Advice

This video was posted on Eric Whitacre's blog a couple of days ago. It's advice for aspiring storytellers, but as Whitacre said, just replace storytelling with whatever it is that you are interested in and it still makes sense.






One thing he suggests is to have personal deadlines. As I believe I've mentioned before, I don't get a thing done without a deadline.

So I'm going to make a commitment. I want to complete and post a minimum of 3 compositions per month. Does that sound decent?

After all, you can't get better at something if you don't do it in the first place!

Soundtrack Saturday

You'll want to turn the volume way up for this one. It's pretty quiet, but boy is it lovely!

I've been learning to play this on the piano.

I'm sorry, it cuts off at the end, but it's the only one I could locate that was even decent.


Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and soak it in.

Whoa! It Is Time!

It would appear I've made it to my 100th post!

I don't know about you, but I see this as an opportunity to celebrate!

 

Let's see... What has happened since my first post here, 2 days short of half a year ago?

*That's right, I started my blog on October 31, 2010, a day after The Director.

*Being in a funny mood, I decided to mess with my hair, and ended up looking like a well-known Disney character.

*I rapidly gained followers after my humorous hairbrush post

*I began a fan club for my favorite character and interviewed him as well!

*I met my first blogging friend! We met through our mutual love of film scores.

*I actually started a photography blog around Christmas as a sort of gift for my grandma since she's always asking me to share my pictures with her. It reached 100 posts a week ago.

*I got a new, new computer to write up all my lovely posts on!

*I fell in love with all things Tangled (as did almost everyone I know)


Alright, enough of that! Now on to the exciting part...


I said this event was worthy of celebration, correct? Well, I have decided to host a crochet giveaway!!!

(insert applause)

But seeing as it's nearly 11 pm, I fear I'll have to leave that for the 102nd post.


Thank you to all of my lovelies out there! You mean so much to me!

This Is The Day by John Rutter

In case you don't already know, John Rutter is an incredible composer.

This song was part of the royal wedding. Isn't it just lovely?

Just Had To Share This With You

I heard this song for the first time last night.

It got me.

What's In My Head Wednesday

I know, I know, it's been playing nonstop on the radio, and maybe that's why it's stuck in my head... Please forgive me.

Wait. I'm forgiven (pardon the dreadful pun).

Well, anyway... Just enjoy!

Happy, Happy Easter!

I would have written a nice, long, inspirational post, but I'm sure you've read plenty of those already. So for now, just listen to this song and let the words sink in.

You Have A Mission

Because it has been suggested that I host a button making contest!

You see, I've had this blog for almost half a year (wow!) and I still don't have a button.

Pity.

But that's where you, my lovely, devoted followers come into play.

It is up to you to create a snazzy button for my blog.


The guidelines are as follows:

-Simply create a button that is fun and music-related. Like me!

-If you have a blog, kindly place said button in your sidebar with the coding. Then leave a comment at the bottom of this post along with a link to your beautiful blog.

-If you do not have a blog, then email the coding to me at composer4christ@gmail.com, and you may leave a comment as well if you wish. I like comments.


*You have until Saturday, May 14 to complete your mission.*


I hope to see some beautiful , stunningly gorgeous buttons, people!

Have fun with this!

 Don't disappoint me!

And leave a comment!


*Oh, and if I missed any instructions or you have additional questions, shoot me an email!*

Soundtrack Saturday

This one's for Amaranthine!


Across the Stars, also known as the "Love Theme" is from Star Wars, and is, obviously, by John Williams. John Williams rocks, by the way.


This song was actually playing during one of my more recent dreams (well, it was recent when I wrote this post, not when it was published a few weeks later) and that is what prompted me to use it.





Besides, it's a great example of how instrument choice lays a big role in achieving the desired emotional effect. Think; what would you feel if you heard this song without the harp? What if the melody had been played by a tuba?


Okay, I know... Who would ever think of using a tuba... Silly composer...

What's In My Head Wednesday

More like what's in my head this month! Seriously, I've been singing it for almost 2 weeks so far.

Quality isn't the greatest, but who cares?






And then there's this.

Thank me later.

What's In My Head Wednesday

 This song, by Anthem Lights, has been stuck in my head for over a week. And I can see why.

I recently purchased this song and two others. Anthem Lights is the band that opened at the Rock and Worship Roadshow.

Al's Garden Center

My mom dragged me and my my mom's camera along with her to Al's Garden Center. Here are just a handful of photos I took. The colors were incredible and the lighting was amazing.

I really like using my mom's camera because her macro setting (meant for taking up-close pictures) is incredible, as in it actually works! My camera's up-close setting focuses on everything except for the object that is, well, up close. So I've been using my mom's camera a lot more lately with all the flowers in bloom.

So without further ado...

Pretty, eh?

Easter lily = happy me!

Hooray for bright colors!

This is the inside of a tulip. How cool is that!?

 This just looked cool.

That's all for now! I hope all of you fabulous people had a wonderful day!

This is a Very Exciting Test...

So please bear with me!

