Soaring Music Publications

Dear Music Listener,

Where songs are concerned, if you are not a fan of well-written songs similar to the ones written during the Swing Era by such greats as the Gershwin brothers, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Lerner and Loewe, and on and on, then you can stop reading here.

Soaring Music Publications is guilty of not following "K.I.S.S." Our only excuse is that the downfall of America's song quality is not a simple issue, but rather a complex development that requires deep discussion in order to understand what happened.

I am a professional writer who has had lessons recently published on Study.com. There are 2 on music and 1 on Math. I was under contract with Study.com and paid a small amount for creating the lessons that they published. I had to resign due to a health issue. Once again, this is a long read, and if you are not interested, you ought to stop reading here.

However, somehow, you are reading this, and here we are before exclusively YOU!

We have a very tiny budget and can only promote this post at the minimum rate. If you feel some responsibility in the reality of that truth, we like it!

The SMP Holiday-Season Sale results could not have been worse. Zero email sign-ups, zero downloads, and zero physical CDs sold.

Since 2013, when SMP established an online presence, we have generated a trickling of income compared to significant expenses. SMP is currently quite in the red.

We need your support. Please purchase some of our products. Your doing so is a way for you to show that you care about today's songs not being as well-written as the ones from the swing era.

Music education is to blame. Being licensed to teach music in the public schools in 1977, I know what I'm talking about.

It is my identification that there is "Fine Art Music," and there is everything else, which I call "Functional Music." I'm the one who started talking about functional music.

Functional music is what the younger generations have consumed, and each generation has had its own genre. From Presley, to the Beatles, to disco, to hip-hop, to punk, to on and on with all kinds of genres and artists not even mentioned. Still, historians who track humanity's greatest achievements in music care nothing for functional music.

Historians are interested in humanity's great composers. Today, John Williams will be remembered for his compositions and achievements in the fine art of music. There is not even one personality in functional music that has achieved anything close to what John Williams has achieved.

Others of today, similar to Williams, who are not so well known, will also receive mention by the historians of the Fine Art of Music because they, like Williams, produced achievements using the symphony orchestra.

Like it or not, the symphony orchestra sits at the top of the pyramid of the fine art of music, and just below the symphony orchestra sits the jazz big band and various jazz combos that staff master musicians for their personnel.

Classical and Jazz are the styles that reflect "serious" music. The remainder of musical styles are not of interest to the historians who chronicle society's music greats.

Yes, it's Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and guess who - Gershwin, that make up only some of the group considered music's great composers. These music greats are what the fine art of music looks like, and these greats are still being performed today.

Gershwin is of particular interest because not only was he a fine art music composer, but the songs from his musicals were being danced to by the high-schoolers of his time. Today, we are beginning to realize that the songs from the Swing Era composers, such as Gershwin, are to be included in the fine art of music.

The Swing Era songs were the peak of humankind's ability to join words with music in an effective way. The proof is that the Swing Era songs are not dying, but rather are still being recorded today. The reason for the longevity of Swing Era songs is, as BMI-awarded songwriter Charles Nathan (my father) used to say, "great writing stands the test of time." Charles greatly admired the Swing Era songwriters listed above.

SMP is dedicated to the life's work of Charles, which includes 3 produced musicals after the year 2000, words and/or music to over 100 standard-type songs, and more.

SMP hopes you will join in our mission to realize a future where Charles's musicals are being produced onstage and on film. SMP also foresees a future where prominent artists and labels will record new Swing and Jazz-Pop renditions of Charles's songs. The realization of our mission will strengthen America's unique art form, Jazz.

Today, Soaring is in search of a partner who can fund production in trade for a percentage of our copyright, which currently, through BMI and ASCAP, pays a very small royalty. While I wouldn't wish a career in music on anyone who isn't already independently wealthy, the other side of the coin is that royalties for music are passive income with no overhead, and they last forever.

The SMP website banner has now been added to the Holiday-Season Sale page, along with an announcement that our sale has been extended indefinitely.

If you are interested in joining me in my mission to strengthen the consumption of well-written songs in these modern times, please get in touch using the "Contact" link under the SMP website banner.

Another way for you to show your support of our mission to increase the consumption of music that qualifies as fine art music is to purchase our products or make a donation. The donation link is also under the newly-added SMP website banner at the top of the sale page.

