chrooke

I have just posted the February edition of <a href="http://www.macidol.com/podcasts/drumdifferent/>Drum Different</a>. This month I offer a selection of love songs for the folks who love Valentine's Day, and also the folks who don't!

Current Mood: tired

Announcing the second episode of Drum Different, a MacIDOL Radio Revolution podcast:

"Soapbox": MacIDOL songs with a political or social message.

Enjoy!

Current Mood: tired

You may remember my rather odd version of Little Drummer Boy last year where I rekeyed it into an Arabic scale. This year I have a version with vocals, thanks to the GarageBand 2 vocal transformer, so I can sound like a young boy.

Also up is my take on The Twelve Days of Christmas. The redundancy in this song has always irritated me, so I had to deal with it my way.

Current Mood: tired

Drum Different is now listed in the iTunes Music Store podcast directory. Search for it by my name, the title of the show, or by MacIDOL.

I've also submitted it to be listed at Podcast.net.

Current Mood: accomplished

I have just launched a new monthly podcast over at MacIDOL called Drum Different.

In case you didn't know, a podcast is like an Internet radio show, but instead of streaming it's a downloadable file you can put on an MP3 player (like an iPod).

If you want to subscribe to my show (it's free!), put http://www.macidol.com/podcasts/drumdifferent/dircaster.php into your favorite podcast reader.

Drum Different is just one of several shows in the MacIDOL Radio Revolution. Please drop by and give the other shows a try.

After a delay of several days due to a UPS foul-up, I have finally received my brand spank-y-new stage piano/MIDI controller. 88 hammer-weighted keys and a direct USB interface to the computer. I'm almost in heaven.

Of course, I can only listen to the thing through headphones right now. I thought I had the cable to plug it into a stereo, but I can't find it. I can't fit it into the computer room until I do a bit of cleaning, so I won't be able to record with it for a little while.

Current Mood: relieved

I should have put this in last night, but I'm running behind.

Last night I gathered the two basic themes for the third movement of my symphony, a string quartet and a waltz that I originally conceived separately, into one file. I wrote a B section to the string quartet part (now the Minuet), and copied sections as needed to get the overall structure. I then stuck my waltz (now the Trio) at the end, just to see if they sounded too odd together.

Fortunately, for what is really still a sketch, it doesn't sound too bad. I still need to rearrange it for orchestra rather than string quartet, add intros/transitions/etc, and probably repeat the Trio theme, (or maybe add a B section to it, but that might be too much.)

In other words, I'm about to the 20% that takes 80% of the time.

Current Mood: geeky

What happens when you give an untrained violinist an untuned violin, and have him jam for 3 minutes? Killing Time 2: You truly kill the time, and you'll never get it back.

Technical
Me playing a student violin I got from eBay for $50. I don't know how to tune it, so I didn't. I don't know how to play it, so I faked it.

Recorded directly into GarageBand 2 using an M-Audio Nova condenser mike and an M-Audio MobilePre USB.

Mastered in Audacity.

Revisions
10/25/2005 -- Original post.

Copyright
(c) 2005 This music free to share under a Creative Commons Music Sharing License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed-music

Current Mood: dorky
Current Music: Killing Time 2 - Chris Cooke - Killing Time

I've spent the last 45 minutes or so (when I should have been asleep) playing with lamenting waltz theme I had hummed to myself either in the shower or on the way to work long ago, and captured in GarageBand so I would have it for later. As I developed the harmonies I realized I had taken elements of my first symphony movement and worked them in. By unconscious artistic comprehension or having fallen into a rut (I prefer the former) I ended up creating exactly what I needed for the Trio portion of the third movement. Combine this with a string quartet little demo theme I wrote when I first got GPO, and, voila, the third movement is practically written. [Ha, ha. There is still the arranging for orchestra, transitions, dealing with the fact that the two parts are in separate GarageBand files, and of course, mixing it all at the end. The art is done. The grunt work remains if I'm to share it outside of my head...]

I have always planned on using Beyond as a theme in the second movement.

Shortly after I released it, I realized that the first 2/3 of Summoned! would be the first theme of the fourth movement. [The fourth movement will be "battered sonata" form. I intend to start with a sonata form but beat it up a bit. I have my reasons.]

So I have actually written music for all four movements of my symphony, needing only two or three themes to have all of the major ideas sketched out. Maybe I will finish this in my lifetime!

Current Mood: artistic

Tomorrow night 10/10 at 10PM Eastern Time I make my debut on The Composer Channel, an Internet radio station for songs produced with Garritan Personal Orchestra.

At 10 PM is The GPO Variety Hour, 29th Edition. Summoned! is the second song in the lineup.

At 10:30 PM, The GPO Variety Hour, 30th Edition opens with Meastra Discordia.

I expect these two shows will go into the normal rotation, so you can look at the schedule and pick them up a different time that may be more convenient.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Come the Revolution - iFingers - No sleep till Tibet