I have been in New Zealand for the past two weeks. My friend J'rae and I have been biking down the North Island from Auckland through numerous mountains and valleys and are nearly in Wellington where we will be working on a farm for a couple weeks before heading to bike around the South Island. We have met lots of amazing people, explored some caves, hiked some volcanoes, bummed in McDonalds for their free Wifi, and are looking forward to many more adventures in the next 3 months.
P.S. I have been rocking out on the Mandolin which I brought on this trip. I am so glad to have a musical outlet to vent some creative energies and I am actually getting better at it. Miss the piano!!
And this week ends the film scoring course with Beklee. What a great experience it has been. Now I must cross my fingers and hope that the College accepts me and gives me lots and lots of scholarship! Yay for big dreams and no money!
This week's assignment was to compile the music we composed during the course into a 3 minute demo track...so here it is!
Here we go! The last scoring assignments of the course.
Served up today we have a delightful mix of Comedy and Fantasy
Week 10: We scored a comedic scene from the movie Raising Helen.
Week 11: Magic and Fantasy! I was very much looking forwards to this one. Unfortunately the scene wasn't very magical or exciting but it was still fun to score. The scene was from Lady in the Water.
Last night I collaborated with the wonderful poet, Elizabeth Garber, improvising on the
piano as she read her poetry. We organized the event as a fundraiser for Mary Weaver's children's theater. I have acted at the Playhouse for many years and was happy to have a chance to support her.
The collaborative experience was quite successful. I have never played so well, the poetry
inspired melodies streaming from my fingertips like rain in a
summer downpour. I was aware of every note, my brain somehow working
faster than usual, allowing me to place each finger exactly where I
wanted it with the perfect touch. What causes this inspiration? It is
not something I can force. When I push record my mindset shifts and
mistakes work their way into my fingers, my mind clogs up with trying to play well. I wonder if it is something you could master through meditation; easing into the right mindset with breath and awareness.... I'm going to go try that right now.... Hm, interesting. I had some success however I shall need to try a few more times to make sure that I don't just happen to be in the right space already.
A big factor is change. If I play on a new piano or in a different setting I am usually filled with inspiration. If I stop playing for a while and then start again I feel like I have improved as a musician. When I was in Ecuador and could only infrequently touch a piano I played like I never had before.
The other big factor is, I believe a large reason for my attraction to film scoring. My best pieces come out when meshed with a story, either in my head, on the screen, or in a poem. Still one of my best musical experiences was at the teen meditation retreat; improvising on my keyboard as a young film director enthusiastically narrated a cinematic tale while a crowd of onlookers added in details and cheered us on.
My family is making its way back from an awesome family reunion in North Carolina. We stayed on the Outer Banks for a week and spent nearly the entire time playing games and surfing (or attempting to, in my case).
Sunset Behind Broken Pier (hdr photo I took on the Outer Banks)
My course continues to be fun and informative! Music Week 8 - Slow Drama. I enjoyed scoring this deleted scene from the movie Atonement. Week 9 - Horror. This was a fun assignment; messing around with textures and dissonance; getting the orchestra to do crazy stuff!
Clayton
Monday, November 12, 2012
I have been getting very into photography lately. I got a
nice camera finally (Nikon D1500) because I knew I was going to be
traveling this winter and have been taking it everywhere I go. I have also been messing around with some HDR software which combines photos of different exposures to create some neat effects. Unfortunately I have the trial version so it sticks watermarks all over my photos.
I had never heard of HDR until a month or two ago when I was looking up pictures of New Zealand and came across Trey Ratcliff and his blog "Stuck in Customs." He is an incredible photographer and I would recommend checking out his amazing photos http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/
My friends J'rae and Hila came over to do some biking today. It was a relief to be outside after spending all day Sunday working on my Berklee course assignment (literally working on the computer from 9am to 11pm with only a couple meal breaks). And what a beautiful day it was! I felt so happy to be alive today.
The reason for our bike ride was for J'rae and I to practice packing our bikes for our up-coming travel in New Zealand. We are heading out on December 10th to bike all around the north and south islands of New Zealand. We are going to do some Wwoofing on cool farms, explore, take photos, and play lots of music!
