Composition of the Week:

What Ever

A little Jazz number in a fast 7/8.

http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/22044.html

unwelcome

unwelcome
the gray dawn arrives
too early

Compostion of the week:

Ojiichan

http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/9817.html

Ojiichan means Grandfather in Japanese. What do you picture when you listen to this? What would you title it? I would love to hear your suggestions

rising smoke;

rising smoke;
the smell of mesquite
in the air

Composition of the day: String Quartet #1

String Quartet #1

String Quartet #1 (Yuki)

http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/22295.html

This is a short five movement string quartet. Each movement is only about one minute each. All of the material in the other four movements appears in or is derived from the second movement. Given this, one can think of the first movement as a prelude with the second movement being the main movement. The fifth movement re-states the main motifs of the first four movements, combining them into one large polyphonic mass.

Eous

Composition of the day:
Eous
Soprano sax, Vibes, Bass and Drums, and bit of "free jazz".

What Ever

Random composition of the day.

What Ever

A little Jazz number in a fast 7/8.

...and into dust you shall return.

A fugue for String orchestra
...and into dust you shall return. in 7/4 time

Threnody for a Servant of God

Threnody for a Servant of God

Composed in memory of Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, 1940-2006 Anno Domini.

A fugue in E minor in a slow 5/2 for string orchestra.

Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer
http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/114189.html


Morning Prayer was started in early January 2007 on Sibelius 4. I first wrote about it on the 17th of January:

My final 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 built 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.


I continued working on the piece all through 2007 until early November when, if I remember correctly, I upgraded to Sibelius 5. The changes to the play back system in Sibelius 5 meant I had a lot of work to do to convert Morning Prayer so I put it on the back burner for awhile while I learned all of the quirks of Sibelius 5.

In April of 2008 I publish an Poem/outline for Morning Prayer:

Morning Prayer

Prelude:

Darkness all around me; I awaken slowly from a dream that I do not remember.

Morning Prayer:

In the pre-dawn darkness I begin to pray.

Wasuremono:

I wander through a barren landscape in search of something I have forgotten. A name eludes me, a question unformed.

Dream Time:

I fall into a dream; paths merge and diverge, the past and the future converge, merge and diverge. A truth (The Truth?) lies just beyond my consciousness.

Nightmare:

A repressed memory strikes like lighting, heralding the arrival of dark visions. Is this madness?

Dancing:

The sound of dancing drives the darkness away. In the center of a village I dance under a pagan equatorial sun.

Sleep:

Exhausted I fall to the ground and begin to dream

Postlude:

In the pre-dawn darkness I awaken slowly from a dream I do not remember.


While a little work was done on the piece in April of 2008 I soon put it back on the back burner and did not revisit it until August of 2008 with just a little work done then, but I had “converted” it to Sibelius 5 by then. In 2009 only a little work was done on the piece in March, June and November.

In November 2009 I wrote a piece called Eous [http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/89516.html] which would eventually end up becoming the fourth movement of Morning Prayer.

In April 2010 I returned to working on the piece, as I wrote at the time:

The Return of Morning Prayer

Well after a hiatus of two years I have finally returned to working on my piece “Morning Prayer”. As it stands now it 146 pages, 738 bars and almost 36 minutes long.


I am still struggling with the fourth movement and what I want to do with it. Still considering inserting a new movement between the current fourth and fifth movements. (Possibly the piece Eous ). Or additional movements to follow the current fifth movement, perhaps possibly a “postlude” similar to the prelude to round the piece off. We shall see.

In September of 2010 I wrote:

So what have I been doing since April?

Well I created an MP3 of what exits of “Morning Prayer” and loaded into my mp3 player at the end of April, I then took a walk every night for about six straight weeks while listening to the entire 36 minutes of music. What I came away from this experiment is that I am happy with the prelude, which is finished. I am happy with the first movement which is 99 and 44/100ths finished. I am happy with the second movement which is 99 percent finished. I am happy with the third movement which is 90 percent finished. I am pretty happy with the fifth movement, some doubt about the “second theme”, but overall happy with it and it is about 80 percent finished. And I know what needs to be done with it, and I just need to take the time to do it.

That just leaves the troublesome fourth movement. I have altered it several times, have tired different approaches; making it only drum and bass, making it an acoustic piano feature, using a bunch of synthesizers, using synthesizer pads with free soprano sax lines over a driving bass/drum ostinato and even considered replacing it whole sale with my piece “Eous” But nothing seems to work, so I have put the piece back on the back burner.

Which brings us to August of 2011 more than four and a half years and three versions of Sibelius after starting Morning Prayer I have decided to share with you a 98 percent finished Morning Prayer and a very Raw recording of it. Be warned; it is 39 minutes of self indulgent navel gazing.


Morning Prayer

Ursus Demens

Moved my scores to Score Exchange

With SibeliusMusic going away I have move my scores to Score Exchange

New link to my original musical scores: http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/esharpe

I hear an angel

sipping rye whiskey
at the end of day
I hear an angel;
her voice floats over the din
of random conversations

Jesus Wept (New Recording)

Jesus Wept

At the end of April I upgraded my copy of Garritan Personal Orchestra to the latest version. With it came a set of Choir samples of Ahs and Ohs, but more importantly the new Aria engine (player) supports Scala files. These are files that describe various tunings and allow you to “play” in a tuning other than equal temperament. With these two givens I prepared a new “rendering” of my motet “Jesus Wept”; one using equal temperament and another using a Pythagorean temperament. I have uploaded the Pythagorean version to the score on SibeliusMusic:

Jesus Wept Equal Tempered

Jesus Wept Pythagorean


Ursus Demens

Winter's close

Winter's close,

white clouds peaking through

greyblue skies

Meditaion on the Sierpinski Tetrahedron

Best experienced with eyes closed in a dark and cool room.

19 minutes of ambient music.

==================================
March 2011 Anno Domini

The experiment in the layering of synthesizers and rhythms over a bass drone and a bass ostinato continues.

Meditaion on the Sierpinski Tetrahedron on Sound Cloud
or
Meditaion on the Sierpinski Tetrahedron on Sibelius Music (w/ Score)

A short cruise... (a revised Score and a much improved recording)

A revised Score and a much improved recording:

"A short cruise through the semi-abandoned side streets and alleys of L.A during the wee hours of a hot
mid-summer's night"


At Sibelius Music (Score and MP3): "A Short Cruise ..."

At Amaze FM (MP3 only): "A Short Cruise ..."