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From: "Guy & Maxine Anderson"
Subject: [CB] Using Midi files for arranging
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 18:57:43 -0700
A while back I tried to use downloaded midi files for arranging. However I kept on running into the same problem. It occurs whenever any one Midi channel has more than 1 part. If one part is moving in eighth notes and the other is supposed to be holding a whole note, the whole note gets notated as single eighth note where it begin. I use a music notation program called Lime. Perhaps somebody knows a way around this? Or do I just need to get a better music program?
Since Patrick brought up the topic of arranging for low instruments, I would like to plead that the French Horn be remembered for it's abilities (I am a little biased in this regard). Any thing from Bb below the bass up is a sinch and will sound alright. Below this A to F# can be played with somewhat fuzzy tone on a single horn and probably better tone on a double horn. Lower still, the lowest F on the piano (and theoretically down to B, Bb; though not by me!) can be played as a pedal tone. This note is quite difficult to play but it sounds (and feels) quite good. However it seems to either have to be at a rumbling 'pp' or as a imposing 'ff'.
The joy of writing and playing low horn parts is that nobody expects them. The French horn in my opinion is truly a "pocket tuba". It quite easy to shock everybody with low horn notes, when there is no "real" low instruments around; everybody hears the low sounds but nobody can figure out where they are coming from. Anyways, this seems to be enough rambling from me about the horn's low abilities.
Regards,
Leif Anderson
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From: Barisax120
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:24:47 EST
Subject: [CB] i'd like to join the mailing list
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 19:18:29 -0800
From: Craig Durham
Subject: Re: [CB] Using Midi files for arrangingLeif,
Most interesting to hear about the bass possibilities of the french horn.
Certainly counter-intuitive, especially considering the narrow bore.
I have a question about french horn that is certainly not contrabass
related: what is the normal *upper* end of the range? I have Holst's
First Suite in Eb as a midi file, and the french horn part seems impossibly
high - to C two octaves above middle C.I like the "where's that low note coming from" factor - I even get it
as a contra-alto clarinet player. For some reason, people don't
expect it to be as low as it is.Midi. You need a different program. I use Music Time by G-Vox /
Passport. It's at the low end of the price range, and it lacks effects
controls such as pan, but it doesn't play games with notation.
What you enter is what is printed and played. Another nice feature
of this program is that it is fully notation-based.Craig
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From: DFrick2518
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 23:19:35 EST
Subject: Re: [CB] [CB Digest]I have had good results with Sumner bass clarinet mouthpieces. I can't say
what they retail for these days.
Dean
---------------------------------------------------------From: "Peter Boris Koval"
Subject: Re: [CB] Using Midi files for arranging
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 01:57:17 -0300
From: "Craig Durham" > *I have Holst's
> First Suite in Eb as a midi file, and the french horn part seems impossibly
> high - to C two octaves above middle C.A quick flip through the score reveals that the 1st and 2nd Horns (and the
3rd and 4th as well) (all in F) go no higher than a written G an octave and
a fifth above middle C, so sounding an octave above middle C.
However, modern technique allows for a much higher range, with "the sky" as
the limit (see some of the latest treatises on orchestration such as
Blatter)!
Peter Koval
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Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:42:52 -0800
From: Craig Durham
Subject: Re: [CB] Using Midi files for arrangingI corrected the notation of the midi file so that the various instruments
were shown in their various pitches (music program put everything in C),
but I hadn't been sure about the correct register for the horns.
I suspected they might be an octave high. Makes for some interesting high
harmonies at the end of the first movement, though. I might be reluctant to
change it... :-)Yamaha did a great job on the SXG voice set, but they made some
curious decisions with regard to octave assignment. It appears all
instruments sound at written pitch, which creates problems in some
cases. Bass guitar and string bass, for instance sound rather odd if
I forget to tell the music program to transpose down an octave.Thanks for the feedback, Peter - I played bass clarinet on First
Suite in high school (couldn't convince the school that we *needed*
a contrabass), but I've not seen the full score; I was relying on memory.Craig
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From: Clarinetmama
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:38:23 EST
Subject: [CB] music help
Hey fellow bassists,
This is a bit off the track but I need your help. I have been asked to play
as a clarinet soloist with our local college wind ensemble next fall. The
director and I had a piece picked out only to find out it is no longer in
print. It is a Tribute to Artie Shaw and I had found it on JW Pepper. Any
ideas where I can go looking for this music?
This isn't the first time I have found a piece on Pepper only to find out
later it is no longer available.Thanks,
Jean
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