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Showing posts from March, 2014

New Piano Accompaniments

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I've started work on a new section under Educational Materials :  Piano Accompaniments.  These piano accompaniments use Noteflight , a social networking and composition site. Noteflight is an awesome resource to use for all kinds of music needs, and the basic sign-up is free. One neat thing that noteflight allows you to do is to change the tempo, which is invaluable for students still learning their parts.  It's not as effective or comprehensive as SmartMusic or similar software. But being free to use, it certainly has excellent advantages. So far, the section is still under construction.  I hope to include different subsections, categories by instruments, etc.  A few accompaniments and links are now up there, so  stop by and check out what's on it so far!

Showcase Section

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I've recently added a new section on my blog to highlight some different neat things.  I wanted to have somewhere I could showcase some neat music I've been listening to, some of my friends works, and some of my own stuff that I'm proud of.  You can find this section either on the top bar, or along the right side.  While both the main showcase page and the sidebar section are still under construction, my plan is to include some neat things that will change from week to week, such as: a highlight of a classical composer's works and a little bit about him/her, a modern composer's works, some of my own compositions and what I've been doing with them,, neat articles I've found on music and composing, and other things that I have not yet decided on. :) Check it out when you have a chance, and let me know if there are any things you'd like to see on there or see changed! This week's composer:  Dmitri Shostakovich!  Awesome composer, excellent and hau

Pietà: Sculpting a Composition

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As promised, here's a little bit about some changes I've made on the lyrical movement of my recent piano sonata.  To start off, here's the most recent update on what it sounds like: Bear in mind, this is still a very rough version of this piano sonata.  I've yet to figure out a few rough spots in the minor section and some overall structural concerns I've had. I've been spending most of my composing time focusing on this sonata, and some recent changes I made have made me wonder about why a composer changes things that sound okay, and how this refining process can take an okay composition and turn it into a better composition, and - hopeful - can even change it into a masterpiece. Being a perfectionist, I find I spend a lot of my time (more at times than I like) writing and re-writing sections that at least earlier I felt worked really well already.  This raises a few questions in my mind about composing in general: -What makes one note better than anothe

Come, Come, Ye Saints Arrangement Now Available for Download

A new arrangement is available for download in the Violin & Viola Arrangement section.  It's an arrangement of "Come, Come, Ye Saints" played for a Stake Night of Music, and every instrument features the melody at some point.  Have a listen:  For the present time, this arrangement will be free to download. Soon to come also will be the same arrangement with a cello part in place of the violin and some updates on previous arrangements.