One article offers some insight into how our minds respond when we hear different types of music:

“There is something about music that evolves over time, as do emotions. When we hear the song we re-live the emotional sequence that happened when we first heard it… it draws you into a sequence of re-lived experience.”

Not entirely unrelated, another article that I came across actually goes into some detail about doctors who use music for healing purposes:

“Michael DeBakey, who in 1966 became the first surgeon to successfully implant an artificial heart, is on record saying: “Creating and performing music promotes self-expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients.”

The article later quotes a feature in USA Today, about music therapy:

“The article reported results of an experiment in which researchers from the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pa., tracked 111 cancer patients who played drums for 30 minutes a day. They found strengthened immune systems and increased levels of cancer-fighting cells in many of the patients.”

So there you have it. Of course, the research is far from definite, but at least we can admit to this: not only is music a great form of entertainment, but it can actually assist us in our happiness, development, and health. I am sure we have all heard the old phrase, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” That may still hold true, but maybe we should all begin saying, “A tune a day…”

But in fact, on occasion, snow does fall from the skies above Texas.  We Texans, whether transplanted or true-born, are always happy about this phenomenon for a number of reasons: (1) It does not happen often and therefore always conveys a sense of fantasy. As snow flakes drift downward, the inhabitants of our faithful city stare entranced from their windows or wander half-dazed through the white streets building snow men at every corner.  (2) When the snow melts 48 hours later,  it reminds us of how glad we are that we do not live in Idaho, or, say, North Dakota, or even Chicago. No offense to those folk, of course.

As you may know, it recently snowed heavily in the Dallas area.  For us here at the studio, and all around Dallas, it was stunningly beautiful and we wanted to share a few pictures with you.  So, kick back, grab some hot chocolate and enjoy the pristine beauty of a Stephen Arnold Music snow day.

SAM with Snow

The Road... by Cormac McStephen Arnold Music

I'm Dreaming of a White February

The SAM Backyard

The X-Mas Dinner Spread

I thought long and hard about what to bring, and frankly it stressed me out a bit. I started to think through what I had – a spare picture frame, photo-shop skills, a photo printer. All these things add up, but a final ingredient made everything come together: the desire for revenge.

I had been the brunt of a few jokes in the sales department, those strapping men who drive fast cars but gossip like school girls at the faintest hint of romance: I went to lunch with a girl, and weeks later, Arthur was still prodding me about the marriage plans. My walk from the creative wing down to the sales department became a passage through that affectionate verbal gauntlet common to most male workforce interaction.

Kim knows what I'm talking about...

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the interaction. However, I am not one for immediate retaliation either. If I feel the need to save face, I’ll smile, nod and laugh along, then later when you aren’t looking I’ll slap you in the back of the head so hard your glasses fall off. It’s more fun for me that way. So, in this vein, it dawned on me that the White Elephant gift represented a beautiful opportunity to bring things back around. And to do so tastefully.

I started scouting the company server to find an old funny picture of one of the culprits. Quite honestly, the possibilities, when mixed with a little photo-shop trickery, were endless. I knew who my targets were: Joe and Arthur. Andy, the new guy, might take it a little hard, not to mention the shortage of his pictures on the server, so I really had no choice but one of the top dogs.

Understanding how creative business works, I did a few mockups:

Here's Joe Faulkner with his good friend Joe Faulkner.

Arthur Casias on vacation in California.

However, an axiom I try to live by: natural is better. If you can find something that requires no manipulation and still meets your needs, it will almost always be better than something you have to tweak endlessly (for example, Arthur’s chin above). Knowing this, imagine how elated I was when I stumbled across this gem:

"I am Arthur, hear me roar." Photography by Paul West.

Ultimately, as the ringleader, it was Arthur who I felt deserved the proverbial slap in the back of the head, even though Joe and Andy participated in the friendly banter. So I printed the above photo, practiced Arthur’s signature twice, then dreamily signed his name across the left side with plenty of x’s and o’s. I wrapped it up and headed to the Christmas dinner, where I nervously wondered how everyone would react. Too much? Maybe…

But luckily, they loved it. Even Arthur. Predictably, he still gives me a hard time about said lunch date. But hey, that’s just what sales guys do. (Chest bump)

Arthur, Chad and Joe with Arthur's beautiful b&w head shot.

