The Note Head

Hello, again, hello....

2011-03-10T21:22:00.002-06:00

Yes. I am quoting a Neil Diamond song. (Not that I'm saying there is anything wrong with that...)

It's been a while since I last posted anything here. Since my last post I've written 2 pieces for 1st Covenant Church in Minneapolis and started singing in the Gospel Choir there. Gospel singing was always something I've admired from a far. When I found out that 1st Covenant was starting one up with Robert Robinson as director I thought I can't let this opportunity pass. It's been great. A very different experience from singing in a cathedral or classical choir. I'm still trying to get use to the concept of learning things by rote without music. (After years of dealing with printed music it makes me feel exposed--vocally naked. I can't look at a page--I have to just use my ears. I'm not saying one is better than the other--just different.) Also it's been fun to just open up the vocal chords.

Right now I'm busy working on the music for YARRRH!!! which will be presented at the Minnesota Fringe Festival this summer (August 4th-14th, 2011). Women! Pirates! What more do you need to know?

That's all for now. More to come. Really...

Time to become a Note Head again

2009-05-23T22:38:00.002-05:00

I've been more of a code monkey for a while now. I need to get back to being a Note Head. Mainly been loading new tunes to my iPod shuffle. Latest additional was actually the song "Code Monkey"--a really fun tune! Also got an old recording of La Traviata with Maria Callas recorded live at La Scala. It was the first opera album I ever bought. Although I know there are better sounding recordings, there is something to be said about your first love of a recording.

Sometime I need to blog about hearing most of my music now of days through my iPod shuffle instead of live performance. I think one would expect me to be quite snobbish about the superior quality of live performance--and yet for the trade off to enjoy music anywhere I don't really have much of a problem with my shuffle.

The Bells (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

2009-02-22T10:12:00.005-06:00

"Then, all at once, behold!--for it seems at times, as though the ear also possessed a sight of its own,--behold, rising from each bell tower, something like a column of sound, a cloud of harmony."

[ Link ] to The Bells.

For the opening of the Hunchback of Notre Dame Leah, the director, wanted to have the house lights up. The cast would wander onto the stage as music would be playing on the sound system.

"First, the vibration of each bell mounts straight upwards, pure and, so to speak, isolated from the others, into the splendid morning sky; then, little by little, as they swell they melt together, mingle, are lost in each other, and amalgamate in a magnificent concert."

I used the chant Ubi Caritas as the basis for the bell peel. “Where charity and love are, God is there.” This summarizes the time that Quasimodo and Esmeralda will spend together at the top of Notre Dame.

When the bell peel is done, one of the cast members would have a guitar and they would start playing along with the song.

"It is no longer anything but a mass of sonorous vibrations incessantly sent forth from the numerous belfries; floats, undulates, bounds, whirls over the city, and prolongs far beyond the horizon the deafening circle of its oscillations."

Italics text is a quote from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Journey to Opening Night, part 2

2009-02-17T21:42:00.002-06:00

To recap from part 1, In September or so I became part of the design team (as composer) for an adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The director (Leah) and I agreed that I should get a copy of the script and start looking at it to determine what musical cues to write. I had assume that Leah had found an adaptation that was already written and had been performed. Turned out it would be a bit more exciting. Mitchell "Bucky" Fay, long time member of the Cromulent Shakespeare Company, was doing a new adaptation. So Leah, Bucky and I met to discuss the show. I found out the script was going through some revisions and I would get hold of it when those revisions were done.

Leah told me this was a play, not a musical, which was somewhat of a relief. I have worked on a few musical projects now, and they are big jobs and very time consuming. I was looking for something a bit smaller in order to try to keep my sanity between family, work, and fun music projects. In my mind I thought this would just be a few sound cues to set scenes. I was wrong.

It didn't turn into a musical, but when I got my hands on the script I found out that there were 5 songs in it—and a number of them for the entire cast. Writing songs is very different than writing instrumental music for me. With instrumental music I can just thinking of where I want the melody and harmony to go and then write out the music. With songs, everything has to fit in with those pesky words. That takes more time. The other “problem” is that I love doing it.