Hello everyone,
I visited Berklee College of Music in Boston the other day and fell in love with the school. I have already applied to the college and have my audition scheduled for the 8th of December.
As well as visiting Berklee I checked out New England Conservatory but NEC was more classical and performance focused. You go there to become a master at your instrument. The only thing that really caught my interest was their incredible performing hall filled with gold paint and fancy woodwork. It far out-shone any of Berklee's performing halls and seemed an inspiring place to perform. Still, Berklee won out over NEC hands down for what I'm looking for. It had much more of a creative, professional atmosphere. Peaking into their film scoring classrooms and studios made me drool with envy and excitement. They were packed full of composition workstations with electric pianos and computers at every desk. They are constructing a new set of dorms which will include a recording studio that can fit an entire orchestra for film scoring!
But aside from the bells and whistles that the school provides I was also impressed with its ideals around accepting musicians. The audition and interview process is much more open and personal than I thought at first. I imagined coming in, playing my piece while the "deciders" critically watch my every mistake and then being asked a few questions and sent on my way. This is more the image that I had a year or two ago when I thought music colleges like Berklee were all strictly classical and I was intimidated by the image. At Berklee you play your piece and then you actually get to jam with some of the teachers as they test your improvisational skills!
Yeah, I am pretty excited. We'll see if I get in with a (very) big scholarship and if not then I will try again next year.
My Berklee course is going very well. I am now into the seventh week and am amassing a nice collection of orchestrations. The quality of work that I am producing has increased dramatically since the start of this course and is continuing to improve!
Week 4 - Action: we scored an ambush scene from the movie Iron Man.
Week 5 - Heroic: another scene from Iron Man.
Week 6 - Adventure: a deleted scene from the animated film Atlantis. The scene doesn't exactly fit into the "adventure" category that we studied this week but it was still fun to score. I included the audio from the video in this one.
I thought it would be neat to upload the video from week 6 so here it is.
I just realized that I have well over a thousand recordings of my improvisations (mostly as midi files from my electric piano) as I tend to record about 30 - 50 a month. I should really produce another album but the truth is I haven't had the time to search through the mountain of recordings for good candidates. I guess I'm a little picky too. If I'm going to order another batch of CDs I want to put my best stuff on it. Another thing that is holding me back is the cover. I have a really good idea but my artistic abilities don't quite meet my vision.
Anyway, I've decided to post an improvisation every week. I hate to see all those pieces of music gathering dust on my hard drive and hopefully this will help me pick out the best on a weekly basis which is a little more manageable.
This improvisation I have named Sunset Through Autumn Leaves for that is the beautiful sight I beheld earlier this evening before making the recording.
An exciting moment! I made my first sampled instrument. A violin no less (never seen a free one of those out on the net)!
I had a friend play each legato note on the violin first quite, medium then loud and compiled the recorded notes into a program (Kontakt) and can now play those sounds on my electric keyboard. It is a rough experiment but it only took like 30 minutes and I am sure if I spent a little more time I could get something usable. What is amazing is that barely anybody knows how easy it is to make your own sample library. People spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on instrument sample libraries. (Some of the best are $10,000 dollars!) This whole endeavor was actually inspired by Hans Zimmer who said in an interview that it was easy to make your sample library and he was surprised more people didn't do it.
It just occurred to me that since you have to buy the Kontakt sample library in order to be able to make your own samples, then most people don't bother making their own having already bought a high quality, professional instrument library. I used to be one of those people scrounging the internet for free, homemade instruments. There wasn't much out there but maybe I can change that...
I am into the 4th week of my online college course with Berklee, Music Composition for Film and TV. It is cool to see how far I've progressed in such a short time.
The first week we were learning some general stuff about film scoring, watching film clips, analyzing the underlying emotion, figuring out where there should be music or just silence. Our assignment was to score the trailer to the movie Troy.
The second week was focused on romantic and positive ballads. We learned about the orchestration, melody and harmony specific to that kind of scene. Our assignment was to score a romantic scene from Sense and Sensibility. Oh! I must warn you that the music starts after 24 seconds of silence (that is when the music was supposed to start in the scene.) I'll try to fix that later.
Third week we worked on sad ballads which are very similar to romantic ballads (as far as orchestration goes) but tend to hang out in minor keys. Assignment was to score a scene from Ahkeela and the Bee.
