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Richard Clements (atonal)
12-23-2004, 04:45 AM
To begin with, I’d like to congratulate Mark on the release of COMPOSER. It’s a testimonial to what professional integrity and musical vision can produce. As a long time user of MidiNotate, I can appreciate the added capabilities and enhancements that have gone into this very versatile
product.

Having a tool such as COMPOSER now enables me to view the musical creation/production process from a completely new perspective. One that is more centered around me, the individual user, than tied to, (dependent upon) the many independent and autonomous processes that support the commercial music creation process. I can now create music for me, and with complete dependence upon me. What a freedom !

In one of my previous lives, I had spent almost 30 years in the Hollywood studios as a professional composer-conductor-arranger in Television, Film and records. I had become intimately aware of the many ‘serial’ processes that both control and impede the music creation/production process. The studios are what they are. You either adapt or you move on
( ..or are moved on ). They have evolved using this serial process because it was the most efficient way to distribute the many localized processes that were required to get from point A to point Z in a very short amount of time. The drawback was in that very efficiency itself. The serial nature of the process of musical creation. .. i.e., Sketching, Composition, Orchestration, Copying, Changing of the film, Changing of the score, changing of the parts, more changing of the film, more changing of the score, re-orchestration, new parts, …..

And ALL of this under the ever present control ( and inflexible demands ) of ‘time constraints’ driven always by fixed budgets. I can remember many, many times I would be watching one of my weekly television series at home, and at the commercial break, see the trailer for the next weeks episode, and I hadn’t even finished writing for that episode yet ! Courier services would appear at my front door every 4 hours to pick up the most recently completed cues ( small sections of music that are played behind scenes ), copyists would be waiting for more parts to copy, contractors would be scrutinizing the scores for any additional required musicians for the recording session, or needed instrument doubles. As often as I did this over the years, I never completely divorced himself from the fact that I was a ‘link’ in a process. My friends and family saw me as a ‘composer’, while quite often my reality was labeled as ‘link C’ in the giant chain of ‘Music-Biz’ ..

I no longer work in the studios, but I still write music for myself. With Mark’s COMPOSER, I can finally move from that serial process into the center of a new circle, a circle that surrounds me with options for sketching, composing, arranging, orchestrating, part and score creation, and most importantly ‘changes along the way’ that are not dependent upon other links !

I have come to appreciate the very personal, private process of creating music. My time spent in music, composing, can now be a broader gesture of expression rather than a calculated commitment to specific objectives. All I need now do is invite myself to the process, and the once serial ‘string’ can now be tied into a ‘circle of choices and control’.

Let me touch again on the concept of ‘changes’. Making significant changes to deadline driven, commercial music is a luxury that few of us had in any great quantity. How often we would say, ‘if I had more time and didn’t need to get the sketch/score to the copyists, I would have changed that particular section of music’, or at the very least, ‘I wish I could have experimented a little more with this part of the score’. With COMPOSER, I have that freedom, with the added flexibility of still being able to complete the other necessary processes,… processes that are now under my control and surround me, .. rather than the knock on the door by the courier service from the studios wanting to pick up yet another ‘chunk’ of music cues to feed the impatient copyists. Granted, many of these constraints were (are) part of the commercial music business, and I no longer have to be controlled by them, nevertheless, the idea that I can now use COMPOSER as a circular piece of string, with me at the center, is a tremendous advantage for someone who wants to just enjoy creating music, and have it played with the minimal amount of development burdens.


There is a very subtle distinction between creating music and generating music. Often times, the later is the dominant driving force, primary motive when one is immersed in deadline driven commercial TV or Films. I view new tools such as COMPOSER as invaluable aids in enhancing the former choice. I don’t ever remember a time when I didn’t feel a need ( desire ) to go back and change something or experiment with different approaches. I honestly can’t remember too many times when I ‘actually did that’. With commercial television, one learns not so much to write what works well, but one survives by learning to not write what doesn’t work. … another
( unfortunately) important distinction.

And finally, there is the personal satisfaction and enjoyment that comes from sitting in front of a ‘sonic’ pallet , having all of these different ‘tools’ and ‘aids to coloring’ in front of you, and being in complete control. I need to remember that the journey is the reward, not always the destination.
And with COMPOSER, the next step is only ‘one’ step away.

Richard Clements

Mark Walsen (markwa)
12-23-2004, 07:04 AM
Hello Richard,

Thank you for your congratulations on the October release of MidiNotate Composer 1.0, and for sharing your perspective on using Composer given your experience of 30 years of professional composing in Hollywood.

MidiNotate Composer was originally conceived many years ago as a tool for use during the process of creating music. Your views on Composer emphasize the cyclic nature of composing, which Composer was indeed designed to support.

