Admiration and a big blast of the kudu horn for Jose Rafeal Alba and the person who identified himself as Terry, for being the first SongTrellis users to post Harmony Projects. From the nature of their submissions I think they invented their new harmony using. Chord Entry By Grid.
Jose gets the nod for being the first to do this. Terry gets props for submitting a chord progression that was used by another member for the chord progression of a new composition. In this case, I was the composer who discovered that they liked what was done and could hear new music inside of Terry's changes. I used Workscore Composer, and actually found twodifferent melodies on those changes. Both you guys, keep up the good work!
Honor is still awaiting for the first Workscore Composer user (not the SongTrellis software developer and hostmaster) who can invent a complete melody at least 8 bars long using chord changes that they invent or changes that they copy into their Workscore using the Excerpt Service.
Let me know if you need hints on how to do this.
A pioneer's experience
Sian Murray, an Irish jazz student, has been wrestling with the new SongTrellis Workscore and Chord Grid features. He sent me an email detailing his puzzlements with how that stuff fits together.
I'm sure I've managed to confuse many SongTrellis visitors with this new work. Since the reply is the best explanation I've been able to craft so far that describes the kinds of compositional jobs these pages do best and the reasons that I built them as I did, I thought it best to post our exchange so that others can benefit from Sian's pathfinding.
I hope it also demonstrates the effort I'm willing to spend to help folks make their own music using these facilities. He says "If I could use the Chord Grid it would be a godsend!". I want to make it possible for everyone to use this to their best advantage.
Sian's query:
Hi David,
Thanks for your helpful and prompt response.
I've been trying to use the Chord Grid (I want put together an arrangement of 'Autumn in New York' we're playing in school, which is slightly different to yours, so I can practice soloing over it). It's not working though perhaps I'm missing something. Everytime I select a second chord, instead of placing it after the first chord I selected, it just acts as if the 2nd chord I entered was the 1st. So I can't put together consecutive chords I just keep ending up with one!!! even if I select the "as beginning of workscore option".
Do you have to select 'Download this voicing" for each chord in order to add it to your workscore??
If so I have tried that and it's not working. In fact, while I can play your midi files, I can't seem to download/save anything from your site. Sometimes I get microsoft error messages saying there's a problem with Real player, so maybe that's related??? At one point I got the following message while using your site:
"Crescendo! - Bad midi file - The midi file specified either does not exist, does not contain data or is corrupt."
Sorry about all these questions. If I could use the Chord Grid it would be a godsend! I hope you can give me a bit of advice on these issues.
Thanks, Sian
The reply (with a few lines added):
I love getting reports like this. It lets me know how my work is confusing people and gives me a chance to do something different to clear things up.Till folks tell me what they've experienced I can't make it better.
OK, about the chord grid. There are two versions of it available on the site. The one accessible via the Chord Grid link is a stand-alone feature with no editing capability. It presents chords one at a time to allow folks to hear how they sound. It's built to return the a new voicing of the selected chord extremely quickly so that you can visit five or six of them in quick succession before they dissappear from memory. This is available to anyone who visits the site.Your question about the "Download this voicing" link indicates that you are actually using this page, since the Chord Entry By Grid page, described below, which is the version that you will find is more useful, labels that link as "Download this chord".
The "Download this voicing" link allows you to download this single voicing as a MIDI file containing exactly one chord in it. The idea is that you might not know how to spell a particular chord type that you've encountered in the grid, and might want to copy this into a score you are building with a music editor running on your computer, since the ability to voice chords by name is not commonly available in the music editors that are currently for sale.
This, by the way, is a major bragging point for the SongTrellis Editor For Macintosh, which is handling workscore and chord grid requests and producing the MIDI and JPEG scores that are presented in the web browser for these features.
The Chord Entry By Grid page lashes the chord grid up to a Workscore window. Because it's purpose is to add stuff to a workscore, and workscores need to know which user they are devoted to, this version requires that the user be a registered SongTrellis user.
Chord Entry By Grid is a three-panel affair, with the left side of the page devoted to a chord grid, the right side devoted to the workscore, and a middle panel devoted to an audition panel which demonstrates how the last chord selected in the grid sounds.
