clarinetcola

Contemporary Percussion, by Reginald Smith Brindle, is a book that approaches it more generally yet you could still find details about writing for percussion in it. its written mainly for composers.

lol

i actually listened to this piece when you first posted it months ago. but was so obsessed with atonal music that i thought this piece was crap. not now! i could imagine sitting by the window just listening to the rain. =) i have to admit its a very effective piece and i enjoyed listening to it. it had a slight sence of the dorian mode in the first few bars which i liked, as if it were in G major, but that's just me i guess =P i didn't really like the Bb B natural at b.43 and elsewhere, it just came out too sudden, and (no offence) it gave me a feeling that you wanted to show off you could use that diminished chord.it just didn't fit in, probably the sudden change of rhythimic figure? i don't think it suits in this particular piece. (even if u wanted to, perhaps an A# would be more correct) the thunder gave me a scare lol maybe you could perform it piano and soundtrack. =P nice work.

nice use of pentatonic scale! i think it evokes more of a chinese dance rather than jazz. nonetheless its a musically written piece =) you may want to start tidying up your score now =P when i first had composing lessons, the first piece of advice i got from my compo tutor was to learn to format my score. took me ages to get my deformed finale score into a more ordinary looking layout as i composed in scroll view, or panorama view in sibelius =P

well. i'll quote from sibelius reference page 74, "Beams" *clear throat* "Note also that...Notes can only cross over to another staff in the same instrument." it just simply wouldn't respond to any cross staff command to staves that are not the same instrument. and you can't get around it like u normally would(create piano staff and blah blah blah) as one staff is a 1 line percussion staff. just one of the few stubborn things that sibelius just won't let you do. =P

hm... i looked up on sibelius reference long ago about cross staff. it seems to only have it for the same instrument, piano or marimba etc. not for different instruments. maybe it would only work in finale? =(

cool links.. =) i'm still figuring out how to do that in sibelius, maybe you can't? I know it could be done in finale.. but just made the switch as i'm not that reliant on playback. re jamie: yeah, i actually handwrite my score GLK instead of GLSP, but thats the only option that comes from sibelius' symbols. not too bad considering there's none from finale =P

yeah.. i read about that. don't they have gongs with richer overtones that produce a harsher tone, closer to indefinite pitch? & its for one player. I don't think its impossible to play though =P would it?

opps forgot the score. percussion2008-06-23.pdf

hm. now i've got woodblock mallets and vibraphone mallets, both in each hand to facilitate passages like measure 46-59. this is my first serious percussion part... before it was only cymbals and timpani here and there. what do you think? btw i can't quite get sibelius to switch from single line staff to 5 line, any ideas? i know it could be technically done. when i copy cues of the percussion line to, say, flute, the 5line flute staff changes to single line to accommodate the percussion line. thank~

hm. i actually tried clarinet mouthpiece on trombone before. it fits snugly in. you would have a range of a fifth deep down, and would have fun trying to get harmonics out =P

thank you all for the replies! I've sort of sorted it out. because at one point the vibraphone is playing 3 note chords just after a woodblock and glock passage it's really hard to get around if the same beaters can't be used. now i actually edited the music so there's only a 2 note chord(? or part of a chord?). this should make things easier if the played had a felt and hard in each hand. btw eldkatt, maybe its only my school's crappy glock, but i tried every soft to med. mallet (metal, wood, rubber-> only very quiet ring)and the glock doesn't respond to any of them. this is really challanging.... as it is my first time to look into the percussion part i'm writing. would you guys suggest any score reading or books? any that i could possibly borrow from conservatory libraries? again thank you for the input~

hi wwrr, thanks for the input! seems that i have a bit of problem solving to do now =P I actually tried the mallets at my school, but unfortunately they don't have a vibraphone, so I have no idea what beaters could be used on it. so would wooden beaters be okay on the vibes? because it seems to both work with wblock and glock. thanks guys!

