New at TedGreene.com for February 2011

February 2011 TedGreene.com Newsletter

Mid-Winter Greetings,

How soon our remembrance of the holidays slip into some distant ideological hollow and one-twelfth of the year falls away to mingle or dissipate with those memories.

Thus is it with time; and the all-consuming present predominates.

How much is ours to determine what’s to be held inside and what is to be forgotten?

However, one could be consciously making an effort to retain information, hence in regard to learning music, (the most relevant example for our purposes), memory becomes essential.  So.  Onward.

What this month holds:

Video: This year we will attempt to present all of Ted’s seminars in the video section, beginning this month with ­­­­­­­­­­­Part One of the California Vintage Guitar Seminar on May 18, 2003. Listen at TedGreene.com Video Section and also on Ted Greene’s Youtube channel.

New Song: Interesting notes about the song chosen for February:

Happy Days Are Here Again, Music by Milton Ager and lyrics by Jack Yellen was recorded by Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, with Lou Levin, vocal (November 1929), and was used in the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows. The film was about Drunks, Bootlegging and Prohibition and the song was the finale, celebrating the imminent repeal of Prohibition. Today, the song is probably best remembered as the campaign song for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s successful 1932 presidential campaign.

(source: Wikipedia – edited by me)   Ted and I never watched this movie.

Lesson Notes: Within the immense framework of Ted’s lesson material, the ever observant Paul Vachon alerted me to a file Ted designated Application of Harmonic Concepts. This rather massive file in itself contains many lesson sheets applicable to quite a few of Ted’s Chord Melody arrangements.  I choose two that I thought would complement this month’s arrangement of Happy Days Are Here Again.

New Lessons Material:

Harmony: Diatonic Harmony Derived from Bass Lines

Diatonic Major Harmony: Ascending Bass Starting from Various I’s

Tune: Happy Days are Here Again Ted’s Chord Melody Arrangement

From the Students: Happy Days are Here Again – Compilation and commentary by Paul Vachon

And I close with a rare quote from one of our most revered masters:

“Bring me a bowl of coffee before I turn into a goat” J.S. Bach

Once again, wishing you joy and inspiration,

Barbara Franklin

My Life With the Chord Chemist

Greetings everyone!
For those who still want to read My Life with the Chord Chemist:

The book is temporarily unavailable because all the typos had to be corrected. I will be receiving the proof copy and as soon as I check it again! it will be resubmitted to Amazon.com for all who still wish to read it.  The process will take about two weeks.
Thanks for your patience.

Barbara