Am posting another song.

This one titled:  112612a

I am still pushing
in the direction
of meditative/contemplative sound.

But this one
is much more agressive in it's melody
than the others.

Variations of the main theme
are running throughout most of the piece.

The variations actually are the piece,
while the percussive accompaniement
is only pretending to be leading,
while it is, in reality,
very much following.

I should explain
two very important things,
which have a dramatic effect
on compositions of this kind.

First,
very highly textured
or layered
sounds,
such as are being used here
are very difficult to use and control.

Very few persons
would be crazy and uninhibited enough
to even begin
to compose
using these massive blocks of unfamiliarity.

I expect there are only a handful of others
who actually can jump on a very powerful instrument
such as this,
(or the full pipe organ,
as an other example),
and fully take command of it.

I can tell you personally,
that it is EXTRAORDINARY!
to be able to do.

It is the result of decades
of continuous
and very difficult
working and studying.

The fingers themselves
cannot even do in five years
what they can in ten.

Likewise with ten to twenty
and twenty to thirty.

YOUR muscles would rip to shreds,
quite really and literally,
if you attempted to play
any of these pieces.

In order to give an idea
of what I am going through
during hours of continuous playing,
I like to ask people
to simply tap one or two fingers
continously
for as many minutes
as they are able,
as they listen to me play.

See how long
before the lactic acid buildup
brings those fingers
to a very painful stop.

Not me.

That is because of
thousands of hours of practice
over decades.

The muscles can become stronger
and more limber
with time and useage
as one plays keyboards throughout a lifetime.

I wouldn't dare try to do what I do now,
even ten years ago,
because I know
I would tear up my muscles badly.

(I have done it on a number of occasions =  VERY BAD!)

Being able to play this way,
relatively effortlessly, 
is really a great payoff.

The other thing I wanted to explain
is that when you are writing music
to be played REALLY LOUD!,
you have to write in a very different manner
than you would if not.

The louder the piece is played,
the simpler it MUST be,
in certain respects.

Too many vibrations
and sound waves
all clashing on each other really loud
can become pretty uncomfortable
relatively quickly.

On a pipe organ
it can make the pipes shake in their racks
so violently and forcefully
that they may fall over onto you.

That makes a really good incentive
to avoid certain combinations of frequencies.

So, one must be very careful
about the use (and abuse)
of the natural overtone series,
which is always present,
because it is the overtones
which will be hitting against each other
very hard
long before the primary tones
clash with each other. 

Whether you consciously realize it or not,
you unconsciously decide
what is a "good" sound
or a "bad" sound,
to a very great degree,
based upon your perception
(or lack thereof)
of this overtone series,
by which is typically meant
a consonant sound
versus a dissonant sound,
or a harmonious sound
versus a discordant sound
or a cacophany of sound
(my personal favorite,
just in case you haven't yet noticed).

Harsh
versus
soft,
or pretty,
or elegant,
etc.

It is kind of funny
how we tend to use terms of judgment,
like good and bad,
to describe sounds,
which really have no place
when trying to describe physical vibrations,
which, after all,
is exactly what you are supposed to be doing.

So, that's your little lesson for the evening.

And now,
you all need to go to bed
like the good little children
that I know that you are
(or, at least, should want to be,
don't you think?).

Even I am doing that
right now as we speak.

See you all bright and early (NOT!)

w/love to all

vw


8:50 p.m.
11-26-12
Monday
Ventura, California, USA


p.s.

What is an overtone?

Take a string
(or column of air)
which is 16 feet long.

While the 16 foot string
or column
is vibrating,
one half of it is also vibrating simultaneously,
while one-third of it is also,
and one fourth of it,
and one fifth of it,
all simultaneously and audibly.

With proper ear training
you can hear the first three to five
of these divisions with relative ease.

On a pipe organ
pipes are made of different unusual lengths
intended to bring out certain tones
in the overtone series
more strongly than others
in what are called
"mutations"
 and
"mixtures".

That's a lot of tones
all flying all over the place
while underlying
and supporting
every single musical tone known.

Which means as you get louder and louder,

DUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!