The local affiliate WVUE FOX 8 News asked us to put a sonic stamp on the performance. There may be no city in the world with as many talented musicians and wide-ranging musical styles as New Orleans, so heading there to produce the track was a no-brainer. The spot features songwriter Greg Barnhill and New Orleans’ beloved local group Big Sam’s Funky Nation.

Listen to the full song here: Big Thang

Big Sam's Funky Nation

Big Brass in yo face...

Stephen and Big Sam

Big Sam

On Calle Gran Via de Colon, Granada's Main Street, a self-proclaimed gypsy shows a german tourist how to play the tango.

Two women are moved to dance at the annual fair in Moron de La Frontera.

Two years ago this January, I started working at Stephen Arnold Music, and my how that time has flown. I say this in the generic sense, the way one sighs and shakes his heads at the fast changing world, but also with something specific in mind: Exactly three years ago, I was in the middle of what I consider to be the best year of my life.

That’s a big claim, I know, and a tough act to follow, something SAM has done a good job of doing, but for a year starting in July of 2006, at the benevolence of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship foundation, I had the opportunity to travel, record and play music in a handful of countries stretching from Ireland to Mongolia.

Despite what you may think, it is all too easy to forget all the wonderful things I was able to do during that year: climb a mountain in the Himalayas (the 18,000 ft Mendrik Tsari in Tibet), go deep sea diving with sharks (an influx of hammerheads off the coast of Nicaragua), learn to speak a tribal dialect (Rukiga, the language of the Bakiga people in the southern corner of Uganda and the Congo), and much more. I checked so many things off my bucket list that I had to make a new one when I got home.

I have many stories to tell, only I rarely have the chance to tell them – or maybe I choose not to tell them, I can’t be sure – but I do know that I always feel like I have things to say that I never wind up saying. And so it goes – a chapter in my life, and a significant one at that, somehow remains strangely disparate from my life today. On the occasion when I think back, I find myself wondering, “Did that really happen?”

Then this October, on something of whim, which is typically the way I make big decisions, I decided to rediscover that former part of myself, the adventurous soul who, upon my return, has proven to be somewhat elusive. I took a short leave from work and bought a round trip ticket across the pond.

Of all the places I lived, I often considered to which one I would return first. I had many adventures and met many people in many countries, but in the same manner that some old friends fade from the spotlight of our thoughts, many of the places and people I met shifted into that vague and nostalgic region of the mind where we store things that are, for some reason or another, better to forget.

I dreamed of returning to the open spaces of the Gobi desert or losing myself in the isolated winter of a mountain village in Central Asia, but I decided to return to Spain instead. The reason was simple – I did not go to remember the sweeping Spanish countryside, sprinkled with white houses, palm leaves and fields of olive trees, nor did I go to explore the Moorish ruins that scatter the hills Andalucía; several dear friends were made in Spain, and I decided that this was as good of a reason as any to return.

A couple looks out at the Alhambra on a rainy day.

A friend smiles down from his horse at a festival in Moron de la Frontera.

Three years ago, I shared a one-room apartment with Salvador Roman, a true-blood, old school, proud-to-be-gypsy, flamenco guitarist/instructor who struggles to make ends meet throughout the year in Granada. He taught me flamenco guitar techniques every morning, and I practiced for six to eight hours that afternoon before I went to the local dive bar to hear flamenco that night.

An excerpt from my journal at the time:

“Salvador Roman was born 62 years ago in Madrid, but has spent less than a quarter of his life living in Spain. He did not learn to play guitar from his father, Roman “El Granaino” (1904-1983), who is hailed as one of the of flamenco guitar greats and helped to carry the instrument past its nascent years with the art form. Rather, his father taught him to dance, and Salvador traveled across Germany with his father and sister to perform in various hotels during the early to mid 50’s when flamenco was becoming recognized by the country and the world.

