Music I'm Writing: String Quartet No. 7

I recently finished writing my seventh string quartet. I'm fairly happy with it, but I learn so much every time I write a something, that I quickly become dissatisfied and begin itching to start work on another piece--which I'm very likely to do.

Music I'm Writing: A Miniature

Today I post a little musical offering--a musical haiku of sorts--, my Miniature No. 1. I learned not long ago that there's a fairly well established genre of miniatures of 100 notes or less. The idea of a miniature is not new to me, of course, but I didn't know that pieces of 100 notes or less have an established following or that there are competitions specifically for works of this type. No one seems to agree on exactly how to count 100 notes, but I have counted chords on the piano and multiple stops on the violin as a single note. Using that method, this piece is 97 notes long. The link will be good for only one week, or until May 11. If you listen to it, I hope you like it.

Music I'm Writing: String Quartet No. 5 (revised)

I've tweaked my String Quartet No. 5 a bit. I'll probably do more to it, but I'm in a bit of a lull right now as far as composing goes. I'm at the limit of my ability to get the notation software I use (Sibelius 6) to score and play what's in my head, and at the point where I need feedback from live musicians--which is a difficult thing to arrange.

So far I've worked entirely in isolation, teaching myself as I go. It's not Beethoven, but I'm pleased with it, considering that at this time last year I had composed virtually nothing. If you listen, remember that this is a dumbed down (MP3) version of an electronically generated performance. I trust it would sound better with live performers.... Link good until March 25.

Colin Talcroft String Quartet No. 5

Music I'm Writing: String Quartet No. 5

It's been about a year now since I started writing music in earnest. I've decided I like composing; unlike most other art forms, you don't have to clean up after yourself.

Today I finished my fifth string quartet. If you care to hear it, you can download it from the link below (good until February 20). The file is about 26MB. Note that it's a dumbed down MP3 file and that the music is being played mechanically by a computer and synthesizer. I wonder what it would sound like performed by living musicians? Better, I hope. This is a first revision. There are likely to be more as I tweak it, but it's enough to get an idea of the sort of thing I'm doing.

Colin Talcroft String Quartet No. 5

Music I'm Writing: New String Quartet

The new version of Sibelius (Sibelius 6) is a big improvement!

It's much better in many respects than the older version I've been using and well worth the upgrade. Text inputs now automatically snap to their appropriate positions above or below the staff, so you don't have to waste time tweaking their positions, dynamics are better in playback (but still could be better; there are a couple of jarring volume changes in this), the program no longer gets confused going back and forth between pizz. and arco, and, perhaps best, the built-in sounds are much better.

Music I'm Writing: String Quartet No. 2

I have more or less finished writing my second string quartet. I'm fairly happy with it, but need to tweak the dynamics, particularly in the third and fourth movements. I wish the notation software were better at reproducing dynamics in playback mode. Without the feedback of human performers, it can be very difficult to judge what's going on sometimes.

Music I'm Writing: Fantasy for Viola and Piano in B flat Minor

Spent the morning writing a short piece for viola and piano. I've called it a "fantasy" for want of a better term. I think it's in B flat minor, but keys remain something of a mystery to me, as do modes. This started as an exercise I set myself to write something in the odd Locrian mode, which I like the sound of, but I don't think I succeeded. Still, I like the result. The instruments are synthesized by the computer. The piano sounds reasonably good in the original file. The viola sounds rather artificial. The computer version is good enough to get the idea, but the compression of the MP4 format further distorts the sound, so don't expect concert hall quality. For more about my efforts at composition, see earlier posts on the subject. Click the link below to download a 2.8Mb MP4 file. 

Fantasy for Viola and Piano, in B flat minor