The Music Of JC Harris

positively the most intelligent progressive rock on this here planet

positively the most intelligent progressive rock on this here planet

JCHRants

A compendium of musings on music and this business we call show

To The Bank – Snippet The Boats

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: To The Bank. Puns. Irish Rebellions, Ballintubber, Shakespeare. Chorus. Henry V. More on recitative v. aria. The fortunes of campaigning for office. Kick Drum. Dropping Bombs. Bill Bruford.

Roger CortonAnother new snippet. Marching right along.

To The Bank (Snippet)

JC HarrisYou’re such a punster.

RCNot really. So what’s the story?

JCHWell actually, the title is one big pun.

RCI think I get the pun. In the beginning you talk of a river bank, but at the end they marching to a bank where the money is kept.

JCHYes. The story is, again, one of those ‘truths’ I keep talking about. This didn’t literally happen, but it could’ve happened. All the captains and crew are sitting in the bar after the first day of the auction feeling pretty helpless. And one old guy has the nerve to chastise them for taking it all lying down. […]

Martello Towers – Snippet The Boats

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: Martello Towers.James Joyce. Mental Disorders and Creativity. Writing to order sucks. Forcing the magic.

Roger CortonAnd yet another new snippet. You’re on a roll!

Martello Towers (Snippet)

JCHWith jelly, baby.

RCAre you on track to finish soon?

JCHI’m not sure. Right now I’m fighting the fact that I’m starting to get sick of it.

RCDude!

JCHWhat? I’m not allowed to say that?

RCNO!

JCHWhy?

RCAre you serious? You’re impossible. You go all in on this thing and then half way through, it’s like, “I’m getting sick of it.”

JCHKinda whiny, huh?

RCYa think?

JCHLook, you started this whole weekly ‘reality show’ gimmick. I’m supposed to ‘share’, right? (laughs). But in my defense, what they don’t tell ya in opera composers school is that writing a show means writing on deadline. Because you have to write all […]

Transitions (Sea Shanty) – Snippet The Boats

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: Sea Shanty. Transitions. Connective tissue. Agent Smith. Yo ho ho and a bottle o’ rum. Greater Truths. Cooking fires.

Roger CortonAnd yet another new snippet. And so many JC’s! (laughs)

Transition: Sea Shanty (Snippet)

JCHAs Agent Smith used to say. Me, me, me.

RCMe too. So this is what you call a “transition”?

JCHIndeed. It answers the age old question, “What do you do in the spaces between scenes where you have to change sets?”

RCOK, so what do you do?

JCHWell, you can simply bring the curtain down whilst everyone scurries round moving bits of scenery. But that’s typically only done between acts.

RCBut The Boats is a one act opera so…

JCHSo what composers often do is put some sort […]

You’ll Never See The Like Of Me Again – Snippet The Boats

Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats: You’ll Never See The Like Of Me Again. Hurricanes and waterfront property. Recitatives vs. Arias. Genesis. It. Wagner. Choosing the proper length of time for an performance is half the battle.

Roger CortonA new snippet!

You’ll Never See The Like Of Me Again (Snippet)

JCHForget that. Inquiring minds wanna know: how’d the hurricanes treat ya?

RCWhere we live it was OK. But I went with a group to help out south of here. And it was unbelievable. Whole towns will have to be rebuilt for hundreds of miles.

JCHSo much for (ahem) ‘the myth of global warming’.

RCWell regardless of politics and beliefs I’m sure people are thinking differently about building near the shore.

JCHMaybe. We have this Irish expression which I will translate freely, “The Good Lord provides sweet forgetfulness after childbirth. Otherwise, we’d never have more than one […]

Guitar Tips

Well, Rog is off for a while so I decided to take some initiative and actually write something myself–something I haven’t done in years. Mr. Corton is selflessly helping people in his part of Georgia trying to cope with Irma (Note to the people in charge: You should definitely pick more epic names for super-storms. I mean, c’mon. ‘Irma’?) Anyhoo, whatever he’s doing it’s definitely more important than helping me do (cough) ‘social media’.

But fortunately, we do have a ton of material stuck in ‘the vault’. OK, it’s not really in a vault. What it is, is that when Rog and I do these Skype chats, he chops them down to 1,000 words and then sticks the rest of the blather in a virtual trash bin that never seems to get emptied. So at times like this, all I have to do is write a witty introduction like this. And then? Et Viola! Instant Rant. Like this.

The following is actually from a chat we had four or five years ago. […]

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