Salvador taught himself to play guitar behind his father’s back and set out on his own when he was a mere fourteen. The style he has mastered and teaches is called “Apollando,” which means “Supporting.” It is incredibly, absolutely genius though it is a little difficult to grasp without being able to see the way the style functions. The idea is to train your hands (specifically the right hand) so that every expense of energy simultaneously creates “un punto de apollo” (a point of support) for the next expense of energy, thereby maximizing your hand’s capacity for speed and strength.

Salvador forbade me to play in the style around certain people – he tells me that when one of the creators of the style, Nino Ricardo, played, he would actually put his guitar down and fight anyone who he thought was watching his hands too closely. Yea, it’s that serious. I feel like I have been learning an ancient Kung-Fu style like in the movies, where the master teaches the student the “touch of death” but then tells him he is never allowed to use it on anyone.”

A group of musicians who busk daily at the square

Salvador stands at a crossroads in Granada's Albaycin.

So for many reasons I returned to Spain. But most of all, I returned for Salvador, whose health is failing him and who continues to struggle to make ends meet. Posted here are pictures from my most recent trip this past October, photographs I took to remind myself that that world still exists. The subjects remind me of Spain, but more importantly they remind me of the song of Salvador Roman, and that after three years, I still remember him with affection.

I am still in touch with Salvador, so if you are ever serious about learning flamenco in Spain, go find him in Granada – he’s the best teacher there is.

Salvador Roman at his apartment in Granada

Kim's Idea of Viral Marketing

At a recent staff meeting, I found out how really “un-plugged” I am! I don’t Facebook or Twitter or My Space, I’m not LinkedIn, and to be honest, I’m not sure that I want to be! Imagine my dismay when the conversation turned to viral marketing. Viral marketing?! Surely I wasn’t expected to participate in that, was I?

As it turns out, not only am I expected to participate, but I’m actually supposed to enjoy it! The first step in my social initiation: the Stephen Arnold Music blog. The what? I don’t blog! Who cares what I ate for breakfast or what time I went to lunch? This was all too much. I decided to conduct a little research to see just how many of my friends, family, and acquaintances participated in this social networking craziness.

To my surprise, I did not find a single person that was NOT on Facebook or at least LinkedIn. LinkedIn to what?! Although no one I know admitted to Twittering (tweeting?), there were a few My Spacers.  My mother-in-law, a former computer abstainer, is on Facebook daily, doing who knows what. Even my brother is now LinkedIn and advised me that I would love it.  My sister-in-law, the only hold-out that I was CERTAIN would be with me, sheepishly admitted that a short time ago she joined Facebook in order to stay in touch with my niece, who’s away at college. What did this all mean for me?

Until now, I always believed that social networking was inherently anti-social. If I want to stay in touch or reach out to a friend, I pick up the phone. I’ll email and even text if I have to, but I prefer good old-fashioned conversation, that unwritten exchange of ideas and words that makes life oh so interesting. Besides, if I’m not talking to someone already, it’s usually because I don’t want to be. Are all of those “friends” on your Facebook really friends? Or are they just other people looking for something to do.

I already have plenty to do, and I can’t imagine spending even one minute more on the computer than I already do each day. I have always followed my heart, and not the trends, so I will continue to hold out as long as I can. Word on the street is that after I finish this blog entry, I will be called upon to tow the company line and become LinkedIn. I’ll let you know how that works out for me.

In the meantime, I have found the one person in this digital world who agrees with me. In the October 12, 2009 issue of US Weekly (yes, I do read trashy entertainment magazines, trendy as they are), when asked about social networking Web sites, George Clooney responded: “I would rather have a prostate exam on live television by a guy with very cold hands than have a Facebook page.” Enough said.

Kim's Only Friend in the Digital World

It seems a day rarely passes by without seeing or hearing something about the down economy.  Times have been and indeed are tough. As the holidays draw increasingly closer, I feel compelled to offer but a few things I am indeed thankful for.

I am thankful that I get to rise every morning and come to a job with great people in a fascinating industry…..music!  Considering the current unemployment rate is near or at 10%, the highest rate in 25 years, I am most appreciative of the opportunity given to me.

