ClassicalCode

I know I am stretching this backwards-alphabet-songs thing, but I am at home in Petaluma and had time to kill.

Here I sing the alphabet song with the melody backwards, the words backwards while showing solfegge hand signs and conducting.

In my previous post I sang the ABCs backwards with solffeg hand signs. Now, out of curiosity and my eternal pursuit of the way of the nerd, I added a different challenge into the mix:

Thanks to Brandon for reversing the video, so that you can hear the actual melody.

Inspired to further acts of nerdome by the encouraging comments on my last post, I decided to learn to do something I have been thinking of doing ever since I saw Paul Kim do it at a party. Sing the alphabet song backwards. Not just sing the letters backwards, but the notes as well. So last night I sat down, figured out how it would go, and started memorizing it. This morning, to nerd it up just a little bit more, I leaned to sing it while showing the solfege using hand signs. I then took my new camcorder into Golden Gate Park and recorded myself doing it. The park has the advantage of having actual sunlight while still having some privacy and quiet. Also, it’s pretty. Here are the results:

Due to a bug in iMovieHD I was unable to reverse the video so you could here the original melody, but here is the audio reversed:

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My girlfriend is sick, so I arranged and recorded her a song. I hope this helps you feel better Chelsea.

For Chelsea:

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This is my first doo-wop arrangement, and the first full song that I have multitracked. Unfortunately with five tracks at once, the noise on the recording becomes rather annoying. If anyone could help me reduce the noise, I would greatly appreciate it. I plan to write up the arrangement in the next few days (as an exercise) so you can expect to find that soon.

Update:

I typeset the arrangement using Lilypond, a wonderful open source program for engraving music. Here are the results:

The arrangement as a printable pdf: earth_angel.pdf

The Lilypond code: earth_angel.ly

This tag from the seminal book of tags seemed quite fitting to multitrack. This is “All By Myself Alone” number. I found that the lead part was actually easier for me to sing a whole step higher because the C was right in the middle of my passagio, and it was pushing sharp. So this one is in D.

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Biggest challenges:

• Fan noise from my server and laptop
• Giving the music emotion without going out of tune

Combining my love of nerdy limericks and my love of barbershop tags, I have endeavored to create a limerick which teaches a barbershop tag. This tag was taught to me as Lilly Marlane, although I had to omit the words and a lead pickup note to fit it in the poetic format.

First the lead posts the tonic, a C.
Then the others, homophonically:
Bass: re mi fa do,
Bari: la la le so.
While the tenor sings: fa mi re mi.

As some of you may know, I collect items that I find on the ground. Over the last few weeks, within a two block radius of my apartment, I have found three identical copies of this document. Does anybody know what the “Henry system of music transcription” is? Or how it reduces the need for page turns? Or why someone has been pamphlet-bombing my neighborhood with propaganda against it?

My brother took a music course in his undergrad and as part of his coursework wrote a minuet. Its been sitting on the piano at home for some time, and a few days ago my parents, on the advice of my aunt, suggested that I record it for my grandparents. So, without further ado, here is “Minuet” by Nate Eldredge.

(Please excuse my pedantic playing, and the added upper lower neighbor tone “embellishment” near the end of the first repetition of the “B” section.)

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My idol, Paul Kim, put a few videos of my (our) choir on Youtube. He is the one singing the bass solo part in this one.

From Paul’s Youtube description:

San Francisco State University’s choir concert, December 15, 2007 at Most Holy Redeember Church in the Castro. “1st Katisma” – from “Vigilia” by Einojuhani Rautavaara, sung in Finnish. Conducted by Dr. Joshua Habermann.

Thanks Paul!

Just got wordpress running. Now I gotta run. Lesson in 9 minutes and counting.