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eftychia at 08:01pm on 2004-12-06Err... I've got most of a saxophones / double-bass / electric-guitar / drums / keys arrangement of "Douce Dame Jolie" goin' round and round in my head. Think ... three fourths of the way from Tommy Dorsey to the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, with a little bit of the Brian Setzer Orchestra mixed in and a wee sprinkle of Wolfstone on top. A bit uptempo from how you'd normally play it. It starts with a stripped-down version of the melody, leaving out a bunch of notes and having a lot of rests to make it "pop" explosively with not-even-considering-being-subtle syncopation, then a "straight" version melodically but with a big-band feel to the rhythm section, and finally looping into a madhouse all-the-frills improvisation across various instruments full of tiny notes.
And I don't play sax worth a damn. :-(
I wonder whether I can score it before crucial bits flee my brain. I wonder whether I can keep track of enough at once to score it at all.
My head gets kind of noisy when I'm in the shower.
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I must confess that I'm always a little confused by that question. I can read music, so it makes sense to me that I should be able to write it, just as reading and writing English seem to go together ... if I can play it, I should be able to write it (though some rhythms that I can play are challenging to figure out exactly how to notate).
Except that I know from what others have said that it's not like that for everyone else. I have not yet managed to grok that disconnect.
I can't write everything I can sing or hum, and I'm not great at figuring tunes out by ear, but if I can figure out how to play something on an instrument, I can usually write it down. The trick to writing down something I've made up is to get it to where I can play it the same way enough times in a row while at the same time paying attention to what notes I'm playing and counting time. (If it hasn't "jelled" yet, focussing on those details will wind up changing how I play it.) Scoring a multi-part arrangement is easier if I can get a computer to play back all the parts at once so I can make sure every so often that what I've notated is actually what I had in my head. A piano, which I don't really play yet, is also helpful for composing and arranging multiple-part music. (So glad I've got that Fender-Rhodes upstairs.)
One problem I have is that writing down music is a slow enough process that I keep putting it off, so I've got a backlog of things to transcribe. (But if you want an example, "The Jo-Bug Jig" (http://www.radix.net/~dglenn/words/jo-bug-jig.html) is online, and I'll get around to posting "On Aleksandr's Exile" at some point (probably when the new new HCB (http://www.homespunceilidh.com) album is ready, since it'll be on that. (Actually both tunes will.)
On the one hand there are folks impressed that I can write music at all; on the other there are various people I know -- including several bandmates -- who seem to be better at it than I am. I wouldn't mind having someone who reads but doesn't write music try to explain how music can be a read-only language. I'd like to understand it. (And I wonder whether understanding the phenomenon would be enough for me to know how to teach others to notate music.)
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A multitrack tape recorder or digital recorder. For SATB, an old 4-track cassette (such as a Yamaha MT100 (I think that's the model number -- it's been a while) or a PortaStudio) wilo do. It's a portable device that allows you to record tracks all at once (if you have other singers) or one at a time with overdubbing. Then you can play back the assembled parts (adjusting relative volume as needed) and present an audio copy of your arrangement for someone else to learn by ear or try to transcribe or whatever. Or just make sure it works as well as it did in your head.
There are more modern and much more featureful versions (many of which record to a hard disk instead of a cassette tape), but for what you've described, an old 4-track from eBay will likely suffice.
There may be a freeware program to make your computer do something similar.
Learning to read and write musical notation is still useful, but this would at least let you get the arrangements out of your head and into a transmissible form to share with others.
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(I've been thinking for a while it needs a singable rock English translation.)
And a bit uptempo from how who would normally play it?
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I'm not used to hearing it sung, but I'm used to playing it at a tempo that seems like it would be comfortable for singing. Just barely fast enough to be called perky.
Hmm. A rock English translation ... Something to work on along with a singable Modern English translation of "Edi Be Þu Heven Queenë" and a non-cheesy English version of "Belle Qui".
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How much is a damn worth, anyway?
Ask Emory
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(For a long time, I've toyed with doing to "Tristan's Lament" what Deodato did with the intro to "Thus Spake Zarathustra." Not to mention that Tristan can be done in the fashion of Ravel's "Bolero"...)