An instrumental for communion

Howdy,

I had posted this piece previously in the discussion in Mark's blog section about sharing music, but I'll re-post here, and give a little more explanation about this piece.

I'm not a keyboard player by any means, but I use my old Casio (which now has two Cs out of commission, and does not have semi-weighted keys, nor any controller sliders, but it still does midi ) keyboard to record the rhythms of a melody into Composer, such as the melody for Communion Aire.

<center><table border=1><tr><td>Communion Aire file for soundfonts and sound cards
Communion Aire soundfont.not (44.6 k)</td></tr></table></center>

I composed the melody on my whistle (they're diatonic, they're easy ), and used that as the basis for what I played into the keyboard. After playing in the rhythms (and some horrendously wrong pitches ), I then went note-to-note using the "select/tab" method to edit each note to the correct pitch. I then played it back, and though it's a bit "stiff" (I recorded with a metronome so I could get decent sheet music, which is what I wanted), it is essentially what I play on my whistle. When I perform this piece live, I do add more grace notes, as is typical of whistling.

I also play guitar (my main instrument, probably tied with bass these days), and as I listened to the melody, I could hear a guitar part in my head. I jotted down the chords, entered them using the "chord names", and there was my sheet music, all ready to perform (we have another guitarist at church, so he plays the guitar while I play whistle).

I'd been messing around a bit with GPO (Garritan Personal Orchestra), and was using this piece as a sort of test case for some things. I added the bass notes and a few passing notes for the cello part, the full chords for the string section, and some arpeggiated chords for the harp. I entered these parts all with the "point and click" method.

I haven't done much of anything else with this piece to enhance the performance. I'm planning to re-do some of the arpeggios to make them "fit" better with the melody line, and to add some dynamics to the strings, along with a little more "space" for a more live feel. When I get that done, I'll post the final result as a GPO performance at the site listed below.

I had to do a few things differently, mainly controllers, to get the different performances that you can hear as mp3s at www.soundclick.com/beanfield_castle. For the soundcard performance, I used my soundcard's recording capabilities (SB Audigy 2) along with it's default sounds to record the MidiNotate Composer performance. For the soundfont, I used the Chaos GM soundfont in SynthFont (www.synthfont.com) and rendered it to WAV (I was also comparing recording methods). For the GPO, I used the recording capability in the new Kontakt player that is bundled with GPO to record the performance from MidiNotate Composer.

The name Beanfield Castle is meant as a joke, btw. We live in an old (109+ years) stone farmhouse in the middle of a beanfield (or corn, oats, wheat, or sugar beets, depending on the rotation), and just that morning I had made a comment to someone about "our castle in the beanfield". The SoundClick website required a band name, and I thought it presumptious of myself (not necessarily of others, though) to just put my name, and Beanfield Castle was the first thing that came to mind. So go ahead and laugh - you're supposed to And it's good for you ;)

And all of this was powered by semi-sweet chocolate

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

The above .not file shows the notes of your aire nicely, but does not do justice to your beautiful aire if it is played only through a General MIDI sound card. Anyone looking at this should hear Sherry's GPO (Garritan Personal Orchestra) version of the aire at www.soundclick.com/beanfield_castle.

Your method of getting the notes into Composer is one that almost any Composer user with a MIDI keyboard might find useful. This method emphasizes getting the rhythm of the notes right when you record them, even if you hit the wrong notes. It is a lot easier to fix the pitches of notes if you hit the wrong keys at the right time, than it is to fix the rhythms of the notes if you hit the right keys at the wrong time.

Thanks for submitting your first piece in this Share Your Music section of the forum. I hope to see and hear many more in the future.

Cheers
-- Mark

Howdy Mark,

Yes, "The Method" is great - it has been a major turning point for me getting my music into a form that I can share with others. Before, I could always plunk down the proper note on a piece of blank sheet music, but my transcription of rhythms is abysmal, so I would end up making a recording of me playing something so that others could hear the rhythms. With Composer, I can record it and clean it up quite quickly and easily. For this capability, I heartily thank you Mr. Developer

ttfn,
Sherry

Howdy,

If anyone should want to see the piece and not have Composer Pro, here's the midi for it.

