December 2012 Blog Posts (7)

I was a composition major for a year (1982) at Illinois State University. The teacher was a guy named Roque Cordero, a Panamanian composer of some note amongst composers of note (I guess). His music was atonal and sounded to me like demented ragtime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roque_Cordero

I've been working on a piece that began for wind ensemble (that had a lot of piano), then it became a piano concerto (with orchestra), since I received a commission for one.

Now I'm back to thinking of it for wind ensemble. That version is probably closer to being finished, as all the added stuff for piano was "extra".

I hope to get through it this spring.

He wrote many fine pieces in traditional time signatures, but of course is best known for his compositions in unusual time signatures. I was listening to Rush Permanent Waves (their best, I think) today and realized that they too use all sorts of odd time signatures, and often change time multiple times throughout a piece. There are really only a small number of artists who work outside of the confines of 3/4 or 4/4 time.

Original post

First: the theme itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR5_7fovPRE&feature=plcp

Short after the first demo came out, we realized we needed a trailer to showcase the innovative game mechanics and fabulous graphics, without relying on people downloading…

<a title="View Angelica&#x27;s Lament 2 on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/115759804/Angelica-s-Lament-2" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">Angelica&#x27;s Lament 2</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed"…

A Visit From Old Saint Nick, or This Year We're Taking Back Christmas, Too

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children, were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,

And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,…