gvancleef

Here is a song I composed 25 odd years ago, performed by moia a few weeks ago on my porch. Why "Castle Point"? Well, for lack of a better name, it was put together one night playing at Castle Point on the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology where I did my undergrad at. Enjoy! -Garrett

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This song goes a long way back, to 1982. Various ideas, people. Anyway, here is a rendering on the instrumental of it ca. 1997. Also, the lyrics. I will post here and on myspace the full song with me singing it in a bit. This song has some extended jams in it, all sequenced 12 years ago by me on a weekend. All playable and and full scores can be provided to people who need it. At any rate... Just for fun! DontTrustTheGovernment.mp3 --------------------- Don't Trust the Government (lyrics are where the flute plays and trumpets in the middle and end). Lyrics to "Don't Trust The Goverment" ------------------------------------- Government spies are everywhere They're in your house and in your hair Lurking in their secret lair Counting dollars... They know everything you know And they see everything you show And everywhere you go They slowly follow... [Tripping Blues] Government spies will spy on you And there's nothing much that you can do Except to wait until they're through With their spying! [more Tripping Blues] Well, their leader is a wimp And his assistant is a pimp And his chauffer is a chimp Down in Miami (in Miami, in Miami, in Miami) (Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!) ------------------------ Musical Theme for "Don't Trust the Government" by Garrett Van Cleef, Andy Criswell and George Pagan Copyright 1982, 1997, 2008 Lyrics and Melody for "Don't Trust the Government" by Chris "The Anarchist" Ryan and Garrett Van Cleef Copyright 1984 All Rights Reserved

I'm listening to this now You need to listen to it over and over again. And once you get the final score you will "get it". I am grateful that you are looking at this pic in the detail you are. I am an old man, and it is my gift to all of you.

the pop-song like moments bugged me slightly, but there were only a couple of them Heh. Style.

I was however unconvinced that your piece *was* in the Dorian mode. Even if its diatonic notes were dorian, the overall feel of the piece was not modal. But it is. The E-natural is poignant throught the piece, especially in the cadenza (which I will post soon). Look at the score I posted. Eb is an accidental. The E-natural is responsible for the entire flavor of the music. At any rate, I will take your point into consideration when I finalize the score. Dorian=American Blues which this definetaly is :thumbsup:

Working on the score for this. Here is a prelinary score ( no dynamics markings yet) for pianists of the Nocturn part. http://www.mektek.net/projects/mp3/etc/music/01_03_Chromatic_Nocturne.pdf Sorry about the delay but this is WIP.

Note: Some of the chords sound strange when played through the computer. Post the way you play it so we can see how it is supposed to sound. PDF scores will also help. Either way it is very nice and I would like to see the score.

Not a problem. Your work is your work. I suppose by default you grant the site the right to distribute copies of your work (for free). Also, welcome aboard. be prepared, though, the critics here are very nasty at times and unrestrained.

"but fail miserably." Comments like this are one thing I do not like about this site. The "open-ness" of the criticism on these forums stinks alot like American Idol and the ilk. These kinds of comments serve no purpose except to tear people down and is killing our culture. I would suggest that if you don't like something to just say nothing. That's what I do. "melody that has the same continous ryhthm and pattern for almost its entirety". Well you just summed up 90% of the Baroque era. Besides, this is like a two minute long piece. There is no "correct" way to write or play music.

I plan on posting a recording of this (live not rendered) soon. What I looked at with keyboard and score sounds very nice! "melodically it's not inventive." I disagree. Yeah, any song rendered by a computer is melodically boring. At any rate, we'll see what the end result is. I'll spend some time on it over the next few days and post an mp3 of my interpretion of it.

Well, I appreciate your constructive comments! Ike, I was a bit apprehesive about posting this stuff. I expected a bad review, behing how unconventional my music tends to be at times. To me, comparisons are irrelevent, but it is nice to be compared to the masters. To me, that is a complement. But, I do not strive for that. Too many new composers get too wrapped up in trying to duplicate the styles of others. We all learn how this and that composer did that and the other,and it is all good, but, to be somebody, you have to come up with something new. I apologize to music experts, but let it go. It is 2007, lets try to stop recreating the past, lets create a new rennasaince that folks 100 years from now will look back on, like we do now. While, in my opinion, it is important to study the works of the masters, you must be strive to forge new ground. Every composer needs to do this, especially now. Every modern composer needs to start looking into their souls to find something new. And find something good. If we all don't take this bull by the horns nw we will be overrun by popular crap. I say, do something new! Don't try to recreate Mozart, Bach, but learn from them, but forge ahead! It's may be difficult at first, but listen to this piece and figure it out. Loop it and tell me which order is better :D This particular work is a recording of ideas I scetched out but is not complete. The Nocturne part of the score will be available this week. The final version of the Fantasy will be twice as long and is still a work-in-progress, but I wanted to give my fan(s) a taste lol. FWIW, this piece was erroneously labeled as being in Gm. The correct key is G Dorian (G,A,Bb,C,D,E,F). Any rate, I am glad you took the time to listen to the whole piece. I appreciate it. I apologize for all the verbage and I apologize to all I offended. -Garrett

Here is a link to an mp3 of my third movement of Opus 1. I apologize for my limited piano abilities, but I hope it gets the idea across. The piece is composed of two parts, the Fantasy followed by a Nocturne piece, in G minor. The pice is a lot easier to play than it sounds. I am transcribing the hand written score and with my limited time it will be available some time this spring either here or at pianosociety.com. At any rate, here is the link to the recording (I did the best I could with my recording gear): http://www.mektek.net/projects/mp3/etc/music/descending_chromatic_fantasy_and_nocturne.mp3 -Garrett