I used to sell pianos and keyboards. In the mid-80's I was a salesman, assistant manager, and store manager for the Steinway-affiliated piano and organ company Sherman Clay. In 1987, in the face of being transferred to the S&C store in Monterey, CA, I came home to Eugene, Oregon, with hopes of continuing my double-bass career with the Eugene Symphony. My first year home, I won back a spot with the Eugene Symphony (I was with them from 1975 to 1977), and I have been with them ever since.

I tell you this to share with you my disdain for electronic keyboards, which I sold for 2 1/2 years. The growth of keyboard consumption over the acoustic piano is another development in our society that has been falsely processed, similar to how songwriting over the last 70 years has gone downhill.

Nothing can replace the sound of a good acoustic piano. Even a poor acoustic piano has a charm that can not be duplicated. I cite Art Tatum's album "God is in the House" as support for what I'm saying.

Music is "a language of the emotions" (my concept), and recorded music is about capturing what is being said emotionally and is not as much about the instrument or even the performance being perfect. Although performance perfection can overcome instrumental deficiencies (as in the Tatum album referenced above), it doesn't work the other way around.

Another interesting observation is that listeners of Jazz want to see how the improviser handles an occasional mistake. However, those performing the written work of a great composer are allowed a smaller margin for performance errors, where one wrong note might result in an unacceptable performance.

SMP's 2024 solo-piano production of the album, "In the Autumn Years," can only be a work of fine art. The surprise is that the album was produced in 2024, and most of the melodies were written in the 50s. The reason is, as Charles said, "great writing stands the test of time." Please support this effort.

SMP is counting on you to show your support for growing the consumption of the unknown great writing that is part of SMP's resource. Together we can do the world of music some great good.

It is a happy report for me to share with you that SMP DID follow the principles of K.I.S.S. for our donation page. Since the SMP banner is now at the top of the extended Holiday-Season Sale page, where we want you to land, you can now get to the donation page from the sale page to confirm this truth by clicking on the following URL:

https://soaringmusicpublications.com/holiday-2025-cd-download-itay

Soaring Music Publications - Holiday 2025 CD/download - ITAY Soaring Music Publications music. In the Autumn Years (Digital Download), In the Autumn Years

I recently realized that Charles Nathan, who wrote the words and music to about 100 songs that could be considered "standards," is perhaps one of the last accomplished songwriters from American music's Swing Era.

Charles wrote the melody of "Say You're Mine Again," one of vocalist Perry Como's greatest hits. In 1953, BMI recognized Charles's work on "Say You're Mine Again" by issuing him a "Certificate of Achievement" for the "great national popularity" attained by "Say You're Mine Again."

If you listen to the 14 melodies he wrote for the solo-piano album "In the Autumn Years" (most of them from the 50s, which makes sense for wrapping up the Swing Era), you can hear how strong Charles's melodies are. Many of Charles's song melodies are suitable for jazz improvisation or for appearances in movies, because the melodies are so well-written

Think about it, one of the last American songwriters focused on bringing forward song melodies with substance, and today, such songwriters are all gone.

If you are a fan of music with a focus on melody, treat yourself and give SMP's "ITAY" solo piano album a listen.

Although "What Happened to the World," track number "10" on the "ITAY" album,

https://soaringmusicpublications.com/holiday-2025-cd-download-itay,

is about a romantic relationship and not the world of music, still, when Swing-Era melodies are compared with today's melodies, one might wonder what happened to the world? 🙂

Soaring Music Publications - Holiday 2025 CD/download - ITAY Soaring Music Publications music. In the Autumn Years (Digital Download), In the Autumn Years

We are in the process of spreading this around:

For the email campaign, the subject reads, "4 a surprising music listen."

On the second landing page, there is an audio snippet for you to hear.

https://244640187.hs-sites-na2.com/4-a-surprising-music-listen

Please check this out.

4 a surprising music-listen Respected music reviewers have associated Nathan's solo piano playing with Waller, Tatum, Ellington, and some hear the influence of Peterson.

Happy Thanksgiving week, Facebook Users.

The previously mentioned exclusive letter went out this morning. If you didn't get it, use the link in my previous FB post here, and I will send it to you.

The one link in the exclusive letter is the following URL:

https://soaringmusicpublications.com/holiday-2025-cd-download-itay

When you arrive at the page linked above, you will be able to see our TG week sale details.

Here's to being thankful that our lives are as good as they are. Despite our many challenges, I'm feeling very blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving week, Everyone

Soaring Music Publications - Holiday 2025 CD/download - ITAY Holiday 2025 CD/download - ITAY. Soaring Music Publications, a label from Springfield, Oregon