Fill 'er Up

Hello Larry,

I listened to #17 a few days and #19 a few minutes ago. The main change I observed-- the return to the earlier material at the end of the piece-- helps to unify it as a single composition, I think.

The modal tonality and syncopation of first section reminds me of Dello Joio's 3rd piano sonata, written, I'm not sure, in the 1950's. I don't expect anyone around here to be familiar with it, any more than anyone should expect me to know... you name it... most big band tunes from the 40's. Any way, take the Dello Joio comparison as a compliment; he's a good composer.

I find the fuge-like section engaging-- sort of three fourths Baroque and one fourth jazz. Elements of syncopation have always been important in counterpoint. You took it a little bit further by mixing in some jazz feel with the Baroque. Nice composition technique in this section, such as some convincing sequences.

I found the 12:8 meter difficult to decipher. I kept hearing 2:4 instead of 12:8, three 2:4 meters per original 12:8. So, in Composer, I just changed the 12:8 to 2:4 and then the beats made sense to me. In a later section, changing 12:8 to 2:4 also works, but the barlines then need to be shifted by an 8th beat here or there. Just my opinion or ear here about the meter.

So, how did you get these notes into Composer? With the mouse, at a MIDI keyboard, MIDI guitar, or some combination? Whatever way you did it, you did a lot of musical work.

Cheers
-- Mark