Thanks to Gary and GPO Team

[jandjnelson]

This piece was my first attempt to create aesthetically pleasing audio files of one of my compositions. The playback was created entirely in Finale using GPO flute and piano patches, a modified Human Playback preset, Finale’s MIDI tool, and a custom Garritan ambiance setting based on the “Parlor” preset. The title is Three Rondos with Riffs and Refrains. There is a strong jazz influence to all of the harmonies and some of the rhythms and melodies

http://www.box.com/s/7etgg9napxhmkh5ur0r9

http://www.box.com/s/vvggpkndzvodd95ijiv5

http://www.box.com/s/k8h6eorrsqbgzjsbtknx

A former music theory student of mine who is now a true flute virtuoso asked me to compose this piece. A very good publisher of flute music was interested in it but wanted a recording to help judge its merits. For health and scheduling reasons a premiere was postponed for two or more years. It appeared that the opportunity to get it published would also be lost. I decided to try to create my own recording using MIDI. Reluctantly the publisher’s selection committee agreed to listen to these files and, thankfully, they liked them. Many of the compliments were for the sound of the flute and piano in all registers, all lengths of notes, and at all dynamic levels. The flute vibrato was highly praised. Needless to say I owe Gary and the GPO team a debt of gratitude for helping save the publication prospects of this piece. I’m hoping that the publisher will agree add these files to their web page. Any suggestions for improvement in the audio quality and MIDI playback would be appreciated. I know I need to use controllers cc22 and 23 on the repeated notes in the flute in the last movement.

A very successful premiere did eventually take place at the National Flute Association’s convention in August of last year.

[Raymond62]

Congratulations!! I listened to your music and... the flute sounds great. The piano less, but you don't have the all praised not available anymore Garritan Authorized Steinway(maybe some subset of it in Finale, don't know). Anyhow, the publisher was impressed and the works are fine, so what? May it be the beginning of a great career ... huge words, but I mean it. All over they say: music is what mankind drives to excell.

Raymond

[Raymond62]

Listened to all three of them.... can you throw in some reverb. Ambience for chamber music, please not those stadium reverbs. Now it is a bit dry....... be modest in your reverb, after all it is chamber music and my chambers aren't that wide.

Raymond

[FossMaNo1]

Overall I thought this was a quite impressive work. I do agree that some ambience would help. Right now it is VERY dry. If you're using Garritan's Aria Player, you might want to consider the Jazz Club setting. Now, on to specific comments:

Rondo #1: This applies to all three of your works. I love the fact that you remained tonal throughout the music, but experimented and push the bounds of tonality a bit. Too often music written (especially by theory professors) is very "experimental" and is hard to relate to without a lot of effort on the listener's part. Heck, there were parts of all three pieces I began humming along with (and, yes, for me that is a good thing). On this piece, I especially loved the flutter section at 2:30. That must be fun for a floutist to play!

Rondo #2: At first this one was very relaxing. Actually, not right at first buch pretty much the whole way through. I didn't feel the floutist was getting stressed, and taht was nice. I especially liked the mirroring of the piano's right hand with teh flute at 3:45.

Rondo #3: Wow, the flute trills at 1:15 are AMAZING. You are really pushing the floutist here, not allowing them any rest and pressing ever onward.

After 18 minutes of listening to these, I found I was craving a lush sound. I know these were rondos, but something a little more lush (keeping with the jazz chords) would have been welcome. And that leads me to my next comment: the pedal. Where was it? I imagine you modified the human playback feature in Finale to eliminate it, but I guess I missed it. It almost sound like a piano without some pedal. (Okay, upon another listen-through, perhaps you did use it in the 2nd movement a little but.)

Again, you composed a good work here and you should be proud. The use of the extended chords in a "traditional" setting was quite invigorating!

