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mgj32 09-10-2009 07:51 AM

Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
1 Attachment(s)
I have fooled with this for years. It was written for a wedding which took place on the rim of Canyon de Chelly, which is just outside Chinle, on the Navajo Reservation, on a hot clear blue late spring morning. It was for flute and cello and (I think) Indian Drum--which would be the Pow Wow drum, not one held between elbow and side--though the latter didn't, as I recall, show up. But someone, I think a bride's maid played guitar, had it with her, and offered to improvise an accompaniment. She must have had very good eyes because, although finding a third folding chair was easy enough, there only two music stands. It went well enough, I guess, those of us playing weren't looking at the crowd. We were told later, however, that an eagle appeared out over the canyon shortly after the piece started and hovered, keeping time by slight rises and falls, and sailed away when the piece ended.

The reasons I have fooled with it so much are two. First I added the violin I wished we had had. Second, though I believe I have the general tenor of the guitar accompaniment, I have had an awful time finding out for sure what the range of a guitar is, let alone that there are alternate tunings, the most frequent of which seems to have the lowest note tuned to the second E below middle C. The highest, as played, note seemed to be the B above middle C. This was several years ago, and I finally decided to use a harp. Recently, I thought I'd give the guitar another try and readily found many midi files using Composer's search feature. I went through them until I found one with E3 as the low note and F7 as the highest note, but since it was in the treble clef, the as played note would have been F6, which was not quite high enough. It was at about that point that I decided that I rather liked the harp/guitar combination, though I can't say I've ever heard them together in a situation where they function, in a way, as the same instrument.

So the piece is pretty much as it was that day around 40 years ago, except it now has a violin and a harp, and a hope that the guitar is capable of the range I've given it. What I really wonder is whether that bald eagle would have stayed for the duration with the changes.

all best,
mgj

mgj32 09-12-2009 06:42 PM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
I missed my intention of putting this piece on Soundclick by mid-week, but did upload it today. www.soundclick.com/mgjacobs . It is the 2nd listing in the list.

Sherry C 09-14-2009 02:57 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Howdy MG,

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgj32 (Post 12311)
The reasons I have fooled with it so much are two. First I added the violin I wished we had had. Second, though I believe I have the general tenor of the guitar accompaniment, I have had an awful time finding out for sure what the range of a guitar is, let alone that there are alternate tunings, the most frequent of which seems to have the lowest note tuned to the second E below middle C. The highest, as played, note seemed to be the B above middle C. This was several years ago, and I finally decided to use a harp. Recently, I thought I'd give the guitar another try and readily found many midi files using Composer's search feature. I went through them until I found one with E3 as the low note and F7 as the highest note, but since it was in the treble clef, the as played note would have been F6, which was not quite high enough. It was at about that point that I decided that I rather liked the harp/guitar combination, though I can't say I've ever heard them together in a situation where they function, in a way, as the same instrument.

Actually there is such an animal as a harp-guitar(!) (see John Doan's website http://www.johndoan.com/ - I've heard him play and he's the guy you want for your piece.) They can be beautiful instruments to hear, when played well, as no doubt yours is here ;) For the range of guitars, you can use alternate tunings on a "standard" size guitar or play it on something like a requinto, which is generally tuned a fourth (or fifth - can't remember which) higher than "standard" tuning. But a harp guitar would probably meet your needs nicely :)

I still love this piece - thanks for sharing it's growth with us :)

ttfn,
Sherry

adrianallan 09-14-2009 08:05 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi

Nice piece

I just noticed one place where the guitar was too low - bar 38 the low C.

Of course the guitar sounds an octave below written pitch - the pitch you have shown. Given that the low C is just too low - below the bottom E string.

Sometimes we use the vocal tenor clef, with a little 8 on its tail to make clear that the notes will sound an octave lower.

Hope this helps

mgj32 09-15-2009 05:57 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi Sherry,
Thanks for the URL. It is too bad that the bride's maid didn't have one of those in her trunk. Have you ever seen a sound font sampled from one?
best,
mgj

mgj32 09-15-2009 06:03 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi Adrian,

The C in bar 38 has been corrected. Many thanks for noticing it. After I decided to keep the harp, I found out about the drop-D and drop-C tunings, but decided to leave them alone, rather than working out what the implications might be for the rest of the piece. I've seen the 8 often on the treble clef in guitar music, but most often it must be assumed that the notes sound an octave lower as played. I've also seen pieces with both a treble and bass clef, where the bass clef seems to be written as played.
best,
mgj

Sherry C 09-15-2009 11:41 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Howdy MG,

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgj32 (Post 12398)
Thanks for the URL. It is too bad that the bride's maid didn't have one of those in her trunk. Have you ever seen a sound font sampled from one?