The chance to write music for Quasimodo and Esmeralda was a really exciting prospect for me. Also I wondered if Frollo might have a song or two. But I had to remind myself that this was not a musical. Also Leah had told me that the casting had been done without regards to musically ability. I didn't know if any of the cast felt comfortable singing on stage.

So the next step was to send out a survey to the cast to ask what kind of musical background they had. Once I knew that I could start thinking about specific songs. You don’t need to be classically trained singer to sell a song. But I believe the performer has to feel comfortable. In order to do that the composer needs to have some understanding of the performer’s voice so that an appropriate piece for both the performer and the character can be written.

The surveys came back and it was clear that we had a real mix of people with musical experience and without. Esmeralda could sing, but Quasimodo and Frollo did not have a lot of musical experience. Since we had a mix of experience I needed to take that into account as I wrote the songs for the entire cast.

(Next time: the writing of the songs begins…)

The Journey to Opening Night, part 1

2009-02-15T13:00:00.004-06:00

Well, it is one week and one day later, but Hunchback of Notre Dame had a great opening night. Since about September I've been working on original music for an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. The Cromulent Shakespeare Company had decided to do this in repertory with Richard III and not only share the cast but also the set and costumes. Now this is a BIG undertaking.

I first heard about this when I saw a status from Leah Cooper that she was going to direct Hunchback. That caught my attention for several reasons: 1) I have seen Leah's work before and have great respect for what she brings to the stage, 2) I had worked with Leah before and knew what a wonderful collaborative experience she creates, and 3) I only knew Hunchback through the Disney movie.

Now for all lovers of Hugo's novel, I can just imagine the rolling of your eyes regarding Disney. Culturally Hunchback is just part of us. Even if you never read the book or saw any of the many adaptations for the screen, you know the basic characters of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Since I was not familiar with any adaptation before Disney, I didn't have a strong negative ("This is an Abomination!!!") reaction to the movie.

The movie is not a Ratatouille, but it is not horrible either. It took the broad outline of the story and combined characters, made at least one villain good, and came out with a happy ending. The happy ending part has been done before--see the 1938 movie version. But even having not read the book, I knew you had to approach it as something different from what Victor Hugo intended.

I knew Leah well enough that I knew I could ask if she was thinking of music for the adaptation and so I did. And to my great happiness she said she would love to work with me again! (Yea!!!) Next step was to see the script.

The Minneapolis Rag

2008-11-08T09:47:00.001-06:00

I have been away for a while from my blogs. Sorry, the election just held my attention too much. Before I left my blogs to their own devices, I did upload this "Minneapolis Rag" to my website, but I never posted a link to this blog.

I'll add a bit more to this entry later about the song.

[ Link ] to The Minneapolis Rag

Microtune, #3, Fanfare for an unsettled night

2008-10-05T21:28:00.003-05:00

I'm having an unsettled tonight. Nervous energy lashing out in odd directions. Angry at nothing. Cranky just to be cranky.

[ Link ] to Microtune, #3

Big Band Swing on Pandora

2008-10-03T21:32:00.002-05:00

I have a new toy: Pandora Radio. Finally I can create a radio station that plays Baroque Choral, Big Band Swing, Billy Joel, The Beatles, among others. Right now I'm listening to Side by Side sung by Anita O'Day.

Sometimes I think I was born at the wrong time--I love this music. But I love working on computers too much to have been born during the Big Band era. Actually this is the music of my parents. Both of them drew up during the depression and came of age in the 40's. Maybe it was something passed on through the genes or through the songs they hummed to me.

The other thing I've found is that this is great music by which to write code. Something about listening to the winds and writing Java just fits.

CD Review: The Grapes of Wrath / Live from the Minnesota Opera World Premiere

2008-10-02T13:03:00.005-05:00

Amazon.com: The Grapes of Wrath/Live from the Minnesota Opera World Premiere: Ricky Ian Gordon, Grant Gershon, Deanne Meek and Brian Leerhuber: Music

I want to like this opera. I love Ricky Ian Gordon's music. His Bright Eyed Joy is one of my favorite CDs that I have listened to over and over again.

