Author: Don

Notes, briefly noted

Recent editions of the free notation software MuseScore have the ability to import MIDI files. This means, in principle, that I can export pieces I’ve written in Logic to MuseScore and put them online for anyone silly enough to want to play them. It’s a bit fiddly, but it does work with a little fussing, and I’ve launched a page at MuseScore for my sheet music. There are only a couple of pieces there so far, but there will eventually be more. Whether anyone finds them worth playing remains to be seen.

Count twelve

Nuclear fusion

Here are the first two measures of “Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom — Nuclear Fusion,” from the Touhou Game Subterranean Animism, as arranged by Dorian Bluet. The notes in the treble clef include C, G, G-flat, D, A, A-flat, E, F, D-flat and B. In the bass clef there are E-flat and B-flat. ZUN might not be a rigorous old-fashioned avant-garde dodecaphonist, but there are surprises in his music.

Continue reading “Count twelve”

Was it Ulick Norman?

Flandre Scarlet

Most versions of “U.N. Owen Was Her?,” whether they be rock, techno, frenetic piano, accordion or whatever, tend to be frenzied, heavy and ominous. I took a different approach with ZUN’s tune.

It’s my computer playing, as usual, though I think this arrangement is simple enough that even I could manage it. I’m not entirely happy with it and I may revisit it someday.

The connection between Ulick and Una Owen and Flandre Scarlet is rather tenuous.

Update (July 16): I revised the arrangement and uploaded a new recording. I’m still not satisfied with it, but I’ve tinkered with it long enough.

You can see and download the score here. The mp3 is here.

Flandre Scarlet

Status report

I’m in the middle of several projects right now, plus it looks like the rains are pausing long enough to allow a bit of gardening. Consequently, I will continue to be scarce here, and what I do post will likely be inconsequential.

Here’s a preview of one of the projects. Those who know their Touhou might recognize the tune.

Something about a dragon?

Josh has seen fit to present me with another award. This time it’s the “Dragon’s Loyalty Award.” Gee, thank you, Josh. It’s a great honor, etc., etc., etc. Someday I may forgive you.

Dragon's Loyalty Award

These are the rules:

1. Display the award on your blog.
2. Announce your win with a post and denounce thank the blogger who awarded you.
3. Present 15 deserving bloggers with the award.
4. Link your awardees in the post and let them know of their being awarded.
5. Write seven interesting things about yourself.

These “awards” are a bit too much like chain letters, and I’m not going to pick 15 more suckers. Anyone listed in my blogroll is worthy of an award. If this exercise looks like fun, feel free to participate.

I’m running out of fascinating trivia about myself. ((The most interesting facts about me are none of your business.)) Let’s see, what haven’t I mentioned before?

1. I had piano lessons as a kid, but they didn’t take. When I was around 20, I got tired of being musically illiterate, so I bought an old upright and found a teacher. Later I took a couple of semesters of music theory at the university. I would have taken more, but the theory classes were scheduled for the convenience of freshman music majors, not non-major upperclassmen with jobs and complicated schedules.

2. When I was a kid, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still don’t.

3. I deliberately mis-matched my socks during my college years. Similarly, I often wore parti-colored hose when I was active in the SCA.

4. I prefer the fragrance of dianthus to that of roses.

5. I do know how to drive, but I generally don’t.

6. When I was 7, 8, 9, 10 years old, I wandered all over Brigham City, Utah, sometimes with friends, more often alone. Sometimes my friends and I rambled around the lower slopes of the mountain east of town, or we rode our bikes to campgrounds in the canyon to the southeast. I’d pack a lunch and spend entire days at the town park by myself. When I was 11, I explored much of San Francisco north of Golden Gate Park on my bike. I could ride to Baker Beach from home in five minutes, and I’d usually have the sands all to myself. Present-day opponents of free-range parenting would have been aghast.

7. I’ve had fun with depression throughout my life. I rarely mention it because, well, it’s depressing, and others have faced worse and written better about their experiences. I figure it cheated me of about ten years of my youth. Little blue pills have made life a bit easier for me and those who must deal with me. ((This is not a request for advice or inspirational messages. I most likely will never allude to the subject again.))

Not Tweety Pie

There are still a few glitches, but it looks like I finally have my website back after a botched migration. (Thank you so much, InMotion Hosting, for a most memorable weekend.) To celebrate, here’s Sylvain Chomet to show why I am not a twit, featuring a cameo by President Selfie.

Update: It seems InMotion forgot to repoint both nameservers. Within 24 hours — in principle — everything should be working properly. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Update II: See also Terry Teachout.

Now you see it, redux

A recent message from the website host:

System Administration is currently migrating or will be migrating your account … to a newer server to better meet your needs. You should have no downtime during this move, and will be notified with your new server information once it completes. Please postpone changes until the move has been completed and DNS propagation completes.

This may be why my recent posts disappear and reappear and disappear again, and why Steven’s recent comment vanished overnight. You might find it annoying. I find it infuriating.

Welcome to Gensokyo

Reimu Hakurei

“Eternal Shrine Maiden” is the theme of the first level of the first Touhou game, Highly Responsive to Prayer. ((You can tell it’s Touhou by the obsessive 3+3+2 rhythms, i.e., dotted quarter, dotted quarter, quarter note. The notation component in Logic annoyingly assumes that every dotted quarter must be immediately followed by an eighth note. Apparently the coders have never played a snappy strathspey or a Touhou tune.)) Like most of ZUN’s tunes, there are innumerable versions on Youtube of widely varying degrees of listenability. For no good reason, I made my own. As usual, the performance is by my computer, though I think this arrangement is playable by any pianist with passable thirds and a reliable sense of rhythm.

Update: I uploaded the score to MuseScore.

Shipwrecked

Captain Murasa's Spiced Rum_by_mikoneyoru

The audio player that I’ve been using no longer works, so I’m trying a new one. Let me know if this doesn’t work for you.

The tune is “Captain Murasa,” yet another piece from the vast Touhou project. I worked on the arrangement for a while, then got sidetracked on other projects. I doubt that I’ll do more with it, so here is my not-quite-satisfactory version as it is. (It’s not entirely my own work; parts of it are almost verbatim from the transcription I worked from. Also, that’s my computer playing, not me.)

Incidentally, if Minamitsu Murasa asks you for a ladle, be sure the one you give her has a hole in it.

(The illustration is from here.)

Update: The new player doesn’t work so well when there are many tunes on a page. Let’s try a different one.

Update II: Uploaded a better-sounding recording.