Friday, April 20, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Naomi's Theme
(Click me ^)
Naomi is the main character in a fantasy trilogy I am writing. She loves music, she sings, and her forte is in piano. I wrote book 1 in 2009, and started book 2 for NaNoWriMo in November (2011). Sometime during then I sat down at the piano and thought, if Naomi had a theme, like in a movie, what would it be like?
I actually came up with the main melody sometime last year, but I had not written it down or recorded it and thus forgot it. Recently, while hiking, I started humming a tune and realized it was this one. As I started working through ideas for Naomi's theme, I once again spontaneously remember this tune, and it influenced what I came up with.
I don't know if it was because I had an idea behind the meaning of the piece, or what, but it came swiftly to hand. I had the basic elements after a couple short piano sessions, and only had to iron out the order and some specific parts. It's still not completely finished, there are a couple of places I play differently every time, as I am still seeking the perfect progression.
In working to develop Naomi as a strong character, I'm glad she has a theme, and hope you will like it as I do.
Naomi is the main character in a fantasy trilogy I am writing. She loves music, she sings, and her forte is in piano. I wrote book 1 in 2009, and started book 2 for NaNoWriMo in November (2011). Sometime during then I sat down at the piano and thought, if Naomi had a theme, like in a movie, what would it be like?
I actually came up with the main melody sometime last year, but I had not written it down or recorded it and thus forgot it. Recently, while hiking, I started humming a tune and realized it was this one. As I started working through ideas for Naomi's theme, I once again spontaneously remember this tune, and it influenced what I came up with.
I don't know if it was because I had an idea behind the meaning of the piece, or what, but it came swiftly to hand. I had the basic elements after a couple short piano sessions, and only had to iron out the order and some specific parts. It's still not completely finished, there are a couple of places I play differently every time, as I am still seeking the perfect progression.
In working to develop Naomi as a strong character, I'm glad she has a theme, and hope you will like it as I do.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Dancing Clown
(Click me ^)
I came up with this song while still working on Dark Sea. It's rather short, so I'm still trying to expand on it, but I like how it is now.
(Not to say I didn't make mistakes in the recording, or that all parts have been ironed out.)
I came up with this song while still working on Dark Sea. It's rather short, so I'm still trying to expand on it, but I like how it is now.
(Not to say I didn't make mistakes in the recording, or that all parts have been ironed out.)
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Dark Sea
(Click me ^)
Hello cyberspace, I'm celebrating the new year by posting one of those pieces I promised :)
I composed the basic elements of this piece sometime in the summer or last spring and have been developing it since. It's not completely finished yet, in fact there is a part at the end I just figured out as I was working on recording the song.
By the way, the name is subject to change, I just needed something to call the songs for my notes.
I hope you enjoy Dark Sea.
Composition notes:
I have two requirements for piano music. 1) It must sound cool and/or pretty. 2) It must be fun to play. And that is how I compose. I also get this strange idea that the music should be more complicated (but still fun), so sometimes I'll change things around in order to do that.
Also, I did not have a metronome until the recently-passed Christmas, so I have not practiced my pieces with a metronome and did not record with a metronome.
Recording notes:
I recorded this (and the next two pieces) using my little sister's awesome electric piano, with Garageband. If anyone has recommendations for music notation software for Mac, I'm looking desperately. Garageband does a pretty good job, but it doesn't let me control the sheet music (notation) very well. I've tried Intuem 4, which is basically the same as Intuem 2 except they want me to buy the upgrade (and the UI is a little prettier, but it's not a great program, and there are no tutorials). I also tried a few free apps, but, you know, you get what you pay for. Next I will try out the Finale series of applications and see if one of those fits my needs.
Having used a computer since I was about 3, and now working in the Software industry, I find myself really picky about applications. I'd like all apps to basically be like Scrivener, which is a word-processing application designed for writers of all sorts. The first time I opened Scrivener I could use it and all of its basic word-processing features. It has an interactive tutorial that effectively teaches you the advanced features, it also has video tutorials, and it comes with a great (PDF) manual for all the complicated things you want to do. That, I say, is a good application. If people like those at Literature & Latte created a piece of music notation software, I bet it would be the best.
(Note, I don't have anything to do with Literature & Latte, but I do write, and I love Scrivener over all other writing and word-processing applications I have tried.)
So if you detect a hint of frustration in the music, it's possibly the failed software tryouts, or dealing with a foreign piano, or being out of my home environment at a place where there are people who won't just let me sit at a piano for 3 hours (they expect me to be social or something, especially on Christmas Eve, silly right?).
This will be a great new year!
Hello cyberspace, I'm celebrating the new year by posting one of those pieces I promised :)
I composed the basic elements of this piece sometime in the summer or last spring and have been developing it since. It's not completely finished yet, in fact there is a part at the end I just figured out as I was working on recording the song.
By the way, the name is subject to change, I just needed something to call the songs for my notes.
I hope you enjoy Dark Sea.
Composition notes:
I have two requirements for piano music. 1) It must sound cool and/or pretty. 2) It must be fun to play. And that is how I compose. I also get this strange idea that the music should be more complicated (but still fun), so sometimes I'll change things around in order to do that.
Also, I did not have a metronome until the recently-passed Christmas, so I have not practiced my pieces with a metronome and did not record with a metronome.
Recording notes:
I recorded this (and the next two pieces) using my little sister's awesome electric piano, with Garageband. If anyone has recommendations for music notation software for Mac, I'm looking desperately. Garageband does a pretty good job, but it doesn't let me control the sheet music (notation) very well. I've tried Intuem 4, which is basically the same as Intuem 2 except they want me to buy the upgrade (and the UI is a little prettier, but it's not a great program, and there are no tutorials). I also tried a few free apps, but, you know, you get what you pay for. Next I will try out the Finale series of applications and see if one of those fits my needs.
Having used a computer since I was about 3, and now working in the Software industry, I find myself really picky about applications. I'd like all apps to basically be like Scrivener, which is a word-processing application designed for writers of all sorts. The first time I opened Scrivener I could use it and all of its basic word-processing features. It has an interactive tutorial that effectively teaches you the advanced features, it also has video tutorials, and it comes with a great (PDF) manual for all the complicated things you want to do. That, I say, is a good application. If people like those at Literature & Latte created a piece of music notation software, I bet it would be the best.
(Note, I don't have anything to do with Literature & Latte, but I do write, and I love Scrivener over all other writing and word-processing applications I have tried.)
So if you detect a hint of frustration in the music, it's possibly the failed software tryouts, or dealing with a foreign piano, or being out of my home environment at a place where there are people who won't just let me sit at a piano for 3 hours (they expect me to be social or something, especially on Christmas Eve, silly right?).
This will be a great new year!
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