5 more tracks written and recorded in one month, this time February 2016 for the RPM Challenge (www.rpmchallenge.com). This is a continuation of the "Impossible Universe" theme started during last year's challenge.

Impossible Universe 2016

Re-imagined version of Ivan Sings by Aram Khatchaturian

The 11th Dimension

"Carol of the Bells," composed by Mykola Leontovych, is based on a Ukrainian folk chant called "Shchedryk," and wasn't originally a Christmas song.

In pre-Christian Ukraine, the chant was performed in the new year, which was in April, and tells a tale of a bird that comes to a family to tell them about the plentiful year they will have.

But with the introduction of Christianity and a change to the Julian calendar, the new year moved to January and the holiday in which the chant was used became the Feast of Epiphany. The chant is now performed on New Year's Eve.

In the Western world, Leontovych's composition was introduced at Carnegie Hall in 1921, and in 1930, Peter Wilhousky wrote English lyrics to accompany the song. Since then "Carol of the Bells" has been performed at Christmastime.

Hark! how the bells
Sweet silver bells
All seem to say,
"Throw cares away."
Christmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong
That is their song
With joyful ring
All caroling
One seems to hear
Words of good cheer
From ev'rywhere
Filling the air

Oh how they pound,
Raising the sound,
O'er hill and dale,
Telling their tale,
Gaily they ring
While people sing
Songs of good cheer
Christmas is here
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

On, on they send
On without end
Their joyful tone
To ev'ry home

Carol Of The Bells

I first heard Some Children See Him on George Winston’s album December. His version is without lyrics, so for years I was unaware that it actually had words, and unaware of this Christmas song’s history.

Some Children See Him was written in 1951 by Alfred Burt, with words by Wilha Hutson. Years earlier, Burt’s father, a pastor of an Episcopal church in Michigan, started a tradition of writing a musical Christmas card to family and friends, the words and music written by himself. Soon however, he asked his son to provide the musical settings for his words. 

After Burt’s father died, Alfred asked friend Wilha Hutson to provide the words, and the tradition continued in his father’s honor, but the carols were unknown outside the Burt’s mailing list.

The carols were finally recorded in 1954. Some Children See Him appeared on that first recording, and since then, several musicians have recorded their own version. George Winston, Kenny Loggins, and James Taylor have all provided their renditions of this carol.

Some children see him
Lily white
The baby Jesus
Born this night
Some children see him
Lily white
With tresses soft
And fair

Some children see him
Bronzed and brown
The Lord of heav'n
To Earth come down
Some children see him
Bronzed and brown
With dark
And heavy hair

Some children see him
Almond-eyed
This savior whom
We kneel beside
Some children see him
Almond-eyed
With skin
Of yellow hue

Some children see him
Dark as they
Sweet mary's son
To whom we pray
Some children see him
Dark as they
And, ah
They love him, too

The children
In each diff'rent place
Will see
The baby Jesus' face
Like theirs
But bright
With heav'nly grace
And filled
With holy light

O lay aside
Each earthly thing
And with thy heart
As offering
Come worship now
The infant king
'Tis love
That's born tonight

Some Children See Him

"Heart of Gold," the Improbability-drive powered starship stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox. 

Heart Of Gold

5 Tracks written and recorded in February 2015 for the RPM Challenge (www.rpmchallenge.com), the result of which is this album, "Impossible Universe."

03 Twin Jet

02 Pillars Of Creation

01 Nebulosity (Deep Architecture)

05 Hymn For The Universe

04 M31

Re-spray of Mannheim Steamroller's "Prelude & Chocolate Fudge," from Fresh Aire I.

Preludium & Chocolat Mousse (M31 DnB Re-spray of Prelude & Chocolate Fudge)

I find that 'Gloucestershire Wassail' perfectly captures many of the elements of the Christmas season; the feelings of excitement and joy, the time to gather as family and friends to celebrate the joyous event that is the birth of Jesus Christ.

The English custom of “wassailing,” or visiting the leading households in the village on Christmas Eve with a decorated wooden bowl, and singing a wassailing song, apparently began in early 19th Century England. (The “wassail” custom actually has a much earlier origin, but doing it at Christmastime began in the 1800s.) Different villages in Gloucestershire used different tunes with various different lyrics. However, the most well-known version (the one we hear today) was popularized by Ralph Vaughn Williams in 1928. He used the tune from the version popular in Pembroke, Hertfordshire, and gathered the lyrics from William Bayless and Isaac Bennett, both residents of Gloucestershire. There are many variations to the lyrics, and traditionally there are ten verses. Here are the first four:

Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

Here's to our horse, and to his right ear,
God send our master a happy new year:
A happy new year as e'er he did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek
Pray God send our master a good piece of beef
And a good piece of beef that may we all see
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

Here's to our mare, and to her right eye,
God send our mistress a good Christmas pie;
A good Christmas pie as e'er I did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

This year’s song is my take on this traditional English carol, inspired by the joy and energy of original, with a modern-day electronic twist.

Gloucestershire Wassail

05 V838

04 Supermassive Black Hole

03 Barnards Loop

02 Fountains Of Enceladus

01 Eridanus Void

Re-recorded, remixed, and remastered respray of my 2011 remix of Mannheim Steamroller's Toccata.

Full disclosure -- I've learned a ton since 2011 when I originally did this remix. It was time for me to revisit it.

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Toccata (M31 Nu Aire Mix 2016 Respray)

I first saw The King’s Singers in 2008 where they performed a Christmas concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was so blown away by their performance, particularly their performance of a song called Born On A New Day, that the next day I bought their album titled Christmas.