I have now experienced the opera 3 different ways: I was lucky enough to see a dress rehearsal. I also saw a full performance during the initial run at the Ordway. And now I have listened to the entire CD. Although I love much of the music in Grapes of Wrath I find that I enjoy the individual parts of the work. The whole does not move me the way I wish it did. My biggest issue is with Michael Korie's libretto. It is WAY too long. Also the mixing of the stylized dust bowl speech patterns with the operatic singing does not work for me. And diction is an issue--at times I can't understand what is being sung and at other times it is too perfect for the dialect of the text.

Any yet, there are moments. The opening chorus of "The last time there was rain" and the death of Noah as he sings "I can be a help" stand out for me.

With the material presented on this CD I hear the potential of a wonderful American Opera, but the story telling needs to be tighter. That being said I am still looking forward to what Mr. Gordon writes next.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Microtune, #6 (Call)

2008-09-28T17:09:00.004-05:00

Call. As in "a call". As in "the call". As in "a calling".

[ Link ] to Microtune, #6

Alleluia, version 1

2008-09-21T11:58:00.005-05:00

Alleluia

It feels right that I'm working on a piece of music with this title on a Sunday morning. I am a Cradle Catholic. As I get older I find I am exploring outward from that base in a way that I can best describe as Freelance Monotheism (to borrow a phrase from Karen Armstrong). My religious experiences and musical experiences are tied. And when I experience music that is transcendent the word that comes to mind is Alleluia.

The mixing of music and religion is not a new idea. I do not expect that if someone enjoys music I write that they have a religious experience. (I may hope, but I don't expect.) When I let ego go (which in my understanding seems to be the truest root of most religions), what is left is a desire to find communication, or using a great "Catholic" phrase: Communion, with God.

With this piece I want to take a journey. It was originally written for piano and quartet or small choir. The mp3 realization I've done here is very straight forward. What I want to do next is work on orchestrating it. As such I will be publishing a number of versions of it to this blog (intermixed with other music as well). I want to work on my technique of orchestrating for electronica orchestral soundscapes (EOS?)

So here it is: Alleluia, version 1.

[ Link ] to Alleluia, version 1.

Music and the Geek: MP3 tag command line editor

2008-09-21T11:07:00.003-05:00

This morning my inner geek has gotten the best of me. I want to upload a new mp3 file to The Note Head, but I need to edit the mp3 tags first. I hate using the GUI for this because I want the tags to be consistent. When I type them in myself I am way too prone to making a mistake.

So I'm searching Sourceforge for a good mp3 tag editor. I want to be able to script the set up of these tags. I found something called lfid3, but is also requires a library called id3lib. So I'm working through the magic of doing the build on cygwin.

None of this has much to do with music except for the end result. Still I find it fun to work through the technical issues of doing this.

What are you listening to?

2008-09-15T18:42:00.002-05:00

What music are you listening to? I'd love to hear of suggestions (or better yet links) to music to listen to. Thanks!

Blessed are the Merciful

2008-09-14T17:08:00.003-05:00

There are some things I write that I find I cannot leave alone. Wendy reminds me from time to time that I should be writing more new music. But then I find I don't feel like I'm quite done with an older piece.

Blessed are the Merciful is one of those pieces. It was originally written for choir and did get a performance. But then it has sat on my hard drive. Looking back at the piece now, while I like the actual melodic lines, I'm not happy with the setting of the text. So I thought I would try to orchestrate it.

Now that I have Garage Band and the Symphony Orchestra Jam Pack, I have some better sounds to work with. Still there are places where I want a more legato line and the realization of the score is not doing that for me. I still think there are some really interesting moments in this version. But I'm still feeling my way around Garage Band and how to make things sound better.

[ Link ] to Blessed are the Merciful.

Microtune, #4 (Fanfare for Change, yes we can!)

2008-09-06T13:25:00.005-05:00

Writing a fanfare I think is one of the best things to do. The older I get the more important I think it is to just let go and do things that you enjoy. A fanfare should capture that feeling. It should also have a sense of the anticipation and hope of what is to come.

