Day 24 – Rewatch the Livestream
Our cheeks still hurt from all the smiling yesterday! Thank you for making the livestream so incredibly fun for us, we enjoyed it so much and could hardly sleep after.
For all those who couldn’t join in live yesterday you can re-watch it here! We had to cut out a segment during which we watched a Monty Python video because YouTube gave us a copyright claim but other than that it’s all here. 🙂
We LOVED the video surprise at the end and were really touched seeing you all! Unfortunately, two videos accidentally didn’t make it into the final cut so we want to give a special shout-out to John & Maria Archer and Frank DeGiacomo for sending in videos too! (Click their names to see their clips – we loved them!) Also, there were a few donations we didn’t say thank you for (we left out the recurring ones by mistake) but we promise to send emails to all December donors in the week after Christmas.
It warms our heart to see this wonderful and kind-hearted community here come together at Christmas and we couldn’t thank you more for all the grooviness you bring to this Club.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of our lives. We never felt that more than yesterday.
Stay groovy,
Mona & Lisa
PS: No video tomorrow but we will still post a little something in the morning and then we’ll go back to our regular schedule of posting every Friday.
I joined the club after Christmas, so didn’t get to see the live stream “live”. You said you weren’t satisfied with it, but Alone is a GREAT song. You may have written it in a time of teenaged angst, but the lyrics still fit today. I think many people feel alone and isolated, not knowing how to make connections. I also thought the arrangement was very nice.
Really enjoyed this. Will have to make sure I catch it live next year!
Oh and BTW, “Alone” is beautiful!
I enjoyed your livestream very much. I hope you will consider one in the summer too. I was excited to win one of the drawings, I treasure anything personalized by either of you.Happy NewYear💛❤️
I finally got to watch your amazing Live Stream! Very nice!! 💛❤
I wanted so much to participate, but just was not able to because of family coming to visit. Well, family does come first. 🙂
I really enjoyed the Live Stream. I enjoyed watching your interactions with the participants and the songs you played. I would love to see a duo session of “Alone.” It’s a beautiful song! I can’t believe you wrote it when you were only twelve. Wow. I loved seeing the club members! Rick, Jacki, John, Bill with his beautiful granddaughter and everyone else. I missed a great time with you and all of the MLT Club members. Thank you for making it available for us “Late Comers!”
I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and will be blessed beyond your imaginations in the coming New Year 2023!! Much Love,
Jerry
Wonderful live stream. I am a relative new comer here but cant fail to be impressed. I love music of all sorts but know absolute nothing about, how its formed chord progression or anything and certainly not how to play it. I would struggle to tap along in time. When I see the twins pick up their guitars and start to sing and make music its like a magic trick that fill me with marvel and awe! Simply because it is so far out of my comfort zone I find it amazing that someone else can do this. I can do public speaking, not a problem, but to pick up a guitar and play when everyone is scrutinising every note and nuance just seems incredible to me. Of course the twins are professionals but nevertheless it still seems awesome to me just to be able to do this. And many “musicians” these days seem completely unable to perform in this way. Bravo!
Thanks again for a great year, your music makes me always happy.
By the way, i almost look the same as my profile picture 🙂 I do think if you see me in real life you recognize me 🙂
Thanks again for a fabulous 2022 Advent Calendar Livestream. The camaraderie, laughter and music made my day. My favorite music moments were hearing you playing Alone and Blackbird the experience you’ve gained over the years.
I regret missing the window on getting my video greeting in to Michaela. As a very smart person one said “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I need to take that into consideration more in the future.
Here’s hoping you and the entire Club had a very restful and wonderful Christmastime and wishing you all a very happy 2023.
This was so good I had to watch it again. So much fun.
It was the BEST in my opinion Livestream to date ….. Enjoyed chatting with members, watching/listening to you …. The Hightlight …. The Look Of Your Faces when Surprise Video Msgs Revealed at the end… Priceless…. It All Was Worth it , Thankyou Team MLT, A Gift Given, Reciprocated, Cherished ….🎄🤘👱♀️👩🦰🕊💜☮️
I missed the Livestream, but got to see the rerun. That was a wonderful performance! The song “Alone” brought a tear to my eye! I enjoy listening to you both chat as much as I do listening to you sing. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all the MLT family!