Born On A New Day was originally written in 1992 and titled You Are The New Day. This original version didn’t really have any connection to Christmas. In 2000, Philip Lawson, one of the baritones for The King’s Singers, rewrote the lyrics as a Christmas song, and it became one of the King’s Singers’ biggest successes.

When I started my tradition of doing Christmas songs back in 2011, I made a list of the dozen or so that I wanted to do, and this song was one of the first I added. In this arrangement, I wanted to preserve the tight harmonies that exist in the original version by the King’s Singers. And because of the ethereal nature of my arrangement, I slowed the tempo down from the original a bit so I could preserve the rich chord structure and progressions.

Born On A New Day has become one of my favorite modern-era Christmas songs. The lyrics capture the essence of what Christmas is and what Christ has done for humankind, and its all set on a wonderfully lush tonal foundation.


You are the new day,
You are the new day.
Meekness, love, humility
Come down to us this day:
Christ, your birth has proved to me
You are the new day.

Quiet in a stall you lie,
Angels watching in the sky
Whisper to you from on high
"You are the new day".

When our life is darkest night,
Hope has burned away;
Love, your ray of guiding light,
Show us the new day.

Love of all things great and small
Leaving none, embracing all,
Fold around me where I fall,
Bring in the new day.

This new day will be
A turning point for everyone.
If we let the Christ-child in, and
Reach for the new day.

Christ the Way, the Truth, the Life;
Healing sadness, ending strife;
You we welcome, Lord of life,
Born on a new day.
You are the new day

Born On A New Day

"Good King Wenceslas" has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs. It was the very first carol I learned to play on the piano when I was 6 years old. Here's my rendition; feel free to download it. 

Written in 1853 in England by John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, Neale's lyrics take inspiration from a Bohemian legend of a wealthy duke known for his good works. After a Pope declared the legend fact, and a Roman Emperor posthumously conferred the title of King on the duke, both legend and song now refer to the pious duke as King Wenseslas.

Neale's lyrics tell the story of the good king seeing a peasant trying to gather fuel in the snowy deep. The king calls his page and sets out to bring food and fuel to him.

The page falters, not being able to endure the frigid wind and deep snow.

The King encourages the page to follow closely in his footsteps, and so together they bring rescue to the helpless man.

(The traditional English spelling of the king's name is "Wenceslaus", and since Neale and Helmore were English, I decided to use their spelling.)

Wenceslaus 2011

My interest in this Christmas carol started when I heard Mannheim Steamroller’s version on their third Christmas Album "Christmas in the Aire." The main melody is very catchy, and I love the renaissance feel of their arrangement, and in fact, I’ve included a bit of it as a tribute to their take.

Pat-A-Pan was composed and lyrics written by a French lawyer and poet named Bernard de la Monnoye, in 1720. Its story revolves around the nativity of Jesus Christ from the perspective of shepherds, playing flutes and drums, the lyrical sound of the latter being where this carol gets its name, Pat-A-Pan.

(There is another carol about drums, "The Little Drummer Boy," which, I must confess, is not one of my favorites. However, since my mom does like "Drummer Boy," I’ve included melodic motifs from it: see if you can find them.)

The original lyrics to Pat-A-Pan were written in Burgundian, a dialect of French. Here, I’ve included the English translation:

"Willie, take your little drum, Robin take your flute and come!
When we hear the right we will sing Noel this night,
When we hear the fife and drum, Christmas should be frolicsome."

"Thus the men of olden days for the King of Kings to praise,
When they heard the fife and drum, ture-lure-lu, pata-pata-pan,
When they hear the fife and drum, sure, our children won't be dumb."

"God and man are now become more at one than fife and drum.
When you hear the fife and drum, ture-lure-lu, pata-pata-pan,
When you hear the fife and drum, dance and make the village hum."

Pat-A-Pan

The French composer Charles Gounod published what we now know as Ave Maria in 1853 as Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de S. Bach. Gounod composed the melody and superimposed it over Prelude #1 in C Major from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, written 137 years earlier.

The words that generally accompany the song are the complete Catholic prayer called Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or in Latin, Ave Maria.
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum,
Benedicta tu in mulieribus Et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus.
Sancta Maria, sancta Maria, Maria, Ora pro nobis, nobis peccatoribus
Nunc et in hora, in hora mortis nostrae
Amen, amen.

And here is the English translation:

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen, amen.

Meditation (Ave Maria)

Remix of the Doctor Who theme. 

Get it here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/m313

Background here: http://m31music.blogspot.com/2013/04/m-theory-doctor-who-out-now.html

Doctor Who (M-Theory Remix)

M31 is the group name for American electronica artist Kyle Tippetts.

Some of M31’s influences are: Mannheim Steamroller, BT, Above &amp; Beyond, ATB, Andy Blueman, Kaskade, Late Night Alumni, Vargo, William Orbit, Jean Michel Jarre.

Kyle formed his first group, called Andromeda, back in 1982, as a cover band for Mannheim Steamroller’s Fresh Aire album series. The band played at school and other local functions as well as county and state fair venues. After winning 1st place in the Davis County Fair talent competition, they went on to play at the Utah State Fair. Andromeda was subsequently invited to perform for a public radio telethon regional broadcast.

Kyle put musical pursuits on hold for the subsequent 20 years to attend to the more important things, namely his family. In 2010, he began working on his next music project, rechristened as M31 (the Messier name for the Andromeda galaxy).

M31’s current musical style is heavily influenced by current electronic dance music (EDM) genres and subgenres such as Trance (Progressive, Uplifting, and Euphoric), Techno, Breakbeat, Dubstep, Chillout, and Downtempo.

You can download free tracks from http://www.facebook.com/m31music


M31 (Andromeda)

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