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June

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Everything posted by June

  1. I don't think it's either possible or meaningful for work so far out of copyright. No way to measure (and in practice, no descendants to speak of, unlike more recent public figures)...
  2. Non-bel-canto singing is becoming much more prominent in high-cult rep; I think you just haven't found the rep yet. Start with Judah Adashi (his perfect example of this, Sestina, is on soundcloud), Caroline Shaw (her Partita is everywhere and won a Pulitzer), Ted Hearne, Du Yun (also Pulitzer for an opera in every style from bc to punk), most of what Roomful of Teeth does, and all the other artists recommended from searches on those artists. Even in the most uptown of the new-music-focused choral groups like The Crossing, vibrato isn't the default; they use it carefully and often sparingly.
  3. I like Ken320's suggestion of using ties between the rearticulated notes. (Again, my question is about how to indicate specific timing of bow changes *in a way the player is LEAST likely to interpret as meaning I want any extra emphasis -- any more emphasis than has to happen physically -- on any rearticulated note.*)
  4. I think I didn't express this clearly enough. I'm talking about a single solo player in a small-chamber context (say, this string player plus two or three other instruments). I'm asking for suggestions about marking specifically *where* the changes should happen (because this is a piece where I want not bow changes ad lib, but rather changes at specific points relative to what other instruments are doing). Upbow and downbow symbols are one possibility, but those suggest I care whether each given segment is bowed upbow or downbow (I don't care at all, but more importantly, I don't want to give the player the impression that the starts of the ones marked downbow should be more emphasized).
  5. Long held notes for a string player, in a solo or small-chamber context: Is there any way to indicate "this point is where you change bow direction" OTHER than ending the existing note and starting a new note? I find players interpret a new note to mean I want some audible accent on that note -- that I want it clearly rearticulated -- even if I have a verbal indication in their part that they should make the smoothest bow changes possible. In my current piece I can't just say something like "bow changes as necessary, as smooth as possible" because I do have specific places where I want the bow changes to happen. This is even more of an issue in a piece with sustained double stops -- they'll need to change more frequently AND the changes can't be as smooth as with a single note (meaning it's even more important that they not have that instinct to accent any changes). What do you think -- should I just combine new notes and a really clear verbal request to change smoothly? (Assume I won't get to coach any of the players in person, and the players are excellent/pro level.)
  6. The only kind of reporting that seems to have a strict deadline is Plus awards, for which you can only report the last calendar year's performances. In your own experience, what is the longest time between the date of a performance and the date of your successful reporting of it to ASCAP? (Successful meaning you were credited and paid for it as an individual concert performance, not as part of a Plus award.)
  7. I'm sorry about the time you spent on it, but Tokkemon is right: you can't just arrange other people's themes without licensing them. This can't be performed in public without a license from the owners.
  8. A global point about triple stops: it's not possible to sustain them like that. Your performer (unless you instruct him or her otherwise) will arpeggiate and then sustain the top two notes or just the top note (usually top two if it's easily possible in context, as with yours). Double stops are easily sustainable but not for very long (the player will need to change bow directions so there will be a very audible stop in the sustain - consider notating where they should change bow direction). Can you meet with a violin or viola playing friend and try out some of these things?
  9. Remarkable site - thanks for pointing it out.
  10. As of a few years ago, in order to join you needed to show you'd had at least one reportable performance in a non-institutional venue (not a school/church/etc.). Maybe they've since realized it's to their advantage to get people on the books as early as possible. :) (Edit: for people who don't know, the U.S. has two PROs of about equal size -- we're the only country where this is true, as far as I know -- and they both spend a lot of money and focus on advertising to try to get people to choose them over the competitor.)
  11. Oh, and the proper time to join is as soon as you qualify - no advantage in waiting.
  12. Assuming you're talking about performing rights orgs such as ASCAP in the U.S., GEMA in Germany, etc., there aren't international ones. Just national ones (and agreements among the national ones to administer rights -- e.g. I am an ASCAP member but have received payments [much later] from other national societies that they paid to ASCAP because I had a perf in their country). You can, if you want to, join more than one national org at a time. Few people do this because it's more complex and needs some ongoing attention, but reportedly it can be more profitable. Check film music discussion boards for arguments about this, pro and con -- some of those film folks are obsessed with royalties and think about them a lot more than I ever have. :)
  13. For very short scores (for example, the full score is only 2 pages long) I've always had both performers play from the score and they've appreciated this.
  14. Robin, can you recommend your favorite Muhly pieces please? Based on what little I've heard, I haven't really 'gotten' his fame yet (aside from cult of personality, which he's obviously an expert at) but I feel like I could be missing something great.
  15. Saariaho and Stucky.
  16. It is pretty remarkable. The demo only works for 30 days, and the sw is expensive, so you may want to plan accordingly for a month when you can use it productively.
