Little bit of musical fluff
I decided a while back to publish the music I'm writing, if nothing else as a way of keeping myself honest. So, here's a little piece of fluff I wrote just to play with time signatures—alternating 5/8 and 6/8 has a nice drive to it.
But, I have a problem: I can't actually perform any of the pieces I write, so I'm somewhat at the mercy of the good will of others (notably my teacher) to record them for me. And Christmas is a busy season for my teacher, so I don't yet have a recording of this piece.
Because this piece is so simple, Sibelius' built-in playback sounds OK, so that's what I'm posting. But if anyone fancies recording this, or taking it and turning it into something cool (as Chris Morris did with my previous piece) please send me a link and I'll add it here.
In the meantime, here's
- the score,
- the Sibelius mp3, and
- a midi version (don't listen to this—it sounds horrible. It's just here for folks who want to import to a sequencer)
Update: here's my teacher's rendition—thanks, Mike!
How about a MIDI file as well for those of us who can't read music so well but can arrange nicely?
Posted by: Brian Kelly | December 26, 2008 at 08:33 PM
Added. No idea if it will be useful or not—I just did an Export|Midi from Sibelius.
Posted by: Dave Thomas | December 26, 2008 at 08:43 PM
Since you're learning music, I'm a bit puzzled as to why you're going straight for the odd time signatures.
By analogy, wouldn't this be like a beginning programmer wanting to know about advanced features in programming languages?
I'm not criticising, as I'm far worse than you. :) Just wondering if there is a cross-over correlation.
Posted by: steve | December 27, 2008 at 12:27 AM
Steve:
I play around with the stuff that interests me. To be honest, I do the same with new programming languages, too. Probably a character flaw.
Posted by: Dave Thomas | December 27, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Hey Dave, I love all the techie, programming stuff, but it's really cool to see/hear the other side of people.
Funky time signatures are great; a main reason I enjoy heavy metal.
Nice job!
Posted by: Eric | December 27, 2008 at 11:36 AM
That's really nice. I was sitting here listening to it and Pinar looked over and said, "Who wrote that?" When I said that you had, she said, "REEALLY? That's nice!"
Two, er four, thumbs up!
Posted by: James Duncan Davidson | December 27, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Steve: I've been a musician/arranger for many, many years, and what inspires you, inspires you, odd or not. I personally have always been a fan of the odd time sig, very Bernstein. One of my very first compositions was in 7, because of a several pieces I heard in high school. Not near as good as this though.
Posted by: allen | December 27, 2008 at 10:28 PM
I love odd meter, personally. The real skill is to make is transparent to the listener. (Warren Cuccurullo was the master of this when he was working with Duran Duran -- listen to Buried in the Sand, Starting to Remember, and Last Day On Earth for examples.)
Odd meter isn't as complicated as one might think, since the simplest thing is to break it down into more easily composable parts. If you know 4, then you know 2+2. If you then know 3, you can synthesize 5 as 2+3 3+2, 4+1, or 1+4. You can synthesize 6 as 3+3, 2+4, 4+2, or even 2+2+2. The thing that can get tricky is where you put the downbeat ;>
I'm so happy for this post, as I see so many similarities between working with music and working with code. It requires a spark of creativity, but once you learn to find the seams it can become a little more idiomatic for when you aren't sure what to do next. :)
Posted by: Matt Hargett | December 31, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Honestly, when I first listened to it, I hated it. But, as I leave it on repeat, it is really starting to grow on me. I'd even say I really like it...quite nice. I write music in Finale, I'm curious how Sibelius compares. Keep posting your work!
Posted by: SMBogan | January 11, 2009 at 03:30 PM
Great work Dave! This is quite nice. I particularly like some of the 'unexpected' melodic choices. My ear would expect the piece to go one way, but what actually happened was different without being jarring or just outlandish. Very nice flow.
Sorry I didn't listen sooner! Keep 'em coming!
Posted by: Ryan Owens | January 11, 2009 at 09:07 PM
Wonderful tune. IMHO the magic here is not the meter but the melody, which sounds like a 12-tone system. There is an influential but largely forgotten composer (strange how one can be both)named Shillinger who had some work that sounded like this. His school eventually became one of the best in the East.
Posted by: Rick Lehtinen | January 13, 2009 at 02:45 PM
I will not try to analyze your music, I will just criticize it:
And as there is no account for taste there is no good or bad music, just music you like or do not:
I like it a lot.
Posted by: Robert Dober | January 27, 2009 at 09:52 AM
Very much like one of Jon Brion's piano adlibs (a compliment!)
Posted by: Peter Cooper | February 24, 2009 at 06:11 PM
Very enjoyable to listen to. I enjoyed it almost as much as reading Pragmatic Programmer.
Before you publish this score for the masses, make sure all of the bass clefs come back from their cigarette break. ;)
Posted by: John Wedding | May 14, 2009 at 02:31 AM