When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

[rrayner]

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

[Sherry C]

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

[rrayner]

Sherry -- I still get an "Upload of file failed." message. RRR

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

Ok, tweaked (I hope) - please try again.

Sherry

[rrayner]

The MP3 file upload still failed for me, Sherry. However, I am reposting my original file, as I discovered that in my haste to post after hearing about Mark, I had not completed the notation of the ending, to indicate where the ritard starts. I also added the missing fermatas.

While I was doing this, I noticed that the "swallows" in the sax section F (measures 84, 85, 88 & 89) had migrated away from the notes that were supposed to be marked (the swallows are the slightly diminished volume places). I guess I was originally on a smaller font when I included them. This raises the problem of using Free Text to add these adornments, as they are not anchored to the notes.

Ralph Rayner

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

What kind of error message are you getting when you try to upload the mp3? Perhaps that will help me to figure out what the issue is from this end.

Re. the "swallows" - I've written that up for adding to the Notes and Rests/Articulations and Expressions palette. Are there other commonly used annotations like that which brass or other wind instruments use that should be included there?

Thanks!
Sherry

[rrayner]

Hi Sherry,

I'm still getting an "Upload of file failed." message, after the upload works for a while. Perhaps it has reached a limit and terminates. That's what the behavior looks like. Can't take anymore - abort!

In regard to other markings, there are a number that would be used in a jazz band, but they would also need to have attendant sound support. The ones that come to mind are: 1) the drop - the downward glissando to nowhere after a hard attack on a note, which diminishes in volume to silence; 2) a scoop, in which the player loosens the lip and approaches the correct tone from a quarter-tone or so below; 3) a shake, which is kind of like a trill, but slower and with varying speed; and 4) a doit, pronounced doy-t, which is somewhat like a drop, however, the direction is an upward glissando to nowhere -- primarily brass, but used by reeds also. I hope this helps.

Ralph Rayner