[Liner Notes from Original 2007 CD] Hello everyone! In your hands are the liner notes for my third and latest CD, A New Day. This album is what I consider to be some of my best work; I've broadened my style since the last album, so I'm sure there's something that everyone can enjoy in here. It's a bit late (about a half-year -- sorry everyone!), but I hope that you'll find that the quality of music is much better. One major difference between this album and my previous ones is that all of the songs have been digitally recorded, so there's no noise at all. It's a big step up from a simple microphone hanging in the soundboard of a piano! To do this, I used two different programs: Finale 2007, a music-notation software; and GarageBand, a music-creating and editing software for the iMac. One last thing: the overall theme of the album is the passage of day to night, and the songs (excluding a couple) and their order should reflect that. So, with that out of the way, let's begin! Sunlit Backyard: This was the first song written for the album. Created in GarageBand, it features two acoustic guitars, an electric bass, a piano, and a drum kit. As an aside, I had never before used drums in a song, so I was a bit tentative about using them at first. I soon understood, however, that a strong beat can really make a song sound much better! This song underwent several changes, originally having no piano. However, I decided to include a short piano solo, and it's actually my favorite part of the song. I also added some ambience, including the person walking to the back porch at the beginning as well as the bird chirping throughout the song. Phone Call: Originally, this song was just a test to see what GarageBand could do, what with some of the preloaded telephone sound effects. The main instruments are an electric piano and bass, along with some electronic sound effects. My brother always laughs when he hears the beginning, and, admittedly, it is rather unorthodox (as is most of the song, hence its "alternative" genre listing). However, I actually do like the beginning, since I think it ties in well with the rest of the song. Whose voice is at the end? The world may never know... Winter Dream: This song was notated and played using Finale. I later put this in GarageBand and added a string section to it, as the song seemed to need something more to make itself more musically pleasing to the ear. An interesting note: I submitted this song to the National Junior Composers Competition, and it won the regional finals (Southeastern US)! Sadly, it did not win at the national level, but I'm still very proud of this song. Latino Dance: Ah, one of my favorite songs on the album -- Latino Dance. And yes, that is its name; I apologize to anyone who takes offense to it (darned political correctness!). This song has the most instruments of any other song I've written; it features two pianos, a tenor saxophone, an acoustic bass, and the whole percussion lineup. My favorite part is the end, where the all the themes from the song get mixed together (and the cool bass solo). Egyptian: This piece was created solely in Finale. It's the longest song I've ever written, topping at just over 5 minutes. It features a flute and a piano, the latter instrument backing up the flute's melody. This song was probably the hardest one to write down because of its piano accompaniment. What I mean by that is this: the melody was written first, so writing a suitable piano part was difficult (especially the chorus section) and a bit time-consuming. However, it was well worth the effort! Pogo: The last piece written for the album, Pogo is a short but catchy tune with just a piano, bass, and drums. I wrote this in GarageBand by playing the melody slowly, then speeding it up. Electro Beat: This is the song for all you electronic music lovers out there. It was written entirely using -- you guessed it -- synthesizers! The song reminds me of the disco era. I started it early on in the making of the album, but I left off about halfway to write some other pieces. When I came back to it, I decided to make it a little more funky, so that explains the middle section. My favorite part is the deep groove beat about 3/4 into the song. Suburban Afternoon: With this song, the album begins to shift to a more old-school style and relaxing mood. This is one of my favorite pieces on the album because it has a serene quality to it. For me, when I listen to it, I can forget about whatever else I'm thinking about and just listen to the music. If you're wondering what that slight noise in the background is, listen to the song on headphones and you can hear the sounds of afternoon traffic in the outer city. Evening Lounge: As we shift into nighttime, this song is sort of a introduction to the last two songs. Its instruments are two electric pianos and a jazz drum kit. When I listen to this (as well as Suburban Afternoon and the final two songs), I imagine sort of a story going on... a man drives home from work and goes to a lounge to sit and relax for a while. After the sun has set, he takes a stroll through the city at night, seeing all the lights and vibrant colors. He finally stops at the park and sits on a bench, contemplating his life and the simple pleasures he enjoys. Several hours later, he watches the sun rise... City Night: This song was written early on in the production of the album, but I knew that I wanted it to be one of the last songs on the CD. The piano plays the melody with strings and a simple beat backing it up. This song has somewhat of a different structure than my other songs -- it actually switches into the minor key (G Major to G minor) for the middle section, which is something I've never tried before. A New Day: The namesake of my album, A New Day is in my opinion one of the best songs I've written. I've been told it sounds a little like Jim Brickman.