Ibll start the ball rolling

Hi David,

Thanks for getting the ball rolling by sharing one of your favorites of your own works. Among many composition techniques, this piece illustrates how meters can frequently change in a fluid way. Being a notation kind of guy, I also like how meter changes look in a score :-)

It's a good feeling to look and hear back at music one has written a couple of decades ago and still find a friend there.

Cheers
-- Mark

I wish I could change metres in so fluid a way, David. My current short project is driving me nuts and taking hours (is it worth it? probably not). A specific query on drums, which are my downfall. How did you work them out/set them up? laboriously? one at a time? live at keyboard? with a mouse?

I also admire your persistence in getting things staged. But really, do you think the critic deserved _quite_ so bad a punishment?

Regards
Tim

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Thanks Sherry for the drum tips (you're a soundfont of information here).

Regards
Tim
PS> I played the bass drum at primary school, does that count (1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7,)? Hey, I can play "The Drummers" on recorder, or used to be able to...

David, this is a beautiful meditation which reminds me of the music of Sergio Mendez, and I would like to thank you for posting it here. I myself haven't yet prepared anything to post, though I will be doing so in the future. I like the blues, and since I just learned how to do pitch bends, I guess I'm just about ready to get started.

Hi, guys:

Lifting my head up from my deathbed, here (not really, it just feels like it (excuse me while I blow my nose)), thanks for your comments on Howard, It's Beautiful Here.

About drum tracks: The show is from 1987, so that pretty well pre-dates (affordable) MIDI sequencing. Thinking back, I guess I played the originals onto multi-track tape pretty much freehand, using some analogue synths and some FM stuff, then have transfered them onto MIDI tracks since by step entry.

To be honest, when I first laid down this number, I didn't really notice the time changes: it was a "flow" thing. The show was a very "impressionist", flowing event -- somebody accused my music of sounding like Stephen Sondheim meets Philip Glass. I couldn't see how that was a criticism.

So, no special technique really for drum tracks. I just let it happen.

Very skillful, David! After first watching the notation as it played the first time, I listened to it twice more without watching and could not even feel the meter changes. Nice job! Fred Winterling.

Thanks, Fred. As I said above, the show that piece is from is very special to me, and I appreciate any kind remarks I get on it. We got a right s**t-kicking from the critics when it debuted!

David