Shinny Objects

Where to start? Just write!

Currently On SibeliusMusic Chat there is a discussion going on about writer's block and how to over come it, or at least deal with it.

For me, however, writer's block is the least of my worries, my problem is “writer's overload”. That is I have so many ideas and project going on that I do not know where to start. I am simply overwhelmed by it all sometimes that nothing gets done. I am not good at prioritizing what needs to be done first. And I have a bad habit of jumping from one project to another before the first is done. My fried Todd says I am easily distracted by shinny objects.

Shinny Objects ...

Ursus Demens

Prelude to a Morning Prayer

I have upload a preliminary raw mix of the prelude to Morning prayer. Prelude to a Morning Prayer. It has been called austere.

Ursus Demens

Prelude to a Morning Prayer

Work on “Morning Prayer” has been pretty slow for the last six to eight weeks and while I have little to no notes down on paper in that time, I have been devoting my time thinking about the structure and overall form of the piece. As it stood last week the piece is in five sections and each section is about six minutes long. I have not been and I am still not happy with the fourth section/movement. I have been working out in my head how to rework the fourth movement, or if I would need to rewrite it from scratch. While I have yet to figure out what to do with it I have been considering adding one or more movements to the piece. Specifically a new movement before the current fourth movement or one right after it. But I was (am) unsure what “form” the new movement should take, I was leaning towards a more electronic, synthesize ambient idea, but I have serious doubts about how that “style” would fit with the overall piece. I have come to realize that just adding another movement would not solve the inherent weakness of the material in the fourth movement.

While I have not ruled out adding additional movements on either side of the fourth movement (and I think that the overall structure/form calls for another movement after the fourth movement, or at least a substantial transition to the last movement) the only way I am going to “fix” the current fourth movement is to get my “hands dirty” and start tearing through its guts.

In the middle of all this thinking and pondering last Sunday while I was waiting for my wife at the temple (Buddhist) I was struck with an idea for another movement and I began sketching it out there in the “Harmony room” (cafeteria). This new “movement” has turned out to be a short two minute section that fits well with the rest of the piece. While conceived while I was thinking through the idea of adding a movement before or after the fourth movement, this new movement is not it. Instead this new section will serve as an extend intro or prelude to the entire piece. Unlike the following movements that make use of a far number of instruments and players this “intro” only uses the Soprano Sax soloist, the string bass, and some miscellaneous percussion (Rain Stick, Two Gongs, and a Mark tree).

Ursus Demens

How Much Detail?

In a previous post I talked about how in Writing Down The Bones (WDTB) Ms. G. says to provided details in your writing, do not write “there was a flower in the window”. Instead write; “There was a fresh rose in the bay window with a wee bit of morning dew still on it”. The first gives you a fact, the second paints a picture and possibly invokes a memory or emotion. In my previous post I suggested that this too applies to us as composers. That we need to supply more than just the notes, instruments and a simple metronome marking.

But what is detail in music? (Or at least how i am using it here.) In my previous post I only game one short example. I think for our discussion composing details include such things as dynamic markings (more than just one at the beginning of the piece) and changes in dynamics. Tempo and mood indications, phrase markings, bowing and breath markings. What else?

What I am not including are the actual notes themselves, meter, basic tempo indications, and instrumentation. ...

Ursus Demens

be specific

In Writing Down the Bones Natalie Goldberg in one of the chapters talks about being specific.

Don't say “fruit”. Tell what kind of
fruit ..

So it is with music, do not say “fast”, be specific, “fast, with anger” or “fast and jolly”. Too many times on SibeliusMusic I see scores where the composer has written in the program notes something like: I have not include any dynamic markings, preferring to leave it to the performer's interpretation.

"This is a romantic concert piece - I have left out expression marks - it's open for interpretation."
(actual quote from a piece on SibeliusMusic.)

Sorry. This does not work for me. Is the composer that unconcern with his piece? Why not also leave the choice of notes to the performer? Is the composer lazy? Or... .