I give thanks for my health.  I’m very happy to be of sound mind (though some might argue) and healthy body, and I am considerate of those less fortunate.  I give thanks to the almighty for keeping me safe and on the right path.

Our troops deserve more thanks and appreciation than we can ever bestow.  They risk their lives on a daily basis to give all of us the right to be an American.  I appreciate all that they do!  I give thanks to each for all of their sacrifices.

My family deserves much praise and thought, for I am lucky to have wonderful parents and siblings that don’t hold grudges for my torment and terror induced activities I brought upon them as a mischievous, adventurous kiddo (ask my mom about the time I stole a cigarette from my dad’s stash and raced out the back door and up a tree with my mom in hot pursuit).  But hey, pretty typical for a 5 year old growing up in the 70’s, huh!  I give thanks for every member of my family, young and old.

The close friendships that I have forged over the years can sometimes easily be taken for granted.  The holidays are a time for me to give thanks for each person that I have been blessed to call a friend.  In good times and bad, through thick and thin, good friends are as good as gold!  Responsibilities and obligations may pull us all in different directions, yet our friendship remains true.  My little lady has had my back throughout and she continues to be my beautiful ray of sunshine.  My cup of gratitude do runneth over!

May you have a fantastic Thanksgiving and a holiday season that brings happiness and joy.  Let us all stop, take a moment and reflect on those special people and precious things in each of our lives…..and give a little “thanks.”

So the other day when my workstation simply refused to boot and I had to begin the arduous task of reinstalling the OS & all my apps, restoring all my data from backup, and recreating all my preferences, I began to lament my inability to contribute anything musically to the company for the next day and a half.  During one of the many progress bar purgatories of the day, I picked up this month’s issue of Electronic Musician, and lo and behold, there was this article by renowned producer/engineer Nathaniel Kunkel:

Okay, it’s happened. Knowing about network protocols and their implementations is now as important as mic placement. “Crazy fool!” you say. Not this time, not this time.

My TC Electronic System 6000 will only run on a 192.168.1.x subnet. My Drobo hard drive connects with iSCSI to the second port on the Mac Pro tower, and I am running that network without any DHCP leasing. I need to forward UDP Ports 6000 through 6002 and TCP Ports 80 and 5222 to the machine that hosts my Source-Live broadcast. My Aviom uses a form of POE, and I regularly run my computer remotely from mastering sessions to print and deliver file changes to myself while I’m more than 100 miles away.

Does that sound much like dialing in a guitar tone on a Fairchild or getting a slamming drum sound? Not to me either, but without knowing how to do that other stuff, my sessions might not ever get off the ground in the first place. And I think we can all agree that some of the first luxuries to go during these hard times are unlimited tech visits . . .

And it suddenly dawned on me:  I’m not alone in the world!  Every engineer, musician & producer in today’s music industry has to deal with tech issues all the time now.  In order to be creative today you have to know more about computers than a top-level programmer knew twenty years ago.  And the amazing thing is, it just kind of . . . happened.  As computer technology has advanced, so has its usefulness to the music industry.  And the industry has just soaked it up.  Twenty years ago, a 1GB hard drive cost several thousand dollars, was the approximate size of a Yugo, and there was really no way to use it for creating music.

Yes, that's a 4GB SD card in that dude's hand.

Two months ago, I bought 4.5 TB (or 4500 GB !!!) of hard drive space on three hard drives, spent around three hundred bucks, and filled up half of it with BWAV files in a little under four hours.

The times, they are a’changin’, indeed.

So the next time you find yourself in IT Hell, do what I do:  When that seemingly-without-progress progress bar comes up, place your mouse over it as a marker, run to the nearest guitar, and strum a few chords.  When you come back, it may just be done . . . and you’ll definitely feel better.

Stephen Arnold Music, Fair Day 2009

It was mad dash to see who could eat the worst fried food (hmm.. Fried Snickers, Fried Honey Buns, Fried Oreos, but the worst has to be Fried Butter – only in Texas!), win the most door prizes, or find the strangest gadgets known to man, my favorite being a rattlesnake lamp, something every mom, girlfriend or wife should get for Valentine’s Day.