Observe as EFC makes a valiant attempt to embed one of her (ancient) (ammature) (ridiculous-sounding) compositions into this post:






Did it work? Please please please leave a comment! I shouldn't have to beg.


Wow. I hadn't listened to this in ages. It's much better than I recall, except I should've had more breaks in the flute part- it's just one long, long strand of notes with nowhere to breathe.

Thank you very much, Director!

Soundtrack Saturday

I really wanted to do something from Singing in the Rain but all the clips I could find couldn't be embedded into this here post. Then I wanted to do something from Oklahoma, but all I could find were from stage productions. So I've chosen an alternative that I think you'll all enjoy just as much:


If I Were a Rich Man from, of course, Fiddler on the Roof.


Now I know this shouldn't be a concern to you, but the best one I could find (because I had to have the actual clip, what with the dancing and all) is half a step sharp.

So you can all enjoy it to its full extent while I cower in a corner with my hands over my ears.







Maybe I should've gone with a stage version of Oklahoma...

I Want To Do This!

And I probably never will, but it's still cool.


Watch this to find out what I'm talking about:







And hear the whole songs here:






And here:

What's In My Head Wednesday

I love this song! It's so catchy!

It's Mine!!! It's Really Mine!!!

This evening, I became the proud owner of this:

Enough said.


Music review coming soon!

So, How Does Music Work?

Oops... I published the wrong post. Ignore that, please.

As I was saying...


I'm currently reading a fascinating book called How Music Works by John Powell. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked an interesting question by a friend of mine. He asked me:


"You know how there are different types of drums that play different pitches. For example, there might be a drum that plays an F and a drum that plays a G. Now, my question is, why can these drums go with any notes? Is it because it's too low for our ears to discern as a note and we just associate it with a way of keeping track of the beat or something. For another example... Supposed your playing in the key of C and your drum is the note D. Why is it that you can play that note even while it's not a 3rd or a 5th above or below the note that your playing with, and it will still sound good.

You can seem to play a drum note to any note of the piano, regardless of the distance between the notes. But, if you did this on the piano and played one note as the beat in every measure, while your playing your song, most likely you will run into what sounds really awful. Like if you played a C and a D at the same time, it wouldn't sound very nice.

I guess that's what I'm trying to ask. What is it about a drum beat that you can play notes that don't follow the chord of what your playing, yet it still sounds nice. Like if you played a C on the piano while you played a D on the drums, it wouldn't sound bad like it would if you did it on the piano. "




Yesterday I read something very interesting on this exact topic:


Apparently, bass drums, like the ones on drum sets, have 2 ends that can be hit. The drum can be either pitched or unpitched, depending on how it's tuned. To make it pitched, all you have to do is tune both sides to the same pitch so that the sound waves match and resonate. To make it unpitched, you tune both ends to different pitches. That way, the waves aren't uniform and we don't hear a specific pitch. However, this makes it so that the drum doesn't resonate very much. It becomes more of a dull thud.


But what if you need the drum to resonate? I'm guessing that you can do that by tuning both sides of the drum to the same very low pitch.

My guess was that it doesn't clash because we don't think of drums as a pitched instrument. Since we perceive the drum as an unpitched instrument, we hear it as one. Similarly, if you think of a drum as pitched, it could clash.

I also thought that if the drum is too low pitched we wouldn't be able to discern its pitch, but if it is higher, like a snare or a djembe, it's more likely to clash because the pitches are more in our range.


Which leads to the question: Let's say someone sings bass and they hear a drum that's in their range, way down low. It probably doesn't clash to other people, but since he's used to singing in the same range as the drum, does it clash to him?

I'll be searching for an answer to that and more.

If you have a question of your own, please feel free to ask! I'd love to be of assistance.

And be sure to tune in next time for So, How Does Music Work?

Soundtrack Saturday

It's all The Director's fault!

And I can't thank her enough.

Just listen to this and you'll know what I mean.

Of course, you may have heard this already. I did snag if from The Director...


This is (obviously) from The Eagle and I love it because I'm very much into Celtic music, especially the fast, rhythmic type. It makes me so happy, you don't even know it. The score was written by an Icelandic composer named Atli Ovarsson. I had never heard of him before this, I think he's newer, but I definitely like his work thus far.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

What's In My Head Wednesday

All day, every day.

Or so it seems...

How to:

Make your car look like this:

Step 1: Drive in the rain on a windy day

Step 2: Park car beneath a flowering tree

Step 3: Leave wet car beneath flowering tree while the wind blows and the rain falls

Step 4: Drive home

Step 5: Park car in garage to dry overnight



Do all that and you're sure to end up with this!

Soundtrack Saturday

Boy, do I have a treat for you all this week!

This is the theme from Black Beauty by Danny Elfman.

This incredible score won me over from the first time I heard it while watching the movie and it continues to entrance me with it's light, mysterious, beginning and lilting, dreamlike melody.

The whole score is full of emotion and is simply gorgeous.

This was the best video I could find, but it cuts off early at the end. My apologies. At least it's in the correct key...