downtime

About downtime

Hosted by Jade Thomas, downtime is a podcast about students’ hobbies and passions, separate from their academic and professional life.

Publisher

North by Northwestern

Category

leisure

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Oct 2018

Latest episode

3 Jun 2022

Latest episodes

18 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Jun 2022

   downtime episode 2: a cappella

   Episode Notes [The music in this podcast is titled “Aced It” by Ketsa (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/dimensions/aced-it). It is licensed for use under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.] Jade Thomas: Welcome to downtime, the podcast where Northwestern students discuss their hobbies, passions, and other cool things they do in their free time. I’m your host, Jade Thomas. Most people know about a cappella because of cultural touchstones like Pitch Perfect and Pentatonix. Northwestern students, however, know about a cappella, because in a way they are a cappella. There are a total of fourteen a cappella groups on campus. You’d think that with so many groups it’d be hard to thrive and survive amid all of the noise. But it’s not just noise. The sound of Northwestern a cappella is made from carefully-laid rhythms, staggering harmonies and close-knit friendships. In today’s episode you’ll hear from members of two different a capella groups. You’ll hear about the courage it takes to try something new, blends and deceptive chords. You’ll learn that the human voice is an instrument and that coming together can create the world’s greatest orchestra. Thomas: Communications first-year and Soul4Real member, Seun Ayeni says she’s been interested in music ever since she was younger, so much so that it used to make her emotional. Seun Ayeni: So I started singing in church when I was really little, I want to say, five years old. Yeah, for me, it was just something that I was naturally interested in. There's a whole little story about how, when the children's choir used to come up, I would start crying. I'd be like, “Mom, I want to join!” And at the time, my mom was already like, taking my older sisters to church for other stuff. But like, I mean, when I cry, I mean, it struck something in her heart, I guess. And so, she started taking me and that's how I started. Thomas: Weinberg third-year Sarika Rao, says like Seun, she always wanted to pursue singing, but it wasn’t until she got to Northwestern, and encountered Brown Sugar, that her dreams could come to fruition. Sarika Rao: I grew up playing classical piano since I was like, five or so years old. And I did it up until my senior year of high school. As for singing, I kind of went through phases where I really wanted to be good at singing. I actually auditioned for acapella in high school, didn't get in. And it wasn't anything I was planning on doing but I got here and Wildcat Welcome, actually, my PA was in an a cappella group, which I thought was really cool. And I went to Aca-fest like the performance during Wildcat welcome, like for all the new freshmen. I thought it was so cool. So I ended up auditioning just on a whim because of that, and I ended up making it then and so now it's a part of what I do just randomly. Thomas: Medill first-year and Brown Sugar member Pavan Acharya and Seun say that it’s not just the musicality that drew them to their respective groups, but culture as well. Pavan Acharya: Also, the culture, it's a South Asian oriented group, which was also very appealing to me as well. Being a part of the group has definitely helped me be more in touch with my South Asian roots as a young, South Asian person at Northwestern. So definitely the community was a very important aspect. And it's been great getting to learn many different arrangements that draw from Western styles and from South Asian styles as well. Ayeni: Oh, I guess for me Soul4Real also connects to a part of my identity as a Black woman. Of course, Soul4Real is welcome to people from all different backgrounds, but from our very first rehearsal, they, they made the note, they made it note that Soul4Real is Northwestern’s premier black, a cappella group and when it comes to the issues going on in the world, that's the experiences we're going to center and so that is something I don't think you'll find in any other group. Thomas: While members of a cappella groups like Brown Sugar and Soul4Real find harmony in shared experience and background, SESP fourth-year and Soul4Real member Glory Aliu says singers simultaneously have to navigate the diversity of that collective sound. Glory Aliu: I mean, technically, when you are singing with an accompaniment, you're supposed to be kind of vibing with the other parts of the performance, but I feel like there's definitely like this major focus on just doing your part and just kind of like contributing your part. Whereas when you're in a cappella there's just this, you need to actively, like be blending with the people within your own part, but also understanding balance with the other people that you're singing. It's something you're doing together with other people. Thomas: Sarika was previously the music director for Brown Sugar. Music directors deal with sorting out arrangements and polishing blend. The twenty-year-old says that part of having a successful performance is meeting one another halfway. Rao: It's not just like yourself and an instrument that will never go out of tune or not never. But you know what I mean? Like in like a piano, assuming it's correctly tuned is going to be correct. But when you're singing with like, in my case, 18 other singers, all of whom have like a little bit of human error. And like, none of us are perfect. And it's a lot of, just being in sync with one another and understanding, like listening really carefully. Ayeni: In school my teachers used to always be like, your voice is an instrument; teach it, treat it like an instrument and I used to be like, okay, yeah, whatever. But in a cappella your voice is truly your only instrument. So you get to add in elements of like, beatboxing elements of like, making sounds that you would hear in the background of a song that you didn't really think too much of that are again, so prominent in acapella it really brings those to light. Thomas: It’s interesting how dozens of different voices can come together to create one unifying sound, and through that sound, amplify elements that might remain unheard. Yet, no performance will sound completely whole. But isn’t it during those moments of incongruity, of silence, clash and when the blend just didn’t make it that the music finally fills us completely? Thomas: Weinberg second-year Rakin Hussain is one of the current music directors for Brown Sugar. During the 2022 winter quarter, Brown Sugar performed a medley, arranged by an alum, from the film Baahubali, which was popularized in Hindi, but originally produced in Telugu. Rakin says after practicing the piece separately, Brown Sugar members came together to rehearse it for the first time. The result? Magic. Hussain: There were a lot of Sanskrit based elements, which is like the sacred language of Hinduism. And so it was a very, like, cultural song. And it was not at all like the type of music we had been singing in the past, which was more like pop and fun. And because of that, when we finally put it together, I was like, “Yeah, this is exactly why I'm here.” Hussain: The way that this chord works is, it's called deceptive because you think that there's going to be more – (Winter 2022 Brown Sugar Baahubali Medley ending) Hussain: –  but there isn't. And so it ends on this deceptive chord. And you could hear it like when we were singing that it just kind of resonated throughout like the chapel. And it was so beautiful and it was like the culmination of everything we had been working on, for the whole like quarter, the past two quarters. Thomas: Though the chords may be deceptive, Rakin says that the love is real. Hussain: There's so much more to an a cappella group than meets the eye. It’s more than just the music that they make and more than just the performances that they put on because behind that, like there's so many, great opportunities to make lasting friendships and relationships, which I definitely believe that I had made. Thomas: Rakin is right– extracurriculars are good, but they’re even better when you share them with incredible people. Thank you so much to Seun, Sarika, Pavan, Glory, and Rakin for sharing your experiences with a cappella. And of course, thank you all for listening and please let me know how you spend your downtime. For NBN Audio, I’m Jade Thomas. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

