Yggdrasil

So, I've been inactive for ages, but never mind. Busy with working etc. Anyway, I've done a few more charts since way back when - given up entirely on trying to do anything for an orchestra, and stuck with what I understand. Edit: Have removed attachments. In the process of uploading recordings instead.

Nice harmonisations (mostly pretty conventional, which is refreshing), probably needing a bit more movement, and stick a jazz solo in somewhere or other. Have you heard the ToonTown Tuners? They're a sax quintet (SATBBass) and if you have a look at some of their vids on youtube you'll get some ideas of how to make phrases move in this style. Nevertheless, good work!

Two things are wrong with this arrangement. The first is the Flute Lead in shout choruses. Although a flute lead works very nicely sometimes, it will never stand out over a full band, not even when miked. In a flute chorus, I will remove most of the band, and have the flute leading a much smaller ensemble (eg. harmon trumpet, trombone, alto, tenor). Second thing is written solos, although these particular ones are very tasteful, no-one likes to play a written solo, much preferring to make up their own. Other than that, good work, maybe add a 4th trombone part in somewhere, as some of the chords need the depth that this would provide.

Jazz doesn't have a lot of dissonance. It has extended chords, larger than conventional triads. But it doesn't sound like dissonance. Try and get a copy of Sammy Nestico's book of arranging Jazz, this will help a lot.

Charles Mingus is a (dead) bass player. He was around at around about the same time as Miles Davis et cetera. I don't know about copyright et cetera, but as for performing professionally, that could take a while before it happens.

Carcass.

The Mingus chart, GG Train, is little known, and has been recorded once (to my knowledge), as a bonus track on the album Mingus Ah Um. Knowing this, I decided to rearrange it, perhaps to be played by a band which I am in at some point in the future. All of Mingus' stuff is great, but this one particularly sticks out in my mind. Enjoy! Solo flute part is for the third trombone player in our band, who happens to be an excellent flautist (oddly enough, for a brass player). This is why I have placed 3rd cues on second tenor. Exar Kun Wars.MUS Rhapsody-ChoreaArdens4.mid

Has this been forgotten? I have been off the internet for a while for various reasons.

I do have an MP3, but I made it with Cubase VST Score 5.1, which I got in about 1998...therefore it's also fairly bad. As for a PDF, do you know how to make one from the .sib? Many thanks. http://www.savefile.com/files/2669114 - link to bad MP3 Also, slightly expanded explanation of the Maestoso, although the poet is feeling sorry for himself, the albatross will once more become king of the sky, just as, sooner or later, the genius will become king of the world...mwahahaha...ahem.

This is a tone poem that I have written based on the following poem, taken from the 1861 Fleurs Du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. The Poem title is L'albatros. The Albatross Often, to amuse themselves, the men of a crew Catch albatrosses, those vast sea birds That indolently follow a ship As it glides over the deep, briny sea. Scarcely have they placed them on the deck Than these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed, Pathetically let their great white wings Drag beside them like oars. That winged voyager, how weak and gauche he is, So beautiful before, now comic and ugly! One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe; Another limps, mimics the cripple who once flew! The poet resembles this prince of cloud and sky Who frequents the tempest and laughs at the bowman; When exiled on the earth, the butt of hoots and jeers, His giant wings prevent him from walking. (English Translation by William Appleby) In the piece I have used a simple 4-bar theme to represent the Albatross. It starts in the piccolo soaring high at the start, then it expands into a continued soary wind thing. Flute choir make up clouds, and as the Albatross flies lower the instrument representing it becomes lower - first Cor Anglais, then bassoon. Following this, the albatross catches sight of the ship, with the definitive ship horn sounding from the Low brass. This is followed by the section in which the crew capture the bird, here the chromatic winds and harp represent the bird, and the brass sailor melody represents...well...the sailors. Following this, the Albatross falls to the ground, and its theme is heard in the tuba and contrabassoon. This is accompanied by trombone glissandi which are like the laughing of the sailors. Eventually they let it go, and once again, it flies off, but this time in a lower key, still not quite having shaken off the taunts of the crew of the ship. However, things pick up again, and the Maestoso shows that it is better than the crew. (Or at least the poet is better than the crew - or should be). Time taken to compose - Just over 1 week (this is unusually long for me) Problems encountered: Yes, awkward ranges of winds which I didn't know before, semiquavers, writing in a slightly atonal style at times. Also writing music to a story of sorts is diffficult. Qm.MID

Yes, that was the case, but it seems to be working fine now. Perhaps it was being filtered by Maxthon as an Advert or something, I turned off Ad protection and it works.

For some reason I can no longer access the site from home. It goes straight to a 404 server error thingy with the page cannot be displayed. I don't know why this is, but every other page still works fine. Thanks.

composition5idea.MUSRecently, I was asked to play for a local band which is known as a pocket big band - that is to say - has a big band sound but less players. They have 6 horns - 2 trumpets, a trombone, and 3 saxes, and a rhythm section of Piano, bass, and drums. The band is excellent, with 3 of the saxophones and 1 of the trumpets being the players who used to play for the best of the British big bands (for some reason, they all live in Blackpool now), and, as a result, I wrote some arrangements for them to play. This was more an exercise in voicing chords for a different lineup than anything else, but I enjoyed it. Sky Hymnsong_Score.mid So Close, Yet So Far - Gordon Goodwin composition5idea.MUS La Fiesta - Chick Corea Laura Spielberg Midi.mid Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin COMPO1MIDI.mid Li'l Darlin - Neal Hefti PragueMidiVersion.mid Things Ain't What They Used To Be - Mercer Ellington/Woody Herman

Ah, nice. Was it the Carnival of Venice from the Arban book? I play that on trombone. Flight of the bumblebee must be hard - although I nearly bought it once.

The Tuba version was a solo with the Liverpool Philharmonic, I believe. They had a guest tuba player - he also played the Aritijuan (sp?) Tuba concerto.