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The not so serious music page |
I started young with music. My mum teaching me the recorder at a very early age. In New Zealand the recorder is part of music education, so by the time I got to Intermediate School I was already fairly good at it. After I got to high school, for some reason I latched onto the clarinet. I'm a keen amateur player and have done my fair share of solo recitals, musicals, pit orchestras, concert band, symponies, etc etc :-)
I currently play in a small amateur orchestra, and If I practiced more, I'd be a better player!
A couple of years ago, I got back into the recorder again. I currently play a student model Yamaha (a YRA-312) - one of the better quality resin instruments. However I might splurge on a nice wooden one alto... Mind you a tenor would be nice too! :-) Mum still has the wooden descant/soprano recorder (for some reaosn I think it's a Dolmetch)
The setup:
Intruments
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Software
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Hardware
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The general process is to start with a MIDI file, either adapt and re-arrange the instrumentation or compose something using Hit Kit. When I'm happy with that, the MIDI is played thru headphones while I record. Tracks are recorded into Krystal, and then adjusted, ambiance is added. The finished piece is then re-recorded (or "bounced down") to a WAV file which is converted into an MP3 with Audacity.
Because I dabble at this and don't have a dedicated setup, it usually takes me most of an afternoon to record a 4 part piece that might play for a couple of minutes, allowing for re-recording, editing etc. (Although I am getting quicker).
Because of the lack of space available by my ISP, I'm using MediaFire to store my mp3 recordings. Clicking on the logo below to go to the download page for music that I've recorded. Becseu it's a free site there are popups that you can get your browser to ignore but should still be able to DL the music.
Piece for Recorder and Harpsichord |
(11/8/09) Paul is relearning the piano. Vaughn is relearning the recorder. They could just about play this (except for the scary bit in the middle, that might take practice >:-) |
| Folk
Tune for Clarinet and Piano |
(7/02/07) - Short tune for Clarinet and Piano |
| Dulcimer
Song |
(20/10/06) - This piece started life about 6 months ago. I'd [retty much forgotten about it but decided just to finish it off. Short folky-sounding piece for two alto recorders and 3 string appalachian dulcimer. |
| Short
Piece for Piano |
(28/01/06) |
| Reel |
(11/01/06) |
| Piece for Organ and
Strings. |
(5/05/05) - A piece for organ and strings. This piece ended up being kinda "serious" and not at all light and fluffy. The jury is still out on this one, although there are bits I like about it... |
| Wind
Quintet |
(10/01/06) - A short piece for wind quintet |
| Song
for Spring |
(05/08/05) - A small piece written for Flute and Guitar. I've just realised that I'm putting it under the above tango, and it does have a sort of Spanish quality to it, but I wrote it thinking more about warmer weather than what we're getting at the moment. For some reason it has a "familiar" quality to it and I'm wondering if I haven't inadvertently pilfered a motife from someone elses piece.... niggling this is! |
| Por Una Cabeza |
A tango written by Carlos Gardel, who achieved fame in his native Argentina in the 1930s and whose music is still popular in Europe to this day. This tango featured in the opening sequence of "True Lies" which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. I've rearranged it for Piano and Clarinet. |
| Trek Game Theme 1 |
(14/02/05) - "We should write a really cool Trek game." says Vic. Well we could except I can't program for buggery. But this could be the intro to it.... :-) (I've borrowed from all over the place here - see if you can spot the themes...) |
A small suite of dances written for Oboe and Harpsichord. Nothing too serious.
| Skip | (7/05/05) |
| Lour� | (7/05/05) |
| First Pastorale | (6/10/05) |
| Gallop | (7/05/05) |
| Second Pastorale | (3/08/05) |
| Carillion for Piano | (25/04/05) - A carillion is a set of tuned bells or the name we give to the pealing of church bells. As a piece of music it's meant to be reminiscent of that, hopefully this does the trick. I've tried hard not to make the fingering impossible, in other words, this piece maay even be playable by a real person. |
| Morning Song | (09/04/05) - Happy Piece in 5/4 time for flute, strings, piano and percussion |
| Jig | (28/03/05) - A Jig. There ya go :-) |
| Thunderbirds Ringtone. | (19/02/05) - An adaption of the Thunderbirds theme for Paul (or anyone else), whose phone supports polyphonic MIDI ringtones. :-) (btw I apologise for any naff notes, I did this from memory.... sorry! >:-) ) |
| Lounge Muzak | (05/02/05) - Sort of lounge music. Kinda.... I dunno.... :-) I was getting a bit bored with this one. Might come back to it. :-) |
| Processional Fanfare No 1 | (22/02/05) - I originally wrote this for 6 brass instruments but it
sounded waaay too tubby.
(29/03/05) - Fanfare No 1 is more like the original (scored for 2 Trumpets, 2 Troms and Organ) and No 2 is rearranged for piano, 2 oboes and flute. |
As a kid I can remember a BBC series called "The Witches and the Grinnygog". I can hardly remember what the plot was about but it seemed to reminisce about old pagan ways, with the Grinnygog being some kind of small stone gargoyle built into a church that had connections to the pagan past. Wooooo! :-)
| 1 - Dance | (13/11/04) |
| 2 - Lament to an Older Time. | (13/11/04) |
| 3 - Final Lament | (18/02/05) |
| 4 - Bonfire Dance | (11/02/05) |
| (31/10/04) - This is my first piece written in a while! If you're familiar with the theme to "Frontier: Elite 2" etc, then this piece is a bit of a tip of the hat to that. Written with the same bombastic military style, full of daring etc. I think it makes an appropriate theme tune to Elite 4 if it ever comes out! |
This site last revised April 2011