This has been a two week period in which the word "Change" has been thrown around quite a bit. I, among many people, feel that it is time for change-in our national outlook and in Washington, DC. So with that in mind I decided to call this one "Fanfare for Change, yes we can!" (And yes, I am an Obama supporter.)

[ Link ] to Microtune, #4

Microtune, #2 (The hand held game)

2008-09-01T13:48:00.005-05:00

After listening to one of my previous microtunes, my friend, Boris, asked me "Is this micromalism..?" I think he might be on to something here. We've had Minnmalism--now is it on to Micromalism? In an age where most communication is cut into small packets to be sent as a TCP/IP message across the World Wide Web, perhaps this is to be expected? I don't know.

I do know that this Microtune #2 makes me think of one of the hand held games that my sons play. We're in some kinda of crazy jungle and we have to jump above rolling balls in order not to be flatten by them.

Link to Microtune, #2

And yes, sometimes technology is a pain...

2008-08-30T21:56:00.002-05:00

Today I've been cleaning up this blog a bit. I wanted to add a few more microtunes I've been working on and such. Unfortunately I found out there was what looked like a bug in Firefox 3 that meant the audio players I'm trying to embed in the posts wasn't showing up. So I checked Internet Explorer, and it was working there.

Sigh...

Wouldn't it be nice if there was just one way to play back a mp3 file. As it is I think QuickTime needs to be downloaded on the system for these players to even work.

Oh joy. oh bliss.

Now back to music things.

Microtune, #9 (The dying bassist)

2008-08-30T21:41:00.001-05:00

Here's my next microtune. For some reason, when I listen to this it sounds like the bassist isn't doing too well, and in the end, just kind of dies off. There is something silly about this, and I like that.

Link to Microtune, #9

Microtune #10

2008-08-30T16:28:00.013-05:00

I'm back to my mircotunes. Here's a small dance number--sounds like something I could use as the basis for a whole piece.

Link to Microtune, Day 10

Tune of the Week

2008-07-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

http://tinyurl... my tune of the week. (mp3 file)

Renaming

2008-01-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

I got tired of the name "Compositional Workshop" today. The new name is "The Note Head". Probably fitting. Sometimes I think I think too much about notes. (Just from the phrase "I think I think" you can probably figure that out.) So--I'm a note head--some one who does a lot of thinking about notes.

So let's see where this goes.

Music 366: Day 1

2007-11-05T06:41:00.002-06:00

Music 366 Project

Day 1

What ensemble am I writing for?

2007-11-04T18:49:00.000-06:00

I keep asking myself this question. The template file I used for Day 58 is titled "String Quartet, 12 8 time", but I know that it's going to be "performed" by a general MIDI instrument. The American Composer's Forum has a list of tips for submitting work. One of the tips is not to submitt MIDI realizations of orchestral works. I believe it is accompanied by the statement that if one would do that the selection committee may "questions your values."

So where does this leave me? Am I thinking too much? Part of me would love to record a string quartet doing this. But the reality is that I'm not at a music school any longer where I have ready access to string players. Another part of me says "deal with the problems of the instrument--the General MIDI Instrument." When you write for a pipe organ you go in knowing that you can't really control the attack with the keyboard. Dynamics tend to be tiered and achieved by pulling out or in the stops. You have control of the swell as well, but that will be for all the choirs within the swell.

The purpose of the Music 366 project is to generate ideas. For right now I'm writing for MIDI. If things I write can also be transcribed for acoustic instruments, great.

First of Music 366

2007-11-04T17:38:00.000-06:00

Here's the first of the Music 366 Project. Day 58. Give a listen!

I would have laughed...

2007-10-30T22:09:00.000-05:00

If someone had told me in high school that the most consistent performance experience I would have in my life would be singing, I would have laughed. But in truth that is probably what I have done the most of. I had choir rehearsal tonight. Today had been one of those muddled gray/blue kind of days. It's such a cliche but just to focus on singing alone just re-centers my mind. (The religious part of me would say my soul.)

I need to get to publishing the "micro-tunes" I've written. I have over 50 of them now. Given everything else in my life I feel pretty good about this. The Music366 project may take over a year to write. Such is life.

