Ballerinas of Ganymede

I must admit that I am not sure if this piece is completed yet. But it seems to have reached a logical conclusion and that is why I am posting it. Nor I am even certain about the title. For some reason when I listen to it, dancers come to mind. Not your typical Ballet dancer though, so I put the dance on the moon of Jupiter called Ganymede.

The piece uses EWQL Gold and was composed in Sonar 8 PE.

Here it is

Ronald (rolifer) Ferguson's Page - Composer's Forum

The piece can also be found here

Ballerinas of Ganymede.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Ron

Aw, a happy sounding Ron piece!

Before I comment, I just want to let you know I've been listening to a lot of your music on the link you gave, I forgot about the Mad Hatter! Love it!

God you rock

The final version is awesome Ron, you have this a meaningful form and presentation. The earlier versions were just rough drafts, I know, but it's always amazing to see what you come with in the end.

It's different then what I expected, I thought you would expand more on the B sections rather then the A, but the more I think about it I think it serves it's purpose better with what you wanted to convey. I like the little bell solo ;)

Congrats on overcoming the obsticles this piece gave you, I know it made you sit and dwell on it before working on it again, but that usually works out for the best! Fine work Ron!

Vince

Hey Ron,

I like what you've done with this piece. There are many different parts, but they all come together well, great job.

I as well liked the bells in this piece, it made the mood so much lighter, and made me think of dancers as well.

i want to see the score . in fact

Vince

I was still having problems with the bass drum and the timpani lines so I asked a friend how to clean them up and he gave me some great EQ tips that really helped a lot. So I remixed the piece and it is now much cleaner and clearer in those parts and sounds so much more like what I hear in my head.

I had to go and listen to The Mad Hatter myself after you mentioned it. I have been wondering if this piece is a part of my Alice in Wonderland suite and I just haven't realized it yet. I have no idea what character it would depict, but if it belongs, I'm sure my muse will sober up long enough to let me know.

I have yet to start a new piece after after messing with this one, so I still may end up composing another part of this and not realize it until it is almost completed. I think that this section is the ending part of more that might come to me later. That's what happens when your muse is drunk most of the time. I rarely ever drink, so why did I get stuck with an alcoholic muse?

I appreciate your help with this one.

Impresario

Those "bells" are actually a Celesta. A neat little instrument that John Williams used a lot in the Harry Potter movie, but was made famous by Tchaikovsky.

They do help to give a light mood to the piece but deep down I think there is some sinister stuff lurking there as well.

Dark

I compose using Sonar, which is a sequencer not a notation program. Although it does have a score that can be seen, it doesn't come anywhere close to what you would be used to seeing. For example, I have 32 tracks (or different instruments ) being used in this with many of those tracks doing multiple instruments. My score would show a stave for just the Pizz in the Cello, another for the short bowings and the rest of the cello would be on yet another stave. So I would end up with way too many staves. It would take me hours and hours of work to take this into Sib and clean the score up enough to make it presentable. That's just the way it is with Sequencers.

However, I can make a midi file of it if you wish and you could open that in a notation program if you wanted. Let me know and I will do that.

Thanks guys

Ron

Outstanding material as always.

I strive to do what you do, only told yout his about a couple hundred thousand times though :D

Keep up the awesomeness.

Hey Ron,

I just listened to your Ballerinas of Ganymede. And since it was on the same audio player, I also listened to The Jungles Of Ganymede. I've now heard about 7 or 8 of your pieces, and I have to say that they are consistently fascinating and full of surprises. I really love your inventive harmonies and orchestral colors.

You have a great sound. I mentioned to you once before that your harmonic and orchestral colors remind me of Charles Koechlin. But you never confirmed whether or not you're familiar with his music. If you haven't heard his stuff, you should check him out. I think you'd really enjoy it. You are both very unique composers.

Yes, the sinister mood also stands out at times, I agree.

Don't take me not knowing the celsta as an insult by the way, it's not that you wrote it bad, it's that I'm uninformed.

Ron,

First of all I'd like to say hello, as I'm relatively new to the site (about a month). I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting (or as close to meeting as one can get on the internet, I guess exchanging ideas?).

I enjoyed your piece, but I think you could go a bit more all out with some of it -- with some of the bombastic whimsy. I detect an Ivesian sense of humor lurking beneath the surface, poking its head out a bit, just waiting to be unleashed.

I like it....

:)

Sax

If you wanted to become a professional baseball player, what would you do? You would practice, practice, practice. The same is true for composing. I have composed over 150 pieces in the last 3 years. Each one, IMO, is better than the last. The more I compose, the more I understand what I am doing. So stop reading this and get to composing. :thumbsup:

Gary

I went to youtube and listened to a few of the works by Charles Koechlin and can understand why you see similarities. I enjoyed listening to his works, so thanks for the tip.

Impresario

I know no insult was intended. ;) The celesta is not a widely used instrument and therefore not widely known.

Charlie

Hello to you as well. As soon as I am done typing this I will search to see if you have posted any music as well. Welcome to YC!

I also have a feeling that the piece is not finished yet. I just have to wait until I know where else it is going.

Thanks Graham

Just so that you know. I may be a lot older than you are, but you have been composing longer than I have been. In fact, almost twice as long. :toothygrin:

Thanks again guys

Ron