MUSIC - MY COMPOSITIONS
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NOTES ON MY STYLE AND COMPOSITION PROCESSES
I write music by ear.
I have seriously considered using normal processes of learning music but I have an urgency that prevents me from writing with a strong learned knowledge of music. The fatal urgency is my age - no time left. My age is such that I can not take four to ten years to study music composition properly. I had all but given up on writing or music composition. I love music and at one time in my life I could have chosen music as a way of life. But my father told me to find a "real" job as all normal people do. At this time in my life, I realize that I am not, and I never was normal," as my father defined normality. But it is far to late in my life to use the right process to learn music. It is my best and most honest guess that I have about 10 years left of normal (for me) life. Even the 10 year guess is optimistic - I will very likely be dead in 2033. even if I studied music properly either as a musician today, or taking good strong college classes, I would only have two to three years left in my life, to write. As a somewhat partial but happy alternative, there are very good computer "notation" programs available. I have chosen "MuseScore" as my "shortcut" to composition. I do have a full degree in computer science from a California University college. And I did make a good living in engineering and development of large medical systems. But I have lost my chance to properly learn music either through a musician's life or through academic training or both. So I am now learning and using MuseScore as my pathway to composition. I also use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) for refinement and tune-up of my music. And, my composition is, for lack of proper training, done note by note. I do have the fortunate ability to slow my music to 10% speed of playback. That allows me to review and rewrite every chord stack. I am studying chord progression in my "spare" time. I have some of the finest note samples done by the BBC symphony Orchestra. In addition I have sound samples from some instruments in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. I have a 50" 4k monitor and a 32" monitor ruining in parallel. I often fill both screens with control systems such as notation programs, mixers, and other note dynamics, controls. For the purists in music, I apologize - this is a strange way to write music. I do have one factor in my favor as a musician, I have a very good ear. I am usually able to hear and correct one "wrong" note in a stack of 20 notes from five or ten instruments. I need all the help I can get and my ear is my only helper. I do have one other strange ability - construction of good melodies or themes. I hope, with great humility, that my music will be heard, even with my poor advice from people who should have cared and my lack of a good choice for my life work. Steve
>>>>>A SPECIAL NOTE<<<<< I am completely absorbed in this process of the creation of music. I happen to lean in the classical music direction. I am interested in music in all of its forms. I love good jazz, and I have a passion for country music as my present and soon to be finished project will show. I try to adapt to any from of music and enjoy it for its craftsmanship and creativity. If you share my interests in music and you would like to talk or just comment on my music, I would really like to hear from you. Even if you do not like what I write, I would like to hear - there are usually two sides to any creativity. I will show a slightly coded version of my email address below. I get so much terrible junk mail, I need to stay one step ahead of the junk mail people. my email: steve (at) steveluce (dot) com where at=@, and dot=. example: john@riverclown.com Please understand, I do not ever collect data, I do not sell email addresses, I am completely non-commercial and strongly opposed to junkmail |
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| MUSIC SELECTION ON THIS PAGE WITH COMMENTS ON THE CREATION PROCESS: | |
TITLE 1 : TONE POEM - "MARGARET"
This is a tone poem. A tone poem, as I use it here, means a selection of styles of music but with some common connections in the flow of the music. This was a birthday present for my wife. This composition is a collection of themes using instruments I enjoy and seem to fit the parts of music they play.
The sound is semi-synthetic. This means that the sound of a violin, as an example, is a real violin sound collected with extreme care and done with multiple microphones for the best possible sound. The instruments and musicians are from a set of sound samples done by the BBC symphony Orchestra. Sound samples sometimes called soundfonts, are common but the really good sound samples come from the BBC symphony orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. I also use a mixer, and in my case I use a very fine product called "Reaper". This digital mixer is applied to the original sound created by MuseScore. This stage of refining the sound of the final music version is called a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The mixer (DAW) is a significant step, now done digitally with a product such as Reaper.
All of my composition is done using a computer, with good sound sample instruments from beginning to finished product. As I work on a section of my music, it often feels like I am working with a real orchestra. So when I find a part of my music that just does not feel right, I repeat the section and adjust instruments and each note of each chord that are sometimes in a stack of 15 notes per chord. My only solution with such a complex sound where 15 different notes are played at the same time is to play the chord over and over, make adjustments by ear, and try again. It really feels like I am telling a real orchestra to start at measure 235 and simply play. I listen and adjust the sound until it does what I feel is right.
I would never say that this is anything like a real orchestra but the final results can sound pretty good to my ear. This process, by the way, is now generally accepted in the movie score business. Even with perfect orchestrations, done digitally, the good movies final scores are still done with real orchestras.
This sound sample process using real instruments and real orchestras has become quite a good source of income to the orchestras. A high quality set of sounds samples done by large premium European Orchestras sell for $500 to $1500. These sound samples are done over and over almost continuously and have become a major source of income to the big orchestras.
Back to the tone poem - the poem is a very early attempt on my part to compose music. I never would have guessed that I would be composing. I would NEVER put my work in a category and compare myself to the masters - Beethoven, Shostakovich, Copland, John Williams, etc. But I am enjoying this process and composition has always been a fantasy for me. The tone poem is mostly a note by note process and using my ear to tell me if the work is reasonable - or not!
When it seems wrong, I got to work, adjust, tune, or make changes until the music sounds good to me - very much like painting 99% discipline and hard work and 1% natural ability.
TITLE 2: LARGO - "AWAKEN" (slight delay of 4 sec)
This is a Largo format which has come to mean simply slow and with feeling.
Much more to be written on this piece of music...
>>>>>A
SPECIAL NOTE<<<<<
I am completely
absorbed in this process of the creation of music. I happen to lean in the
classical music direction. I am interested in music in all of its forms. I love
good jazz, and I have a passion for country music as my present and soon to be
finished project will show. I try to adapt to any from of music and enjoy it for
its craftsmanship and creativity.
If you share my interests in music and
you would like to talk or just comment on my music, I would really like to hear
from you. Even if you do not like what I write, I would like to hear - there are
usually two sides to any creativity. I will show a slightly coded version of my
email address below. I get so much terrible junk mail, I need to stay one step
ahead of the junk mail people.
my
email: steve
(at) steveluce (dot) com
where at = @, and dot = .
example: john@riverclown.com
Please understand, I do
not ever collect data, I do not sell email addresses,
I am completely non-commercial and strongly opposed
to junk mail