Introduction to my "Happy Birthday Remix" and other piano pieces in the book

"Happy Birthday Remix" is a set of variations or merely twists from pop songs that was extracted, inspired or derived from melodies or motifs in classical music. To make life more complicated, I add the "Happy Birthday" tune to them, and dedicate them to my friends according to the occasion or zodiac. It's a spontaneous project started during the lockdown era of Covid-19, April 2020. Yes, I do quote from the pop song, but the pop song writer quoted from the classical melody, so who should pay royalty to whom, here? These were written in April - May 2020, during the lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. They wouldn't have been composed if I haven't had so much spare time! The way I copy and paste those pieces of music was in fact inspired by how the final scene of the movie "Rocketman" was made, when "Elton" sang "I'm Still Standing" using the original video clip. It was that visual technique which I applied in a musical way. ........................................................................................... Eric Carmen used Rachmaninov's tune from the 2nd movement of his Piano Concerto no. 2 as the base of his song, "All By Myself", later made hugely popular by Celine Dion. Released in 1975, it was before the Russian composer's 70th anniversary of death, so Carmen was contacted by the Rachmaninov estate and informed that it was still protected under royalty. An agreement was reached in which the estate would receive 12 percent of the royalties from "All by Myself". Carmen just speeded up the tempo of the original Rachmaninov melody, and put his words on it. What I did is I slowed it down, but not as much as the original tune, and mixed the chorus (which I think is original by Carmen) and the Happy Birthday tune, so listening to this, one gets confused which tune is which. That Rachmaninov’s music would be the source of a pop song hit should come as no surprise. If one of the requisites—at least in the 1970s— of creating a Top 40 hit is having a first-rate tune, then Rachmaninov might actually be the best place for a songwriter to start! . ...................................................................................................... "Memories ... Of Pachelbel" uses the melody from "Memories" of Maroon 5. Adam Levine basically ripped off the main melody of Pachelbel's Canon in D, added lyrics about wistfully recalling memories and missing people from your former life, and created an instant hit (and instant tear-jerker). The vocal melodies use the exact melodic and rhythmic motifs of Pachelbel's, not just the chord progression. I then intertwined the Happy Birthday tune, still using the rhythmic accompaniment of Maroon 5 (the only original thing of Maroon 5 that I used). .............................................................................................. The classic opening theme song of "Inspector Gadget" cartoon series came from Shuki Levy, an American composer famous in children’s television. Levy based his Inspector Gadget song on In the Hall of Mountain King, by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. ..................................................................................................... Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Singer based their song “Groovy Kind of Love” on the opening of the final movement of Clementi’s Sonatina in G minor, Op. 36, No. 5. “Groovy Kind of Love”. It was recorded early on by multiple groups including Diane and Annita (1965) and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles (1966) and then became a big hit with Phil Collins. Basically Wine & Singer just took the first few bars of Clementi and slow it down and make it "groovy". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Seikilos epitaph could date as far back as 200 B.C. It is the world’s oldest surviving piece of musical composition that has been found in its entirety. And because this piece exists in its entirety, scholars have not only been able to translate the lyrics but have also been able to convert the piece into modern musical notation that can be played today. Researchers have few clues about the creation of the Seikilos epitaph. What they do know is that the inscription on the stele may translate as “Seikilos to Euterpe.” Historians believe the composer, a man named Seikilos, wrote the song for a woman named Euterpe, presumably his deceased wife, and placed it on this tombstone for her. However, another possible interpretation of the text could be “Seikilos, son of Euterpe [or Euterpos],” so it is possible the song was actually dedicated to his mother. “As long as you live, shine, / Let nothing grieve you beyond measure. / For your life is short, / and time will claim its toll.” / .................................................................................................... In addition to the lyrics, another piece of the puzzle is the inscription engraved on the stele that reads, “I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance.” There is thus no doubt that the composition is a type of mourning song, engraved on a loved one’s tombstone as a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Much of the rest when it comes to the Seikilos epitaph, however, remains unclear. ................................................................................ The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found engraved on a tombstone (a stele) from the Hellenistic town Tralles near present-day Aydın, Turkey, not far from Ephesus. It is a Hellenistic Ionic song in either the Phrygian octave species or Iastian tonos. While older music with notation exists (for example the Hurrian songs), all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition. I therefore can analyze and delve deeply into it in order to make a set of variations on the original theme. Ananda Sukarlan, July 2021 IG & twitter @anandasukarlan