Ursus Demens

More Reading.

I picked up Emblems of Mind: The Inner Life of Music and Mathematics at the library last night. Any one familiar with it? Any thoughts about it? I have so far read the introduction and have started on the first chapter, so far not much to report.

Ursus Demens

Reading list

Last week I picked up a book that was recommend to me several years ago on the art of writing: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. While the book was written for writers (essays , novels, poetry, et cetera) I find that some of her ideas also work with writing/composing music. I hope to share some of these insights in the coming days and months.

The first idea is "practice every day". Ms. Goldberg writes that a writer needs to write everyday. That it does not matter if what you write, just that you need to write to practice writing just like a baseball team practices, so it is with composing music. As musicians the need to practice our instrument everyday is ingrained into us very early in our studies, but as composers I get the impression that we do not write, or shall we say practice composing everyday, yet I think maybe we should be.

Everyday day we should be working on our craft of composition, practicing our craft. Not that I do, but it is the goal that I am going to set for myself.


Ursus Demens

tag: Music Composition Practice

Today's Listening

stan kenton plays bob graettinger

city of glass

New Recording

The Heat Death of the Universe

The second law of thermodynamics in action. The Heat Death of the Universe.

This piece was concieved as as a companion piece to "the darkness between the stars." But I will let you decide how well they go together.

A new MP3 file of the piece was uploaded 2007/06/05. The piece is played by a Bass Clarinet (not a ContraBass) and is processed through a tape delay/echo for the final recording.

"The 'heat-death' of the universe is when the universe has reached a state of maximum entropy"


"The heat death is a possible final state of the universe."


Ursus Demens

The Red Martian

The Red Martian

4 ½ to 5 oz Vodka (Ketel One)
2 oz Chambord (black raspberry liqueur)
1 oz Triple sec
½ oz Lime Juice

Put all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Makes enough for two or three drinks.

Ursus Demens

New Recordings

A few new recordings a now available.

The new recording of Insomnia is hightly recommended. The other recordings are still works in progress. The volume on 20,000 Songs Fall Silent is very low, expect in the middle. I am still mixing this one to get the levels right. The SuperDry recording is from the end of April.



Ursus Demens

Today's Listening:

Penderecki

• Threndoy for the Victums of Hiroshima
• Symphony No. 3
• Fluorescences for orchestra

David Sosnowski [http://www.davidsosnowski.com/]

• A Woman of Windswept Years

From South Mountain Sketchbook

• Ruminations on Providence
• Ascension
• Catherine In Winter
• Discomposure While At Prayer
• Weather Coming In

And a new mix of my piece “22,000 Songs Fall Silent”

“22,000 Songs Fall Silent”
Musical BLOG for the Week of December 26, 2004 Anno Domini.

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, but are an exercise in composition. Most will explore one or two compositional and or notational ideas.

Ursus Demens

20,000 Songs Fall Silent.

New Mix and video of my piece 22,000 Songs Fall Silent




Musical BLOG for the Week of December 26, 2004 Anno Domini.

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, but are an exercise in composition. Most will explore one or two compositional and or notational ideas.

Ursus Demens

SuperDry

The "Dry" Jazz Suite

The "Dry Jazz Suite" began as just an idea to write a couple of jazz tunes for jazz quartet featuring trumpet. The first in the series was SuperDry. Later I a did a BigBand version of SuperDry.

I just upload a new MP3 file of my BigBand version of SuperDry here

Please take a listen and leave a comment.

Thank you.

Ursus Demens

AMEN

Amen October 2005 Anno Domini

For Hugh Mullins, my university Theory Teacher.




Ursus Demens

I have not ruled out a return to the first section.

I am continuing working on my piece Morning Prayer for soprano sax and others. The piece has stabilized in both size and length. It is currently in five major sections, each about six minutes in length, with a total time of about 33 and a half minutes. [Note: In a previous post I mis-stated that the piece had six sections, this was a typo and should have said five sections.]