Hi All! I'm currently composing a piece for mixed ensemble including one percussion part. It would be cool if the player could interchange between vibraphone, glockenspiel and woodblocks. I've read that the vibraphone is normally played with felt or wool beaters. is it possible to play it with wooden beaters so that the glock and woodblock could be played without changing beaters? would it sound too dry or produce too much contact sound? the glock doesn't seem to like soft beaters and I really want a crisp sound on the woodblock. attached is one of the cross instrument examples that I'm not sure if it would work. the top line is woodblock and bottom one vibraphone. any suggestions? P.s. one side question: whats the max span of 2 beaters in 1 hand for vibes?

i get that sometimes when I minimize then maximize the window. You just have to get used to it and hopefully one day it will be solved.

i major in clarinet & i do a bit of saxophone too.. i have to say bozza's pieces are really interesting for both instruments.

does this sorta parralel to the first half of your theory? =P THE TABLES TURNED UP! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you'll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble? The sun, above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow. Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it. And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless-- Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness. One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:-- We murder to dissect. Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.

finale's GPO? =P just wondering. Although I agree that we shouldn't just rely on the good playback of our program to compose, sometimes i find it really hard to do without constantly listening to it over and over again =n= for finale's version of GPO the lacking of saxophones as well as clarinet in A is really a pain in the neck.

john cage? lol WOOO! I'd say i've enjoyed the piece, excepted that I listened to a long long pause until i found out that what i was waiting for was just bars of rests. That's one the most interesting and rhythmically complex piece i've seen on this forum. YES, it does contain a lot of high and screaming notes, but I won't consider that out of range. It could be played, just really risky and challenging in an orchestral setting. I disagree with musicman that the piece is random. There is clearly a motif stated at the beginning and it is repeated over and over again in the piece in different colours. The piece is obviously incomplete and I really encourage you to finish it. As for the rhythm, I must say that although it is hard, there are tons of 20/21th cen music with more complex rhythm and I consider that pretty straight forward. Personally the place that I liked most is at bar 34 where the clarinets plays in a notated heterophonic setting. hope that helps! definitely finish it and post it up, remember to clean the score up a bit next time.

thank's for every one's response!! sorry about people requesting for pictures and measurements. Since it was made two years ago it probably got lost when me and my family moved to Australia. Anyway!!! that sounds kinda scary to me who doesn't know maths at all. all I did was trial and error. I tried to put a hole there, and if it doesn't work, cover it with tape and try again. trial and error, that's what i do for hard mathematical equations as well. eg. say u want to have a hole a major second above the last one. you cut one where you *think* it should be. you cut it and play test it. A. it is flat - cut the hole bigger B. it is way too flat - cover with tape and cut another hole higher C. it is in tune - viola! start the next one! D. it is sharp - tape the hole smaller E. it is way too sharp - don't cover it with tape yet. cut a hole beneath it and maybe it could serve as your next hole with a lil bit of adjustment. if not, tape it.\ strawcola

ritual? maybe manuscript, pacer and eraser in maths lesson? clarinetcola

I've googled it and all the web talks about is how to make the mouthpiece aka the reed bit. A Mcdonalds straw works great for this. I'll briefly focus on the tuning part here. Memory still serves fresh after 2 years making it. 1. have a go at different reed shapes.. settle on one that you feel comfortable with. 2. cut it to the right length so the base/bell/..lowest note it produces is preferably C/D/F/G that would enable easy fingering and to tune the "instrument" to concert pitch. 3. in my case the straw plays comfortably and naturally in the second octave.... maybe due to the length and other acoustics properties that i have no idea of- and have no intention to find out why. 4. start cutting holes.... just pinch it and cut a diamond shape in it. experiment it. start small and gradually cut it larger until u find the right pitch. the higher the hole the higher the pitch. if u find u've just cut it in the wrong place, just cover it with tape~ 5. after u've finished the whole octave under ur 9 fingers, try other variations, in my case, i've cut my thumb hole larger in order to get the higher notes. the lower octave was just lipped, no fingerings involved. the straw's pitch is VERY inconsistent, and could vary by a 5th or larger using the same fingering. so bear that in mind when u cut ur tone holes, and try to maintain a consistent embouchure throughout the whole process. i'll come back soon. time to sleep.

I've got the same problem with a small amount of files with '07 in XP... so i think OS's not the cause of the nice blue shape.

A soundclip of myself playing a straw I made, with 2 octave+ range http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/new-woodwind-instument-762.html?highlight=straw

it was just a joke... the "A Major" in the title caught my eyes. ---- these extraordinary talents usually fade away as adulthood approaches, sadly.