More Funk

I had so much fun with the funk, I decided to take it south of the border. I did, however, stray from my trademark abrupt endings.

For some reason it didn't include the uploaded file. Here it is again:
Fred

<center><table border=1><tr><td>Funky Salsa
Funky Salsa.mid (114.3 k)</td></tr></table></center>

Hey Fred,
great piece! I like it somewhat better than your other "funkies". You did a good job making a dissonant ending without making it too dissonant. (Something I probably could never do.) I gotta ask, is this made from pre-made themes like the others, or is it original? Either way, it's very enjoyable.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for the compliment!
They are all "original". The themes for the others were extensions of old "riffs" I used to make up with other musicians "on the fly" while on the job ( jamming, so to speak ). They are as best as I can remember, but not necessarily exact, because they were simply spur of the moment improvs. The base of the pieces are started with the rhythm first, which usually come from bass and drum loops I have saved over time. I find something that fits what I am thinking and then mix in the themes. This time, though, I got brave and started writing some drum parts. I like to surprise myself. Glad you liked it!
Cheers,
Fred

Hi Fred,

Maybe with the martial beginning, it should be called Fred Victorious? It is certainly a very satisfying 4 minutes, which I liked even better than Funky Tonk. The sax solo with the guitar background I think is very well done. Are you considering this finished, or are you planning to take it further? I really enjoy the way you state that theme in the beginning and wouldn't mind hearing it repeated somewhere. But it does sound complete and coherent to me. I'd really like to hear your stuff live.

all best,
mgj

Hi M G,

Thank you! I really had a lot of fun doing it. I've never played much Latin in the past, so it was a bit of a challenge. However, the themes were somewhat easier to write because most of them simply follow the bass pattern and the trumpets and tromobones sort of answer each other. It did take about 50% longer to do than Funky Tonk, though. No, it is not really finished! I have already changed the trombones part in measures 42-50. My wife hated that section, and so did I, really. She said it sounded like foghorns, so I got rid of the tenor sax there and the sustained notes. I have also removed about 600 drum sounds that did nothing to help the song and the notation will be much cleaner.
The intro thing is just there because my wife likes bull fights. It won't be repeated elsewhere in the song. I did find a way to make the trumpets sound crisper, but it will take a long time to change the whole thing, so I think I will just save that sound for later pieces. Also, I recently came in touch with one of my old drummers. He could never read a lick, but is now a master at reading. He is providing me with a lot of tips on how to write drum parts on the keyboard. I have a chart with all the sounds, but it is slow going. Lots of fun, though! I would like to get back to doing some more ballads. I have drifted away from that lately, I'm thinking about a samba. Thanks again for the encouragement!
Cheers,
Fred

It always takes me a few listenings to fully appreciate how good a song is. Yes, I agree about the trombones and am glad that you will change it. But I just have to write once more that this is a fantastic piece of music.
~Daniel

Hello Fred,

Some pro writing and playing going on in your Funky Salsa, such as the sax solo starting measure #32. Did you improvise that at your MIDI keyboard? It's a quite convincing sax melody.

Nice work.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi Daniel,
Thank you! I really appreciate that you like it. I changed the trombones at measure 42-50 and also removed a ton of drum notes that were unnecessary, but I had an internal error problem when I saved the file and lost it all. I did change the trombones again but I am still working on the drums. I'll upload a revised file when it is completed. I still don't like the trombone part I re-did but it beats the sustained notes. I had to put something there to fill up the space to make it correct meter wise.
Cheers,
FRed

HI Mark!
Thank you! Yes, the sax solo is a keyboard improv. but not as a complete 24 bar solo. I made a separate file of just guitar, bass and drums and recorded measure after measure using the tenor sax selection on the keyboard to get the feel. I actually played the the rhythm over and over and sat there and sang parts before playing them. The solo was done in sections. I think there were (2) 4 bar sections and (2) 8 bar sections pasted together. 90% of the song was surprisingly easy. The sax solo (and pitch bends) took more than half the time of the whole song and the pitch bends drove me nuts. I made at least 100 pitch bends and copy and pasted the good ones. Some I copied from the bass part, which I did not write, and then put the notes in. I think in the future I will stick to grace notes and 16ths to get what I want instead of spending so much time on pitch bends. All in all, the song took about 120 hours and could have been done in about 40 or 50. Thanks again for the compliments.
Cheers,
Fred

Hello Fred,

The time you invested in Funky Salsa really shows. Of the 120 hours you spent on this, how would you estimate that you divided your times between these three things:

(1) composing/arranging independently of actually getting the notes down on paper or getting the sound right in the MIDI file

(2) getting the notes visually into Composer (whether by playing or mousing them in), and correcting the as-notated rhythms, accidentals, etc; and adding annotations

(3) tweaking the MIDI performance

If you have a more interesting way to break down how you spent your time, then I'd be interested in hearing that.

Your work here demonstrates well the saying that "composing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration". (But I hope Composer helps reduce the perspiration.)

Cheers
-- Mark

Howdy Fred,

You mentioned above that you lost a lot of work because of an internal error. If you have the "autosave" feature turned on, you should be able to retrieve a file that is within some few minutes (5 is the default) of what you ended up with.

When you open Composer, look in File/Autosave -- file recovery (for the beta) or File/Recover autosaved file (in 1.9.7), and you should be able to find a file with your filename-Recover.not. This should be the latest auto-saved file from your session.

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,
I always thought that the "recordng" file was the one I needed, but I have never been able to open that kind of file. You teach me something new every time. I found the file there and it will be a big help. Thanks!
Fred

Howdy Fred,

I'm glad it helped - I know that option has saved my skin more times than I care to mention, mostly from myself!

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Mark,

quote: The time you invested in Funky Salsa really shows. Of the 120 hours you spent on this, how would you estimate that you divided your times between these three things:

(1) composing/arranging independently of actually getting the notes down on paper or getting the sound right in the MIDI file

(2) getting the notes visually into Composer (whether by playing or mousing them in), and correcting the as-notated rhythms, accidentals, etc; and adding annotations

(3) tweaking the MIDI performance

If you have a more interesting way to break down how you spent your time, then I'd be interested in hearing that.

That's a little tough to answer because they are all different, but in referrence specifically to Funky Salsa, less time than usual was spent on the brass/trumpet and trombone/saxes parts. The break down would probably be pretty equal between the above 3 areas. In this case, though, the sax solo was a little longer conquest. I spent quite a while just playing the ryhthm over and over, humming melodies and mentally visualizing them to give me the feeling that I had been playing the song for years. I think that if I could still play the sax (Physically) and the band asked me to sit in, the solo probabably would be very close to what I ended up with.
I guess what I probably do differently is to create separate files for each instrument along with the rhythm. That way I can change things without worry that I won't like something, erase it, and then forget what I had before. For me, it is a safe way for me to do whatever I want with a piece without danger of losing what I spent hours on and having to go back to square one. I just name each file something dumb like "Funksal_trump", "funksal_piano", funksal_drum, etc. etc. Then when I am reasonably satisfied with a part, I copy and paste it into the main file. Sometimes it may be 32 measures and sometimes it may be only 4 bars. I'm a copy and paste fool. I hope this gives you some idea of my madness.
Cheers,
FRed

Hi Y'all,

Here is the revised Funky Salsa. I changed the trombones in 42-50 and got rid of over 1800 drum notes (no loss of effect) and also added drums to the ending.
Cheers,
Fred<center><table border=1><tr><td>Salsa revised
Funky Salsa_Revised.mid (100.9 k)</td></tr></table></center>