<center><table border=1><tr><td>Communion Aire midi
Communion Aire soundfont.mid (2.7 k)</td></tr></table></center>

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry! I'm in the L&amp;L mode today...listen and learn. My grands are at vacation Bible School, so I get to use the computer. I liked Communion Aire very much. The music is grand, magnificent, stately, majestic. Those are the words and feeling that comes to me when I listen. Nice job!

Howdy Gracie,

Thanks for the kind words!
Listen and learn mode is a great way to pick up techniques and methods - and it's just fun I'm glad you liked the piece. This is one that I've actually had a number of folks d/l and use at church (usually with flute), so that makes me happy I really should make a recording of it that's a tad slower, though, as I usually play it a bit slower when I do it live. The GPO version of this song is the one on the CD.

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

This is where I found "Communion Aire," so perhaps this is the proper thread.

When I heard your melody, I thought how well it might work somewhere in the third symphony that I am contemplating. I am in the earliest stage of working out the themes. So far, I've worked out one, which in the first few notes refers to "Wabash Cannonball." Yours would be the second, with quite a number to go. At the same time, I'm working out the structure in my head.

Originally, it was to be for soprano and orchestra on text by Loren Eiseley, one of the great handlers of language of the 20th Century. Now I'm thinking that it will be for a vocal quartet and a chorus, each treated as an instrument, rather than as soloists.

"the flute in the first octave..." One nice thing about the flute's weakness as an ensemble player in it's lower register, however, is that if it's to be used there, it almost has to be as a solo instrument, with any other parts toned down so that the flute is prominent.

"And yes, I'm referring to tin whistle!" I am going to do a web search this week to find a replacement for the one I wore out. I agree about the fingering vis a vis the recorder. I played the alto for several years, but never got very good at it, especially in the lower register. And, yes, the whistle is pretty easy to get a decent sound from, but it's almost a different instrument when a real master plays it. I didn't realize that they were available in different keys. I thought only D.

Put all your energy into "recovery mode."

best,
mgj

Howdy MG,

Sorry to be so tardy, but I was compelled to do an encore at the hospital due to my bowels not keeping up with the rest of me. After a love/hate relationship with an N/G tube, I'm feeling more normal, but still slow.

I'm excited to hear how your symphony evolves. If you get parts worked up that you'd like to hear rendered via GPO, please let me know and I'll do my best to give it a go.

As for tin whistles, there are lots of places you can purchase them on the net. If you'd like any sites, just let me know and I can email you lots of addys.

You said:
"the whistle is pretty easy to get a decent sound from, but it's almost a different instrument when a real master plays it."

To which I reply:
Amen - truer words are seldom spoken Some of the good 'uns just make me sit back with a slack jaw - and then go practice some more

ttfn,
Sherry

Best wishes for you, Sherry. Get well.

David

Hi Sherry,

More about whistles and symphonies when you are quite normal again. The best way to get there is probably to go to bed and stay there for a week or so. Get well!!!!

best,
mgj

Howdy guys,

I'm better than I was, and not as good as I will be, so I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things

A few places to get good whistles:

www.elderly.com

www.larkinthemorning.com

http://www.celticfire.com/Instrument.../whistles.html

Please note that whistles can cost anywhere from $3 to $300 (or more) depending on what you want and what you want it made out of The Chiff and Fipple site (below) has a lot to say about a variety of whistles.

The "definitive" internet site for the whistling community:

http://www.chiffandfipple.com/

The following site has a really nice set of tutorial videos in the "movies" section. It's for low whistle (an octave lower, and therefore twice as large as a regular whistle) but the techniques mostly apply to any whistle, except you use your finger pads to cover the holes for the "regular" whistles. "Tutorials" is the last item in the list. The other videos are good, as well, just for seeing folks playing some good celtic music:

http://www.kerrywhistles.com./dl.php

The following site has a good written tutorial:

http://www.sessioneer.org/

And lastly, this site has some excellent mp3 recordings of some traditional whistle tunes, as well as gifs of the sheet music of those tunes - very helpful!

http://fingertrip.net/whistle/index.html

I hope something here is helpful! And, to keep on the topic of MidiNotate products, I must say that having Composer to help me practice has helped immensely with my music sight-reading skills, which is one of the reasons that I started playing whistle in the first place!

