Notation Software Users Forum

Notation Software Users Forum (http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/index.php)
-   Share Your Music (http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3)
-   -   The Search for Nelly Gray, VIII Scherzo (http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/showthread.php?t=2915)

mgj32 11-29-2009 06:17 AM

The Search for Nelly Gray, VIII Scherzo
 
I have put this on Soundclick, but have included the .not or midi file because most soundfonts don't include Real Voice, so the soloists would sound, well, like the Synthvoice font sounds, and the Tam tam would be just a click.

The link is www.soundclick.com/mgjacobs . It is listed as Symphony 3/Nelly Gray/Section VIII, etc. I tried changing just the title of one piece on SC and found that I had to upload the music again and re-do lyrics. So my filing error remains.

The Civil War did not prevent the composition of humorous music, some dealing in some way with the war and some not. I have chosen three pieces for this section that deal with the war. The first two with difficulties both sides experienced with supply lines, and the third a fanciful song by H C Work, that is probably full of symbolism, if anybody likes to probe such things. It contains humor, but turns sentimental at the end when soldier and pet return home where all should end happily.

The answer to a question that one person has already asked is: goober peas are simply peanuts, picked too early to be roasted and put into the cans you find in stores, but eaten raw or boiled in a "green" state.

I'm not sure whether this sounds better than horse feed, or not. But both of the songs about hunger suggest something about the power of music, not to produce ham and eggs, but to provide a distraction from the empty stomach.

all best,
mgj

adrianallan 12-07-2009 10:08 PM

Re: The Search for Nelly Gray, VIII Scherzo
 
I had a listen to this piece and enjoyed what I heard. I applaud your persistence and all it takes to produce this epic work. I only hope one day you'll be able to listen to a real performance. :)

I'd really like to hear this on decent VSTs like East West, as I've said before as I think you capture the mood of the 19th Century very well indeed.

mgj32 12-09-2009 06:46 AM

Re: The Search for Nelly Gray, VIII Scherzo
 
Hi Adrian,

At my age chances of hearing a live performance are pretty slim. The only conductor I know, I got back in touch with quite a few years after we graduated, and it was the year he retired, so while I got to hear his last concert season, the season was free of his having to plan for the next one. I wish I had the time and energy to find out about VSTs, beyond the fact that they can make a great difference in sound.

all best,
mgj

Mark W 12-11-2009 05:58 AM

Re: The Search for Nelly Gray, VIII Scherzo
 
Hello MG,

It has been at least a year since I've tuned into your Symphony. It's a delight to see your progress with it.

In getting my arms around your Symphony, there are many intelligible common themes I hear. I quite agree with Adrian that the music captures the era of the Civil War. That is so, not just because the banjo is heard from time to time, although that is indeed a dead give-away.

One overall theme I "feel" in your Symphony is that it generally seems to portray a sort of "massive" perspective on the Civil War. I hear a whole lot going on. If this were a play or theater, it would be like the stage often had the full cast of characters, or many of them, out there at once, rather than just a couple at a time. Even if the dialog is only between two main characters in the foreground, I see (hear) lots of other background characters, "extras", filling in the scene, providing depth. Perhaps I'm biased thinking about the Civil War, because it has always felt "massive" to me. But more so, I think I'm hearing it this way because of the use of poly-harmony: often more than 4 tones out of the 12-tone scale are heard at a time. This conveys the feelings of many voices, lots of characters, lots of things going on.

However, maybe I'm not hearing it right. What role does the poly-harmony have in the music, from your composer's point of view? What does the poly-harmony "say" that clearly differentiates what this music from what it would sound like if it were written in single tonality harmony? It seems to me that changing it from poly-harmony to single tonality would be like sanitizing and hiding the horrors of the Civil War, which would be contradictory to your intentions, if I understand them.

Cheers
-- Mark

mgj32 12-11-2009 07:20 AM

Re: The Search for Nelly Gray, VIII Scherzo
 
Hi Mark,

You are pretty much dead on . . . well, except that I began to decide way back during work on section II, "Patriots," that "symphony" wouldn't quite fit once it was done, as it is about 2/3 now. I am calling it an oratorio. It technically fits, but I can't recall having heard anything with quite the same structure. The central story, which is totally absent from some sections, is built on the mostly historical Benjamin Hanby song, "My Darling Nelly Gray." I have called Joseph Selby, the run-away slave, Ned, but it is otherwise historical. I am taking certain liberties, as having him join the Ohio Colored Regiment, his description of the battle, and that the Ohio was on its way to Richmond is something I haven't verified. But Hanby took certain liberties, too, ending his song with Ned (Joseph) find Nelly in heaven. I am still not entirely certain just how my version of this story will end. I do know that in the "Love in Time of War" section he believe he has traveled back in time to the Kentucky shore, and will settle into life as a handy man after the war.

But the love story is, in a sense secondary, though as well as being a love story, it provides a justification for the war. . . IF you are on the Union side. But if you are on the Southern side, justification and attitudes are quite different. Note the accusation against the North, in "God Save the South," that they intend to "fetter the free man/to ransom the slave."

Thus, the background is intended to be the attitudes of the war and the method is to let each side speak for itself through it's music, which I try to keep balanced, with each section treating one theme common to both sides. Pretty simple, but it, indeed, results in a massive cast of characters. Hopefully, when Ned imagines Nelly is walking beside him as his unit, having buried its dead, marches up the mountain pass, one would imagine his weary comrades marching beside him, especially when his vision of Nelly admonishes him not to speak with his mouth--and incidentally indicates that Ned still knows what's going on around him. Fortunately, it will require only one orchestra, one chorus, but several soloists.

The reason for the poly-harmonic sections, which are many, is just as you suggest. I like your term "sanitizing." It is clear, if you read the words of enough of the music, that it can't be sanitized. I may have gone too far when I put the North and South in different keys as they sing, at the same time, "The Old Union/Southern Wagon," but I felt it was called for because it comes early enough to set the tone, I hope.

My fear of it flopping is mostly that there is so much to take in, and most people in our time aren't familiar with much of the incredible music the war produced, and a lot of the irony, often expressed in a single phrase, played or sung, will have no impact, as when Ned complains about what has happened to him and we hear the Southern Girl sing "we love the South you know." Or bits of "God Save the South" as Sherman scorches the earth of Georgia. But I've gone on with it so long, that it would be a shame to leave it hanging, so I doing the final research before starting "The Battle of the Bands." A frequent historical occurrence when the two sides were camped near enough to each other.

I regret that so much is not original. I haven't paid any attention to the way the original songs were harmonized, and perhaps the structure is something new, and I do some improvisation, and a few of the melodies and words of the dialogs are mine. But almost all of the melody, and of course the words, come from composer of the era. Even the brief requiem which will end it is a variation from the spiritual it starts out with.

Once I shake off laziness long enough to re-title and refile, the title will become "The Search for Nelly Gray." I think the third symphony will be strictly classical in form and it may not contain so much as a chord with a minor seventh, with no such thing as jumping from C Major to Ab Major (though I love the sound produced).

Thanks for the comments and all best,
mgj


All times are GMT. The time now is 03:30 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Notation Software Germany GmbH www.notation.com/Imprint.php