It's been a while...

2007-08-23T21:25:00.001-05:00

I haven't been blogging much on this blog. But that doesn't mean I haven't been composing. I've mainly been experimenting with what I'm calling "micro-tunes". These are extremely short compositions (like under 30 seconds). I'm starting to put together a project I'm calling "Music366" where I'm going to write a small composition each day for one year. (This coming year is a leap year--hence the 366.)

I have just over 40 compositions done so far, but I want to wait until I have 60 or 90 before I start publishing them to a website.

Quiz

2007-05-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

According to this I'm 85% Bach. I think that number is inflated, but I'd be happy just to have 1% Bach.

You scored as J.S. Bach. J.S. Bach 85% Haydn 65% Tchaikovsky 65% Beethoven 60% Handel 60% Schubert 60% Hector Berlioz 55% Chopin 45% Wagner 45% Schumann 45% Brahms 45% Mozart 40% Liszt 30%

Take the quiz yourself.

Words of wisdom

2007-05-28T16:11:00.000-05:00

I think the following can be applied to music as well as literature:

“If you only read the great writers, you’ll be in trouble,” [Albee] said. “Read junk. It’s enormously encouraging to tell yourself, ‘I can do better than that.’ ”

--Edward Albee

from 'Virtue Is Not Its Own Reward' and Other Lessons for a Life in Art
By KATHRYN SHATTUCK
The New York Times
Published: April 24, 2007

Theme for Marcus

2007-04-17T20:31:00.000-05:00

And now for something completely different. (I do write music for outside the church too--really!)

Back in 2000 (I think--the brain cells are starting to go dim here) I had the pleasure of providing the incidental music for Listen!, a play by Leah Cooper. It was performed in the Minnesota Fringe festival that year. The play is a "battle for the soul" of Joe between his Eco-friendly girlfriend (Katie) and his corporate boss (Marcus). The follow is a line of Marcus's that I used as the jumping off place for this composition, A Theme for Marcus.

MARKUS: ...Dose up on the gingko biloba and bring your brain. Ten minds, ten mouths, one note-taker, locked in a room together. Stream of consciousness stuff. This is where the product image gets conceived. Identify the essence of the allure, get in touch with the product's sexy side. Spin that into a lifestyle image. Invent a look, jingle out a voice, manufacture some soul, and bring your brand name to life!

(quoted with permission of the author)

Give a listen (no pun intended) to it.

New web hosting service

2007-04-17T07:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I upgraded the website last night, so now I have plenty of room for mp3 files. Slowly but surely things come into place.

It's been a while

2007-04-15T18:52:00.000-05:00

I realized I haven't written an entry on this blog for a while. Lots of things have been happening "behind the scenes", but haven't really had a chance to put things out. I need to upgrade my web hosting service for gennaula.com (where I put all my mp3 files) and so that has been somewhat of a blocker since I don't want to put too much more stuff out to my current website that I'll just have to move.

I was realizing that all of the pieces I've put out so far as been from my "sacred catalog." I need to get a bit more of my theater pieces out.

Now that I'm "40 something" I'm definitely having those times where I think "wouldn't it be great to be back in college when I could just play around at a piano or computer for hours"? That gets a bit more difficult when you mix in family, house, and job.

Looking for soundfonts

2007-02-17T18:48:00.000-06:00

Right now I'm in the search for new soundfonts. I've orchestrated Blessed are the merciful and have decided that a listener would have to extra extra extra merciful in listening to what my midi to mp3 convert is giving out. The converter uses .sf2 files for the conversion, so I'm looking for a better set of files.

Meditation No. 1: Mercy

2007-02-11T12:31:00.000-06:00

Listening to the "Blessed are the merciful" composition, I started to experiment with it: slowing it down and then lowering it in the the bottom most octaves.

A few years back I read the The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris. This eventually lead me to exploring the practice of Centering Prayer. I worked for a while in downtown St. Paul, MN and close by was a place called the Benedictine Center where there was a lunch meditation service. Unfortunately that downtown outreach program was shut down and I have since moved to a different location for work.