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

Glad to hear you are feeling better. I hope that whatever burst of energy you get, you'll quit whatever you're doing when you start to tire, at least for a few more weeks.

Thank you for the whistle sites. I had done some looking with google, but I hadn't tried any of these...didn't see them, I don't think. I will go through them one by one. I've got to get something to play, unless I want to re-learn recorder fingering, or win the lottery and get a new flute.

I did a piece in the 1.1 beta. Perhaps I'll put it somewhere in the "Share" category. It's just a piano piece, but I was able to try out the beta pretty thoroughly, and am also working on something orchestral with soprano, piano and flute as soloists, which allows me to try out what I can't in a piano work. Seems to be working quite well.

Take care of yourself,
all best,
mgj

A VERY interesting and original sound yet uncomplicated.
Nice music.

Don

Hello,

I don't know for sure what category this would belong in, but since it started its life as a Shaker song, I suppose Religion will do.

This is a draft--fairly advanced, but a draft, still. Most of the remaining work will be in adjusting volume levels, deciding finally whether to make deletions I have an inkling should be made, and add some things I'd like to add, but also think I might think better of. It will remain its current length and for the current instrumentation.

What to call it is a question I've not answered. It is a something for orchestra and three soloists--piano, flute, and soprano. A triple concerto in one movement, perhaps, or an overture with soloists. Any ideas would be welcome.

"Simple Gifts" was written in 1848 by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett. Someone, at a later date, added two verses, which I have used. I have made the original tune the principal theme, but added two themes of my own. The soprano part is assigned to choir ahs, the best of the not very great alternatives I have available. The words can be found at:

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:M-oi9P2a4GUJ:www2.gol.com/users/quakers/simple_gifts.htm+simple+gifts&amp;hl=en&amp;lr=lan g_en&amp;client=firefox-a


The song has been described as a hymn, a work song, and a dancing song (and Joseph Brackett danced it as well as sang it). I have tried to give this piece characteristics of all three.

mgj
<center><table border=1><tr><td>Simple Gifts
SG Draft.mid (179.5 k)</td></tr></table></center>

Howdy Mark,

I don't know if M G has noticed it, but the sporadic "blue playback cursor doesn't extend to the bottom staves" problem shows up in this piece when you scroll down to the bottom staves while playing it. Give it a try.

ttfn,
Sherry

Howdy M G,

I just finished listening to your piece

Now, you must understand that I just finished doing a little ditty of Psalm 23 for the kids in church time to use to help them memorize the psalm. The ditty only has drums, bass, and a few animal soundfonts (it's a sort of rap). So, coming off of that, and then listening to this piece was sort of like the difference between sitting out behind my house in a nice sheltered spot listening to the birds twitter (well, they'd have been big birds), then moving out into the middle of the field with a wild wind and flocks of migrating birds on a sunny day - absolutely breathtaking! And that was just with the soundfont sounds!

I'd be more than happy to work this up in GPO for you if you want. I noticed that there are a few instrument changes, and I may need to ask you about some articulations that you want, but I think it's a workable project. I'd have to use a soundfont for the soprano, unless you'd want to substitute an instrument for that voice in GPO.

"Simple Gifts" is a favorite tune of mine, also. I have a song that I sing to my kids at bedtime each night that has a few snatches of a few bars from it. But you've given it a right royal treatment Good show, and thanks for sharing it!

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

I'm able to reproduce the blue playback cursor doesn't extend to the bottom staves" problem here! Thanks for the report. I'll fix it.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi Sherry,

The "blue playback cursor doesn't extend to the bottom staves" problem is now fixed for the final release of 1.1.

The circumstances of the bug were very simple: (1) The vertical height of the entire system is greater than the height of the screen (not just the window), and (2) the page is scrolled down.

Thanks again for the report!