[rbowser-]

This piece was my first attempt to create aesthetically pleasing audio files of one of my compositions. The playback was created entirely in Finale using GPO flute and piano patches, a modified Human Playback preset, Finale’s MIDI tool, and a custom Garritan ambiance setting based on the “Parlor” preset. The title is Three Rondos with Riffs and Refrains. There is a strong jazz influence to all of the harmonies and some of the rhythms and melodies

http://www.box.com/s/7etgg9napxhmkh5ur0r9

http://www.box.com/s/vvggpkndzvodd95ijiv5

http://www.box.com/s/k8h6eorrsqbgzjsbtknx

A former music theory student of mine who is now a true flute virtuoso asked me to compose this piece. A very good publisher of flute music was interested in it but wanted a recording to help judge its merits. For health and scheduling reasons a premiere was postponed for two or more years. It appeared that the opportunity to get it published would also be lost. I decided to try to create my own recording using MIDI. Reluctantly the publisher’s selection committee agreed to listen to these files and, thankfully, they liked them. Many of the compliments were for the sound of the flute and piano in all registers, all lengths of notes, and at all dynamic levels. The flute vibrato was highly praised. Needless to say I owe Gary and the GPO team a debt of gratitude for helping save the publication prospects of this piece. I’m hoping that the publisher will agree add these files to their web page. Any suggestions for improvement in the audio quality and MIDI playback would be appreciated. I know I need to use controllers cc22 and 23 on the repeated notes in the flute in the last movement.

A very successful premiere did eventually take place at the National Flute Association’s convention in August of last year.

These are simply wonderful - Some of the most provocative music I've heard recently.

Congratulations on convincing the publisher to allow the MIDI demos - I'm afraid some publishers are still thinking of circa 1980 "tinka tinka" robotic MIDI with synth sounds when they're asked to consider MIDI demos. Glad they liked what they heard--I certainly like what I heard!

You are using an edited version of the "Parlor" setting in Ambience. That is, of course, the most intimate setting in that plug-in, and is definitely a parlor, a not-large one. It is a relatively dry sound, but I can hear the room, I can tell I'm sitting in a parlor venue, just a few feet from the musicians. I love that kind of intimacy in music, and think what you have hear in that regard is just fine.

Thank you so much for posting the fantastic music.

Randy

[Frank D]

Hi Norman,

Wow ... that's a lot of great flute-piano music; very exciting to listen to! (I'm out of breath imagining playing the flute part!)

I'm amazed at the recent postings of convincing renderings from notation programs ... there were always a few here at the forum who could do that successfully, but it just seems the HP function in Finale has been taken to another level and we're hearing the results of that. This is great news for notation-driven composers.

Great story about publishing this as well. Glad to hear you got to have this perfomed last August ... must of been a thrill (or was it a trill ) to hear it 'live'.

Best regards,

Frank

[jandjnelson]

Raymond, Frank, Randy, and FossMan01. Thank you. I am glad you found it attractive enough to listen to it all and give thoughtful comments.

Many reverb settings bother me if they tend to obscure details in the music. I think I just need to learn how to keep a clear transparent sound and create a nice ambiance as well. Some of the Forum members can do this. I've heard it in their posted music. I have been experimenting using Logic to mix and master sound files and I think I can get better results now than I could when these movements were composed.

There is no pedal in the piano part. The sound file came entirely from the score as notated for the performers. When I work on the Rondos some more I will add pedal in appropriate places and I will use an audio score designed for best playback instead of best notation practice.

The next work I will post is a transcription of sone Bach. There is one large section where Finale's Human playback got almost everything right and only a small amount of work was needed to get the expressive nature of the music correct. I agree that MakeMusic is doing some good things in this area.

Best wishes to all of you and thanks again.

Norman

[Rhap2]

Norman:

I enjoyed listening to your Rondos. Very well engineered and voiced on both instruments. I would agree on the reverb suggestion, but not too much. I feel that you created an excellent musical product using Finale. What impresses me the most, though, is your ability to communicate musical ideas no matter what instruments you use or what computer program you employ for the final product.

Awaiting more of your music in the Listening Room.

Jack

[jandjnelson]

Norman:

What impresses me the most, though, is your ability to communicate musical ideas no matter what instruments you use or what computer program you employ for the final product.

Awaiting more of your music in the Listening Room.

Jack

Thanks Jack.

Your comment went right to the heart of what I most want to achieve when I compose or transcribe music.

Norman