The last week or so I have only been working on the last two sections, and while the first three sections still need work they are pretty stable.

I have added a synthesizer to the fast and violent fourth section. The main bass riff and percussion/rhythmic frame work has been composed, and the main “motifs” also, but I am still working on the harmonic and thematic structure of this section.

In the last week I have worked out the harmonic and melodic frame work for the fifth section, harmonically it will be an A minor pentatonic for the “A” section, and E dorian for the “B” section. This section along with the second section is “strong” thematically, id est there is an easily recognized theme and is presented in a very straight forward binary presentation of “AABA” and has a recap of the theme at the end of the section in the form of “BA”. This is in contrast with the first and third sections which have a more “improvisational” feel and organization to them.

At this point I do not feel the need to add any more new sections to this work, but I have not decided on the finish. While I am leaning towards ending the piece with the current fifth section (movement), I have not ruled out a return to the first section.

Ursus Dmens

Synthesizers:

The problem with deciding to add a synthesizer to a composition (see post below about Morning Prayer) is that a synthesizer unlike a conventional instrument is not a singular entity. I have available to me several synthesizers all with their own unique characteristics and each with many different sounds, and each sound can be altered in many various ways. This leaves me with at least several hundred possible timbres to use, and that is using just pre-programmed patches. When you consider altering the patches or creating new patches from scratch, the possible permutations are a close enough to infinite to give me a migraine headache.

Thus for the last two nights I have gotten no work done on the actual composition of Morning Prayer, but simply have spent my time “auditioning” sounds from some of my synthesizers, and I expect I have several more days of work before I finalize the ones I want to use.

Ursus Demens

Question of the Day

Can one ever really trust someone who drives a 40 year old Purple Volkswagon beetle?


Ursus Demens

Out of Control Bit of Self Indulgent Musical ...

I am continuing working on my piece Morning Prayer for soprano sax and others. The piece has continued to grow in both size and length. I am considering adding a couple of synthesizers. As of today piece is in six sections. Each of the sections is about six minutes in length resulting in a total time of over 31 minutes.

The first section is in a slow 7/4 with an unceasing drone in the string bass (arco)and piano, ostinatos in the electric bass and vibraphone, and pointillistic percussion. Above all of this is the soprano sax playing meditative lines that make ample use of quarter tones.

The second section is in a fast 11/8, and is basically a reworking of my piece Wasuremono redone for soprano sax. In this section we have strong beat (pulse) laid down by the bongos and drumset with an ostinato in the electric bass.

The third second is in a slow 13/8 and begins with just a few of the hand percussion laying down an almost hypnotic beat. Once this trance inducing rhythm is established, the string bass returns with another drone, this time a minor sixth lower than the drone of the first section. As this section progresses layers are slowly added to the evolving texture. This is where more and more percussion instruments are added, with the soprano sax and vibraphone soloing above this mix.

The fourth section is in a fast and violent 7/4, this is the section that I am considering adding synthesizers to. This is still being sketched out.

The fifth section is a moderate 6/4 | 12/8 that is currently percussion only, no harmonic framework has been build yet, although I expect it will be pentatonic based.

At this point I do not know how many sections there are going to be, but with each section lasting six minutes the piece has the potential for being quite long. The piece I am worried has become an out of control bit of self indulgent musical masturbation.

Ursus Dmens

Pictures from Japan

From my trip to Japan in October of 1999 Anno Domini.



Complete score to extended verison of the Sun Princess.

