ideas for some of my music. Its all in experimentation. Its the only way to grow, by simply learning from your mistakes. “If it scares you do it.” Well, here’s a video that is new, and fresh, and is scary when considering the hours and ‘what ifs’ that they had when they started.

If orchestral arrangements are more your thing, then this reminded me of the Two Guys One Flute video. There is also the Guitar Duet. But this is different, because there’s a connection between the two performers. It draws you in. In addition, it appears to be much more advanced than the other 2 videos – not that the other two aren’t advanced – they are. But this video moved me, both in its performance, and the connection between the two performers. When the performers are authentic and enjoying their work, the audience takes notice. There is nothing more important to a composer, because to write the music is one thing, but leave your audience changed is another.

“Code Monkey have every reason to get out this place ”

One of my biggest inspirations is Jonathan Coulton. His songs are licensed Creative Commons, which allows you to remix them, send them to friends, and more. So when I started seeing people arrange his work, I thought “I wonder if I can do that For Orchestra!” And so there you have it – that perhaps JoCo is the reason of how I even came up with this idea in the first place. But after I arranged it, I kept doing other songs every few months, and it wasn’t until a few months ago, when I decided to tackle this head on.

Preview!     Buy It!

[Songs Archive]

The brass take the ending chorus in this piece, which is a remix of the one I made years ago. I also added a monstrous percussion section: Xylaphone, Anvil, Drums, Harp, Orchestra Chimes, Triangle, and Timpani. Looking back at how I was years ago is something that makes me appreciate all the hours I work on my craft. But improvement as a musician isn’t simply about better production, arranging, or writing. Its about being a better person all around. Life is about improvement, and change.

This song means alot to me, not only because it was the first of all the pieces I had done, but because Coulton’s songs (while covering everything from IKEA, to Zombies) are also about “breaking away from the mold.” He broke away from his job to pursue his dream, and the lyrics of Code Monkey represent that. It could be relationships, friends, your car, or even your career – If you don’t like something you change it. You do this until all the chips fall on your lap, and everything in your life makes you smile. Everything.

It’s the only way to live.

I was asked to hang out at StadiumRed earlier in the week – and shot some video for everyone. They have a large space (perfect for orchestras!) and some really cool stuff going on over at the studio. Big ups to Claude for asking me to stop over – lots of space, great acoustics, and a fantastic location over in NYC Harlem at 125h Street.

Claude Zdanow began StadiumRed a little over 2 years ago – a space that was previously occupied by Ornette Coleman. We recently crossed paths at CMJ this year at an event they ran that week. I was there with Rachel Miller which Sonic Scoop also briefly covered.

Lined up against the wall are Grammy’s, Platinum Albums, and more – with a team that even included Ariel Borujow and Tom Lazarus who work with T.I., P.Diddy, and more. I saw no orchestra credits, and yes – i was deeply saddened.

Awesome guys. Check out the vid – its really an amazing space.

BTW Don’t forget to follow us both on Twitter:
Me = @WaltRibeiro
Claude Zdanow = @StadiumRed

One of the coolest events in NYC is IgniteNYC. Its a night where their are about a dozen presenters who each have 20 slides to tell their story. The kicker is that each slide lasts 15 seconds, so its a fast moving 5 minutes. Its ran by Tikva Morowati and Brady Forrest.

This Ignite they tried something different – an iPhone App battle – where people had to use an iPhone Music App to perform in front of the crowd, in which the winner would win Web 2 Expo tickets. I chose Bebot, only because Heidi (who sat next to me) happened to have that, and I felt most comfortable with that one.

So I went up and did my thing, and it wasn’t as good as I thought it’d be, but apparently it was good enough. I had the crowd clap a beat, while I put on a horrible beat box, and played the Bebot at the same time. Damien Basile has video of it – but I can’t find it anywhere. Turns out there were only 3 performers, the ohter two of which were Heidi Hysell and Kyle Cameron. They are awesome people, and

I plan on doing one about the Orchestra soon – so when that happens I’ll give you more information. I first heard about Ignite through Tony Bacigalupo of New Work City after he rapped during his presentation, which was recorded by my friend Meghan Asha. The video is gone, but the memory remains!

