Carl Schultz, Canadian Composer and Music Video Producer

03/27/2022

Gut Strings
Composed, arranged and produced by Carl Schultz

There was a photo I saw on Facebook from the inside of a cello by Romanian artist Adrian Borda. You may have seen it. That wonderful photo was the inspiration for this composition.

I’ve always loved the idea of being inside the music and often find myself there while composing. In a way its so much nicer than the cold light of day. In this composition I wanted to capture the moment of inspiration when ideas emerge from wherever, maybe even a photo of the inside of a cello.

The imagery in this song, playing guitar, the Alcázar of Segovia and Don Quixote are all part of the creative process, free flowing and speaking a language that may only make sense inside the world created by the song.

Sometimes, muse comes smoothly
Words rhyme, absolutely
The sun shine, beams right through me
In realtime, grand design or répartee.

P.s. I used the term Rococo just because I liked the way it sounded.

03/10/2022

Can We Talk
Many readers will remember the Summer of Peace, when the music spoke of love, compassion, and soul understanding.

Long ago, far away
At Rainbow Bridge and Monterey
Woodstock still plays today
Still blowin’ in the wind, my friends

Sometimes I despair when I see what the world has become, so much pain inflicted on ourselves, by ourselves. I remember and take solace in the knowledge that that same world created wonder and joy though the lives of some remarkable individuals.

This a tribute to a group of wonderful artists that during my lifetime graced this earth, some are still with us. They all chased dreams and a higher esoteric that lasted entire lifetimes and graciously gave us all so much of themselves.
Peace out.

Artists (In order of appearance)
Johnny Cash, Hurt
Leonard Cohen, First We Take Manhattan
Jim Morrison, The Doors
Amy Winehouse, In My Bed
Glenn Gould plays Bach
Oscar Peterson
Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Woodstock, Three Days That Defined A Generation
Bob Dylan, Live at the Newport Folk Festival
David Bowie, Life On Mars
Jimi Hendrix, Live at the Atlanta Pop Festival
Chris Squire, Yes, Amazing Grace
Neil Peart, Rush

Composed, performed and produced
by Carl Schultz

03/01/2022

The Rainbow Connection (revisited)
Arranged, performed and produced by Carl Schultz

I first posted this song about two years ago on Facebook. For this updated version I remixed the instrumental tracks, and as well I added vocal harmonies. The vocals are also more upfront than the previous version. A big thank you to Frayne McCarthy, a dear friend, fabulous performer and co-owner of the Royal Theatre, for taking the time to advise me.

There are a few guidelines to follow when performing in the big wide world. From WC Fields, never work with animals or kids, move away from the piano if Oscar Peterson walks into the club, and never follow Kermit the frog. But, fools rush in where angels fear to tread. So, here is my arrangement of the Rainbow Connection, with apologies to Kermit.

My idea for this arrangement was to intertwine the theme from “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” into the 1st verse, “When You Wish Upon A Star” into the 2nd verse, and I asked for suggestions from my Facebook friends for the 3rd verse.

“Is this the sweet sound,
That calls the young sailors,
The voice might be one in the same.”

Thanks to so many of my friends for the suggestions, it was fun! In the end I went with Jennifer Heale and Bonnie Boyd suggestion of the “Skye Boat Song” as heard in the series, Outlander. I think it really set the right mood and provided an interesting counterpoint to the main melody.

I hope you enjoy the song, it was a lot of fun to produce and then re-produce it. Can you hear the vocals now Frayne? Lol Thanks again ❤️

All best wishes everyone.

02/24/2022

BECAUSE
Written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon-McCartney)
Arranged, performed and produced by Carl Schultz

According to Lennon, this song's close resemblance to the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata happened like this: "Yoko was playing Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano ... I said, 'Can you play those chords backwards?', and wrote 'Because' around them.

Maybe explains the use of harpsichord played by George Martin in the Beatle’s recording. I can almost hear John saying in his charming way, “It’s all like classical, long hair music.”

Ringo didn’t play on the Beatles recording of Because. Hmm... I wonder what he would’ve done? In this version I made an attempt at imitating Ringo’s playing. You may detect a very slight 1/8 note swing, a little behind the beat, and that muted tom drum sound he used on recordings. Yeah well, I made attempt but I still wonder what Ringo would of done.

BECAUSE (with slight alterations by me)
Because the world spins round
It turns me on
Because the world spins round
Because the wind is high
It blows my mind
Because the wind is high

Love is old, love is new
Love is all, love is you
Love is high, love is blue
Love is all, love is you

Because the sky is blue
It makes me cry
Because the sky’s so blue

Love is old, love is new
Love is all, love is you
Love is high, love is blue

Because the world spins round

I hope you enjoy it, and as always, all best wishes.

02/10/2022

Smile, Darn You Smile Canada
Arranged, performed and produced by Carl Schultz

Smile, Music by Charles Chaplin, Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons
Smile, Darn Ya, Smile by Charles O’Flynn, Jack Meskill and Max Rich

I know this is “charged” because of recent events and certainly starting with Trudeau was bound to annoy some. But that footage is his reaction to the passing of Gord Downie. I gave equal time to O’Toole and Singh, and I couldn’t bear to pass up Elizabeth May. All of them are shown in a good light.

But the point is made in the next section. Canada is a great country. Many parts of Canada are represented from the Calgary Stampede, Kho-Koh (an Indigenous game), and Massey Hall in Toronto.

The news media represented is both Right and Left, and both broadcast and independent.

As Gord was mentioned earlier he appears next with Joni, Neil and Cohen. All of them are Canadian treasures and although Neil and Joni are still with us we may be shedding a tear for them soon.

All that said, this is music and pictures, dare I say art, and as such is open to interpretation. You have every right to see it as you wish but no offence was intended by me.

