Welcome to my music blog - The Soundtrack of My Life!

Many of you have asked me “What’s with all the music, Dr. Weiss?” Well, as I’ve told some of you:

I personally call every surgery patient on the evening of surgery just to make sure they are doing well and have no questions that need answering. Occasionally, I would be at the piano and play a song that we had listened to that day. I gradually realized that I wanted to go through all the music that I had played during my life and at least start making a list of the songs that I had recently played.

Well, there are now about 600 songs on the list and I realized that it in a way it represented the ‘soundtrack of my life’! And that’s how I got the idea to record these songs and share them with my patients, friends and family. After I record them they will reside here, for easy access.

Music is truth. It’s honest. It’s really the first social media, where in a way, people could share their souls directly. And isn’t that what the purpose of social media is and why it’s so popular - trying to share who you really are, as completely and directly as possible?

Finally, it has been (and will continue to be) a genuine pleasure sharing these different songs with you and I really appreciate all of your positive feedback!!

Musical Genres

how insensitive pic

How Insensitive

January 25, 2019

On this day, Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim was born in 1927!  "How Insensitive" is one of his more popular songs, having been covered by a large and diverse swath of people - from Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Krall to Liberace, The Monkees and William Shatner of Star Trek fame! Jobim is also known perhaps for his most popular song (and one of the most recorded songs in the world )- The Girl from Ipanema. Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever owned!!
Frank Sinatra with a hat

The Things We Did Last Summer

January 15, 2019

The Things We Did Last Summer On this day (January 15) in 1993, musician and songwriter Sammy Cahn passed away. Cahn wrote the song that I'm covering today - "The Things We Did Last Summer", which debuted in 1946. His songs won 4 Academy Awards including one for "Three Coins in a Fountain." This time I'm trying to let my "inner trumpet" out. I've always loved this melancholy and romantic song, and for me the classic version is sung by Sinatra. This was only one of many songs that Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote for Frank Sinatra. They were almost considered to be his personal songwriters - producing such songs as "All the Way", "Come Fly With Me",  "High Hopes", "Call Me Irresponsible", "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is...)" and "Love and Marriage." With composer Jule Styne he is remembered for hits such as "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow", "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry", and this song, "The Things We Did Last Summer".  He also wrote the lyrics to "Teach Me Tonight",  "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" and even "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" from the 1953 film classic Peter [...]
A word cloud of popular music genres such as rock, rap, jazz, etc.

Music in Western Civilization in 24 Seconds!

November 29, 2018

This short bass part (which in this instance you may recognize as the basis of Boogie Woogie) lasts only 24 seconds but is immediately recognizable to all of us. It contains the five main chord relationships upon which very much of all music in western civilization is based upon, from Gregorian chants to Rap. Chordal relationships (based on notes of the scale) are notated with Roman numerals I to VII. A  song with one chordal relationship pattern sounds the same in any  key (e.g., A or C.) in which it is played. The chordal relationship pattern for this ‘Boogie Woogie’ pattern is I-IV-V.  There is a turnaround at the end introducing VI and II. This is basically a combination of the two most common contemporary patterns: I-IV-V (Twist and Shout and Amazing Grace) and I-VI-II-V-I (Blue Moon and Heart and Soul.) Here are some other songs almost completely based on only these five chords and their relationships: Just about all Blues and New Orleans Jazz Imagine We Are The World Ebony and Ivory Homeward Bound Home on the Range Don’t Fence Me In Thunder Road All That Heaven Will Allow - Springsteen Have I Told You Lately That I Love [...]
jazz festival

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (Jazz Fest tribute)

April 28, 2017

This blog is a tribute to the New Orleans Jazz Fest that started today and runs this weekend and next weekend. First of all, I want to give a shout out to everyone having a great time down there! I sure wish I could have made it down this year. As jazz enthusiasts have been saying every year around this time: Next Year, in New Orleans! Playing a simple piano rendition of ‘Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans’ reminds me of so many good memories over the years. Here are a few. (Click on the photos for better detail.) You just can’t stop dancing from the moment you get to the fairgrounds around noon. Plenty of alligators and crawfish and colorful looking people. Plenty of fiddlin’ around. You basically can’t not dance to Springsteen swinging acoustic. I took this photo of the inside of a grocery store in one of the Parishes that was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. One of the most moving performances I’ve ever seen anywhere was Springsteen at the first JazzFest (2006) after Katrina (which was August 2005). The day was cloudy, but when he came on in the late afternoon, the […]

Scott Joplin Thanksgiving Blog Image

Maple Leaf Rag

December 12, 2016

Well, that came quick didn’t it?  Thanksgiving is already here (what happened to the rest of the year??) and we’re excited to wish our family of patients a Happy Turkey Day! Dr. Weiss wanted to share a quick song with you – a ragtime piece by Scott Joplin, also known as the Ragtime King whose birthday happens to be November 24 (or at least that’s what the tombstone says)!  Also in a fascinating turn of events, guess what the name of Joplin’s most influential teacher is?  Yep – Weiss! REALLY!! Yeah, we thought that was cool too! ? (Watch out for the faster, syncopated section starting at 1:25)