A Christmas gift

[dj]

Hello, all:

A little Christmas gift for 2024.

I've posted this piece before but this is a new twist on it.

This is the Act Two opener for my 2003 musical The Holly Tree.

The Holly Tree is the show I was working on when I discovered what was then Midinotate Composer. Mark Walsen contacted me about becoming a beta tester; that would have been in the year 2000, I think.

So this show has grown along with Composer.

The Holly Tree is built around about a dozen short stories by Charles Dickens. I set out to create a show that ignored the restrictions of small cast/small band/small budget that most of us face. The result is a bit of a grand show with a cast of about 25 and a 22 piece orchestra -- and which has had only two stagings so far, both with piano only accompaniment.

However, new advances in AI, specifically a program called Ace Studio, have allowed me to create demos of the music with a much, much fuller sound.

This is a version I've put up on Youtube: https://youtu.be/g-ER4n3nrBc

It shows the 'extended' Vocal part eight parts. You'll recognize the scrolling notation in the video as being generated by Composer, captured using Debut Video Capture.

The Notation Composer file is attached, but needs two independent General Midi playback devices to sound properly. As my devices aren't yours, you'll need to go into Staff/Setup and set everything from the Celeste track down to your second GM device, ignoring any 'shared channel' flags. If you just want to explore the orchestration, please look at it in Page View -- it's much prettier.

A Merry Christmas to all, and very Happy New Year.

David