(Love the socks
When I was at high school in the late 1960's, a friend taught me a few
guitar chords - enough to be able to strum along to some of the hit-songs of
the era. I bought a chord chart from a local music shop and taught myself a
lot more; I found that I had a good ear for harmony and could quite quickly
work out the chords for most of the songs that interested me.
This gave me the ability to drive some people nuts. My sister would sit at
the piano and try to figure out the harmonies for some tune or other, not
always with total success. When I heard a dodgy chord, I'd yell out from my
bedroom: "G minor sixth!", "A augmented!", "C diminished!", or perhaps "F
sharp seventh!" - and sure enough, she'd play the bit again with the
suggested chord, and it would sound fine. There'd be a slight pause, then
she'd bellow across the house: "I can't bear it - he's ALWAYS
RIGHT!"
So, when I first started playing around with Noteworthy Composer, it was no
big deal for me type in a tune I knew - or load a midi file I'd grabbed from
the net - and harmonize it by adding some more parts, using various
instruments available via the sound card (an AWE 32 Sound Blaster). Great
fun! Useful, too; I was able to produce arrangements for my wife (flute),
my kids (violin and cello), and myself (guitar accompaniment). We actually
performed a few pieces in public some years back, including my arrangements
of "Old Man River" and the Frankie Laine
theme-song from "Blazing Saddles"!
Over the next few years, I created chamber-music style arrangements for
John Lennon's "In My Life", Paul McCartney's "Mull of Kintyre" - even Mars
Bonfire's "Born to Be Wild" (Steppenwolf's legendary hit) and the Cream
standard "Sweet Wine", among other rock songs - as well as arrangements of
short "classical" pieces for our little family group including Franz
Schubert's "Ständchen" (Serenade) and Jacques Offenbach's "Barcarolle".
Just while I think of it - if you're a fan of Steppenwolf, visit John Kay's
site dedicated to the band
here.
Also, click
here
to read a fascinating interview with the man.
Formed in the late 1960's, US band Steppenwolf were (and still are, I
believe!) a hard-rocking outfit. The lyrics of many of their songs are quite
beautiful, and deserve to be read as poetry in their own right. Have a good
look around the site and read some of them. No death-metal misery, this -
these songs are inspiring. Classic examples are
"Magic Carpet Ride"
(the lyrics will make you chuckle),
"Rock Me",
and (especially)
"It's Never Too Late".
UPDATE, Tuesday 21st July, 2009
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "one small step for
man..." than to add links to videos of these wonderful songs from that
incredible era, as I've just done. (The "It's Never Too Late" video is a
real heart-stopper; have a tissue handy.) Enjoy...
UPDATE, Tuesday 12th October, 2010
What a pity - that lovely video of "It's Never Too Late" has disappeared
from YouTube, apparently for legal reasons. Never mind - you can click
here
to visit a web-page which has another YouTube video of the song
embedded within it, along with the lyrics, so that you can follow them if
you wish.
Similarly, the above link for "Magic Carpet Ride" has also disappeared,
apparently for much the same reason! - but again,
this
page contains the somewhat wry lyrics, along with an alternative YouTube
video.
UPDATE, Wednesday 18th May, 2011
I'm delighted to be able to report that my favourite YouTube video of "It's
Never Too Late" has made a comeback! Goodness knows how long it will stay
there this time; but for as long as it does,
here's
the link.
Also, a somewhat weird angle on "Magic Carpet Ride": there's now a very
cute version of the song by a girl group called the KSM. Depsite myself, I
find that I really like it, even though it may be seen as a bit corny!
Here's
the link to a YouTube video with all the lyrics (slightly altered from the
original). Might make you smile (I wonder what John Kay makes of it, if
he's heard it?
One Steppenwolf song,
"Monster",
I've never heard - as far as I know. Penned at the height of the Vietnam
war, the
lyrics
pack a punch, and are just as apt now as they were a third of a century
ago - perhaps even more so.
21st July 2009:
I've heard it now.
Here's
a link to a YouTube video. Can it really be that things have finally begun
to change over the last few months, in Western countries at least? Hoping...
Cream, also mentioned above, were a British band from that same heady era.
Often referred to as "the original power trio", Cream featured Eric Clapton
(guitar), Jack Bruce (bass) and Peter ("Ginger") Baker (drums). On several
of their recordings, they were joined by producer
Felix Pappalardi,
who added a unique touch of colour and inspiration playing a wide range of
instruments; and on some occasions, they were joined by Eric's close friend,
Beatle
George Harrison.