2. 

   21 Nov 2021

   downtime episode 1: skateboarding

   Episode Notes [The music in this podcast is titled “Aced It” by Ketsa (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/dimensions/aced-it). It is licensed for use under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.] THOMAS: Welcome to Downtime, the podcast where Northwestern students discuss their hobbies, passions, and other cool things they do in their free time. I’m your host, Jade Thomas. I know finding free time during college is hard, and even harder when we’re taking classes on the quarter schedule. But despite that, people still manage to make time for activities that enrich them, even activities that might not be academic or professional in nature. Hopefully, in listening to this podcast, you’ll feel empowered to make time for your own happiness and peace of mind. In today’s episode, you’ll hear from all sorts of skateboarders - including two friends who met randomly on the street, a reformed snowboarder, a man who went flying on Sheridan, and more. You’ll learn about different types of boards, the transitory nature of memory, and why you should try out some wheels for yourself. THOMAS: Weinberg second-year Naomi Gizaw says she started skating from a really young age, but didn’t pick it back up until last year. GIZAW: So I actually started originally in middle school. Like we’re talking fifth grade, Disney XD – the primetime. It was really hard to get into it, especially because I didn’t really have any older siblings and my parents did not know how to skateboard or whatever. So, it was just taking me to the park and trying to figure it out for myself. It kind of plateaued after a while so I didn’t really get into it as much. I think like this past summer, and including spring quarter of freshman year  – so last year –  I really got into it. I kind of started with longboarding first. So I had a skateboard in middle school and I got into longboarding through my roommate, actually. So we would longboard all around campus. So this past summer when I went back home, I got a couple of my friends from high school and we just went all around the Detroit area, hitting up different spots and skating, and longboarding,you name it. It just felt a lot more comfortable. I felt like when I was going to skate parks when I was younger it was very male-dominated and I was also young at the time, too. It was very intimidating. I feel like when I approached it now I already had that community. THOMAS: Like Naomi, McCormick first-year Otis McCallum says he started skating when he was younger, but only started to take it more seriously when he was in high school. MCCALLUM: My first, I guess, brush with skateboarding was through my godparents. They were both really into that graffiti scene in the city. They both skated, and they're both  really good at it too. I got my first skateboard when I was a really young kid but I never kind of touched it. So, I didn’t actually come back to it until like, freshman year of high school, where I kind of met a group of people who were super into it and they ended up becoming my best friends in high school. And we just ended up skating all over the city. Going from place to place and just exploring new areas was like a huge part of my high school and just like, social experience growing up in New York City. THOMAS: Everyone’s path to skateboarding is a bit different, but sometimes it might not start with skateboarding at all. MA: So, I started it because I like snowboarding a lot. I started snowboarding at 11. I’m really into snowboarding, it’s like an addiction, but obviously you can’t do that unless it’s winter. So I‘ve found an alternative which is skateboarding. It’s actually pretty similar. Not that similar – snowboarding is more fun. THOMAS: Vanessa Ma is currently a first-year student at Weinberg. Despite her bias towards snowboarding, she says she still enjoys being on dry ground. MA: Sometimes, I just feel like doing it. Like it really makes me happier. It’s really helpful for relieving my stress. THOMAS: On the surface, skateboarding seems like a disjointed community with people starting the sport for all sorts of different reasons. But at its core, some say that it’s the friendship and family that is forged through late-night skate sessions, random meet-ups and spontaneous practices that brings everyone together. MCCALLUM: I think I skate better by myself, but I always have the most fun when it’s with other people. It’s such a community sport, too. You can walk down the street and see someone with a skateboard – that’s actually how we met. I literally – we both have decks from this brand called like “Fucking Awesome”. I literally was like, “Oh shit, he has the same brand” and I ran up to him and just started talking and that’s how we became friends and shit. THOMAS: The person that Otis is referring to is Mahan Malhotra, a first-year in the School of Communications. Malhotra is from Hong Kong, a place where he says that despite the sport not being all that popular, at least for now, he was still able to build up that close circle of fellow skaters. MALHOTRA: In Hong Kong, skating is not too big – it’s getting big now – but back when I was growing up it was really small, there was like, one skate store in town. And I remember like me and all my friends when we first started out, we saved up money the whole summer and decided to get our own boards and build them together, which was super fun. Those guys are my best friends for life. THOMAS: The bond that Mahan is referring to is very strong, but it’s really flexible, too. Not only can you meet new friends in your area, you can even develop close connections with people who don’t even speak your language. MALHOTRA: People are so nice. You know, in Hong Kong, there's not a single, nasty skater. I only spoke a little bit of Cantonese, so I couldn't communicate with most of the local guys back there. But