I was worried I wasn't going to come up with anything for this score, having started from scratch three times. But on the day the assignment was due I started with a blank slate once again and in a few hours of inspiration I ended up with my best orchestration yet.
This week we are working on action scenes which includes a lot of rhythm and dissonance study. Our assignment is to score a clip from Iron Man. It looks like a fun one!
I bought Cubase in preparation for my online course, Composition for Film and TV, with Berklee. It is not that different then Mixcraft except that it has a lot of nice tools and tons of features that have only aided and inspired my attempts at composition.
The first piece I composed in Cubase during a wonderful spell of inspiration. It always seems to be that one moment of inspiration that I produce good work. I have hundreds of musical doodles, beginnings of compositions I will never finish. Yet the hours I spend producing nothing are worth it for the rare moments I do. (I feel like there is a quote out there that sums up what I am saying.) The important thing is that I can see my compositions improving and I am learning what conditions bring on those moments of artistic inspiration.
The second piece I composed a while ago. It is a collection of separate ideas partly to practice working with my virtual instrument libraries, getting the solo violin to sound realistic. The last idea is kind of a mock, Ed Howe, electric fiddle riff.
I played at the Belfast Farmer's Market last Friday for four hours.
I enjoyed watching friends and strangers pass by on their way to buy
the fresh produce, free range beef, goat cheese, honey, homemade
baskets, wooden spoons, and more from the stalls around me. Some would
stop and listen for a while, sitting on the sidewalk, backs pressed
against the brick storefronts. Willy, my brother, came a couple hours
into my street gig and joined in with his fiddle. He is greatly
improving as a musician and we have been playing nearly every day since
Fiddle Camp, building up a repertoire of tunes and our own
compositions. And of course we improvise. The nice thing about playing
with my brothers is that their whole lives they have been marinated
with my musical preferences and playing style making it easier to
improvise as he knows what chords I'll probably go to and I know where
he is going with his melodies.
Neal Parent, who's photo gallery was only a couple doors down from where
we were playing, came by and took a couple photos of us.
Here are some of the recordings from my second week at Fiddle Camp.
1) A Waltz written by Madeleine Stewart. Her and Katie Allman on fiddle, Fiona Shea on drum.
2) A Waltz written by Sarah (a young cellist) and I at Fiddle Camp.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
I had a wonderful time at Fiddle Camp this past August week. It was easily the best I have ever attended in my six years of going and I am leaving tomorrow for another week.
Neal Pearlman, an incredible pianist and great teacher was instructing the pianos along with another teacher and so, for the first time we were able to have both a beginner and advanced piano group which was awesome! In the advanced group we went over all kinds of crazy chord substitutions and funky rhythms. It didn't quite push me out of my comfort zone so it could have been a little more advanced but I learned a lot nonetheless. I also did some jamming and played for a couple contra dances and performed with a couple fiddle groups. There is a growing demand for me as an accompanist which is great as I am starting to really get into that style of music.
I did some jamming with some talented musicians. The track below is two tunes that Duncan Hall wrote. We put together a pretty awesome arrangement which we performed for the Coffee House. Duncan is on cello, Noah Fishman on bass and me on piano. I spent much of today composing some tunes which I hope to finish and be able to play with Duncan this next week of Fiddle Camp. Noah, unfortunately, won't be going as he is heading off to college.
I played with Chris Moriarty again this year. We performed a new tune that he wrote. I'll post it later.
Hey,
Thought I'd give an update on how the Film Noir scoring is going.
I have been listening to lots of Jazz and watching some Film Noir movies (Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon so far, though I have listened to the music of more). So far the best example of what David wants the score to sound like is the music for a video game called L.A. Noir which I came across on YouTube. The films I've watched have all had old fashion, scratchy orchestral scores.
Since the movie isn't actually finished yet I have been experimenting with the genre and composing themes and melodies to use when I create the full score.
Last year when I went to the IMS Teen Meditation Retreat in Massachusetts I was surprised at how much music there was. In every chunk of free time people would pull out guitars, drums, violins, harmonicas, and jam. This year I brought my keyboard and had an awesome time improvising. There was some pretty neat jam sessions with saxophone and even a french horn.