Ursus Demens

What Ever

A little Video Animation of “What Ever”




Ursus Demens

A test: Nagoy

Nagoy




Ursus Demens

Southern California

Stepping out of the office today at 11:30 for an early lunch I was again reminded of the fundamental underlying paradox that is Southern California. In the shadow of the building the air was cool, almost cold, slightly chilling the skin, yet the sun was piercingly bright, crystalline and pure. (I had already put my sunglasses on in the building in preparation.) Stepping out of the shadow of the building the air was still cool, or at least retain a memory of the cool of the shade and the morning, but the the heat of the sun quickly warmed the skin to almost uncomfortable degree. Over head the sky is a clear blue, not a single cloud, nor even a hint or memory of a cloud. In the distance on the horizon the sky is a light brown, smog or wind bourne sand and dirt. Or a bit of both. And in the air that indescribable smell, a smell I have know my whole life, yet can not describe it. A smell that reminds me of a Southern California that has already passed into history, that always reminds me of the fundamental truth of Southern California, that most of its ten million residences have either forgotten, never knew, or simply do not care; Southern California is a desert.

Ursus Demens

Riding in Cars with McCoy Tyner

Wednesday & Thursday

Well Wednesday turned out to be such a very busy day that I had very little time to do any serious listening, or even semi-listening. I did get to listen to some McCoy Tyner while driving around town running errands for my daughter and my wife. And I did get a little work done on my Morning Prayer piece at about 1:30 in the morning.

Today I have had a little more time to listen to a few things:

• More McCoy Tyner




• Search for Peace


• Song of the New World


• Sama Layuca




• Arvo Part's Berliner Messe


• Michael Franks' Passion Fruit

Ursus Demens

Today's listening list (so far):

• John Coltrane's Interstellar Space.


• Don Ellis' Electric Bath.


• Béla Viktor János Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Fritz Reiner, Conductor).


• Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury.

Ursus Demens

Work in progress

I have continued with my piece for soprano sax and others. The piece, still called Morning Prayer continues to grow in size with more and more hand percussion being added almost every time I work on it. Currently the piece is in four sections, the first three pretty much sent in their length and origination. Each of these first three sections is about six minutes in length resulting in a total time of over 18 minutes.

The first section is in a slow 7/4 with an unceasing drone in the string bass (arco)and pian, ostinatos in the electric bass and vibraphone, and pointillistic percussion. Above all of this is the soprano sax playing meditative lines that make ample use of quarter tones.

The second section is in a fast 11/8, and is basically a reworking of my piece Wasuremono redone for soprano sax. In this section we have strong beat (pulse) laid down by the bongos and drumset with an ostinato in the electric bass.

The third second is in a slow 13/8 and begins with just a few of the hand percussion laying down an almost hypnotic beat. Once this trance inducing rhythm is established, the string bass returns with another drone, this time a minor sixth lower than the drone of the first section. As this section progresses layers are slowly added to the evolving texture. This is where more and more percussion instruments are added, with the soprano sax and vibraphone soloing above this mix.

The fourth section is just a preliminary sketch in in a fast 9/8 + 7/8 pattern.

I am still working out how many sections I want and how I want the piece to come to a close. I originally considered arranging the piece in an ”arch”, id est repeating each second in an A B C B A arrangement or even an A B C D C B A arrangement of the various sections. At this point I have rejected this arrangement with the decision to not repeat/return to the second and third sections. Although I have not completely ruled about a return to the first section. What I am struggling with is how many sections I want to use. Each section will be approximately six minutes in length. I considered having four sections each at six minutes in length for a total time of 24 minutes, one minute for each hour of the day, with each section having a sub-title of Morning, Day, Evening, and Night. But that was simply one organizational idea. Other Ideas have included as many as 12 sections for a length of 72 minutes, about the maximum you can get on a single CD.



In the mean time I whipped out a quick arrangement for a small jazz combo: A jazz arrangement of Chopin's Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No 4. I have taken liberties with the arrangement that will most likely outrage the purists in the world.


Today's Listening list: Mostly just all of my own compositions today. Fugue in E minor, Forlorn Hope, Kiyone's Mood, Nibbles, Ultra Dry, What Ever, Summer Sax, et cetera.



Ursus Demens

Today's listening list:

So far today I have listen to “Shorty Roger's and his Giants”, the sound tracks to “Mononoke Hime” and “Escaflowne”, and “Tales From Topographic Ocean” by Yes.


