mike’s music pages

Posts Tagged ‘Bach’

I am not much of a composer, but I love making music on my computer. Fortunately, many great works have already been composed that one can use to make music on a computer. You can find scores for much great music online for free. You may even be able to find midi sequences for the music you want, which will save you some time. For this post, I sequenced a popular piece by J. S. Bach, his “Air” from the Orchestral Suite No. 3. You can listen to it on YouTube.

I chose sampled orchestral sounds for playback, but you can use any sounds that you wish. So, instead of Bach played with strings, you could have electronic Bach.

I don’t have good keyboard skills, so I used the music notation program Sibelius to create my sequence. First I entered the score into Sibelius.

By notating the score, I could more easily check for errors visually or by listening to the playback in Sibelius. Once I was satisfied with the score, I exported it to a midi file. I then imported the midi file into my digital audio workstation (DAW),  Cakewalk Sonar X1.

In Sonar I used instances of Dimension Pro and Garritan Personal Orchestra and loaded the harpsichord, violins, violas, cellos and basses.

I edited midi controllers and note velocities to make the instruments more expressive. The result is what you hear in the video, which shows the piano roll view of Sonar with custom colors.

This is a great week for music in Atlanta if you love Christmas music. There is so much going on that you can’t possibly catch it all. I’m going to list just a few of the events.

The ASO Gospel Christmas

The ASO Gospel Christmas concert is on Friday, Dec. 4th at 8:00 PM and Saturday, Dec 5th at 2:00 PM in Symphony Hall.  The program includes Carol of the Bells and For Every Mountain.

Handel’s Messiah

The ASO is performing the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah along with the Hallelujah! Chorus, and Part III of Bach’s  Weihnachts-Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio), BWV 248 (1734).  For those of you who think that you do not like classical music, this may be  a good concert to attend because some of the music may be familiar. This concert is Thursday, Dec. 3rd at 8:00 PM and Saturday, Dec. 5th at 8:00 at Symphony Hall.

ASO Kid’s Christmas

The ASO Kid’s Christmas is Sunday, Dec. 6th at 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM ; and Sunday, Dec. 13th at 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM. This program features the musical Second Chance Christmas, with some favorite sing-alongs (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bells,” “Frosty the Snowman”)!

Spelman – Morehouse Christmas Concert

The 83rd Annual Spelman – Morehouse Christmas will be Friday, Dec. 4 at 8:00 PM in the King Chapel at Morehouse College; Saturday, Dec. 5th at 8:00 PM in Sisters Chapel at Spelman College; and again on Sunday, Dec. 6th at 8:00 PM the King Chapel at Morehouse.  The first time that I attended this concert I was about 7 years old. I have never forgotten it. That was the first time that I heard “Go, Tell It On The Mountain.” The youth choir director at my church in LaGrange brought us to the concert. I will always be grateful for that experience.

This concert is free! You should arrive early.

Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society

The CAU Philharmonic Society gives a very fine Christmas concert every year. I know because I attend it every year. Their group is small by comparison with Spelman and Morehouse, but director Glynn Halsey is known for the beautiful sound of his choirs. I’ve never been disappointed by CAU’s Philharmonic Society. This concert is Sunday, Dec. 6 at 4:00 PM. at the  Park St. Music and Art Complex, 793 Park St., S.W., Atlanta, GA 30310. The concert is free.

It is Good Friday as I write this, and I feel compelled to share a notable piece of music with you which is traditionally performed on Good Friday. This work, The St. Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach, is to me one of the greatest works of art ever created, and yet it is not art for art’s sake. It is religious art of the highest order. It is a sublime, religious work that has moved even the most militant atheists.

Unlike some works that are performed during Holy Week, this work does not combine the Passion Stories from the different gospels, but instead takes the story from the Gospel According to Matthew, hence the title “St. Matthew Passion.”

I don’t remember the first time that I heard the St. Matthew Passion, but I do remember that I immediately felt that it was one of the most beautiful musical works that I had ever heard. It is beautiful beyond words, and it has density. Read the rest of this entry »