On a related note: I've wrestled with whether or not it is worth my time to spend working not these pieces (and it is quite time-consuming). After all, I could be writing more traditional music that I will actually perform on the job and sell on the website. But then I decided that the last thing I want to do is start justifying everything I do by a debatable notion of 'worth'. One can never know what will be worth something down the road, and more often than not the value of something is hidden from our view for a long time. What I do know is that I am compelled to learn to use this software and write music with it. This is enough for me right now.
There's so much to learn when using Logic Studio, that I'm in a world of wonderful discovery (look what I can do!) and maddening frustration (what the heck happened?). Anyway this album, which I call "Bits and Pieces," is where I'll post electronic pieces that I've made while stretching my Logic musical muscles. About 99.9% of this music will be generated with a MIDI keyboard and the software synthesizers built into the program. However, I can't guarantee that an acoustic instrument won't find it's way into any of these songs.
On a related note: I've wrestled with whether or not it is worth my time to spend working not these pieces (and it is quite time-consuming). After all, I could be writing more traditional music that I will actually perform on the job and sell on the website. But then I decided that the last thing I want to do is start justifying everything I do by a debatable notion of 'worth'. One can never know what will be worth something down the road, and more often than not the value of something is hidden from our view for a long time. What I do know is that I am compelled to learn to use this software and write music with it. This is enough for me right now.
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I'm pleased to post my latest addition to Shades of Silver and String, "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded." It's a great tune--very haunting, mysterious and lovely and has its own quirky rhythmic bits that I discuss in a little more detail on the album page. Anyway, the words to the original hymn are attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), and the title was originally translated into English as "O Head Full of Bruises." In my opinion, the later translation by James Waddel Alexander titled, "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," is much more poetic, so I used that as my title instead. (note to self: write a heavy metal song called "O Head Full of Bruises")
Anyway, now that I'm done wrestling with this piece and have emerged from the Cloud of Unknowing that formed around my own head during its composition, I'm anxious to post some electronic & synthesized pieces I've been working on. I almost finished those first and posted them today, but I've been sitting on O Sacred Head for too long and I needed to get it done. So look for my new album of synthesized music, Bits and Pieces, early next week. In fact, Anali's out of town next week at a conference in LA so I'll have a lot of time to myself at home. That's perfect for obsessively writing music at strange hours of the day. I almost had this one posted last week, but it kept growing and expanding and... well, it's done now and I'm pretty happy with it. I still have other pieces in the pipeline and I'm pretty happy with the pace of my productions. Also I have a second album started, but it's not quite ready to lift the curtain on it. Anyway, there's more stuff coming soon.
On a related note, it's been about five weeks since I started this web site and I really am pleased with the way it's turning out. Thanks to everyone who gave me ideas and comments! And, of course, keep them coming. I posted a new duet for my guitar and flute album today. I made a conscious choice to make it a more challenging piece. (In particular I wanted to have some fast stuff to play). Also, I want to make sure that there's some decent variety in the album.
Aside from working on this album, I have two ideas for other albums that I want to start. I don't want to mention what they are yet, suffice to say that I want to have some very different kinds of projects simultaneously 'in the oven' so that I can channel different creative energies in different ways. For example, if I don't feel like working on a guitar piece one day, I'll work on a piano piece. Or, if I don't feel like working with a hymn tune I can work on something else. And, also, I am interested in preparing some MIDI MP3 files that give a better aural experience than Scorch provides. I have a bit to learn to accomplish this, but I'm working on it. As soon as I am satisfied with the results I'll post those audio files (MP3s) along with the Scorch files to listen to. Okay, I've been thinking for some time about new ways of presenting my music on the Internet and this is one idea that I've come up with: Online Albums, where the composition process is visible and even slightly interactive. I knew I wanted to write a set of compositions for guitar and flute, since I have a ready venue, audience and musicians at hand. Shades of Silver and String is the result and I'm excited to get started on this project.
I have plans for a second Online Album, which I hope to post and work on simultaneously with Shades. It will be of a significantly different format than the first, giving me two separate avenues of composition over the next few weeks. As always, let me know what you think with an email or a comment. I've posted a new guitar & flute duet titled "Beauty of the Earth". I enjoyed writing it: it's a gorgeous melody and I've done some fun, 'noodly' things on the guitar part. I'll be performing it at St. Mark's on Oct. 31st with Elaine, one of the flute players in the band. I've got more duets coming, so stay tuned.
Oh, by the way, it turns out that I *can* get Scorch to work, despite the folks at Weebly telling me that I couldn't. Suffice to say that I found a creative solution to a shortcoming of Weebly's hosting service. However, I've noticed that Scorch doesn't work in Chrome or in Safari. I'd be interested to see if anyone else using those browsers is able to view/listen to the files in Scorch. Otherwise Firefox works. I'd bet that IE works, but I need to boot up Anali's computer and try it out just to make sure. Anyway, the only two pieces I have posted using Scorch at this time are the duet mentioned above and the Haydn quartet. So try those two links out and let me know if you are able to view them. And last, if you take a look at the Media page, you'll see I've rearranged some things and I've even posted a piece of music for sale. I want to test the sales functionality out on an MP3 file and the rock version of Mighty Fortress seemed like a good enough candidate. I plan on offering other digital files for sale too--pdfs of my compositions and other mp3s. Once I get more items up for sale, I'll rearrange the Media page for easier navigation. As always, I appreciate your comments and thoughts. Feel free to email me instead if you'd rather not make your comments publicly. (Update: Scorch works in Safari if you make sure it loads in "32-bit mode". Command-I the Safari icon in the Applications folder and check the appropriate box.) |
Chris PerryMusician & educator Archives
March 2015
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