SAM got the big idea we should do the Sky Coaster ride. We saw it from a distance. Let’s see – dangling two hundred feet in the air from a cable for twenty seconds before pulling the ripcord and falling back to the earth at 70 miles per hour, you say?  Count me in!  (Remember, I grew up in backwoods Jacksboro, TX, where wild Russian boars chased me on the way to school. But that’s another blog for another time…)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's Stephen Arnold Music!

I never said we were the brightest company at the Fair nor the funniest. You ride in teams of three, so Wheeler, Andy and I were first up, followed by the late great Joe Faulkner, Noah the intern kid (who had no choice), and Clay “I can program any computer” Lorance.

Andy is like nine feet tall so he rode in the middle, which meant either Wheeler or I would pull the ripcord. After a grueling fifteen round game of “Paper, Rock, Scissors,” I won and grabbed hold. Then up up up to the top we went and hung and waited until I pulled the rip chord, then down we came.  Andy turned 15 shaded shades of red, and although he is bald by choice, he lost any ability to grow his hair at the moment I pulled the ripcord. Wheeler was probably the most laid back of the bunch, and as tough as I tried to sound on the ground, I screamed all the way down.

Joe, Noah and Clay were next. Clay was smiling from ear to ear and Noah just acted as if he did this every day before getting out of bed, but never have I heard such screams of terror or cries for mercy as I heard from Joe that day. Except for maybe when he and Chad duke it out at the office. Speaking of, where was Chad during all of this?  He couldn’t even bring himself to watch. He was not only on the ground still, but he probably sat in a stall in the men’s room the whole time. At least Stephen, Kim and Corrie stayed to watch the whole crazy scene unfold, laughing good and hard at how ridiculous everyone looked flying by at 70mph.

You can see yourself – the creative team made a little video montage out of the two groups that took on the Sky Coaster. Check it out:

Much came from all of this –  a great story, an adrenaline rush that we talked about for another hour and the sudden feeling that the six of us ruled the world.  Let me add that Wheeler and I ruled the world a little longer that day because we also took on the Sky Arm coaster – another towering ride that is completely insane.

So what did we all learn? To get rid of Chad, ride the craziest ride you can. Actually, ride pretty much any ride. Then look in the bathroom stall afterward.

And of course, we learned that a half-day off with your co-workers can be time well spent – our team really had the chance to bond.

Elegant

Authoritative

Intellectual

Classy

Serious

Not dark

Not overly uplifting

According to her Wikipedia entry, Amanpour “joined CNN in 1983 as an entry-level assistant” and “worked her way up to an international correspondent in 1990. Her first major assignment was the Gulf War, and she has since covered wars, famine, genocide and natural disasters around the globe,” including “interviews with world leaders from the Middle East to Europe to Africa and beyond.”

Amanpour is among the most recognizable talents in CNN’s worldwide family. Obviously, our challenge was to develop a strong aural signature that fit her personality and appealed to her broad international audience.

The theme needed to be distinctive and authoritative, but also have a feminine quality to it. Not the easiest combination – but when we started creating several arrangements and music signatures, we used a blend of piano, strong percussion, and sweeping strings. We felt these maintained her sense of elegance, dignity and intellectual appeal, all essential qualities we wanted to weave into the music.

One particular theme, an imposing 4-note signature, was quickly singled out from the others as a front runner. The producers played it for Christiane, who really liked it – but she suggested the last note of the signature rise instead of fall.  It turned out to be a very nice touch… In fact it was the finishing one. Now every time you hear her theme, you hear that last note soar.

With the primary theme and 4-note signature approved, it was a matter of doing a variety of arrangements for content and topics in the show (i.e. serious, somber, uplifting, energetic etc).

Like most everything we brand, the instruments were played by members of the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, including violins, violas, celli, French horns, and piano. I think the richness and depth live players add is especially clear in this piece. We’ve learned you can’t get that warmth by programming it.

So we hope you enjoy it as much as we all did – we felt the package and theme fit her personality well, with a regal blend of expectation and emotion.  As always, and most importantly, we had a lot of fun with this one!

http://www.stephenarnoldmusic.com/amanpour/