like we got on through skateboarding, you know? THOMAS: Well, maybe I exaggerated. It seems like skating is really an entire language of its own. Skaters communicate with one another, of course, but they communicate with their boards too. These crazy loud pieces of wood with four wheels sort of melt into their character, and ultimately paint a picture of who they used to be and who they want to be. MCCALLUM: In my dorm, I have a wall of kind of like, I just kind of hung up old boards as decorations, but each of them is not like I have a long history with – it's more of like snapshots from like a certain month or two period in my life that I look back fondly on, just because they are made to kind of get destroyed. MALHOTRA: I mean, yeah, like skateboards are made to break. I've snapped like, at least like 20 decks by now. It just happens. But the thing is I could look back at any of those old, scratched up, you know, snapped boards, and I could tell you exactly where I was in my life during that period. Because, you just remember it so, you know, fondly – especially like learning a new trick. Like it's all like, ingrained in your head because it's such a feeling. It's such a feeling landing, especially even if you've been trying it for like, ages. That's the best feeling in the world. THOMAS: The distance that Otis and Mahan have with their boards does seem to translate into a greater sense of intimacy than someone would expect to have with a material object. I mean, isn’t it awesome that you can look at a beat up piece of wood and see who you were in middle school? High school? To be instantly reminded of all of the times you were elated or insecure? I just feel as if you have to have so much trust in yourself, but also in the board – in this vessel – to be able to merge your heart with it. So, I guess, maybe it’s not where you take your board, but where it takes you. GIZAW: I feel like I place more value on where I’ve been with the longboard, or like where I plan on going. THOMAS: The type of trust I was talking about earlier obviously isn’t cultivated in a day, or a week, or even a month. Learning how to use your board and maneuver your way through the world with it is definitely a learning curve. Weinberg third-year Tomer Cherki says he’s had his fair share of bumps in the road. And road in this context, is exclusively referring to Sheridan, by the way. CHERKI: So I bumped into, like, an uneven tile. And I went flying off the board and then the board went flying into the streets, right? Like, with cars. This is actually a testament to how strong the boards are. A car ran over the board. But it still didn't break. Right. It's flexible enough that like even with the full weight of a small car it survived. Thankfully, I did not fly into the street. I was on the sidewalk. But uh, yeah, that was a more extreme one. CHERKI: But obviously, you know, with more practice, I just became more comfortable and confident. It's not that I don't still fall – of course I do. But I have more of a...sort of like with driving, right? You have more of an understanding of the car, how you can move it. And so you can start making maneuvers with more confidence, right? Like the difference between someone who's 16 and just got their license making a left turn and someone who's been driving for 10 years making a left turn, right? They both could be making good left turns, but one just does it with a lot more confidence and ease and it's almost automatic. THOMAS: The wild thing about skating is that every single person I talked to said that confidence – that trust in yourself – really is dependent on whether or not you have that support from other skaters. Naomi says she’s trying to create that kind of environment for skaters at Northwestern, free from exclusivity and judgment. GIZAW: So the club that I was trying to start, like a skate club here, which is inclusive of not just skateboards, but longboards, pennyboards, nickelboards – you name it. I think what I was trying to do is replicate what I was able to have this past summer and create that on campus, but not in a way that’s as exclusive or male-dominated as what I experienced when I was in middle school. I feel like there’s not a lot of opportunities on campus to meet people outside of your major, or even just your residential area, too. I think there’s been some clubs that are starting now that are able to do that, which I’m really happy about, but I feel like what I’m trying to start is just one more club that could possibly do that as well. THOMAS:  And if you’re still on the fence about whether or not you should give skating a try, Naomi says don’t sweat it. GIZAW: So it's like if you don’t kind of grow up in that environment or are very exposed to it or kind of start at it at a young age, you kind of like, missed your opportunity. So I would just like to say PSA: that’s not true. You can start as late as you want. I’ve even met people who’ve started and they’re whole adults, you know? You just have to remember, at the end of the day, it’s a hobby. It’s not like it's something that’s like, outrageously difficult to pick up. If you work at it, you know, maybe twenty minutes a day, you’ll actually get really good at it. THOMAS: At the end of the day, it is a hobby. And at schools like Northwestern, it’s so important that students have hobbies and outlets where they can be bad at stuff, and then maybe get good, or maybe keep being bad, but ultimately having fun anyway. Thank you so much to Naomi, Otis, Vanessa, Mahan, and Tomer for opening up about how you spend your downtime and a special thanks to McCormick first-year Jonathan Chan for rolling his skateboard around in front of my microphone. Much appreciated. Lastly, thank you all for listening and please let me know how you spend your downtime. For NBN Audio, I’m Jade Thomas. [Graphic by Billy Kirchgessner] This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

3. 

