Michael Dyer

When my father-in-law passed away, my wife ended up with a bar ornament that her father possessed.  It is about 8 inches high -- a dragon with spread wings and holding some kind of hops-related plant in its claw (broken off years before we acquired it).  On its base there are the words: "Dragon's Blood, Brewed By Flowers".  Here is a photo:

The Flowers Brewing Co. existed in the U.K. and produced a beer called "Dragon's Blood".  According to info. on the internet, that brewery closed in 1961.  

Since…

In Dec. 2011 David Mallory (a musical theater composer) wrote a thought-provoking piece in HowlRound.com, titled:  A Slushy in the Face: Musical Theater Music and the Uncool.  Here is the link:

http://journalism.howlround.com/a-slushy-in-the-face-musical-theater-music-and-the-uncool-by-dave-malloy/

In it he reviews the history of musicals and concludes that, in spite of their popularity,  most musicals are considered "uncool" by the general listening audience (at least those who read Rolling Stone and Wi…

After writing, composing and producing the radio-play version  of my Dragon's Blood (DB) musical, I came upon David Spencer's book: The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide (2005). I recommend it to anyone trying to write a musical.  In addition to advice about working with directors, producers, agents, performers, and how to format a script, he lists (in Chapter 4) 10 features that, he claims, all successful musicals must have.  I went through these 10 to see if my musical conforms to them and,…

Having written my first musical, DRAGON'S BLOOD  (a 2.5 hr work, with 24 musical numbers in it), I have formed a few thoughts in this area:

The Difference Between Musicals and Operas

I've looked at a lot of comments on the web (e.g. operas have "high-brow" music and themes, while musical theater is more "low-brow".)   However, there are many exceptions to most distinguishing characteristics people come up with.

My criterion for distinguishing is simple:  If the dialog is sung, then it is an opera.  If…

ANOTHER KIND OF BLUES (Jazzy Blues) - Michael Dyer (c) 2013

In an earlier blog I mentioned different genres of blues.  Well, I left out one (an important and interesting one), namely, jazzy blues.

Over the last year I have gotten interested in a subset of songs that belong to what is commonly called "The Great American Jazz Songbook".  I have been exploring the musical structure of famous jazz songs from the 20s ("Ain't Misbehavin' - Fats Waller), from the 30s ("It Don't Mean A Thing" and…

CONTEMPORARY BLUES VS. CLASSIC BLUES

AND THE FUTURE OF BLUES

Michael Dyer

© 2011

On June 10, 2010 Jim Fusilli (rock and pop music critic for the Wall Street Journal) wrote an article, titled: "Lamenting The Future Of Blues".  The URL to this article is:  

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704002104575290532300233738.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_TOPRightCarousel_2 

He wrote about what he experienced when he went to Memphis to attend a Blues Foundation event. There, he heard many forms of…

20 Pitfalls To Avoid When Making Rock Music

Michael Dyer

© 2008

For the past few years I've been involved in producing my own songs and during that time I didn't listen very much to the music of others within my own genre -- that of rock music broadly construed. (My taste includes many rock subgenres, such as bluesy rock, soft-rock, folk-rock, electronic rock, new age rock, metal rock, Americana rock, and so on). A few months ago I decided to spend at least an hour each day listening to the music of…