Topic: Greg's Gazebo

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Greg, change the name of this thread to "Greg's Gazebo".

You started the thread, so you have the power.

Make it so.

Everything is going to be OK.

Gazebafy this thread, Greg!

[Greg]

ok, look at the opening post, i have all my stuff there 

[js bach]

How 'bout a gazebo?

[Cato]

i looked that book up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktor_Faustus

that sounds like a fun book!  Next time i go to the library, i'll see if they have it.
that's cool 

but yeah, that's just how it seems these days, i haven't written anything in almost a year, but i've had an idea every once few months, except i'd write something down and then erase it! 
the two main problems are: 1) i'm starting to compose at the piano instead of the guitar 2) using 4 staves instead of 2 when i attempt something orchestral

i've solved #2, deciding from now on to stick to two staves (it can be done, although a lot of information might be left out in some sections, and i have to do stuff like never write octaves, whatever to save space). The solution to #1 is to just learn how to play the piano much better; i've been playing through Prokofiev's sonatas and have gotten a lot better since a long time ago, though still i can play very little at full speed. And playing his stuff is fuuuuuuuuuuun!!!! 

so, i might just practice the piano for a few months and pick up where i left off (bar 2 lol)

Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus is a very musical and a very German book, even though it was written in exile in California.

Schoenberg hated the thing!  Supposedly when he happened to see one of his ex-patriate friends in an L.A. grocery store and the topic of this book came up he intoned with incense "I'll have you know I have never had syphilis!"  That Thomas Mann was baffled by his reaction, since the book is more about Germany and its history as seen through a fictitious composer who is clearly not Schoenberg (except for that composing technique) goes without saying.

That explains the note at the end of the text, which is written also in Mann's ironic high style.

Anyway: on composing I always found two staves restricting, and most of the time used at least 4 staves, if not 6 or 8, depending on the size of the work.  And then it was on to the orchestral paper.

One of my former students graduated from the Mozarteum in Salzburg and is now a professor of piano: Prokofiev sonatas are his specialty.

It is usually good to have Prokofiev at your fingertips!

[mahlertitan]

interesting compositions, maybe i should upload some of mine too..

[Greg]

How 'bout a gazebo?

alrighty then, if you and Karl want a Gazebo, i'll give you one 

interesting compositions, maybe i should upload some of mine too..

Go ahead! I'd love to hear! 

Anyway: on composing I always found two staves restricting, and most of the time used at least 4 staves, if not 6 or 8, depending on the size of the work.  And then it was on to the orchestral paper.

or maybe i could do as much as possible with 2 staves and then add whatever i could on a couple other blank staves so i don't forget all the other stuff i want to add (but the first two staves would be something that i could play through myself, with just 2 hands)
probably this is closer to how most composers work, when i was writing with 4, the 1st staff might have writing, the 2nd might be blank, and the 3rd might have writing- it was very confusing to look at

One of my former students graduated from the Mozarteum in Salzburg and is now a professor of piano: Prokofiev sonatas are his specialty.

It is usually good to have Prokofiev at your fingertips!

sweeet 

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Did Night morph into Opus 12?  What came of Opus 11?

[js bach]

alrighty then, if you and Karl want a Gazebo, i'll give you one 

 

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Ah! I am now briefed!

i added that piece that is based off of Terry Riley's In C as op.11, "We'll C" (yep, i just thought of the title)
so if my next opus is called "Night", it'll be op.12, that's why i changed the thread name

[Greg]

i'm writing down Blather Lather, op.6 and Opassa Beach, op.8, and also the rest of Outside the Village

i didn't like how Blather Lather sounds, though- the structure just isn't right, i'm combining it into one movement this time.
Opassa Beach is a string trio which barely makes it to the second page

when this will all be done, who knows, it may be awhile. But it will surely feel good to have all of my compositions in one neat little package, all complete! 