   8 Nov 2020

   Tenny's Tunes #16: What Music Captures "Summer?"

   Episode Notes ["Summertime," by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald] Hi y'all, it's Tenny. Welcome to another episode of Tenny's Tunes. I know it's way past summer at this point for most people living in the Northern Hemisphere, but whenever I come across good music, I share it with you. When you think of summer, do you picture a desert with the midday sun hovering above it, an air-conditioned living room with board games and TV or the beach filled with people? Bottom line is, we all have our own versions of summer. It's an amorphous concept. There is this popular mobile game called "Arknights," and it's more renowned for its soundtrack than the actual gameplay, which is basically tower defense similar to “Plants vs. Zombies”. For every major seasonal event like summer fest, Halloween and New Year, the game developer puts out music specific to that event through the hands of "Monster Siren," an in-game music producer. Two summers ago, Monster Siren published a summer theme song called "Ready?" The fictional in-game artist who performed the song is called "DDD" and is modeled after Marshmello. The piece overall brings up imagery of a sunny day at the beach, people sunbathing, splashing water at each other, making some barbecue, whatever they are allowed to do near the beach. The misty piano sounds create a sense of "coolness" amidst the summer heat. It's probably easier hearing it for yourself. But due to copyright issues, I won't be playing the original version, just a piano interpretation I recorded a while back. Hope you find it pleasing to the ear. This is NBN Audio. Peace. ["Ready?" DDD, piano version by Tenny Tsang] This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

4. 

   8 Oct 2020

   Tenny’s Tunes #15: Can Piano Sound Like Guitars

   Episode Notes [“clavar la espada” by Shiro Sagisu] Hi guys, it’s Tenny. Welcome to episode 15 of Tenny’s Tunes. Hope everyone’s doing okay as we head into the final three months of 2020. I hope the worst times have passed, but yet I wonder if what is to come will be any better. I guess that sums up life in general. I have a question for you. Do you think pianos can sound like other instruments? We often hear people commenting on how flutes can sound like birds chirping, or clarinets at high pitches can resemble kettles with boiling water. But those are comparisons between a strictly defined musical instrument and a non-conventional instrument - because one can certainly make music out of anything in this day and age. With regards to piano, I often find it easy to emulate the sound of a choir from fugues by Bach with the distinct SATB voice lines. Step on the sustain pedal, and you have a Bach piece that sounds like it should be played in the church. More recently, I’ve started to take an interest in guitar, not in the sense that I have one and I am learning how to play it, but that I see similarities between the techniques used in guitar and piano performances. Specifically, the Spanish guitar, which is known for some of the most advanced techniques. As an example, the Spanish guitar often features picado, which is an alternate picking between the index and middle fingers as you hold your thumb onto the E string. This results in a fast-paced rhythmic repetition that goes either up or down the scale and, quite frankly, serves as the soul of a flamenco performance. Of course, there are also claps and singing that accompany a flamenco dancer, but if you only want to go with the essentials, a guitar is what matters the most from my experience. But don’t quote me on that. In this sense, piano and guitar are quite similar. Your fingers can move pretty fast up and down the keyboard, or repeat in a cycle of three notes to mimic that picado sound. There are limitations to how much a piano can try to reproduce a guitar piece, of course. For instance, traditional pianos can’t really do vibratos like guitars or violins, but I believe electric pianos can through certain functions. With that in mind, I bring to you today an attempt at interpreting a guitar/violin piece with piano. The piece is called “La Distancia Para Un Duelo” and has a Spanish feel to it. Hope you like it. You can also look up the original version on YouTube as well. I am Tenny, and this is NBN Audio. Peace. [“La distancia para un duelo” by Shiro Sagisu, performed by Tenny Tsang] This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

5. 

   26 May 2020

   Tenny’s Tunes #14: 千本桜 (Senbonzakura)

   Episode Notes [“千本桜 (Senbonzakura)”] Hi guys, welcome to Episode 14 of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host, Tenny. Hope everyone is safe and healthy. This was arguably the most popular Japanese song in 2014 (by Wagakki Band, a Japanese rock band that uses traditional instruments). I was still in middle school back then, and my range of preference for music was a bit narrow. The melody didn’t appeal to me for some reason, but at least it was pleasing to the ear. One thing I didn’t get was why people were so crazy over the tempo or speed of the song, creating their own versions and remixes that were even faster than the original piece. To me, showing off skills for the sake of it didn’t do the music justice at all. Nevertheless, I decided to revisit this piece in honor of that era. If you wanna see me playing it, here is the link to the video. Hope you enjoy. This is NBN Audio. [“千本桜 (Senbonzakura)”] Music performed by Tenny Tsang. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

6. 