In recent high-level discussions with Jung Roe on the MLT Club about the condition or even death of melody in post-1960s pop music, there’s definitely a lot to be learned from Jung’s insight into melody as the key area of songwriting. He sent me a YouTube video that I hadn’t studied yet where McCartney notices the same thing I noticed about music that it’s mathematical, among its other qualities. McCartney places emphasis on the mathematical aspect.
We’re all trying to zero-in on what music is from every conceivable angle, in order to troubleshoot what we sense might indicate where pop music songwriting got off-track.
In the video Jung pointed me to, he set it to start right where McCartney says this. In my opinion, McCartney is generous how he explains songwriting as a sophisticated and complex human activity. People ask McCartney this question frequently, and this fellow in the video let’s Paul talk. My thought is that if you catch a bit here and there over time of what Paul said on the songwriting subject I suspect it’s possible to eventually isolate a working technique. My question then becomes how do I figure out the middle eight where the single melody line or phrase goes? McCartney tries to show us in that video. Paul draws from some of the most mundane of everyday things you wouldn’t normally associate together because they are mathematical, that sort of jump out when you experiment with the different “permutations” is how McCartney describes it.
Without coming out and saying it, McCartney is also emphasizing that you have to have your sketches of the notes super organized and working together in order to be able to lean into it in a recording studio.
Let’s put more of this subject together. I then picked up a clue that George Martin characterizes in this video concerning how Wilson came up with God Only Knows. Martin asks Wilson point-blank how he arrived at the structure of God Only Knows, and Brian wants to articulate how but becomes almost speechless in doing so. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8iNuxRpi8I&t=1m53s Listen to what George Martin says “What Brian had done was to come up with a beautiful song full of unusual changes, and then devised a tapestry of sounds around it that enhanced it”. In that same interview, George asks Brian if he has a blueprint before he goes into the studio, and like Paul, Brian says he does but he doesn’t know exactly beforehand how it’s going to sound, but he’ll know it when he hears it go together in the studio where he has to direct the instrument combinations he’s hearing as they’re being stitched together. That jumped out at me. McCartney and Wilson are saying essentially the same thing. They don’t walk into the studio unprepared. They know or at least sense what they’re looking for as in, they have their architectural frame of a song in concrete before adding all the other sounds to it. My conclusion is the “beautiful song” is the melody line, typically the middle eight, set into concrete in-between the Intro and Outro before even walking into the studio, and then, the “unusual changes” are chord progressions, key changes, and unexpected resolution to the “problem” so to speak that the dissonance in these “unusual” changes creates. The melody line resolves the unusual changes. The notes can properly “speak” a problem and a resolution to the listening audience. The lyrics are of lesser importance. It’s the notes speaking in a metaphor or substitution for the words that are later force-fit to the overall musical arrangement settled on beforehand.
The question to myself after putting Brian’s and Paul’s songwriting engineering into an actual artform — even masterpiece — was what is the most “unusual change” simplest musical example I can think of, and that is answered in an analysis of the Hendrix tune, I Don’t Live Today, where — totally unexpectedly — Jimi dubs-in a second lead guitar to play a second lead guitar refrain ending on the unexpected note of an open G and about a 1-second sustain of that note before giving it the tremolo whammy is totally unexpected and on another level of existence. To re-cap this, the listening audience hears a lead guitar, an unusual change then occurs with a refrain that bounces between 2 lead guitars that add an open G into a tremolo open G sound that takes the listener onto yet another level. That’s a lot going on and Hendrix makes it work. Here’s the example of the actual lead guitar part of the Hendrix song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRmzm4dVTbc&t=1m40s
Hendrix’s 1966 technique for the lead guitar refrain heard in the song, I Don’t Live Today is not dissimilar to McCartney and Harrison’s 1965 work as 1st and 2nd lead guitars on the song And Your Bird Can Sing where the audience unexpectedly hears 2 lead guitars dueling at the same time, probably recorded live in the studio.
Musical things can go together in ever-new ways using cleverness on the same musical instruments played over a thousand years ago. It’s the power of a melody line doing it that makes it great.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for those comments. I have known numerous people who have played instruments, over the years, who utterly disliked and shied away from music theory.
While in college, I took two courses in music theory and I loved it, while other students found it boring. I had a really cool professor who spent a lot of time talking about the genius of Paul McCartney and explaining some of his songs. Take care,
Bobby
It’s amazing how many people think figuring out a songwriting melody technique is a boring endeavor, even if doing so just happens to land you half a BILLION dollars and an international legacy literally lasting centuries…. LOL.