  17. EWQLSO Silver is only $150 now ($100 for the library and standalone player + $50 for the iLok). It seems to be the best value relative to quality for my purposes. I'll try either that or EWQLSO Gold ($300 total) once I study the instrument lists and decide how much it's worth to me to have the missing instruments and options in Gold.
  18. For others' reference, you may need to restart Melodyne multiple times after you do the trial authorization, to get it to work correctly. But Holy *&^%!! It works as promised. (To clarify for future readers: yes, it accepts polyphonic audio as input [such as a standard stereo recording of an instrumental group, chorus, etc., performing multiple lines at once] and separates that audio into component parts so each part can be edited.) Thank you, Kibbletime!
  19. Wow, Melodyne does appear to do exactly that. Downloading the demo now and will update re. whether it worked. Thank you!
  20. Thank you! Yes, I'm not interested in anything other than live playing for myself (I know great-sounding mockups can be had with learning & effort, but that's not my priority personally). It does look like I will need to learn about current vs. outdated sampling methods -- people on this board are saying Miroslav sounds are very good independently but not sampled in a way that facilitates natural-sounding legato lines (my first priority): http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/449941-ik-multimedia-miroslav-philharmonik-review.html
  21. I hope there's a good solution for this! I have a stereo recording of an a cappella SATB piece of mine. It's excellent except for a several-second passage in which I need to change one of the pitches. (They didn't perform it wrong -- I've since changed the pitch in the score.) Info that might help: - group has great intonation and blend, so all pitches in this passage are really spot on; - the pitch in question is G above middle C and I need it to be A above middle C; - this G is the highest pitch in the texture, sung by the sopranos; - it's an all-homophonic passage, and two of the four parts (including the sopranos singing this G) are holding still, chanting the same pitch on several different syllables while the other parts move. Please help me find out if there's a direct software/editing solution (as opposed to, like, "Get a different group to record it"). Thanks, I really appreciate the help!
  22. Well, anecdotally: After a conservatory B.M. in composition, I spent years as a freelancer, well below the poverty line, living the unglamorous life of a musician in a city. It was HARD. For that to work you have to be resourceful, optimistic, healthy overall (and not addicted to anything expensive), willing to live ultra-simply without the luxuries most of your peers are used to, and lucky (especially medically; I lived without health insurance for years, and although I carefully took care of my health, it is also damn lucky I didn't just have some accident or injury during those years). Now I'm finally set with substantial commissions and some solid income, and I don't regret those years, but what I really want to emphasize is the temperament that got me through them. Freelancing requires you to be genuinely okay with very little income and very little stability. If you feel like you'll want more stability, don't let anyone tell you it's selling out or giving up to have a steady job (musical or otherwise). Most of the composers I most admire in my peer group do!
  23. I have some weird priorities in my search for a sample library. I would really appreciate advice from people who know the offerings better than I do. - I don't want to make mockups of pieces. All I care about is hitting keys on my keyboard and hearing a high quality solo instrument sound come out of my computer with little latency. - My system resources (4GB RAM, 1.8 GHz Core i7, SSD) wouldn't handle anything too demanding, and I'm not planning to have a dedicated 2nd machine for this. - I don't need any special articulations (not even pizz). I can hear the effects and bowings I want; I just want a nice legato sound while I play around. - I only need western orchestral instruments (I do need wind doublings, at least down to alto fl, bass cl, english horn & contrabassoon). For percussion, I only need vibr, mar & glock. I was even thinking about just buying a good standalone grand piano instrument (so it would be as if I were just using an acoustic piano for composing -- not trying to have other instrument sounds at all). But I thought I'd ask here to see if there's some broader library I might like. Budget: I haven't done enough research yet to know what my budget needs to be. (I just heard about some prize money and could use all of it for this [1000 USD] if I had to.) I'm not interested in buying Sibelius 7 for its sounds (was suggested in another thread). Thank you for any thoughts!
  24. Your instinct is right that "cluttered with many markings" is a look you must avoid, both for practicality in performance and so your scores can be taken seriously by strangers as they first take a look at the scores. That's often a result of too little vertical space between each staff. Do you have enough space between your staves? It's most efficient to work in your eventual page size (you say you're starting working with Letter -- that's a sure way to make things too dense vertically if you have a large-ensemble piece). I recommend working with larger paper and for the times you need to print on Letter size paper, you can just "fit to page" in your printer's settings and/or create a PDF that's reduced to fit the page. Also, your notation program allows you to adjust the font size for all markings. That's definitely worth experimenting with, to help with visual balance. As you're learning, cosmetic work takes a lot of time. But it really pays off in conductor/performer happiness and interest.
  25. Twitter is remarkably useful (never would've believed that until I tried it myself and started making real connections).
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