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi Sherry and Mark,

It was one of the first things I noticed when I tried out Composer, Sherry. But I was so tickled with the way it transcribed the .mid file (of the longest individual movement I've written), played it, and started instantly when a starting point was designated, even late in the piece, that I plumb forgot about it. I think I assumed it had something to do with my screen resolution, anyhow.

Glad to hear it's fixed, one. And, two, that this aging Dell wasn't at fault.

Hi Sherry,

Thank you for your kind words.

I think maybe I have finally got some terminology fixed in my head. You said "just with the soundfont sounds." Each instrument, then, in the selection list (such as 0 acoustic grand piano, 49 string ensemble 1, etc.) is a soundfont?

A "bank" would be all the choices that appear in the list of these soundfonts?

If the answer is yes to both, then I have something (first grade level as it may be) fixed in my mind.

I'm pretty bad when organization is involved, too I was aiming to put the piece on the "Religion" branch of the tree, but missed that spot a bit, In the words of the song, I didn't have the "gift to come down where we [I] ought to be..."

I'm excited by the idea of hearing this in GPO. Anything you need to ask, I will answer directly. One question you implied had to do with the soprano part. I have tried any number of instruments to represent her as well as the four "voice" soundfonts I have available. Of 86 lead 6 (voice), 53 choir aahs, 54 voice oohs, and 55 synth voice, 53 is the best I've found, perhaps because it is closest to the timbre of Bonnie Jo Hunt's voice (the soprano I wrote the original small ensemble version for), or perhaps it is because it seems to be able to stand out more against an orchestra.

There are three staves with instrument changes, as I recall. The double basses switch between bowed and pizzicato frequently, and the cellos play pizzicato, once, for several measures. The other is the oboes/Eng Horn staff, where I have done an instrument change for the brief oboe solos. I think I might put the Eng Horn on its own staff before I'm finished, so the cellos and basses would be the only staves with instrument changes.

Speaking of articulation, in a few minutes I am going to start adding slurs to the score--a boring task since I already know where they go. I haven't done this in Composer yet, so first I'll need to read the HELP file. I am wondering if GPO will be able to make wind instruments, especially the flute, play groups on notes on a single breath, without tonguing each. Exciting, if it can, as one demo on the GPO web site leads me to believe it might. My main complaint about midi, other than how limited it is by 16 channels, is the sound of woodwinds.

The .not file of Simple Gifts (which I think I may call a Fantasy on "Simple Gifts") is currently 2.5MB. I don't think what I have yet to do will grow it much, but it's still a pretty long e-mail download, so I'll ask when a convenient time to send it would be...when it's finished...a couple of weeks, I'd guess.

Thanks again.

all best.
mgj

Howdy M G,

You covered a lot in your previous post, so I'll take things one at a time, more or less

1. Soundfonts, banks, and instrument patches - These are some concepts that can certainly be confusing. I know it's taken me a while to understand what bit I do The short answer to your two questions, though, is no and no.

To explain: A soundfont is rather analogous to a typefont that you might use when you're printing out a document in something like MS Word or some other word processor. When you're preparing your document, you type out what you want to print, and then you can change the font type from something like Courier to Helvetica (or whatever) and get some very different looks.

With soundfonts, it's a similar situation. You prepare your "document" (ie, your score) in something like Composer. But you can use different soundfonts to make that same composition sound a bit different. An oboe may still be an oboe, but it's sort of like having different makes of instruments. So for a piano, it can be like the difference between a Steinway grand for one soundfont, or a Richmond console spinet for another. They're both pianos, but the sound you hear is quite different.

You may find one soundfont has really nice brass, while another has great strings. You can also have soundfonts that are not the general midi instrument list setup (the typical 1-128, starting with "acoustic piano"), but have only one or two instruments that are done really well, or are just "different". For instance, I have one soundfont that I use for testing (and fun) that has various animal sounds, such as hippo grunts and bird calls. I also have some soundfonts that are "pads" - they have a variety of instruments or sounds layered together to give a nice effect.

