DM Blog

The first thing that came to me when I sat down at the piano today was Jingle Bells, but not the way you're probably used to hearing it. I decided it is very illustrative of my mood this morning, so why not post it for everyone to hear!

First, here's what I played on the piano: Jingle Bells – Piano

Lots of extensions and thick harmonies – very minor sounding too, no? So then I decided to add some bass and percussion for kicks: Jingle Bells – Latin (Why not!?)

Isn't it interesting that the harmony seems more lively (and not as "depressing") with the bass and percussion added?

Anyways, maybe I shouldn't use the word "depressing" to describe the harmony, since that's not what I'm feeling at all. But descending harmonies usually make people feel, or think sad...

Given what you hear, how would you describe my mood this morning?

Post a comment below and let me know what you think!

I have a ton of charts to do and lots on my plate right now – time to get to it already!

UPDATE – Tuesday, July 27, 2010 @ 8:30am

Late last night I realized, you can't arrange a song like this and omit an entire section! LOL Anyways, I sat down at the keyboard again last night and decided to complete it and write the bridge as well. Here's just the piano: Jingle Bells v2 – Piano and then with bass and percussion: Jingle Bells v2 – Latin.

Maybe you'll notice the bridge harmony ascends instead of descends like the rest of the tune? Or maybe you won't notice...

Anyways, I'm curious to hear how this makes you feel...?...

UPDATE 2 – Tuesday, July 27, 2010 @ 11:30pm

Oops, I did it again! (LOL) I just realized that I truncated the bridge section, so I just had to edit the file and re-post it once again. It's the same as version 2, except the bridge repeats twice. Here's just the piano: Jingle Bells v3 – Piano and then with bass and percussion: Jingle Bells v3 – Latin.

Why am I doing this again?