   1 May 2020

   Tenny’s Tunes #13: Clair de Lune

   Episode Notes Hi guys, welcome to Episode 13 of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host Tenny. Hope everyone is safe and healthy. Inspiration: Back in high school, I volunteered at a local senior center and played piano music for the residents there. I would take requests to play certain pieces, but there’s one that I just did not take the time to learn. That’s right, it’s Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy, not the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata that some people might confuse it with. Even my good friends in college tell me, “You know Tenny, you really should know how to play this one.” Well, quarantine time means piano time for me! Creation: It took a lot of tries to nail this one. I played at a slower tempo than usual. It’s actually harder to play classical pieces on my MIDI keyboard than on a regular piano. Message: Haha, I was a bit lazy for the past few ones. We are all different people, but I will tell you what I got from the piece. How do you feel when you look at the moon at night? Do you prefer a crescent, a gibbous, a new moon or a full moon? Maybe a combination? I have no preference. To me, the moon is as fickle and elusive as it can be, but it still abides by the pattern of the moon phases every month. Humans are too. We all have a bottom line that we will never cross over, or else we cease to be humans. Alright, enjoy! This is NBN Audio. [“Clair de Lune” performed by Tenny Tsang] Music performed by Tenny Tsang. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

7. 

   15 Apr 2020

   Tenny's Tunes #12: Tchaikovsky Nocturne Op. 19 No. 4 in D minor

   Episode Notes Hi guys, welcome to Episode 12 of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host Tenny. Hope everyone is safe and healthy. Inspiration: I was very fortunate to be able to perform a cello piano duet of Tchaikovsky’s Nocturne No. 4 with an elderly French gentleman in Aix-en-Provence, France, the summer of 2019. I was studying abroad there for six weeks. Now, I want to return to this piece for memory sake after nearly a year. Creation: I was planning on recording the common piano solo version that’s in C sharp minor, but the key just didn’t sound right to me personally, perhaps because I originally played the duet version in D minor. So I took a U-turn halfway through recording and decided to stick to D minor key. Message: Not going to spoil it. We all have our own unique interpretations of this piece. Enjoy! [“Tchaikovsky Nocturne Op. 19 No. 4 in D minor (piano solo)” performed by Tenny Tsang] _Music performed by Tenny Tsang. _ This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

8. 

   18 Feb 2020

   Tenny's Tunes #11: White Night March

   Episode Notes [“White Night March” performed by Tenny Tsang] Hi guys, welcome to Episode 11 of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host, Tenny. Today, we are not going the fancy route. Just plain old piano with no other accompaniment. This piece is a movie soundtrack from Journey under the Midnight Sun, which came out around 2011. Original by Hirai Mamiko. Inspiration: Not much. I wanted to play this myself because I love it. Creation: This is an easy piece at first glance. But it does take effort to nail the intonation and articulation of each note and chord. Message: One cannot stare directly at the sun. Nor look directly into what’s in the heart. Original by Hirai Mamiko. Music performed by Tenny Tsang. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

9. 

   30 Jan 2020

   Tenny's Tunes #10: Stärker

   Episode Notes [“Stärker” By Tenny Tsang] Hi guys, welcome to episode ten of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host Tenny. Before we dive in, I want to wish everyone a safe, healthy and successful 2020. For some time, I have been thinking of getting a good MIDI keyboard to make some simple music, and it just so happens that our current NBN editor-in-chief was selling one. So I got it from him and made this instrumental adaptation of “Stronger” using the piano and erhu, a Chinese string instrument. Original by Daft Punk and Kanye West. Inspiration: 2020 is not a chill year given the coronavirus season, wildfire, diplomatic tensions, etc., but it boils down to one thing that has endured the test of time: Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker (That which does not kill me, makes me stronger). Creation: At first, I just wanted to record a piano version but it turns out erhu is such a magical fit to piano, so then the rest of the elements fell in one by one. Called the piece “Stärker” to pay tribute to the original work. Message: As always, you figure it out dude. Interpretation is not up to the creator but to the receptor, though it should be obvious enough. Whether you can always remember this line, however, is yet a test of time. Music by Tenny Tsang. All copyrights reserved. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

10. 