Note: none of the footage has anything to do with Covid, or the Trucker’s protest.

Politicians (in order of appearance)
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Erin O’Toole, former leader of the Conservative Party
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP
Elizabeth May, former leader of the Green Party

News Media
Andrew Lawton, True North
CBC News Now anchors
Ezra Levant, Rebel News
Rex Murphy, CBC, commentator and author
Rosemary Barton, CBC

Musicians
Gordon Downie, (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017), singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist
Neil Young, singer-songwriter, musician, and activist
Joni Mitchell, singer-songwriter, musician, and artist
Leonard Cohen, (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016), singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist

Others
Rick Mercer, comedian, television personality, political satirist and author
Dr Theresa Tam, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer

02/03/2022

Well what a pleasant surprise. I just watched the 40 music videos in the Pop category of this contest and I must say it’s an honour to be included with these fine music video artists. Two of my productions made the list.

Congrats to every one of you. Well done.

Visit the post for more.

02/01/2022

A Pretty Maiden
Adapted, arranged, performed and produced by Carl Schultz

There’s a lovely series, Midnight Diner, Shinya Shokudo, which is a tv series produced in Japan and first released in 2009. It tells the stories of gentle, ordinary people that come to a midnight diner to enjoy Master’s simple, but wonderful food.

The theme song, Omoide, is by Tsunekichi Suzuki which he adapted from a 18th-century Irish ballad originally sung in Irish Gaelic. Needless to say, he doesn’t speak Gaelic, so he wrote a whole new set of lyrics in Japanese.

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) the English poet had written his own set of lyrics to the song titled A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow. Many of you may recognize his version and his masterful turn of phrase.

So I had a Japanese tv series with a theme song, which I love, adapted from the original Gaelic song and a set of lyrics by English poet Thomas Moore.

Fortunately I also found a translation of Omoide from Japanese to English by linguist Peter Joseph Head along with his insightful thoughts on the meaning of the song as well as Midnight Diner.

In my version the first and last verse are my adaptation of Peter Joseph Head’s translation of Suzuki’s song while the middle verses are my adaption of Moore’s lyrics.

I highly recommend Midnight Diner. You can find it on Netflix. It’s a relaxing series that will leave you peaceful, solemn, and hopeful. In the meantime I hope you enjoy my version of the theme song. All best wishes.

01/26/2022

Mid-winter in Canada, let’s bossa nova.

Desafindo
Arranged, performed and produced by Carl Schultz
Composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim with lyrics (in Portuguese) by Newton Mendonça. English language lyrics by Jon Hendricks and "Jessie Cavanaugh”.

Desafinado (Off Key) was originally a response to critics who claimed that bossa nova was a new genre for singers who can't sing. Years later it was voted by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone as the 14th greatest Brazilian song. Jobim 1, Critics 0

As much as I love music I think the real passion in this piece is supplied by the dancers. This is footage from the 2019 WDSF World Open Latin, in Pieve di Cento. There’s more than a few stories here of supreme dedication, over the top exuberance, love and hot passion.

For example, there’s a very slight collision at 2:49 caused by a male dancer. His partner immediately responded, clasped his face in her hands, and poured her confidence and passion back into him.

And at :55 a dancer, you can see it in her face, is digging deep into her soul before moving with immaculate control across the floor. I had to watch it a few times because it really seems like the video was sped up, but it wasn’t. All the beauty and power she expressed was in her.

Something to help warm you up, cheers.

01/11/2022

Ode on the James Webb Space Telescope ― Dedicated to all those at JWST
Written, performed and produced by Carl Schultz.

Some days we do great and wonderful things. Some days we reach beyond our own boundaries, raise our gaze from the mundane and filled with awe we wonder at the miracle of existence.

“The Answer to the Great Question... Of Life, the Universe and Everything... Is... Forty-two,' said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This Christmas Day was one of those days. I watched the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Almost three decades to get it into obit with participation of astrophysicists from around the globe and then finally, liftoff from the coast of Peru to the far side the moon.

Webb unfolded it’s solar shields like an origami Christmas decoration and is now on its way to L2. Once there it will ride the gravitational tides created by sun, moon and earth and beam back images of the universe, perhaps back to a million years after the Big Bang. Amazing.

12/14/2021

One Step Ahead
Written, performed and produced by Carl Schultz

I wrote this song to cheer up and encourage an old and dear friend, Stuart Smith, who recently survived back surgery. He’s doing well but it was touch and go for weeks. Now it’s left foot, one step ahead, and then right foot, until he’s truly back on his feet again.

Fortunately in Canada we have an amazing world class health care system that is available to all citizens regardless of economic status and although that wasn’t a concern for my friend it’s good to know that the same excellent health care is available to all of us.

The Video
I used a new production technique for the creation of this video, well new for me. I produced it with the intention to simulate a “real” environment with multiple performing Carl(s). I think there are total of 15. Some of the me(s) are singing, or playing a lovely modern day Bösendorfer Secession Grand piano, a 18th-century French harpsichord, and a 1960’s Hammond B3 organ. As a composer and music producer I can tell you that it is truly a wondrous time to be alive.

It was fun but did take awhile to produce including the composition and production of the song. Actually the song was written in less than an hour emerging fully formed from my imagination and requiring almost no editing. I love it when that happens.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and let me take this opportunity to wish you good health and the very best this world has to offer. One step ahead my friends. Cheers.
Carl

12/12/2021

Winter Wonderland
Arranged, performed and produced by Carl Schultz

This beautiful song, Winter Wonderland, was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith.

It’s been an uncommonly trying year, again, and as we approach the year's end, here’s hoping better days are ahead.

Wishing you and yours all the best, and peace and love,
Carl