Some updates!

Hello, dear readers. Hope you all are doing well.

This post is meant to shed light on some updates on this blog, as well as on my other pages. Firstly, I will not continue to have "Composer of the week" because this takes quite a lot time to do every week and I'd like the freedom to choose the subjects when I blog. I may continue to have it, but maybe a "Composer of the month" or a "Composer of the two weeks" (maybe not). Certainly not "Composer of the day". I've written "Composer" quite a lot now, I think. If someone strongly disagrees and loves "Composer of the week", please let me know ("Composer" again, he he).

Secondly, I want to inform you that I've created a community on Google+, called "Original Compositions!". The community has become very active with many new posts every day. This is a nice place to expose your music for feedback, discuss composing techniques, software, music libraries etc., and in general get to know other fellow composers. You should be able to find it here: https://plus.google.com/u/1/b/114071658902184721045/communities/117367350844999045013 You are of course welcome to join! :) I think my originally intended "Original composition of the week" will be replaced by this community, but again: let me know what you think!

Thirdly, because of interest from several users on Youtube, I've actually started to sell my music. This is very exciting for me, and it's the continuation of the wonderful adventure I've experienced through Youtube over a span of several years (Themusiclover1705 and MusicLoverOriginals). Some users have expressed that they would like to have it on Itunes, but as for now I only have my music on Bandcamp.  If you're interested, you can buy my music here (with Paypal or a credit card):

http://musicloveroriginals.bandcamp.com/

I'd be very happy if you did. :)

I also want to inform you about my new Facebook-page here, for quick updates and posts:
http://www.facebook.com/Themusiclover

That was everything for now. I wish you all a wonderful day and weekend!

-Peder

Composer of the week - Danny Elfman:

Daniel Robert Elfman, or more famously known as “Danny” Elfman, is an American composer often collaborating with the director Tim Burton. Famous works by Danny Elfman are, among others, his music for “Batman” (Tim Burton), the melody for the main titles in “The Simpsons”, “Edward Scissorhands”, “Spider-man” (the first and second), “The Nightmare before Christmas”, “Planet of the Apes” and “Men in Black” (the first, second and third).

Photo of Danny Elfman, taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Some of Danny Elfman’s most recent works include the soundtrack for “Oz the Great and Powerful” (American fantasy adventure film from 2013), “Frankenweenie” (Tim Burton’s newest animation movie from 2012) and “Silver Linings Playbook” (American romantic comedy-drama film from 2012).

Danny Elfman was born May 29, 1953, in the American city Los Angeles, located in the state California. After the creation of a ska band during his high school years, performances with "Le Grand Magic Circus" in France after following his brother, a musical journey through Africa, and Balinese music lessons at CalArts ("California Institue of the Arts"), Danny Elfman started his musical career in 1972 when he joined the American New Wave band called "Oingo Boingo" (originally called "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo"), founded by his brother Richard Elfman. This led to Danny Elfman's first film score for his brother's debut movie "Forbidden Zone". Danny Elfman remained a part of "Oingo Boingo" until 1995.

Danny Elfman and Tim Burton started to work together when Danny Elfman in 1985 composed the music for one of Tim Burton's earliest movies: "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". This collaboration led to the, for me, beautiful music found in the scores of Tim Burton's dark movies. Examples of this are: "Edward Scissorhands", "Corpse Bride" and "The Nightmare before Christmas". 

Danny Elfman is one of my all-times favourite composers. I find his music for Tim Burton's dark and gothic movies hauntingly beautiful. I think likewise that his music for other genra of films is really good, for instance "The Planet of the Apes", "Spider-Man" and "Big Fish". All in all, Danny Elfman is for me a great treasure in the world of film music.

Question of the day: 

What is your personal favourite soundtrack by Danny Elfman?

Composer of the week - Mychael Danna:

The first composer out in this weekly series is Mychael Danna. Mychael Danna is for many probably most known as the composer of the recently award-winning soundtrack to the movie “Life of Pi”, directed by Ang Lee. The score got an Oscar for “Best Original Score”, and was nominated for “Best Original Song” (winner: Adele’s “Skyfall” for the movie with the same name). If you’re interested in viewing Mychael Danna’s winning speech, it can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bN-aHoFPgA

Photo of Mychael Danna. Photo taken from "Wikimedia Commons".

 

Mychael Danna is a Canadian composer and the brother of fellow composer Jeff Danna. Jeff and Mychael have worked on several movie scores together, for instance: “Camelot” (TV-series, premiered April 2011), “Lakeview Terrace” (American thriller from 2008) and “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”(fantasy film from 2009).  Mychael danna was born in Winnipeg, the capital of the province of Manitoba in Canada, and studied music composition at the University of Toronto (Toronto is Canada’s largest city and is the provincial city of Ontario).

Other works of Mychael Danna include but are not limited to: “Little Miss Sunshine” (American movie from 2006), “Moneyball” (drama film from 2011) and “(500) Days of Summer” (American comedy from 2009). 

Mychael Danna’s most recent soundtrack for the visually impressive movie “Life of Pi” is a wonderful soundtrack for everyone who appreciates a strong, melodically rich and moody soundtrack. If you haven’t checked out the soundtrack, check it out! You will not regret it – the movie didn’t win an Oscar for nothing.

Question of the day:

What do you think of Mychael Danna’s work on “Life of Pi”? Do you think it deserved the Oscar win for ”Best Original Music”?

Main sources:

http://oscar.go.com/nominees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mychael_Danna

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

Welcome!

Hello, dear reader! (If you're here, please do not hesitate to make a sound)

This is the first post on my very first blog. This blog will not be a blog describing my daily life down to detail (not often at least, maybe once in a while) - this blog will focus on different topics such as news, music, movies, books etc. We'll see what comes out of this. :)

So, an introduction of myself seems like a good way of starting this. My name is Peder and I come from the northern country Norway. I play the trombone in a marching band and I play the piano at home.
I upload piano covers here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMusiclover1705/videos?view=0

My original compositions: http://www.youtube.com/user/MusicLoverOriginals/videos?view=0

Me and my brother's lego stop-motion videos are here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Legoman1705/videos?view=0

I like books, movies, science, taking photos and videos, sports, music and other things as well. I am currently in high school and I am very uncertain regarding what I am going to do study after school. I feel that my mind is split between a scientific study path and something creative, such as writing, composing music, shooting films or something similar - I am very interested in all of that.

That was a quick introduction of me just to start this blog up. If there is anybody who reads this, it'd be great if you left me a comment saying "Hi" or whatever you want to say! :)

Have a great night and week!

-Peder