    19 Nov 2019

    Tenny's Tunes #9: C-Pop 101

    Episode Notes [周杰倫 - 三年二班 Backing Track, by Studio One] Hi guys, welcome to episode nine of Tenny’s Tunes! I am your host, Tenny. As promised last time, I’ll be discussing C-pop, or Chinese pop music. People all over the world are familiar with K-pop, or Korean pop music and culture. From my understanding, the worldwide K-pop phenomenon took off in the 2000s and never really died down in terms of enthusiasm from fans. On the flip side, C-pop never achieved the same level of popularity, and fervor for C-pop remains mainly within Chinese-speaking communities, occasionally resonating with people from other cultures. Indeed, at first glance, K-pop shadows over C-pop in terms of its eye-catching fashion and flashiness. Sometimes, it doesn’t take rocket science for people to see the talent that many K-pop artists display. But it often takes more time and patience to discover the true value of certain things in life. C-pop is no exception to this rule. I don’t believe that I can convince many people to start liking Chinese music just from listening to this show, but it is a good recommendation for you if you are into Chinese or Asian music as a whole. Today, I am experimenting with this topic by briefly covering arguably the most influential figure in the last eighteen-some years of C-pop or M-pop (Mandarin pop, whatever English-speaking people coin this genre). Most people consider him the one-and-only in his unique taste for music and rap that has never been successfully surpassed or mimicked before: Jay Chou from Taiwan. If you are studying Chinese, this artist is definitely crucial to your understanding of contemporary pop culture in both mainland and Taiwan, because both sides of the strait has loved him for close to two decades straight just for his talent and cool persona. [夜曲 (Nocturne)] What you heard right now was one of Jay’s top hits in the mid-2000s called “YeQu” or Nocturne. As you can tell, he’s really good at writing love songs, making up more than half of his playlist. In particular, this song won five awards at a music festival in Shanghai when it was first released in 2005. Here are a few more suggestions. Feel free to copy and paste the names into YouTube, because it’s kind of hard to accurately translate them into English. [三年二班] [外婆 (Grandma)] [夜的第七章] That’s as far as I will take you on this journey to discover Jay Chou and the Chinese music industry overall. One final thing I would remind you is that you will get the most out of C-pop only if you take an interest in Chinese culture, just like any other languages. The Chinese language is a very concise and profound language, and learning it is the only way you can appreciate the lyrics in the songs. I wish you the best of luck. This is Tenny’s Tunes on NBN Audio. Music used in this episode belongs to Jay Chou and Studio One. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

11. 

    23 Oct 2019

    Tenny's Tunes #8: Be The King, E-Dubble

    Episode Notes [“Tribute to E-Dubble,” arranged by Tenny Tsang] Hi guys, welcome back to Tenny’s Tunes! I am your host Tenny. It’s been a while but I am back! We are continuing this series this year that I started around the same time last year. When I was considering what type of music to talk next, it occurred to me that I haven’t really touched on hip hop and rap. By that, I mean the kind of music that started with The Eagles, Michael Jackson (the King!) from around the ‘70s to Outkast and Kanye West in the 2000s. Of course, we still have very talented artists continuing the genre, but music these days are usually accompanied by some kind of sci-fi sound effects and whatnot. Anyways, I grew up in China and, throughout my childhood, experienced not only the golden period of C-Pop in the 2000s (something I will touch on in the next episode), but also American and European music. To be fair, 90 percent of which were from Michael Jackson’s albums. It was only when I came to the U.S. that I slowly got to know more about other singers, composers. Today, I wanna talk about E-Dubble, an online American hip hop rapper/singer. He passed on in February of 2017, over 2 and a half years ago. The very first time I got to know him was in 2017. Sitting on the toilet and browsing through random YouTube videos during my junior year of high school, I came upon an outro music that a youtube gamer used. The song and the lyrics hooked me instantly. The clash between rational thinking and actions versus the ones driven by pure emotion -- now that is real, authentic stuff. I let the playlist take me to the other E-Dubble songs. Some of my favorites are “Be A King” [Play “Be A King” by E-Dubble] What It Do [Play “What It Do” by E-Dubble] Robots Can’t Drink [Play “Robots Can’t Drink” by E-Dubble] The list goes on. The bottom line is, I let E-Dubble’s music speak for themselves. No wonder people call him The King. I do too. People often say E-Dubble didn’t get as much credit as he really deserved as such a rare talent in hip hop and rap. But I speculate, just like many others, that to him, the numbers were not his priority. It’s doing what he likes to do that continued to fuel his passion for music and give all of us so much joy in listening to him rap and sing. There are so many awfully talented musicians out there, in all ages. E-Dubble had a unique flair for music, and he will continue to have a special place in our hearts for as long as we live. Even after we die and go to his concert up there. I hope you will come to like E-Dubble too, after you explore more of him on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, etc. Thank you again, E-Dubble, for sharing with us your story. My name is Tenny Tsang, and this is NBN Audio. Thank you so much for listening, and tune in next time on Tenny’s Tunes. Bye-bye. All music used in this episode belong to E-Dubble. I do not make money from this. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

12. 

    21 May 2019

    Tenny's Tunes Ep 7 - Practice, Practice, Practice

    Episode Notes [I. Shinji, 1997 Evangelion Symphony by the New Japan Philharmonic] Hi guys! Welcome to episode seven of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host, Tenny. For the past couple episodes, we took a look at some of the greatest pieces composed during the Romantic period in the 19th century, from Rachmaninoff’s prelude to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. In analyzing and learning to perform what many people like to broadly call “classical pieces,” there is a certain level of freedom for you to create your unique interpretations, but in the end, you are to pretty much obligated to follow the notations for changes in loudness or texture of the sound set forth by the composers. For me personally, I started off learning classical pieces on the piano by memorizing the music scores, so music theory didn’t occur to me as something really important until the time I took some of the music level assessments that required me to learn theory. Still, it was solely for the purpose of passing the tests, and I didn’t see the need to apply theory anywhere else. That is, until my junior year of high school. You know how YouTubers these days like to use background tracks in their videos? Some of the most common choices, like pop music in America, trap beats, and anime music, appeared in so many of these videos I had come across that I decided it would be a good opportunity to practice my theory skills by analyzing the fundamental chord progressions that form the skeletal structures for these catchy tunes. I think this week is a good time to share with y’all a past example of one such practice. The music you are hearing in the background is a 1997 rendition by the New Japan Philharmonic of “I. Shinji,” a piece composed by Shiro Sagisu, the legendary Japanese musician who created background tracks for countless movies and animes alike. The music summarizes the internal conflicts of Shinji, a young boy who undergoes depression and existential crisis in a Japanese cartoon show in the ‘90s called Neon Genesis Evangelion. As you may have noticed, this symphonic rendition features a piano concerto, where the piano serves as the forefront instrument guiding the orchestra through each segment. There were no official music scores of the pieces performed that were released, so I attempted at recreating the piano concerto by listening to the performance over and over. I believe there is still room for greater improvement, but for now, please enjoy my rendition of “I. Shinji.” I am Tenny Tsang, and this is NBN Audio. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you next time on Tenny’s Tunes. [Piano Adaptation - I. Shinji 1997 Philharmonic Version] This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