That you now have the freedom to write music that meet your own goals, rather than that of a film or T.V. script, puts you in good company with many of the participants in this forum, and other MidiNotate Composers in general. Like you, many of us find that music is an important part of our lives.

Unlike you, very few of us have composed professionally. I hope that you will revisit the forum and share with us stories about what it is like composing scores for film and T.V., as you have already done in your first post above.

Welcome to the forum! And thanks for your interesting post.

Cheers
-- Mark

P.S. For other readers of this message, I should note here that Richard first offered me a review of a beta release of MidiNotate Composer about 11 months ago. So, Richard's above post was not a complete surprise to me.

Jaap Veneman (jaapv)
12-23-2004, 10:10 AM
Richard,

Very much welcome in this forum also from my site. Also I appreciate your introduction greatly giving us a little insight in the processes behind the big studio production walls.

With another member, with so much experience bringing into the forum, definitely will support Mark to further enhance the great Composing tool with a view on practical features and improvements and benefit a growing number of users of this very versatile product.

I'm convinced all of us in the forum are looking forward to hear and learn more from you and may be hear some of your music now produced in full freedom.


Cheers Jaap

Sherry Crann (sherry)
12-23-2004, 01:46 PM
Howdy Richard,

A warm welcome to the forum from the Frozen Thumb of Michigan http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif (we're under a blizzard warning right now).

I really appreciated your insights and comparisons/contrasts with music composition. I, too, am looking forward to hearing more of your experiences, and your current methods, too. I find stories to be an inspiring way of communicating. I homeschool our kids, and use stories often to help them learn, and I also learn in the process.

It sounds as if you're able to enjoy making music very much in your own terms now, and that IS a wonderful thing. I've not really had any official musical training in my life (other than by osmosis as I participated in other groups), yet music has always been very important to me. From my perspective, using Composer has given me a means to get down on paper what floats around in my head, and to be able to share that more effectively with others.

Music is one powerful tool, isn't it? But we all knew that http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif

Christmas blessings!
Sherry

David Jacklin (dj)
12-23-2004, 08:29 PM
And welcome from the other end of the same blizzard warning, near Ottawa, Ontario.

I'd be interested in hearing some "war stories", Richard. 30 years in the music end of show-biz must have left you with a wealth of them!

Happy Christmas.

David

Fred Winterling (harbor1)
12-29-2005, 04:39 PM
Also welcome from the "no blizzard" zone in southern Virginia. Our last blizzard was 1/2". (and everybody down here was afraid to drive in it).
What an interesting background! Count me as another who would love to hear your work.
Merry Christmas,
Fred Winterling

Richard Clements (atonal)
12-29-2005, 05:01 PM
Fred,
Nice to hear from you.

We here in So Calif not only are affraid ( confused is a better term ) to drive in weather that is below 75 degrees, but most out here get very 'nervous' ( neurotic ) even watching other parts of the country on TV that have less than 'glamorous' weather conditions, certain that we are next in line for unpublicized notice ...

We've got 'em all out here, ( unfortunately ), and there's very little need to turn on TV to watch a comedy.

-- richard

Mark Walsen (markwa)
12-29-2005, 05:38 PM
Hello Fred and Richard,

I think Fred was reading your post, Richard, from 12 months ago, and thought it was a post from a few days ago. This sort of reminds me Christmas card exchanges with friends of the long past, where the conversation goes back and forth in 12-month increments.

Happy New Year!

Cheers
-- Mark

Richard Clements (atonal)
12-29-2005, 06:51 PM
Mark & Fred ...

I have, fortunately, reached the point where anything within 12 months IS current for me.

-- richard

Fred Winterling (harbor1)
12-29-2005, 07:22 PM
Hi Mark,

My wife just told me when you are as old as I am, you're not supposed to know what day it is!
> Fred

Richard Clements (atonal)
12-29-2005, 07:36 PM
MArk,
Did you get my earlier email from this morning about problems getting the updates to 1.1.x Composer ?

- richard

Mark Walsen (markwa)
12-30-2005, 09:40 PM
Hello Richard,

Your email probably got thrown out among 1500 spam emails I get every day. It's really hard for me to find good emails among the spam unless the subject line is obviously personal, such as "problems getting updates to 1.1.x Composer" instead of "hello" or "problem". However, if you send the email to support@notation.com instead of my personal email, then I'll probably see it, because I get only about 200 spam emails a day at support@notation.com, and I review them much more closely.

Please send me your email again to support@notation.com. Or, add it as a post in this forum.

Sorry I lost it.

Cheers
-- Mark