People can seem to be back to front these days but if it’s good, it’s good, and it will endure.
After all, McCartney had it down to a science enough to just walk into work early one morning at Twickenham and figure out the #1 US and #1 UK charts single Get Back before John and George showed up to have it at the 80% solution before going home for that day. In 3 months, off of that song alone, they were multi-millionaires.
Thanks, Bobby and a Merrrrry Christmas to you!
Mike
Hi Michael, thanks for that write up and insight and the videos with Brian Wilson, and Jimi Hendricks. It is always so endlessly fascinating to see how our music heroes were inspired and see them do what they do. Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson the genius inspired song writers they were had no music theory training and yet they created some of the greatest pieces of music in history. I think their genius was in their musical intuition, knowing how to craft melody intuitively into something that evokes amazing emotions that move people and stay in their head a long time. Music theory allows us to see the mechanics around what they did and gives us a deep appreciation not only by feel, but by fact and knowledge what they achieved. Have you seen Howard Goodall’s documentary about the Beatles? It’s fascinating.
Thanks, Jung. You’re welcome and I was showing some extra appreciation to you for sending me that McCartney link. It was ideal material to write about. I’ve seen some of the segments from that movie, but not that one. On the other hand, I have seen the Goodall documentary and it’s exemplary.
I remember watching early Beatles interviews where they’re getting a kick out of some of the music theory attempts to explain their music, so it’s interesting and you’ll notice, Goodall does his short introduction to the documentary noting their unusual approach to songwriting and lack of formal training, and ending it with the question “How did they do it?” That’s what McCartney is saying in so many words in a different way what Goodall describes as finding better resolution between chords, key changes, and so forth. Even though McCartney didn’t sit through an academic program, he figured out the same discipline on his own.
McCartney is self-disciplined just like Brian is.
Self discipline is one explanation for this phenomenon. Melody isn’t automatic. I’m glad some people find the theory pleasing and it’s not for everybody, but it sure adds life.
It looks like another thing Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson had in common was their admiration and resonance with Bach.
I can feel some Bach in the guitar piece Lisa played on Black Bird.
Have you heard Bach in the USSR?
LOL.
There’s an emotion involved in learning music theory in my case. I sure do live for these semi-academic or the hobbyist level music theory conversations because it’s like food. George Martin has a term for this I’ve never heard before (but I’ll adopt it) of “Musical Detective”. That’s exactly what George Martin is doing sitting down with Brian Wilson to learn from a creator of original music. Notice Martin’s very first question to Brian out of the box:
George’s question to Brian hits home. This is something Wilson appreciates as a person someone he admires asking him that question. George doesn’t ask Brian about tempo, overtone, chord progression, genre, rhythm, or any other component of music you can picture. He gets right to the point George asks Brian about melody.
To be fair…. Math and I never/still don’t get along…I struggled & had a learning disability not identified back then but now it probably can be…. thus my inability to read/understand music theory, read music notes, etc…I’m more of a visual learner , sense things and rhythmic …and poetical …. so , I’d be better off to playing out a rhythmic in my head on percussion or whatever , earwise and write lyrics as opposed to figuring out notes, etc.. basically better off playing by ear , have no clue what key I sing in but can sing somewhat …
Hi Jacki, the music is most importantly meant to be felt, so that is what matters the most whether you understand the math or theory around it or not.
Thank you for doing this for your fans. Merry Christmas, you are both amazing.
Weihnachtliches Brot für Alle.
Das sieht lecker aus!
Michael, das sieht lecker aus
…und wenn das 5te Kerzlein brennt hast Du Weihnachten verpennt.
Es ist wirklich besser zu geben. Stellen Sie sich vor, es gibt weder Geld noch Brot, sondern nur mach shau, mach shau.
Hey Michael, love your dogs! They are adorable.
Vielen Danke, Jung.
They are champion bloodline border collies. Tiger Walker (on the left with tongue hanging out) is daddy’s girl. LOL!
I have to echo the sentiments expressed by many so far about the re-release of “Alone” as a Duo Sessions track. I akways get chills from it, but never more than yesterday.
There simply aren’t enough words to convey my feelings from the feed yesterday. I laughed, and cried all at the same time so often I lost track. I would say the word “magic” is the closest I can come up with.