One of the highlights of the retreat was meeting David Corenswet, an actor and now film maker who was looking for and has now found a film score composer! It was difficult to be in the moment during meditation when my mind was filled with excitement and inspiration, eager to get home so I could watch David's films and begin composing the melodies whirling about my head. After meeting, David and I began jamming a bit, him on the drums, sometimes asking me to play certain styles to get a feel for my ability.
The real highlight of the retreat and probably one of the greatest musical experiences of my life was when David came over while I was at the piano. He listened to me for a moment, thoughtfully, then began describing a scene: a detective walking down a dark, dingy street on his way to a crime scene.... I played along to his narrative, requesting more details about the mood and back story until I knew the feeling he was looking for. A crowd began to gather as we went on to other narratives, other people adding in pieces of the story (some times unhelpfully) and we got really into it. It helped having David's frequent exclamations of joy whenever I hit a melody that perfectly portrayed the mood of the story being told. I was having the time of my life. True improvisation. True film scoring even in the absence of a film. We went on until the bell rang for our afternoon yoga class and we were forced to stop.
Now that I am home I have been hard at work trying to absorb the Film Noir genre of music (mellow jazz, melodic saxophone, distant trumpets) for scoring a detective film he is working on.
Hey,
I have been messing with Absynth which came with the Komplete instrument library package. I don't tend to compose techno pieces but I had a good couple hours of musical inspiration and came up with this interesting piece of music.
Not super fond of the name "Alien Jungle". It sure sounds like it is music from another planet but the name doesn't quite fit.
I have some neat project ideas using this style of music!
I just got back from a solid week of music at Fiddle Camp. I have taken piano there in past years on and off, learning accompaniment styles for playing with fiddle tunes, but this is the first year I began implementing that knowledge. Throughout the week I played for contra dances and jam sessions and really enjoyed it. I am capable of playing upbeat piano (as opposed to my usual relaxing new-age style)! I have decided on pursuing fiddle accompaniment out side of Fiddle Camp and have already gone to a jam with the Belfast Bay Fiddlers. I learned so much awesome Cape Breton tricks from Neal Pearlman last year to spruce up boring chord progressions but most of them I have forgotten both because I never used them after Fiddle Camp and because I wasn't at a level where I could comfortably slip them in. I haven't gotten bored enough of the normal chords yet but I'm working on it.
I also did a bunch of improvisation and composition stuff on my own and with other musicians. Unfortunately I forgot my recording device in the pocket of a pair of pants I changed out of right before leaving for Fiddle Camp so I didn't get any recordings.
Here are a couple recordings from last year:
Best,
Clayton
Friday, March 16, 2012
I spent over 3 hours last night playing the piano, not getting to bed until 1:00. I have wanted to buy Native Instruments' library of virtual instruments for a couple years now and finally decided to go for it. And it is amazing! The virtual grand pianos are incredible, so much better then my decent Yamaha keyboard and even the other virtual grand, Pianissimo, seems childish after the depth of sound coming from the Vienna, Berlin or New York Concert Grands.
A whole new world of improvisation opened up with these new instruments. The lower ranges are much more rich and less muffled then Pianissimo and my Yamaha. I found that I didn't have to ride the sustain peddle nearly as much because it sounded good with out it. My whole style of playing expanded with these discoveries, chords, melodies and harmonies emerging in my music that I had never heard myself play before.
Thoughts of Tomorrow
I just got my patchwork microphone setup working and have been experimenting with live instrumentation. I still have to work on my violin playing but I am excited for the possibilities this opens up for composing. I can finally improvise with myself with non virtual instruments!
This song is just a rough improvisation but I plan on developing some of the melodic ideas and spiffing it up into an actual composition...or it may end up gathering dust in my "works in progress" folder like the hundreds (literally) of other ideas I have yet to develop.
Here is a song I composed for a girl I loved who I met on an incredible journey through Ecuador. This is the first piano composition I have composed (not just improvised) since I was 12. It was quite a learning experience.
I also just improvised a newage piece with multiple instruments. Sound Sample info
Decent quality virtual guitar, strings and flute from the sfz and Sample Tank2 free instrument libraries. There is also an ambient background from the free Reaktor5 player.