Ursus Demens

What are you listening to?

Well as for me today I have been listening to John Coltrane's “A Love Supreme”, Ravi Shankar's “A Morning Raga/An Evening Raga” and Pharoah Sanders' “The Creator Has a Master Plan” [Along with “Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt”, “Astral Traveling” and “Spiritual Blessing”.] Yesterday was some Anton Bruckner.

So, what are you listening to?

Ursus Demens

N.J.S.G.

Well I finaly sat down and finished the program notes for N.J.S.G. and it is now available on line at:

http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=100596

From the program notes:

N.J.S.G. is a based on my tune N.J.G. Redone for a High School level group with limited number of horns. It features five horns plus rhythm section. In the score the horn parts are simply listed as 1 through 5 and are shown at concert pitch. The director is free to mix and match the parts he needs for his particular group. You will have a full sound as long as each of the five horn parts are covered. I have provided multiple parts for each “part”. Id est for Horn 1 there is a Bb Tumpet part, an Eb Alto Sax 1 part and (at 8 va) a Flute 1 part. In fact there are separate alto sax parts for horns 1 through 4. The Bass Trombone/Tuba part listed as VI is the V part an octave lower. Simply use the ones you need. There are two piano parts, one is what is in the score, with just has chords symbols and the bass ques, the other labeled Piano PB, has a complete “comping” written out for a less experienced player. Simply print those parts that you need for your particular combination of instruments.

N.J.S.G is a simple Model Jazz tune in 5/4 time, with swung eight notes.


Ursus Demens

Stuff happens and life is and it just repeats.

On the music front I (still) have a couple of pieces in various stages of completion. I have just finished entering a piano piece from my college days (when Reagan was in the White House) into Sibelius.

It is now available at http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=98848

I also have a piece for Jazz octet that is ready for upload as soon as I write the program and performance notes.

And I still have not finished the program notes.

My finial work in progress is a piece for soprano sax and others. Others include both electric and upright bass players, piano and vibes, plus a large assortment of percussion. The piece is build on unceasing drones, ostinatos, pointillistic percussion and quarter tones. The current working title is is “Morning Prayer”, but my wife does not like that title, so maybe I will change it.

Well I have been distracted by life and other pieces so I have not worked on this since my last Blog post.

Last month I got a Midi controller (a 61 Key M-Audio Axiom). But I have been too busy to really play with it.

And I am still too busy to play with it much, but I do know how to program the knobs now.

The main thing going on in my life is working hard on the house. The last week of December was spent putting in a new floor in 90 percent of the house. Long days those were. My one knee has still not recovered, I think and old softball ligament problem was aggravated.

I continue to work hard on the house.


Well I hope I can keep this Blog going with regular updates even as stuff happened and life is. Well I have to go, I have things to see and people to do.

Ursus Demens

Stuff and Life:

Stuff happens and life is. I check in and see I have not posted anything in almost a month. Life is and is subject to the second law of thermal dynamics.

On the music front I have a couple of pieces in various stages of completion. I have just finished entering a piano piece from my college days (when Reagan was in the White House) into Sibelius. I will upload it soon for your enjoyment and ridicule.

I also have a piece for Jazz octet that is ready for upload as soon as I write the program and performance notes.

My finial work in progress is a piece for soprano sax and others. Others include both electric and upright bass players, piano and vibes, plus a large assortment of percussion. The piece is build on unceasing drones, ostinatos, pointillistic percussion and quarter tones. The current working title is is “Morning Prayer”, but my wife does not like that title, so maybe I will change it.

Last month I got a Midi controller (a 61 Key M-Audio Axiom). But I have been too busy to really play with it.

The main thing going on in my life is working hard on the house. The last week of December was spent putting in a new floor in 90 percent of the house. Long days those were. My one knee has still not recovered, I think and old softball ligament problem was aggravated.

Well I hope I can keep this Blog going with regular updates even as stuff happened and life is. Well I have to go, I have things to see and people to do.

Ursus Demens