In the center panel, pressing the button "Send Chord To>>" button, which appears above a selection radio group and a menu that sets Duration of the chord to be entered, causes a chord of root and chord type last auditioned to be added to the workscore at the location specified by a selection location radio button. If "end of workscore" is selected, the auditioned chord is added to the end of score. This is default, because since people think of music from beginning to end, they are probably using their grid to find something to add to the end of their chord progression. When "beginning of workscore" is selected, the newly entered chord will become the new beginning chord in the progression. The "replace last chord of work score" setting causes the auditioned chord to replace the last chord in the progression, and the "replace first chord of the work score" setting causes the chord that begins the progression to be replaced.
I do admit that these selection options are incomplete. It's not easy to make changes in the middle of a progression. Thus far, mostly because of the limitations of presenting the music via web browser, it's been hard to show what's selected in a piece of music. I have some methods that are not ready yet already scoped out to make this better, but I think it's usable even in the current state of development.
In the main part of SongTrellis, links that download are labelled "Download/view this sound". It might even be better that they were labelled "Play/download this sound". I went for the more obtuse Download/view combo because I hope at some point SongTrellis users will bind a music editor that is able to understand MIDI to their browser's MIDI downloads. On Mac, I hope they'll want to use the SongTrellis Music Editor. On Windows, they might be able to use MIDI Notate or some equivalent app. The download option becomes available when you right-click above that link on Windows, or Ctrl-click on Mac browsers.
The Real Player and Crescendo messages that occur when you press the "Download" link happens because you apparently have those bound to your Play action for MIDI links in your browser. Sounds like you might have a fight going on between the two. If you do right click (the Real Player reference tells me that you use Windows), you should be able to "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" from a popup menu that will appear as you click.
Now having gone through all of this, if you know the changes you need to enter into your score like you do with the Autumn In New York changes, you'll probably find that "Workscore Chord Entry" does this task fastest.The chord grid is best used as an exploration device when you are trying to invent new harmony for a composition you are writing for your self. It lays out a large percentage of the chord types that you might use in composition over all possible chord roots so that you can find unique harmony for your music.
The Workscore Chord Entry page allows you to enter a chord into the score by specifying its root, chord type, and duration. You have all of this info for each chord laying in front of you in the sheet music for Autumn In New York that is your reference. You select the chord root and chord type using the dropdown menus that are available on that page, and press the "Send Chord To>>" button (the >> is an attempt to indicate that you are adding the specified chord to the progression displayed in the workscore on the right), to add it to your workscore. This page won't play your score, until you press the Play button at the top of the workscore panel that appears on the right.
This method of chord entry corresponds exactly with how I created most of the chord progressions on offer in SongTrellis using the SongTrellis Editor For Mac. In that case I have a flashing insertion point cursor in a score and I just type the chords in by name, press Play to have them voiced so I can listen to them, save a MIDI and JPEG version of the score and submit the results to the site. Most progression MIDI sequences and scores I can prepare in five or ten minutes, if the score is in a simple form.
I think this response will get you past the railroad ties that were thrown across your tracks. Please send me email instantly if you encounter any more. If you have ideas for improvement, let me have 'em.
Cheers, Dave Luebbert
Elvin's cymbals This afternoon, when I took my son Mark to his drum lesson with Donn Bennett at Donn's studio, I got to see, touch and briefly play two of Elvin Jones' cymbals that he played in the early 70's. Large Zildjian ride cymbals, heavy metal with a dimpled brass surface. They both have small fractures mid-cymbal, likely from the force with which he played them. Sounded great despite the imperfections. Big whoosh, like a giant's breath or the crash of an ocean wave when struck forcefully. Pretty tinkly sounds when struck quietly.
It's very humbling to examine a great musician's instruments. The instrument colors their sound, but so much of the music comes from their heart and what they experienced and practiced.
Donn's a widely respected second hand drum dealer, who has a kind of drum shrine hanging from the ceiling and all around the walls of his studio. Up on shelves high on the walls, he has complete drum kits and signed drum heads played by a lot of the great rock and studio drummers. Lot's of autographed photos by famous drummers.
Ringo used Donn to find himself another Beatles model drum set, when Ringo's son Zack Starkey appropriated the Starr family's Beatle set.
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Last update: Thursday, January 12, 2006 at 9:08 PM.