Monday, June 26, 2006

Summer Sax

Sidetracked:

Well I got sidetracked this weekend and got zero done on my mix of Kiyone's Mood . Instead I returned to working on a new piece for five Saxes and rhythm section, tentatively called Summer Sax.

I also spend time on entering Francesco Landini's (1325? - 97 Anno Domini) Ballata: Non avrà ma' pietà and Johannes Ockeghem's (ca. 1420 – 97 Anno Domini) Chanson: D'ung aultre amer mon cueur s'abesseroit into Sibelius for study. Next up I think will be Orlando di Lasso's (1532-94 Anno Domini) Motet: Cum essem parvulus (1579). So right now I am in a whole pre-baroque period mood. I suspect I will not get back to Kiyone's Mood until after the Fourth of July holiday.

Ursus Demens

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Cowards

America Family Voices

Who are you? And what do you believe in? I know what you do not believe in, I know who you are against, as you call and leave messages on my phone. But you are a coward. Only a coward will tell you what they are against, but do not have the spine to tell you what they are for, what they actually believe. Only a coward will not properly identify themselves, just your name, no contact information, no web site, nothing, just a anonymous generic name. What are you ashamed of? If you truly believed in your cause (what ever that might be since it goes unstated) you would be honest about who you are. But I doubt you have the testicles to stand up for your beliefs in the bright light of day. If you truly believe in something I will listen you, but I do not listen to cowards.

Ursus Demens

Work continues

Work continues on a recording of Kiyone's Mood . Progress has been good, but there is a lot of material to work on so we are looking at at least another week before I have anything presentable. I have been focusing on it exclusively so work on Kazekikeba and the Sax pieces have been shelved for now.

Ursus Demens

Friday, June 16, 2006

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Do composers really want help when they ask for it?

Symphony no. 1 in D Major fourth movement by Kelly Bennette

Kelly Bennette Said:
I have posted the unfinished fourth movement of my Symphony no. 1 in D Major. I would appreciate comments on this movement. Please don't say, "It ends abruptly" It does this cuz IT AIN'T FINISHED YET!
This movement is not the finale...the fifth is. ...
Symphony no. 1 in D Major fourth movement




Some quick observations (only a few listens of each movement)

Over all impression: not enough of the Zeitgeist.

The piece does not really work for me.

It has been come a cliché with me, but I will say it here again, I get the impression that you are thinking vertically too much and not thinking horizontally. That is you are overly concern with the vertical (Harmonic) aspects, does the note fit the current chord, instead letting each line, no matter how minor move in its own logical way.

As Cedric said the unrelenting two and four bar phrase becomes very predictable and tiresome. Also too polite, id est you have instrument A play a phrase then instrument B plays a phrase and then instrument C plays a phrase, each waits patiently for the other to finish before beginning, no one interrupts or talks over the other.

Your forward motion is always coming to a stop, through cadences (usually very obvious and cliché cadences) and the cessation of rhythmic activity and pulse, especially at transition of sections. Rarely (if ever) once section moves into a new section/idea without coming to a stop, like the whole orchestra needs to take a breath before starting something new.

1st Movement: The various sections do not make sense, just seem to be a random change of pace. The various sections and ideas seem to have no relationship with one another. You could cut each section out and play them in any random order without really affecting the impression and impact of the piece upon the listener. I suspect that there is too many ideas in this movement, so some serious pruning might be in order.

Last three and half pages seems more appropriate to the final of a Disneyland Stage production than the end of the first movement of a “symphony”.

2nd Movement:
Like the 4th movement I increase the speed. If I had to conduct the piece I would probably take the opening “Hymn” in a slow 2 (2/2 time). But on second hearing I'm not sure that would help or work. How familiar are you with church hymns? Most of the churches that I am familiar with plod through their hymns in a moderate to fast 4/4 like hammering nails into a two by four every quarter note. As an experiment take a hymn and conduct in in a slow 2/2 time, you might be surprise at the result.


3rd Movement: We here what five or six pages introduction, before we get to the actual material? Or so it seems.


4th Movement: I actually moved the tempo slider to the right to increase the speed by about 10 percent (maybe more), works a little better at a slightly faster tempo.

The various sections and the order in which they occur make a little better sense, but not a great deal.

A few questions that I do not need the answers to, but that I want you to think about and answer to yourself.
Have you given much thought about the length of each movement and how they balance and complement each other? If you had to identify the main motifs in each movement could you? And could you explain how they relate to each other?



Well these are just some very quick thoughts, and subject to revision. If you would like some detail comments, send me the Sibelius file to one of the movements and I will mark it up with comments.



NOTE: Almost two weeks now and no acknowledgement from the composer.


Ursus Demens

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

A simple model tune:

Well I have begun working on a recording of Kiyone's Mood . This will take some time, so probably nothing until next week in the way of a recording. Mean while I am am also working on a new piece for five Saxes and rhythm section and revising Kazekikeba.


From the Program notes:
Kiyone was not sure how long she had been walking when she found the bar. It must have been several hours, she calculated, the street lights having come on without her noticing. It was a dark night, a cloudless and moonless night, only the brightest of stars were visible through the city lights. Like a cheap detective novel, the night mirrored her mood. Only three of the tables in the place were colonized as Kiyone made her way to the end of the empty bar. Just the type of place she needed to drink the night away. Sitting down she gave the bartender a single command, "Scotch!"


Ursus Demens

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Dark Stairs

New MP3 file available

Dark Stairs in a Strange City ---

A musical Haiku in 12/8 time divided 3+2+2+3+2 instead of the traditional 3+3+3+3 division. For a quartet of Alto Flute, Guitar, Bass and Drums.

During the winter of 2004 – 2005 Anno Domini I wrote a musical Blog piece each week. This the Musical Blog piece from the Week of January 16, 2005 Anno Domini.

As I wrote then:
I have decided to try to do a musical Blog each week. That is each week I will try to write a short piece of music and post it for the world to see. These Blog pieces will be in addition to any other pieces that I am working on. They are an exercise in composition. Most will explore one or two compositional and or notational ideas.


Ursus Demens

Monday, June 05, 2006

Frustrations:

Well I continue with learning how to mix, but it is frustrating. Composing is so much easier. I set aside mixing Ultra Dry over the weekend to try to clear my thinking on it. So I worked on revising Kazekikeba (for Alto Flute, Alto, and Piano). Made a lot of headway on it, but still a long way to go to make it presentable. Meanwhile today I started mixing Dark Stairs in a Strange City ---. Right now my confidence in my ability to mix is at an all time low. I do know if any piece of mine will ever see the light a day again.

Ursus Demens