3-24-12 UPDATE
Posted by Vincente E. Woodward on Saturday, March 24, 2012
For anybody who cares or needs to know I will not be leaving town until one week from Monday, due to various travel considerations and another recent and very unexpected death of a near relative (literally just fell over and dropped dead yesterday at about 2 p.m. - apparently from stress and exhaustion - we await autopsy results).
This leaves a very little bit of time to get some more loose ends wrapped up.
Have listened to Barber's Adagio several times now.
Sounds pretty good to me.
I will continue to try to improve on it during the week, if at all possible.
I am also continuing to work on Albinoni's Adagio.
I got a very good take of it several days ago, but screwed up a couple of phrases in an otherwise perfect 10 minute take.
Ooops!
While many would be tempted to cut and paste, I try to never do that.
I will cut, but rarely paste.
Never in works by composer's other than myself.
As a matter of course.
They are my own weird rules which I have always lived by and would find very hard, if not impossible, to change, just because.
I broke out the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to warm up on and hope to record it next.
It is a song not dissimilar to Barber's Adagio for Strings in that it is very difficult to find the exact right tempo.
And the tempo MUST change throughout the song, but very subtly and delicately.
It really makes a big difference.
Typically, a keyboardist will play too slow or just a little too fast.
The only way to find the right tempo is through trial and error.
Yes, you must play it at numerous different tempos with the metronome as your ever-present guide to the exact rate.
FInally, after weeks of trial and error I will settle upon the tempo which I feel is the most appropriate to the music and the phrasing of the music (remember to pause after every breath/phrase, for example).
While this is tedious and even a little bit odious, nevertheless, the final results make all of this difficulty well worth the trouble.
Of course, it is when recording the really big payoff happens.
Because it simply has to be PERFECT i.e. technically flawless.
Every little error in precision will just get louder and more obnoxious every time I listen to it, until I go completely crazy and storm out of the room in an intense rage which will last for months, before I finally calm back down.
Of course, as you should well be able to imagine, this is not something I want to be doing very often.
Especially upon seeing the very concerned looks of my loved ones who know to just stay away for the time being.
Ahhh, the life of a totally insane composer/artiste.
Who would want to live and love any other way?
Not me, and that's for sure.
Just having a little fun to offset some of the other stuff which is in the air most of the time.
Hope this finds everybody as well as can be given the particulars of any given situation.
I hope to return to blog soon.
In meantime, someone has got to do all of the work, if it is ever to get done.
I think that would be me.
So, I'm out of here.
noon
Saturday
3-24-12
Ventura, California, USA
This leaves a very little bit of time to get some more loose ends wrapped up.
Have listened to Barber's Adagio several times now.
Sounds pretty good to me.
I will continue to try to improve on it during the week, if at all possible.
I am also continuing to work on Albinoni's Adagio.
I got a very good take of it several days ago, but screwed up a couple of phrases in an otherwise perfect 10 minute take.
Ooops!
While many would be tempted to cut and paste, I try to never do that.
I will cut, but rarely paste.
Never in works by composer's other than myself.
As a matter of course.
They are my own weird rules which I have always lived by and would find very hard, if not impossible, to change, just because.
I broke out the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to warm up on and hope to record it next.
It is a song not dissimilar to Barber's Adagio for Strings in that it is very difficult to find the exact right tempo.
And the tempo MUST change throughout the song, but very subtly and delicately.
It really makes a big difference.
Typically, a keyboardist will play too slow or just a little too fast.
The only way to find the right tempo is through trial and error.
Yes, you must play it at numerous different tempos with the metronome as your ever-present guide to the exact rate.
FInally, after weeks of trial and error I will settle upon the tempo which I feel is the most appropriate to the music and the phrasing of the music (remember to pause after every breath/phrase, for example).
While this is tedious and even a little bit odious, nevertheless, the final results make all of this difficulty well worth the trouble.
Of course, it is when recording the really big payoff happens.
Because it simply has to be PERFECT i.e. technically flawless.
Every little error in precision will just get louder and more obnoxious every time I listen to it, until I go completely crazy and storm out of the room in an intense rage which will last for months, before I finally calm back down.
Of course, as you should well be able to imagine, this is not something I want to be doing very often.
Especially upon seeing the very concerned looks of my loved ones who know to just stay away for the time being.
Ahhh, the life of a totally insane composer/artiste.
Who would want to live and love any other way?
Not me, and that's for sure.
Just having a little fun to offset some of the other stuff which is in the air most of the time.
Hope this finds everybody as well as can be given the particulars of any given situation.
I hope to return to blog soon.
In meantime, someone has got to do all of the work, if it is ever to get done.
I think that would be me.
So, I'm out of here.
noon
Saturday
3-24-12
Ventura, California, USA
