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Showing posts from October, 2013

OpenDrive

I wanted to update my blog with music players and cool stuff like that, and I was killing myself trying to figure out how to use Google Drives to put an mp3 on my blog. (There's a way to do it, trust me, but it's beyond me) In my research I found out a really cool site: OpenDrive. Not only can I store my mp3's there, they even have the code I can put in my blog to embed the mp3 files so I can have a cool little player with it. Pretty nifty! Anyone looking for how to put music on their blogs, I would highly recommend OpenDrive. Here's all you have to do: 1) Upload your mp3 to OpenDrive. 2) Right click on the file and click on links 3) Copy the HTML embed code given by OpenDrive 4) In your blog, webpage, etc. go to where you would like to put your player (make sure you are in HTML mode) and paste the HTML embed code 5) In some cases, you may need to also add formatting stuff, like a line break: <br />    This will help keep things looking nice.  :) Wha

Hymn arrangements for violin

I was talking with a friend yesterday with whom I play in a string quartet and in the Idaho Falls Symphony.  We got talking about how little music there is arranged for violin and viola for playing in our Latter Day Saint Sacrament meetings on Sundays and how little she likes to arrange works for them.  She suggested I start writing arrangements of hymns for violin and viola, having played the piano for an arrangement I made of "I am a Child of God" which I played on my viola with my wife who plays the oboe.  It'll be nice to start arranging hymns for the LDS community to be able to use, and I felt like it would be a nice way to get my music out there and to consecrate my time and talents. Some ideas for new arrangements for solo violin with accompaniment:  "Abide with Me,"  "Lead, Kindly Light," and "Joseph Smith's First Prayer."  If anyone has any thoughts for arrangements that they would like to see, just post on my blog here, and I&#

Finished Overture

I started working on my Orchestral Suite the other morning, and to my surprise I finished the Overture.  I had been expecting to spend at least another month or so working on it, but as I worked I realized it was about ready to be finished.  I added some final touches that I felt helped close it out.  The Overture is now in the draft stages, where I may make some minor adjustments to orchestration and also where I will edit the score and the parts to get ready to have them performed.  I fell great about how it has come along, and I especially love the transition from a dark opening into a bright and peaceful finish. Here's where this piece kind of started out at about a year ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVyETPnZwCQ And here's where it has come: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0GmL53t5go