I shared “Count On Me” with a friend who recently suffered a tragic loss in her life and since we are quite a distance apart I had no other means of comfort for her. She loved it and told me how much it meant for her to hear it. So thanks for that too, you both have so much influence that I’m sure you don’t realize.
Love, thoughts, hopes and prayers to you all Mona, Lisa, Rudi and Michaela for what you do
Daryl “Sensei” Jones
Daryl, count on me is a poem to friendship and indeed they do magic in their songs and best of all is when they share it with us
They say 3 is a charm….this is the 3rd attempt to leave a comment…it has disappeared twice already while actually making the comment….I really enjoyed the livestream and I want to plead with you…please please please record ALONE for your next Duo Session album…it is such a fantastic song…it’s hard to believe a song with that depth was written by 12-13 yr old kids …I mean there was a real thought process put into it……..so I’m reaching out to all the MLT Club members to speak up if you also think that ALONE is something special….as always I love what you do and Thank You for doing it❤️🧡
I join your request for alone to be included in his next duo session album
The livestream was great – Blackbird was a special treat!
I hope you enjoyed your Christmas today – Merry Christmas everyone!
Merry Christmas to both of you and all the MLT club members
Good afternoon everybody.
Yesterday was great, I loved the interpretations especially “alone” (I’m not very expressive but I almost cried with emotion).
Mona, Lisa, Michaela and Rudy I thank you for sharing your time with all of us and making this the happiest season of the year.
I wish you happy holidays and that the next year will be successful for you and all the members of the club.
ALONE needs to be on their next Duo Session album…it really is a beautiful song.
totally agree with you
I’m with you both on Alone. A beautiful, touching song. It was my favorite from their concert CD when I thought it was a 60s hit I’d somehow missed. Absolutely floored when I learned it was an original.
I also thought the same thing and what a surprise, they wrote it and they were only 13 years old!!
Merry Christmas to Mona, Lisa, Papa Rudi, Michaela, and all the MLT Club members. Michaela did a wonderful job in planning your Christmas surprise and Papa Rudi’s smooth editing process was outstanding.
Thank you very much for performing “I Will”, one of my all time Beatles favorites and for playing “In It For Love”, which, in many ways, is your signature song.
Now it is time for Team MLT to take a well-deserved holiday break. Thank you again for a fantastic 2022.
Thank You So Very Much for the fabulous livestream yesterday.
I tried, but could not type in anything to comment on. I dunno, the site would not allow me to do it.
I did enjoy the session so much that I just rewatched it.
Happy Christmas to all.
Love & Peace,
Bobby S.
Really felt the live stream was a sweet special event and we all become one in a way that I haven’t experienced before in a very moving way . In a world that can be so hard for so many it felt nice to see so many here come together and seeing the faces to some of the names of the club members was the real icing on this Xmas cake of a live stream
Thank you! The livestream was so much fun. Merry Christmas you both, and Michaela and Rudi as well.
THANK YOU- for reviving 60’s guitar music, your fantastic three original CDs, your duo sessions, etc. Since discovering you on YouTube, you have given me so much pleasure and joy, through your talent, music and lovely personalities. As a big band singer myself, people think that I only listen to Jazz Swing- but I enjoy many diverse genres, with your music at the top of my list- I particularly love acoustic guitar music and tight vocal harmonies- Oh!!! I’ve just described the monalisa twins👍😊🎸 THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Merry Christmas xx
PS- if you ever do any small gigs in Liverpool I’d love to drive down the road and see you live😊
Merry Christmas to Mona and Lisa, Rudi and Michaela!!
The Christmas live stream is the best present ever! To be able to spend a couple of hours listening to Mona & Lisa sing and have a group chat with the MLT Club is priceless. Thank you for spending time with us!!! We LOVE the MonaLisa Twins!!!!!
Mach shau, mach show. I just had to watch the MLT presentation again — it was that good. Mona, Lisa, and everyone else it gives me Woolgoose bumps every time watching this show. LOL.
https://www.noradsanta.org/en/map
I was sad that I couldn’t watch the livestream, but this was almost as good! Loved all the songs! You don’t think you’ll make Alone as a duo session, but I think you should! I am in awe of your tallent and hard work! Love you (and Papa and Micheala) so much!
ALONE should be on their next Duo Session album…it is a beautiful song ,
From the bottom of my heart thank you for being part of my life! I’m sure that is the sentiment of all the club members.
