Yet another expedition into pissing off my University Composition lecturer. Each semester we got a list of ideas to select from and write a couple of pieces to conform to, or rather, "be inspired by".
We spent a while looking at pieces for instrument and "pre-recorded tape". To me this is an outdated idea. Something used in the early seventies by composers trying to be different to the norm and introduce an element of the booming world of popular music into their compositions. I argued that it's a dying or even dead form. My picture of a modern equivalent would be a live at-computer mixing event to go with a set instrumental performance. Or, at least, fuck the tape idea off and go to CD. Even that's getting too old now.
This is my way of saying fuck you, lady to the lecturer. For my "instrument and pre-recorded tape" piece I recorded two fantastically boring minutes of me having a shower. I overlaid it with various water sounds from my sink and produced the whole thing on CD, titled Don't Forget to Wash Your Armpits. The problem was that I had far too much fun doing the recording and put no thought whatsoever into the composition. My argument there was that it was meant to be inconsequential anyway.
Here we go:
Don't Forget to Wash Your Armpits for Piano and CD.
Piano performed by the crappy midi on my computer at the time, because I never got the piece performed in reality.
Showing posts with label compositions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compositions. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Bass Music from the Archives of Vic
Back to the exciting days of Composition studies once again. This is one I really should do over again, and multitrack it by myself. It's called Big Bottom in an obvious hommage to Spinal Tap, but also in an yet another attempt to piss off my composition lecturer with my assumed frivolity.
At the time I had to submit any sort of recording of one of my peices, so three of us got together in a room with a mic and pressed play. The balance between the basses terrible. One of the players was my girlfriend at the time, who I knew (even before I started to go out with her) was an overbearing player prone to making mistakes and not caring, and not having an iota how to listen and perform in a group dynamic. But she was a captive bass player who could read music. There weren't that many in town.
It's noisy, it's poor quality, but at least a recording exists, and that's what you're getting.
At the time I had to submit any sort of recording of one of my peices, so three of us got together in a room with a mic and pressed play. The balance between the basses terrible. One of the players was my girlfriend at the time, who I knew (even before I started to go out with her) was an overbearing player prone to making mistakes and not caring, and not having an iota how to listen and perform in a group dynamic. But she was a captive bass player who could read music. There weren't that many in town.
It's noisy, it's poor quality, but at least a recording exists, and that's what you're getting.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Get Your Listening Caps On
Yes, you read that right. Get your listening caps on! Time to delve into the archives of Vic's Composition years.
This is the first piece I wrote for University. It's one I'm pretty fiercely proud of, too. The lecturer was a completely uninteresting woman who would demand all pieces to be played in class so that we students could "get input". Yet, the only input she seemed to give was to ask what the title was and what it meant.
She was a very accomplished pianist. I can barely get past Three Blind Mice when it comes to playing, so I asked if she would perform this one for me. Well... I don't think the old cow liked being put on the spot with that, because rather than the usual nothingness response she would give, she absolutely tore this one apart. Thanks, it's my first effort. Ever hear of positive reinforcement?
Anyway, despite her comments I like it. And to spite her, when we (our class) toured to another city to perform a selection of our pieces, I scammed this one into the program.
So crank up the listening caps and tell me what you think:
Catastrophe for Piano performed by Georgena Cooper.
This is the first piece I wrote for University. It's one I'm pretty fiercely proud of, too. The lecturer was a completely uninteresting woman who would demand all pieces to be played in class so that we students could "get input". Yet, the only input she seemed to give was to ask what the title was and what it meant.
She was a very accomplished pianist. I can barely get past Three Blind Mice when it comes to playing, so I asked if she would perform this one for me. Well... I don't think the old cow liked being put on the spot with that, because rather than the usual nothingness response she would give, she absolutely tore this one apart. Thanks, it's my first effort. Ever hear of positive reinforcement?
Anyway, despite her comments I like it. And to spite her, when we (our class) toured to another city to perform a selection of our pieces, I scammed this one into the program.
