Feelings and Relativity

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.” Albert Einstein

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How I Write Songs (Part 8)

The above quote by a great man Albert Einstein has a lot to do in writing music as it is highly related to

a) Tempo
b) How tempo represents feeling

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Tempo Classification

From fastest to slowest, the common tempo markings are:

Prestissimo — extremely fast (200 - 208 bpm). Click here to listen to my Prestissimo Heartbeats.
Presto — very fast (168 - 200 bpm). Click here to listen to my Presto Heartbeats.
Allegro — fast and bright or "march tempo" (120 - 168 bpm). Click here to listen to my Allegro Heartbeats.
Moderato — moderately (108 - 120 bpm). Click here to listen to my Moderato Heartbeats.
Andante — at a walking pace (76 - 108 bpm). Click here to listen to my Andante Heartbeats.
Adagietto — rather slow (70 - 80 bpm). Click here to listen to my Adageitto Heartbeats.
Adagio — slow and stately (literally, "at ease") (66 - 76 bpm). Click here to listen to my Adagio Heartbeats.
Larghetto — rather broadly (60 - 66 bpm). Click here to listen to my Larghetto Heartbeats.
Lento — very slow (40 - 60 bpm). Click here to listen to my Lento Heartbeats.
Larghissimo — very slow (20 bpm and below). Click here to listen to my Larghissimo Heartbeats.

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Tempo and Feelings

From the quote given by Einstein, Happy feeling is related to higher tempo. Sad feeling is related to slower tempo. Generally, in writing music, this is true BUT there are many other elements in music that can represents feelings. One of a very important element is MELODY.

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Quantifying Feelings

Yes, feelings can be quantified although generally, feelings are something felt. Below is a picture of a musical roll of a main melody of a song 'Terbang Lagi':

Do click for details.

Notice that the melody has the ups and downs movements.

Below is a price chart movement of Crude Palm Oil Futures Contract:

Do click for details.

Question: What does a futures price chart has to do with music?
Answer: EVERYTHING :-)

(Hint: I did mention about our human nature to feel where the most extreme optimistic feeling is GREED and the most extreme pessimistic feeling is FEAR).

More about this in my future entries.

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On YouTube

I have posted a new music video of an old song of mine: Teringatkan Kamu (Thinking of You).

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To Feel

"Sometimes, I can really feel you".

Nurin Jazlin Jazimin

Special thanks to Mr. David Santos of http://sverdades.blogspot.com/ for the request to put up the picture of the late Nurin Jazlin Jazimin today. I however decided to put up this video, Madeleine - Missing Children as substitute.

This blog remembers Nurin Jazlin Jazimin.

Al Fatihah...

Diastole and Systole - The Human Equation

How I write Songs (Part 7)

As previously mentioned, musical notes are given by nature or by God. The notes are A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G and G#. They do not change. In fact, whatever is nature does not change.

So is human nature. Human nature has never changed since mankind is created. What has been changing is change itself. As, change itself does change, we have seen the ups and downs of life in total. The ups and downs create unbalances searching themselves to be at the equilibrium state. Should the unbalances do not bother finding the equilibrium state, exists then what is called extremism.

I did write something about The Thinking Heart. In the end, I did mention that reality does exist. Everything that we see outside of us comes from the unseen world. Actions taken emerge from the unseen realm of the hearts. That is why, my first step in writing songs is always to listen to my own heartbeats. If one can hear the beats, one can compose a song. Listening alone however is not the only procedure.

You see, the beats are highly effected by our emotions or feelings (I prefer to use the latter word). That we do feel is what makes us don't change. It is our nature to feel. Unfortunately, humans do forget own nature. We forget to feel. We prefer to think because we thought that only the brain is doing the thinking. We forget that it is the heart that do the primary thinking.

So the first step is to listen to my own heartbeats. The next step is to feel. Question is, what am I to feel?

Changes occur by the rhythm of our hearts. Once the beats get into the excesses, it causes both extremes. One is excess in optimism and the other is excess in pessimism. Equilibrium is reached only and only once the rhythm is in constant manner at a healthy rate.

Psychologically, the most excessive optimistic feeling is GREED. The most excessive pessimistic feeling is FEAR. The most equilibrium feeling is GRATEFUL. There are many kinds of feelings between these two extremes GREED AND FEAR and everything is human nature which does not change. Changes then occur once there is excessive in feelings. The changes are responsible to whatever we do see outside of our inner-selves - upwards and downwards of businesses, glut and scarcity in the markets, changes in supplies and demands, wars and peace, etc etc etc. where the rhythms of the hearts keep swinging into one direction then swing into another direction and so on and so on. The diastole and systole beatings of the hearts is never-ending succession.

Human feelings can be classified into two categories (a) Collective Feelings or Mass Psychology (b) Individual feelings. Between the two, the former is better understood than the latter. As this blog is about how to write a song in an easier way, I will only focus on the Collective Feelings.

As previously mentioned, a song is a song but I do prefer to understand it as a story. A song has its own story to tell (or to feel). It is always my objective to make people feel by listening to my songs. Listeners are to feel sad should I composed a sad song. I fail in my composition should people feel otherwise (which probably is the case ... erks ... yikes). Therefore, before I am trying to make others feel, I myself must get into it first.

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On YouTube

I also have re-posted a revised music video named 'Peter Olson in Paris'. Credits to Peter Olson for the pictures :-)

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Ondas de Luz

Su of Teia de Ariana has requested something which is uneasy for me to do. I am here apologizing for my failure to follow up with the request. To me, good things in life are not things. LIVERPOOL FC IS LIFE !!! Hehehehehe.

In return, I have composed a song named after her poem 'Ondas de Luz'.

Song: Ondas de Luz
Song, Music and Illustrations by Azer Mantessa
Special thanks to Su of Teia de Ariana