13. 

    23 Apr 2019

    Tenny's Tunes Ep 6 - Rimsky-Korsakov and the Arabian Nights

    Episode Notes Hi guys! Welcome to episode six of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host Tenny. Last time we discussed Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C Sharp Minor, which describes his very own funeral he dreamed of as a 19-year-old. It was said that the piece grew so much in popularity that Rachmaninoff himself grew sick of playing the piece every time someone in the audience asked him to perform it. This week, we follow the same logic by briefly exploring another piece of music so popular that anyone studying orchestral music should know. Scheherazade, composed in 1888 by the great Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who lived from 1844 to 1908. A brief background before we introduce Scheherazade, which is playing in the background. Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer and a member of The Five, a group of prominent 19th-century Russian composers who were working on creating a distinct Russian classical music genre at the time. In particular, Rimsky-Korsakov developed a nationalistic style of classical music, which features a fusion of Russian folk song and exotic harmonic, rhythmic elements, a practice known as musical orientalism. In contrast, he takes inspiration from Western compositional methods when organizing these into the final, coherent piece. Interestingly enough, Rimsky-Korsakov had been a young navy officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, which traveled to the United States during the American Civil War. Naturally, his experiences on the sea would have influenced his composition style later on. Scheherazade, one of the definitive milestones in Rimsky-Korsakov’s career, is a fitting example of this. For anyone who has read One Thousand and One Nights, a.k.a. the Arabian Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, this name should ring a bell. To be honest, everyone should have read at least some stories from the Arabian Nights; otherwise, you were missing out on a big part of childhood. Scheherazade is the female storyteller in One Thousand and One Nights who told stories to the Sultan in order to stay alive. At the time, the Sultan became convinced that all women were deceptive, and thus he would kill all of his wives after the first night spent with each one. Subsequently, nearly all of the families took their daughters and fled for fear of them being killed, except for Scheherazade who was confident in her storytelling. Each night, she would tell vivid but unfinished stories to the Sultan so that he would keep her alive to finish them. This continued for about three years until the Sultan finally decided that Scheherazade would be his wife, once and for all. The symphonic suites in Scheherazade features four stories in One Thousand and One Nights: The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship, The Story of the Kalandar Prince, The Young Prince and Princess, and Festival at Baghdad The Sea. The music is currently playing the first part, The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship. If you noticed, the music elements serve to convey the commanding voice of the Sultan as he demands Scheherazade to entertain him during their initial encounter. I would now like to play you the middle portion of the third movement, The Young Prince and Princess. It’s my favorite, even though I enjoy every movement. See if you can hear the range of powerful emotions between the two characters as a love story begins to develop. I am Tenny Tsang, and this is NBN Audio. [Play Scheherazade III. by the U.S.S.R. Orchestra, Released 1969] This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

14. 

