Some Sounds

These files represent where we have got so far with the music. I am really pleased with the progress. Some of this sounds absolutely spectacular. I love the waves in which the music comes, and it really fits the movement. Probably some of the music only makes sense if you can see the movement, and we will get that up on the blog soon.
The tracks below have been mixed together and make more sense than the older recordings
This is just the voices alone. Some wonderful sounds, some of it is really beautiful.
It would be really nice to record each voice independently and mix them separately, and hopefully we will get to that stage. There are some (very few) bits where some of the harmony choices don't quite work and perhaps the singers can improve on this by listening carefully.
We now have to add the second half.

This is just the instruments. I must admit to being a bit more nervous about how this would work together. There was at least another track that we thought we recorded, but it didn't appear on the machines. We have lost Tim's second bass track, but we can add others.

Putting them together was tricky as some seem to fit and others don't. However I think this works. It is the sort of thing I like, so probably others don't! Players should listen and see if they can improve or add tracks. We probably need some more, and some of theses could be slicker.

They way it keeps going back to the quiet parts is hypnotic, and really lovely. The crescendo as more instruments come in together works for me too.

And this is both mixed together. I had great fun with this, and I love it. The voices sound better with the instruments behind them. The instruments sound better with the chopped voices. Not sure what a final collage will sound like, but this really makes me feel we can do something. I just have a big smile on my face at the end of it.
Could we ever perform this?

It is the week of 9th September and the project is progressing. Yesterday we got further with the choral writing. See the video below for how far we got. The harmonies are sounding really beautiful, but we trip up over some of the rhythms and the transitions.
Not yet sure about the spoken lines.
Today we hope to get further with the instrumental bit. Not quite sure which musicians will be there, but hopefully we can progress. I wonder if we can get some better recording this time.
I am toying with ideas of overlaying vocal snippits on the instruments. I think we can get some good effects.
Hopefully on Thursday we can do some filming of the movement. I think we will have 5 year 10s from Mhairi's class, and Gilbert has plans for the cameras. Ken is getting us some headcams to go with the bigger shots, so it could be fun to intersperse these.
Can we keep to the rhythm is the question. We need a clicktrack in 4s and 5s! Do I have to programme it. Don't know.

Watch this space for more music and video

Here is some music with Tim, Jeremy and Jason. Jason was playing on the table, the broken table and the dustbin. He thinks this is the reason the percussion is out of time! The bass an guitar sound OK, but I think too cliched, or tuneful if you like. We need to move away from the conventional chord patterns. Please all listen to Tortoise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sps7YxLeYM

And go back to Trout mask Replica

And Reich Remixed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQIF_QE0TGk

Or electric counterpoint 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLVWRTTRgM

and 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIF3rKppVWU

Were back and we have some music

This was the first time we have got together after the summer break. There were two sessions. The first was with Jess, Amanda and Olivia. We worked on some of the vocal sections and did a good job with the first four lines. We worked a bit on the next two, but ran out of time and inspiration. There were lost of ideas exchanged, and there is lots more to so. I liked the choices the singers made, and the way they started to listen to each other. This video has a rendition of the first four lines. Sorry it was recorded on a phone, so the quality is not brilliant. Needs separate tracks and mixing.
I am still not sure about that last note on "entire of itself".

The second session was with instruments. We had Jeremy, Jason, Tim, Johnny and Tom.
using the same time structure as the singers we tried to build up each of 5 motifs and then blend them together. The unusual combinations came in and out of phase, moving from elegant harmony to jarring clashes. Tom was the one who really to the inspiration of the Captain to heart!
Recording this on a phone was probably a complete waste of time, but here you go! You can't hear the balance between the guitars, abd the sax and percussion are too loud. It was quite good live!!!!!