Now, some sound cards (not all) have "banks" that you can load soundfonts into. If you can imagine a filing cabinet with various drawers in it, the soundcard is like the cabinet (which is a "midi device" to Composer), and each "bank" is like a drawer. I can load one soundfont per bank (drawer). Then, within each of these banks/drawers, I can have a number of instrument sounds, which would be analogous to file folders. Each of these instruments has a number, which is one way that any midi program finds the instrument in that bank.

So, when I want to choose a particular sound, say the "hippo grunt" for a staff in Composer, then I would set the parameters in the staff setup dialog for the device (my sound card, which is "SB Audigy 2"), the Bank (001,000 "jungle animals"), the instrument patch (which is "2 hippo grunt" in this particular sound font).

Mark has set things up in Composer's device/bank/instrument setups such that you can enter or import your banks (drawers) and instrument patches for any devices (filing cabinet) that you may have. This is handy because then, when you are setting up staves in your composition, all the devices, banks, and instrument patch numbers will appear in drop down menus, making life much easier for using lots of instruments from lots of different fonts!

This may be overkill for an answer, but I hope something here makes sense

2. "Where we ought to be..." You can stay here if you want, or we can start a new thread elsewhere. Your decision, but I don't mind you being in "my" thread at all

3. The "vocal" voice - I can try out a couple of fonts that I have and see what you think. One difficulty with midi is that my sound card's 53 may sound quite different from your sound card's 53 - as well as different from anyone else's! It's sort of like you composing a piece of music while playing the melody on a hand-carved, custom made pearwood recorder, and then when I get the music, I'm playing it on a plastic Yamaha recorder - same notes, but it just won't sound the same

4. English horn on its own staff would be a useful thing for GPO, or is the piece such that you'd have english horn and oboe playing the same parts except for the solo? If so, I can set up separate staves for those.

5. Since the instrument changes for the strings are from bowed to pizzicato, I can use the way-cool "key switching" feature that GPO has for those, and that Composer supports (go, Mark!) to do those changes.

6. Tonguing notes: I'll have to take a look (and a listen) to the winds in GPO to see if there is a key switch instrument for tonguing/slurring, or if there is another technique to use for that. Mark, have you seen anything regarding this? I must confess it hasn't really come into my realm of experience - yet

Feel free to email the file to me anytime. It may be useful when setting it up for GPO to have the .not file with your annotations. And be sure to use small words and type slowly ;)

I have broadband so it won't take long to d/l, and you could send it to my Gmail account -

sacrann"at"gmail.com

Just replace the "at" with the @ symbol. I have around 2.4 Gb of storage space there, so it's not going to overload that mailbox

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

You should teach this stuff--you are very good at creating examples. I think what I need to do to get everything fixed is to actually use setup in Composer, but that will take a new computer or soundcard, alas. The audio HQ, of whatever it's called, got lost in a Windows crash, and I haven't been able to get it back. The soundcard is made by Creative and supplied to Dell by Microsoft, and none of these has the proper software any more. I suppose I could pick up Sound Blaster 7.1 at Walmart for under $30 and have more than I've got.

But for now, I've at least been able to figure out how to use SB A and SB B (and MS wavetable is ok for some percussion sounds) to increase the number of instruments I can use, at least for playing in Composer and recording .wav or .mp3 files.

It would be interesting to hear what the voice sounds you have are like. I suppose the ideal thing would be to find a nearby soprano who could put on a head set, get comfortable, with the score in hand, and sing the part as it played, minus her part, in acoustica. I think that could be done, but I'm not going to get excited about it since there are no sopranos locally with the necessary range and Bonnie Jo, for whom the piece was written is a couple of thousand miles away.

The English horn has only two solos, and otherwise does not play. During its solos, the oboes are silent. But it will have to have its own staff in the conductor's score, so I'll add it before sending you the .not file.

