Jon Ochshorn

squints on a triple

jon — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:10:48 +0000

The song, Squints on a Triple, is based on a true story: my daughter Jennie beat me in a game of Scrabble by putting the word “squints” on a triple word square on her last turn. Scrabble fans know that putting the letter “Q” on a triple word square generates many points; having the letter “Q” simultaneously on a double letter square makes the points scored even greater, and the pain of defeat that much more severe. Warning: song contains some metaphorical content.

shadows burn video

jon — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:18:12 +0000

Shadows Burn was written and recorded in 2007 and previously posted on this blog. I just shot and edited a YouTube video, including me walking all over Collegetown and the Cornell campus, (with historic shots of the Brandon Avenue sidewalk in Ithaca, NY prior to its obliteration and reconstruction in June 2008) as well as some special effects.

manifesto of love

jon — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:44:52 +0000

Manifesto of Love is a song that I wrote in 1983, based on an interest both in manifestos and in gospel-tinged piano-oriented rock. The current arrangement adds guitar, drums, bass, and a touch of organ, but pretty much preserves the original feel of the solo piano. As has become usual, you may find links to both a YouTube video, as well as a downloadable mp3 and lyrics (along with production notes). Susan again provided the outstanding videography using my Flip video recorder; I did the video editing using Final Cut Express.

shrinkwrap

jon — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:48:37 +0000

I began Shrinkwrap in late 2007 and finished it early this year as a poem; only later was it set to music, unlike most of the other songs I’ve written, which have started as musical ideas. I created some animated sequences (frame-by-frame in PhotoShop) and tried out some keyframe-triggered effects while editing the video. Susan shot most of the footage (with Rob providing the meat). Here are two links: to the song and lyrics; and to the YouTube video. The video also contains short excerpts from another version of the song (in the intro and ending sequences), which otherwise shall remain unpublished. Thanks to Joe at Tony’s Barber Stylist on Linden Avenue in Ithaca for playing the barber in our haircut scene.

ballad of the barnes

jon — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:57:22 +0000

We drove down to Merion, PA during Spring Break, to visit the Barnes Foundation before its extensive collection of artworks is dismantled and shipped to Philadelphia. I made a short movie with my Flip video camcorder of the trip; of course this meant I needed to write a soundtrack for the movie. One thing led to another, so here is the music video derived from the movie. I experimented with the “protest” song genre, so hopefully, it sounds a bit familiar, without being explicitly stolen from anything in particular. There are two links here: one for just the music (mp3) and lyrics; the other for the YouTube video.

dragon day

jon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:12:23 +0000

I used my bottom-of-the-line Flip Video camcorder for the first time on a blustery March morning to film Dragon Day 2008 at Cornell.

ran thru my mind

jon — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:09:57 +0000

Ran Thru My Mind represents another experiment with live recording and videography. This is another “old” song (written circa 1980), but recorded for the first time in March 2008. Unlike the “live” recording of Almost Doesn’t Count, this one has some basic tracks (drums, bass, piano) pre-recorded on GarageBand before the “live” guitar and vocals are recorded. Hence the headphones in the video. Like the last one, the one-take videography is by Susan Schwartz; I did the editing on Final Cut Express. See video.

buckling

jon — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:50:06 +0000

Two nights ago, I was lying in bed, thinking about how one might derive the critical buckling load of a column by considering such a column loaded instead like a beam (causing a similar deflected shape). The two equations governing the mid-span moment and deflection of such a beam are, of course, ingrained in my memory (M = wL²/8 and Δ = 5wL⁴/[384EI]), so it only took a moment to figure out the axial load that would reproduce such a state of equilibrium, simulating the condition of buckling. Since the deflection of a buckled column causes a moment equal to the applied load times the deflection, the critical buckling load must be approximately equal to the beam moment divided by the deflection, i.e., P_cr = wL²/8 divided by 5wL⁴/[384EI]) = 9.6EI / L². This is remarkably close to Euler’s famous equation: P_cr = π²EI / L². Anyway, if you want more details, see my short paper on the subject.

almost doesn’t count

jon — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:06:15 +0000

I wrote Almost Doesn’t Count in 1978, so this recording marks a 30th anniversary of sorts. After trying a few arrangements with drums, bass, and so on, I decided to just play the song live, using a single mic and acoustic guitar, pretty much as it was originally written. I asked Susan to film the project while I recorded to a single track on GarageBand (you can see my salvaged eMac in the background). She used my new pocket-size Flip video recorder, also in a single take; the result can be seen courtesy of YouTube. Videography: Susan Schwartz.

one life

jon — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:53:36 +0000

I temporarily stopped writing songs in the mid 1980s in order to concentrate on other stuff; it is only recently that I started writing again, and even more recently that I started recording the songs. One Life was one of the first songs I wrote after such a long hiatus, and I’ve been recording it over and over again for the last several months, trying to get it to sound right. Finally, my last attempt sounded worse than the one before, so I decided to just stop trying, and post the prior attempt: version “2d” (i.e., the fourth iteration of the second trial) rather than version “3a” (the first iteration of the third trial). It seems like just yesterday that I wrote the song, so I was shocked to realize that it was composed almost five years ago. At this rate, it will take me about 40 more years to put together a 10-song album…