I've never seen (nor heard) a soundfont of one. I'd imagine one could create one from melding a guitar and harp font, but it probably wouldn't have the resonance effect of the real deal unless you worked very hard at creating that resonant harmonic ring. Kind of like a hammered dulcimer. I've only found one hammered dulcimer font that I thought really captured that resonant tone very well.

ttfn,
Sherry

mgj32 09-16-2009 05:56 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi Sherry,

I am going to leave Canyon de Chelly alone, but find myself wondering what the guitar and harp would sound like playing the same notes for the same durations, with probably a lot of volume adjustment, mostly but not entirely making the harp much less loud than the guitar. I'll let you know what happens.

best, mgj

djimtio 09-17-2009 12:31 PM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi MG
Not having the knowledge and not licensed to comment on the technical aspects of this nice peace of music,I just added it to my evergrowing "MG´s best" MP3 compilation to listen on my Hifi rather than through my headphones or monitors.
You may not believe this,but while listening to this piece (rather loud) I saw a Portuguese eagle circling up high above the valley ( I use to call him the Lord of the valley).Was this my imagination or the magic of your music ?
Thanks for sharing !
Regards

Djim

mgj32 09-18-2009 05:48 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi Djim,

Wish I knew, but everyone in the wedding party, of about 40 saw and watched the one at Canyon de Chelly, except the three of us performing. Our eyes were riveted to the music stands, since we had had a chance to run through the piece only once. The groom's brother arrived from Honduras only the day before and the guitarist was seeing the music for the first time. I'm beginning to wonder if the eagle mind associates the piece with food :rolleyes:.

djimtio 09-18-2009 10:58 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi MG
There are more things between heaven and earth..............
and also some magic in alll kinds of music.It might as well started raining while you were playing at the Canyon de Chelly.
BTW, do you happen to know what have become of the marriage ,) ?
Keep the magic coming !
Regards
Djim

mgj32 09-19-2009 07:32 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
HI Djim,

Yes, we've kept in touch. The groom taught Math for the Univ of New Mexico, and is now retired; his wife was a hospital lab technician. They had four kids, three of whom have graduated from college, I believe, and two of whom are employed, but I forget what their fields are.

That eagle may have come to bring them good luck.

all best,
mgj

djimtio 09-19-2009 11:13 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi MG
Perhaps there is a lesson in this for us all,that no matter how busy we are,we should take a (quick) look at the sky above from time to time,because there´s where the magic comes from,after all.
Let us have a drink to this happy family !
Regards

Djim

mgj32 09-20-2009 06:50 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi Djim,

Good advice. 30-some years ago Mark and I had many drinks together, usually during long discussions, not about "shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings, or why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings," but I'm sure we covered a lot of that, but more often, since we were department chairs, academic matters, or his ideas about Math as language, or why he believed Baroque or Classical music was the only music worth spending time listening to. But mostly we speculated a lot about those "more things in heaven and earth," that Horatio, for all his philosophical knowledge, ever even dreamt about.

So I will have that drink (iced green tea, these days) to Mark and family, and another to the good old days.

all best,
mgj

Sherry C 09-22-2009 08:14 PM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Howdy,

I ran across this page (again) that is very helpful in showing the "normal" range of a number of instruments. Of course it's for standard tunings of string intruments (including guitars) and thus won't account for some of the weird and wonderful things that folks can do with them. But it's quite useful nonetheless.

http://solomonsmusic.net/insrange.htm

Enjoy!
Sherry

mgj32 09-23-2009 07:06 AM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherry C (Post 12574)
Howdy,

I ran across this page (again) that is very helpful in showing the "normal" range of a number of instruments. Of course it's for standard tunings of string intruments (including guitars) and thus won't account for some of the weird and wonderful things that folks can do with them. But it's quite useful nonetheless.

http://solomonsmusic.net/insrange.htm

Enjoy!
Sherry

Hi Sherry,
Very helpful. This is the first one of these I've seen, on line or in a book, that shows voices, timpani, guitar, etc., as well as the complete orchestra. You're right about the fact that these lists don't take the individual into consideration. Bonnie Jo Hunt (coloratura) could hit and sustain A6 (IPN), at least the last time I heard her sing operatically, when she would have been in her late 40s. I have seen only one list that even mentions that great individual variation is possible--I think it used trumpet and voice as examples. I was a little nonplussed by the given banjo range :eek: I am going to have to re-write a lot of portions of the oratorio, unless I can re-verify that there is a banjo with an extra half string used for quite high notes. But with the soundclick 10mb limit, a lot is underorchestrated, anyhow, and that shouldn't be too difficult except for handling an often repeated figure which features Bb 4 and almost has to remain there so other parts aren't adversely affected.

BTWm Section VII, Weariness, of the oratorio will get to SC, probably tomorrow evening sometime, as well as to the forum.

Thanks again for the URL,
all best,
mgj

rrayner 03-29-2010 05:30 PM

Re: Canyon de Chelly, Wedding Piece
 
Hi MG,

I've just listened to this piece. A very nice small ensemble sound. I could easily picture the canyon setting and the peaceful nature of open spaces. Thanks.

Ralph


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