Unique - For Piano, Trumpet and Audio Manipulation

Nico, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to comment on this piece (this festival will be the death of me, I'm sure!).

It is certainly an interesting piece, and a fascinating concept as well.

I don't rightly know what to make of it.

I preferred not making up my mind at all as to whether there was anything to "agree" or "disagree" with. I did, however, enjoy the music.

I found some startling similarities between a few Messiaen pieces (a bit of Turangalila in there), along with a composer I'm certain you've never heard of, but who was, if I recall correctly, a pupil of Messiaen: Fran

It is like you said:unique! Very interesting.

Nico, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to comment on this piece (this festival will be the death of me, I'm sure!).

Oh man... Please don't die! :) I know the festival will (has already gone) go great!

It is certainly an interesting piece, and a fascinating concept as well.

I don't rightly know what to make of it.

I preferred not making up my mind at all as to whether there was anything to "agree" or "disagree" with. I did, however, enjoy the music.

Yes, I treat on dangerous ground I think, even for a Ph.D. I'm not sure how it will be taken in the Ph.D since there's no time to check with my supervisor... but...

I found some startling similarities between a few Messiaen pieces (a bit of Turangalila in there), along with a composer I'm certain you've never heard of, but who was, if I recall correctly, a pupil of Messiaen: Fran

And now,

I think I've held it long enough.

The performance is NOT a live performance. Not by real instruments, anyway.

Piano: The Garritan Authorised Steinway pro edition (24-bit samples)

Trumpet: Samplemodeling 'The Trumpet'

The piano was indeed played by me live, so I wasn't lying, and tweaked very little after that. The trumpet was partly played by me, partly entered with the piano roll, and partly created by audio material already existant.

All electronics were produced by me and created with audio plug-ins and plenty of creativity. No new sounds were inputed in, only the piano and trumpet sounds were used: A "Clean" pallete.

Sorry I decided to spread it a little further and took a bit of advantage in your trust in me (cause I reckon it also plays a part), but wanted to really see how far I could get it and also add this to the "thought equation": It's a recording, does it really matter what the origins are? Does it make a difference if it's a toy piano, a VST, a real piano, or a loop? :) I'll now go and edit the first post to show which VSTs I used. :)

Hey Nikolas,

You present a very exciting new concept here that creates an actual shift in consciousness! Really excellent idea! Steve Reich did this with 'phase-shifting', but that was within the music itself. I haven't even began to listen to your "Unique," but I just love the philosophy behind this. You've brought into our awareness the 'Audio Manipulation' as an actual (existing) entity or almost like an instrument! This is VERY good! :) Of course, WHY NOT make full use of the freedom you get in a recording studio? I know that many people have already done this, but what I'm so excited about is the INTENT you set together with this music!

I'm constantly recording my piano exam pieces for YouTube and in one of the videos a friend criticized me for "being dressed inappropriately for a YouTube concert." I answered that in that video I was making full use of the FREEDOM that comes with a private setting (enjoyed being relaxed in a home atmosphere). It's NOT the same as a concert setting!!! A concert is a social event, where the music performed will not sound as perfect as it does when it's recorded! And that's fine, because the idea of a social event is the social event itself. Only snobs and outcasts go to concerts to hear perfectly performed music! LOL!

So the idea that I'm pinpointing here as 'special' (and valuable for me!) is that you help to shrug off any unnecessary preconceived notions about what is art and shift the focus on what is given and make full good use of that! You communicate a great idea together with this music! These are the keywords in this century of CHOICE:

-simple

-fast

-intuitive

-social

-minimal

-choice

-useful

-fun.

I detected the presence of these criteria in the philosophy behind your music here! :)

Good job!

Although, on the other hand, it is also true that this kind of a 'shift in focus' takes the attention away from ->the music itself<- and runs the risk of intellectualizing the process too much. But it's still a good start for a piece of music to be placed on a solid foundation like this.

OK, now onto listening to the ACTUAL piece itself! LOL!

*Peace*

--Jan--

Jan,

I'm still hoping you'll come and repost with your impressions of the music. After your wonderful post (here) I'm almost too scared that the music might dissapoint you. Don't really know why, but I just feel this way.

You are right to the point with everything you say here, and I agree 100% with your whole post here: You got exactly my intentions and bravo for that (it seems that you have already pondered on that, which makes sense... I can't really be unique :D).

Because I was also afraid that the whole process and idea of the unique and the recording would steer focus AWAY from the ->MUSIC<- itself, I added the tutorials in NSS forums, provided the score, all the process is loged in the forums and the piece it self is probably my LEAST designed piece in my life. Recorded in 8 minutes, edited in less than 3 weeks, added the trumpet in 6-7 weeks and thought of for more than half a year! :D

Again thank you for your post.

Well Nikolas and Jan - not to downplay the philosophical exploration but you make more conscious and apparent what has been going on in pop and dance music since the late 1950's - the recording studio is an instrument in itself. Any recording you get is the confluence of a piece of music being performed by a recording studi. The difference now is the recording studio is shrinking to the size of a few computers and audio gear. Note a somewhat similar philisophical problem happened with the advent of printed music - I think gardener mentioned that musicologist research shows that chant was handed more accurately by verbal transmission than by written - due to copying/transcription errors and erroneous readings, etc .. The difference of course is today the alterations and manipulations of the raw material is intentional.

I think this would be quite educational especially for non-musicians - many do not realize haw 'altered' a recorded version is of the original - if there ever was one.

CO: Yes, I know. I mention this in my thesis: In pop culture it's the norm, but concert hall composers are slow to adapt to such techniques. It's funny that people living in 2009 and composing, are still using pencil and manuscript (me including).

The other issue, is exactly to shed a tiny bit of light to the audio techniques used.

Nikolas,

I love how quickly and easily you actually composed this! This is how I compose as well. I have ideas brewing in my head FOR AGES and then I sit down and suddenly it all flows out as if it were nothing. But those thoughts are the final product of years of thought processing! So don't ever estimate your music on how quickly you composed, but rather on how much energy you put into it and what it really means to you! :)

I don't know how you composed this and what the music depicts or even what style it is, but I love it!!! It sounds very interesting and original. It IS very Unique! I'll have to find a good moment when I can take a closer look at the score and see what I can make of it. Will check out the NSS forums with the tutorials! Thanks for this cool music lesson! ;)

Composerorganist,

Yes, dance and pop music have been using the recording studio, but they haven't made their recordings an art form. Their music is functional. But 'great' art these days is the non-functional creation that cannot be used in any practical ways. They are made to be appreciated for themselves. There is a wonderfully informative article by Stephen Davies called "Aesthetic Judgements, Artworks and Functional Beauty" on this website:

Downloadable papers - Faculty of Arts at The University of Auckland, New Zealand

This explains what art is from a purely philosophical point of view. But again, this article is for you only if you are so inclinced. You don't have to be a philosopher and understand all of these concepts in order to be a great musician/artist! :)

*Peace*

--Jan