A time-lapse film of the view outside James Stewart’s rear window, in Alfred Hitchcock’s film of that name:
Very, very cool!
(See the creator’s own site for additional details. And if you don’t know the film at all, you could do worse than to start with Roger Ebert’s looking-back review from 2000. Of course you could also do better, and just rent or borrow it yourself. :))
Longtime visitors to RAMH know (as I have said) what I don’t know about music could fit, barely, into a large stadium. (A roofless one, so that the heap of facts and sensibilities inside can actually rise higher than the walls.) So for me to claim that some musical performance awed me — well, that doesn’t claim much.
But this…
Before seeing this piece, I was completely unfamiliar with pianist Jon Schmidt and cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, who collaborated on it. They’d intended to do a mashup, a “Mozart-style arrangement involving several songs by modern artists” — but couldn’t get permission to use the tracks they had in mind. The original composition they came up with instead, says one site, “[weaves] together inspirations from a handful of known influences, including Michael Jackson, Mozart and U2.”
Whatever the source(s) for the final product, yes, I am awed. It’s a dizzying, exuberant blend not just of musical genres but of virtuosity and special effects, both video and audio. (And it took twelve hours just to film.)
Here y’go:
From the YouTube page:
On the recording, Steven Sharp Nelson laid down over 100 tracks including cello textures never known possible. Every single sound on the video was made using only the instruments shown: piano, cello, mouth percussion and kick drum. We utilized some cool effects on lots of stuff… for example the U2-style delay on Steve’s pizzicato at the beginning.
The extra string on the electric cellos (the black cello has an extra high string and the white cello has an extra low string) allowed us to cover the full range of the orchestra. The deep bass drum sound is a bump on the body of the cello with a little help from some effects. The shaker sound was created by Steve rubbing rosin on his bow. The record scratch is Steve scratching a quarter on the strings… you get the idea.
Those two electric cellos look like musical instruments from the planet Tralfamadore.
Jumbled together with the other things in that stadium I mentioned: knowledge of musical notation. But I did glance at some of the sheet music for “Michael Meets Mozart.” Among the annotations interspersed between and within the staves:
- delete F if you can’t reach
- this is what the computer prints when you slide your right elbow up the keys
- let ring as long as possible with half pedal
There’s this, at the very top (whatever it means):
- chills up
and later (my favorite):
- Watch your fingers on the lid hit! (I found out the hard way)
Ha! And also: Le sigh.
I’m pretty sure I posted a link to this on Facebook and/or Twitter a couple months ago, when I first encountered it. For some reason it’s found its way back into my head today, and has been positively ringing there for the last several hours. When a song will simply not leave me alone, my solution is to just, well, listen to it. It goes away immediately. So, as much for my own sake as for yours…
Here’s “Don’t Worry, I’m Yours” — DJ Dain’s ingenious mashup of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” (The ukulele accompaniment, as I understand it, actually makes this a three-way mashup: it came from a recording called “Wonderful World,” by the late Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.)
Lyrics to both songs are below, displayed side by side so you can (if you’re clever and, unlike me, somehow able not to get lost in the catchiness!) follow along with the interleaved audio.
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Don’t Worry, Be Happy
(by Bobby McFerrin) Here is a little song I wrote Ain’t got no place to lay your head Here I give you my phone number Ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style There is this little song I wrote In your life expect some trouble Put a smile on your face |
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I’m Yours
(by Jason Mraz) Well you done done me Well open up your mind and see like me So I won’t hesitate no more, no more Scooch on over closer dear I’ve been spending way too long But I won’t hesitate no more, no more Well open up your mind and see like me |
