In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday, my setting of Sonnet 130.
*This recording was made by a student vocalist at Montreat College. I post it to share my setting, as opposed to his performance. He wants me to note that this is not an accurate depiction of his current vocal abilities.
Nathan Hathaway Adams
When I discovered The Jellyrox was releasing a new EP, I was quite excited. Dear Matt creates deliciously infectious positive pop that neither give me diabetes nor makes me feel guilty for my pleasure. I dutifully pre-ordered and waited.
I received my copy in the mail and drove to the place where my best friend was house-sitting. Also a fan of the pox (ehrm, rox), he agreed that we should listen to it. I place it in the Mac and went to make a cup of tea.
I came back to find it had been ejected. Assuming I had inserted it facing the wrong direction, I placed it in the other way. I began to prepare my body for the music.
But it was stuck. The computer would not acknowledge the disc’s existence, and would not eject it. I tried everything and nothing worked. All it would do was make a whirring noise every 2.5 second. To taunt me.
This did not end well for me emotionally. The fun thing about nervous breakdowns is that it’s the serious stuff that builds the fire, and the stupid that sparks it.
Eventually, the Mac regurgitated my disc and I am happily listening to it now. The moral of the story is, “Buy more physical CD’s, because if a Mac eats the only one you’ve bought this year, it’s that much more devastating.”
I attended Montreat College, and while I am very happy that I did, on some listless days when the “what-ifs” dance across my mind in a bizzaro performing arts piece, I wish that Black Mountain College had been able to stay open and that I would have been able to attend there.
Opened in the 1930′s, Black Mountain College was a liberal arts college which took a very unique approach to education. Many of the luminaries of the past century worked and created there: including Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, and (the one I am most enamored of) John Cage.
I cherish the sound of a Prepared Piano, and love the ideas behind his most well known composition, 4’33. Artsy-fartsy stuff does tickle my fancy and push my buttons, and it also pleases me to know that such a landmark once existed in the place that I am happy and proud to call home.
In Asheville, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center is working to preserve and push forward the legacy of Black Mountain College. Part of that includes the {Re}Happening.
The {Re}Happening is an evening of arts presentations that attempts to recapture the spirit of what living and working at Black Mountain College might have been like all those years ago as artists created and presented their works to each other.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend because I already have the great fortune to be attending the Vocal Blast Spring Benefit at the Toy Boat Toy Boat Toy Boat Community Arts Space.
But, I am going to be present in another way. There is a crowdfunding campaign to raise money so that the event might be filmed and preserved for posterity. [EDIT: And there's still time to contribute!] While nothing can match the magic of being there, video records can still be a great tool. My love of Sondheim and my education in musical theatre would not be anywhere near as nuanced without having had access to the video recordings of the original casts of Sunday In The Park With George, Into the Woods, & Passion.
They have raised the money for basic filming, but with more money they can cover editing, and add other touches that will make the final product even better. If you are interested in those sort of thing happening, then consider contributing. And if not, why not poke around IndieGogo or Kickstarter and find what you do want to see happen and help fund that?
Listening to the music around me,
Nathan Hathaway Adams
Riddle me this, riddle me tangerine.
What do Batman, Llamas, & Autocorrect have in common?
Would you believe, choral music?
Last year, I wrote a set of Choral Pieces called the “Modern Madrigals.” What is a Modern Madrigal you ask? (Feel free to skip to the music if you like, you don’t need no education to enjoy my music.)
Inspired by the idea of replacing Fa La La with LOL, the Modern Madrigals marry modern concerns with older styles of music.
The first was entitled, “My Man Is My Batman.” It describes a young couple going on a date to see “The Dark Knight Rises” and their evening of hijinks. For the theory nerds, at the end I use what I call a Leaning Tone Cadence, which is V-N6-I.
The second, “This Llama,” talks about the true story of a dear friend moving to Ohio, and the picture I made to wish her farewell. Here I also got to have some fun with Fa La La.
And finally, “Curse You Autocorrect,” uses my original idea to sing a song of woe for when our phones think they are smarter than we are.
They were a joy to write and I am forever grateful to Timothy Wilds for giving me a place to inhabit artistically and the Montreat College Choir for bringing my music to life.
Share them if you like them! If you or someone you know are interested in having a choir perform any of these, feel free to contact me.
With love,
Nathan Hathaway Adams
. . . was a day or two ago, but this is the last day of my Christmas Music Blog series. It has been an exciting challenge to find a song for each day, and also a good exercise in consistent blogging.
For the last song, another piece that comes to us from the world of Musicals. This is a very classy interpretation by the Lady Gaga. This is song is also interesting theoretically, because the main motive consists entirely of minor seconds. Very very pretty minor seconds.
To commemorate this Christmas, I’ve collected all the songs selected into a playlist. Enjoy!
Feeling ordinary,
Nathan Hathaway Adams
Today is Epiphany, the end of the liturgical celebration of Christmas. But since I started my 12 days late, I still have to post a song today and tomorrow. Today’s selection is entitled Christmas Tree, as a reminder that you no longer have a pithy educated reason to defend your still standing Christmas Tree.
Cherry cherry boom boom!
Nathan Hathaway Adams
A popular work of the Christmas Season is the Christmas Concerto by Acangelo Corelli. In my Sophomore year at Montreat College, the Choir did some selections of a Cantata adaptation of this instrumental work, where this movement was made turned into a stunning Soprano duet entitled “Fear Not.” Here is the original.
Not afraid,
Nathan Hathaway Adams
The less said about this, the better. 
Nixon!
Nathan Hathaway Adams
Just what it says, Christmas on Mushrooms! Here’s to my favorite part of Fantasia‘s interpretation of the Nutcracker Suite!
Tripping with delight,
Nathan Hathaway Adams
We Need a Little Christmas from Mame has long been one of my favorite Christmas songs, if only because it’s a mainstream Christmas song that originated in a musical.
When I was working at Barnes & Noble, I won an employee holiday game when I picked the Cast Recording of Mame as the CD with my favorite Christmas song. They said it was unique. I tend to hear that word a lot, but I did go to a Christian College, which may have had something to do with it.
Hauling out the holly,
Nathan Hathaway Adams