Notation Software Users Forum  


Go Back   Notation Software Users Forum > Musician community sharing > Share Your Music

Share Your Music Share your .not or .mid files of your arrangements or compositions.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-04-2011, 05:40 PM
rrayner rrayner is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 897
Default When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

I would like to dedicate this score to the memory of Mark Walsen, the creator of the amazing Notation software.

This score is the offshoot of a duet of the same name that I had posted on the "Learning and Teaching" pieces Forum last year. If you're interested in that background, please visit that thread.

This is a break in my original intentions. I had planned to put into Composer all of my previously written pieces from my USAF Band days. However, after having written the Recorder Duet and playing it a number of times with my wife, Cynthia, I decided to develop my jazz band version of the song.

One anomaly on my PC's sound card -- the drum roll in the intro sounds like a swish. However, it plays as a drum roll on my midi device.

I've tried something new in this score. I've always enjoyed rhythm guitar in a big band, particularly as played by Freddie Green in the old Count Basie bands. So, I think I've approximated the sound here, at least for electronic music. The letter-form chords are included also, as the written voicings, while musically correct, may break the guitarist's wrist in moving from one to another. I dabbled many years ago with guitar, but I have not tried out the musical flow of these voicings. I hope to improve my knowledge in this area in the future. So many songs to write....

I feel like I've captured the spirit of this song, at least to my liking. I hope you find something of value here to help to expand your musical horizons.

In closing, I'd like to thank Mark Walsen for providing me a means of expressing myself in music and a special thanks to Sherry Cran and all of the forum respondents who have encouraged me along the way. Hopefully, we will continue on.

Ralph Rayner
Attached Files
File Type: not When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.not (1.04 MB, 25 views)
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-04-2011, 06:52 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
Product Manager
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Bad Axe, MI, USA (The Tip of the Thumb of Michigan)
Posts: 2,556
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Howdy Ralph,

Fabulous!

I really enjoyed listening to this piece, and hearing how you used so many tools that really enhance the performance. Mark would be proud of that. And the arrangement - wowza! Now on my playlist

As for the drums, I have a feeling I know what's up. When I checked the staff settings for the drums, it was a "manually entered" bank. I suspect your Clavinova has a "special" drum set/bank that has that drum roll "instrument" (pseudo-pitch) in it, which is not a part of the General MIDI specification. Thus, that same pseudo-pitch which gives such a nice drum roll on the Clavinova gives only a swish (or in my case, squelch) in GM (general MIDI). I used Staff/Split drums, and set that particular drum instrument to a simple acoustic snare, and it's much more fitting, though not as nice as the drum roll I'm sure you have in mind for that.

Thanks for sharing this piece with us. I love hearing your arrangements, and they do inspire me personally to learn new things. I noticed you left the piano open to the player. Mark was working to learn how to improv, and he really wanted to learn how to play jazz, so it's a fitting bit there, even if it's not what you really left the piano open for

It is also my desire for Notation Software and our community here to continue. I'm a part-owner of the company (Mark was the majority stockholder), and Mark's family has indicated that they want me to figure substantially in the decision about what to do with the business. I will do my best to ensure that support and further development do continue - Mark was always concerned about ongoing support for our customers in the event of any changes. I'm praying for wisdom in all this. Any decisions will not be for a little while, though, as Mark's family are dealing with a lot of items right now, and I'm trying to give them as much room as they need for that. I'll keep everyone posted in the announcements section as to what transpires.

Peace to us all,
Sherry
__________________
Music is to the soul like water is to green growing things.
__________________________________
http://www.beanfieldcastle.net/music.html
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-04-2011, 08:33 PM
rrayner rrayner is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 897
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Hi Sherry,

As always, thank you for your kind comments. You're right on the drum point -- I have taken the approach of finding what sounds good instrument-wise on the Clavinova, and then I peer under her covers to see what midi device settings she uses. I carry that back to my Notation Composer PC and plug in the midi device settings, which, of course, don't always agree with my PC's sound card.

