![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Some of you may know that I occasionally arrange music for Lager Rhythms. Well, more like transcribe if you want to be technically correct. It's not like I add anything to the music; I just write what I hear. This is easy to do when it's just voices, but much harder when changing instruments into voice parts for an a cappella band.
It's even harder when you read music as poorly as I do. I have no musical training, so I don't understand chord spellings and the like. That means I actually need to listen to each line of music and write them down as though they were alone, then play the whole thing together (thank $diety for Finale) and see if any of the "chords" sound wrong. I can't just look at it and say, "oh, that's D minor, it should have a K-flat at the top." Silly me.
The way it usually works for me is that I listen to the lead, and write it down using eighths or quarters, and then adjust the length of the notes to make it sound correct. This goes by sets of only one or two measures at a time. I do the same thing for the base line, which is usually a little easier, since the basses don't generally have a lot of fiddly bits. Once the lead and the bass are done, it's time to figure out who sings what in the middle.
This is where knowing chord spellings would be particularly helpful. On top of that, I have to try to hear where the notes will fit into a certain vocal range. Will it be high in the tenor register, or low in the soprano register? Which way would it sound better? And, once that's over, what syllable would make it work? (That's actually a critical question. We have changed the whole sound of a song by changing the background syllables. There's a thesis in there somewhere...)
So, needless to say, it's slow going, which is why I've been happy to let others take the load for a while now. But, we're trying very hard right now to get enough music to fill the next CD, and we need a few more songs to get there, so I'm back in the saddle. Still no better at it, but doing what I can. ;)
This weekend I finally finished up King of Spain. There are probably some things that the group will futz with, we do that a lot, but it's good enough to bring in and start learning.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
drangelo is going to be very happy. He has wanted LR to sing this song since before he auditioned for the group. How long has that been now? Years and years, to be sure.
Next up -- I cover Paul and Storm. :)
It's even harder when you read music as poorly as I do. I have no musical training, so I don't understand chord spellings and the like. That means I actually need to listen to each line of music and write them down as though they were alone, then play the whole thing together (thank $diety for Finale) and see if any of the "chords" sound wrong. I can't just look at it and say, "oh, that's D minor, it should have a K-flat at the top." Silly me.
The way it usually works for me is that I listen to the lead, and write it down using eighths or quarters, and then adjust the length of the notes to make it sound correct. This goes by sets of only one or two measures at a time. I do the same thing for the base line, which is usually a little easier, since the basses don't generally have a lot of fiddly bits. Once the lead and the bass are done, it's time to figure out who sings what in the middle.
This is where knowing chord spellings would be particularly helpful. On top of that, I have to try to hear where the notes will fit into a certain vocal range. Will it be high in the tenor register, or low in the soprano register? Which way would it sound better? And, once that's over, what syllable would make it work? (That's actually a critical question. We have changed the whole sound of a song by changing the background syllables. There's a thesis in there somewhere...)
So, needless to say, it's slow going, which is why I've been happy to let others take the load for a while now. But, we're trying very hard right now to get enough music to fill the next CD, and we need a few more songs to get there, so I'm back in the saddle. Still no better at it, but doing what I can. ;)
This weekend I finally finished up King of Spain. There are probably some things that the group will futz with, we do that a lot, but it's good enough to bring in and start learning.
drangelo is going to be very happy. He has wanted LR to sing this song since before he auditioned for the group. How long has that been now? Years and years, to be sure.Next up -- I cover Paul and Storm. :)
