How High the Moon

Welcome to August! "How High the Moon," composed by Morgan Lewis, is a jazz song so popular that at one point, it was competing for titles like "National Anthem of Jazz" and "Most Recorded Jazz Song." While originally composed as a slow ballad, musicians like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane were quick to play the song, well, quickly, and write their own melodies using its chords.

While I probably should have posted this song on the week of the Moon Landing's anniversary, I can still inform you how far away the moon is from the Earth.

In your head, they probably look like this:

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay 

However, most images of "celestial bodies" are not to scale. Here's the actual distance between the Earth and the Moon. It's probably hard to see either of them.

You can probably see this more easily


You may have noticed something interesting. What appears to be right in this picture is actually up from the perspective of the Earth. If the moon rotated 180 degrees, it would also be above the Earth.

So then, is the moon really high after all, if up is any direction away from the Earth? What is 'up', and what is 'down'?

Answer: There's lots of things we don't know about the universe.

Here's another interesting brain twister about directions. Suppose you were driving a car at 60 kilometers an hour. According to the car, you yourself are not moving, but according to the road, you are moving.

Then, you stop the car. But have you really stopped? After all, the Earth is rotating, and it's moving around the Sun, which is moving around the Milky Way, which is moving around relative to other galaxies....

So, you don't really know how fast you are moving. You don't know which way is down, or left, or backwards. Sometimes, our view of the world can change when we look at not the things we know, but the things we don't know.

When you only think about the things you know, you start to feel like you are the center of the universe. But when you look at the things you don't know, you realize that the world is much bigger, and you are much smaller, than you once believed.

But, don't be disappointed. Those thoughts can also remind you not to worry about small failures that really don't matter anymore. You still have a purpose in life, don't you? And every second counts towards fulfilling it. Now it's your turn.

If you're worrying about failing or not being important, let this song remind you to take a look at the moon tonight. Then, try counting some stars. Five? Ten? Maybe three billion more that you can't see?

Image by Annalise Batista from Pixabay

When you're done counting all those stars, go and fill your teacup with music!

~Liya

Stolen Moments

Hmm... I wonder where the name of this song came from. I wasn't able to figure it out by looking at the lyrics this time. However, regardless of the title, this piece still made it to the top of the jazz charts.

Maybe the name of this song came from outer space. That's why Stolen Moments was able to reach for the stars and become popular. By the way, the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing was about a week ago. Image by Pezibear from Pixabay

In fact, according to AllMusic.com, "Oliver Nelson's composition "Stolen Moments" would likely have assured him a place in jazz history even if he had never composed or performed another song. Although Nelson was a gifted writer, none of his other works ever came close to matching the appeal of Stolen Moments."


 

This song could be placed in the same category as the famous jazz saxophonist John Coltrane's compositions. One of these is the ubiquitous "Giant Steps," known as one of the hardest jazz songs of all time due to its crazy chord changes.

Stolen Moments was nowhere near as difficult to learn as Giant Steps, partially because of its much slower tempo, and partially because it's based on a simple chord progression most jazz musicians are already familiar with.

While this song is incredibly famous, it often isn't played in small ensembles because there are a lot of harmonies going on underneath the melody. (This is especially easy to hear in the original recording.) But, as a piano player, I can play up to 10 notes at the same time.

Here's a picture of my hands. I know that when you listen to piano performances, it sounds like there's more than 10 notes being played at the same time, but here's some solid evidence that these are all the fingers we have. 

What can you do with the moments you have today? You might be spending these ones listening to this song, and unless you have wireless headphones or something, you won't be able to do much else away from your computer.

But, all the time after that is sitting in front of you. Surfing the web can be dangerous - wasting many hours you could spend on the list of tasks that a magnet is tired of holding on your fridge. You can steal back those moments and put them to good use.

“Our greatest currency is our time and we cannot save it [i.e. keep it in a jar for a rainy day]. Spend it wisely and never waste another's or your own.” 
― Kyle Barger

"Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time." 

“You get to decide where your time goes. You can either spend it moving forward, or you can spend it putting out fires. You decide. And if you don’t decide, others will decide for you.” – Tony Morgan

Wasting your time is wasting your life. Everyone has 24 hours in a day; the question is what you will do with them.

Life isn't a chance. It isn't a flip of the coin where heads mean you will be rich and famous, and tails mean you'll be living on the line. You can't become a famous singer unless you learn to sing. You can't become a CEO unless you learn to run a business - and, of course, put in the work.