I thought about attaching a .wav file, but I see that it is not one of the acceptable file types -- plus, it's almost 58MB.

Ralph
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-04-2011, 09:53 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
Product Manager
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Bad Axe, MI, USA (The Tip of the Thumb of Michigan)
Posts: 2,556
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Hi Ralph,

Re. the .wav file - here's a WAV to mp3 converter that just came up -
http://download.cnet.com/Free-WAV-to...-10851477.html

It's free, and is supposed to give you options for converting .wav files to .mp3 files. If you have any problems getting an upload to the forum, just let me know.

Peace,
Sherry
__________________
Music is to the soul like water is to green growing things.
__________________________________
http://www.beanfieldcastle.net/music.html
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-05-2011, 10:12 PM
rrayner rrayner is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 897
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Thanks, Sherry. I tried the conversion, and the resultant MP3 file is less than 10% of the original WAV file. As would be expected, there is nowhere near the depth of sound on the MP3, but it is still a fairly good representation of the MIDI/WAV files. However, when I tried to attach it here, the upload failed. The compressed file is about 5.2 KB.

BTW, I'm very relieved to hear that you are talking to Mark's family about continuing on with his legacy. Losing Mark is devastating. Losing the product, that he so lovingly created, would be very sad. I, and I'm sure, others, have spent a lot of time, with your help, learning how to use Composer, and I for one would not look forward to having to start over again with a different application. Or, for that matter, losing the wonderful support that you have provided.

Ralph
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 02-05-2011, 10:44 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
Product Manager
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Bad Axe, MI, USA (The Tip of the Thumb of Michigan)
Posts: 2,556
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Hi Ralph (and everyone else),

Ralph, please try the mp3 upload again. I've just added that extension type for uploading. (We'd had issues in the past about filesizes, but from what I can tell now we don't need to worry about that so much these days.)

I agree that it would be a tremendous thing to be able to keep Mark's legacy alive in at least respect to the musical vision of his software. There are a number of possibilities at this point, and one of the things that we (his family and I) will be looking at in the coming weeks and months is how we can best achieve that. I'll certainly keep everyone posted about what's happening as I find out.

Peace,
Sherry
__________________
Music is to the soul like water is to green growing things.
__________________________________
http://www.beanfieldcastle.net/music.html
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 08-03-2011, 08:55 AM
floyd84s
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

I like song

Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 12-07-2011, 06:40 AM
amhoff amhoff is offline
Senior User
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Camarillo, CA
Posts: 2
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Ralph, a great arrangement, thank you for sharing with us.

Sherry, thanks for putting the video together and on You Tube.

Al Hoff
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 12-10-2011, 07:01 AM
mgj32 mgj32 is offline
Senior User
 
Join Date: Jan 1970
Posts: 117
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Ralph,
I've heard this in so many arrangements over the years that I thought surely there was nothing more that could be done with it. It is a pleasure to be proved wrong. The song is fresh again. The pictures in the video all seem appropriate, which like the music neither over nor understate the sentiment of the anticipated celebration. The ending, too, is just a statement, but the change in tone serves as a reminder that it has all been about anticipation of celebrating Johnny's return.
The song lives again for me thanks to you, and thanks to Sherry for the video.
all best,
mgj
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 12-11-2011, 11:58 PM
rrayner rrayner is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 897
Default Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Marv, Al & Floyd,

Thank all of you for your kind words. I would love to hear Johnny played live, but so far, I've not been able to generate any interest. And, of course, I've limited myself a little bit in live performance, as I wrote it for sax players who double on flute and soprano sax -- not a common practice.

Ralph
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again Duet rrayner "Learning and Teaching" pieces 2 03-11-2011 02:19 PM
New Notation Software Users Forum home Sherry C Announcements 5 07-24-2009 11:56 PM
Symphony 3 V Camping and Marching M G Jacobs (mgj32) Share Your Music 2 07-19-2009 12:41 AM


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:45 AM.


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