Back to work . . .

best,
mgj

Howdy M G,

Thanks for the encouragement about teaching - we homeschool, so I'm glad to get some feedback about my methods from someone who would know I've had a bit of practice in the "examples" department, as I used to be a biochemistry researcher, and in trying to explain what I did to other folks, I found that I had to come up with examples that would be tangible for them. If I've helped someone understand something, that is a great joy to me

Re. your soundcard, which one specifically do you have? If it's by Creative, and you have an "A" and "B", these are probably the "A synth" and "B synth". It sounds as if you do indeed have soundfont capability. Do you have the software CDs that shipped with your computer? I have a Dell machine also, as well as a Creative sound card that I ordered with it, and they shipped all the software with the machine in case of trouble. If you have the CDs, then you should be able to re-install the software so that you can use the soundfont capability.

As for the "voice" soundfonts, they're not like spoken or sung words, but more like variations on the choir/solo aahhs and oohhs. I do have a couple that are rather interesting "tribal yells", but you probably don't want them in your piece unless you're looking for a yodeling effect If you've figured out how to use soundfonts in your card, then I could send you the soundfonts to try out.

If the english horns only play during the solo sections, then I can set up those staves/tracks easily enough. However, it sounds like you've been working on some annotations that may be helpful when setting up the GPO performance, so I'll just wait til you send the .not file to do a final file.

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

Yes, the soundfont capability is there, or should be. Better to say it was there once, I suppose.

The card is SB Live Value Digital 1024 WDM. It seems to be the WDM that causes the problem. I couldn't find drivers even on that site that claims they have about every one ever issued.

There is the further complication that ME was on this machine when new and the XP upgrade kit arrived about a month later. So the bundled CDs are for ME.

When I had the big crash, the techie at Dell instructed me to wipe the drive, install ME, then upgrade to XP again. The ME/2000 Creative CD envelope is open, so I must have reinstalled that. Then the Dell upgrade disk would have made the changes necessary for XP. Since then there was an update at Microsoft.

I fooled with things and lost all sound and the computer itself until I did a system restore in safe mode. At least now, I have SB A and SB B. I can also load Audio HQ, but when I click on Soundfonts, Devices, Speakers--or any other--I am told I need to re-install Audio HQ. Ha!

In the Creative directory, I found a restore program (restore audio settings to original defaults), but I have resisted trying that one out, as it looks to me like I might have a mixed installation here--two of the SF files are repeated in different sub-folders of the creative directory, and some programs can't find .dll files, which are in a folder under creative/software update. There isn't even an entry in add/remove programs, so I can't tell much from that (or uninstall anything).

At the moment I'm not ready to get a new computer for the sound card, but I am thinking of SB 7.1 (mine is 4.4, or somesuch).

For right now, though, while I can't add soundfonts, I have excellent sound. I guess that's something .

best,
mgj

Hi Sherry,

It looks, now at least, like the Fantasy on Simple Gifts will be finished later this week--Friday or Saturday. If you're still game, I'll go ahead and send the .not file.

I've been doing a lot of adjusting of volume and tempo. I've also been trying to find a better tambourine. The bells are fine, but the purcussive sound is elusive and for some reason, whichever drum I choose sounds as if it is coming from a different place. I've also been trying to decide on what to use for the voice. It just may not be possible to find anything that sounds like a soprano voice, rather than just another instrument, at all times. One of the synthetic voices pretty well distinguishes itself, but sounds nothing like a real voice. The choir ahs, while there is at least a syllable that makes it seem vocal, in the higher range sounds like some kind of flute or clarinet. I may do a couple of program changes and use both in different places as a compromise.

Anyhow, it does look like the point I need to stop working on it is close.

all best,
mgj

Howdy M G,

I'm still game

If you get the musical aspect of it set up like you want, I can do the GPO instrumentation. We may need to re-tweak a bit after that, but it shouldn't be anything major, and I've found that everything I've ever done sounds better with GPO

When you're talking about the "synthetic voices", are you using your soundcard GM sounds, or are you using a soundfont? If you're using a soundfont, let me know which ones specifically go in which tracks, so I'll be sure to put them on the proper staves/tracks.

This is fun! I'm excited to hear your work rendered in GPO!

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

Nope, all GM. The voice that I was thinking of using is the lead 6, #86. You can tell it's no other instrument, but it's awfully grainy.

You think you're excited to hear what GPO will do...

best,
mgj