What Are You Practising / Composing Now?

[Richard Barrett]

The trouble with writing serially organised music is that if you discover a mistake you have to retrace your steps and redo a whole lot of stuff. It's best not to make such mistakes, but almost as good to make them and not notice them. (Until it's "too late" - but when is that?)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The trouble with writing serially organised music is that if you discover a mistake you have to retrace your steps and redo a whole lot of stuff. It's best not to make such mistakes, but almost as good to make them and not notice them. (Until it's "too late" - but when is that?)

But, if the "mistake" sounds good, wouldn't it be better to go back to the beginning, add an "Introduction" in which the "mistake" features prominently, then everyone can say that the "mistake" is the salient point to which the Music has been heading since the start?

You've got to give Musicologists something to do.

[Richard Barrett]

But, if the "mistake" sounds good

Most of the time, the kind of "mistakes" I'm talking about wouldn't even be noticed by anyone apart from musicologists, and I mean musicologists who would understand what was (supposed to be) going on far more precisely than any actual musicologists ever do. Normally if I have to do something over a second time it's an improvement on the first, because the second time I really know what I'm doing. Or at least I feel as if I do. The problem over the last few days is that, aside from working in detail on something that's my main focus of attention, I'm in touch with two different ensembles regarding future projects for which there need to be fairly concrete proposals for commission-funding organisations. Yesterday I sent one of them an outline for a 45-minute "cycle" of pieces to include some material that already exists, in completion of something that's been on the go for a few years already, although until yesterday I hadn't thought much about how the final assembly of the components would be arranged, so what I sent was a bit schematic, and then last night I had a much better idea as to how it all fits together so today I sent them a different outline, but it didn't seem to make much sense to them as a commissioning proposal so then I had to simplify it again so that it would be more palatable as a proposal for a "new work"... so today I feel like a composer of little brain.

[Joseph K]

I've been asked to play the guitar (instead of my choir hiring a lutenist!) part of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE02ihscjJo

Which is roughly what you see on the lower stave. It's not hard... there are no chords. But I reckon I'll still be nervous when it comes down to it.

[MrGongGong]

Balloons

[Joseph K]

I've been asked to play the guitar (instead of my choir hiring a lutenist!) part of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE02ihscjJo

Which is roughly what you see on the lower stave. It's not hard... there are no chords. But I reckon I'll still be nervous when it comes down to it.

Slightly annoying that the recording is in Baroque pitch and thus I cannot play along with it...

[Richard Barrett]

Slightly annoying that the recording is in Baroque pitch and thus I cannot play along with it...

Why not download the audio and change the pitch?

[vinteuil]

Slightly annoying that the recording is in Baroque pitch and thus I cannot play along with it...

.

Why not download the audio and change the pitch?

.

... or, perhaps easier? - can you not re-tune your guitar?


.

[Joseph K]

Why not download the audio and change the pitch?

No idea how. I mean I saw an erstwhile friend download something from youtube once so I could try and rack my memory... but then I wouldn't know how to change the pitch...

I could retune I suppose... bit of a hassle though...

[Richard Barrett]

No idea how. I mean I saw an erstwhile friend download something from youtube once so I could try and rack my memory... but then I wouldn't know how to change the pitch...

Have a look in your Facebook messages!

[vinteuil]

.

... I have precious little hair to tear out - BUT - surely it's easier to re-tune your guitar rather than fiddling with the audio software???

.

[Richard Barrett]

surely it's easier to re-tune your guitar rather than fiddling with the audio software???

Retuning may be easier, but the audio fiddling only needs to be done once!

[Bryn]

Have a look in your Facebook messages!

Or simply have a look at https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/change_pitch.html if you have or could download and install the free Audacity audio editor.

[vinteuil]

.

[ ... I s'pose my time spent in the Early Music world accustoms me to the thought of instrumentalists having to re-tune their instruments up and down all the time to fit in with whatever gig was afoot... ]

.

[Joseph K]

Richard sent me the mp3 of the piece in standard pitch. Problem solved.

Retuning is ok... I am used to drop D tuning, and many Dowland pieces use lute tuning (tuning the G string down to F sharp). But I won't retune for the actual performance and now I have the mp3, hassle averted.