Second Piano piece written for a friend fighting Cancer

An old friend was dealing with cancer so I wrote her some music. After sending it to her, I asked for her numbers and then produced this piece. When I’m writing for or about someone, I often ask them for a couple of numbers, I use these to denote the meter and beats per minute of the piece – I like the randomness of the process and the idea that the recipient is determining the musical outcome.

Emma survived and continues to Skipper her yacht around the globe – she’s an amazing lady. Having had the pieces for a while Emma and her husband Richard sent me the feedback below.

“The first piece makes me remember the moment all this shit began, the horrific nightmare and all its tricks.

Rich and I were talking and for us the piece takes us on a little journey from the beginning right up to the post-mastectomy stage. I feel aggression, hatred and fear at the outset and then the music lifts which for us denotes the next step – the positive move forward after the removal of the cancer – the brighter side of this nightmare beginning to shine through if you like, the positive rather than the negative.

The second piece of music takes on the treatment – tentative at the outset taking on the unknown – I can see myself treading carefully through mess, gently with each step, nervously moving forward – sometimes feeling delicate from treatment, sometimes charging forward with stubbornness – positive and almost light hearted, but each step with determination, all the time pushing, pushing to beat this.

This cancer is strange – whilst I have a cast of thousands around me each one supporting, helping in their own different way – I feel like a boxer – ultimately it is me that stands alone in the ring to deal with this, me that has to step forward and take the hit.

I write this as I listen to Emma’s Numbers – I can just see you sitting there, eyes closed, composing, thinking, feeling the music. We were having dinner whilst listening to my iPod last night, we had friends over, and they asked what we were listening to – the second piece – they loved it. Just thought you’d like to know that.”

I did – thank you Em!

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Now playing: music2work2 – Emma’s Numbers
via music2work2

Digital Music News Daily Snapshot reports that Nielson Media Research revealed “iPod owners spend a relatively small amount of time viewing downloaded videos.” These results are understandable considering the “multitasking” of individuals today. It is the music, Nielsen concludes, that is the most important component for most iPod buyers, even the iPods with video capabilities.

These results are reassuring for music2work2.com. They are consistent with the thinking of music2work2 and reaffirm the premise on which it is based. Individuals at work and play spend so much time during which focused attention to action on a screen is impractical. But, background music, which does not require focused attention, makes the task more pleasant, enables concentration on what is necessary, or prevents boredom while performing repetitive tasks. Looks like music2work2 is right on the mark!

In spite of the big budget marketing campaign and months of pre-release hype, Microsoft’s Zune was released on Tuesday with disappointing results. Digital Music News reported that it was available in 30,000 retail outlets, “more than any other Microsoft product.” Even Bill Gates himself gave it a push by extolling its virtues.

Apparently, however, it was not well received by everyone – there were complaints about it’s size – larger and heavier than the iPod and its sharing capabilities possibly hurt by the refusal of some big names, such as the Rolling Stones, to license their music for Zune-to-Zune sharing.

So, what is the message here? Perhaps that success can’t always be bought. Regardless of how much money Microsoft has spent on the Zune, it’s popularity and success ultimately lies with the consumer.

Digital Music News reported that Apple has discovered that less than one percent of their video IPods shipped after September 12 were infected with a Windows virus. Who was responsible for the problem – - Apple blamed Microsoft “for not being more hardy against such viruses,” and Microsoft said it is a quality control problem with Apple that they “didn’t know what they were shipping.”

Regardless of where the blame lies, it is the consumer who is inconvenienced by the whole thing. The consumer is the one who will have to go to the trouble to remove the virus, even though it is said to be a low-level security virus. Microsoft has survived such problems before and has high hopes for the release of its Zune player in November. And Apple, having only about 25 reports of the problem so far, will undoubtedly not really be hurt by this with the holidays approaching. So, it will probably end up only being a problem for the people who purchased that one percent of IPods.

A study by several leading hearing experts offers guidelines to safe listening of IPods. They reported, according to Digital Music News, that the average person could listen to the IPod for 4.6 hours a day at 70 percent of its maximum volume without increasing the risk of hearing loss.

A separate study took into account types of earphones used and the environment in which the subjects listen to music. In a noisy environment, 80% of students listened to music at risky levels, compared to only 6% who turned the volume to levels increasing the risk of hearing loss in quiet surroundings.

I’m sure it is an indication of my age, but I have thought for quite a while now that we are likely to one day have a whole generation of hearing impaired individuals. I wasn’t basing this on the levels at which individuals listen to IPods but rather the volume at which music is played in some teenagers cars. I wonder if a study has been done about that?

As a “late-comer” to the digital music world and its technology, it is difficult for me to get used to the capabilities of an IPod or cell phones. I have yet to learn how to do anything but answer and place calls on my cell phone. It will take pictures, videos, download music but it’s not likely that I will be using those feature much, if at all.

Today, in Digital Music News Daily Snapshot, I read about Palm’s Treo 680, a smart phone that
will have the capability of offering music, video, camcorder, camera, MP3 player, support for Microsoft applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Google Maps and email and messaging.
And, it will come in a choice of four colors!

What more could anyone want or need to work, play, communicate and find their way around?
Amazing!