What have you composed for? Or what medium do you work around?
Other
"Nice little clarinet quartet! I can't help wondering, though, if it would be better scored for a vocal choir, with words... I mean, there's nothing obviously wrong with it, the counterpoint is quite textbook-conformant, the instruments are all…"
"The thing about two scores is really more a conceptual thing than necessarily actually maintaining two separate scores, which I agree would be a maintenance nightmare (imagine the ensuing nightmare after making an emergency score fix, only to…"
"As far as sharing music is concerned, for me personally at least, at some point I got over myself and realized that I'm never going to "make it big" anyway (otherwise I wouldn't be on this forum to begin with -- I'd be out there making it big), so…"
"Understood. Great job with working with what you have!
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"Very warm and nice piece! Not very long, each movement is short and sweet and follows classical / early classical norms.
I did find the constant use of the short articulation in the 1st and 3rd movements rather unnatural for a string ensemble,…"
I did find the constant use of the short articulation in the 1st and 3rd movements rather unnatural for a string ensemble,…"
"It's kind of creepy how social media "knows" things, but that's another topic entirely!
Perhaps I'm suffering from delusional paranoia, but it's for reasons like these that I've sworn myself off social media. Or at least, the social media that want…"
Perhaps I'm suffering from delusional paranoia, but it's for reasons like these that I've sworn myself off social media. Or at least, the social media that want…"
"I don't use NP so I can't say much about it, but based on my experience, I've learned that sometimes the only way to get computer playback in general to not make your ears bleed is to have two scores: one "real" score where you write as you would if…"
"Hey Paul! Very happy to see you back here, it's been a while. I think you forgot to include the link to the piece?"
"Thank you for listening, Saul!
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"OK, now that I look at the book again, it may have been a different book I was reading.
The dominant key for the Answer, as I understand it, came from an earlier practice of the answer entering in the plagal register (i.e., it was a modal device,…"
The dominant key for the Answer, as I understand it, came from an earlier practice of the answer entering in the plagal register (i.e., it was a modal device,…"
"This is a very nice, fun and enjoyable piece.
Thanks for sharing,
Saul"
Thanks for sharing,
Saul"
"It's been a while since I paid attention to this and I didn't remember that. This book mentions some of the historical developments but it mainly focuses on technique referenced to Bach. Bach usually had the Answer in the dominant key but the…"
"Thanks for the reference! I think someone else has pointed me to this before, and IIRC I've skimmed over the major sections. This is the one that describes how Bach innovated the fugal form by changing the fugal answer in the plagal register in the…"
"This book is pretty well known for "Technique and Spirit of the Fugue" which coincidentally is the title. Depending on where you live there can be a copyright issue with this but it's in the public domain in Canada.…"
"Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment! IMO, the important thing is whether the piece can stand on its own musical merit. How/whether it conforms to some mold or set of rules that qualify it to be called a fugue, is of secondary…"
"sometimes I wish I knew what the formal rules for a fugue are so I could understand how your enjoyable little work breaks them. But Baroque music has never interested me, other than the thrill of singing a decently written fugue, so I will likely…"
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Hello H.S. and thank you for your very kind message. Actually, I'm just coming off a very serious eye condition triggered, I suppose by an equally serious upper and lower respiratory thing I picked up on a flight back from Berlin in May (I'm in Los Angeles). The eye required surgery to set things right and I'm just now getting my vision back in the one eye (the other was unaffected). Actually I've had problems with this eye in the past so I'm not surprised the respiratory condition reignited it. This is since May 3 when I got back and I'm just kicking the respiratory infection now. It's been a grueling---what--three months? I've never had anything like this before. Had to be some kind of exotic bug from the deepest parts of Asia or Africa or something because I usually bounce back from these things in 4-5-days. This took 3 different courses of antibiotics to finally get under control (coughing up blood and blowing blood out of my nostrils at one point, but no TB) and I was still coughing a month afterwards. Beware flying internationally. Nowadays you take your life into your hands getting exposed to all these potent diseases like Ebola floating around.
Greatly appreciate you letting me know you enjoy the concerto. You're right; I do get discouraged frequently because generally speaking most musicians aren't interested in doing an ultra-Romantic work these days, especially one that requires such large forces (expert pianist plus accomplished orchestra) to pull off properly. I did get word from someone who loves the concerto--psychologist and author Darrel Ray that he had a friend of his try to get it into the hands of David Stern, violinist Isaac Stern's son who is the conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra but I haven't heard anything since. This was about 6 weeks ago. Got my fingers crossed. Maybe someone can pull a miracle off. I hope so. Thanks so much for getting in touch. I will keep you apprised of any developments. Wishing you all the best and looking forward to any news you might want to share about your own career happenings. Take care,
J Joe Townley
Hi H. S. and thank you for your very kind comments re My Piano Concerto No 2. Not sure if you were able to get to my bio. Thunbnail; started studying piano seriously at 10; wanted to write a piano concerto desperately by 16 but didn't actually do it until 18 when I wrote a horrid 1st mov. to a Piano Concerto in C Minor in 2-piano/4-hand. Injured my RH forefinger severely at 19-20 (don't remember) but continued with BA and injured finger until giving piano up at 25.
I agree. I'd love to hear this live. The screen-capture mutilated the audio. The SoundCloud audio is much better, but still sounds like an electronic rendering. To put on a performance of this concerto would cost roughly 150K for a top-tier orchestra/pianist so that's not in the offing anytime soon. My advice: don't write piano concertos if you're thinking of getting them performed. Stick with smaller works for small ensembles. Much greater chance of getting them performed live. I will check out your music tomorrow. Just getting this message really late (nearing midnight--yawn) So glad you enjoyed the concerto and noticing that it is cyclic. You're the first out of roughly 5000 viewers to comment on that (including earlier versions on YouTube which I have since deleted). J Joe
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