Right now, you are deciding your future. You get to decide what kind of life you want. And once again, if you don't decide, others will decide for you. You only have one opportunity to live, so be thankful for what you have and use it to make other people's lives better.

Don't let those stolen moments go to waste!

---

By the way, for some reason this song seems ... blue. Maybe it's because it uses that blues chord progression. But I think it has something to do with the way I see colors along with numbers and musical scales. Maybe it happens to you, too.

Although we all perceive things differently, no matter what color it is, keep filling your teacup with music.

~Liya

Pennies from Heaven

Many times, you can find meaning in music by listening to it and seeing what emotions your brain generates. But sometimes, you can find meaning in music simply by looking at the lyrics.

For example, the lyrics to this song talk about a time when the best things in life were free. Blue sky, shiny moon, bright yellow flowers, just enough rain to keep plants growing.

Perhaps if you hate pulling dandelions out of your lawn, bright yellow flowers aren't too appealing. Image by pixel2013 from Pixabay

But eventually, people settled down in their satisfaction, and forgot to give thanks for and appreciate all the things around them. Why appreciate a sky that is always blue? They thought that they had everything they needed, that life was perfect, that they had nothing to worry about.

Billie's Bounce

What? You don't know this song? If we were in the 1940s, this song would be so popular that even the birds would be singing it.

"WRONG."

Huh? What's wrong with the statement I just made? There were birds, um, "singing" this song in the 1940s.

"You're not talking about real birds. You're talking about Charlie Parker, a famous jazz saxophonist known for the rhythmic variety in his playing. Just because people called him "Bird" doesn't mean he really is a bird."

Of course you would say that, Blue Text. Thanks for shutting down my Billie's Bounce advertising campaign! Hopefully my visitor still wants to listen to the song here:

You could have actually used logical arguments, Liya.

If I were to grab my time machine - where is it? Oh, here it is.

 

Go anywhere in time - as long as you aren't in time. Image from pixabay.com

If I were to transport myself back to 1945, I could hear Charlie Parker performing his composition for the first time, but I don't think it was especially popular, except in the small but avid jazz community which began playing it almost immediately. 

You have to protect yourself from the danger of misleading information. It can persuade you to buy products you wouldn't choose otherwise, sign up for lower quality programs, or believe that an investment is worth buying into when it will actually waste thousands. It can even make you feel like you're bad at something you're actually good at.

Misleading information is everywhere now, but it takes a sharp eye, or ear, to find it. If there had been an advertisement on this page, some of it could be right in front of you. All it takes is observing the world more carefully, and you can discover new things that will make your life better.

While you're using those ears, don't forget to keep filling your teacup with music!

~Liya

The Girl from Ipanema

Today, we're going to talk about change. 

Are you ready for it??? I don't know if change throws up green or red flags in your head.

Okay, here we go.

I talked in my last post about standing up rather than sitting down while listening to music. About a century ago, you wouldn't have a problem standing up, because jazz is unpopular.



You're probably wondering why I said that. You probably think of jazz music as the result of a revolution that occurred in the 20th century. But, it wasn't considered the hottest new music for all of that time. 

Although many great jazz musicians were at the peak of their careers in the 1960s, the music was only really "popular" in the 1920s and '30s. After that, jazz was for the few people who loved going out to listen at 10 PM (why did it have to be that time?).

Don't wait till 10 PM - listen to the song here


Why wasn't jazz popular then? Because things changed.

In the '20s and '30s, jazz was the music that people danced to. Dancing can be a big part of why we enjoy music. Do you think the best songs are the ones that leave you bouncing in your chair? You got it right.

Later in the 20th century, musicians focused more on seeing how complex they could make their harmonies, because the more these change, the harder it is to improvise. If you're playing a song where chords fly past like greased lightning, you can show off your skills with a crazy solo, but it's hard for people to dance to your song, or even keep track of its progress.


If your song is too complex, the audience doesn't enjoy the song because they can't follow it. But if your song is too simple, the performers don't enjoy the song because improvisation is no longer a challenge.

That brings us to a principle that applies whether we're making a blog post, writing a song, or giving a speech.

Whenever you're presenting something, the focus should be on the audience, not yourself.

If you put all the focus on yourself, you won't be able to effectively communicate with your audience, and the purpose of your being on stage is lost. It's important to find a balance between what your audience prefers and what you can deliver.

That's what I've been trying to do on Tea with Liya, while, as always, filling your teacup with music!

~Liya