time already for--Orchestration Challenge #12 - !

[rbowser-]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

OH MAN!!---I followed Keith's advice:

"...the whole tone scale is the 'Meanwhile...' sound. you should try it - get either a harp or piano sound then say "Meanwhile" and play the whole tone scale right after. i guarantee you'll laugh..."

SO Spot on! Add the sustain pedal for the entire run of notes and you are smack dab in the middle of a classic sound track cliche. Brilliant!

Gary Garritan!--Thank you so much for your feedback on my challenge 11 arrangement and on this challenge 12 motif. It's all thanks to you that we can gather here and have such a great musical time together. --Picture an animated smiley which doffs a top hat in grateful acknowledgement.

Ray--I think you've already won the race for crossing the finish line first! Glad this string of notes with their "meeeeeanwhile" suspended feeling has been fun for you to work on.

Jesshmusic--I don't understand this:

"...There are only two whole-tone scales (C...and D...)..."

Why is that true? You can use any note as the fundamental and climb upwards by whole steps and have a whole-tone scale.---Can you not?

Hope everyone else is tackling this new challenge. It'd be so great to see a list of entries as long as the list of Forum members!

Randy
(rbowser)

[SeanHannifin]

"...There are only two whole-tone scales (C...and D...)..."

Why is that true? You can use any note as the fundamental and climb upwards by whole steps and have a whole-tone scale.---Can you not?

C, D, E, F#, G#, A# ... if you use any of those as the fundemental you get the same scale. Likewise with Db, Eb, F, G, A, B. Thus, I'm not sure there really is a "fundemental" in the sense of a tonic first note, as in a diatonic scale.

[rbowser-]

OH I see! Yes, that makes sense, Sean-Thanks.

So Jess was pointing out that once you have a scale starting with C and another starting with D, then all the possible notes have been used, and it's a scale that actually has no tonic, so one can't really say "whole tone in A, or in F etc." Got it.

But you do arrive at a different feel at least, if you start the run on notes other than C or D, "pretending" that your starting note is the tonic, in a sense forcing an anchor to a scale that has none. Curious creature, this Whole Tone Scale--Symmetrical as Jess pointed out.

My curiosity is piqued more than ever to hear what people come up with for this.

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[jesshmusic]

OH I see! Yes, that makes sense, Sean-Thanks.

So Jess was pointing out that once you have a scale starting with C and another starting with D, then all the possible notes have been used, and it's a scale that actually has no tonic, so one can't really say "whole tone in A, or in F etc." Got it.

But you do arrive at a different feel at least, if you start the run on notes other than C or D, "pretending" that your starting note is the tonic, in a sense forcing an anchor to a scale that has none. Curious creature, this Whole Tone Scale--Symmetrical as Jess pointed out.

My curiosity is piqued more than ever to hear what people come up with for this.

Randy B.
(rbowser)

It is also nearly impossible to create a sense of tonic if the whole tone scale is used for harmony as well. I wrote a piece for vibes and piano that melodically is whole tone, but for most of the harmony I use quartal or tertian harmony.

http://www.fupduckonline.com/music/lunar.mp3
(Chuck Brooks and I playing... me on piano--an actual Steinway Concert Grand... I was drooling during the performance... LOL)

The problem of having only one place to modulate to was an interesting challenge.

If you use the whole tone scale for harmony and stack chords in thirds everything is an augmented chord.
Similarly there are only three octatonic scales (C, Db, Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb; and D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A, B, C; and B, C#, D, E, F, G, Ab, Bb)
These scales are very cool... derived from the combination of 2 fully diminished chords.

Another fun scale is the Lydian/Mixolydian scale. Combine the two modes as such:
Lydian C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
Mixolydian: C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C
Result: C, D, E, F#, G, A, Bb, C

Jazzers know this as the Lydian-dominant scale.

[wrayer]

Bill/Wrayer--bestower of the challenge Roberto and the rest of us worked with last time. I certainly hope you do this one---And, you mean you didn't like the captioning on my screen shot? tHAT WAS MEANT TO BE ALL aRTSY--yA kNOW?--Maybe like in music where something you expect to be played LOUDLY is suddenly soft instead, and something expected to be soft is instead suddenly LOUD.

hAVE FUN EVERYONE!

rANDY
(RBOWSER)

i'M A tRUMPET pLAYER everything I play is loud. Piano=p=put out sound! forte=f=for pete's sake put out sound I said.

Trumpet Players definition on how to playe trumpet: Louder Higher and Faster (LHF)

I'm already finished with most of the notation part, now to get it to sound good, step 2 - Thanks again for a fun and different theme.

[keithjfuller]

whole tone scales have taken over this post. wowzers. since we're on the subject i will say that the only time i really use whole tone scales is in jazz on the dominant chord (usually the V) of the key. it works great because it has the tonic, major 3rd, flat 7, and altered 5s, but other than that i don't hear or use it that much, which is mostly due to what others have already pointed out - it has no tonic. anyway, thats my jibber jabber about that and i really hope i'll be able to find the time to enter this.

[rbowser-]

VERy interesting thread this has turned out to be!

Definitely makes sense that to harmonize this motif, one can't stick with only using notes from the whole tone scale. Like I've said before, it's going to be Very Interesting to hear what people come up with.

Bill/Wrayer--this cracked me up:

"...i'M A tRUMPET pLAYER everything I play is loud. Piano=p=put out sound! forte=f=for pete's sake put out sound I said..."

hehehehehe!

Randy
(rbowser)

[rayzalaf]

* bump *

I don't want any excuses for not entering challenge #12 because somebody didn't see this thread.
And you better be on top form boys and girls.

Ray

[rbowser-]

Good idea, Ray, to bump this. How about if we made people's continued membership to the Forums here be dependent on entering this?!---OK, well that's too drastic. WOuld be nice to hear pieces from as many people as possible though. Even 30 seconds of doing Something with this motif would be fun to hear.

--Go to your computers--push On, fire up your keyboard or do whatever you do to make music, and have a Go at it--NOW!

Randy B.
(rbowser)

[SeanHannifin]

One should especially enter this round since it is wholesome...