Swallow My Eggnog

30-track CD released by Los Angeles radio station KROQ in 2001.
Customer Review: Put down that bong and cell phone for just a minute and try to be a good person this holiday season and all year long.
Almost every year, Los Angeles radio station KROQ releases a Christmas album, "hosted" by their morning DJs, Kevin and Bean. It features songs and comedy skits and Christmas greetings by celebrities. Some of the songs, by well known performers, are original to this CD. The songs are mostly good and the comedy bits are mostly funny. Here is the complete track listing: 1. Swallow My Eggnog 2. Ex-Miss - New Found Glory 3. Someday at Christmas - Remy Zero 4. Seth Green's holiday message 5. Clint Frostwood - Chillaz 6. Cookin' with Walken 7. Get Your Dreidel on - Pudie Tadow 8. Christmas in Cali - P.O.D. 9. Steve Erwin's Crocodile Christmas 10. Harry Blotter & the Sorcerer's Bone 11. Last Christmas - Jimmy Eat World 12. The Night Before Christmas - Cypress Hill 13. Silent Bob's Christmas Memory 14. Little Girls and Hobos - The Naked Trucker & T-Bones Show 15. Unwritten Christmas - Unwritten Law Featuring Sum 41 16. Christmastime is Here - Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine 17. A Very Jackass Christmas - Johnny Knoxville 18. Happy Holidays, You Bastard - Blink 182 19. Dave Gahan's Christmas Message 20. Westside - Dr. Dyke & The Cinnamon Cowboys 21. Don Quixote's Christmas Bonanza - Gorillaz 22. Under the Mistle-Toke with Mole 23. A Family Guy Christmas 24. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Coldplay 25. Things I Want - Sum 41 vs. Tenacious D 26. Jackie Chan's Christmas Message 27. Santa Bob 28. Afroman's Christmas Joint 29. Always - Weezer 30. Rock 'n Pot Christmas - Armenian Comedian

Ah, broken chords. The sound. The cascading pattern of chordal notes. It's beautiful. There's no doubt about it. And this technique is one of the easiest to learn. After all, all you need to do to create it is have a chord under your fingers and be able to "break it up."

What do I mean by break it up? You've probably heard of solid chords. This is when all tones are heard at once. For example, if I finger a C Major triad and play all three keys at once, I'm playing a solid chord. But, if I break this chord up into it's 3 notes and play them one at a time you get a broken chord.

Broken chords are used frequently in New Age piano music. There's something about playing notes of a chord in broken style that's very appealing. Maybe it's because it makes the piano sound fuller. Or it could be that it just sounds lovely.

Now, let's take a look at how we can easily create it.

In the lesson "Reflections in Water," we have 4 open position chords. These chords are ideal for "breaking up" because they are so wide-spaced. Over two octaves of notes lay under your finger tips. Once we finger this chord position we are able to play the broken-chord style. How? By simply letting your fingers play around with the note possibilities! And there are many of them.

When you listen to me play this piece, you'll notice that it's nothing to write home about. That is, I'm not after a "sophisticated" sound here. I'm just gently playing around with the notes and using the element of time to create a calm ambiance. And it works! The notes float out into the air and music is created. Not by planning or trying to come up with material but by following a few simple guidelines and letting go of the need to control the outcome.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com now and get a FREE piano lesson!

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