The happiness you created with your personalities and smiling faces were priceless gifts. Thank you for giving so much joy back in this crazy times we are in. It was much needed and appreciated.
You make a difference in in so many peoples lives. So I say once again- Thank you for the smiles!!!
All the best, always. 🙂
The MLT Advent calendar has really reinvigorated my Christmas spirit.
For decades, the month of December for me has been all about the chore of coming up with new gift ideas for the same old people, and pretending that there are things that I’d like them to give me.
But now it’s about pleasant conversations and the sharing of ideas with friendly folks that I’d like to learn more about, with Mona, Lisa, Michaela, and Rudi furnishing the architecture, the joyful ambiance, and the genuine good will to make it all a reality.
The live stream is every bit as satisfying as Christmas dinner with the family. The music takes the place of the food, and it’s a multi-course meal.
Happy holidays to everyone!
Hello Ladies,
What a very special Livestream. The Highlight of the Christmas Season and something I look forward to with great anticipation all year.
Thank us?! No Ladies, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You make this world and Music a better place by being in it and the Beautiful music you write and cover.
The MLT Club would not exist without you!.
Have a Joyous and Prosperous Christmas and New Year.
All the Best to Team MLT
Rick Ross.
I hope Little Christmas Parcel arrived in time.
With so much emotion I couldn’t sleep either, thanks to you for making this possible.
Greetings to all the members of the Club, last night I was able to get to know them a bit, they are very nice people.
What a way to end a great Twins’ Advent Calendar!!! You had to have spent a great deal of time on everything and still somehow prepared for yesterday’s live session, which was super.
The post office preview shows I should get your Christmas card today if all goes well.
A very merry Christmas to the Wagner family, and to all the MLT Club members!
Thank you for the best Christmas party ever – it has become the most anticipated Christmas event of the year around here! It isn’t just the beautiful live performances you give us that makes it so special, it is also the feelings of peace, harmony, goodwill, and love that flow through us as a community when we spend this time together – even though we are spread all over the world! It leaves us with the Christmas hope that perhaps all could be right with the world. Ending this year’s livestream with “In it for Love” summed the whole experience up perfectly for me. Best wishes for a merry, and restful, Christmas!
Wonderful spending live time with you all last night. A highlight for me was the song Alone which I had not heard before and thought was lovely. Worth re-doing for a future project. Merry Christmas to you all!
“Alone” brought tears to my eyes. Such a great song, and the fact that it was written by two 12 year old tweens is just amazing. I’m hoping it is picked for a Duo Session.
ALONE needs to be on their next Duo Session album…it is such a beautiful and thought provoking song…and they were only 12-13 yr old when they wrote it.
Mona, Lisa thanks for a great Advent Calendar time, loved your comment on all videos and really enjoyed the live stream. All members which send a video, or put one in the comments, thank you; I have seen a lot of new thinks. To all Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023.
Loved the peformances of All I want christmas to be and Anyother day
I loved hearing “Any Other Day”, wow such absolute beauty you created in a song, and to be one of the very first ears to listen to your live performance of it was truly special. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
For maybe the first time I have to disagree with you Lisa, your “Alone” is an amazing song! 👍 😊 When you both started harmonizing it just raises goose bumps in me that only truly amazing songs can! The song is so tender and full of emotions, such beautiful melody and moving lyrics. It looks like you swapped guitar roles here compared to when you played it in 2007 with Lisa on the lead guitar and Mona doing the rhythm this time. Awesome guitar sounds back then and now. Loved witnessing your 2022 version, magnificent!
So much beautiful music, and that surprise video, the livestream was such a joy, thanks so much! Your Advent makes my Christmas every year! 🎈 💛 ❤
ALONE needs to be on their next Duo Session album…it is so beautiful and thought provoking it’s hard to imagine they were only 12-13 yr old when they wrote it.
Great spending time today with you ladies. I’m still kinda new to the MLT Universe, and signed up to the club mainly for the Livestream, but got a feelin gonna be stickin around for awhile. Take care of those voices!
A lot of effort went into every detail of this show. I recognize and very much appreciate this.
This MLT Advent Calendar livestream show was what it was like back then when I was young. Thank you team MLT.
Mike
So disappointed that I missed the live feed. It was great to place a lot of faces to the names. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the whole program but had to keep repeating ANY OTHER DAY (my favorite part)