Like Steppenwolf, they were a heavy group; and, like those of Steppenwolf,
the lyrics of many of their songs could make you catch your breath. Unlike
those of Steppenwolf, however, Cream's more whimsical lyrics may not have
been political, but they were no less thought-provoking. The song
"Sweet Wine",
in common with many of their other offerings, expressed a desire for a
simpler, gentler world. (Click
here
for a YouTube video. Eric's lead guitar work on this track has been
described as "incendiary". "Money, nothing funny, wasting the best of our
lives..." - YEAH!!!)
To read more about this wonderful band, click
here
to see a page with more about "Sweet Wine", and their first album "Fresh
Cream" on which it was featured. Then follow the links within that page to
see the whole excellent site and thus get a fuller picture of the group.
Okay - on to some of my own musical musings, starting with arrangements of
pieces by other composers:
The first item on the menu below is my slightly disrespectful version of a
piece by J.S.Bach; the second is a (quite sensible) arrangement of
W.A.Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus"; and the third is my tribute to Schubert's
"Ständchen". The fourth is my very simple adaptation of Offenbach's
"Barcarolle".
It wasn't very long, however, before I became frustrated with simply
arranging pre-existing pieces. What I really wanted to do was compose some
original stuff of my own - but inspiration wouldn't come. I had no idea of
how to start. But then odd things began to happen.
Occasionally, in the late 1970's and early '80's, I'd had dreams with
"background music". I'd wake up with a snatch of music in my head, and
realize that it had actually played a part in my dream.
This began to happen again in earnest once I started playing around with
Noteworthy Composer. Sometimes, I'd doze off on the settee next to the
computer and have some stupid dream or other which had a musical
accompaniment running around in the background. I'd wake up with the tune
still in my head, immediately get myself in front of the computer, and type
it in before I forgot it. A good job too; notoriously, the details of dreams
are soon forgotten on waking. There were occasions on which I'd come back to
the computer later and be quite surprised at what I'd managed to salvage
from a stunned semi-wakeful state hours earlier.
(The melody for my song "The Loan Sharks", which you will find elsewhere in
this website, is actually the result of combining the background music from
two quite different dreams on separate occasions, days apart.)
The fifth offering below, "Microwave Coffee", is an example of one such
incident.
Can a person really claim ownership of a piece of music which arises during
sleep? Or is there a "higher force" at work with the sleeper simply acting
as a passive recipient?
Well, I once heard Arlo Guthrie (in a 1984 concert in Sydney, broadcast on
ABC-FM) relate a similar situation in his own experience regarding his own
song
"Darkest Hour".
His approach was that it was his dream, so it was his song! Sounds
reasonable to me. Update, 26th December 2008 (Boxing
Day!): Click
here
to see and hear a YouTube video of the man singing this song.
Even so, I really wanted to be a genuine composer, with a much more active
rôle in the production of new music. Sure, there probably needs to be some
basic inspiration (much as in poetry), but with the artist "fleshing out"
the details and adding further original material. It didn't seem to be
happening.
Then, one day, one of my kids (about nine years old at the time) was
wandering around the house humming a tune, as little kids are wont to do,
and just happened to hit three notes - and suddenly, an entire tune jumped
into my mind pretty much fully-formed. I rushed over to the computer and
banged the melody into Noteworthy; in short order I'd added two more parts
and produced my first original composition. What a buzz!
The sixth item below is the result of this flash of inspiration - a piece
which I named "Classical Rag".
Having done it once, and having thus experienced the process occurring, I
began to produce other originals. There have been occasions, however, when
I've taken an even more proactive approach to composing. One way is to just
fiddle around on whatever instrument one is able to play reasonably well -
guitar, in my case - and see what pops up. Once the germ of an idea is
there, it's possible to flesh it out into something more substantial.
The seventh item, "March of the Spooks", was produced in such a
manner.
VARIOUS MUSICAL ADVENTURES
Variation on J.S.Bach's Three-Part Invention No.2 in C minor, BWV 788
Perhaps you've arrived here as a result of a search for a midi arrangement
of a piece you know. If so, I hope that what you find here is of some use to
you - and I also hope that you like some of my own original compositions.
There's room for humour in music; I've tapped into that in some of my
pieces. But if you'd like to see a web-page which majors on the funny side
of things musical, may I suggest that you visit
this website
- and be prepared for a big surprise!
My home page
Preliminaries (Copyright, Safety)
Various musical adventures
Mad Teddy leads the singing
(1975)
)
).
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