I recently attended the AMD Vision Party which turned into a popular FourSquare checkpoint over at Greenhouse NYC
It was a night to present some of the things they’ve been working on. I enjoy attending these things because I hope to incorporate technology into the orchestra somehow – I think its a world worth entering and being fascinated by. As for the coolest thing, I was most impressed by the 3-monitor Fight Simulator, where I felt like I was actually flying around the world and then suddenly being attacked.

Below is the well known HP TouchSmart, which showed some cool photos, one of which is not the one I took of the actual computer:






AMD also had a lot of cool stuff that they were showing – like the Dell Mini Computer. Reminded me alot of the Mac Mini by Apple. I wasn’t able to test it, but it was super light and tiny, with a starting price was said to be around $250 bucks or so.

I love technology, and the Orchestra, so I always like to see how I can merge those two. Its an exciting time we live in, and I have a few ideas

Diggnation kept me busy, so it’s been stressful but exciting because I’m the NYC Organizer. So my busy days of orchestrating got double booked with the event plans and making sure everything is good.

Below is the view from the music booth at the Grand Ballroom. Of course, the line was crazy, and Kevin Rose, Alex Albrecht and more brought down the house. It was a cool vibe – a huge TV screen, giveaways, ad neat audience interaction.

There was a point throughout the night when a Squarespace Blimp flew around the room and dropped a bunch of coupons for free iPods or something.

I’m not sure what I would want out of an orchestra concert, but I think flying Blimps is something I’d like to see. Maybe give away conductor batons or something, too.

Well, here it is… my first official published article in a major magazine. Mix Magazine is the #1 magazine for audio professionals and music production. It’s available everywhere around the world – from Barnes and Nobles to Borders and more – so you can pick it up wherever. Don’t have time to head to the store? Then read the online article!

I ran around the city all day yesterday looking for a copy and they were all sold out. I think its because the magazines hit the newstand the beginning of the month, and I was late to the party searching for the November issue. So I called my friend Elie Maman who is an awesome producer, and was kind enough to pass his issue along to me, so big thanks to him. Also, thanks to David Weiss of Sonic Scoop for writing the article. I’m really not as intelligent as David makes me sound!

Anyway, this idea would be nothing without the support of you. My passion for the orchestra is made better by the response I get every day, and this is only the beginning. Check out the article and let me know what you think of it!

“He’s the only one they call Feelgood”

I’ve been getting requests to do more rock. Everything from Pantera, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and even Muse. Well, let’s take it back decade or two – enter ‘Dr. Feelgood’. One of the defining songs in the Motley Crue catalog that dropped in September 1989. It has attitude, awesome lyrics, and a killer drum groove and guitar line. So what did I do? Transfer that attitude to the orchestra.

This arrangement comes out a day before Motley Crue’s Greatest Hits CD. It’ll be available here, include all the favorite tracks from their catalog, plus a remix of “The Animal In Me”. I love ‘Dr. Feelgood’. I love the drums, vocals, lyrics, recording, album art, and even the bass line. When all these things come together it makes the orchestration effortless. Granted, the hours are still insane, but the creativity flows. I learned this years ago – its like everything in life, that when you’re ‘into’ it, then the effect is exponentially a better result. Practices are more enjoyable, performing and recording is effortless, and even the days flow by better. That’s why you have to not only love your community, and job, but everything surrounding them. It’s about the big picture – a song, much like life, is only as complete as its weakest link.

Dr. Feelgood is about addiction. Its a look at people who fight those inner demons, and their situation and desire for them. I wanted to pick up the tempo a little for this arrangement. As a result, the flutes and violins play the same lines, but are forced to play fast, punctuating parts to compensate for the tempo. Driving it home are the drums, which lay down the work for the horn and trumpet section to fill in the verses.

As I started doing in a few pieces ago – I continued to use the Xylaphone for the guitar solo. Since the instrument can’t hold out notes, then I had the performer play as tremolo to create the sustain you hear after the 2nd chorus. Also, I always try to change the 2nd or 3rd choruses, because I want each section to sound fresh to the listener.