So crank up the listening caps and tell me what you think:
Catastrophe for Piano performed by Georgena Cooper.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Making Music
Dear Dive,
I first started reading you back around the time when I had a solo date with my laptop and anything alcoholic I could lay my hands on for National Drunk Blogging Day. That's coming close to two years ago now.
What really sold me was almost wetting myself while reading a post you wrote on playing New Year's Eve gigs. In the ranty viciously humourous fashion I love to see from you, that piece hit all the right points. While trying to avoid urinal disaster and gasping for air, I just had to keeping saying Bugger it, you're so right! I was sold.
You're amazingly supportive. You comment all the time even if I seem to never answer. It was you who gave me the name Groover. From such a distance you would not believe how much of a positive impact that contact with you has made in my life.
It's important to step back occasionally and think of the positive. You have people who have never met you who love you to pieces - how cool is that?!
I've been meaning to join in your Let's Make a Racket Thursday series since you started it. Yes, it's been an embarrassingly long time, but I'm here now. Just like a drummer I've turned up for the gig eventually.
This is one of my pieces - not a racket as such, but it's here. It's a classical guitar trio written in my first year of Uni (there'll be a few of the Uni days posts coming up - brace yourself). Citrus Twist, performed by myself, Stephen Tafra and Stephen Thorneycroft [aka EphenStephen] in a loungeroom. For performance identification we were usually known as Totally Plucked.
Glad to see you couldn't keep away from Blogville for too long!
Cheers,
Vic
p.s. Eat plenty of curry. If life ever tries to bite you on the arse again at least you can fart back.
I first started reading you back around the time when I had a solo date with my laptop and anything alcoholic I could lay my hands on for National Drunk Blogging Day. That's coming close to two years ago now.
What really sold me was almost wetting myself while reading a post you wrote on playing New Year's Eve gigs. In the ranty viciously humourous fashion I love to see from you, that piece hit all the right points. While trying to avoid urinal disaster and gasping for air, I just had to keeping saying Bugger it, you're so right! I was sold.
You're amazingly supportive. You comment all the time even if I seem to never answer. It was you who gave me the name Groover. From such a distance you would not believe how much of a positive impact that contact with you has made in my life.
It's important to step back occasionally and think of the positive. You have people who have never met you who love you to pieces - how cool is that?!
I've been meaning to join in your Let's Make a Racket Thursday series since you started it. Yes, it's been an embarrassingly long time, but I'm here now. Just like a drummer I've turned up for the gig eventually.
This is one of my pieces - not a racket as such, but it's here. It's a classical guitar trio written in my first year of Uni (there'll be a few of the Uni days posts coming up - brace yourself). Citrus Twist, performed by myself, Stephen Tafra and Stephen Thorneycroft [aka EphenStephen] in a loungeroom. For performance identification we were usually known as Totally Plucked.
Glad to see you couldn't keep away from Blogville for too long!
Cheers,
Vic
p.s. Eat plenty of curry. If life ever tries to bite you on the arse again at least you can fart back.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
New student guitar piece
Well, I've finally started composing again. It isn't earth shattering stuff, but I want to do a heap of student pieces that look at different tecniques.
So this one is a fingerstyle blues type thing called Fishin' Trip. I bashed it out on the coast a couple of weeks ago, but have been procrastinating on doing a presentable copy. It keeps the right hand thumb steady on open bass strings, swapping to a melodic role and then settling back into driving bass notes again. It should have enough interest in it to push a student who is just starting out with this style of playing.
So this one is a fingerstyle blues type thing called Fishin' Trip. I bashed it out on the coast a couple of weeks ago, but have been procrastinating on doing a presentable copy. It keeps the right hand thumb steady on open bass strings, swapping to a melodic role and then settling back into driving bass notes again. It should have enough interest in it to push a student who is just starting out with this style of playing.
I'll aim to put something up regularly in the future, if only to prove to myself that I can keep at it.
So... If you download this piece, let me know. My email is on the second page of the sheet music, or just leave a comment. If you play it and have and coments/suggestions/criticisms definately let me know. If you're not into guitar and you've read this far anyway, cheers for sticking it out and just be happy that I'm actually getting my life into gear and doing something I'm proud of and want to do.
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