Brother Patrick and the Celts
 

Howdy,

I just returned yesterday from a few days away. My sons were all at church camp, and we stay in a trailer that is on the grounds, with no internet nor cell phone connectivity there. What did Mom do all that time? Played music for a big part of it :) I've been trying to improve my "improv" skills, using Composer some for that, but I branched out a little with some original music of mine.

I had previously worked up a piece on mandocello that I've performed as a solo instrument. But I've always heard it with whistle and bodhran in my head. So while I was at camp, I recorded the mandocello part, and then improvised the whistle part in an overdub. I didn't have my bodhran with me, but I then thought it would be pretty cool to have some fretless bass in there. So I improvised an overdubbed track with my fretless. I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out, so I've put it up on my SoundClick page.

I know this is sort of cheating because I don't have a .not file to offer so you can see how the tune goes. I have the Melodyne Editor, and one of my hopes has been that I could take something like the individual tracks that I recorded, get MIDI files from them in Melodyne, and then bring those into Composer to get a score. I haven't been able to do it yet, but I may just not have tweaked the right settings.

I could pretty easily (now) enter the whistle and bass into Composer, but getting the strum performance of a mandocello to sound authentic would take a fair bit of work (4x2 strings, emphases on different strings for different parts, strum patterns, etc.). I actually have started on that, and continued to add bits a time or two, but get sidetracked with other responsibilities. So until I can get it done in Composer and give you a "cleaner" performance file, you're stuck with the live version if you want to hear it. (www.soundclick.com/beanfield_castle) Comments are still welcome, as I'm trying to work on my compositional skills as well.

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: Brother Patrick and the Celts
 

Neat, Sherry. Very well done. It makes me feel like I'm in what I imagine to be the Ireland of yore. I picture peasants dancing in period garb, I guess kind of like a Renaissance Festival. Keep up the good work (and welcome back!).

Ralph

Re: Brother Patrick and the Celts
 

Howdy Ralph,

Thanks for the kind words and the welcome back :) What little bit of composition and arranging I've ever done has given me a great respect for those (like yourself and others here) who can take a huge band and make it all work well. Getting such a compliment that "it makes you feel like..." is huge to me, because I think music offers a very rich vocabulary for such evocations. Thanks :D

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: Brother Patrick and the Celts
 

Hi Sherry,
It is Celtic, all right, and I like it, especially the whistle. At times I think I hear a creeping realization of homesickness, but it always recovers--interesting quiet little statement at the end, though. Any thoughts about sending it to The Chieftans?
all best,
mgj