[Greg]

good news!
but first let me start off by saying a couple of things i did before last night with my music.
1) worked more on Blather Lather, more specifically, just kept the theme from the beginning of the second movement to develop, mainly throughout, erasing basically the whole thing besides that. I don't have too much of it written yet, but i don't expect the piece to be longer than 4 or 5 minutes.
2) this is a bit crazy- but i designated my "95 measures in 4/4 time" (with my electric guitar playing over a looped drum track) as op.12!  I didn't think it would be a bad thing to do, really, even though it isn't exactly "classical", but it's something that could easily be written out as a score- some time eventually i will write out the score, it'd be easy. The guitar part is easy to write, and for the drums, i'd just have to write one bar and then write "play 95 times" lol

the main point, though, is that i got so tired of not being able to compose that i just went for it. Took my guitar, started writing in Noteworthy like I used to. op.13, Night. I was just messing around on guitar when i came up for the opening line, the contrabasses playing pp, s.p., tremolo, (in the lowest register) Bb for a half note duration, G for a half note duration, F# for a half note duration. Then everything started from there, i ended up writing over a minute in one sitting! 

i set it up as a string quintet (vn 1, vn 2, va, vc, vb) and intended it to be an orchestral score, but now i'm going to try to see if i can set it up using an orchestral template cuz hearing it as a string quintet and imagining it played by orchestra really sux. Anyways, I'm extremely satisfied with this minute i've written so far, the only thing i have to do now is avoid my #1 mistake, moving on to new ideas too quickly. And now I know more than ever how to do that.

so what is "Night" about? i've taken inspiration writing this from a dream i had a few days ago, it was like a nightmare in a totally 100% untraditional sense. I had the soft joyous melodies of Prokofiev's Cello Sonata playing while I found something that made me sick (and is probably happening in real life anyways  ). The music "underneath" all of this I guess you could say is this piece, Night. I want it to represent the truth, extreme moodyness, confusion, and a desire to escape, all in a neoRomantic idiom. And I've gotten off to a great start 

[Greg]

just orchestrated the first minute 

please ignore the last couple of seconds, starting at the 1 minute mark, those are just a few bars i'm working on that i haven't filled in yet

i think it's a nice, dark intro that's a cross between the opening of Mahler's 3rd and Schubert's Unfinished. Every time I listen I'm really excited, it's simple now, but I haven't written anything like this before- later when it gets to the more complex parts, i really won't be able to wait! 

[Greg]

made a few slight changes in the clip, w/volume and stuff...
but after that first minute, what to do next has been extremely hard today. It's not a problem of writing in general, just ideas- i don't want it to jump to the next idea, yet i also don't want it stay too much the same, because it can get boring and lead into a sound harmonically that i don't want. I've written, now, 3 different plans today for the next few bars, but every time i go over it and play it again i seriously don't know what to think. The littlest thing can make such a big impact that it turns the whole thing into a direction i don't like, i guess i just have to be careful and keep on coming up with ideas until i find one that i'm absolutely satisfied with, as satisfied as i am with the 1st minute 

[js bach]

It's not a problem of writing in general, just ideas- i don't want it to jump to the next idea, yet i also don't want it stay too much the same, because it can get boring and lead into a sound harmonically that i don't want.

Go for a long walk ........ preferably in the forests and countrysides of Germany and Austria ..........

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

... preferably in the forests and countrysides of Germany and Austria ..........

Don't do it, Greg! 

[Greg]

Go for a long walk ........ preferably in the forests and countrysides of Germany and Austria ..........

 
that would be the perfect thing to do, but..... one day

i'll go for a walk here in my Florida neighborhood, after i meet my little brother at the bus stop in a few minutes. i guess that's the second best option 

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Listen to the song the alligators sing . . . .

[Greg]

Listen to the song the alligators sing . . . .

op.14 What the Alligators Tell Me 

[js bach]

op.14 What the Alligators Tell Me 

Make it so.

[Greg]

i got past the 1' mark safely.....
but now something is happening that is just wrong. Every time i try to open my .nwc file, it doesn't open- just has an error message, "this file failed to open. It may not exist or may be corrupted."

i added this 4-note bass line that transitions the music to the next section that's really, really striking, it's somewhat Shostakovich-like. But when i saved the MIDI file, it doesn't even get there. It stops a few bars before that. And what's weird is when i play back, sometimes the bass line doesn't even play at all, SOMETIMES. It's totally random. and how can playback be random, that doesn't make sense 

when i get it up again, i'd like some thoughts about how i transition the music using this bass line. Is it too soon or no? but of course, i have to rewrite the whole score and figure out how to do stuff that i have no idea how i pulled off, thanks piece of junk program