Whistle While You Work This Labor Day, let’s celebrate by trying to make our work, whatever you do, more pleasurable and fun! Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Dedicated to Wendy L. and Bill B. “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” James Taylor
Yamaha Clavinova Category
I made this a separate category because 1) the sampled piano sounds on the Yamaha Clavinova sound so good (especially with good speakers or headphones) and 2) it has literally changed my life. Since I got the Clavinova, I’ve kind of become addicted to listening to it on my headphones because of the sound quality. I always wondered how some piano recordings sounded so rich even with a one-note melody as in a soft Carlos Jobim tune backing Sinatra. Well, now I know. It has allowed me to be more expressive than I ever could be on my acoustic piano. So I’ve also been playing more than ever because it’s way more fun and I don’t bug my family because of the headphones! Anyway, I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I enjoy playing them!
Donna Lee - Indiana
August 29, 2022
Charlie Parker – Father of Bebop Donna Lee – Back Home Again in Indiana Well, this is an interesting story (to me, anyway!) It started back in Boston – no, actually, it started back in Hartford, Connecticut during my medical internship when my new housemate ended up being a jazz disc jockey drummer who first turned me on to Charlie Parker, the highly influential jazz saxophonist father of bebop (along with Dizzy Gillespie) – no, maybe it really started in first grade when the gifted kids in playing the bells were called down to the music teacher’s office (who was also the gym teacher, something I had a hard time comprehending) to offer them opportunities to learn different instruments to play in the school band and when he asked me what I wanted to play I somehow simulated a jazz bebop sax lead (something that I must have heard in my parents LP collection), and then he started asking me about my mouth and tongue (questions which I have since learned have to do with embouchure, what you do with the front part of your mouth lips and teeth in order to play the saxophone) and being the smart aleck […]
The Night They Invented Champagne
August 6, 2022
Click on the mice to watch! This is a feel-good song from the award-winning 1958 American musical Gigi; the music was composed by Frederick Loewe and the lyrics were written by Alan Jay Lerner. The prompts for the AI illustrations mentioned inebriated festive french mice, and if you listen closely for the second verse I’ve tried to play a little wobbly! So although there may be continued uncertainty about our Covid future, tonight, by focusing on a bit of positive news, Let’s Celebrate! Enjoy, Dr. Weiss PS Yes, Jackie, Tamara and I are finally back in the office seeing happy patients and doing eyelid surgery. Don’t worry – we’re all wearing N95 masks! PSS Here are some of the ‘runners-up’ original Dall-E artificial intelligence illustrations. Which one do you like the best?
Russians (2022)
June 1, 2022
Russian Children (they look like our children, don’t they?) ‘I Hope the Russians Love Their Children Too’ On this day (June 1) 42 years ago, Sting released this song on his first solo album. Sting wrote the lyrics to this 1985 song but borrowed the central theme from the second movement (‘Romance’) of Serge Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kijé Suite,” which begins at the 4:20 mark of this orchestral recording. Sting reharmonized Prokofiev’s theme by adding a short but profoundly unique bass line (in addition to creating a powerful original but thematically similar melody.) Prokofiev himself is said to have taken the theme from an old Russian folk song called “The Little Grey Dove is Cooing.” [In playing this song, I’ve further discovered another possible source. Try singing the Christmas carol ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ (originating in the 1650s) over Sting’s lyrics.] With the current invasion of Ukraine, Prokofiev’s song is especially remarkable. In one of life’s extraordinary coincidences, Prokofiev was born in Sontsivka in 1891, in the Donetsk Oblast (region or state) of Ukraine – the very center of the area in eastern Ukraine that Putin is claiming to protect and liberate in 2022! It’s just 50 miles north of Mariupol, where the greatest […]
Paint It Black
August 25, 2021
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (Press arrow to play) Paint It Black Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed away today at the age of 80. Thanks for all the good vibrations Charlie! Dr. Weiss
All I Want To Do Is Dream
August 22, 2021
The Everly Brothers: Phil and Don (Press arrow to play) Don Everly passed away today at age 84. They were slightly before my time, but I sure loved this song. A lot of other people did also, because this 1958 song is ranked No. 141 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Thanks for the memories of all of the times that I’ve enjoyed listening to it. Rest in peace, guys. Dr. Weiss
Help! John Lennon’s cri de couer
July 19, 2021
Help! Dear family of patients, On this summer day July 19, 1965 – 56 years ago, the Beatles released the single “Help!” (now ranked at number 29 on the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.) I remember listening to it over and over again with my brother in his room on our portable 45 rpm record player. I also remember wrestling with my brother while listening to the B-side “I’m Down” (OK, I was 12 and my brother was 10.) I sent you this song as an Earth Day video a few months ago, but looking back, I now feel that the importance of the Earth Day message as well as the accompanying visuals (not to mention my amateur vocals) detracted from simply enjoying the beautiful sound of this arrangement and instrumentation (Bösendorfer Grand piano sample on the Yamaha Clavinova.) I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the aural quality and chord changes alone, sans lyrics, seem to express all the existential angst of our current global pandemic moment, while improbably being strangely soothing at the same time. Lennon said that Help! was one of his favorite Beatles songs and “one of the only true songs he ever wrote.” I’ve chosen […]
Earth Day Help!
April 22, 2021
One of the first color images of Earth, a digital image mosaic taken in 1967. I was playing this song (Help!) the other day and started to imagine that the Earth was trying to talk to us all through the lyrics of a Beatles song. Looking at this image makes us realize that we are undeniably all in this together – whatever happens. In my opinion, the best thing that we could do for the earth is to simply stop trying so hard to kill it! Live sustainably and plan for the future of the earth! The earth needs us now! Dr. Weiss
Beethoven 250th Birthday Celebration!
December 17, 2020
Moonlight Sonata and Adieu to the Piano Ludwig van Beethoven Well, unfortunately today’s Covid news is not any better since yesterday, but today we do have something momentous to celebrate! Today it has been 250 years since Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. He is one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. Here are links to two of his many popular compositions. I guess I started playing Moonlight Sonata in high school many years ago, and it has given me memories of many hours of peaceful tranquility. Adieu to the Piano is a more recent addition for me, and works perfectly as a ‘Weiss Music Minute.’ Thanks for the memories, Ludwig! Moonlight Sonata (4:30) https://www.drweiss.com/2019/03/29/moonlight-sonata/ Adieu to the Piano (1 minute) https://youtu.be/VqLksqpskT4 Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever played!!
A Song for You
November 13, 2020
A Song For You Leon Russell passed away on this day 4 years ago. In my opinion, this is one of the loveliest love songs ever written. Believe it or not (it's true), I once put on an international multi-specialty medical conference in Deer Valley and I had Leon Russell perform. Pretty crazy, eh? Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever played!!