Arrangement of the Week

This week I'm working on a string arrangement based on an a capella arrangement of Annie Lennox's song, Why. I heard the a capella version by the Carleton Knightingales, an all-female group started at Carleton during my senior year there by friends of mine. This group is still going strong. The song I'm arranging? Amazing Grace.

String Trios and Quartets

How many variations of a string trio can there be? Every time I get together to play with friends, it seems that I am constantly rearranging for a slightly different instrumentation.

• Violin, Viola, Cello
• Violin, Violin, Cello
• Violin, Violin, Viola

I've also done a three cello arrangement of one song, but I can also imagine three violins or three violas.

Rewrite!

My experience in the recording studio last week has piqued my interest in finishing up my Yosemite String Quartet. Yesterday I rewrote, from scratch, the first 1'49" of the first movement. Even though I'll be busier than usual this year, I would like to work with a string quartet in playing through my five movements and find out what works and what needs work.

Marin Alsop on Gustav Mahler

Happy 150th Birthday, Gustav Mahler! One might know that I really like Mahler's music since I wrote my master's paper on his 5th Symphony. Recently, I enjoyed this piece on NPR in which Marin Alsop (wonderful conductor of the Baltimore Symphony) discusses Mahler's music. Listen to the 10-minute spot which has much more than the what's written on the webpage.

I guess I didn't really know that he was known more in Vienna as a conductor than he was as a composer. I learned how he changed the role of conducting. He demanded that the Viennese audiences arrive on time for concerts, or wait until a break in the music to be seated. He required that audiences not clap between movements so as to keep his concentration.

As I look at the concerts coming up with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I will probably buy tickets to a Mahler performance as part of the package I am putting together.

Gospel Tunes arrangements

Yesterday in church, Katy & Lynn joined me in playing some of my arrangements of gospel tunes for two violins and cello. I particularly enjoy trying out different styles of music to bring a fresh perspective to some of my favorite songs. The four songs we played were Down to the River to Pray, Be Thou My Vision, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Now I'm thinking about what songs to work on next.

MP3 Files

I have put together three mp3 files from yesterday's recording session. I am amazed at what we could accomplish in just over 2 hours. Imagine what it would be like if we could have the time to actually polish the performance!

Two movements were pretty easy to edit since we had several successful run-throughs. One movement, though, was patched together, but the editing software (Sound Studio) was pretty easy to use.

Because I don't have rights to the lyrics (poems by Wendell Berry, Langston Hughes, and e.e. cummings), I am not posting to the internet, but am sharing with friends.....

At Long Last

Today, July 6, I finally heard my Spring Suite performed by real live musicians! Thanks to Bill Alves and the use of the HMC recording studio, and to five friends, we met, practiced and recorded the three movements in under 2 1/2 hours. I brought home the .aiff files and am now working on splicing together all the best bits to share with the musicians and James, who encouraged me to do this.

As long as I'm thanking people, I have additional thanks to Hal who copied music for me and arranged with Bill for the use of the studio, and to Claire who helped me transport equipment, helped people find the room, and take pictures, and then make dinner afterwards.

It is amazing to hear the ideas that started in my head realized. Now, with these recordings, I can learn more about what things work and what can be improved.