    20 Feb 2019

    Tenny's Tunes #5 - Rachmaninoff, Death at 19

    Episode Notes (Clair de Lune, Debussy) Hi guys! Welcome to episode five of Tenny’s Tunes! I am your host, Tenny. Looking back, we have covered a variety of music, from popular Japanese anime original soundtracks to what I call the genre of online artists. The reason being, so many talented musicians exist on the Internet, showing off their unique styles, that attempting to attribute each one with a specific genre in music history is a tedious, if not impossible, job. Therefore, I thought to myself, why not define online artists in general as a new genre to make our lives easier? Okay, I am going off topic. The thing is, I realized we haven’t yet discuss what is considered a giant among the genres, and that is classical music. As you might have guessed, my parents and grandparents raised me up as a kid who learned to play classical pieces on the piano, like just about the rest of the five hundred million kids in the world. A common misconception is that people tend to refer to any music, produced primarily in Europe from the 1600s to the 1900s, as “classical music,” and that is not technically correct. The 1600s is known as the Baroque period, and the musician that contributed the most during that time is arguably J.S. Bach. Many of his pieces are still widely performed by pianists and sung by church choirs. The classical period actually stretches from around the 1730s to the 1820s. Prominent composers include Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, etc. Music during this period can be characterized as technical and very clean-sounding. Now, Beethoven is considered primarily from the Romantic period, which follows the classical period, although some people also view him as a bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods. As the word itself implies, romantic music is best expressed through powerful emotions. Think Beethoven Symphony No. 5. Search it up on YouTube. Today’s music selection is not by Beethoven (it will come in the future, I promise). Instead, we will explore Prelude in C Sharp Minor, composed by the 19-year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff, considered one of the last great Romantic composers. An unconfirmed rumor behind this piece describes how Rachmaninoff had a dream where he was attending a funeral. As he gradually walked toward the coffin, he discovered that it was his own body that was lying in the casket. Examining this piece from a technical standpoint, the beginning chords give off an ominous but sacred vibe, reminiscent of a church setting. As the tempo speeds up in the middle, I imagine the character, Rachmaninoff himself in this case, slowly descending into madness as the anxiety builds up with each step closer to the coffin, culminating with the ultimate realization of his own death as he discovers his lifeless body lying before him. Again, the story is unconfirmed, but it is known that Rachmaninoff claimed he was sick and tired of performing this popular piece every time someone asked him to play it. (Prelude in C Sharp Minor Recording by Rousseau) Spoiler alert. The music you are hearing in the background is Prelude in C [Sharp] Minor, performed by Rousseau, a talented pianist on YouTube whom I follow. I learned this piece a month ago myself. Aside from the tricky chords that often led to me tangling my fingers together as I practiced, the piece overall is fairly easy to learn, although it might sound a bit difficult and fast-paced at first. Unfortunately, I don’t have the best equipment for piano recording, so I went with the best alternative by using Rousseau’s recording. I will now play you the middle section of Prelude in C Sharp Minor. See if you can find the corresponding parts of the story. Enjoy ~ (Middle Section Recording By Rousseau) Music composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, performed by Rousseau. I am Tenny Tsang, and this is NBN Audio. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you next time on Tenny’s Tunes. This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

15. 

    15 Jan 2019

    Tenny's Tunes Ep 4 - Childhood Idol, Case Closed

    Episode Notes [Background: Thelonious Monk - Don’t Blame Me] Welcome to episode four of Tenny’s Tunes. I am your host, Tenny! Now, I wanna spend some time taking you back to childhood. Our childhood. In cognitive psychology, we learned that crystallized intelligence, such as skills, knowledge and experience, increases with age while fluid intelligence, the ability to assess and solve problems in novel circumstances, decreases as we grow older. This leads some people to believe that the mind of a child is way more creative than that of an adult’s. In other words, we can become smarter and wiser, but never more creative than our younger selves. Scientific studies have produced persuasive evidence for this argument. A 1968 creativity test on 1,600 children conducted by George Land and Beth Jarman demonstrated a sharp drop in creativity score, from 98 percent at 5 years of age to 12 percent at 15 years old, all the way down to 2 percent around 31 years old. A gradual decrease in the capacity to think outside the box: seems like most of us undergrads don’t think about it too much. Several people I met throughout my life thus far have expressed interest in learning Chinese from me. In exchange, I would also practice speaking a few other languages with them, such as spanish and japanese. Amid our joy of learning new phrases and being complimented by one another, many of them still told me they would have been able to, say, learn a new language much faster, if they were a just a couple years younger. What if we could freeze aging and stay as a child forever? Just like that high school detective who turned back into a first-grader from the popular crime-solving series “Case Closed”? I am not sure how well received this cartoon was in the U.S., but for any kid who loved watching TV in China, Japan or Korea back in the 90s and 2000s, Protagonist Kudou Shinichi, aka Edogawa Conan, the high school detective who got turned into a first-grader by a mysterious crime organization, whose name was inspired by the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, represents a portion of our childhood. In elementary school, literally every child, good and bad at taking tests alike, would worship and pray to Conan for good luck before taking a test. The main theme of Case Closed, composed by Japanese film score producer Oono Katsuo, was and still is so popular in Japan and worldwide that even the Japanese military band performed the piece on several occasions. It is one of those melodies that gets stuck in your head after hearing it just once. A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine, a fervent fan of Case Closed just like I am, had requested me to make a piano rendition, so I did. Get ready, cue the music. (Play Recording) Although short, it’s one of those dramatic music with an epic intro that simply demands attention. If there is one thing I learned from doing these episodes of Tenny’s Tunes, it’s that music really just boils down to the chord progression that serves as the skeleton on which the melody builds. For this particular piece, the gradual downward chord progression supporting the catchy melody fits like bread and butter with the storyline. I can just picture Conan chasing down the culprit on his solar energy skateboard and amplified running shoes. Can you feel the energy being injected into you with every chord, every single note landing on your ear drums? If you enjoyed the main theme of Case Closed, be sure to check out some of the other works by Mr. Oono and perhaps the cartoon itself. You won’t regret it, trust me. :) Music produced by Oono Katsuo, performed on the piano by me. I am Tenny Tsang, and this is NBN Audio. Thank you so much for listening, and stay tuned to Tenny’s Tunes. Have a great winter! This podcast is powered by Pinecast (https://pinecast.com).

16. 

    15 Nov 2018

    Tenny's Tunes #3: Seprix of the Newgrounds

17. 

    12 Nov 2018

    Tenny's Tunes #2: The Merry-Go-Round of Life

18. 

    30 Oct 2018

    Tenny's Tunes Episode 1: The Lesson from Princess Mononoke

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