Listening to this experiment I thought this would be perfect music to listen to while combining it with the Centering Prayer. This goes somewhat against the basic tenet of the prayer since its goal is "interior quiet". But I find personally that the right music can help me obtain that prayerful state.

Click here to listen.

Blessed are the Merciful

2007-02-11T12:08:00.000-06:00

I've been avoiding writing the next two posts. I uploaded two mp3 files a while back, but have been trying to figure out what to say about them. I'm finally just choosing not to say much.

The first of these sound-files is of a composition that I wrote for choir a few years back. Here it is presented on a MIDI harpsichord. Click here to listen.

The First Emperor

2007-01-14T10:57:00.000-06:00

[from Wikimedia Commons]

Yesterday I saw the Metropolitan Opera's First Emperor by Tan Dun at a movie theater.

Since I am a Techno Geek as well as a Music Geek, this was just pure heaven. I've never seen an opera at the Met although I've taken the backstage tour when I was in NYC. In someways I have to admit that I found the experience even better than going to a real opera house. If for nothing else I didn't have to get all dressed up and spend a fortune on the tickets. Granted, at $18 a pop, this is more expensive than your normal movie, but that's OK.

The opera was great! I had read reviews of the opera complaining that the mix of the strong rhythmic and dissonant orchestral and choral sections did not integrate well with the Pucciniesque writing for Domingo. I have to strongly disagree. It was this juxtaposition that made the opera work for me.

The opera is based on Emperor Qin, the first emperor of China. It tells an emotional story in which Qin puts the state above all else, including love and friendship. It is the perfect subject matter for a grand opera and Dun's score as well as the performance was completely up to the task. Wikipedia has an article on the opera.

The whole experience even had my favorite beloved Grandma of Grand Opera, Beverly Sills! And like talking with your Grandma I had to chuckle when she mistakenly referred to Beckham, the soccer play, as a hockey player when speaking with Domingo. But that's OK.

The theater was sold out. There is a hunger for artistic experiences across the nation and hopefully this proves it. Well done Peter Gelb!!!!

Have a listen...

2007-01-07T11:11:00.000-06:00

Here is a mp3 file of the current Wisdom is Glorious. I want to play around a bit more with the orchestration, but this is the workshop. So, this is a work-in-progress.

Wisdom is Glorious

2007-01-06T23:48:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to take a look at some compositions I've written a while back. One of them is Wisdom is Glorious from 1994. This is based on the following text from the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha:

Chapter 6: 12-15

Wisdom is glorious,
and never fadeth away:
yea, she is easily seen of them that love her,
and found of such as seek her.

She preventeth them that desire her,
in making herself first known unto them.

Whoso seeketh her early shall have no great travail:
for he shall find her sitting at his doors.

To think therefore upon her is perfection of wisdom:
and whoso watcheth for her shall quickly be without care.

This translation is from the Non-canonical Books of the Bible of the King James Version.

It was written for soprano and organ. I'm not very happy with the way I set the text of the piece. I really did not understand much about scansion when I wrote this. I think it is a pity that during my compositional education I never had a class in that. It wasn't until much later that I was able to take a workshop (via the Nautilus Music-Theater with Ben Krywosz and Tom Linker) where such useful knowledge finally found a home in this thick skull of mine.

What I do like about this piece is that I was able to write a dance-like rhythm using asymmetrical rhythms. (Bartok was a down right revelation when I first heard such music in college.) I want to explore that a bit more and then release it to the web.

Coming to the workshop

2007-01-01T14:01:00.000-06:00

My dad taught wood shop for many years. Whether I would help him in his workshop at home or come with him out to his school workshop, it was always fun. I loved seeing how things were put together. Although my family was a family of carpenters in the "old country", I did not inherit the talent with putting together things with wood. I found my outlet for such things first in electronics, then computers, and finally music.

With this blog I want to return to the workshop. My workshop is for writing music. I have always found that the craftsman approach to writing compositions works best for me. This is a place for talking about ideas out loud and shooting the breeze with whoever happens by and asks "what's that you're building?"